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JANUARY 24,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

CALIFORNIA, THERE I GO – FROM FOX:  A recall campaign to oust California Gov. Gavin Newsom is nearing its required threshold to qualify for a statewide ballot.  Over the weekend, recall organizers said they have collected 1.2 million of the 1.5 million signatures needed by March 17 to qualify for a ballot.  Per state law, petition sponsors must gather the signatures of 12% of the voter turnout in California’s previous statewide election, which is about 1,495,709 names.  Rescue California, one of two main groups organizing the campaign, says their goal is to collect 2 million signatures to account for the fact that many of the signatures will inevitably prove invalid.  San Diego’s KUSI reported Saturday that California’s Secretary of State has confirmed 84% of the signatures collected so far are valid.  Once considered a possible presidential candidate.  No more.  Last time a California governor was successfully recalled, the replacement was Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Maybe this time they can get a figure skater.

TRUMP SEEMS SAFE ON IMPEACHMENT – FROM CNN:  The path in the Senate to convict Donald Trump is extremely slim, with a growing number of Republicans expressing confidence that the party will acquit the former President on a charge that he incited the deadly insurrection aimed at stopping President Joe Biden's electoral win.  After Democratic leaders announced they would kick off the process to begin the impeachment trial on Monday, Republicans grew sharply critical about the proceedings -- and made clear that they saw virtually no chance that at least 17 Republicans would join with 50 Democrats to convict Trump and also bar him from ever running from office again.  In interviews with more than a dozen GOP senators, the consensus was clear: Most Republicans are likely to acquit Trump, and only a handful are truly at risk of flipping to convict the former President -- unless more evidence emerges or the political dynamics within their party dramatically change. Yet Republicans are also signaling that as more time has passed since the riot, some of the emotions of the day have cooled and they're ready to move on.

January 24, 2021      Permalink

NEWS FROM THE EDUCATION RACKET – AT 6:31 P.M. ET:  With a new, left-leaning administration in power in Washington, there is every indication that the education industry will now plunge ahead with its craziest new ideas, knowing that no one in the federal government will challenge the madness.  Consider this, from College Fix: 

A political science professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign warns about a new “intellectual plague” that could take over universities.

“The toxic ideas that have corrupted today’s universities all began as tiny, obscure musings before escaping from the laboratories,” Robert Weissberg (right) wrote in an essay for Minding the Campus.

He said the next disease to worry about is the proliferation of programs in “hate studies.”

“This incipient plague embraces the very essence of totalitarianism—the criminalization of thinking,” Weissberg said. “Out with criminal behavior, in with thoughtcrime.”

The professor mentions Bard College as one supporter of hate studies. It has a fall 2020 “Hate Studies Initiative.”

Weissberg said:

This anti-hate message is already filtering into student brains through such Bard courses as Outsider Art; American Studies; Gender and Sexuality Studies; German Expressionism; Capitalism and Slavery; Contagion: on rumor, heresy, disease, and financial panic; and Women’s Rights, Human Rights, among others. Bard students will almost surely learn about the evils of “hate” and ambitious, trend-sniffing academics will adjust their teaching interests accordingly.

Bard is not alone in its endeavor. “Other early investors are The Gonzaga Institute for Hate Studies, The International Network for Hate Studies, California State University at Santa Barbara Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, and up in Canada, the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism located at the Ontario Institute of Technology,” Weissberg said.

“Who will exorcise this hate? The Ministry of Anti-Hate,” Weissberg asks. “The courts or the Stasi? Might each individual be the judge and jury and settle the matter as he sees fit?”

The political science professor said that hate studies is “an academic racket” aimed at “ambitious scholars likely frustrated in climbing up the traditional academic ladder.”

“It is not especially technical, nor does it require mastering a foreign language. Entry into the field is easy, but this ‘softness’ should not detract from the awaiting evil,” Weissberg said.
He warned about possible scrutinizing of classic works.

“Books, entire libraries, and even traditional disciples will be scrutinized for toxicity and, rest assured, costly bogus prescriptions will be written,” Weissberg said. “I hate to say it, but this will not end well, so it’s time to sound the alarm.”

COMMENT:   I am seeing the term, "This will not end well" more and more.  As a nation, we seem to be heading into darkness, rather than light.  We have let our educational system fall under the control of radical leftists.  Disagree with them and you're called a racist.  I recall a story last year about some concerned parents in Brooklyn who didn't like the way their children's schools were run, but confided to a reporter that they were afraid to speak out for fear of being labeled racists or hatemongers.

I wonder how many journalists understand that they are living in a world of intimidation that they helped create.  What heroes will step forward to fight the madness?  Are there any heroes left?

January 24, 2021       Permalink 

JANUARY 23,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

UNBELIEVABLE – FROM FOX:    Seattle police will start cracking down on rioters who damage businesses, the city's interim police chief warned Saturday.  Chief Adrian Diaz's pledge came days after anti-Biden rioters left Pike Place Market’s original Starbucks coffee shop with its windows smashed and numerous downtown business owners feeling abandoned by the city, according to reports.  Like his predecessor, Carmen Best -- who departed last September, claiming a lack of support for police from some city officials -- Diaz said he doesn’t believe rioters who smash windows and tag businesses are promoting a cause.  "On January 20th, the events at a variety of locations had no meaning. There was no discussion about what they were fighting for, or what type of social justice message. That cannot happen," Diaz told reporters at a news conference, according to the Seattle Times.  He added that rioters seeming more focused on "lighting fires" and "breaking windows."  "These are things we need to work on," he added.  Seattle is a leftist city which has failed to prosecute many of the rioters who've struck the city since the summer.  Neither President Biden nor Vice President Harris has condemned the rioting. 

BAD IDEA – FROM BREITBART:   Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told  “Just the News” on Friday that the Democratic-led Senate and House will vote in favor of statehood for the District of Columbia and send the bill to President Joe Biden’s desk, who has expressed support for D.C. statehood in the past.
Bowser said, “The nation’s capital, the federal enclave, continues to exist as the nation’s capital and everything outside of those new boundaries becomes the 51st state. Our congresswoman – we had our first successful vote on statehood in the House of Representatives last year. She reintroduced the bill. She has a record number of sponsors.”  She continued, “It is going to be reintroduced in the Senate in a couple of weeks, and we expect to have a favorable vote in the Senate as well, and then it goes to the president of the United States. We have made a big focus to President Biden to support D.C. statehood and make it part of his 100-day agenda.”  She added, “Just like you, we pay the same federal taxes as every citizen of the fifty states of the U.S. expect we do not have two senators. We literally have no one to speak for us in the Senate. We have to have full representation.”  Translated into English, the Democrats will have two more votes in the United States Senate.  If Puerto Rico is added to the Union, that's four more votes.  Both D.C. and Puerto Rico are basket cases, so the rest of the country will pay their way. And Republicans will probably never have a majority in the Senate again.  Think of the judiciary that will result.  Think of the America that will result.  Think of our children.

January 23, 2021       Permalink

WHO BIDEN REALLY IS – AT 11:30 P.M. ET:   As if there were any doubt, President Joe Biden now announces who he actually is by directly repeating an action of Barack Obama, as if paying homage to his former (and maybe present) boss.  It's hard to believe he's so obvious.  From Fox:  

The Biden administration on Friday defended the decision to remove a bust of former U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill from the Oval Office -- creating a bright video designed to remind people "what the Special Relationship is truly about."

"We’ve seen some discussion about the Churchill Bust, so we just wanted to remind everyone what the Special Relationship is truly about," a tweet from the U.S. Embassy to the U.K. said.

The video contrasts pictures of the bust, which it describes as "just a bust of Winston Churchill" with pictures of former presidents meeting with former prime ministers -- and highlights of the U.S. U.K. relationship.

"Largest investors in each others countries. This is the Special Relationship," the video said. "The Special Relationship is about people, values & trust."

President Biden had removed the bust of former U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill from display in the Oval Office. The Washington Post, as part of a tour of the new design of the famous room, reported that Biden "does not have the bust on display." However, other busts, including labor leader Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr., are on display.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair had loaned President George W. Bush a bust of the British wartime leader in 2001. Former President Barack Obama had caused controversy by removing it when he entered office in 2009, and it was viewed by critics as a snub of the U.S.-U.K. alliance -- although his White House noted that there was still a Churchill bust elsewhere in the building.

The controversy simmered for years, with then-London Mayor Boris Johnson noting in 2016 that "some said it was a snub to Britain."

COMMENT:  Ah, to be Son of Obama.  What a concept.  But, as with Barack the Omnipotent, it is sad to see the disrespect shown to Winston Churchill, the greatest statesman of the 20th century, and the man widely credited with saving democracy by inspiring Britain to keep fighting until the United States entered World War II.  In removing the bust, Obama style, Bidden is bowing once more to the hard left of his party, which sees Churchill only as a colonialist.  They don't realize that, without Sir Winston, they wouldn't be here, at least not in freedom.

January 23, 2021       Permalink

JANUARY 22,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

THE ANTI-WOMAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  Mere hours after stressing the need for “unity,” President Bidden sparked a new civil war with an executive order letting transgender women compete in women’s sports.  On social media, #BidenErasedWomen and #TERFs (an acronym for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist”) trended following the action. That’s understandable: It’s one thing, after all, to ban discrimination; it’s another to tell schools and colleges that transwomen athletes — biologically born boys who now identify as female — must be allowed to compete with biological women and girls, despite their physical advantages.  The notion is patently ridiculous and may result in millions of girls losing out on prestigious sports victories (and maybe scholarships that go with them). It also risks greater injuries to women. A better solution, perhaps, might be to give trans athletes a league of their own.  Meanwhile, the US Education Department will now switch sides in two court battles, one in Connecticut and another in Idaho, over whether transgender athletes are treated by their biological sex or by how they identify. An absolute betrayal of young women, and the silence of the "women's movement" tells us all we need to know about their radical leftist views.  The red ideology comes first; women are far behind.

CALIFORNIA'S STUDENT GOVERNMENT AT WORK – FROM FOX:   The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in California – the most populous state in the U.S. – is proceeding at a slower pace than most, if not all, other states.  Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that California has received 4.7 million doses of the vaccine – but it has only administered 1.8 million doses.  The data show it is doling out doses at a rate of roughly 4,565 per 100,000 people, which is slower than Texas, New York, Florida, Connecticut, Michigan, Georgia, and many others.  Data from Bloomberg ranks California dead-last among all 50 U.S. states in terms of the percentage of shots utilized (37.3%).  The CDC data suggests a slightly higher percent utilization rate of 38.2%.  California, once a Republican state, is now considered the symbol of Democratic states.  It's failing, driving people out, and obsessed with identity politics.  It still has the Sun, but will probably tax it.

January 22, 2021       Permalink

THE BATTLE FOR THE COURT – OVERNIGHT:  And it may be the most important battle we'll see in the age of Biden.  It is clear that the Democrats, who seem to have almost no respect for any American institution, would like to "pack" the Supreme Court by adding enough judges while they control the House, Senate and White House, to insure liberal/radical control of the highest court in the land.

Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to pack the court in 1937, but his own party turned against him and the maneuver failed.  Now Republicans are trying to pre-empt the Dems.  They may fail, but they'll be alerting the American people to the danger of tampering with the Supreme Court.  From Fox: 

West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito reintroduced a bill Friday that would limit the number of justices permitted in the Supreme Court.

"A nine Justice court has worked for our country for more than 150 years," Capito said in a statement Friday. "Increasing that number in a partisan effort to achieve a desired policy result is a never-ending proposition."

Following the death of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Sept. 18, 2020, Republicans in the Senate rushed to push through a new Supreme Court justice – securing a third Republican-appointed justice under President Trump.

Democrats furiously pointed to the hypocritical nature of the confirmation, reminding their fellow GOP lawmakers of their refusal to review President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, in March 2015, at which time they cited concerns over appointing a justice during an election year.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett was appointed to the high court on Oct. 27, 2020, just one week prior to the general election – causing a furious backlash from Democratic lawmakers, some vowing to "pack the courts" if Biden were elected.

The ability for Democrats to add more justices to the high court became a reality after the party won not only the White House, but majority control in the Senate.

"Once this door is opened, respect for the Supreme Court as an independent arbiter of cases and controversies would fall away as it became another partisan branch of government," the West Virginia Republican said Friday. "We should preserve our independent judiciary by closing the door to court-packing."

Though Supreme Court justices are intended to remain non-partisan in their judicial role, each justice tends to interpret the constitution in a manner that aligns with the White House's political affiliation during their time of appointment.

There are currently six justices in the Supreme Court that were confirmed under conservative presidents, while only three were appointed under Democratic presidents – a division that some lawmakers have said does not accurately reflect the political standing of the nation.

Nine justices have sat on the Supreme Court for the last 150 years, but there is no language in the Constitution that sets or limits the number of justices permitted in the high court.

The legislation originally put forward by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in March 2019, calls for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would limit only nine justices permitted in the court at a time.

In October, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that given the growth in population since 1876, when nine justices starting arbitrating from the high court, the U.S. may need to reevaluate the number of justices who regularly sit on the bench.

COMMENT:  Even Ruth Ginsburg, liberal icon, said that nine was a good number.  If the Democrats get to pack the court, the standard for appointment will have nothing to do with the qualifications of the candidate.  It will have everything to do with the group the candidate "represents."  Identity politics carried to its worst extreme.  It must be stopped.

January 22, 2021       Permalink

WAPO TELLS IT LIKE IT ISN'T – AT 7:30 P.M. ET:  We are watching the establishment press almost as closely as we're watching the new administration.  The establishment scribes did everything they could to destroy Donald Trump, and they, and the Washington swamp, finally succeeded. 

But how will they deal with Joe Biden, and, probably more important, Kamala Harris, who stands a high statistical chance of becoming president/  We've now gotten a taste from that great pillar of virtue and truth, the Washington Post.  But the Post got caught.  From Fox, and this is very juicy: 

The Washington Post removed an unflattering tidbit about Vice President Kamala Harris from a 2019 feature and republished a new version of the story that is friendlier to the Democratic media darling -- but eventually restored a link to the original after widespread backlash.

Reason reporter Eric Boehm noticed the edit and took the Post to task in a scathing breakdown of the situation.

"When The Washington Post published a 2019 campaign trail feature about then-presidential hopeful Kamala Harris' close relationship with her sister, it opened with a memorable anecdote in which Harris bizarrely compared the rigors of the campaign trail to…life behind bars. And then proceeded to laugh—at the idea of an inmate begging for a sip of water," Boehm wrote, calling it "an extremely cringeworthy moment" that painted Harris in a negative light.

"But now that Harris is vice president, that awful moment has seemingly vanished from the Post's website after the paper ‘updated’ the piece earlier this month," Boehm wrote.

The original Post feature from 2019 featured a tale of Harris comparing campaigns to prisons to her sister, Maya, when making a point that finding time to relax on the campaign trail is similar to prisoners seeking food and water. The first seven paragraphs of the 2019 Post story appeared like this:

It was the Fourth of July, Independence Day, and Kamala Harris was explaining to her sister, Maya, that campaigns are like prisons.

She'd been recounting how in the days before the Democratic debate in Miami life had actually slowed down to a manageable pace. Kamala, Maya and the rest of the team had spent three days prepping for that contest in a beach-facing hotel suite, where they closed the curtains to blot out the fun. But for all the hours of studying policy and practicing the zingers that would supercharge her candidacy, the trip allowed for a break in an otherwise all-encompassing schedule.

"I actually got sleep," Kamala said, sitting in a Hilton conference room, beside her sister, and smiling as she recalled walks on the beach with her husband and that one morning SoulCycle class she was able to take.

"That kind of stuff," Kamala said between sips of iced tea, "which was about bringing a little normal to the days, that was a treat for me."

"I mean, in some ways it was a treat," Maya said. "But not really."

"It's a treat that a prisoner gets when they ask for, 'A morsel of food please,' " Kamala said shoving her hands forward as if clutching a metal plate, her voice now trembling like an old British man locked in a Dickensian jail cell. "'And water! I just want wahtahhh….'Your standards really go out the f—ing window."

Kamala burst into laughter.

COMMENT:  Now read the rest of the piece.  Be sure to do it.  It is a lesson in how a newspaper can remake the image of a political personality by just leaving something out.  But I do see some hopeful evidence that at least some journalists are intent on restoring their calling's reputation after the journalistic degeneracy of the Trump years.  But they will have to overcome the overwhelming leftist bigotry that still remains.

January 22,  2021     Permalink