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MAY 9, 2022

FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT – OVERNIGHT:  Taking their cue from the GOP's "contract with America," which clearly helped their party win control of Congress in 1994, House Republicans today are developing their own contract on law and order.  Good move.  From RealClearPolitics: 

Crime is on the rise around the country, the midterm elections are fast approaching, and the largest bloc of House conservatives is preparing a comprehensive package of law-and-order legislation.

The Republican Study Committee, led by Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, has catalogued every GOP argument about crime in the last two years and distilled it into a single memo to lay at the feet of President Biden. The murder rate is up. So are violence against law enforcement, drug seizures, aggravated assault, grand theft auto, and domestic violence.

All of it, as the RSC sees it, is the result of “the left’s crime wave.” The solution then, according to a memo obtained exclusively by RealClearPolitics, is to make federal funding conditional on states’ adoption of “certain pro-law enforcement measures,” or what Banks calls the “Concerned Citizens Bill of Rights.”

The document comes just six months before the midterms, and crime was always going to play a significant role in those contests. Voters fed up with lawlessness made Eric Adams mayor of New York City, and crime continues to upstage more progressive priorities in traditionally liberal contests, like the Los Angeles mayoral race. Even outside of major metropolises, Americans believe crime is getting worse. According to Gallup, a majority (53%) say they personally worry a “great deal” about crime. It now ranks third in their top concerns, behind only inflation and the economy.

Banks and House Republicans argue that the uptick stems from a spate of progressive prosecutors who’ve been bankrolled by liberal money and the Defund the Police movement, which they call “one of the greatest dangers to public safety in our nation’s history.”

Despite Biden’s condemnation of the “defund” rhetoric from his left flank, they still say the president and his party own the carnage that comes from adhering to that philosophy.

“From the White House to liberal state and local governments, there has been a systemic failure to contain crime in America. It stems from the dangerous belief that enforcing the law is somehow morally wrong or even racist. It has paralyzed law enforcement agencies at all levels and created prosecutors who would rather let a dangerous criminal walk out of jail than enforce the law,” the memo reads.

None of this is new. Republicans are always eager to lean into their traditional branding as the party of law and order. For instance, the memo states that “once, again, Democrats have broken a part of our civil society.” But unlike Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the RSC led by Banks has rejected the idea of just playing the opposition until November. “Crime is at an unacceptable level and Americans are desperate for solutions,” the memo states. “They need to know that Conservatives have a plan to make them safe.”

COMMENT:  Absolutely the right way to go.  Tell the American people precisely what you're going to do.  Spell it out.  It's hard for the Democrats to do the same because any common-sense solutions will be rejected by the radical moonbat wing of their party.  You can't mention prosecution and be a moonbat Dem at the same time.

May 9, 2022     Permalink

MAY 8, 2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

PUTIN SPEAKS – OVERNIGHT:  Ignore the date at the top.  It's now 4:32 a.m. ET on the morning of May 9th.  I've been following CNN's coverage of the Victory Day ceremonies in Moscow, commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.  We have anticipated this day, one of the most important on the Russian calendar, to see if President Putin uses it to announce some new policy involving Ukraine.

Putin has just spoken.  His speech was filled with complaints about the West, and presented Russia as a victim of Western intrigue.  He promised defiance, defended Russian action in Ukraine, but gave no hint of any change in policy.  From Fox:  

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the West in his Victory Day speech Monday at the Kremlin, claiming that the U.S. and other countries had propped up a "threat" on Russia's borders and had even supported threats of nuclear war against his country.

"Russia has always stood up for an international system of equality," Putin said, according to a translation from the German outlet Deutsche-Welle. "We have always tried to find compromise solutions… Other countries had completely different plans."

"They have tried to attack our historical territories like the Crimea. They have threatened to use nuclear war, and the West has supported these military actions carried out in our neighborhood and that is why it was a threat we couldn't accept," the Russian president added. He claimed there was a "threat to our border."

"We have seen the military infrastructure developed," Putin claimed, mentioning "more and more international military advisors coming into the country. The country was provided with modern weapons. There was a threat that was growing day by day."

Putin condemned the U.S. by name. "The United States of America, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union,… has humiliated not only the whole world, but also their satellite states."

"They have tried to denigrate the memory of the Second World War," he charged.

Some chest-thumping, but, so far, nothing unusual.  Of course, that could change if Putin makes another statement later today.  But he did not announce a declaration of war against Ukraine, and he did not threaten to use nuclear weapons.  Nor did he announce a ceasefire or any new negotiations.  We are left in the dark.

May 8, 2022     Permalink

THE PARENTS' REVOLT CONTINUES – OVERNIGHT:  Another proof that the revolt by American parents against public education is growing, not receding.  From Redstate: 

Saturday, school board elections were held for four suburban Fort Worth, Texas, school districts. Candidates backed by a conservative parents’ organization won all 10 seats they contested and unseated at least three incumbents.

Usually, school board elections are low-key affairs that draw scant interest. But ever since COVID, Critical Race Theory (CRT), and mainstreaming of sexual grooming in our classrooms brought the stupidity and cruelty of many school board members to public view, they have become a battleground. Once sane people saw the horror show that was the Loudoun County, Virginia, school board, they started paying attention.

Yesterday’s elections were just a continuation of the revolt over CRT  that started last year. Even though we all know it is only taught as an elective in law school and a total non-issue in school board elections, teaching children to observe racial stereotypes and judge classmates based on their skin color is deeply offensive to thinking people.

This election, like the one last year, teaches several lessons. First, if normal parents organize, they are a formidable force. Too often, we parents are too caught up in our lives to pay much attention to school board candidates. If you care about your kids and the country, pay attention.

Second, the GOP has let the label of “nonpartisan” that is attached to school board elections prevent it from endorsing candidate slates. The cretins the left slips into school board slots can only do so because they aren’t exposed.

Lastly, school board elections are critical if we are to preserve our republic. The late Andrew Breitbart was fond of saying “politics is downstream from culture” due to the conservative inclination to ignore the nutbaggery coming out of movie and recording studios. He knew that attitudes and beliefs come from the cultural context and are set in place long before the average person becomes politically aware. I would argue that “education” is also upstream from politics, and if you ignore both culture and education, you can’t pretend to be shocked when they force you to wear a face mask and social distance as they pack you into the boxcars heading for the camps.

COMMENT:  Well said.  The issue of education, fueled by appropriately irate parents, is becoming one of the most powerful issues in American politics.  The Democratic Party is heavily influenced by teachers' unions, and can do little except embrace the status quo.  Republicans won the governorship of Virginia recently largely on the issue of education, and Republicans can win all over the country if they handle education properly, and fully embrace school choice. 

May 8, 2022     Permalink