Sunday, January 6, 2019
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Trouble already in the freshman Democrat club: Rashida Tlaib, MI-13, wants to erase Israel
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, NY-14, has come out as a Jew.
Must see video: Tucker Carlson says socialism is exactly what we're going to get unless we stop worshipping at the altar of (capitalist) materialism
Pretty smart coming from a guy who eschews intellectualism.
For example, I wish he had said that you can't have limited government without individuals composing it who first limit themselves. He says that, and more, just not in a lapidary way. Tucker is revolting against the reductionism of Conservatism Inc. to mere materialism. He is revolting against ideology, and it's amazing.
Here.
Bons mots:
Republicans see it as their duty to make the world safe for banking.
Questioning markets feels like apostasy to social conservatives.
Economics and culture are not separable one from the other.
Rural America now looks like Detroit.
Putting corporations first is bondage.
We tax capital at half the rate we tax labor.
Divided countries are easier to rule.
Market capitalism is not a religion. It's a tool.
Libertarians tell a lie when they say any deviation from market fundamentalism is socialism.
Ann Coulter says she agrees with AOC: Raise taxes on the rich
Ann just wants to punish the Koch Brothers in the process, but there's a better reason to agree.
Good government acts like a curb on a street, steering behavior. That's what taxing the rich used to be all about.
How so?
Once enacted in 1916, high taxation of ordinary income didn't result in high revenues for government. That's why the income tax was extended to almost all earners instead of just the rich when it became clear within a few years that government wouldn't have enough money to play in the international sandbox without more dough. For their part the rich won long term tax concessions through diverting derivation of income from capitalist enterprises, the latter benefiting not just themselves as owners but also individuals with jobs, the country with productivity, and the government with additional multiple streams of revenue. It was an intricate but effective way of benefiting all concerned.
The mistake with the Reagan Revolution was that it misunderstood human nature. It thought lots of new untaxed ordinary income would end up getting invested just the same way, and turn America into something never before seen. But the money didn't get invested the same way. It fled abroad where the cost of doing business was cheaper. It helped create middle classes wherever it went, but ours withered on the vine. Meanwhile the number of US billionaires mushroomed, the ratio of CEO pay to worker pay went ballistic, and general income inequality increased dramatically. Real incomes for most people have barely moved up since the 1970s.
And now here we are with an America never before seen indeed, where libertarian advocates of this destructive system tell us with a straight face that this is patriotism.
Unfortunately, none of this is in the pea brain of AOC, let alone in Ann Coulter's, Kevin McCarthy's or Donald Trump's.
Michael Savage calls AOC "Alexandria Occasional Cortex", which is just . . . savage
I suppose of all the talkers I've listened to over the years, Savage has been my favorite. For his general positions on borders, language and culture, yes, but more so because he's an independent thinker. It's not just that he's independent. It's that he thinks. No thinking man is a party man. Which is probably why he's out the door.
Not sure I'm a podcast guy, but there's that for those who are more active than passive listeners. I like the radio because it's (mostly) live. Anything big which could happen you hear about almost instantly. And anyone could call in. It's more spontaneous and more exciting. I like to listen while I'm cooking dinner.
Radio certainly is changing. Laura Ingraham hung up the headset in November after many years carrying the baton on immigration. Burning the candle at both ends she was. Chris Plante out of DC is a very welcome alternative to Laura in the mornings. He's very quick upstairs, trenchant and funny.
It would be nice if Mark Steyn replaced Rush Limbaugh one of these days, but somehow I think the Rush Limbaugh show goes away when Rush goes away.
But all of them need to take more callers, and let them talk, dammit. Which is probably too much to ask. Most of the callers aren't any good.
But there was that guy, Geno from The Bronx . . ..
Yep, you guessed it, the inventor of sliced bread was white . . . and German-American . . . and from Iowa
Ve haf vays ov makinck your lunch qvicker.
The horror. The horror.
Otto Frederick Rohwedder (1880-1960)
Friday, January 4, 2019
Ann Coulter: The media are trying to convince Trump that if he abandons the wall, he’ll be a statesman . . .
Bush 41 accepted the Profiles in Courage award from Democrats for abandoning his Read My Lips No New Taxes pledge, many years later of course, proof that the voters were right to turn out the bum in 1992 for his betrayal.
Will Trump follow in his footsteps?
Nearly every Republican presidential candidate tried to con voters with these meaningless catchphrases about “border security.”
Here are The Des Moines Register’s summaries of some of the candidates’ positions on immigration a few weeks before the 2016 Iowa caucus:
Jeb Bush: “has called for enhanced border security.”
Marco Rubio: “proposes … improved security on the border.”
John Kasich: “believes border security should be strengthened.”
Chris Christie: “urges … using technology to improve border surveillance …”
Rand Paul: “would secure the border immediately.”
Carly Fiorina: “would secure the border, which she says requires only money and manpower.”
They all lost.
The guy who won: “Trump has said many illegal immigrants are rapists and are bringing drugs and crime to the United States. He has called for building a wall along the southern border, and has said he would make Mexico pay for it. He said he would immediately terminate President Barack Obama’s ‘illegal executive order on immigration.'”
Trump got more votes than any other Republican in the history of presidential primaries. No one was falling for “border security” then, and they aren’t now.
But instead of doing what he said and building a wall, Trump has hired people who don’t even grasp that the point is to make it unattractive to break into our country.
Start with your father Rashida, eldest of 14 children
Another Cooley Law School graduate rises to the level of her incompetence. Michael Cohen will keep a cot warm for you, Rashida.
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Rand Paul to Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts Puritan: Cut the petty holier than thou crap
Ain't gonna happen Senator Paul. There's something in the water up there in Massachusetts that once you drink of it, you're infected forever. Same thing happens with the water in Utah. But hooah anyway.
I don`t know how it really helps anybody`s cause for people to stand up there like they`re holier than thou. And it`s like, look at me, how virtuous I am. And I`m going to bring down the presidency by criticizing his character in front of the whole nation. It does nobody any good. And, in the end, I think it`s going to look petty, and I think there`s going to be a backlash to this. ...
I question [Trump] on policy when I disagree with him. He knows I have stood up to him. I have talked to him on the phone and he says, "I know where your principles are and I know you can`t move on this particular vote." And we still have a good conversation. And I think that`s different than attacking and trying to go for the jugular of someone`s character. And so I do think it`s different. ...
[I]f there were an election between Donald Trump in a primary and Romney, I think Romney would be wiped out.
Hooah Newt Gingrich to Mitt Romney: The Senate doesn't care who you used to be
It is kind of sad. As a freshman, he could have come in, he could have written as the former governor of Massachusetts, his views on Elizabeth Warren running for office. He could have written about the shutdown and offered an idea, such as combining help for the DREAMers with building the wall and securing the border. He could have written about things he knows a great deal about.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Among whites Trump 2016 underperformed Romney 2012 57%-59% overall, but crushed him with whites in eleven states and in seven to win the presidency
Mitt Romney is back, but he really ought to just zip it. He's a loser.
States where Trump 2016 (wins in red) outperformed Romney 2012 (wins in blue) among whites:
States where Trump 2016 (wins in red) outperformed Romney 2012 (wins in blue) among whites:
Florida 64%-61%
Indiana 64%-60%
Iowa 54%-47%
Maine 46%-40%
Michigan 57%-55%
Minnesota 50%-49%
Missouri 66%-65%
New Hampshire 48%-47%
New York 51%-49%
Ohio 62%-57%
Wisconsin 53%-51%.
Where Trump underperformed Romney Trump still won the same contests, but also reeled in Pennsylvania which Romney did not. Overall Trump won 10 states to Romney's 4, largely on improved performance among whites.
States where Romney 2012 (wins in blue) outperformed Trump 2016 (wins in red) among whites:
Arizona 66%-54%
California 53%-45%
Colorado 54%-47%
New Jersey 56%-54%
New Mexico 56%-47%
North Carolina 68%-63%
Oregon 44%-42%
Pennsylvania 57%-56%
Virginia 61%-59%
Washington 46%-40%.
Exit polling via CNN.
Exit polling via CNN.
Peter Dutton of the US Naval War College doesn't think China can control the South China Sea
One of the rare hopeful appraisals I have read, which ought to be sobering . . . for China.
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