News of the Week (May 22nd, 2016)

Posted on May 22, 2016 by The Political Hat

 

News of the Week for May 22nd, 2016


 

Election 2016

 

Team Trump is Purging Dissidents from the GOP
Here is what happened this weekend at Nebraska’s bizarre GOP state convention, and the message it was clearly intended to convey.

Seven Reasons Cruz’s Tough Call on Trump Really Isn’t a Tough Call at All
Now that the crowded 2016 field of mostly GOP beta males is tripping all over themselves to genuflect to their vanquisher Donald Trump – and what an embarrassment to the cause of manhood they are – all eyes are on Ted Cruz.

Burlington College Closes Due To “Crushing Weight of Debt” Acquired By Jane Sanders
Burlington College announced today that it will close on May 27 after it found itself unable to recover from “the crushing weight of the debt” incurred under Jane O’’Meara Sanders, the college’s former president and wife of Bernie Sanders.

Financial analyst alleges major holes in Clinton Foundation records
After more than a year of research, a Wall Street analyst is arguing the Clinton Foundation’s books are riddled with financial inconsistencies that rise to the level of “fraud.”

These Numbers Say A Third Party Can Win The Presidency
You don’t need a majority, or even a plurality, of electors to win the presidency. Let me explain.

Team Trump is Purging Dissidents from the GOP
Here is what happened this weekend at Nebraska’s bizarre GOP state convention, and the message it was clearly intended to convey.

Donald Trump Does What Obama Couldn’t Do: Crush Social Conservatives
Barring some earth-shaking change of events that involves Saint Michael and the Four Horsemen, I’m not voting for president this year. I do my best not to cooperate with evil and evil is all that is on the top ballot spot for both major political parties. The extant third parties are so loonie that I’ll not cast a vote an inadvertently be responsible for giving them permanent ballot access. In a year that should have been a triumph for conservatives of all stripes, a year in which we filled the primaries with some of the most qualified, thoughtful, articulate, and conservative candidates in the history of the republic, we have seen the GOP hijacked by an unrepentant charlatan.

Oregon Sec. of State Candidate Caught Using Students for Political Gain on Camera
Students getting public school credit to canvas for specific political candidates is a gross misuse of tax dollars, and could be happening around the country.

The rank nihilism driving the GOP’s acceptance of Trump
THE PAST weekend brought yet more evidence of Donald Trump’s contempt for truth and essential political standards. Yet the reality-television star continued to consolidate GOP support, a fact punctuated by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus’s tour on Sunday morning television, in which he argued that the “sort of traditional review and analysis of individual candidates has not applied to Donald Trump,” because Mr. Trump is a different kind of candidate — “a total outsider that’s going to cause an earthquake in Washington.”

Maryland decertifies Baltimore election results, investigates irregularities
Maryland state elections officials have ordered that the results of Baltimore’s recent primary election be decertified after watchdogs and candidates complained that the process was flawed.

From Bernie Sanders Supporters, Death Threats Over Delegates
Thrown chairs. Leaked cellphone numbers. Death threats spewed across the Internet.

Fear And Loathing In Reno: What I Saw At The Nevada State GOP Convention
It all started at the chaotic Clark County Republican convention back in April, which I attended as an alternate from my precinct and wound up leaving early so I didn’t miss too much of a Saturday in the tax mines. Shortly before my departure, volunteers for the Cruz campaign encouraged me to self-nominate for the state convention, so I filled out the paperwork and didn’t think anything of it…until three weeks later when I got an e-mail while in Minnesota visiting friends and family.

Will Minnesota be the canary in the Trump mine for House control?
Will Donald Trump hinder down-ballot Republicans, or perhaps boost others? Three House races in Minnesota might give a measure of the coattails from the ticket, argues National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar. Republicans have to defend two suburban districts in the Twin Cities where Trump’s brashness might conflict with Minnesota Nice, but could play better in a traditionally Democratic district in the northeastern part of the state

Donald Trump Releases List of Supreme Court Picks
Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, released a list of potential Supreme Court nominees on Wednesday as part of an effort to quell concerns that he would not select conservative jurists.

Trump SCOTUS Pick Repeatedly Mocked GOP Frontrunner
One of the names Donald Trump’s campaign floated as a potential Supreme Court pick on Wednesday has routinely poked fun at the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Think Twice Before Voting For Gary Johnson As A Trump Protest Vote
Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson’s stance on government forcing people to participate in gay weddings is decidedly coercive.

John McAfee For President
This November, you’ll be told that you need to choose between a criminal and a lunatic. Why not vote for a candidate who’s arguably both?

 

Obama Scandals

 

Cotton: Rhodes Is a “Chump,” Obama’s National Security Team Consists of “Yes Men and Fan Boys”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) ripped President Obama’s national security team as full of “yes men and fan boys” during a radio interview Tuesday, The Hill reports.

White House cites executive privilege, keeps Obama adviser from testifying about Iran nuclear deal
Sen. Tom Cotton accepted the challenge, but President Obama’s speechwriter and high-ranking foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes ducked out of a hearing Tuesday where he was to explain whether he misled the country in pushing the Iran nuclear deal.

Judge refuses to accept brief raising free speech issues stemming from “fair housing” case
I have written many times about how “regionalism” and its handmaiden “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” (AFFH) are, in effect, an attempt by the left to dictate the way Americans will live. A scheme this radical is bound to produce strong local opposition. Therefore, though deeply disturbing, it’s not surprising that regionalism and AFFH have resulted in an attempt to tell an elected local official what he will say.

Group that helped sell Iran nuke deal also funded media
A group the White House recently identified as a key surrogate in selling the Iran nuclear deal gave National Public Radio $100,000 last year to help it report on the pact and related issues, according to the group’s annual report. It also funded reporters and partnerships with other news outlets.

Feds Order Colleges to Stop Checking Criminal/School Discipline History Because it Discriminates Against Minorities
The Obama administration has ordered the nation’s colleges and universities to stop asking applicants about criminal and school disciplinary history because it discriminates against minorities. Institutions are also being asked to offer those with criminal records special support services such as counseling, mentoring and legal aid once enrolled. The government’s official term for these perspective students is “justice-involved individuals” and the new directive aims to remove barriers to higher education for the overwhelmingly minority population that’s had encounters with the law or disciplinary issues through high school.

 

Gun Rights

 

Federal Court Rules Right to Buy, Sell Firearms Protected by Second Amendment
Gun rights advocates celebrate the decision

9th Circuit opinion on rights of gun stores applies standard, rigorous Second Amendment doctrines
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit decision Monday in Teixeira v. County of Alameda vindicates the Second Amendment rights of gun stores and provides a good model of the Second Amendment doctrines that have been developed by the federal Circuit Courts of Appeals. Eugene Volokh’s post has summarized the decision, so I will delve into the doctrinal details.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

Dozens Arrested in Washington State Environmental Protest
Protestors and “kayaktivists” came by land and by sea, camping in tents and floating in canoes.

Study finds electric vehicles produce more pollution that internal combustion cars
It’s enough to make a Greenie turn…uh…green. A new study from the University of Edinburgh finds that electric and hybrid vehicles actually emit more harmful pollution running on streets and highways than conventional vehicles. It turns out that those “zero emissions” from the tailpipe are only part of the story of the pollution emitted by a vehicle as it travels.

Ontario’s Wynne to spend $7-billion on sweeping climate “insanity” plan.
The Ontario government will spend more than $7-billion over four years on a sweeping climate change plan that will affect every aspect of life – from what people drive to how they heat their homes and workplaces – in a bid to slash the province’s carbon footprint.

Another Importance of Small Islands in Global Warming Alarmism
Sea level rise and threats to small Pacific islands are back in the news, like the recent concern about five Pacific islands. Part of the alarmist strategy is that as the global warming claim loses traction, they resurrect stories that were successful in the past. Climate alarmists got a lot of media coverage and emotional reaction from small island stories such as the Maldives and Tuvalu. A 2009 story titled “Rising sea levels threaten small Pacific island nations” is typical,

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

Supreme Court Opinion A Win For The Little Sisters Of The Poor
The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that The Little Sisters of The Poor would not have to pay millions in IRS fines for refusing to violate their religious beliefs. The ruling vacated lower court rulings against the Little Sisters, and accepted the government’s admission that it could meet its goals of providing contraception to women without involving the Little Sisters or using their plan.

Insurer Participation in Obamacare Exchanges Declined 27% Since Law Took Effect
Report predicts insurer participation will decline further in 2017

The Doctor Won’t See You Now
No doubt you have heard about the long lines in the airport due to TSA understaffing and poor morale. But have you tried to find a doctor willing to see you and accept your Obamacare health insurance plan?

Cause & Effect, ACA-style
This morning, Bob posted on Highmark’s lawsuit seeking to compel the Feds to actually cough up the money as promised. On the one hand, it’s nice to see some pushback, but on the other … well, the industry made its pact with the devil, and so earns little sympathy from yours truly.

 

War & Terror

 

Pentagon: China Restructures for War
Details of island building in S. China Sea disclosed

Top Marine General: Troops Aren’t Getting New Gear Fast Enough
Marines’ worn-out equipment is not being replaced quickly enough, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller said Monday, calling the Pentagon’s process for fielding new gear “too slow.”

Meet the Kurdish Female Warrior Who Battles ISIS
Lt. Colonel Nahida Ahmad Rashid is a top ranking female commander in the peshmerga, the army of the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Senators warn against plan to let China, Iran in on Internet governance
The Obama administration’s plan to hand off control of an agency responsible for administering critical functions of the Internet is likely to result in human rights abuses by countries like Iran and China, senators are warning.

 

National

 

Big-name law professors blast Department of Ed for endangering “free speech and due process”
Some of the most prominent law professors around the country have signed an open letter calling on lawmakers to reject and replace the Department of Education’s “overly broad” definition of sexual harassment.

Universities teach gender fluidity as fact to college students
Gender is a choice on a spectrum, not a biological trait, college students are told

Lee Amendment Can Stop AFFH
Congress once again has a very real chance to stop President Obama’s wildly overreaching Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation. Senator Mike Lee has proposed an amendment to defund AFFH. The amendment should reach the floor for a vote on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. This is the time for readers who oppose AFFH to contact your senators and press them to support the Lee Amendment.

Welcome to a Bernie Sanders Wiccan ritual
Attending a rally for Bernie Sanders usually involves long lines and security screenings, but that wasn’t the case at an intimate, informal event Friday evening supporting the Vermont senator’s presidential campaign in a park here.

Phoenix Artists Threatened With Jail Time If They Don’t Serve Gay Weddings
A lawsuit filed in Arizona claims a city ordinance forces local artists to use their talents to promote same-sex weddings and does not allow them to express freely their belief that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Phoenix Artists Threatened With Jail Time If They Don’t Serve Gay Weddings
A lawsuit filed in Arizona claims a city ordinance forces local artists to use their talents to promote same-sex weddings and does not allow them to express freely their belief that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Conservative Group Fights California AG’s Attempt to “Chill” Speech
Though a federal judge recently ruled that a conservative nonprofit group doesn’t have to disclose its donor list to California’s Democratic attorney general, conservatives believe this case is just the latest in an ongoing fight related to political activity and free speech.

Gender pronoun insanity: New York City promises to FINE people for not using “ze” or “hir”
UCLA Law Prof. Eugene Volokh is usually a pretty restrained guy, but the First Amendment expert goes absolutely nuts when talking about a brazen and flagrantly unconstitutional attack on free speech by New York City’s social engineers.

Media Ignoring a MAJOR Part of the Facebook Scandal
Potentially a bigger scandal (because it affects more people) is the accusation that Facebook censors individual member pages, blogs, smaller media outlets, and discussion groups reflecting a conservative point of view. Sometimes, the sites are shut down, sometimes they are simply threatened into silence.

California wants to own copyrights on everything
Imagine video of local council argument banned from YouTube over claim

Retired General Claims He Was Fired from Teaching Job Over Transgender Remarks
A Retired United States Army Lieutenant General and nonprofit executive claims that he was recently fired from a college teaching position due to his views that men should use the men’s room.

University forms “first responder … Bias Response Team” made up of 7 top-level administrators
At UC Santa Cruz, officials investigate students’ hurt feelings, name-calling

School Choice Gets a Big Win in Nevada Court Decision
On Wednesday, families got one step closer to finally being able to access the most expansive education choice option of any state.

Lawmakers Introduce Bill Making it Harder for Police to Take Innocent Americans’ Property
For the last few years, opponents of civil forfeiture have been calling on Congress to make it more difficult for law enforcement to take property, cash, and vehicles from innocent Americans through a process known as civil asset forfeiture.

WaPo poll: 90% of native Americans have no problem with the name “Redskins”
Has the outrage and controversy over the decades-old name of Washington’s NFL franchise been more of an example of media hysteria than actual offense? A new Washington Post poll conducted over a five-month period makes the case plainly that Daniel Snyder may have been correct all along. Despite massive media coverage about Native American protests over the name “Redskins,” the polls shows that only a tiny fraction of Native Americans care about the issue at all, and that a vast majority don’t even consider the term redskin offensive

“Paternalistic Babysitters” Begone! Dartmouth Students Call for Intellectual Independence
At least some Dartmouth College students have had enough. In a scathing petition on change.org, five leaders in Dartmouth’s student government, joined by more than 1,200 signatories, have called on the administration to return the college to its mission of educating, rather than policing, students. Although the growth of bureaucracy in academia is no secret, it is always sobering to confront the statistics. According to the well-cited petition, non-faculty staff at Dartmouth grew by more than 1,000 people from 1999 to 2004, and in spite of faculty layoffs, that number had increased to 3,497 by 2015. And most administrative staff do not come cheap, especially at prestigious research universities. As the petition points out, this contributes to the institution’s sky-high tuition; the sticker price for a year at Dartmouth is now just below $70,000.

Democrats Chant “Shame Shame Shame!” When LGBT Amendment Fails to Block Religious Freedom Protections
Democrats erupted in unrestrained anger on the floor of the United States House of Representatives as Republicans defeated their amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass defense funding bill. Numerous outlets are already slamming the GOP’s move as “anti-gay” and bolstering the melodramatic outcry.

Top medical school ends training on live animals
One of the country’s premier medical schools will no longer use live animals to train its students.

Pomona College makes promoting diversity part of promotion, tenure criteria
Under pressure from student leaders, the Pomona College faculty voted last week to include a consideration of a professor’s “attent[ion] to diversity in the student body” in the College’s criteria for promotion and tenure.

Muslim UCI students chant “long live the Intifada,” “fuck the police”

“We can’t be the United Nations”: Milwaukee frozen custard shop defends “English only” policy
On Tuesday, Joey Sanchez stepped up to the counter of Leon’s Frozen Custard, a 70-year-old Milwaukee staple, and listened to the customer in front of him place his order in Spanish.

Target sues Chattanooga girl’s hero
Glen Meadows will be making another trip from Chattanooga to Pennsylvania this weekend.

Radical law profs lose vote on ruining sex by imposing “affirmative consent” legal standard
American Law Institute: “Affirmative consent is simply an unrealistic standard for governing sex.”

What Happened to Professor Bealer?
Tara Bealer taught sociology at East Stroudsburg University in Nazareth, Pa. She got her bachelor’s degree from Cedar Crest College (annual tuition $35,600) in Allentown, Pa., and in 2006 got her master’s degree from Lehigh University (annual tuition $46,230) in Bethlehem, Pa. Somewhere along the way, however, Professor Bealer went astray.

Exam claims “income redistribution” among “main functions of government”
The role of government is to redistribute wealth, according to a course at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

Gold depository could soon be on its way to Texas
Under the new Texas law, the comptroller’s office is working to create the state’s first bullion depository — which could hold deposits of gold and other precious metals from financial institutions, cities, school districts, businesses, individuals and countries — at a location yet to be determined.

 

International

 

Venezuela seizing factories, arresting owners
Socialist Venezuela is so bankrupt that it is unable to import key commodities and unable to supply electricity to factories, so scapegoats have become necessary. The situation became critical when the country’s largest beer producer, Polar, halted production a couple of weeks ago because it was unable to import barley, owing to Venezuela’s lack of foreign exchange. Venezuelans are among the world’s heaviest consumer of beer, and with the summer coming upon them, the lack of the cooling beverage became intolerable to the “masses” that are supposed to support the government on Nicholas Maduro.

Girl, 17, who was sexually assaulted FIVE TIMES “by migrants” in Cologne on New Year’s Eve blasts “pathetic” German prosecutors as only suspect is FREED
Dilara Zajarskaite was molested by male migrant gang in New Year attacks

Girl raped more than 43,000 times in 4 years recalls horror of human trafficking
The sex-trafficking pipeline began in Tenancingo and flowed to the New York City neighborhood of Jackson Heights in Queens. From there young girls and women are moved to ramshackle bordellos in places like Yonkers and Poughkeepsie.

Homosexuality still illegal in Lebanon, but North Carolina boycotters not boycotting
LGBT Protests in Beirut, but where is the western support?

Islamists Infiltrate the Swedish Government
One Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Sweden: April 2016

“Make beer or I will put you in prison”: Venezuela’s president orders brewery to begin operating again as he declares state of emergency
Venezuela’s last operating beer plant shut down last month

Opposition calls on Venezuela to defy emergency decree
Venezuela’s opposition leader urged his country on Tuesday to defy a state of emergency decreed by the government as it grapples with an acute political and economic crisis.

Sarcasm prohibited: “Dire outlook” for free speech on campuses Down Under
Ah, the American Constitution and its First Amendment.

Secret life of the “human pups”: Weird world of the grown men who enjoy dressing up as DOGS in roleplay craze sweeping the nation
Around 10,000 people in the UK enjoy the pet play craze

Sharia marriage hidden consequence of marriage “equality”
Proposed changes to marriage laws will lead to the inadvertent recognition of Sharia law marriage, polygamy and divorce in Australia.

We must stop the Greens
The Greens want Australia to take in 50,000 refugees each year.

 

Opinion

 

To Build A New Party
Conservatives are currently looking at the short-term and wondering how in the world to stop Donald Trump. The reality is that it is simply too late to save this election, and conservatives cannot win with either outcome: Donald Trump as president or, more likely, Hillary Clinton as president. It leaves us with the one option that conservatives, frankly, have not been very good at – playing the long game.

Breitbart, “Renegade Jews,” And The Anti-Semitic Wing Of The Trump Movement
On Sunday, Breitbart News posted an article by conservative thinker David Horowitz. The headline: “Bill Kristol: Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew Prepares Third Party Effort To Block Trump’s Path To White House.”

Ghost In The Shell, Again
Here’s another post on the “controversial” choice of Scarlett Johanssen as Motoko Kusangi in the forthcoming Ghost In the Shell movie. The problem is that when you can’t escape the cultish thinking and progressive grey goo that comes out of the modern university, you self drain any possibility of joy in anything.

The Never Trump Movement Is Neither Anti-American Nor Hypocritical
Grant Stinchfield Is Very Wrong

The challenges of talking about rape in a post-modern, post-rational age
I met up the other day with some friends whom I’ve known for years through our children. They are, without exception, decent, bright, extremely kind women. I think highly of them, even though they are Bernie supporters.

Why Transgender Advocates Don’t Believe Anything They Say
Acknowledging the truth might change transgender advocates’ positions, and changing their positions would require them to stop saying magic words they didn’t believe.

Trump Supporters Aren’t Stupid. They’re Foolish
America will not be great again with a fool as her chief spokesman, diplomat, and symbol.

The Fact-Free Universe of Transgender Activism
Why is the U.S. Department of Justice—which one assumes deals with evidence all the time—so adamantly opposed to evidence regarding transgendered status?

Gay culture and traditional marriage are antithetical to each other
I’m a reasonably confident blogger, but I have to admit that I always like it when someone with knowledge greater than mine validates something that I’ve been hollering about for years. In this case, the validation comes regarding my contention that gay culture is fundamentally unhealthy, as well as being inconsistent with marriage and children. I’ve hope I’ve never said this in a moralistic way (i.e., “they’re evil”) but in a factual way (e.g., “You need to understand that the gay lifestyle is inconsistent with the public policy they’re pushing”). At least one person from inside the gay community thinks I’m right.

More Powerful Than a Bomb
A German friend once remarked that Hitler was only the second most destructive thing his country had unleashed upon the world. Worse by far, he said, were the ideas of Karl Marx. The notion an idea could be more destructive than fleets of bombers and Panzer divisions is a large claim but there is evidence in support of it. John Walters says that in sheer destructiveness Hitler beats Marx only if you add the Kaiser’s war. If you add famine into the equation, Marx beats Hitler, Tojo and the Kaiser put together.

America Today Resembles 1910 More Than Postwar Era
What’s your benchmark? What is the historical era with which you compare life in contemporary America?

“Entangled in the Homosexual Web”
Imagine yourself a young woman recruited into the Navy in 1952 — Harry Truman was president and American boys were fighting Communists in Korea — and finding that, as part of your basic training, you are lectured by two officers and a chaplain about the dangers of homosexuality.

My Week With a Feminist Activity Book
Parental warning: The contents of this feature and of contemporary feminism are not suitable for children

Quitting Time: It’s Time to Start Destroying Our Rotten Progressive-Dominated Institutions By General Strikes and Ruthless Abandonment
FaceBook characterizes Patricia Heaton’s endorsement of an organization that does nothing but care for unwanted children as “anti-abortion.”

How The Transgender Pronoun Mandate Makes Teaching More Dangerous
For a teacher, every day is a day you could lose your job because you said the wrong thing accidentally. The new federal transgender “guidelines” make that worse.

The Divorce Revolution Has Bred An Army Of Woman Haters
The divorce revolution has created a large minority of men who are ambivalent or hostile towards sacrifice, commitment, women, and marriage.

Guys: Leave @Jindi Alone
Jindi Mehat (@jindi on Twitter) is a radical feminist and digital project manager for the Vancouver-based web services firm YellowPencil.com.

“Unwanted Social Advances”
While working on a long piece today, I stumbled onto one of those quotes that gets endlessly recycled on feminist Tumblr and, although I’d seen it often before, this time I was struck by what was wrong with it. This is from D.A. Clarke’s 1991 essay “Justice Is a Woman With a Sword”.

A Balm For Conservatives In Trumpreich
Given time constraints and general bewilderment at the Democrat takeover of the GOP, there just hasn’t been much to say. Hopefully Darleen will get Friday Fiction going again.

Karl Marx Rebuttal: Debunking Communism from “The School of Life”
A rebuttal to the ever-popular School of Life’s defense of Communism and Karl Marx.

“Feminist Motherhood” and the “Transgender Kindergartner”
When I saw the headline on a Think Progress tweet — “It takes a village to bully a transgender kindergartner” — my left eyebrow arched.

Lost Children
The first time I heard the Heinlein dictum about not handicapping your children by making their life too easy, I was still technically a child myself. Technically, because I was around fourteen I think. I didn’t know how easy I’d had it, relative to the world at large (who does?) but I knew I had it better than my parents, who only didn’t have to walk up hill barefoot in the snow because it rarely snows in Portugal.

Collapse
Okay, I’m sick and tired of hearing in every group I belong to that “Doom, gloom, the end is coming soon.”

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