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OCTOBER 5, 2022

THE NEXT PRESIDENT?  COULD BE.  Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is probably the most famous governor in the nation right now.  He is also the odds-on favorite for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 should Trump not run.  From Breitbart: 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is enjoying a double-digit lead in support among Florida’s Latino voters, a recent Spectrum News/Siena College survey found.

The survey showed DeSantis holding a comfortable overall lead against his Democrat challenger Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL), leading 49 percent to Crist’s 41 percent. Seven percent remain unsure of who they would support.

DeSantis happens to enjoy stronger support from his Republican base than Crist sees from Democrats, as 95 percent of Republicans support DeSantis and 90 percent of Democrats support Crist. The governor also leads among independents, 52 percent to the congressman’s 34 percent. 

Further, the survey found that Crist is failing to garner significant support among Latino voters, as DeSantis has a 16 point advantage — 53 percent to 37 percent:

GOVERNOR
(R) Ron DeSantis 49% (+8)
(D) Charlie Crist 41%
Independents
(R) Ron DeSantis 52% (+18)
(D) Charlie Crist 34%
Hispanics
(R) Ron DeSantis 53% (+16)
(D) Charlie Crist 37%

The results coincide with the recent trend seen in key areas of the state. For instance, there are more Republican Hispanic voters in blue Miami-Dade than Hispanic Democrats. And across the state as a whole, registered Republicans are leading Democrats. Further, GOP voters vastly outnumber Democrats in net gains since 2018.

COMMENT:  If DeSantis is re-elected decisively next month, the presidential spotlight will immediately be on him.  If Trump declines to run, I have no doubt that DeSantis will toss his hat in the ring.  But what if Trump runs?  Does that automatically mean that DeSantis will stay out?  I don't think so.  DeSantis knows that this is his time.  He may never be in a better position.  He'll look at the polls, and if challenging Trump looks statistically possible, I'm guessing he'll do it.  It will take some deft diplomacy on the part of Republican Party leaders to handle the mess.  Could be the political fight of the century.

October 5, 2022       Permalink 

A STARTLING REVOLUTION.  FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:

A dozen federal judges say they are no longer hiring clerks from Yale Law School, citing a slew of scandals that they say have undermined free speech and intellectual diversity.

In addition to Fifth Circuit judge James Ho, who announced on Thursday that he would no longer hire law clerks from the nation’s top-ranked law school, 12 federal judges—both circuit and district court jurists—told the Washington Free Beacon they are joining the boycott.

"Students should be mindful that they will face diminished opportunities if they go to Yale," said a prominent circuit court judge, whose clerks have gone on to nab Supreme Court clerkships. "I have no confidence that they’re being taught anything."

With one exception, the judges made clear this is a policy they are imposing on future—not current—Yale Law School students.

A spokeswoman for the law school did not respond to a request for comment.

If the boycott catches on among other right-leaning judges, it could deal a serious blow to Yale Law School, which has maintained the top spot in the U.S. News and World Report rankings since the publication began ranking law schools in the 1980s. Clerkships, particularly on the federal bench, are coveted jobs in the legal profession, and many students choose Yale over other elite law schools because its graduates have historically had the best shot of clerking for prominent judges. A boycott could change that calculus, forcing Yale administrators to rein in activist students and colleagues if they want to keep attracting the best and brightest—and if they want to maintain even a fig leaf of ideological diversity.

The judges joining the boycott, all of whom requested anonymity in order to speak freely, cited a series of incidents where they say free speech has come under attack at Yale Law, starting with a September 2021 controversy in which administrators pressured second year law student Trent Colbert to apologize for an email in which he referred to his apartment as a "trap house." The law school’s diversity director Yaseen Eldik, also described Colbert’s membership in the conservative Federalist Society as "triggering," according to leaked audio obtained by the Free Beacon.

Then in March, over a hundred Yale Law students disrupted a bipartisan panel on civil liberties, causing so much chaos that police were called to escort speakers to safety. Though the disruption was an apparent violation of Yale’s free speech policies, Yale Law School dean Heather Gerken ruled out disciplinary action for the protesters. She even denied that the students had transgressed any formal policy, a move that sparked blowback from her colleague, Kate Stith, who warned that Gerken was setting a "terrible precedent."

Another circuit court judge—a top "feeder" for Supreme Court clerkships—said he was "torn" on whether to participate in the boycott, but that the case for it had "gotten stronger" over the past year. "I’ve hired a bunch of great Yale Law clerks," the judge said. But "at some point, the institution becomes so worthless and degenerate that you wonder what conservative would want to be a part of it."

COMMENT:  Wonderful!   This is another step in the small but growing counter-revolution against wokeness.  There are new recruits every day, in colleges, universities, professional schools and local school boards.   Many have had it with rigid, juvenile, left-wing thinking.  Taking on the Yale Law School, with its powerful alumni association, is an act of pure courage.  Best of luck to the new revolutionaries.

October 5, 2022       Permalink 

OCTOBER 4,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE

WILL THIS BE THE DECISIVE ELECTION ISSUE?  FROM FOX BUSINESS:  American consumers should expect gasoline prices to keep surging as a result of various domestic and global factors, according to energy analysts who spoke with FOX Business.  Major petroleum refinery snags and policies disincentivizing more fossil fuel production or nationwide refinery capacity have contributed to the price uptick, the analysts said. In addition, the powerful Middle East oil cartel, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and Russia are expected to announce a massive production cut of up to 1-2 million barrels per day on Wednesday, Reuters reported.  "What OPEC might do very much could dictate where we go by the end of the year," Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told FOX Business in an interview.   "I had expected at least a good potential that the national average could fall under $3 a gallon, but I think OPEC just threw a bucket of cold water on that by signaling its intentions to be well ahead of any economic slowdown," he continued. "Global inventories for oil remain extremely tight and it's very clear that OPEC is growing addicted to triple digit oil."  Biden essentially destroyed American energy production on his first day as president, to appease the environmental fanatics who have a grip on his party.  This is the result.  When President Trump left office we were, as a result of his policies, energy-independent, and OPEC couldn't control us.  Those good days are gone.  Smart Republicans should make this one of the key issues of their campaign, hitting it every day until the election.  There will be victory.

October 4, 2022       Permalink   

TENTATIVE GOOD NEWS:  All poll results are tentative, but some are particularly delightful.  Why not have a pleasant day?  From the Washington Times:   

In the great political popularity derby, Republicans are winning by a nose at the moment — a factor not often covered by the news media.

“Americans’ views of the two major U.S. political parties remain more negative than positive, but the Republican Party’s favorability is now slightly better than the Democratic Party’s. Both parties’ images have shifted slightly since last year, with the GOP’s favorable rating edging up four percentage points to 44% and the Democratic Party’s rating slipping by the same amount, to 39%,” reports Megan Brenan, an analyst for Gallup, which has released the findings.

A certain demographic appears to be lagging in this race.

“More than eight in 10 rank-and-file Republicans (87%) and Democrats (84%) view their own parties favorably. While Republicans’ favorable rating of the GOP is essentially unchanged from last year, Democrats’ rating of their own party has fallen eight points to the lowest reading of Joe Biden’s presidency,” Ms. Brenan said.

Republicans are still viewed as the better political party to protect the nation from international terrorism and military threats — and also better able to keep the country prosperous, she also noted.

“Given that Americans have historically rated the Democratic Party more favorably than the Republican Party, this year’s opposite finding may be of particular concern to the Democrats, who are trying to hold on to their House majority in the upcoming midterm elections,” Ms. Brenan said, though she also stressed that party favorability ratings are not necessarily related to positive election outcomes for either side.

And then there's this,  from CNN:

Sometimes you see a polling result that jumps out from the page. That was the case when I saw a recently released Gallup poll on who Americans think can better handle the issue that is most important to them.

Put in a historical context, this poll potentially portends very good things for Republicans come November.

We're all used to polls that ask voters which issue is most important to them. Gallup puts the question to Americans open-ended, meaning a respondent can say anything from the mundane (e.g. inflation) to the inane (e.g. clowns).

Gallup, unlike other pollsters, has another twist on that question. They follow it up by pressing respondents to answer which party they think can better handle the issue that they just named as the most important.

Gallup's latest data shows that 48% of Americans believe the Republican Party is best equipped, while 37% believe it is the Democratic Party.

This 11-point Republican edge is one of the best they have ever had. Looking at 20 midterm elections since 1946 when this question was asked, only once has the Republican Party had a larger advantage on this question. That was in 1946 when Republicans had a 17 point lead on the Democrats.

Republicans had a net gain of 55 House seats in the 1946 election. And while the correlation is far from perfect (+0.7 on a scale of -1 to 1) between House seats won by the Republican Party and how they stood against the Democrats on the most important issue question, it is very much existent.

Take a look at all elections since 1946 in which there was a Democratic president.

Republicans ended up with 230 seats on average in the five elections when they led on the question of who Americans trusted more on the issue most important to them. This included 1946 when they won 246 seats.

In the four elections when Republicans trailed on this question, they won an average of just 189 seats. This included both 1962 and 1998, which are the two elections in the polling era with a Democratic president when Republicans had a net gain of less than five seats.

Democrats need to keep Republicans to a net gain of less than five seats to maintain control of the House after November's elections.

We see this in Google searches as well. The number of Google searches for abortion in September was basically tied with the number of searches in April, before the May leak of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe. Searches in September were one-third of the level they were in May. They're one-fifth of the level they were in June, when Roe was overturned. They're less than half what they were in July.

This could be very bad news for Democrats. Polls show Democrats are more trusted than Republicans on abortion by double-digits. Republicans are more trusted by double-digits on the issues of inflation and the economy, which Americans were far more likely to say was important to them in the Monmouth poll.

COMMENT:  That's the good news.  But we note, not to ruin your day, but to be responsible, that we have five weeks to go before the election.  That's, oh, two lifetimes in politics.  I suspect the Dems will pull some kind of October surprise.  It may involve Trump.  Or maybe they'll try to arrest some major Republican.  They will stop at nothing to win, for they are now religious zealots, not simply practical politicians. 

October 4, 2022       Permalink

I WONDER HOW MUCH FEDERAL AID THEY GET.  FROM FOX: 

Maitland Jones Jr., a chemistry professor at New York University who also taught for four decades at Princeton, was fired in August after undergraduate students circulated a petition complaining that his course was too difficult. 

Dozens of the college students, many of them aspiring doctors, signed on to the petition in the spring. 

"We are very concerned about our scores, and find that they are not an accurate reflection of the time and effort put into this class," the petition read, according to the New York Times. 

"We urge you to realize… that a class with such a high percentage of withdrawals and low grades has failed to make students’ learning and well-being a priority and reflects poorly on the chemistry department as well as the institution as a whole."

Jones, 84, told the New York Times that he started seeing a loss of focus among students about a decade ago, but the problem was exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. 

"They weren’t coming to class, that’s for sure, because I can count the house," Jones told the newspaper. "They weren’t watching the videos, and they weren’t able to answer the questions."

A spokesperson for New York University disagreed with the way Jones' dismissal has been framed, saying that in addition to the petition, Jones' class also had a "very high rate of student withdrawals" and "evaluations scores that were by far the worst" across the school's undergraduate science courses. 

"In short, he was hired to teach, and wasn't successful," an NYU spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "NYU has lots of hard courses and lots of tough graders among the faculty – they don't end up with outcomes that raise questions about the quality and effectiveness of the teaching, as this class did."

Before lecturing at NYU, Jones pioneered a new way of teaching that emphasized problem-based learning over a "lecture-memorize-regurgitate facts" style, Princeton University's Dean of Faculty wrote. 

COMMENT:  Strange how Princeton never had a problem with this man, who is a legend in his field.  And couldn't any issues have been worked out quietly, without firing him?  This has all the earmarks of a left-wing hit job.  Jones placed excellence above inclusion, and we must not have that. 

October 4, 2022       Permalink