THIS PROBABLY WON’T HAPPEN, BUT IT’S 2020: “If Trump and Pence both get very sick, it’s not clear who would be president/President Pelosi? Invoking the Succession Act would lead to chaos.”
Regardless, I agree that it makes more sense to have the Secretary of State next in succession after the Vice President, rather than the Speaker of the House.
MSM EXECS, EDITORS SEVEN MOST-FEARED WORDS: “I still have more work to do.” – Nicholas Sandmann. Federal court gives this courageous young man the go-ahead on litigation against the New York Times, ABC, CBS and Rolling Stone.
SPACE: SpaceX’s Crew Dragon suffered more damage than expected on recent mission. “Speaking at a press conference this week about plans for the first operational launch of the Crew Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS) at the end of October, Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX, said his team found ‘a little bit more erosion than we wanted to see’ on one of the spacecraft’s tiles.”
If that’s the extent of the “unexpected” damage, that’s good.
I HAD TO BE FIRED TWICE BEFORE I GOT THE MESSAGE: Seems like a good time to share this inasmuch as I’ve lost count of how many Instapunditeers have sent encouraging notes about HillFaith in recent months. Plus, I’ve met made some great new friends in the skeptics gallery as well.
All of this is very much appreciated, since, as critically important as we all think politics and public policy issues surely are, culture is upstream from politics and the ultimate questions are upstream from culture. And a little civility for and from everybody goes a long ways toward solutions we can all live with.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Trump’s Got COVID-19 and Now the Year Is Going To Get Really Ugly. “I keep telling people not to ask what else can go wrong this year but people seem to not be taking my advice. 2020 seems to be offended by the question and always has an answer to it that nobody likes. Never tempt the universe. The universe is bored and does not take kindly to being trifled with.”
THE IGUALA MASSACRE INVESTIGATION CHALLENGES IMPUNITY: Mexico’s President Versus Beyond-the-Law Elites.
Impunity — that’s the deep issue. For disenchanted Mexican citizens, “impunity” means injustice embedded within their nation’s governing institutions and society. It expresses deep disgust with political and economic leaders who escape responsibility for their crimes.
Impunity directly connects to the Iguala mass murders. The students were slaughtered. Bodies and human remains kept appearing — but only low-level actors were arrested.
But the latest investigation is different and the indictments include “the intellectual and material authors” of the massacre.
MORE NEWS: Breaking: VP, wife test negative for COVID-19; Update: Trump physician says president, FLOTUS “both well.” “With the Trumps sidelined for at least a week and probably two after their positive test, Pence will face pressure in both directions. The campaign will want him to pick up the slack on events to replace Trump. However, continuity-of-government risks will likely keep Pence close to home in case Trump’s case gets more serious. Pence will likely err on the side of caution.”
THAT’S WHAT XI SAID: The New York Times Publishes a Defense of the Hong Kong Crackdown.
The New York Times published an op-ed by Regina Ip, a pro-Beijing politician widely known for her ambition to become chief executive of Hong Kong. The piece is entitled “Hong Kong Is China, Like It or Not.” (She seems to like it.)
Ip, a longtime apologist for Chinese Communist Party control over the city, led the charge on anti-subversion legislation that spurred mass protests in 2003. What does she think of democracy? “Adolf Hitler was returned by universal suffrage, and he killed 7 million Jews,” she said at the time.
So naturally, the Times is publishing this esteemed figure, whose comments on an issue of international concern are apparently more reliable than what a sitting U.S. senator has to say. As far as the implications of Ip’s argument are concerned: The Chinese government’s crackdown in Hong Kong has obliterated the remaining freedoms that its residents once enjoyed, and provided it a thin veneer with which it targets free people everywhere, including U.S. citizens. But don’t expect much outrage from the NYT’s newsroom about this piece.
It’s a PR coup for the dictatorship that’s snuffed out the remaining elements of democratic governance in the city. The only reasonable argument for publishing it would have been to expose the CCP’s aims — but these are already widely known.
And to think, this was the paper which had a mass case of the vapors over Tom Cotton’s op-ed in June on the use of the military during the Biden Riots, with some of their crybully staffers actually tweeting, “Running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger.” Do Hong Kongese lives matter also?
LINE OF FIRE: U.S. Marines fire an M240B medium machine gun during a night shoot aboard dock landing ship USS Germantown.
WELL, OF COURSE THEY IGNORED IT: The startling news about Trump’s economy that mainstream media ignored: Before the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump’s economic success blew past that of any other presidency.
And they were overjoyed when the pandemic shutdowns brought it to an end because #OrangeManBad.
WE COULD USE A LITTLE MORE LINDSEY 2.0: Third-party candidate backs Lindsey Graham in tightening South Carolina race. “Bill Bledsoe, who had been running as the Constitution Party candidate seeking to block Graham from a fourth term, dropped out to endorse Graham, the Republican’s campaign told The Associated Press on Thursday.”
OF COURSE THEY DO: Anti-Trumpers Celebrate News That President Tests Positive For Coronavirus.
10 WAYS TRUMP CHANGED AMERICAN POLITICS FOR THE BETTER: Yes, Trump can’t keep from bulldozing opponents, telling off jerk journalists, and being utterly blunt when a little tact might be more prudent. But, as J.B. Shurk makes clear, the man has profoundly changed the political and here’s 10 ways he’s made it so much better than before.
THIS IS WHY WE NEED TO GIVE TRUMP ANOTHER TERM: IF HE BROUGHT PEACE TO THE MIDDLE EAST, HE CAN BRING PEACE TO AMERICA. Powder keg: 61% say United States ‘on verge of civil war,’ 52% already preparing. Our political class appears to be deliberately fomenting this, for some reason. Though I suspect the Chinese or the Russians are ultimately behind it. Cui bono?
THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTINUES APACE: AOC Nixes Ceremony for Israeli Leader.
EARMARKS ARE COMING BACK, FOLKS: Roll Call this morning makes clear that momentum is growing in the House of Representatives to bring back earmarks. And, while Democrats are leading the charge, some Republicans, including my long-ago high school classmate Tom Cole, are cheering them on.
SMART: Texas Gov. Abbott limits mail-in voting drop-off locations. “The State of Texas has a duty to voters to maintain the integrity of our elections. As we work to preserve Texans’ ability to vote during the COVID-19 pandemic, we must take extra care to strengthen ballot security protocols throughout the state.”
NEW FROM SCALIA LAW SCHOOL’S LIBERTY AND LAW CENTER: My colleague Nelson Lund on The Future of the Second Amendment in a Time of Lawless Violence. I’m executive director of the center, and we have several Second Amendment-related papers forthcoming in our working paper series, many if not all of which will be of interest to Instapundit readers. I will link to them as the working papers are published.
SIX FIGURES GOOD, EIGHT FIGURES BETTER: L.A. Ordered to Pay NRA Six Figures After Losing First Amendment Case. It should come out of the pockets of offending officials.
COMMUNIST FRONT CORPORATION: GCHQ discovered ‘nationally significant’ vulnerability in Huawei equipment.
Investigators at the UK’s Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) found an issue so severe that it was withheld from the company, according to an oversight report published on Thursday.
Vulnerabilities are usually software design failures which could allow hostile actors (in particular the Chinese state when it comes to Huawei) to conduct a cyber attack. They are not necessarily intentional and can’t be seen as an indication of any hostile intent on the part of the developers themselves.
Don’t trust China.
NBC NEWS MISREPRESENTS INTERNAL DHS MEMO ABOUT THEIR RESPONSE TO THE KYLE RITTENHOUSE CASE: “In other words, NBC News misrepresented what the memo said by not reporting how the ‘sympathetic’ talking points were not talking points at all given how they were in the ‘Situation’ section and not the ‘Response’ section. NBC News rolled two different components into just the ‘Response’ portion of the memo.”
Earlier: It’s On: Sandmann’s Lawyer to Sue Joe Biden for Calling Kyle Rittenhouse a White Supremacist.
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