Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Despite the hype, the current El Nino hasn't matched 1997-98
AP Obama reports here:
"[I]nitial figures for October-November-December match the same time period in 1997 for the strongest El Nino."
Well, so what?
The current El Nino took 9 consecutive periods to get to a 2.3 in OND whereas the 1997-98 episode took 7 periods. More importantly, the latter averaged 1.6 for the whole series up to that point while the current El Nino is averaging a less strong 1.3 so far.
What really counts is consecutive periods measuring 2.0 or above. There were 5 in 1997-98 but only 2 so far in the current El Nino.
The headline "METEOROLOGISTS: 'DARTH NINO' TIES RECORD FOR STRONGEST SEEN" is total bullshit.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch appears to have gained a lot of weight in the last year
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| January 2015 |
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| January 2016 |
Monday, January 4, 2016
Megyn Kelly pretends she would be on the cover of Vanity Fair, and on camera at FOX, if she looked like this
“But every so often, as all [women] know, you have to stop and slap somebody around a little bit who doesn’t understand that we are actually equals and not second-class citizens.”
Sure Megyn.
Story here.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Pittsburgh's Salena Zito thinks shouting "Enough" is a right-wing racist mob phenomenon only because Hillary's not good at it
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| Inciting her own racist mob to little effect |
In "Let Us Not Be Consumed by the Mob" under a nice big picture of Donald Trump:
'Every political movement has a tipping point. It goes too far, or it loses its original purpose — or it becomes so self-enamored, under the influence of anger and mob rule, that ugliness shades all the good of its original intent. Such is true of the populism that peaked this summer in America. Years of incompetency and a tin ear at the White House, along with a Republican-controlled Congress accused of not accomplishing much, drove people to figuratively or literally shout, “Enough is enough!” ... With Donald Trump's emergence, and with a chorus of talk-radio hosts suddenly behind him, the mob-rule crowd deems everyone who was ever elected to office (with the exception of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas) to be a Republican-in-name-only or part of a dark establishment cult intent on crushing the souls of average white voters. ... The mob-rule crowd gnaws on any piece of political red meat thrown out as truth, never checking to see what kind of flesh it just consumed. None of this represents true conservatism. All of it is pure populism, and it is radically contaminating conservatism's values.'
Larry Kudlow eyes Donald Trump's coattails
From the story here:
'Economist and political pundit Larry Kudlow says he is strongly considering challenging Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) for his Senate seat in 2016. ... Kudlow says he disagrees with Blumenthal on a variety of issues, ranging from the Iran nuclear agreement to the corporate tax rate. “Mr. Blumenthal was wrong on signing the Iran deal. He was wrong on pushing for the U.N. to bring Syrian hostages into the United States,” he said. “And . . . he’s a tax-and-spender. He was in Connecticut, and he’s a tax-and-spender in Washington at a time, frankly, with the economy at two percent [growth] or less, we ought to have a 15 percent corporate tax, not a 40 percent.”'
Kudlow has previously allied himself with Trump without saying so in so many words by coming out against the Iran deal and against letting in the refugee surge, but explicitly has come out in support of Trump's plan to slash the corporate income tax rate to 15 percent. Trump has repeatedly emphasized all three issues mentioned by Kudlow this weekend.
Kudlow clearly sees these as coattail issues on which he could succeed in a Connecticut US Senate run, emphasizing US and Israeli security after a period of increased terrorism as well as a pro-growth supply-side tax policy reminiscent of the era of Ronald Reagan as an answer to the moribund economy's ills.
It works both ways, Larry. Trump as president will need support within the Congress if he hopes to get passed anything he stands for as a candidate.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Grand Rapids MI December 2015 temperature anomaly was a staggering +9.9 degrees F
The December 2015 temperature anomaly for Grand Rapids, Michigan, was a staggering +9.9 degrees F, almost twice the size of the November anomaly of +5.4 degrees F.
Heading into December, the cumulative anomaly for 2015 through November stood at -11.7 degrees F, so thanks to El Nino the massive negative anomaly for 2015 is all but wiped out, erasing 92% of the 22.6 degrees of negative temperature anomaly in just four months.
The year 2015 thus finishes with a total anomaly of -1.8 degrees F. That's basically an undetectable .0049315 degrees F below normal on your average day in 2015.
Precipitation in December, unsurprisingly, was 33% above normal while snowfall was just 2.5 inches, 84% below normal. Mean snowfall for December going back to the beginning of the record is 15.7 inches.
Friday, January 1, 2016
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Arctic sea ice extent at its highest in 10 years while news numbskulls imply the North Pole is melting
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| THIS IS THE NEWS |
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| THIS IS THE PROPAGANDA |
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Gov. George Pataki ends campaign for president
Who?
The former governor of New York has registered 0.0% in each of the last five major polls in the Real Clear Politics poll average.
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Forget the problem with Christians, the problem with Michael Savage is that HE'S too moderate
"I'm a sexual libertarian", he repeats today, after telling Christians they're too moderate yesterday.
Moderation for me, but not for thee. What a J.A.P.
Frankly, the passion for poodles is apropos.
Monday, December 28, 2015
Our problem in the West is that we have too many moderate Christians
Just now, half kidding, but he's right.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson says it's a shame US and Russia don't get along
Quoted here:
“We’re two super powers – Russia is not as strong as it used to be – but it’s a shame that we’re not getting along, when in the past we had an understanding with each other,” he added. Richardson said the Syrian rebel forces opposing Assad are not ideal alternatives to Assad, but added that "if Russia, the United States, instead of just fighting over Assad, we fight ISIS together with Europe, we may have a chance to bring some kind of stability to the region.”
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge backs a pause on refugees from Syria/Iraq region
Also the former head of DHS, Tom Ridge is quoted here calling for a pause, as originally called for by Donald Trump and later by Rupert Murdoch:
“So, a pause for refugees from that part of the world is very appropriate at this time.”
Freudian slip at TheHill.com: Columnists think Hillary is already the president in story about Clinton fundraising
The boo-boo, "Here are the five biggest challenges facing the president in 2016", was edited out of the full story.
Descended from Piltdown man, news media hoaxsters call Muslim terrorists "Maryland man" and "Pennsylvania man"
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| Reconstructed skull of the hoax "Piltdown Man" |
From WaPo here:
'A second was Mohamed Elshinawy, a Maryland man accused of receiving at least $8,700 from the Islamic State overseas and planning to use the money to carry out attacks in the United States. He told prosecutors that a childhood friend had connected him through social media with an Islamic State operative. ... The third was Jalil Aziz, a Pennsylvania man who was arrested for allegedly providing material support to the Islamic State, by spreading its propaganda on social media and for seeking to help the group’s supporters travel to Syria to fight. Aziz also encouraged other Islamic State supporters he communicated with to use U.S.-based encrypted messaging applications, prosecutors said.'
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| Mohamed Elshinawy was born in Egypt |
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| Jalil Aziz' country of origin is unknown. No US school has a record of the 19-year old. |
Obama ties military's hands with stricter rules of engagement than the law of war requires or even France follows, leaflets the enemy before attacking
From the story here on Christmas Eve:
"We will do everything we can to prevent civilian casualties," said Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren on Wednesday. ... Donatella Rovera, senior crisis response adviser at Amnesty International, said the leaflet drops actually started last week, but it has been difficult for people to leave. ... The Obama administration has come under fire from critics for adhering to restrictive rules of engagement and trying to avoid any civilian casualties in the fight against ISIS. Some say the rules are allowing ISIS fighters to escape. ... A U.S. defense official said the current U.S. rules of engagement for airstrikes, which are more restrictive than what the law of war requires, would remain the same as Iraqi forces push into Ramadi. Other coalition members — such as France — adhere to looser rules of engagement, however, and it's not clear who will be doing the striking in Ramadi.
The 2015 El Nino to date in perspective
Using the Oceanic Nino Index here the strong to very strong El Ninos of the past can be summarized like this, showing the 2015 El Nino to be so far most like 1972-73:
1957-58, 16 consecutive months, 1.0 average severity
1965-66, 11 consecutive months, 1.2 average severity
1972-73, 12 consecutive months, 1.2 average severity (One 3-month mean reading at 2.0)
1982-83, 15 consecutive months, 1.3 average severity (Three consecutive 3-month mean readings averaging 2.1)
1997-98, 13 consecutive months, 1.6 average severity (Five consecutive 3-month mean readings averaging 2.2)
2015 to date, 8 consecutive months, 1.2 average severity (One 3-month mean reading at 2.0).
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| At this hour in Grand Rapids we have 38 degrees F and no snow whatsoever. |
Saturday, December 26, 2015
From one imbecile to another: John McLaughlin in an oversized jacket awards "Person of the Year" to FBI Director James Comey
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| The jacket John has worn for years for this annual occasion now hangs like a bag on his shrinking frame. |
Here.
James Comey testified recently before the US Senate to Lindsey Grahamnesty that he has no idea how weapons purchased over the internet reach their buyers.
And neither does Lindsey.
And neither does Lindsey.
In 7 years Obama more than doubled a debt it took all other presidents combinded 233 years to pile up
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| The debt when Obama took office |
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| The debt after 7 years of Obama in office |
The debt held by the public is up 116% in just 7 years of Obama, going from $6.3 trillion to $13.6 trillion.
Uh-oh, genes identified which explain why 75% of intelligence is inherited
Reported in the UK Telegraph, here:
"Genes which make people intelligent have been discovered and scientists believe they could be manipulated to boost brain power. Researchers have believed for some time that intellect is inherited with studies suggesting that up to 75 per cent of IQ is genetic, and the rest down to environmental factors such as schooling and friendship groups. ... Now Imperial College London has found that two networks of genes determine whether people are intelligent or not-so-bright. They liken the gene network to a football team. When all the players are in the right positions, the brain appears to function optimally, leading to clarity of thought and what we think of as quickness or cleverness. However when the genes are mutated or in the wrong order, it can lead to dullness of thinking, or even serious cognitive impairments."
Does this mean John Derbyshire gets his job back at National Review?
George W. Bush is silently helping Democrat campaigns in their run against Trump
From AP Obama, here, in "Democrats find an unlikely ally on Muslims: George W Bush":
'As Hillary Clinton put it, "George W. Bush was right." Laying out her plan to fight domestic terrorism, Clinton reminded voters in Minneapolis earlier this month of Bush's visit to a Muslim center six days after the Sept. 11 attacks. She even quoted his words from that day about those who intimidate Muslim-Americans: "They represent the worst of humankind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior." ...
'Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton's top challenger for the Democratic nomination, visited a mosque this month in a show of solidarity that evoked Bush's after 9/11. And the Democratic National Committee released an ad contrasting comments by the 2016 GOP contenders with footage of Bush declaring that "Islam is peace." ...
'The former president has stayed mostly silent throughout the recent debate. His spokesman, Freddy Ford, recently said Bush wouldn't comment on "Trump's bluster" but repeated Bush's insistence that "true Islam is peaceful." Ford declined to discuss what Bush thinks about Democrats quoting him now.'
Friday, December 25, 2015
To Tim Carney, the soul of the Republican Party in 2015 and beyond boils down to (mere) materialism
Here, without the mere:
"More broadly, the rising tide against Ex-Im exemplified a nascent Republican move away from corporate welfare. Marco Rubio led the fight to block an insurer bailout through Obamacare. Ted Cruz is leading in Iowa polls while unambiguously pledging to kill the ethanol mandate. Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and most of the rest of the field also feel compelled to inveigh against corporate welfare, even if they don't oppose it in every specific instance. There's a long way for the party to go, but they're at least marching in the right direction, because they're no longer always marching to K Street's tune. ... Dole, Lott, subsidized exporters and ethanol executives will have all the material blessings they need at Christmas. But conservatives will have a much stronger hold on the soul of the Republican Party than they did just 10 years ago, and that's something they can be happy about."
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"Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people 'I offer you a good time,' Hitler has said to them 'I offer you struggle, danger and death,' and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet." -- George Orwell, 1940
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"Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people 'I offer you a good time,' Hitler has said to them 'I offer you struggle, danger and death,' and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet." -- George Orwell, 1940
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Like TSA security "theatre", ICE plans deportation theatre: "Hundreds of families" or maybe just "hundreds" to be deported
WaPo reports here:
"The Department of Homeland Security has begun preparing for a series of raids that would target for deportation hundreds of families who have flocked to the United States since the start of last year, according to people familiar with the operation. ... The ICE operation would target only adults and children who have already been ordered removed from the United States by an immigration judge, according to officials familiar with the undertaking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because planning is ongoing and the operation has not been given final approval by DHS. The adults and children would be detained wherever they can be found and immediately deported. The number targeted is expected to be in the hundreds and possibly greater."
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As with the TSA, which routinely shakes down your granny before she gets on the plane while missing guns and knives on others, ICE will focus on the many harmless easy marks and miss the criminals who are already safely embedded in gangland.
The incompetent serving the fools.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Monday, December 21, 2015
Is English a second language for Marco Rubio?
Recently Rubio flubbed "more" and "fewer", saying "more plumbers and less philosophers".
But now he also shows his ignorance of "between you and me":
"The bottom line is there isn't that big a difference between [Cruz] and I on how to approach immigration," Rubio told CBS News on Sunday.
I expect rednecks from Michigan to say "between you and I" but not US Senators, but then again neither Barack Obama nor Donald Trump seems to know it's "secretaries of state", not "secretary of states".
Meanwhile Byron York above shows rather convincingly that it was Ted Cruz voting for stronger border amendments to the Gang of Eight bill in 2013 and Rubio voting against them.
Scott Sumner is simply an ideologue, and a confused one at that, otherwise he wouldn't be as unhappy as he is
In "Libertarians have nowhere to turn" Scott Sumner the market monetarist laments:
'In my view neither major political party has libertarian inclinations. ... I'm slightly more sympathetic to the progressives who insist that I should really be a Democrat. They tell me "After all, you are rational. You believe in evolution and support carbon taxes and redistribution and think money was too tight during the Great Recession. You are pro-immigration and skeptical of the idea that America is an 'exceptional' nation, which must police the world." Those are all good arguments, but then I start obsessing about economics. After all, I am an economist.'
Apart from completely missing that the Democrat Party is the party of social freedom and the Republican Party is the party of economic freedom, it's rather singular for a self-described libertarian to embrace economic redistributionism so openly (not to mention a draconian form of taxation). To do so betrays a feeling for the left, not the right, which, if libertarians were only honest enough to admit it, has always been their inclination.
Sumner might reflect on the fact that we actually live in a perfect storm of libertarianism, in which economic (and social) actors have been unleashed to be all that they can be. The trouble is, only a few "succeed". The fact that income inequality has reasserted itself to a degree not seen since the gilded age is proof of the basic fact that not all men are created equal. The very best at making money have risen to the top and become enormously wealthy in an environment specifically designed to allow it to happen. The end result of economic libertarianism is that the very best will eventually succeed in hoarding all the goodies for themselves while the rest of us are left to serfdom. The end result of libertarianism is freedom for thee, but not for me.
The same can be illustrated on the social side, where some freak flags fly higher than all the rest. They rise to fame and influence beyond all their fellows in "art", "music", "literature" and "society", if you can call violent, vulgar and obscene Hollywood films, rap, "shady" novels and the Kardashians representative of those categories.
Conservatism, primarily rooted in religion, has historically functioned in society to apply the brakes to keep these actors from getting out of control and acquiring undue influence, whether socially or economically. The left only imagines itself capable of replacing religion's heretofore tempering role, which primarily functioned through willful self-restraint. Hence the efforts to reduce income inequality by force through taxation schemes, which obviously aren't working. On the social side the left has had even less success, except by recourse to venomous speech and conduct codes which meet with little assent and not a little fear and loathing among the many.
Freedom, as currently conceived in all its sterility, is quite literally killing America.
Lindsey Grahamnesty drops out of the race for the presidency: hits the Trump wall
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Conrad Black defends Donald Trump against the hysterics, and tells you what he's for
Here:
"What Donald actually advocates is the deportation of 351,000 illegal immigrants convicted of crimes and now imprisoned; the end of illegal immigration by building an Israeli-like wall along the Mexican border; an (as yet unspecified) screening process to justify the deportation of some of the illegals and the normalization of the others; and although he advocates the suspension already mentioned of Muslim immigration (not the Christians who are almost half of the refugees), he at least acknowledges that the United States is partly responsible for the political chaos that generated this humanitarian tragedy in the first place. He wants only a small increase in defence spending, reallocated to more effective anti-terrorism; and universal health care through health savings accounts and by smashing the insurance cartel. He is for the gradual legalization of most drugs; is a militant anti-polluter, but correctly (on present evidence) regards climate change and cap-and-trade as hoaxes. He wants to leave education (and same-sex marriage) to the states and to give them the money now wasted in the federal Department of Education. He would ban only late-term abortions, and not when there were overriding circumstances. He would reform the corrupt shambles of campaign financing by abolishing super-PACs and soft money, and lift limits on individual contributions to political candidates. He is a moderate protectionist opposite cheap labour countries, and advocates marginal income tax reductions and the reconstitution of the bloated national debt as a sinking fund to be gradually reduced by spending restraint, implicitly involving an imprecise level of entitlement-reform. Trump opposes foreign intervention in areas where the U.S. has no natural interest, including Ukraine and Syria, but wants a redefinition of the national security interest of the country, and wants to protect that interest, unlike Obama, but not over-extend it, unlike George W. Bush. This is not a radical program."
Tax package just passed will increase deficits by $68 billion annually
Reported here:
"The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated that the tax bill will cost $622 billion over 10 years. Tax provisions in the omnibus will cost an additional $58 billion over 10 years, JCT said."
Breaking the law bothers Hillary, but only when Bernie Sanders does it
From the story here:
“This is totally unacceptable and may have been a violation of the law,” said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook.
After all its crimes, the Republican Congress just gave the IRS an extra 3% in funding as a reward
Story here:
"The $1.1 trillion omnibus provides an additional $290 million for the IRS, an increase of 3 percent over the last fiscal year. ... The base funding level for the IRS was kept at about $10.9 billion."
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Cruz to Hannity in April 2013: Citizenship is designed to be a poison pill to scuttle the whole Gang of Eight bill
The Hill reported on it here at the time:
"The part that I’ve got deep concerns about is any path to citizenship for those who are here illegally," Cruz said during an interview with Sean Hannity. "I think that is profoundly unfair to the millions of legal immigrants who have followed the rules, who have waited in line.
"I think the reason that President Obama is insisting on a path to citizenship is that it is designed to be a poison pill to scuttle the whole bill, so he can have a political issue in 2014 and 2016. I think that's really unfortunate," continued Cruz. ...
"If he actually really wanted to get something passed, he wouldn't be rolling this out as a partisan attack issue," Cruz said. "You look at the State of the Union, that was a divisive speech, that was in your face. And he knows full well that a path to citizenship won't pass the House."
"He knows that it's a partisan, divisive issue and he holds everything else hostage to that wedge issue," Cruz added. ...
"I think that it is likely that there could be some bipartisan solution to those who are here illegally if a path to citizenship were taken off the table," Cruz continued. "But as long as the president and [Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)] insist on a path to citizenship they know full well it will never pass the House of Representatives and then it's just a political football rather than actually trying to fix the problem." ...
"Look, they have the votes to force something through the Senate. I think whatever mess comes out of the so-called Gang of Eight, all or virtually all of the Democrats will vote for it and it's likely they'll get a fair number of Republicans to vote for it to so they can probably get it through the Senate," Cruz added. "If it includes a path to citizenship, I don't think it'll pass the House, and I think that's exactly what the Obama White House wants."
Cruz is crazy now to characterize his amendment to the bill at the time as "the poison pill" when he was calling the citizenship provisions of the Gang of Eight bill the poison pill.
If anyone has become unhinged in this race Jeb, it's Ted Cruz. Even Mona Charen thinks Ted Cruz meant to come off as sincere in 2013. We aren't left wondering only what Marco Rubio believes about the issue, but also what Ted Cruz really believes.
Safe to say few wonder what Donald Trump really believes about illegal immigration.
Fading Carson poses as the kinder, gentler candidate on illegal immigration in Iowa appearance
Here's the lead:
ORANGE CITY — Ben Carson on Friday jabbed at the strict immigration policies of Republican opponents while outlining a strategy he deems “humane and reasonable” for undocumented immigrants.
Carson is not aiming for much and therefore won't get much if elected.
Separately, Carson recently said here that he'd be a one-term president:
"If I'm successful in this endeavor to become president of the United States, it's very likely I would be a one-term president," Carson said at a Republican gathering in Las Vegas on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. "Because there are some tough things we have to attack."
As successful as Carson has been in his career, politically he is suffering from a lack of imagination and ambition, which is already working against him.
Friday, December 18, 2015
Rand Paul agrees with us: Ted Cruz' 2013 amendment was NOT "the poison pill" and seriously intended legalization of illegal aliens
Rand Paul, quoted here:
"Without question, Rubio and Cruz have been for amnesty," Paul told The Washington Post in a call with reporters today. "It’s kind of a silly debate. The amendment Cruz put forward was not intended to be a poison pill. It was for legalization." ... "I think Cruz is being disingenuous and not honestly describing what he did," Paul said. "He’s wanting to have it both ways. I don’t think there’s any contemporary evidence he was putting forward something he didn’t believe in. It makes you wonder whether or not we can take him at face value on other issues."
Gay columnist featured at Breitbart sneers at farcical hetero cult romance
The Princess Bride:
"The only interesting part of the entire movie is the inexplicable sexual energy in the ensuing duel between the Spaniard, Inigo Montoya, and Westley. There’s plenty of winking, lingering glances, and talking about favoured hands. Westley, sensing the presence of his soulmate, refuses to kill the Spaniard swordsman. Either that, or the hideous perm softened the blow he struck to the man’s curly head. ... Speaking for myself, the only way I got through the movie was fantasising about Inigo and Westley finally realizing that Buttercup wasn’t worth the effort, and going off to, err, cross swords again in private."
For some reason Milo Yiannopoulos decided it was time to review a twenty-eight year old movie, here. He was what, three when it came out? How old was he when he came out? The excuse given was something Lindsey Graham said, which should tell you who gets Milo's blood pumping, and why. Milo's Wikipedia entry describes him as a "gay Catholic".
Some people just don't fit into Western society, whether they live in San Bernardino, Manchester or Cambridge.
Ted Cruz has clearly flip-flopped on "the poison pill", and on legalizing illegals
Ted Cruz has clearly flip-flopped on the poison pill and on legalizing illegals: In 2013 he said the poison pill was the citizenship provision in the Gang of Eight bill, but in 2015 it's suddenly his own amendment to the bill which has become the pill. Cruz also was for legalization of illegals in 2013, but is totally against that now, suddenly falling back on "attrition through enforcement", which sounds a lot like a combination of Mitt Romney's self-deportation with a long-term, slow-walking program of round-ups.
Ted Cruz on May 31, 2013 at Princeton, video here, transcription here, specifically calling the citizenship provision of the Gang of Eight bill "the poison pill":
"And what I believe is happening is that citizenship provision is designed, and the White House knows it’s designed, to be a poison pill in the House [of Representatives] to torpedo the bill, because then they want to campaign in 2014 and 2016, and say, ‘see those Republicans? They killed immigration reform.’…”
Ten days earlier that May Ted Cruz in the Senate Judiciary Committee, here, also characterized the Gang of Eight bill as unable to pass without his amendment establishing legalization. In other words, the path to saving the Gang of Eight bill was his amendment replacing citizenship (the poison pill) with citizenship-light, i.e. legalization:
"If this amendment is adopted to the current bill, the effect would be that those 11 million under this current bill would still be eligible for RPI [registered provisional immigrant] status. They would still be eligible for legal status and indeed, under the terms of the bill, they would be eligible for LPR [lawful permanent resident] status as well so that they are out of the shadows, which the proponents of this bill repeatedly point to as their principal objective to provide a legal status for those who are here illegally to be out of the shadows. This amendment would allow that happen, but what it would do is remove the pathway to citizenship so that there are real consequences that respect the rule of law and that treat legal immigrants with the fairness and respect they deserve. And a second point to those advocacy groups that are so passionately engaged. In my view, if this committee rejects this amendment, and I think everyone here views it as quite likely this committee will choose to reject this amendment, in my view, that decision will make it much, much more likely that this entire bill will fail in the House of Representatives. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass."
But now post-debate in December 2015 Ted Cruz is claiming in response to Bret Baier, preposterously, that his amendment to the Gang of Eight bill is what killed the bill.
Byron York has sorted this out better than anyone, here:
Further, in a phone interview with Cruz on May 28, 2013, I specifically asked whether, despite his opposition to a path to citizenship, and given the three-year delay he called for, "You do buy into this whole legalization idea?"
"Legalization is the predicate of the Gang of Eight bill," Cruz responded. "And in introducing amendments, what I endeavored to do was improve that bill so that it actually fixes the problem." ...
Cruz's team has tried to explain away that position by claiming Cruz was offering some sort of poison-pill amendment designed to kill the Gang of Eight bill rather than improve it. Cruz did it himself in a somewhat stammering interview with Fox News' Bret Baier Wednesday evening. But the situation is more complicated than Cruz says. Yes, he knew Democrats would never accept his amendments, but he spoke with apparent feeling about including legalization, if delayed, in the final deal.
On Tuesday night [during the debate], however, Cruz was in full no-legalization mode. And when some reporters questioned whether his comment "I do not intend to support legalization" was some sort of lawyerly way of leaving the door open to someday doing just that, Cruz sent an aide to tell reporters that he no way, no how supports legalization.
"I'm here tonight, and I want to make this super clear to everybody, so put me on the record on this: Sen. Cruz unequivocally, unequivocally, does not support legalization," national campaign chairman Chad Sweet told the Washington Examiner's David Drucker after the debate. When Drucker asked what Cruz would do with the 11 or 12 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally, Sweet answered, "His plan is attrition through enforcement. He's following the rule of law…If we enforce the law, ultimately there will be attrition through enforcement. And in the end, though, what the senator is trying to do, as well, is save and expand our legal immigration system."
But how is something which never passed supposed to have killed the Gang of Eight bill? The bill died as Cruz originally predicted, because it was poison.
So what we're left with is a Marco Rubio whose positions in support of the original Gang of Eight bill have not really changed at all, and a Ted Cruz who has shape-shifted himself all around the bill to adapt to the new environment against illegal alien amnesty, legalization and citizenship swirling around the Trump hurricane.
For supporters of borders, language and culture, Marco Rubio is definitely out, Ted Cruz is clearly unreliable, and only The Donald appears to be the real deal.
But I predict even Trump will eventually disappoint on illegal immigration. He's aiming for big and over-the-top stuff because he knows damn well how hard it's going to be to get anything at all. Hope for a lot, expect only a little.
Meanwhile Rush Limbaugh's laughable account here actually says CNN stumbled into the truth that Cruz' amendment was the poison pill ("[T]his amendment that Ted Cruz did propose which would have given legal status to undocumented immigrants was meant at the time as a poison pill."). Not according to the 2013 Ted Cruz. Cruz must be laughing how easy it is to dupe the likes of CNN and Rush Limbaugh.
So the question is, What will the 2017 Ted Cruz say? If he's the president, the answer is clearly, Whatever he feels like saying.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
New York Times Magazine discusses the history of "radical" in America without mentioning Obama's and Hillary Clinton's devotion to Alinsky's Rules for Radicals
Here in "Who’s Really ‘Radical’?" by Emily Bazelon, who does discuss the pair:
"President Obama and Hillary Clinton live in the world of politics, where rhetoric is often more heated, but they avoid using ‘‘radical Islam’’ or ‘‘jihad’’ to describe the terror driven by ISIS."
What else do you call wanting to fundamentally transform America if not radical?
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Trump on the Geneva Convention: "So, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying."
Here.
As usual Donald Trump cuts through the crap. ISIS is already guilty of war crimes, including targeting civilians, and the only way to bring it to justice is to destroy it utterly. Allah can sort it out later.
We don't need permission to defend ourselves and our people.
As usual Donald Trump cuts through the crap. ISIS is already guilty of war crimes, including targeting civilians, and the only way to bring it to justice is to destroy it utterly. Allah can sort it out later.
We don't need permission to defend ourselves and our people.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Rand Paul emphasizes debt is our biggest threat in closing remarks in tonight's CNN debate
He says it over and over again to no effect, but he is surely right.
The country wasn't built and didn't become great on debt, it was built on Protestant thrift.
The "sight" of the UK Telegraph misusing "site" ought to be deeply embarrassing to the home of the English language, but won't be
Here in "America's newest warship breaks down at sea after 20 days".
Rush Limbaugh is full of crap about Ted Cruz being polite and respectful, just ask Senate and House leadership
Here:
"Cruz's behavior here -- and I can't think of another word to describe other than just respectful and polite, treat your enemies with kindness, you know, turn the other cheek, all that sort of stuff. The virtues that are found in the Bible, for example. Cruz has been living them."
Monday, December 14, 2015
Christopher Buckley can go eff himself (practice makes perfect)
Here:
If it does come down next November to Trump vs Clinton we will — all of us — be presented with a choice even the great Hobson could not have imagined. And those of us who would sooner leap into an active, bubbling volcano than vote for Mr Trump will have to try to convince ourselves that really, she’s not that bad. Is she?
DHS missed San Bernardino terrorist's social media posts threatening attacks because it was official policy not to look
The fault lies with Obama and Jeh Johnson, total incompetents, or worse.
Of course our crack media at ABC here don't tell us when the policy not to look was implemented, but you can infer from the story that the Obama Administration made it official policy not to look in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations in the summer of 2013 in order to make the regime look respectful of privacy rights.
Too bad it's the privacy of foreigners Obama cares about instead of ours.
The guards of a tyrant are foreigners.
Ted Cruz, used car salesman, heavy user of data analytics, becomes what you want, and you want, and you and you and you
From the story here:
To build its data-gathering operation widely, the Cruz campaign hired Cambridge Analytica, a Massachusetts company reportedly owned in part by hedge fund executive Robert Mercer, who has given $11 million to a super PAC supporting Cruz. Cambridge, the U.S. affiliate of London-based behavioral research company SCL Group, has been paid more than $750,000 by the Cruz campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records.
To develop its psychographic models, Cambridge surveyed more than 150,000 households across the country and scored individuals using five basic traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. A top Cambridge official didn’t respond to a request for comment, but Cruz campaign officials said the company developed its correlations in part by using data from Facebook that included subscribers’ likes. That data helped make the Cambridge data particularly powerful, campaign officials said. ...
Cambridge, which has staffers embedded in the Cruz for President headquarters in Houston, makes behavioral psychologists available for consultation as ads and scripts are drafted. ...
The campaign’s big data operation is not deployed in just voter and supporter outreach. It also is used daily to help make key decisions — where Cruz should travel, what he should say. It has even informed the selection of precinct captains.
FBI Director James Comey is incompetent: doesn't know internet firearm purchases must transfer through an FFL in person
 |
| Infamous for suggesting Poles committed murders of and atrocities against Jews |
And apparently Senator Lindsey Graham is just as ignorant.
From the story here:
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) began his question-and-answer period with Comey with a seemingly simple question: “If I buy a gun on the internet, is it delivered to my home?”
Comey, perhaps surprised by the question, seemed to stumble. Graham clarified, asking “if I try to buy a gun on the internet, where do I pick it up?”
Looking perplexed, the FBI Director replied “I assume it’s shipped to you, but I don’t know for sure, actually.” ...
“Okay, well, let’s find out the answer to that,” replied Graham.
Comey recently demonstrated similar thick-headedness to Senator Diane Feinstein, who questioned the FBI's decision not to secure the San Bernardino crime scene, here:
Comey said it was the judgment of FBI investigators and the forensic expert that they were done with the scene and there was nothing else to be gained from it, “which is why it was boarded up and then inventory was left.”
Too bad we'll be living with this guy until 2023, if we live that long, that is.
Chris Plante repeating stupid
The 94 million not in the work force should be working, he says in an aside.
Tell that to your retired aunt and uncle, and your teenager in high school.
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