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SEPTEMBER 25-26, 2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE 

SOME EXPERTS SAW THIS COMING, FROM FOX BUSINESS:  The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. started rising again in the past week, after declining for nearly 100 days in a row during the summer driving season.  The price on Sunday was $3.417 a gallon, according to AAA.  That makes it five straight days of increases that began on Wednesday morning, when the price ticked up to $3.381 per gallon from $3.674 the previous day.  The average price a week a go was $3.678. A year ago it was $3.188.  Gas hit a high of $5.016 on June 14.  The Biden administration manipulated the price of gas at the pump by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, thus depressing prices in time for the election.  But the effect may be wearing off.  Some experts predict a rise of prices at the pump in coming weeks, or, certainly, right after the election.  The driver is knifed in the back again.

September 25-26, 2022      

DEMS WOBBLE ON CRIME ISSUE:  The economy, crime, and education dominate the list of issues of greatest concern among voters.  The Dems are losing, in polls, on all three.   Consider crime, from Breitbart: 

The White House on Monday tried to downplay President Joe Biden’s responsibilities on crime, telling reporters that the problem is “complicated.”

Wasn't too complicated in New York when Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg reduced the murder rate by 80 percent and made New York the safest big city in America.  Those were the days.

Fox News reporter Peter Doocy questioned White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about crime during the daily briefing, asking her whether Biden believes that America’s major cities are safe.

Referring to a recent New York Times article on rising crime, Jean-Pierre noted “the crime is complicated and multifaceted” and pivoted to promoting Biden’s spending bills.

Doocy noted murder rates in major cities were still stubbornly high, and that thefts and robberies in major cities increased by around 20 percent in the first half of 2022.

Jean-Pierre responded by blaming high crime rates on former President Donald Trump, noting that Biden “inherited a rising crime rate” when he took office.

When Doocy asked again whether Americans in major cities should feel safe, she replied, “It is not a yes or no question, it is very much a question of what has he done, that’s how we see the question.”

What an answer!  How did she get the job?

Doocy further pressed the questions on crime and safety, asking Jean-Pierre about her predecessor, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, warning Democrats about their vulnerabilities on crime.

“In Pennsylvania, the Republicans have been spending millions of dollars on the air on crime ads against Fetterman because that’s where they see his vulnerability,” Psaki said in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday adding that crime was “a huge issue” in Pennsylvania.

But Jean-Pierre dismissed the comments from her former boss, accusing Doocy of mischaracterizing the comments.

“I don’t agree with your characterization of what she actually said,” she replied.

COMMENT:  In other words, this administration, and the Democratic Party generally, have nothing really to say about crime.  They want Americans to believe that it's not a big problem at all, merely a nuisance.  One of the great rules of journalism is that you never tell people that they don't see what they actually see.  The Democrats are doing just that, and they will pay for it.

September 25-26, 2022      

IRAN BOILS, BIDEN BORED:  Far too little attention is being paid to the rioting in Iran.  Clearly, there is a thirst for regime change, but the Biden administation seems intent on appeasing that same regime, pretty much the foreign policy of Barack Obama.  From AFP:

Iran’s judiciary chief on Sunday vowed no leniency against the wave of unrest that has rocked the country since the death of the young Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police.

The warning by the head of the Judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, came after nine nights of protests and street clashes and echoed earlier comments by ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi.

At least 41 people have died so far, mostly protesters but including members of Iran’s security forces, according to an official toll, although human rights groups say the real figure is higher.

The judiciary chief “emphasized the need for decisive action without leniency” against the core instigators of the “riots,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said.

Hundreds of demonstrators, reformist activists and journalists have been arrested amid the mostly night-time demonstrations that have spread to scores of cities since unrest first broke out after Amini’s death on September 16.

Security forces have fired live rounds and birdshot, rights groups charge, while protesters have hurled rocks, torched police cars, set ablaze state buildings, and shouted, “Death to the dictator.”

Iran’s largest protests in years have been led by women and triggered not by classic political or economic grievances but by anger over the Islamic republic’s strictly enforced gender-based dress code and general resentment against the conservative regime.

Amini, whose Kurdish first name was Jhina, was arrested on September 13 for allegedly breaching the rules that mandate tightly-fitted hijab head coverings and which ban, among other things, ripped jeans and brightly colored clothes. She had been wearing a hijab, but was allegedly not wearing it properly, meaning some of her hair may have been exposed.
Some Iranian women protesters have since taken off and burned their hijabs in the rallies and cut off their hair, some dancing near large bonfires to the applause of crowds that have chanted “zan, zendegi, azadi” or “woman, life, freedom.”

Iranian Academy Award-winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi was the latest to add his voice of support for Iran’s “progressive and courageous women leading protests for their human rights alongside men.”

“I saw outrage and hope in their faces and in the way they marched in the streets,” he said in a video message on Instagram. “I deeply respect their struggle for freedom and the right to choose their own destiny despite all the brutality they are subjected to.”
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The world has learned of much of the turmoil and violence through shaky mobile phone footage posted and spread on social media, even as authorities have throttled internet access...

...The foreign ministry said Sunday it had summoned Britain’s ambassador over what it described as an “invitation to riots” by Farsi-speaking media based in London, and Norway’s envoy over “unconstructive comments” made by the parliament speaker.
Iran has also organized large rallies in defense of the hijab and conservative values, and another pro-government rally was set to be held Sunday in Enghelab (Revolution) Square in central Tehran.

The main reformist group inside Iran, the Union of Islamic Iran People’s Party, has called for repealing the mandatory dress code and winding down the morality police.

The party — led by former aides to ex-Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, who oversaw a 1997-2005 thaw with the West — also called on the government to “authorize peaceful demonstrations” and release those arrested.

Human rights groups based abroad have sought to shine a light on the turmoil rocking Iran, citing their own sources in the country.

Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights has put the death toll at 54, excluding security personnel.

COMMENT:  Please note, among other things, the silence of so-called "women's" organizations in the United States.  You'd think they'd be interested in the fate of the women of Iran.  Think again.  Their first loyalty is to the political left, women be damned.

And how about the groups that anguish over the so-called "legitimate rights of the Palestinian people"?  Do they have any interest in the legitimate rights of the Iranian people?  Apparently not.  Even though Iranians are shot down in the street for protesting, these "rights" groups are uninterested.  Have you ever seen any press coverage of this massive contradiction?  If so, let me know.

September 25, 2022      

SEPTEMBER 23-24, 2022

A NEW REVOLUTION?  Consider this quote.  It's from a new piece in City Journal:

Back in April, an article by James Pogue in Vanity Fair revealed the emergence of a collection of “podcasters, bro-ish anonymous Twitter posters, online philosophers, artists, and amorphous scenesters”—sometimes called “‘dissidents,’ ‘neo-reactionaries,’ ‘post-leftists,’ or the ‘heterodox’ fringe . . . all often grouped for convenience under the heading of America’s New Right”—who represented the “seam of a much larger and stranger political ferment, burbling up mainly within America’s young and well-educated elite.”

That last bit about the demographics of this so-called New Right may have been what got the Times’s attention. But Pogue had even more striking news: these dissidents, he wrote, had established “a position that has become quietly edgy and cool in new tech outposts like Miami and Austin, and in downtown Manhattan, where New Right–ish politics are in, and signifiers like a demure cross necklace have become markers of a transgressive chic.” This may have been the most alarming news of all for the paper of record: somehow, traditionalist right-wing conservatism had perhaps become cool.

What?  Are we serious here?  A conservative revolution?  People running in the streets of lower Manhattan in Brooks Brothers suits waving copies of "The Road to Serfdom"?  In fact, the author, one N.S. Lyons, is very serious, which is why this piece, "A New Counterculture," is a must-read.  You don't have to agree with every word to see its significance.

We're hearing rumblings all the time that many young people, even on college campuses, are waking up to the reality of what the leftist establishment is really like.  They are a minority right now, often pummeled into silence by the threats from leftist thuggery.  But they are talking to each other.

It may take time, and the mainstream media will try to ignore it, or ridicule it.  But the first stirrings of a counterculture are being felt.       

September 23-24, 2022       Permalink

WHERE THINGS STAND, MAYBE:  One poll we follow closely is the generic ballot polled by Rasmussen.  Rasmussen polls more often than anyone else, and the generic ballot ("Which party do you prefer, Democrat or Republican?") is polled once a week.

Rasmussen's generic polls this year have consistently showed a Republican lead, but the amount has varied dramatically.  It was as high as 10 points earlier in the year before going on a long decline, reaching one point last week.  Today the Republican lead in Rasmussen stood at two points.  All that means is that the election will probably be close, but exactness cannot be predicted.

The general sense among pollsters that we consult is that the Republicans will probably take the House, but by a smaller margin than thought six months ago, and that the Democrats have a very good chance of holding on to the Senate, if only by a few seats. 

These predictions are of little significance, but they're fun.  Some event between now and the election can disrupt everything.  What if the president dies?  What if the Republicans show signs of life?

These are midterms.  There are local factors, personalities, and issues that are difficult to poll.  What you really need in these circumstances is the old, worn, grumpy news reporter or editor who knows every block, and has a name for every streetlight.  There used to be a guy like that at NBC Chicago named Len O'Connor, who looked like he changed his shirt once a month and got most of his tips from fellas behind bars.   But I'd listen to him faster than some electric-shaved worthy with a Harvard degree. 

Read Salena Zito.  She knows.

September 23-24, 2022       Permalink

THE GOP GETS A PULSE:  They live, they write, they sneeze.  Republicans, that is.  From out of their slumber they came today, eager to fight the good fight, or any fight.  Gee, its about time, but the GOP launched its "Commitment to America," the modern equivalent of Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America," which was so effective in the 1994 midterms.  From Fox: 

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy introduced the GOP's "Commitment to America" package on Friday, the Republicans' sales pitch for the the upcoming midterm elections.

McCarthy came out swinging in his speech, accusing Democratic lawmakers of ignoring rising crime, decrying restrictions on parental rights, and promising to repeal the recent expansion of the Internal Revenue Service.

The agenda includes a slate of general policy recommendations in four broad categories: "An Economy That's Strong;" "A Nation That's Safe;" "A Future That's Built on Freedom;" and "A Government That's Accountable."

"We want an economy that is strong. That means you can fill up your tank. You can buy the groceries. You have enough money left over to go to Disneyland and save for a future — that the paychecks grow, they no longer shrink," McCarthy told the crowd, laying out what Republicans say they will do if they gain the House majority.

He continued, "We have a plan for a nation that's safe. That means your community will be protected, your law enforcement will be respected. Your criminals will be prosecuted. We believe in a future that's built on freedom — that your children come first."

The GOP leaders say the agenda was formed with input from Republicans across the country with the explicit purpose of avoiding "top-down" party politics.

The agenda follows the playbook of the "Contract With America" that helped former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., win a GOP majority in the 1990s.

Republicans familiar with the plan say it's the culmination of more than a year of work, starting with the GOP-only "China Task Force." McCarthy liked that model and stood up several other task forces earlier this year, including on the economy, tech, health, energy and more.

McCarthy's speech focused heavily on rising crime and the rapid decrease in sentencing under local and state Democratic governments.

"We watched what they did to our communities, defunding of the police. We've got crime problems from Portland to Philadelphia now, with DAs and prosecutors that looked the other way," McCarthy said.

McCarthy also turned the microphone over to the audience for a Q&A session

The agenda comes at a critical time in the midterms. Republicans have held an advantage because of the shaky economy and President Biden's low approval ratings. But Democrats have claimed some new momentum after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court and mounting legal troubles for former President Donald Trump.

McCarthy revealed the Commitment To America package in Washington County, Pennsylvania. The state is the focus of both parties' attention as the outcome of its upcoming elections could serve as a bellwether for shifting political allegiances.

COMMENT:  Sounds like a good start, but only a start.  It's a framework, and it's familiar.  What's needed now is to fill in the details.  What specifically will Republicans do?  Americans have been hit hard in the last few years, by a pandemic and economic turmoil.  They want answers.  They don't like the Biden administration, but they're not in love with the Republican Party.  Republicans must now present their agenda, and make it heavy with economic recommendations for renewed prosperity.   Republicans must have a clear vision of what life will be like under their rule.

September 23-24, 2022      Permalink