Untitled

Jibber Jabber
In comments subtly directed at NATO, Mr. Putin said that military alliances were gaining strength and warned against a unipolar world—shorthand in Moscow for the global influence of the U.S. In another apparent jab at Washington, he said that the principles of international cooperation were being ignored. (Wall Street Journal, 5/9/2015)

Please answer a simple question. How in God's green earth is Hillary Clinton going to run for president and talk about her foreign policy expertise? Like her boss, everything that she touched has turned into a complete mess including the vaunted "Russian reset." Vlad ('the impaler') Putin is holding his breath hoping that he gets Barack Obama's third term with a Clinton win. No doubt he is looking with longing at Poland....


Impressed
In giving Conservatives a new majority, voters rewarded an impressive economic record. Five years of Tory policies, such as a reduction in the corporate tax rate to 20% from 28% and a welfare reform that shifted more people into work have produced record employment participation rates and by far the fastest growth of any large European economy. Keynesian critics in the U.S. and U.K. derided this as “austerity,” but tax cuts and limits on government spending have been vindicated. (Wall Street Journal, 5/8/2015)

Over at the New York Times, Paul Krugman calls this success "The Triumph of the Unthinking." 


The Chronic
It’s sometimes unpopular to point out that people who behave responsibly and are willing to work generally do not end up chronically poor in America. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. Wall Street Journal, 5/8/2015)

Tell that to a Liberal. Their explanation for chronic poverty? Republicans.


Endurance
As shocking as they are, these facts make perfect sense in the context of the century-long assault that Baltimore’s blacks have endured at the hands of local, state and federal policy makers, all of whom worked to quarantine black residents in ghettos, making it difficult even for people of means to move into integrated areas that offered better jobs, schools and lives for their children. (New York Times editorial, 5/10/2015)

So given the decades-long Liberal monopolies in cities such as Baltimore, Chicago and Detroit we are guessing that the editors at the New York Times are pointing their fingers at the policies of Democrat political leaders. Or are we being naive?


Dog in the Fight
By 2004, Mr. Braman and his wife had donated $1,000 to Mr. Rubio’s State House campaign, the first of many contributions. Mr. Rubio quickly emerged as a dogged champion of Mr. Braman’s most cherished cause: state funding for a Miami cancer institute that bears the Braman family name. (New York Times, 5/10/2015)

The Times breaks the story that Marco Rubio has a benefactor who is - God forbid - a billionaire! Not only that, but Rubio may have acted on said billionaire's behalf. The apparent crime? Funding for a cancer center!

Now wasn't there something in the news just a couple of days ago about Hillary Clinton possibly trading favors with a Russian billionaire over uranium....

Thug Life

Stemmed
A former Port Authority official and ally of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is expected to plead guilty on Friday to the first charges stemming from the 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal. (New York Times, 5/1/2015)

The New York Times interrupts its ongoing investigation into the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal to report on Chris Christie and Bridgegate. Just kidding!  The New York Times has moved on from the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal. Better to circle back to an (even older) Republican scandal. And so the Times provides readers with a useful color graphic showing all the Bridgegate players. Also included is a helpful Q&A for readers who want even more information. No doubt the Times is thinking Pulitzer Prize....


It's Never the Perp's Fault
The problem is not black culture. It is policy and politics, the very things that bind together the history of Ferguson and Baltimore and, for that matter, the rest of America.

...the financial enrichment of landlords, corner store merchants and other vendors selling second-rate goods.

...The problem originates in a political culture that has long bound black bodies to questions of property. Yes, I’m referring to slavery.
...
The conditions in West Baltimore today are the direct consequence of speculative real estate practices that have long targeted people with few to no options.
...
Cities that are starved for income have found ways to raise revenues by way of fines and fees exacted from poor, underemployed African-Americans and migrants of color. These include property taxes and court costs. (N. D. B. Connolly is an assistant professor of history at Johns Hopkins University, New York Times, 5/1/2015)

You might have thought the root causes of the rioting in Baltimore were illegitimacy, the breakdown of the black family, the glorification of violent rap culture and decades of misguided government policies toward poverty. 

You would be wrong. 

Luckily we have Professor Connolly to set us straight.

Professor Connolly helpfully informs us as to the REAL issues which include: the merchants who provide goods and services to impoverished communities, landlords who provide housing to the poor and the local governments who collect taxes.

Oh, and slavery. (If only America would outlaw slavery....)

Time to take Johns Hopkins off the list of potential schools for Junior.