For more see here.
Monday, February 1, 2016
The Trump Doctrine: not neoconservative meddling like Bush, but Realpolitik like Reagan instead
From the story by Josh Rogin, here:
“This is a long game; it’s not a short game,” [Sam] Clovis said. He faulted neoconservatives who "think you can go out there and in three weeks after Iraq collapses you can create a constitutional democracy over there." ...
Sam Nunberg, who advised Trump on foreign policy early in the campaign before having a falling out with [Corey] Lewandowski, told me that Trump’s foreign policy was “Reagan-esque realpolitik,” a stance designed to be able to make policies based on circumstances without being burdened by ideology.
Sam Clovis, chief policy adviser to Donald Trump, calls himself a Russell Kirk conservative
Just now on the Laura Ingraham show.
Sam Clovis said as much on Anderson Cooper on January 22nd here, defending Trump against National Review's anti-Trump issue.
WaPo editorial board half-truths about Trump illustrate why circulation continues to decline
Here's just one:
'Early on, he touted his unprincipled past as a demanding financial supporter of both parties — “I give to everybody; they do whatever I want” — as if acknowledging participation in corruption qualified him to fix it.'
I'd call it a hopeful sign if the editorial board of The Washington Post painted every contribution to a political candidate as participation in corruption if it meant especially to Hillary Clinton, but it didn't.
R. Emmett Tyrell of The American Spectator comes out . . . for Trump
Here:
'I am for the candidate with a sense of humor, of showmanship, and a proven record for getting things done. Now on the “Today Show” this week Donald Rumsfeld, a veteran conservative, has come forward and said that Trump has “caused people to respond in a way that most politicians have not been able to do.” Rumsfeld is no vulgarian.
'I agree with him. Trump is a new and promising participant in American politics, and he is on the conservatives’ side. Here is history in the making.'
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Former editor of National Review thinks Ted Cruz is the leader of the Tea Party: Sarah Palin would beg to differ
Here:
'Mr. Obama’s conservative opponents, on the other hand, have responded to his bold assertion of executive prerogative in two quite different ways. Some cite it as an argument for stronger checks on presidential power; others plainly believe that this unchecked power would be a fine thing if only it were exercised in pursuit of their interests.
'The first of those reactions produced the Tea Party movement, which advocated fiscal discipline, limited government and fidelity to the Constitution. Half of it joined the conservative wing of the GOP and fought elections with mixed success; the other half became an independent conservative faction out of frustration with a Republican leadership they believe has betrayed them. Many Tea Partiers now tell pollsters that they are “independents.” But the obvious leader of the entire movement is Sen. Ted Cruz.'
The Hegelian dialectic was never so useful for so little.
Ted Cruz adopts Obama voter intimidation tactics in Iowa
From the story here:
'In 2008, academics at Yale published an influential paper showing that one of the most effective ways to get voters to the polls was “social pressure.” Researchers found that registered voters in a 2006 primary election in Michigan voted at a higher rate if they received mailers indicating that their participation in the election would be publicized. The mailer that had the biggest impact included information about the two previous elections and whether the recipient and his or her neighbors participated or not. “We intend to mail an updated chart,” the mailer warned. “You and your neighbors will all know who voted and who did not.”
'Insights from the Yale study have since been adopted by several campaigns, including MoveOn, which also faced criticism when it used the tactic to turn out voters for Barack Obama’s reëlection, in 2012. Given its obsession with political science, it’s no surprise that the Cruz campaign decided to adopt the “social pressure” techniques to turn out voters in Iowa for Monday night’s caucuses.'
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated . . .."
Trump's tone is the least of our problems: 43% of Democrats in Iowa describe themselves as socialists
Bloomberg poll, here.
The triumph of ideological thinking on both the left and the right can be seen in the equal disdain both have for "isolationism". Poking our noses into other people's business is evidently now synonymous with being an American.
And the Republicans obviously haven't read Eric Hoffer.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
So Obama learned of clintonemail.com through news reports like everyone else while e-mailing her there 22 times
Sounds like someone's lying again and needs to be impeached. Otherwise things could get a little out of hand, no? I mean that's what happens when people get in the habit of flouting the law.
'Obama, after delivering a Saturday speech in Selma, Ala., was asked when he found out about Clinton’s personal email system run from her Chappaqua home. “The same time everybody else learned it through news reports,” he told CBS News.'
'The State Department on Friday said for the first time that “top secret” material had been sent through Hillary Clinton’s private computer server, and that it would not make public 22 of her emails because they contained highly classified information. The department announced that 18 emails exchanged between Mrs. Clinton and President Obama would also be withheld, citing the longstanding practice of preserving presidential communications for future release. The department’s spokesman, John Kirby, said that exchanges did not involve classified information.'
Friday, January 29, 2016
Politico agrees Rand Paul "eviscerated" Ted Cruz on amnesty
Here:
Cruz once filed an amendment to Rubio’s bill that would have created a path to “legalization,” but he has argued that it was really a poison pill designed to kill reform. Last night, though, Kelly effectively quashed that argument, playing several clips of Cruz insisting that he did want reform to pass. “Was that all an act?” Kelly asked him. “It was pretty convincing!” After Cruz flailed around for a few minutes, arguing that it was unfair for Kelly to focus on 38 words in a 1,000-page bill, Kelly turned to Rand Paul, yet another frequent target of Trump’s barbs. “Senator Paul, you know how Washington works,” she said. “Do you buy that?”
Paul—who has denounced Trump as unfit for office, and who has been mocked by Trump for his poll numbers and even his looks—obligingly continued the evisceration of Cruz. “He can’t have it both ways,” he said. “What is particularly insulting is, he’s the king of saying ‘You’re for amnesty.’ Everyone’s for amnesty except for Ted Cruz. But it’s a falseness, and that’s an authenticity problem … I was for legalization. So was Ted—but now he says he wasn’t. That’s not true.”
The amnesty of a lesser god: Senator Rand Paul eviscerated Ted Cruz who was for legalization of illegal immigrants in 2013
From the transcript of last night's debate, here, where Senator Rand Paul called BS on Cruz' poison pill argument and showed that Cruz was sincerely for legalization, a lesser form of amnesty but an amnesty no less:
PAUL: I was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill."
The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz.
But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem -- that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true.
---------------------------------------------------------
Trump not participating last night did two useful things:
It made the debate Pig Pile on Cruz night.
And it gave Rand Paul a spot to come back to the main stage and make this argument.
Trump wins again.
James Pethokoukis on China trade reminds me of my doctor pushing statin drugs
As everyone knows, statin drugs for cholesterol inhibit CoQ10 synthesis. So now the doctors push a CoQ10 supplement on you at the same time they push the cholesterol drug.
As George W. Bush famously said, "That doesn't make any sense."
So along comes James Pethokoukis confronted with the study showing how the opening to China trade destroyed many American jobs and lives.
His solution?
An expanded earned income credit, wage subsidies, and other government safety net initiatives to encourage work over retirement.
And relocation assistance to where the jobs are.
Never mind we don't want to move to China, India, Pakistan, Thailand or Indonesia.
Like Keynesians and MDs pushing drugs libertarians can never be proven wrong.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Top ten 2015 online news providers
"Overall, the top 10 publishers -- together owning around 60 news sites -- account for 47% of total online traffic to news content last year, with the next-biggest 140 publishers accounting for most of the other half, SimilarWeb found. ...
"MSN.com accounted for all of MSN’s traffic, again with 27 billion page views, followed by ESPN.go.com, with 23 billion; CNN.com, with 8.8 billion; Drudge Report, accounting for all of Matt Drudge’s traffic at 8.5 billion; Buzzfeed.com, at 6.8 billion; Foxnews.com, at 6.9 billion; NYtimes.com, with 6.3 billion; News.yahoo.com, at 6 billion; Cnet.com, at 5.2 billion; and Huffingtonpost.com, at 4.3 billion."
More here.
Rupert Murdoch, owner of FOX News and The Wall Street Journal, doesn't care illegals cut in line or about jobless Americans
 |
| Rupert Murdoch is working on wife #4 |
Here in The Wall Street Journal in "Immigration Reform Can't Wait" from June 2014:
"We need to give those individuals who are already here—after they have passed checks to ensure they are not dangerous criminals—a path to citizenship so they can pay their full taxes, be counted, and become more productive members of our community.
"Next, we need to do away with the cap on H-1B visas, which is arbitrary and results in U.S. companies struggling to find the high-skill workers they need to continue growing."
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