WHY IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUCH A CESSPIT OF VIOLENCE AND ABUSE? Kellie Collins, who was a Democratic congressional candidate in Georgia, has been charged with murder of a man she lived with. The victim also worked on her campaign.
Archive for 2018
August 10, 2018
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: MAYBE I SHOULD STOP BRINGING UP MY CAT SO MUCH WHEN PEOPLE TELL ME STORIES ABOUT THEIR KIDS.
WHILE BILL DE BLASIO FOCUSES ON HIS WAR AGAINST LOCAL NEWSPAPERS, New York City is Entering a Transit Apocalypse.
THE 21st CENTURY IS NOT WORKING OUT AS I EXPECTED: Troubled Blade Runner actress Sean Young, 58, ‘caught on surveillance cameras stealing $12,000 of laptops from Queens store which she was fired from months earlier.’
IT’S OFFICIAL: WE NEEDED A GOOD GUY WITH A GUN. Head of commission investigating Parkland shooting says armed staffer could have stopped Nikolas Cruz. Of course, thanks to the Broward County Sheriff’s Department all we had were some cowardly guys with guns hiding out in the parking lot.
PROBLEMS? WHAT PROBLEMS? A former Department of Education employee says “Don’t Believe Betsy DeVos. Title IX Already Has a Fair Process for Students Accused of Sexual Assault.” Just not at any of America’s top 53 universities, apparently.
NEW SOCIALIST “IT GIRL” CONTINUES TO PAY DIVIDENDS: Twitter Explodes After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Attacks Shapiro In Response To Debate Offer. “This is your brain on identity politics. By challenging her to debate, [Shapiro] was actually treating her as an equal. She knows she’d lose, and she needs to posture for her SJW fans, so she declares herself a victim of ‘catcalling.’ Totally demented.”
IN THE MAIL: Flat Belly Diet! for Men.
ROGER SIMON: Tennessee Senate Race May Be Most Crucial of 2018.
Read the whole thing.
REDMOND IS WATCHING YOU: Microsoft Threatens to Shut Down Gab After Anti-Semitic Posts by User.
PLANNERS LOVE IT; NO-ONE ELSE DOES: Warren Meyer provides yet more evidence that investing in light rail kills transit systems.
AGGRESSORS OVER NEVADA: F-16s from the USAF’s 64th Aggressors Squadron fly over the Nevada Test and Training Range during Red Flag 18-3.
UNEXPECTED QUESTIONS: Should the U.S. Air Force Bomb Forest Fires? “Earlier this summer, the Swedish Air Force dropped a laser-guided bomb on a forest fire to help suppress the flames. Now there’s a proposal for the United States to do the same, using the might of the U.S. Air Force to fight America’s raging forest fires via bombs and sonic booms. Bombers that have attacked targets in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq could instead strike targets in the continental United States — this time saving lives and property.”
Interesting premise, but why the dig at the Air Force’s mission in Syria, which does save lives from ISIS?
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, INSTITUTIONAL SEXISM EDITION: Another university forced by judge to hand over its Title IX training materials. “The University of Mississippi found itself on the wrong side of a federal judge when its long-hidden training materials for Title IX adjudications showed that it makes endless excuses for rape accusers caught lying. Now Yale University is looking at a similar scenario as the defendant in expelled basketball team captain Jack Montague’s due-process lawsuit, which is scheduled for trial this fall unless the parties settle.”
OK THEN: Russian Prime Minister Says U.S. Sanctions Will Be Considered an Act of ‘Economic War.’
Russia’s economy is about one-sixth the size of the US. That’s slightly smaller than South Korea’s, despite having nearly three times more people.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, RACIAL-DISCRIMINATION-IS-FINE-WHEN-WE-DO-IT EDITION: AAUP, Ivy League defend Harvard’s affirmative action policies.
LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: The Space Force, PJ Media’s Impact, and Much, Much More. “So… I may be partly responsible for a Democrat operative leaving a campaign in Arizona.”
Tyler O’Neil is filling in for Liz today.
CHANGE: The Trump economy is destroying the Obama coalition. “While Democrats and their wingmen in the media are falling over themselves to make superstars out of shiny new socialists such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, the unapologetic capitalist in the White House is achieving something much more monumental. He’s delivering a booming economy that is bringing increased prosperity, opportunity and freedom to every demographic group. That, in turn, is generating growing support for him and his policies, including, most significantly, from constituencies critical to the Democratic Party. These inroads into traditionally reliable Democrat voting blocs are giving rise to a developing existential threat to the party and its policies.”
BRAVE NEW WORLD: Homeless people wearing barcodes to accept cashless payments.
A new social innovation project, called Greater Change, hands homeless people a QR code, similar to the kind issued for online tickets.
Passersby who wish to give money – but who may not have any change in their pocket – can scan the code using their smart phone, and make an online payment to the person.
The donation goes into an account which is managed by a case worker who ensures that the money is spent on agreed targets, such as saving for a rental deposit or a new passport.
“The problem we’re trying to solve here is that we live in an increasingly cashless society and as well as this when people give they worry about what this money might be spent on,” Alex McCallion, founder of Greater Change, told the BBC.
How about a blockchain pauper’s oath to go with it?
KUSHNER’S TRACK RECORD HAS BEEN PRETTY GOOD: Jared Kushner helps Trump pave rare bipartisan path to big win.
Thursday’s roundtable at President Trump’s summer White House in New Jersey to address prison and sentencing reform with governor’s is the latest bid by top aide Jared Kushner to give his father-in-law a rare bipartisan victory on a once controversial issue.
In getting Trump to carve out part of his working vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., Kushner and other officials are hoping to demonstrate how important the issues are to the president as he works to get a Senate vote in the next month.
Trump’s meeting this afternoon with governors, state attorneys general, and top aides is the latest in which he will endorse prison reform and he is also expected to open the door to sentencing reform, a sign to key senators that he is ready for a deal. . . .
Not only has former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist joined in, but so have liberals like former Obama aide Van Jones and influential social media figures like Kim Kardashian have backed the president.
With Kushner’s urging, others involved include Koch Industries, former Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint and Right On Crime’s Craig DeRoche.
“It’s important the president is open to limited sentencing reform being added to the prison reform legislation being considered in the Senate,” said Gingrich. “The guilty must be held to account, and it is our responsibility to ensure the punishment fits the crime. Certain sentencing statutes have not performed as intended, have led to unjust consequences, and should be eliminated. Adding such provisions to the First Step Act is just common sense,” he added.
Kushner has also brought in prominent religious figures and pastors and he NAACP.
“Jared has the ability to go into ‘no-go’ zones for Republicans,” said an ally, noting that the Trump family member doesn’t stick to any partisan angle when he is trying to nail down a victory for the White House.
I had some related thoughts here.