THE WORST GOVERNMENT FOR A SOCIALIST IS ONE CONTROLLED BY SOCIALISTS WHO ARE NOT HIS FRIENDS: Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, team detained, released in Venezuela, network says.
Archive for 2019
February 25, 2019
NO RELIGIOUS TESTS FOR PUBLIC OFFICE: My colleague and friend Neomi Rao’s nomination is to the D.C. Circuit is pending. Nothing she has written conflicts with standard conservative judicial views, and the D.C. Circuit handles primarily administrative law cases, with no choice but to obey Supreme Court precedent on abortion if that issue ever comes before it. Yet Sen. Josh Hawley has suddenly been raising questions about Rao’s views on abortion and Roe v. Wade. I’ve been trying to figure out why, and the only thing I’ve come up with is that she is not a Christian by either background or practice, and therefore she is deemed potentially untrustworthy. I hope I’m wrong, though I just noticed that the Wall Street Journal just published an editorial implying the same thing. Conservatives have been rightly appalled at pointed questions aimed at nominees’ Christianity, and they should be equally appalled if someone’s judicial bona fides are being questioned because she is not a Christian.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): I haven’t followed this closely, but I can’t think of any reason whatsoever not to confirm Neomi Rao posthaste.
AT AMAZON, save on Folding Knives.
OPEN THREAD: Start off the week with brio.
IT’S ALMOST LIKE THE DEMOCRATS ARE DOING ALL THE STUFF THEY’RE ACCUSING REPUBLICANS OF DOING: Tech Billionaire Allegedly Behind A False Flag Operation Played A Role In Creating Fake News Software, Nonprofit Confirms.
The liberal billionaire who allegedly backed a misinformation campaign during the midterm elections played a significant role in funding a group responsible for creating a controversial fake news project.
Reid Hoffman greatly increased his financial contributions to artificial intelligence research group OpenAI, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned. The group recently developed software allowing people with the know-how to craft so-called “deepfake” news articles, The Guardian reported.
“OpenAI has lots of co-founders, by the way, with most involved ones being our CTO Greg Brockman and Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever,” Jack Clark, the nonprofit’s head of policy, told TheDCNF, referring to OpenAI executives Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever. . . .
Hoffman-financed groups — New Knowledge (NK) and American Engagement Technologies (AET) — allegedly used social media in 2017 to undermine support for Republican Roy Moore’s senatorial campaign and boosted his opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, who narrowly won the race. Jones has since publicly called for an investigation into the caper.
Like I said. . . .
THE DAILY BEAST DOXXES PASTRY CHEF AT MAR-A-LAGO FOR THOUGHT CRIME BECAUSE TRUMP OWNS PROPERTY:
If the pastry chef were involved in the Trump campaign or other politics, perhaps there would be some news value. But there is nothing in the newsletter or The Daily Beast article that indicates that the pastry chef played such a role. She’s not a political staffer or involved in policy, and there’s nothing in the coverage to indicate she aspires to those goals.
Nothing in the story indicates she used her politics to harass or intimidate co-workers or subordinates. She simply posted her political conspiracy theories on her personal social media accounts, which is a lot less than hundreds of blue-check-mark journalists and anti-Trump nutters do every day on Twitter with their Russia collusion conspiracy theories.
The ONLY reason she has been singled out by The Daily Beast is that she works at a Trump property. That’s it. It’s not about the pastry chef, it’s about media hate of Trump and an eagerness to take down anyone associated, even remotely, with Trump.
Yet that pastry chef’s name, image and work details now are exposed to millions of readers of The Daily Beast for one reason only — she works at a Trump property.
What’s next for The Daily Beast? A deep dive into the personal political views of Mar-a-Lago groundskeepers, bellhops and janitors?
How about we leave low-level employees, who have not joined the political battle, alone?
As Stephen Miller tweets, “If you’ve ever worked around chefs, believe me QAnon is towards the bottom of the list of crazy shit they believe. But go chase your clicks guys.”
A FRIEND WRITES: “Trump’s economy is so good, I can’t get used car dealers to call me back about Porsches.”
UPDATE: From the comments: Forget bread lines. “Someday if my grandkids ask about the hardships of the Trump era, all I’ll have is stories about waiting in Porsche lines.”
SODA, WATER, GUNS, AND TIRES: They could all be taxed if California Democrats have their way.
When does Sacramento implement the tax on thingy?
THE KING OF MAGA COUNTRY: Some thoughts, over at Ed Driscoll.com, on how Martin Scorsese’s dark 1982 satire The King of Comedy, a rumination on using any method possible to achieve superstardom, foreshadowed last month’s incident in Chicago involving Empire actor Jussie Smollett.
PUT ON YOUR HELMET: Failed 1970s Venus Probe Could Crash to Earth This Year.
AT AMAZON, shop the Home Improvement Outlet.
JURY DUTY: I was on jury duty today, in a pool of 75 potential jurors selected for a criminal trial in Travis County, Texas. The charge was driving while intoxicated. The potential jurors weren’t given specific details –those are presented during trial– but the assistant DA indicated penalties in the case could range from probation to 20 years in prison. Juror 40 completed the jury of 12. I was Juror 46. The pool had been told to be prepared for a trial that could run to March 5 or 6. Mid-afternoon the judge released those of us who were not needed. Jury selection can be citizen water torture, especially if the judge has a hoity-toity complex. However, today — none of that. The judge was sharp and worked briskly; the serious process went smoothly. Voir dire left me with the impression most of the jurors were familiar with the criminal justice system. I suspect the online questionnaire helped form the pool in some fashion. Based on my memory, the 2019 questionnaire was more detailed than the one I filled out when I was summoned in 2016.
Plus: “I’m enjoying this genre of awkward acknowledgement of Trump success. Notice how carefully it steers around any potential criticism of Obama.”
LEFTIES ARE IGNORANT, PART GAZILLION-AND-TWO:
UPDATE (From Ed): “On resigning from the Italian Socialist Party, Mussolini said, ‘You think you can turn me out, but you will find I will come back again. I am and shall remain a socialist and my convictions will never change! They are bred into my very bones.’”
IT’S AN ESSENTIAL MYTH FOR LEFTIST SELF-REGARD: The Mythical Rise in White Supremacist Violence. And nothing does more to drive the media narrative than the need for leftist self-regard.
NEW SOCIALIST “IT GIRL” CONTINUES TO PAY DIVIDENDS: Nation Breathes Sigh Of Relief As Ocasio-Cortez Comes Out Against Having Children.
Important note to “fact checking” Website Snopes.com: the Babylon Bee is satire.
STACY MCCAIN: The Left’s Rage Against ‘MAGA.’
Terry Pierce was shocked this month when he found a man pointing a pistol in his face. “All this over a political statement over a hat,” Pierce told WBKO-TV, after a court hearing about the Feb. 16 incident at a Sam’s Club store in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Police say James Phillips was enraged because Pierce and his wife were wearing red “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) hats and, after a verbal exchange, Phillips pulled a .40-caliber Glock on Pierce. This was no idle threat. Phillips has a criminal record, including a 2013 charge of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and there was a round in the chamber of his Glock, police say. The man in the MAGA hat was dismayed.
“Everybody has a right to believe how they believe,” Pierce said Friday of the frightening encounter, “but you don’t have a right to tell somebody they can’t believe a certain way.”
Perhaps the most astonishing thing about that incident is that it happened in Warren County, Kentucky, which President Trump carried by a 30-point margin in 2016. It’s such a Republican stronghold that the local GOP congressman, Rep. Brett Guthrie, had no Democrat challenger in 2016 and won re-election in 2018 with 67% of the vote against Democrat Hank Linderman. If anti-Trump rage can make it dangerous to wear a MAGA cap in deep-red Bowling Green, how much more dangerous must it be to show support for the president in deep-blue Democrat-dominated urban coastal enclaves?
As dangerous as they can get away with making it.
YOUR DAILY TREACHER: AOC Is Not My Boss.
ANOTHER FAKE HATE CRIME: Jackson gay rights leader accused of burning down own home.
When the home of Nikki Joly burned down in 2017, killing five pets, the FBI investigated it as a hate crime.
After all, the transgender man and gay rights activist had received threats after having a banner year in this conservative town.
In the prior six months, he helped open the city’s first gay community center, organized the first gay festival and, after 18 years of failed attempts, helped lead a bruising battle for an ordinance that prohibits discrimination against gays.
For his efforts, a local paper named him the Citizen of the Year.
Authorities later determined the fire was intentionally set, but the person they arrested came as a shock to both supporters and opponents of the gay rights movement. It was the citizen of the year — Nikki Joly.
“It’s embarrassing,” said Travis Trombley, a gay resident who fought for the ordinance. “How do you do it to the community you have put so much effort into helping?”
For the coveted victim status? Anyway, it’s clear that the demand for hate crimes in Trump’s America far exceeds the supply.
MEH. TO BE HONEST, THIS IS A FAIR POINT. AND JOSH KRAUSHAAR ISN’T ACTUALLY A HACK:
BIZARRO WORLD WALTER DURANTY SAYS WHAT? New York Times: Britain on verge of civil war, send more croissants.