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October 2015

Posted by New Neo on October 26, 2015 18 Comments
Andrew McCarthy has written a National Review article entitled "Hillary's Breathtaking Mendacity." It describes the lies that were revealed and "made explicit" in Clinton's testimony before the Benghazi committee last Thursday, and it's well worth reading in its entirely. But it also exemplifies a response that's occurring only on the right. McCarthy's clear and painstaking description of how Clinton lied to the American people (but not to her daughter) is freely available to all who read National Review, but how many people would that be, compared to those who read the ubiquitous MSM spin that says she acquitted herself admirably in the hearings and no one laid a glove on her, nor was any new or interesting information revealed? The Benghazi hearings have underlined---even though such underlining wasn't needed---how those who control the narrative control the perception and even the conclusion. Clinton can lie through her teeth about material facts for political reasons, it can be demonstrated over and over (or it can be obvious to anyone listening or paying a particle of attention), and if the media decides to ignore that fact, how many people will look for themselves and decide for themselves? Very few, I'm afraid. Apparently, facts are not stubborn things. Not any more. Maybe they never were.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 25, 2015 39 Comments
"As a Jew" is a phrase that starts the conversation for some left-wing Jews when it comes to Israel, and particularly "the occupation." The establishment of Jewish identity at the start serves as the shield for what is to follow: A completely one-sided, factually inaccurate, historically-skewed bashing of Israel. Such an Op-Ed was published in The Washington Post on October 23, 2015, by Professors Steven Levitsky (Harvard) and Glen Weyl (U. Chicago)[note: Weyl just joined Microsoft], We are lifelong Zionists. Here’s why we’ve chosen to boycott Israel. The opening reads as many "as a Jew" openings read: "We are lifelong Zionists. Like other progressive Jews ...." The Op-Ed is a caricature of the self-absorbed, selfish, ahistorical "as a Jew" argument which is at the heart of progressive Jewish opposition to Israel, often expressed through the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. It's mostly, if not all, about making the "as a Jews" feel good about themselves, justifying their own existences by putting the existences of Israelis at risk. I'll go over the Op-Ed later in this post. But first, it's helpful to consider this description of the "as a Jew" phenomenon as it relates to progressive anti-Zionist Jews:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 25, 2015 8 Comments
Watching Bernie Sanders declare that he's about to say something that "may not be great politics" and then announce that "people are sick of hearing about Clinton emails," many people wondered why on earth Sanders would hand such a major victory to Hillary during the first (and so far only) Democrat debate.  It made no sense. She'd had a horrible horrible spring and summer, and her campaign was looking like it was about to implode—so much so that Joe Biden gave serious consideration to jumping into the race.  Sanders handed her a life-line that helped not only jump-start her campaign but set the stage for a cool, confident, cackling Hillary to face the Benghazi committee.   Not great politics?  Understatement of the year. Watch as the significance of the moment slowly dawns on a bobble-headed Hillary: She's grim-faced and readying herself for battle as Sanders begins speaking, but by the end, she's positively giddy as what he has said—and done—sinks in, and she breaks debate protocol by spontaneously reaching out to Sanders and shaking his hand in unconcealed euphoria.  Poor Sanders didn't get it at the time.  But she did.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 25, 2015 26 Comments
Ted Cruz has hit third place (behind Carson and Trump) and double-digits in Iowa.  He's taken over Rubio's third place spot according to Bloomberg.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, at 10 percent, is the only other candidate [besides Carson and Trump] in double digits. He's followed by Florida Senator Marco Rubio at 9 percent. The horse-race numbers for the top four mirror a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday, with the main exception being that the earlier poll had Rubio in third place with 13 percent.
As he continues to campaign in Iowa, Cruz emphasizes the import of the 2016 presidential election.  He tweets:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 25, 2015 35 Comments
As an iconic American industry, we have been following McDonald's and its struggle to deal with minimum wage requirements and greedy unions. Now, after a series of bad quarterly reports, the corporate accountants are serving Happy Meals:
The struggling fast food giant announced Thursday that global same-store sales grew 4% in the third quarter of 2015, with the gains driven by growth in several international markets. The burger chain even ended a seven-quarter losing streak in the U.S., where same-store sales grew 0.9% compared to the same period last year. Overall, McDonald’s profit climbed to $1.3 billion for the quarter, up from $1.07 billion for the same quarter a year earlier. The Oak Brook, Ill., hamburger chain surpassed analysts’ expectations with earnings of $1.40 per share. Analysts had projected net income of $1.27 per share, according to Thomson Reuters, compared with $1.09 reported a year earlier. McDonald’s reported they spent $3.1 billion on share buybacks and dividends during the last quarter, a move that helped boost earnings per share

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 25, 2015 15 Comments
Last week, Democrats blocked the passage of Kate's Law, a measure which would punish illegal immigrants who repeatedly re-enter the country after deportation. Bill O'Reilly of FOX News has been one of the most vocal proponents of the law and spoke to FOX and Friends about what happened in Congress. The FOX News Insider reports:
O'Reilly to Dems Against Kate's Law: 'How Can You Live with Yourself?' Bill O'Reilly said a stand-alone vote on Kate's Law would put lawmakers to the test and -- in his opinion -- disqualify any Democratic senators who oppose it from holding office. The proposal would impose a mandatory five-year prison sentence on felons caught trying to re-enter the U.S. after being deported.

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 25, 2015 61 Comments
The liberal talking point about the Benghazi committee is that Hillary Clinton won the battle and emerged unscathed but in order to believe that, you first have to ignore one major lie that was uncovered. The attack had nothing to do with a video. That is not what we were told. The idea of a terror attack on an American embassy on 9/11 just before a presidential election didn't match Obama's grandiose claims that al Qaeda was on the run. In the days that followed the Benghazi attack, the lie about it being based on a video was parroted by Hillary Clinton, Jay Carney, Susan Rice and even Obama himself.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 25, 2015 10 Comments
On Friday, President Obama unsheathed his mad internet skills and used them to bat at his Republican counterparts in Congress and on the campaign trail. Comparing GOP politicians to "Grumpy Cat," he lamented that anyone would dare display skepticism of the direction in which his administration has chosen to steer the country. From The Hill:
“Overall, we are making enormous progress. And it does make you wonder why is it that Republican politicians are so down on America?” Obama said. “I mean, they are gloomy. They’re like Grumpy Cat.”

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 25, 2015 8 Comments
Billionaire, dark money overlord, Charles Koch, dressed as Stars Wars super villain Darth Vader. Sadly, Koch doesn't dress as Vader everyday, but decided to do so after an NPR interviewer described him as, “pretty much Darth Vader.”

Posted by Michael Harris on October 24, 2015 18 Comments
"It often happens in the middle of an otherwise pleasant day -- you’re shopping, or walking across a college campus, and you encounter THEM. They’re holding signs that claim Israel is an “apartheid state” and charge Israel with committing “genocide” against Palestinians. They’re calling for boycotts against Israeli products, and divestment from companies that do business with Israel. You know supporting Israel is the right thing to do. And you’re not alone. For decades, polls have shown a large plurality, usually a majority, of Americans back Israel. But here’s the problem: you don’t know how to respond – or if you even should – to these Israel haters. This is an all-too-familiar sight, and has become more frequent in the past decade as Israel-bashing extremists have taken their hostility into the public square. Their words don’t represent a simple disagreement with specific actions or policies of the Israeli government. Instead, they’re an open call for the elimination of the one country that shares American values in a region full of despots and anti-American fanatics. Simply put, they’re not just promoting a Palestinian state, they’re demanding that it replace the Jewish one." This is the opening of my new book, "Winning A Debate with an Israel-Hater", published earlier this month by Shorehouse Books.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 24, 2015 19 Comments
There he goes again, going about his business of slaying another progressive dragon. The saga of the two John Doe investigations of Walker, his supporters and almost the entire Wisconsin conservative movement has been covered here dozens of times. It was a nasty, vicious investigation (note: Michael Lutz in this interview from late April 2015 committed suicide in late July). An important chapter was turned when the Wisconsin Supreme Court ordered John Doe No. 2 investigation closed, as a violation of the constitutional protections of free speech and association, Wisconsin Supreme Court stops John Doe investigation against conservatives. Here is the key finding, which completely shreds both the legal theories and motives of the prosecutors, completely vindicates the targets, and praises those who fought back legally against prosecutorial misconduct (emphasis added):

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 24, 2015 7 Comments
Rand Paul's disappointing poll numbers and fundraising for his presidential campaign are reportedly a cause for concern among the GOP both in his home state of Kentucky and in Washington. Last week, reports indicated that donors and the Kentucky GOP were urging Rand to focus on his senate reelection bid rather than on his flailing presidential campaign. The AP reported:
A defiant Rand Paul is brushing off weak fundraising and weaker poll numbers as would-be donors and home state Republicans push him to abandon an uphill presidential bid to focus on his Senate re-election. . . . . But back in Kentucky, a growing chorus of Republicans suggested that Paul's Senate re-election was by no means guaranteed, despite the state's strong GOP leanings and the lack of a clear Democratic challenger. "He could lose both positions," said Patricia Vincent, chairwoman of the Graves County Republican Party. "He just needs to work a little bit more to make sure he still has a seat in the Senate."

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 24, 2015 17 Comments
At a White House forum on criminal justice reform Thursday, President Obama offered an unsolicited defense of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Janell Ross of the Washington Post:
President Obama defended ‘Black Lives Matter.’ But why did he have to? Obama chose to weigh in on the simmering controversy over the phrase "Black Lives Matter." More specifically, he gave his take on the idea that the phrase is a threat, a verbal affront or some kind of intentional effort to devalue the lives of others. This idea seems to have started with a few not-exactly disinterested police union heads and law enforcement officials, boiled over on a number of conservative blogs and has reverberated with a certain share of the white American public...

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 24, 2015 13 Comments
Back in 2008, Obama suggested that it would be necessary to bankrupt the coal industry in his efforts to establish "green" energy alternatives—he wanted to "take coal off the table as an ideological matter." Here's the clip: The Daily Caller has a partial transcript of the above interview:
In 2008, Obama said his energy policies would “bankrupt” anyone who wants to build a coal plant. “So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them, because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted,” Obama said during a 2008 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial board.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 24, 2015 13 Comments
Hurricane Patricia, a Category 5 storm that is being heralded as "the strongest ever recorded", has just made landfall in Mexico.
Hurricane Patricia -- the strongest hurricane ever recorded -- made landfall on Mexico's Pacific coast Friday evening, its 165 mph winds barreling into southwestern Mexico near Cuixmala, officials said. The monster storm touched down about 6:15 p.m., hours after weakening slightly with sustained winds decreasing to 190 mph and gusts to 235 mph, according to the U.S National Weather Service. ...Taking the brunt of the hurricane are small fishing villages about 130 miles south of Puerto Vallarta, which had braced for potentially catastrophic 200 mph sustained winds and torrential rains. Despite the slight weakening, damage from the Category 5 storm is expected to be devastating. Less than an hour after its arrival, Patricia churned inland over southwestern Mexico with maximum sustained wind speeds of 160 mph and was still "extremely dangerous," according to the American weather service.
The breathless reporting fails to note that Hurricane Patricia's winds actually clocked in at 165 miles-per-hour, which were on par with that of Typhoon Haiyan in the Pacific. Maybe 165 MPH just feels different on the other side of the world? As a reminder, the 2013 typhoon killed over 6000 people.

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 24, 2015 37 Comments
Democrats are are gleeful over Hillary Clinton's performance at the Benghazi hearing on Friday. Her fundraising is up, she's received a big labor union endorsement and two of her Democratic rivals have dropped out of the race. Even so, their enthusiasm smacks of overconfidence. Jordain Carney of The Hill:
Senate Dems rally around Clinton after Benghazi hearing Senate Democrats are rallying behind Hillary Clinton after her marathon appearance before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, suggesting Republicans have only helped bolster the former secretary of State's presidential bid. "I had somebody come to my home this morning and say, 'You know, I think that put her in the White House,'" Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told reporters Friday.
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