Mark Levin's talking history again because the present is just too painful

It's as though if you didn't fight in Iwo Jima, then you aren't entitled to an opinion as an American.

Yeah, "conservatism is about freedom", as if all those boys fought for your right to love a man.

Conservatism, not libertarianism, not Mark Levin.

From the Sean Hannity Dept. of Redundancy Department

"We have institutionalized bureaucracy."

No kidding. Hey, is there a bureaucracy that isn't an institution?

The guy reminds me of Yogi Berra: "We made too many wrong mistakes".

Ted's final fib

Trump is right that wages are too high: The minimum wage should be reduced to $4.20 per hour, not raised, to put teenagers back to work

Trump was right when he said during the debates that wages are too high. He was referring to our comparative disadvantage as a nation with lower wages abroad.

A key reason wages are "too high" in the US is because the minimum wage sets the floor for wages too high to begin with. That's why Trump said he didn't want to see a minimum wage increase. But we could actually start to reverse this problem by reducing the minimum wage to $4.20 per hour, not raising it.

Currently the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, almost 73% higher than it should be.

The minimum wage set by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set the minimum wage at $0.25 per hour. Indexed to the Consumer Price Index since then, the current level should be about $4.20 per hour, through 2014.

One terrible consequence of artificially high wages at the bottom of the scale is that average teenage employment in the United States has plummeted from its high in 1978 and 1979 at 8.1 million to 4.7 million in 2015.

As recently as 2006 teenage employment averaged 6.2 million, but now on average 1.5 million fewer teenagers work compared to 2006 after a fusillade of minimum wage increases were unleashed beginning in 2007 under George W. Bush.

Demographics are not to be faulted. Birth rates have held steady between 1977 and 1999 at 15.525 per 1000, so that people born between those years turned 16 between 1993 and 2015, providing a steady supply and a steady level of young labor.

So compared to peak teenage employment, 3.4 million fewer teenagers work today even as the federal minimum wage was hiked ELEVEN times:

From $2.30 in 1976

to $2.65 in 1978,

to $2.90 in 1979,

to $3.10 in 1980, 

to $3.35 in 1981,

to $3.80 in 1990,

to $4.25 in 1991,

to $4.75 in 1996,

to $5.15 in 1997,

to $5.85 in 2007,

to $6.55 in 2008,

to $7.25 in 2009.

That's a 215% increase in the minimum wage since peak teenage employment, accompanied by a 42% decline in that employment. You get the picture. Increase the cost of labor, and you get less of it.

Teenage employment is critical to transmitting our values to the next generation of Americans by giving the young an opportunity to gain the work experience and habits they will need to get that first "real" job, and to learn the relationship between effort and enjoying the fruits of labor.

Unfortunately their teachers and parents have not been communicating this message in word nor in deed. The socialism of Bernie Sanders is all the rage at the schools even as the parents idly answer the siren song of minimum wage increases sung by Republicans and Democrats alike.

The only problem with all that is, eventually the kids will run out of the fruits of other people's labor, including their parents'.

    

Trump causes widespread confusion telling West Virginians they don't need to vote in Tuesday's primary

I must admit I didn't post on it last night because I found it very confusing, assuming it would blow over.

It didn't.

Story here.

Maybe this is just Trump pulling everybody's chain again, keeping himself in the news cycle

Trump digs coal in Charleston WV

Libertarians routinely play the spoilers in elections, but Rush Limbaugh is surprised the Koch Bros. may support Hillary

Our Big Fat Idiot strikes again.

Today, here:

I mean, the #NeverTrump movement's still there, and I'll treat you to them as the program unfolds. All kinds of major, big Republican donors are saying, "I can't do it! I just can't give my money to Trump."  The Koch brothers are thinking of going with Hillary, for example.  Which really surprises me.  I mean, they are libertarians, and that just blows me away that the Koch brothers would be all-in for Hillary.  But everybody's noses are still out of joint in a lot of ways.  We'll see how people are feeling and thinking a week from now, two weeks from now. 

Kasich changed his mind Wednesday morning after losing Reince Priebus' blessing Tuesday night

From the story here:

By Wednesday morning, Kasich appeared to have a full change of heart, when he was scheduled to hold a press conference at Dulles Airport near Washington. Dozens of reporters milled around in the lobby of a private aviation terminal, waiting for Kasich to arrive. As the scheduled time came and went, rumors began swirling. The Ohio governor had not left Columbus and was discussing his future with advisers.

Uh oh, apparently the South is not going to rise again

Story here.

Here's a man and his family Kevin Williamson of National Review thinks should just die

And the father just might.

Their story, here.

“The truth about these dysfunctional, downscale communities is that they deserve to die. Economically, they are negative assets. Morally, they are indefensible."

-- Kevin Williamson, quoted here

Suddenly Vicente Fox apologizes to Donald Trump

Now what could have caused that?

Hm.

Story here.

Ted Cruz-Mark Levin-Rush Limbaugh conservatism UTTERLY REPUDIATED IN EVERY INDIANA CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Where the true conservatism of American hearth, home and altar screamed "NO"! Indiana was a referendum on what Ross Douthat calls "True Conservatism", where it lost, in contrast to "ideological" Wisconsin, where it won:

In the days before and after the Wisconsin primary, with delegate accumulation going his way and the polling looking plausible once the Northeastern primaries were over, it seemed like Cruz could reasonably hope for a nomination on the second or third ballot. ... But it turned out that Republican voters didn’t want True Conservatism any more than they wanted Bushism 2.0. Maybe they would have wanted it from a candidate with more charisma and charm and less dogged unlikability. But the entire Trump phenomenon suggests otherwise, and Trump as the presumptive nominee is basically a long proof against the True Conservative theory of the Republican Party.

ARG Inc. goes 6 for 8 this season predicting Indiana win for Trump but no one predicted Trump's 54.6% blowout

Presidential turnout since 1972: Increased participation favors Democrats, and maybe the anti-Bush former Democrat named Donald Trump

Presidential turnout since 1972:

Average percent of the voting age population: 53%

Average percent of the voting age population when Republicans win: 53% (average)

Average percent of the voting age population when Democrats win: 54% (1 point above average)

Average percent of the registered voters: 74%

Average percent of the registered voters when Republicans win: 73.9% (0.1 point below average)

Average percent of the registered voters when Democrats win: 72.9% (1.1 points below average)

Republican wins in elections most like 2016:

Average percent of the voting age population in 1980, 1988, 2000: 51.1% (1.9 points below average)

Average percent of the registered voters in 1980, 1988, 2000: 72% (2.0 points below average)

Democrat wins in elections most like 2016:

Average percent of the voting age population in 1976, 1992, 2008: 55.7% (2.7 points above average)

Average percent of the registered voters in 1976, 1992, 2008: 76.7% (2.7 points above average) 

Trump has clear path to nomination after climbing to national poll average lead of 19.3

Small man: Trump congratulated Cruz last night, but Cruz didn't reciprocate

CNN has the Trump video here.

Trump didn't kill conservatism, George W. Bush claimed he did

Read about it here.

The only cabinet Ted Cruz will be consulting

Has anybody checked on Mark Levin this morning to make sure he's OK?

Naw, I didn't think so.

Rush Limbaugh caller "New Jersey George" explains how Ted Cruz picked a fight with midwest common sense in Indiana and lost

The video of the confrontation with the "do the math" Trump supporter is here. Cruz changed the subject to anything but the fact that he no longer had a path to 1237, and never justified his staying in the race.

From the Rush Limbaugh transcript, here:

CALLER:  Okay, Rush.  Thank you for taking my call.  Been with you for many years.  Love you.  I just have this feeling -- I don't know why -- but I just have a feeling that you're a Cruz supporter.  Not a Trump supporter, I can't find that, but that's how I feel.  But the reason I called, I just wanted to defend the guy that you called brain-dead yesterday.  I watched that interview from the beginning, and, you know, we'll call him "braid-dead" since we don't know his name.  He was a very polite protester.  He was standing on the street with a Trump sign, and he wasn't bothering anybody, and, lo and behold, who comes along to cross the street, Ted Cruz.

Now, Cruz confronted him, and in the very beginning of the conversation, the number 1237 came up, and the guy knew what 1237 was, and he told Cruz in his opinion that Trump was gonna hit the 1237 and in his opinion would probably go over that.  And then he also asked Cruz a question.  He said, "I'd like to ask you a question.  Why don't you step out of the race because you've indicated that Kasich should step out, and, since you've indicated that, you think that Kasich can't make it, and neither do we think that you can, why don't you step out?" 

Now, the reason I mentioned these couple things to you, that doesn't seem to me as a brain-dead person.  That's just my opinion.  And a brain-dead person is just gonna stand there and look brain-dead.  This guy had some some some substance there.  So I didn't think it was fair that you labeled him as brain-dead.  Then Cruz started his stump speech.  And the guy was polite.  He was listening and listening and listening, and Cruz was going over all his stump speech.  And I think the guy had had it and finally didn't want to hear anything more, and he started yelling, you know, Lyin' Ted, Lyin' Ted, and he had had it.  And that's just my opinion.  And I -- I just feel that you labeled him wrong.  And I might even think that sometimes maybe I might be part of the brain-dead crowd. 

Another thing I just wanted to put in there real quick, I have a cleaning lady that was in my house yesterday, and she's from Thailand.  And Trump came on television, and she looked up and she said, I used to work for him.  I live 30 miles from Atlantic City.  So she said, I used to work for him.  And my wife said, what did you think?  Again.  And she said, he was very nice, he was a very nice person, he treated me with respect, and so did he treat all of us.

Now, they were just cleaning people in Trump's casino.  One other quickie.  I was in a restaurant a couple weeks ago, and the owner who I know came up to me, and he knows I'm a Trump guy, and he said I just gotta tell you something, he said I just had a guy was in here, and he got caught up in Trump's problems with the casino and he lost a hundred thousand dollars in the bankruptcy.  He said, but I'm gonna tell you something.  I lost a hundred G's, he says I'm gonna tell you, I'm voting for him.  You know why?  He's a straight shooter.  He said he got caught up in a bad situation, and he did his very best, he says, so he's got my vote.  I just wanted to pass these things on, and I want to tell you, I love you, I'll always be with you.

Indiana rejects Ted Cruz, who suspends a campaign descending into ugliness

A better man who really cared about the party and the country would have gotten out after Pennsylvania. Then again, a better man wouldn't have pulled a dirty trick in Iowa, or in Utah. How anyone can take the guy seriously as a Christian values candidate going forward is beyond me. Better to have bowed out earlier and salvaged a future for himself, but that was not possible for the man in a hurry.

Grand Rapids, MI experienced a reported temperature anomaly in April 2016 of 2.0 degrees F BELOW normal

Temperature averaged 46 degrees F, according to the preliminary monthly climate data for April 2016 in Grand Rapids, MI. The cumulative reported total anomaly year to date therefore falls from +9.3 last month to +7.3 degrees F in April.

Using the full NOW data set going back to about 1892, however, the cumulative temperature anomaly for the first four months of 2016 is +13.4 degrees F. 

Precipitation was a reported 0.57 inches above normal, coming in at 3.92 inches.

Snowfall was 9.4 inches, 7.1 inches above the mean average of 2.3 for the month, calculated going back to the beginning of the record. Snowfall has come to 61.1 inches to date, 4.7 inches below the long term mean average of 65.8 inches to date, with two months left in the measuring period.

Heating degree days in April at 564 were just above normal, only 1.8% above the very long term mean of 554. The long term mean expected HDD to date would be 6411. Actual to date were 5390, 15.9% below normal, thanks to the El Nino, with two months left in the measuring period.

It is notable that neither this El Nino nor any other since 1950 has come close to producing the warm winter Grand Rapids experienced in 2011-2012 when the heating degree day measurement hit an all time record low of 5253. Placeholders two and three for warmest winters by HDD after 2011-12 were 1920-21 at 5520 and 1931-32 at 5619.

Average temperature in Grand Rapids was also an all time high 52.8 degrees F (mean is 48) in 2012. The only other years which came close were 1931 and 1921, both at 52.2.

The difference between the first four months of 2016 and of 2012 is cumulative anomalies of +13.4 vs. +18.5 degrees, or an average temperature monthly of 35.525 now vs. 40.15 degrees then. 

Why does Glenn Beck still look like he could stand to fast like he's never fasted before?

I thought he was fasting every Tuesday for Ted Cruz.

And just how do you do that, fasting like you've never fasted before? If I'm not eating anything, I can't eat any less, can I?

Or is there some secret eatin' goin' on in Mormon fasting that I don't know about, which you can forego and then REALLY fast?

Oh boy, he really must mean it this time!

58% of Hoosiers disapprove of Ted Cruz/John Kasich tag-teaming to defeat Donald Trump

A question in the NBC/WSJ/Marist poll here showing Trump +15 in Indiana.

New Rasmussen poll shows Trump ahead of Hillary 41-39

Here.

Lead with your weakness, telegraph what will become your biggest problem

Ted Cruz' problem: He was for a wall in 2011 and 2012, but it's STILL not the centerpiece of his campaign

Patterico had the evidence of Ted Cruz' support for a wall in 2011 and 2012 in February 2016 here.

But Ted's problem is that he's FOR all kinds of stuff, and AGAINST all kinds of stuff, but nobody seems to believe him, primarily because he's too smart and too slick.

People believe Trump, because he's neither.

Under winner take all, Hillary would already be the nominee for the Democrats

Just counting the 35 states where a popular vote has been taken, under winner takes all delegates, including super delegates, Hillary Clinton has already clinched the Democrat nomination with her win in Pennsylvania.

Hillary has won 21 state contests so far, topping the 2382 delegates needed with 2523 because of Pennsylvania.

Bernie Sanders has won 14 state contests, but has garnered just 731 delegates under winner take all, including super delegates.

So far no popular vote was taken in Iowa, Nevada, American Samoa, Maine, Northern Mariana Islands, Alaska and Washington State.

The reality of the actual system, however, is that Bernie Sanders so far has accumulated 1357 delegates of both types, and Hillary 2165.

As in the Republican primaries, the also ran benefits at the expense of the front-runner.

ARG Inc. polls have gone 5 for 7 in the GOP 2016 primary season but were off by double digits in TX, MI and WI

Will ARG be right in Indiana after going 5 of 7 in other GOP contests, getting Michigan and Wisconsin massively wrong?

Scott Rasmussen didn't sound very happy about it on Mark Levin's show, but Trump and Hillary are tied at 38%

The punditocracy is increasingly unhappy about the popularity of Donald Trump with the Republican electorate. Scott Rasmussen seemed oddly eager to discuss the prospects for Ted Cruz against Trump in Indiana and the west.

Rasmussen Reports reported earlier here:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds Trump and Clinton tied at 38% each. But 16% say they would vote for some other candidate if the presidential election comes down to those two, while six percent (6%) would stay home. Only two percent (2%) are undecided given those options.

Trump makes new national high of 44% in Real Clear Politics poll average

Marco Rubio sends message to delegates that Trump's entitled to the nomination because of massive voter support

Quoted here:

“Look let’s not divide the party. You have someone here who has all these votes, very close to get 1237, let’s not ignore the will of the people or they’re going to be angry. Delegates may decide on that reason that they decide to vote for Donald Trump but if they don’t it’s not illegitimate in any way,” he told Miami radio host Jimmy Cefalo.

Sally Kohn, looks like a white man, talks like a white man, dresses like a white man too, but is afraid white men will vote for Trump

Yeah, so? Look at you, you blue collar pervert.

Here.

One member of the Zero Hedge trinity commits apostasy, lifts the veil on the (very profitable) lunacy

Read about it here.

We've tagged the kooky stuff it says for years.

CNN says only "several thousand" attend Trump rally in Costa Mesa, California, when 18,000 fill the stadium and protesters RIOT outside

Here from CNN:

Scores of protesters took to the streets Thursday night outside a Donald Trump campaign event here, drawing out police officers in riot and tactical gear and on horseback who sought to disperse the crowd.

The crowd gathered in the streets outside the OC Fair & Event Center as Trump addressed several thousand supporters at the Center's amphitheater. At least one police car was damaged and several scuffles broke out amid the hectic scene.

Here contrast ABC7.com:


The Pacific Amphitheatre was filled to its capacity of about 18,000 and many hundreds more were turned away. ... [Trump] welcomed onto the stage parents whose kids were killed by individuals in the United States illegally, including Jamiel Shaw, Sr., whose son Jamiel Shaw, Jr., was killed in 2008 when he was 17. "Donald Trump is giving us hope. All of our loved ones were murdered. We don't care about illegal aliens, we don't care. Americans first!" Shaw said.

Ted Cruz to announce his least favorite Old Testament food law at noon Friday news conference

Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you. -- Leviticus 11:12

FL Gov. Rick Scott: Trump is going to be the nominee ... the people have spoken

Quoted here in WaPo:

“It’s time for our party to unite behind Donald Trump and focus our time and energy on defeating Hillary Clinton,” [Rep. Bill] Shuster [of Pennsylvania] said in a statement.

That echoes what Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday in a Facebook posting calling for an end to the “Never Trump” movement among conservatives: “Donald Trump is going to be our nominee, and he is going to be on the ballot as the Republican candidate for President. The Republican leaders in Washington did not choose him, but the Republican voters across America did choose him. The voters have spoken.”

Herman Cain urges Cruz and Kasich to withdraw for the good of the country

Quoted here:

“If I were Ted Cruz and Gov. Kasich I would step back and say, 'OK, let’s do what’s best for the party which would be best for the country now.' That’s putting patriotism above the delusional idea that there’s a path to victory for them ... There is no path to victory,” Cain said.

Cain said the same thing on an appearance on Sean Hannity's radio show this afternoon.

GOP delegate race update for Donald Trump, post-Tuesday's 5-state eastern primaries

With 502 delegates remaining in 10 contests beginning in Indiana next week, there are also tonight 70 unallocated delegates remaining in Colorado (3), Oklahoma (3), Wyoming (4), Louisiana (5), US Virgin Islands (9), Guam (8), American Samoa (7), North Dakota (18), New York (2), Pennsylvania (10) and Rhode Island (1).

Trump's total has risen since Tuesday's contests to 994, acquiring a total of 147 in his blowout victories as the final numbers have come in. 906 delegates belong to the eight other contenders.

This means he needs 48.4% of the remaining 502 to clinch the nomination, or 42.5% of the 502 plus 70, or an even smaller percentage if he forges an alliance with another candidate or candidates. Trump already has the endorsement of Carson (9 delegates).

Rush Limbaugh, master of the English language, sticks his quiver in his bag

I wonder where he puts his putter.

Here:

So I know everybody wants to put whatever quiver they can in the bag to say, "I got the bit of information that will prove to you Trump can't win and we're making a big mistake." People did the same thing with Cruz. I just don't think -- it's too soon. There's too much yet to happen. Nobody can possibly know what's gonna happen in November yet, despite what they might tell you.

German leftist critic of Trump's America First policy proclaimed the death of rapacious English and American free markets in 2008

Boltneck shakes hands mit Steinmeier in 2014

It took less than one day after Trump's speech for Germany to wet its pants. First VW kills profits, and now Trump is going to cost Germany a fortune. Steinmeier here went on record almost immediately criticizing Trump's remarks as incoherent.

Here the leftist was prematurely celebrating eight years ago about the death of right-wing economics in the West:

[T]he Social Democrats (SPD) are shifting hard Left to protect their flank. "The rule of the radical market ideology that began with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan has ended with a loud bang," said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's foreign minister and SPD candidate for chancellor next year. "We need a comprehensive new start, so we can reestablish our society on fresh foundations. People create value, not locusts," he said.

Ted Cruz to announce what he's having for dinner at 4:00 PM Eastern

Famous supporters of the original America First Committee, just a bunch of Nazis to Rush Limbaugh, included presidents Ford, Kennedy, Hoover

Donald Trump's statement of America First foreign policy

From the transcript here:

My foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people and American security above all else. It has to be first. Has to be. That will be the foundation of every single decision that I will make. America First will be the major and overriding theme of my administration. ...

Americans must know that we’re putting the American people first again on trade. So true. On trade, on immigration, on foreign policy. The jobs, incomes and security of the American worker will always be my first priority.

No country has ever prospered that failed to put its own interests first. Both our friends and our enemies put their countries above ours and we, while being fair to them, must start doing the same. We will no longer surrender this country or its people to the false song of globalism. The nation-state remains the true foundation for happiness and harmony. I am skeptical of international unions that tie us up and bring America down and will never enter.

Rush Limbaugh slams America First as pro-Nazi, too stupid to know Gerald R. Ford was a founding member

As usual the dunderhead with the microphone misleads the people.

Your official jobs outsourcing ticket

From the story here:

In 2013, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) emerged as one of the Senate's top H-1B visa supporters, and argued for a 500% H-1B visa cap increase. But during his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Cruz had a conversion. ... Cruz's decision Wednesday to add former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina (and one-time GOP presidential candidate herself) as his running mate if he wins the nomination, may make his newly found H-1B beliefs a hard sell. At HP, Fiorina was a prominent supporter of the offshore outsourcing model, said Ron Hira, an associate professor of public policy at Howard University, who wrote about Fiorina's approaches in his book, Outsourcing America.

Why do the PACs for Carly Fiorina (Ted's new VP) and Liz Mair (Melania photo in Utah) share the same P.O. Box in Virginia?

And how about that very unusual $500,000 transfer from Ted's PAC to Carly's PAC in June 2015? Did that somehow trickle over to Liz Mair's PAC to finance the UTAH operation (March 2016)?

h/t CowgerNation

screenshot this morning

screenshot this morning

Under winner-take-all, this would be over: Trump would have 1,261 delegates after 5-state primary yesterday

Trump has now won 26 states and 10.1 million votes, with ten contests remaining through June 7.

Instead of getting all the delegates from these wins, he has to share 311 of them with a bunch of losers under the "rules", people who would otherwise be forgotten by now but for Republican elites' failure to tell them to go away as they would have in the past.

This is why voters hate the Republicans. They don't want to win, and they don't want anybody else to win, either, and have designed their system accordingly.

Republicans govern the same way. It's more important to them to follow a bunch of self-imposed rules (read "principles") than to do what the American people need. Free-trade and open borders uber alles, no matter how many people are hurt.

Trump has already surpassed the total vote received by both McCain in 2008 (9.9 million) and Romney in 2012 (9.8 million), but we'll still hear the Mark Levins and Rush Limbaughs of the world today failing to get behind the obvious new leader of the Republican Party while the remaining contenders for the nomination seal their ignominious reputations by refusing to concede.

Prediction: Trump will pick Rubio for VP

What the hell do I know, right? I predicted a Jeb Bush/Scott Walker ticket before Trump got in the race. 

But now, Rubio brings charisma, putative conservatism, youth which can be groomed for future office, the wisdom to recognize when he's been beaten, or wrong, and the character to concede it, articulation, the opportunity to make a friendly tilt toward the Spanish-speaking world, delegates and big hands.

Voters in 5 states average 58.7% for Trump, give him 1.33 million votes and 105 delegates, Kasich gets 5, Cruz 1 in liberal Rhode Island