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MARCH 15-16,  2023

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE:

COMING HOME TO ROOST:  Madness has its costs.  From Fox:   The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office began a program this week to shuttle employees between their cars and workplaces in downtown Los Angeles amid a series of incidents in which some have been confronted by the public, officials said Thursday.   On Monday, the DA's office launched the Employee Secure Transport and Escort Program (E-STEP) in an effort to provide free secure transportation for employees assigned to the Civic Center area.  "Security incidents involving aggressive confrontations initiated by members of the public have occurred to our employees assigned in the Civic Center area, while walking between their vehicles or transportation area and the office," a news release announcing the program said.  The Los Angeles district attorney is one of the wokest in the country, a true follower of George Soros.  You don't think the crime upsurge has anything to do with that, do you?  Take your time in answering.  And if you're in L.A. right now, stay inside.

March 16, 2023       Permalink 

NOW HERE'S AN IDEA:  Republicans plan how they will deal with the woke press in 2024.   Press policy will no doubt influence the vote.  From Breitbart: 

Conservatives and Republicans could, a new report suggests, cut off establishment media outlets’ access in the 2024 election cycle as GOP lawmakers and candidates look to alternative communication channels to tell their stories.

The prospect of the establishment media’s precarious position was captured in a Tuesday article written by the Dispatch’s David Drucker in which he warned Republican lawmakers and candidates heading into the 2024 election cycle “could attempt to freeze out mainstream journalists,” paralyzing television networks’ content creation and crushing their claims of political neutrality.

We can dream, can't we?

Drucker warned the establishment media could be suffocated by conservatives because “many young GOP communications aides staffing campaigns who came of age in the past decade remain unaccustomed to working with mainstream journalists.”

Public trust in national news media has plummeted in recent years. For instance, a February poll found 50 percent of Americans say the national media intend to mislead, misinform, and persuade the public. Only 35 percent say most news organizations could be relied upon.

Garrett Ventry, a GOP strategist who advises Republican House Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY), told Breitbart News that Republican lawmakers are turning to alternative strategies to communicate with Americans due to unfair coverage.

Just last week, Stefanik was targeted by a taxpayer-funded NPR affiliate. In a Breitbart News article, Stefanik’s office pushed back and called out the “sexist” network for “lying” to its readers.

“Republicans are smartly leveraging other avenues to get out their message instead of relying on the mainstream press,” Ventry said. “Trump started this smart strategy when he ran for President in 2016, engaging with conservative media to pump his message to millions of readers and voters.”

Some Republicans may be worried that if they do not participate in establishment media stories their media presence may be diminished — however distorted their views and positions might be presented to viewers and readers in those media outlets.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  I'm encouraged that the Republicans, not always quick on the trigger, are trying to develop a new press strategy.  The press is not going to improve in the next few years.  The mainstream outlets depend on recruits from the already brain-dead universities.  The "top" papers and networks show little interest in thoughtfulness or balance.  It will be up to Republicans to learn to get around the mainstreamers and speak directly to the American people.  Ronald Reagan did it.  And he understood why it was important. 

March 16,  2023     Permalink

A FINE GOVERNOR ACTS:  I'm surprised more people aren't mentioning Republican Governor Greg Abbott of Texas as a possible presidential candidate.  His record is solid, and he actually knows how to take action.  Consider this latest move in his fight against educational mediocrity.  From Legal Insurrection: 

I didn’t go to school in the Houston Independent School District (HISD), but I remember always being thankful I didn’t, which was in the 1990s!

It hasn’t gotten better.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s administration snatched HISD “after years of academic failures,” according to the letter given to the Daily Caller:

In June, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) will be put in control of Houston Independent School District (HISD), made up of 76 schools and nearly 200,000 students, replacing the school’s “board of managers” and superintendent, according to a TEA letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The takeover comes after the school district has repeatedly failed to meet the state’s academic standards, according to TEA Commissioner Mike Morath. (RELATED: Texas Lawmaker Introduces Bill That Allows Teachers To Reject CDC Trans Activism)

“I think it’s actually important for families to know that this decision is not a reflection of the incredible students in Houston ISD, nor is it a reflection of the hard working teachers and staff of Houston ISD,” Morath, who was appointed by Abbott in 2015, told Houston Public Media. “There are many students in Houston that are truly flourishing, but there are also a large number of students in Houston who have not been given the supports necessary to succeed.”

Abbott spoke about the takeover in Dallas, lamenting about how HISD has consistently failed its students:

“But know this, when I talk about what we’re gonna do going forward, some have suggested this will be used for parental empowerment and things like that,” Abbott said.

“All of that is completely separate from what’s happening with HISD.”

Democrats complained about the takeover, but Democrat State Rep. Harold Dutton from Houston wrote in an op-ed that the TEA has the legal ability to take over HISD because the district has not done enough to improve the education in all the schools.

But the Houston Democrats and NAACP vow to fight.

How about you fight for the kids and provide them with better education?

COMMENT:  I hope it works, but Houston may be beyond repair.  It is typical of cities where well-meaning minorities put people into power because "they look like us," and then the trainwreck starts.  We'll hold our breaths and hope, but I'm glad Texas has a governor willing to take a decisive, if risky, action.

March 16, 2023       Permalink

MARCH 13-14,  2023

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE:

MEET THE FINANCIAL WIZARDS:  From the New York Post:   One is a Hillary Clinton mega-donor who went to a Shinto shrine to pray after Donald Trump won the White House. Another worked for President Barack Obama before her own political career spectacularly failed. A third is a prolific contributor to Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi — who owns a Napa Valley vineyard just 15 minutes from the former House speaker’s.  There’s even an improv performer.  The 12 directors who were supposed to oversee fallen Silicon Valley Bank — and prevent the catastrophic errors that threw the entire banking system into jeopardy on Friday — might not be household names.  But they are facing a series of investigations into their collective role in its collapse.   A Post examination of the board reveals it did not jibe with Silicon Valley’s young image: Only one independent director is under 60, while the oldest is 78.  I'm sure that each will be eligible for free psychiatric services and a medicinal massage.  That's only fair, right?

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT:  from NBC CHICAGO:  A new poll of more than 800 likely Chicago mayoral election voters found that former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas is holding a lead over Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, and several key voting blocs could play a significant role in determining the outcome of the race.  The poll, conducted by Victory Research, asked 806 likely runoff voters about their preferences in the upcoming election, with Vallas collecting 44.9% of the vote. Johnson grabbed 39.1% of the vote, with 16% of respondents saying they are still undecided for the April 4 runoff.  The margin of error in the poll was 3.45%, with a mix of respondents on land lines and cell phones, according to the polling company.  Adding some intrigue to the proceedings was the number of voters who said that their choices could change. According to the poll, 18% of respondents said they could change their minds prior to Election Day, meaning that one-third of the voters either haven’t settled on a candidate or could move to the other in the two-man race.  It should be an easy choice for voters.  Johnson is owned and operated by the teachers union, and will carry on the mediocrity of Lori Lightfoot.  Vallas has the right ideas to raise Chicago from the crime-ridden wreck that it's become.  He is pro-police and pro-school reform.  You'd expect Vallas to run away with it, but, like everything else in Chicago, race is in the air.  Vallas is white, Johnson is black. 

March 14, 2023       Permalink 

THIS IS WHAT WE LIKE TO SEE:  Kids from our side fighting back, on an "elite" college campus.  Cheer them!  Send packets of Milky Ways!  From RedState:

Stanford Law School students savagely criticized the school and one of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion deans in a piece in the school’s publication, “Stanford Review,” with this simple but powerful headline atop its front page: “Fire Tirien Steinbach.”

— The Stanford Review (@StanfordReview)

As RedState’s Jim Thompson reported, Steinbach, Stanford Law’s Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, joined students in heckling and screaming at 5th Circuit Court of Appeals judge Kyle Duncan, who was attempting to deliver a speech. When the judge asked for an administrator to intervene, Steinbach instead piled on and launched into a 6-minute tirade claiming Duncan was “literally denying the humanity of people.”

His crime? He refused to retroactively change court records to reflect that child porn enthusiast and repeated sex offender Norman Varner decided after his trial to identify as female and demanded to be referred to as “Kathy Jett.” Duncan refused.

Although the university belatedly delivered a written apology to the jurist, many felt that it was a weak one at best, and there seem to have been very few consequences for Steinbach for her outrageous behavior. As SisterToldjah reported, the university then compounded its mistakes by issuing a letter to students who were upset about the interruptions to seek mental health help…from Tirien Steinbach.

The Stanford Review bills itself as a student-run independent newspaper. The outlet’s article, credited to “multiple authors,” described their disgust with how the situation went down at a school that touts its commitment to free speech:

Perhaps the only thing uglier than the Stanford Law School building is the events that took place there on Thursday. The Stanford Federalist Society’s event with Kyle Duncan, a judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, was disrupted by a mob of unruly law students and a Stanford DEI Dean who prevented the judge from speaking entirely.

They point out that she was just as much to blame for the circus as the rowdy students.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  The good guys at Stanford Law are leading the way.  If we start having regular counter-revolutions like this, I have no doubt that our side will emerge from the culture wars victorious.  But each victory must be won by itself, and there will be setbacks along the way.  And the way will take years

The election of a Republican president would be more than helpful.  We need a major cleanup in the U.S. government.  We need new people at the Department of Education, or maybe the abolition of that department.  I sense from the trends that I see each week that things are moving in our direction.  Ron DeSantis, after all, has become a major figure by taking on the wokesters. 

In the 1960s we saw that, underneath the leftist shouting and the takeover of college campuses there was a true silent majority of solid citizens who refused to go along.  That silent majority is still there, and many of its members are silent no more.

March 14, 2023       Permalink

PRESIDENTIAL GAMES:  Didn't we just have a national election?  I'm told there was one in November.  I distinctly remember buying my popcorn and sitting in front of my TV watching the returns.

But, so be it.  We have another one next year, for the presidency, and the campaigns are already underway.  In Britain a national campaign lasts, maybe, six weeks.  Here it's starting to look like a two-year sprint.

It's an unusual campaign.  A former president, defeated for re-election, is running to get back to the Oval Office.  I'm sure someone has told Donald Trump that only one president in American history has done this successfully.  It was Grover Cleveland, tossed out by the voters after one term, re-elected four years later.  Others have tried, without much success.  Republican President Herbert Hoover, defeated by FDR in 1932, tried for the nomination in 1940, but his party turned him down, seeing Hoover as an embittered man of the past, seeking revenge. 

Trump is starting to make his moves.  He clearly sees Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida as his greatest obstacle.  From The Hill:  

Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday, using his 2024 debut speech in Iowa to rehash his longtime 2020 campaign claims and attack his would-be political rival days after the Florida Republican made an appearance in the Hawkeye State.

In a campaign event in Davenport that was billed by Trump’s campaign as an address on education policy, the former president appeared preoccupied by just about anything other than America’s schools. 

He boasted about the work he did to “save” the ethanol industry, bragged about how he moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and rehashed his baseless claim that he was robbed of a second term in the White House by widespread voter fraud.
“What they do to those machines — what they’re doing, our country is really being hurt very badly,” Trump told the friendly crowd. 

He went after DeSantis, a rising Republican star who’s preparing for a likely 2024 presidential bid, accusing the Florida governor of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare, and comparing him to Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah), the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee and a vocal Trump critic.

He also called DeSantis a “disciple” of former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who served as Romney’s running mate in 2012.

“You have to remember, Ron was a disciple of Paul Ryan, who is a RINO loser who currently is destroying Fox [News] and would constantly vote against entitlements,” Trump said, using an acronym for “Republican in name only.” 

“But Ryan, Paul Ryan is a big reason Mitt Romney … lost his election,” the former president continued. “And to be honest with you, Ron reminds me a lot of Mitt Romney, so I don’t think you’re going to be doing so well here.”

Trump’s remarks came during the first Iowa stop of his 2024 presidential bid. He’s been officially seeking the Republican nomination since November, but has largely stayed off the campaign trail. 

His trip to Davenport came just three days after DeSantis stopped in the same city. A Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll of Iowa Republicans released on Friday showed Trump’s standing in the Hawkeye State on the decline, with 47 percent saying they would definitely vote for the former president if he is the party’s nominee in 2024, a 22-point decline since June 2021.

COMMENT:  I'm not sure that attacking Ron DeSantis, even before DeSantis declares his candidacy, is a good idea.  First, it makes Trump look small and frightened.  Second, he's a former president, and it diminishes his stature. A little needling at this stage, yes.  Reagan did that brilliantly.  ("Well, there you go again.")  But an all-out attack?  Recall, as noted above, that Herbert Hoover failed in his bid to return to the White House in part because he sounded bitter.

Trump should recall Reagan's "11th Commandment" for his party:  "Thou shalt not speak ill of any other Republican."  If he is seen as out only for himself, and for revenge, he'll lose, either at the nomination stage or in the general election. If that happens, he risks going down as a divisive figure who damaged his party, not something he would welcome.

March 14, 2023       Permalink