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.

Q. HOW DO YOU SAY “JEREMY CORBYN” IN YIDDISH?: A. Bernie Sanders. Get this: The Israeli government is too “racist” for Bernie’s taste, so he wants to give money instead to the progressive humanitarians of … Hamas! No word on how Bernie feels about throwing gays off rooftops.

WASHINGTON POST, 800 YEARS AGO: Genghis Khan, beloved father to thousands, expert horsebreeder at helm of Mongolia, dies.

MCGOVERN 2020: From (my moderate-liberal Democratic friend) Max Stearns: The Elizabeth Warren Fantasy. Worth reading, but not if asides hostile to Trump will ruin your day.

THIS IS NOT YOUR FATHER’S ACLU: UConn students arrested for engaging in offensive speech. The ACLU of Connecticut puts out a press release denouncing racism at U Conn, apparently endorsing new hate speech rules, and opining that “policing is an inherently white supremacist institution.” Only at the very end of the release do we get a statement from the national ACLU that the speech in question is constitutionally protected.

THIS ISN’T YOUR OLDER BROTHER’S GQ: I have a hard time believing that any substantial percentage of young man are looking for this in a men’s magazine.

NEOCONSERVATIVE FANTASY LIVES ON: Properly understood, neoconservatism is an ideology that supports using U.S. diplomatic and especially military power to spread liberal democracy throughout the world. One would think that Afghanistan and Iraq would have taught the establishment some humility in this regard, but op-eds like this one by William H. McRaven, a retired Navy admiral and former commander of the United States Special Operations Command, suggest not:

We are not the most powerful nation in the world because of our aircraft carriers, our economy, or our seat at the United Nations Security Council. We are the most powerful nation in the world because we try to be the good guys. We are the most powerful nation in the world because our ideals of universal freedom and equality have been backed up by our belief that we were champions of justice, the protectors of the less fortunate.

But, if we don’t care about our values, if we don’t care about duty and honor, if we don’t help the weak and stand up against oppression and injustice — what will happen to the Kurds, the Iraqis, the Afghans, the Syrians, the Rohingyas, the South Sudanese and the millions of people under the boot of tyranny or left abandoned by their failing states?

As is often the case, Trump’s blunderbuss style is far from ideal, but is useful in showing the rot in the establishment.

If we can’t have faith in our nation’s principles, why would the men and women of this nation join the military? And if they don’t join, who will protect us? If we are not the champions of the good and the right, then who will follow us? And if no one follows us — where will the world end up?

Do high-level military officials really believe that Americans join the armed forces to try to liberate “the millions of people under the boot of tyranny or left abandoned by their failing states?” Or that the U.S. military is capable of doing this? Has nobody noticed the hundreds of billions of dollars and hundreds of lives lost trying to fix just Afghanistan, without any significant payoff? Exactly what does the McRaven think the U.S. military can do for the Rohingyas or the South Sudanese?

TRUE, BUT NOT NEW: Progressive base sees religious freedom as hate speech.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SEND IDIOT TRUST-FUND BABIES TO BE INDOCTRINATED AT LEFTIST PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES: They feel guilty that their parents’ created wealth and prosperity, and dissipate the family’s money on highly dubious leftist political ventures. Comment from a friend: “A bunch of Lillian Reardons.”

BUT MUH NARRATIVE: 32% of African American men would vote for Donald Trump over a generic Democratic nominee.

I THOUGHT PROGRESSIVES WERE AGAINST VICTIM-BLAMING: In the wake of a spate of violent crimes against visibly Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, Anti-Semitic hate crimes in NYC have risen significantly in 2019:

Lauter stressed that one of the keys to preventing hate crimes, especially among kids of different backgrounds, is education and long-term partnerships between religious and ethnic communities.

“The Jewish community at one point started withdrawing from its community relations agenda,” she said. “We’re feeling the repercussions now. This is hard work. You’ve got to do the long game on addressing these problems.”

If that’s not blaming the victims instead of the perpetrators, I don’t know what would be. And if the perps had been “white nationalists” instead of local, mostly minority, thugs, I’m pretty confident Lauter wouldn’t be claiming that the problem is insufficient efforts at community relations.

I WISH BERNIE THE BEST AS HE TRAVELS TO CUBA TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEIR EXCELLENT MEDICAL CARE (RIGHT?): Sanders treated for blocked artery.