MASSIVE FRAUD AT DUKE: Glenn reported this earlier, but Steve Milloy notes further that some of the research grants to the Duke Medical School involved EPA grants for ozone and PM2.5 research and part of a $7.7m EPA grant for research on “environmental justice.” There’s a Green New Steal for you.
Archive for 2019
March 26, 2019
WHEN YOU START WITH THE CERTAINTY THAT SOMEONE IS GUILTY, EVERYTHING BECOMES EVIDENCE OF GUILT: The media took it as a sign of guilt when Trump acted like an innocent man. They did the same thing with Brett Kavanaugh.
THE RIGHT TO EARN A LIVING: Does the Fourteenth Amendment’s “privileges or immunities” clause protect unenumerated rights, such as the right to earn a living (which labor and employment law violate)? My colleague Devin Watkins says it does over at Law & Liberty.
NIXON LIBRARY TO ASK ALL NEW VISITORS WHETHER ALGER HISS WAS A SOVIET SPY AND IF THEY’VE READ THE LOOMING TOWER: Conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt to be the new president of the Richard Nixon Foundation.
(Classical reference in headline.)
NORMALIZING ANTI-SEMITISM: Virginia School Gives Award to ‘Hooked-Nose’ Anti-Semitic Art. “When a school official was confronted by a concerned member of the local Jewish community, the official responded by blaming President Trump.”
YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Democratic Presidential Clown Car Update.
I usually enjoy The Onion, but good satire has to have some small element of believability.
THAT’S THE CHICAGO WAY: Jussie Smollett Criminal Case Dropped!
Rupert Pupkin smiles.
DEB HEINE: Mueller Took a Vicious Parting Shot at Trump with Cop-Out on Obstruction. “If Trump was not guilty of a crime, what was he supposed to be obstructing anyway?”
JUSSIE SMOLLETT WALKS: Charges dropped.
THE FEUDALIZATION OF CALIFORNIA (CONT’D): Employment, employment everywhere, but not a place to live.
SO IT’S CANCELLED BECAUSE THE WOMEN HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR FOR THE OCCASION? NASA’s first all-female spacewalk isn’t happening. Blame a wardrobe malfunction. “NASA has aborted its mission for a first-ever all-female spacewalk around the International Space Station because there are not enough spacesuits to fit the female astronauts, the agency said. . . . NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz said in an email Tuesday to The Washington Post that both women now need a medium-sized hard upper torso — the shirt of the spacesuit — and there is only one medium-sized suit on the space station that is ready for use.”
All joking aside, it’s not a good look for NASA to announce this “all-women spacewalk” without ensuring that it could deliver first.
ALSO, WHY WASN’T HE A BETTER CIA DIRECTOR? “Doesn’t it seem wrong that the former director of the CIA is now a ‘pundit’? And why wasn’t he a better pundit?”
WELL, THAT’S A TAKE: The press plays along with AG William Barr’s obstruction of justice ploy.
The bottom line: Mueller’s report provided evidence of obstruction of justice. After receiving the report, Barr then decided not to charge Trump with obstruction of justice (surprise!) and issued a brief summary of Mueller’s work. Right now, the Mueller report and all the underlying evidence remain under lock and key at the DOJ. And no, Mueller had no say over the contents of Barr’s letter, which quoted selectively from the prosecutor’s work.
The whole scenario seems preposterous on its face, yet the White House is hoping it can pull it off. The painful realization is that there’s a chance it can, and specifically that it can rely on the political press to lose interest in the conflict, kind of like it lost interest in Trump refusing to release his tax returns. (This is the same press corps that focused like a laser for 18 months on Hillary Clinton’s emails.)
If the roles were reversed, you’d be damn sure the press would be leading a crusade for more information.
If the roles were reversed — and as recently as 2016, they were — we’d still be glowing in reports about that “remarkably scandal-free administration.”
WHY IS ACADEMIA SUCH A CESSPIT OF POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED VIOLENCE? Tulane U. member of Young Americans for Liberty targeted in arson attack.
PAKISTAN: Balochistan’s Great Internet Shutdown. “For 2 years and counting, Kech district’s mobile internet has been shut off for ‘security reasons’.”
“EVERYONE IS WELCOME! EXCEPT YOU…”: San Antonio has decided to ban Chick-fil-A from its airport. Its bizarre reasoning is that “Everyone has a place here, and everyone should feel welcome when they walk through our airport,” so Chick-fil-A’s charitable donations to Christian groups disqualifies it from inclusion. As Hans Bader notes, this is a violation of the company’s First Amendment rights. David French, meanwhile, points out the Orwellian doublespeak involved.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, FREE SPEECH EDITION: Think things are bad at Berkeley? Here’s why I’m suing UIllinois.
LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Mueller Report Fallout and Much, Much More. “Schiff went on cable news for two years telling America that he had seen evidence of “collusion” with RUSSIA, only to be undercut by the Mueller report findings. Nevertheless, he will keep the dream alive. Impeachment is not dead! Long live impeachment. Meanwhile, the Trump team is telling media to stay away from RUSSIA conspiracy theorists. That is a tall order as most of their programming is centered around promulgating the RUSSIA conspiracy theory. What are they supposed to talk about now?”
I dunno — stuff that actually happened?