LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: You need to pass funding bill to know what’s in it and much, much more. “I don’t know what’s in it and the authors don’t want you to know either. They want this sack of sh!t signed ASAP no questions asked so we can discover the poison pill ex post facto.”
Archive for 2019
February 14, 2019
RUSSIA’S HOSTILE SHENANIGANS: Well, they’ve made a lot of enemies.
However:
It’s often difficult to conclusively prove Russian trickery as it is occurring or even in the immediate aftermath of Kremlin gray-zone warfare operation. A recently released RAND study, “Russia’s Hostile Measures in Europe,” says that hard evidence “of intent from the Russian state, evidence of influence from Russia on a local proxy” and evidence that Russian influence on a proxy “led to the achievement of a Russian foreign policy objective … is almost never available.”
Yes, but:
Bold Kremlin misinformation, apparently spread by the Russian government and its proxies through digital, broadcast and print media, confuses critics and provides the Kremlin with adequate diplomatic cover.
Up to the point that people have heard and seen enough. Finnish soldiers’ training with NATO forces is diplomatic and military pushback. A substantial number of voters in Finland and Sweden favor joining NATO. In Sweden, joining NATO was once a forbidden subject. No longer.
For deep background, see Chapter 4, Cocktails from Hell: Five Complex Wars Shaping the 21st Century.
FOR ALL THOSE WHO ARE DISMISSING CLAIMS OF WORKPLACE HARASSMENT BY SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR, A REMINDER: Congressman Accused of Harassment Resigns.
Representative Eric J. Massa, a freshman Democrat from upstate New York who is under investigation for harassing a male aide, said on Friday that he would resign from the House.
Mr. Massa was reported to the House ethics committee last month after a member of his Congressional staff accused him of harassment, according to a senior Congressional official who would speak only on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
Mr. Massa, who represents New York’s 29th District, abandoned his re-election campaign on Wednesday, after the accusation became public, saying then that he would retire at the end of his term. . . .
His travails had posed the latest ethical distraction for House Democrats as they try to push through a health care bill and prepare for what will be challenging midterm elections this fall.
On Wednesday, Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York, relinquished his powerful post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee after he was admonished by the House ethics committee for accepting corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean.
Along with the calls for Gov. David A. Paterson’s resignation as he faces investigation over a domestic violence episode involving a top aide and an inquiry concerning the solicitation of tickets to the World Series, the Democratic Party has become vulnerable to the same criticism about a culture of corruption that Democrats used against Republicans to win control of Congress in 2006.
But they’ll circle the wagons around Klobuchar because (1) she’s a woman; and (2) they want her to be viable for 2020.
A FRAUD ON THE PEOPLE OF WASHINGTON STATE: In 1998, Washington voters adopted Initiative 200 (or “I-200”) by a wide margin (58%-42%). Its operative clause states, “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting.”
These days, like California’s Proposition 209 on which it was based, I-200 is honored only its breach in some areas. But it has been reasonably effective in the area of public contracting in particular.
Now comes the effort to repeal it. Last week the Washington Secretary of State certified for the ballot an initiative (“Initiative 1000” or “I-1000”) which, if passed, will bring back race and sex preferences in public education, public employment, and public contracting. But it does so in a sneaky and fraudulent way. It retains I-200’s operative clause. It even expands it:
“The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin, age, sexual orientation, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or honorably discharged veteran or military status in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”
But it then defines “preferential treatment” this way:
“‘Preferential treatment’ means the act of using race, sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, and honorably discharged veteran or military status as the sole qualifying factor to select a lesser qualified candidate over a more qualified candidate for a public education, public employment, or public contracting opportunity.”
Nobody has ever used race, sex, color, etc., as “the sole qualifying factor” for anything. If race had been the sole qualifying factor in Grutter v. Bollinger, that would have meant that every single African American gets in and no Asian or white does. It’s a ridiculous notion. The point of I-200 is that the listed factors should neither count against a person nor in his or her favor.
Another section of the proposal makes it clear that the original I-200 is being eviscerated:
“Nothing in this section prohibits the state from implementing affirmative action laws, regulations, policies, or procedures such as participation goals or outreach efforts that do not utilize quotas and that do not constitute preferential treatment as defined in this section.”
If somebody in Washington State wants to give the people of Washington the opportunity to repeal I-200, they should be clear and upfront about it.
Here in California, Proposition 209 is responsible for increasing college GPAs, college graduation rates, and STEM degrees for African Americans. There is no reason to believe that the same thing didn’t happen under Washington State’s I-200. It needs to be more more strongly enforced rather than repealed.
NOW OUT FROM THE INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: The “Bound by Oath” Podcast: First episode: Before the 14th: John Rock and the Birth of Birthright Citizenship.
SOUND SCIENCE: Trump Looks to Uproot Numbers-Only Bias Test Widely Used in U.S. “In what would be one of the Trump administration’s most far-reaching moves regarding race relations, top White House officials are planning a sharp pullback from federal efforts to correct imbalances in outcomes for minorities in everything from housing to hiring. On the table: a ban on the use of a controversial numbers-focused racial-bias theory known as ‘disparate impact.'”
JOEL KOTKIN: This Train Won’t Leave the Station: If high-speed rail can’t make it in California, it can’t make it anywhere. “Some greens and train enthusiasts, such as the deep-blue Los Angeles Times editorial board, have criticized Newsom’s move, and others remain adamant in their support of the plane-to-train trope. But California, which has embarked on its own Green New Deal of sorts, has seen these results: high energy and housing costs, and the nation’s highest cost-adjusted poverty rate, and a society that increasingly resembles a feudal social order. Attempts to refashion global climate in one state reflects either a peculiarly Californian hubris or a surfeit of revolutionary zeal.”
COCAINE MITCH FEELS THE NEED, THE NEED FOR SPEED: Republicans back Senate rule change to speed confirmations of Trump nominees.
ABRAMS ON THE RANGE: Tank Table 6.
CHILD LABOR PRODUCES MUCH OF THE WORLD’S CHOCOLATE: Valentine’s Day may be the day when more chocolate is consumed than on any other, but here’s a fact you may not know: Much of the world’s chocolate supply comes from the Ivory Coast in Africa and child labor is quite common in the industry there.
Both the industry and government there are working to change things for the better and there are some grounds for hope. The Heritage Foundation’s latest Index of Economic Freedom ranks the country as “moderately free” at number 78.
But there’s also this, according to Heritage: “Protection of property rights is fragile, and only 4 percent of land is titled. The judiciary is not independent, and judges are highly susceptible to external interference and bribes.
“Court cases are frequently postponed for years or decades with no clear explanation. Persistent corruption in the judiciary, police, military, customs, contract awards, tax offices, and other government institutions discourages investment.”
Bet you didn’t see that coming!
PRIVACY: Selling 911 location data is illegal—US carriers reportedly did it anyway.
“The Motherboard investigation has uncovered what appears to be a clear violation of what the FCC required” in orders released in 2015 and 2017, Public Knowledge Policy Fellow Dylan Gilbert wrote. The 2017 order refers to data in the National Emergency Address Database (NEAD), saying that “the data in the NEAD and any data associated with the NEAD may not be used for any non-911 purpose, except as otherwise required by law.”
In order to use that database, mobile carriers “must certify that they will not use the NEAD or associated data for any purpose other than for the purpose of responding to 911 calls, except as required by law,” the FCC’s 2015 order states.
Section 222 of the Communications Act is the US law that requires carriers to protect CPNI, and it says that carriers may not use or disclose location information “without the express prior authorization of the customer.”
“The location of a customer’s use of a telecommunications service also clearly qualifies as CPNI,” the FCC said in a 2013 declaratory ruling.
“The Federal Communications Commission, led by Chairman Ajit Pai, needs to act immediately to enforce what appears to be a clear violation of the FCC’s rules against the selling of A-GPS data with third parties,” Gilbert wrote.
This kind of thing won’t stop until the punishment is commensurate with the crime. To that end, I humbly suggest a fine of triple the money collected from data sales, to be distributed to wireless customers whose data was sold.
REMEMBER WHEN THEY TOLD US THE DEEP STATE WAS A MYTH?
This was an effort to overturn a legitimate election by undemocratic means, for selfish reasons. People should be fired, and quite possibly prosecuted, for this.
Just a reminder that anyone who lied to the President as part of this is subject to prosecution under the False Statements Act.
PROGRESSIVE HEROINE, CHAMPION OF THE CARCERAL STATE: Kamala Harris Packed California Prisons for Peddling Pot.
HEH: Warren hit with ‘Fauxcahontas’ ads in New Hampshire.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s bid to make peace with her history of claiming Native American heritage has run into a big hurdle in New Hampshire where she is facing an ad campaign attacking her efforts to help a tribe build a gambling casino.
The ads, placed with the New Hampshire Journal, show Warren in a Native American headdress beside the phrase, “Fauxcahontas Casino.”
Like I said, heh.
THEY TOLD ME IF TRUMP WERE ELECTED WE’D SEE LOYALTY OATHS AND A WAR ON FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION. AND THEY WERE RIGHT! Los Angeles Demanding That City Contractors Disclose Ties to the NRA. But the new ordinance violates the First Amendment, because it tends to deter (and deliberately so) association with an advocacy group.
REAP THE WHIRLWIND: Yale Made Me Racist.
Related: Victor Davis Hanson: The Return of Ancient Prejudices.
The stereotyped hatreds were battled by the melting-pot forces of assimilation, integration and intermarriage. Civil rights legislation and broad education programs gradually convinced the country to judge all Americans on the content of their characters rather than the color of their skins or their religious beliefs. And over the last half-century, the effort to end institutional bias against African-Americans largely succeeded.
But recently, other ancient prejudices have been insidiously returning. And this time, the bias is more subtle, and it can be harder to address than traditional racism against non-white populations. The new venom, for example, is often spread by left-wing groups that claim victim status themselves and thus, by their logic, should not be seen as victimizers.
Progressive senators such as Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) have attacked judicial nominees on grounds that they are Catholic, apparently because the Catholic Church and its affiliates officially disprove of abortion and gay marriage. . . .
Universities feel free to discriminate against Asian-Americans because their hard work and excellent preparation often leads to superb grades, test scores and application credentials. In other words, Asian-Americans supposedly distort progressive agendas of proportional representation, disparate impact and diversity by overachieving and being overqualified—purportedly robbing spots from other minority applicants.
Asian-American achievement also disproves the old canard that prejudice makes it impossible to find parity in the United States.
What is behind the rebirth of these old prejudices? In short, new, evolving prejudices.
First, America seemingly no longer believes in striving to achieve a gender-blind, racially and religiously mixed society, but instead is becoming a nation in which tribal identity trumps all other considerations.
Second, such tribal identities are not considered to be equal. Doctrinaire identity politics is predicated on distancing itself from white males, Christians and other groups who traditionally have achieved professional success and therefore enjoyed inordinate “privilege.”
Third, purported victims insist that they themselves cannot be victimizers. So, they are freer to discriminate and stereotype to advance their careers or political interests on the basis of anything they find antithetical to their own ideologies.
The Democratic senators who questioned the morality of judicial nominees’ religion likely would not treat a Muslim nominee in the same manner—although one could make the argument that contemporary Islam has had as many or more problems with gender equity than Western Catholicism has.
Calling any other ethnic group other than Jews “termites” might have earned Rep. Johnson congressional censure. And if professional football and basketball franchises turned away talented but “over-represented” African-American athletes to ensure greater diversity in the same manner that universities now systematically discriminate against Asian-Americans, there would be a national outcry.
What once helped to diminish ancient prejudices was the American creed that no one had a right to discriminate against fellow citizens on the basis of race, gender, class or religion.
But that creed, like anything that gets in the way of Democrats’ grasping for power, was quickly jettisoned when it became inconvenient. And those of us who have been warning about the consequences have been ignored, or dismissed as racists because, well, anyone who gets in the way of Democrats’ grasping for power is by definition some sort of a racist.
ONE CAN HOPE: Iran Trembles As Venezuela Starts To Teeter.
Venezuelans, with help from world capitals led by Washington, seem close to toppling the oppressive, corrupt regime that misrules them. Don’t be surprised if Iran follows a similar course. There, less visible but widespread protests continue to cast doubt on the mullahs’ grip on power.
In both cases, once-strong popular regime support has vanished. Tumbling oil prices and sanctions aside, corruption and mismanagement have transformed two of the world’s leading petroleum exporters into basket cases.
The mullahs, like Venezuela’s socialists, are more interested in exporting their revolution abroad than helping their people. Both run police states with sham elections that lend a veneer of democratic legitimacy. No wonder the two are such close friends.
The late Hugo Chávez saw the potential in a Caracas-Tehran alliance early on. He would pop up in Tehran often, merging the Latin-tinged “Yankee Go Home” with the Persian “Death to America” chants.
Daily direct flights between Caracas and Tehran were soon established. Tehran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, and other Iranian operatives use Venezuela for money laundering. Iranian officials seeking to evade American sanctions can easily obtain Venezuelan passports.
Now the two regimes find themselves in the same boat.
One also has to wonder what might have been had Barack Obama not sat on his hands during the 2009 protests, or had chosen to continue squeezing the regime in 2014-15 instead of bailing the Mullahs out.
WILL THE STICKER ON THE BACK OF MY CAR SUFFICE? If You Want to Do Business with Los Angeles, You’ll Need to Disclose Any Ties to the NRA.
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Politics is affecting dating and intimacy, expert says.
Spira said that since President Trump’s election in 2016, politics have started to play a major role in millennials’ dating lives.
“Now we see politics at the top and it’s not just affecting how you date … politics has actually moved into the bedroom,” Spira told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton.
Spira, who is currently on tour promoting her new book, “Love in the Age of Trump,” added that millennials now are starting to prioritize political compatibility over sex.
“Singles now, especially millennials singles, are more interested in having similar politics and talking about good politics than actually having good sex,” Spira said.
The dating site OkCupid told HuffPost last month that for the first time in its 15-year history, the overall number of women who choose shared political views over “good sex” doubled from 2016 to 2018.
Well, if that’s what they choose, that’s what they’ll get.
February 13, 2019
JUST FYI, the InstaPundit contact email (see “Contact” at the top) wasn’t working for a while but it’s fixed now. Given the volume, I don’t promise replies but I do try to read it.
