THIS IS STARTING TO GET SCARY: Japan closes schools through the end of March

IT’S CALLED COMMUNIST PROPAGANDA, AND BERNIE FALLS FOR IT EVERY TIME: Hans Bader:

According to UNESCO, Cuba had about the same literacy rate as Costa Rica and Chile in 1950 (close to 80%). And it has almost the same literacy rate as they do today (close to 100%). Meanwhile, Latin American countries that were largely illiterate in 1950 — like Peru, Brazil, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic — are largely literate today, closing much of the gap with Cuba. El Salvador had a less than 40% literacy rate in 1950, but has an 88% literacy rate today. Brazil and Peru had a less than 50% literacy rate in 1950, but today, Peru has a 94.5% literacy rate, and Brazil a 92.6% literacy rate. The Dominican Republic’s rate rose from a little over 40% to 91.8%. While Cuba made substantial progress in reducing illiteracy in Castro’s first years in power, its educational system has stagnated since, even as much of Latin America improved.

MUSSOLINI MADE THE TRAINS RUNS ON TIME, BERNIE SANDERS EDITION: It’s not surprising that Bernie still sympathizes with Communist Cuba, but it is remarkable that he doesn’t seem to either recognize or care that this sort of thing is politically deadly, especially in Florida.

MAYBE THE DEMOCRATS SHOULD WORRY LESS ABOUT THE POLITICS, AND MORE THAT THEY ARE ABOUT TO NOMINATE SOMEONE WHO IS EITHER THIS STUPID OR THIS EVIL FOR PRESIDENT:

HOW ANGRY WAS BERNIE SANDERS?: Bernie Sanders Calls Out MSNBC Over Campaign Coverage.

This angry:

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IS BERNIE SANDERS REALLY A “DEMOCRATIC” SOCIALIST?: In 1980, Sanders could have endorsed one of 2 far-left democratic socialists running, Barry Commoner or David McReynolds. Instead he endorsed the Communist/Trotskyite Socialist Workers’ Party ticket, Pulley-Zimmerman. Here is an excerpt of an article from the SWP’s newspaper, The Militant, October 24, 1980, courtesy of historian David Beito.

NO ONE WITH A FIRM GRIP ON REALITY: Jonah Goldberg: Does Anyone Really Believe Free Market Fundamentalists Are ‘Running the Show’?

MORAL ROT AT UC BERKELEY (moved to top with corrected link): UC Berkeley chancellor not ‘interested in blame’ in response student-government chaos. A group of pro-Palestinian students displayed celebratory posters of terrorists who murdered Israeli civilians. A student introduced a resolution to the student government condemning the display. The Palestinian group disrupted the meeting with chants of “Free Palestine.” Here’s what university Chancellor Carol Christ had to say:

“Students who support the Palestinian cause have a right t o celebrate those they see as fighters for that cause, and their rights to express that support are fully protected by our country’s constitution,” she continued. “By the same token, Jewish students have a right to feel dismay and concern after seeing a poster they perceive as honoring those who killed, or attempted to kill, unarmed Jewish civilians. Each side has an equal right to express and have heard their perspective.”

Yes, the students have a “right” to celebrate terrorists who murder Jews, and the chancellor has the “right” to not draw moral equivalence between those who celebrate such terrorists and those who object to such terrorism. And yet she didn’t exercise it. Note, by the way, the use of the weasel word, “perceive.” The terrorists in question did murder Jewish civilians, and suggesting that the Jewish students only “perceive” it that way is a way for Chancellor Christ to evade responsibility for her horrific moral equivalence.

It’s also worth noting that the pro-Palestinian students do NOT have a right to disrupt a student government meeting (which no one seems to deny), or to harass other students (which is in dispute).

KILLING THE GOLDEN GOOSE: Northern Virginia has been mopping the floor with DC’s Maryland suburbs, because Virginia’s business climate is so much more favorable. The new Democratic majority in the state legislature, however, seems determined to reverse that, starting with a new, radical antidiscrimination law.

WHY IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUCH A HIVE OF ANTISEMITISM: Elizabeth Warren slanders AIPAC, and by extension, the American Jewish Community.

A QUESTION NO ONE IN THE MSM IS ASKING: Various Democrats are all over the media today saying that the fact that the GAO found that Trump acted illegally re spending appropriated funds means he should be tossed out of office. Does this mean that Obama, whom the GAO found illegally defied Congress in ordering the Defense Department to send five Guantanomo prisoners to Qatar in defiance of duly-enacted legislation prohibited Obama from expending any funds on such action, should have been removed from office as well? If you can find me a Democratic House member or Senator who denounced Obama for that move, I’ll concede that he is sincerely interested in presidential lawfulness and the separation of powers.

BOLSHIE BERNIE: Just came across an interview with Bernie Sanders from The Progressive in 1988, in which he suggests that Castro’s Cuba has a superior economic system to the U.S.:

Q: But apart from the Soviet Union, it seems that in more democratic countries—France, Spain, Italy—socialist parties in power are almost indistinguishable from conservative administrations. Socialism doesn’t seem to be working in those countries either.
Sanders: Fair enough. But take small countries like Norway or Sweden. Give them credit for creating decent health-care systems, decent housing for their citizens. good educational opportunities. media that are of an appreciably higher quality than our own. That may not fit some definitions of socialism, but it’s a significant improvement over what exists in the United States, isn’t it?
And what about Cuba? It’s not a perfect society. I grant, but there aren’t children there going hungry. It’s been more successful than almost any other developing country in providing health care for its people. And the Cuban revolution is only thirty years old. It may get even better.

But don’t get him wrong: “I’m not a communist, so no one has ever heard me defend the Soviet Union, for example, as any kind of model for other countries. I suppose that those people who did see the Soviet Union in that way are having some big problems these days.”

WHAT COLOR ARE MR. AND MRS. POTATOHEAD? OH, WAIT, THEY ARE TOYS:

SO IT’S WIN-WIN:

#STUFFWHITEPEOPLELIKE: Chicago Democratic Socialists of America Bernie Supporters Show Off Faux Revolutionary Clenched Fists. I’m supposed to be intimidated, but instead I’m suppressing a belly laugh.

WAIT, I THOUGHT MICHELLE OBAMA’S #SAVEROURGIRLS HASHTAG CAMPAIGN HAD TAKEN CARE OF THIS:

IN OTHER SHOCKING NEWS, WATER IS STILL WET:

THE NEW YORK TIMES TODAY RAN ITS FOURTH DISHONEST HIT PIECE ON TRUMP’S ANTISEMITISM EXECUTIVE ORDER SINCE WEDNESDAY: [UPDATE: I was referring to this article, but there is actually a fifth as well, that starts from this ridiculous premise: “The order is ambiguous as to whether it sees Jews as a distinct nationality or a minority race, but either interpretation aligns with Mr. Trump’s preoccupation with defining, and policing, the boundaries of identity.” For the record, as I’ve been repeating for several days, the order, which follows established Obama and Bush administration precedent, states only that Jews can be victims of discrimination motivated racism, which is hardly debatable. (Surely the author, Max Fisher, has at least heard of the Nazis?)]

I MEAN, IT’S NOT LIKE BERNIE HIRED PROMINENT ANTISEMITE LINDA SARSOUR AS A CAMPAIGN SURROGATE OR ANYTHING! OH, WAIT. And can’t Bernie’s speechwriter be more… articulate? [UPDATE: Turns out this is the same guy who waxed poetic a few years back about Venezuela’s “economic miracle.”]

THE NEW YORK TIMES IS STILL DISHONEST, AND WATER IS STILL WET: The New York Times Continues its Dishonest Assault on the Trump Executive Order on Antisemitism.

ONCE COULD BE AN HONEST MISTAKE; TWICE IS EITHER GROSS INCOMPETENCE, GROSS DISHONESTY, OR BOTH: The New York Times Continues to Misreport the Trump Executive Order on Antisemitism:

After causing the freakout, the Times improved but didn’t really correct its piece, and was pilloried on Twitter, including by liberals, for its bad reporting.

Unfortunately, this didn’t dissuade the Times, which tonight posted a hit piece on Ken Marcus, head of the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, for his role in the executive order. You will not learn from this piece that the executive order originated in language from a bill sponsored by Democrats, nor that it has direct antecedents in Obama and Bush II administration policy. Instead, the reporter, Erica Green, asserts that Marcus “has asserted a Jewish ‘national origin’ by fiat,” as if it didn’t reflect policy established in the Bush administration and adhered to by the Obama administration.

MORE ON THE NY TIMES-INSPIRED FREAKOUT OVER TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON ANTISEMITISM: Not only is there nothing sinister about the order, there is nothing novel; the Bush Administration’s and Obama Administration’s Department of Educations had both stated that Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects Jews from discrimination based on race/national origin, if the perpetrator is basing his discrimination on perceptions of race or national origin rather than hostility to the Jewish religion. The only thing new in the Trump definition is that it’s official policy via executive order, rather than the subject of informal guidance from the Office of Civil Rights.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL IS AN ENEMY OF FREEDOM: Recently, a pro-Israel group at York University in Ontario held an event that featured former Israeli soldiers. Violence ensued, apparently precipitated by leftist protesters. And Amnesty Canada blames.… York University for allowing the event to proceed, and allowing members of the public to attend:

Given conflicting views about what happened that evening, the worrying ongoing impact on students at York and the important human rights considerations that are at stake, Amnesty International urges York University to go further and convene an independent review of all circumstances associated with the Herut Zionism Club event and its aftermath, with a mandate that includes examination of:
considerations that were taken into account in approving the event, including the fact that the speakers were former members of a military with a clear record of responsibility for war crimes and other serious human rights violations; decisions made with respect to the presence of members of the Jewish Defense League on campus.

WHAT DO YOU CALL A CANDIDATE POOL WITH TWO WOMEN, A GAY MAN, A JEW, A HALF JEW, AND A CATHOLIC?: If you’ve drank a certain type of Kool-Aid, you call this “not diverse”–even though there has been only one Catholic president, and no gay, Jewish, or woman presidents. The obsession with arbitrary and artificial “official” minority status may be the single worse feature of the modern chattering classes.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): On the other hand, if all the candidates were black, we’d be hearing how diverse the Democratic field is!

BUT CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LAWYERS WHO REPRESENT CONVICTED MURDERERS AND TERRORISTS ARE UNDOUBTEDLY A-OK: Buttigieg campaign returns donations from Kavanaugh’s lawyers.