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MARCH 23,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

WIDE SUPPORT FOR A CRITICAL VOTING SAFEGUARD – FROM BREITBART:   A majority of Americans, including a majority of black and Hispanic voters, overwhelmingly support voter ID, a key election integrity measure, a HEP and HEP Action survey —  which comes as Democrats continue to advance H.R. 1 — revealed.  Jason Snead, the Executive Director of the Honest Elections Project, sent a memo to members of Congress ahead of Wednesday’s Senate Rules Committee hearing on House-passed H.R. 1, or the “For the People Act,” which would essentially federalize U.S. elections, stripping states of their ability to implement basic election integrity measures, such as voter ID, by micromanaging the election process administered by each individual state.  Contrary to the Democrat Party’s narrative, Snead’s memo reveals that the majority of voters, including the majority of black and Hispanic voters, support basic election integrity measures such as voter ID, which Democrats routinely describe as a form of voter suppression.  Seventy-seven percent of Americans across the board favor requiring individuals to show an ID before casting a ballot, compared to 15 percent who oppose the idea. This is a common theme across party lines, with 92 percent of Republicans, 75 percent of Independents, and 63 percent of Democrats supporting voter ID. This includes a majority of black and Hispanic voters, who back voter ID laws 64 percent to 22 percent and 78 percent to 16 percent, respectively.  Notably, a majority of voters who supported Biden in 2020 also back election ID requirements by a 38-point margin, 62 percent to 24 percent. The results are not surprising.  Poll after poll has shown strong public support, and minority support, for voter I.D.  It may be a shock to the professional cynics of the Democratic Party that even minority voters want honest elections, but they do.  Voter I.D., used in many democracies, is the first line of defense against voter fraud.  

ANOTHER GENIUS – FROM FOX:   Vice President Kamala Harris is facing criticism for appearing to break with precedent and failing to salute the honor guard when boarding Air Force Two.  Video reviewed by Fox News showed that her predecessors, former Vice President Mike Pence and President Biden, regularly saluted the honor guard in the same situation.  Conservatives, including Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk and former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik, slammed Harris after a video of her walking past the honor guard picked up steam on social media. ( "DISGRACEFUL: @VP Kamala Harris refuses to salute the honor guard at the steps of the aircraft. It is a clear demonstration of her dislike for those in uniform, both law-enforcement and military," Kerik wrote on Twitter.)  Video reviewed by Fox News showed that Harris did not salute the honor guard on Monday nor during earlier trips on March 15 and 16. She did not appear to salute when disembarking Air Force One with Biden on March 19 either.  Recent vice presidents have maintained the practice of saluting the honor guard while entering and exiting Air Force Two.  Former Vice President Mike Pence can be seen saluting the honor guard members while deplaning during stops in Utah and Georgia last year.  Some would say that this is a trivial point, but it is not.  Symbols are important, and symbolic behavior in a leader is extremely important.

March 23, 2021       Permalink

LET THE DOUBLE STANDARDS BEGIN – AT 5:50 P.M. ET:  The United States has seen two horrific mass killings in the last two weeks.  In Atlanta, on March 16th, a lone white gunman opened fire inside a "massage parlor," murdering eight people.   Of the eight, six were Asian. 

Yesterday, a lone gunman opened fire in a grocery in Boulder, Colorado, killing ten.

The press response to the two events tells us much about the current state of journalism, or what passes for journalism.   After Atlanta, some journalists went into a weird and dangerous psychiatric state, claiming that the assault was directed at Asian Americans, and that the blame lay with President Trump, who allegedly whipped up anti-Asian hatred in the United States by calling the pandemic the "China virus," much as we call a variant of influenza the "Spanish flu."  CNN, in particular, not a great sponsor of thorough and accurate journalism, exceeded even its own terrifying style, with little restraint or a waiting for facts.

We now know that the Atlanta shootings probably had nothing to do with the ethnicity of the victims.  It is reported, and we don't have a final determination on this, that the shooter has a psychiatric history, which includes loathing of establishments that deal in sexually related activity.  The case is still under intense investigation, but the association of President Trump and anti-Asian hatred was assumed right from the start, and implanted in the minds of American viewers and readers. 

Yes, there has been an increase in anti-Asian bigotry in America, and there have been assaults on Asian Americans right here on the streets of New York.  But video surveillance and witness testimony suggest that most of the assaults are committed by black men, not white supremacists.  There is substantial friction between Asian Americans and blacks, with Asian Americans claiming, with justification, that they are discriminated against in college admissions and in the treatment of their children in school, in order to favor black competitors.  Just a month ago an important Chinese American group issued a strongly worded statement denouncing critical race theory.  In fact, I haven't seen a stronger statement on that subject.  See this report.

So bigotry against Asian Americans is complex, and has nothing to do with Donald Trump.

By contrast, consider the reporting of yesterday's attack in Boulder.  At first the eager social networkers assumed the attacker was white.  White supremacist with military rifle kills ten in Boulder attack.  What a story.

But...whoops...he isn't white.  He's a Syrian American, a Muslim, and now we're being told repeatedly that we must not draw assumptions before the facts are in.  That is the correct approach, but apparently was forgotten in Atlanta. 

What do we know about the Boulder shooter?  We know he's a Muslim male, an immigrant from Syria, with no criminal record but a history of volatile behavior.  From Fox: 

On a Facebook page purported to belong to Alissa, he wrote messages that criticized former President Donald Trump's response to immigration and refugees, allegedly writing "Trump is such a d---." He also purportedly complained about not having a girlfriend and shared wrestling photos.

Speaking to the Denver Post, a former classmate, Dayton Marvel, said Alissa was "kind of scary to be around" and had once made threats against people during a wrestling match.

"His senior year, during the wrestle-offs to see who makes varsity, he actually lost his match and quit the team and yelled out in the wrestling room that he was like going to kill everybody," said Marvel, who reportedly graduated in Arvada West High School’s Class of 2018. "Nobody believed him. We were just all kind of freaked out by it, but nobody did anything about it."

Marvel also told the Post how Alissa "would talk about him being Muslim and how if anybody tried anything, he would file a hate crime and say they were making it up."

"I just know he was a pretty cool kid until something made him mad, and then whatever made him mad, he went over the edge -- way too far," Marvel continued, according to the report.

The Denver Post also cited an affidavit in describing how Alissa reportedly assaulted an Arvada West classmate in 2017, when he was 18, by punching him repeatedly, including in the head. According to the reported affidavit, the person Alissa was said to have attacked "had made fun of him and called him racial names weeks earlier."

Another former classmate and wrestling teammate, Angel Hernandez, told the outlet Alissa was often paranoid.

That's pretty much what we know.  It's been reported that he is a follower of ISIS, but that has not been confirmed.  Now let's wait for more facts.  I wish some journalists had done that in Atlanta.

March 23, 2021       Permalink

MARCH 22,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE – FROM DAILYWIRE.COM:    Cigna, one of the nation’s largest health insurance providers, has allegedly told employees not to hire white men as part of the company’s broader critical race theory campaign.   According to an internal chat log obtained by the Washington Examiner, a hiring manager at Cigna dismissed a white candidate because he did not fulfill the company’s diversity standards. In the chat, an employee suggested the company interview a man with extensive experience for an open position. The hiring manager allegedly told the employee that the man could not be interviewed because he is white.   In a separate chat log, a hiring manager dismissed another candidate who he assumed to be white. The candidate was a racial minority. After learning of the candidate’s accurate skin color — and little else — the hiring manager allegedly reversed course and hired the candidate.  Is this progress?  Of course not.  It simply sets group against group, race against race.  Dr. King's dream of an individual being judged by the content of his (or her) character is out the window, and with it any intelligent understanding of fairness. 

YES, THERE ARE MODERATE DEMOCRATS – FROM THE HILL:   Moderate Democrats are urging party leaders not to meddle in a contested Iowa House race, warning that the potential benefit of flipping a seat in their favor this cycle isn’t worth the long-term political damage it would cause in the next.  Democrats had fought tooth-and-nail against President Trump’s attempt to reverse the outcome of November’s presidential contest, accusing Trump of abusing his powers in an effort to nullify the will of voters.  While the situation in Iowa is far different — and the results drastically closer than those delivering Trump’s defeat — centrist Democrats are wary that even the best-faith effort to reexamine the outcome in Iowa’s 2nd District would be overwhelmed by the terrible optics of the majority party using its powers to flip a certified seat to its side.  “It strikes me as remarkably hypocritical and a dangerous precedent at a time we need to be repairing precedents,” said one moderate Democrat, who requested anonymity to speak on a delicate topic.  I doubt that the party, now heavily controlled by leftists, will listen to this thoughtful advice.  The race in Iowa has been recounted and certified.  The Democrats should let the Republican victory, if by only six votes, stand, and fight harder the next time.

March 22, 2021      Permalink

WHY HAVE WE SUSPECTED THIS? – AT 11:45 P.M. ET:  Who is the president of the United States?  Joe Biden?  Kamala Harris?  Grover Cleveland?  None of the above?  Some would say "none of the above?  There is a strong feeling, especially on our side of the political aisle, that the real president is Barack Obama.  People look at the current administration and find it loaded with former Obama officeholders.  More important, they look at the policies coming out of the Biden White House, and find them chillingly similar to those of Barack Obama.  The question must be asked:  Is this Obama's third term?  From Fox: 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday said that President Biden maintains "regular" communication with Barack Obama on a number of issues.

Psaki was asked by a reporter whether Obama had visited the White House and how often the two speak, to which she responded that Obama and Biden have a relationship that is not defined as president and vice president – instead, they are "friends."

"They consult and talk about a range of issues and I would expect that continues through the course of President Biden’s presidency," Psaki said. "That can be done over the phone it turns out, and I think if President Obama had been here, you would all know."

Psaki declined to give an exact number of times that the powerful pair had spoken, but said they "keep in regular touch" and their respective teams also were in regular touch "about a range of issues."

Psaki added that given Obama’s work on the Affordable Care Act, which Biden has committed to strengthening and expanding, that is one issue they will talk about.

Funny, I wasn't aware of any work Obama did on the Affordable Care Act.  It was actually all done in Congress. 

She pointed questions as to what else Obama would specifically be involved in to his team.

Biden has tapped a number of individuals who previously served in the Obama administration to join his team, including chief of staff Ron Klain, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Despite the longstanding friendship, Obama drew interest from the media after he waited until late in the campaign cycle to formally endorse Biden

Meanwhile, Biden drew criticism throughout the campaign from Democratic contenders who accused him of running on Obama’s legacy.

During one 2019 debate, for example, Julián Castro, who served as Obama’s housing secretary, said Biden wanted to take credit for the Obama administration’s victories – but did not want to answer for any potential shortcomings.

"My problem with Vice President Biden … every time something good about Barack Obama comes up, he says, ‘Oh, I was there, I was there, I was there, that’s me, too,’" Castro said. "And then every time somebody questions part of the administration that we were both part of, he says, ‘Well, that was the president.’ I mean, he wants to take credit for Obama's work, but not have to answer to any questions."

COMMENT:  In my view, Obama was one of the most mediocre presidents of our time, and did lasting damage by weakening our foreign policy and letting our military strength erode.  After all, how many times have you heard anyone say, "I wish Barack Obama were still president"?

But what we are seeing thus far in the Biden presidency are policies that seem to track the Obama model, and that is frightening.  We are likely to have serious confrontations with both China and Iran, two countries that Obama went out of his way to appease.  Appeasement never leads to peace.  It leads to war.  We are likely to see a continuation of the racial tensions and violence that Obama has done nothing to cool.  Indeed, Obama, with the press averting its eyes, made it as clear as possible that he doesn't much like his own country.

The Biden/Obama marriage, or dating situation, must be examined as long as Joe Biden is in the White House.

March 22, 2021       Permalink