Hall Pass

All Talk
Muslim Parents on How They Talk to Their Children About Hatred and Extremism: A wave of recent attacks by extremists acting in the name of Islam — including in San Bernardino, Calif., this month — has contributed to a rise in anti-Muslim speech in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. We asked our readers who are Muslim how they talk to their children about these difficult times. (New York Times, 12/15/2015)

The New York Times wastes space on a virtually non-existent problem: anti-Muslim speech. The rationale is two-fold. First, the Times is never going to let an opportunity slip by to identify a potential group of victims. After all, finding new victims is its raison d'etre. Second, it conveniently ties back to its narrative that anti-Muslim sentiment is stirred up by Republicans. That's a Times two-fer!

The Times would never write the article headlined: American Parents on How They Talk to Their Children About Muslim Extremism. It would also never write the article: Muslim Parents of ISIS Terrorists on Where They Went Wrong.


Dreamers
Foreign policy is not in the business of making dreams come true—Arab-Israeli peace, Islamic liberalism, climate nirvana, a Russian reset, et cetera. It’s about keeping our nightmares at bay. (Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, 12/15/2015)

Most of Stephens' column is harsh critically of Ted Cruz, giving us pause as we like both. Putting that aside, we liked this very insightful and thought-provoking quote.


Blame Game
Blaming mental health problems for gun violence in America gives the public the false impression that most people with mental illness are dangerous, when in fact a vast majority will never commit violence. Still, some legal changes should be made to reduce access to firearms among the small percentage of people with mental illness who are dangerous to themselves or others. (New York Times editorial, 12/16/2015)

No, most mentally ill people do not commit violence. But the ones who commit mass murder (James Holmes, Adam Lanza, et. al.) are mentally ill. The Times bravely wants to take away their guns when the real solution is to commit them to mental hospitals.  Of course, another category of gun violence is that committed by urban minorities. No word from the Times on that subject. 


Bound Up
With a unanimous City Council vote, San Diego, the country’s eighth-largest city, became the largest American municipality to transition to using 100 percent renewable energy, including wind and solar power. In the wake of the Paris accord, environmental groups hailed the move as both substantive and symbolic.

Other big cities, including New York and San Francisco, have said they intend to use more renewable energy, but San Diego is the first of them to make the pledge legally binding. Under the ordinance, it has committed to completing its transition and cutting its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2035. (New York Times, 12/17/2015)

It's a feelgood moment in San Diego. But what they just made legally binding will never happen. Liberals - including San Diego's Republican mayor - think that simply by enacting a law, good things will happen. It doesn't work that way. See Obamacare. 

#ConservativeLivesMatter

Avoidance
This video features Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains VP & Medical Director Savita Ginde discussing the practice of procuring baby parts as well as how to avoid media scrutiny of their organ harvesting.

Toward the end of the video, the cameras get inside the abortion clinic’s pathological laboratory. Medical assistants are heard and seen cracking skulls, and extracting brains. “Here’s some organs for you,” a Planned Parenthood employee said. “Here’s a stomach, kidney, heart.” A medical assistant exclaims: “And another boy!” (Mollie Hemingway, thefederalist.com, 9/29/2015)

Has Barack Obama seen the Planned Parenthood videos? Bernie Sanders? Hillary Clinton? Have ANY Democrats seen the videos. We doubt it. No person with an ounce of humanity could support Planned Parenthood after watching the videos depicting the aftermarket dealing in fetal body parts. So supporters willfully choose to ignore the barbarism in order to garner votes from Liberal women and lecture Republicans on "women's health."


Secreto
Pope Francis met secretly in Washington last week with Kim Davis, the county clerk in Kentucky who defied a court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, her lawyer said in a telephone interview Tuesday night. Francis gave her rosaries and told her to “stay strong,” the lawyer said. (New York Times, 9/30/2015)

Today, even the papacy is political. Francis goes long on decrying capitalism and climate change, but meets in private with Kim Davis and the Little Sisters of the Poor. 

Jesus wept.


Extension
“To the extent that the expanding welfare state allows more people to live without working—and therefore without earning income or developing their own human capital—supporters of the welfare state are contributing to the very income disparities they so much decry,” writes economist Thomas Sowell in his new book, “Wealth, Poverty and Politics.” (Jason Riley, Wall Street Journal, 9/30/2015)

Call this a daily double. Jason Riley AND Thomas Sowell. Hats off to both.


Reflections of a ‘Master Legislator’ (New York Times headline, 9/30/2015)
The Master Legislator? None other than Teddy "Scotch and Soda" Kennedy! Among the Tedster's accomplishments described herein: immigration reform resulting in the current flood of Mexicans into the U.S. Read Ann Coulter's "Adios America" for a detailed analysis of how that is working out.

And then there is this:
But one of the withheld transcripts dealt with the death of Mary Jo Kopechne in a car Mr. Kennedy drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969. James Sterling Young, the professor of government and foreign affairs who led the oral history project and conducted the Kennedy interviews, said in 2009 that one interview dealt with Chappaquiddick. 


Lesser
History will remember Barack Obama as the president who conducted foreign policy less as a principled exercise in the application of American power than as an extended attempt to justify the evasion of it. (Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, 9/29/2015)

That's it, isn't it?

Hillary Clinton: Wife, Mother, Grandmother...and a Woman, Too!

Slip Sliding
As it turned out, the biggest challenge to securing that legacy has been at home, and not overseas, as Mr. Obama’s fellow Democrats last week shot down legislation crucial to finalizing the trade agreement on the grounds that it would hurt rather than help America. Unless he can convince scores of Democrats to change their votes in the coming days, the centerpiece of his much-touted re-engagement with Asia will slip away along with one of the last chances he has to leave his imprint on the world before leaving office. (New York Times, 6/15/2015)

Democrat opposition to Obama's trade agreement is couched in terms of wanting to preserve American manufacturing jobs. In reality it is a subtle form of racism cynically directed toward an ambitious young black president with the sole aim of denying him a major foreign policy achievement. 

We've got that correct, right?


Smoked
(Jeb Bush) struggled in his first year at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., drinking alcohol and smoking a lot of marijuana... (New York Times, 6/15/2015)

Next up, an in-depth look at the youthful Barack Obama's use of cocaine, revealed in his own book. Just kidding...the "in-depth look" part.


Whitey
In her first interview since being accused of misrepresenting her racial background and stepping down as an N.A.A.C.P. official, Rachel A. Dolezal did not back down on Tuesday, stating “I identify as black,” although she comes from a white family. (New York Times, 6/16/2015)

Liberals may dismiss this story as no big deal; a tale of a misguided woman; or even say, hey, what's the problem as long as she's down for the cause. (On another planet, Al Sharpton questions Dolezal's parents...) But the issue is that this is what Liberalism has wrought: there are no absolutes anymore. Everything is gray, subject to interpretation or even 'normal.' Hence, Bruce Jenner is no longer a man, Rachel Dolezal is no longer white, an unborn child is not a child, marriage is not just between a man and a woman. The list goes on and covers not just sociology, but politics, foreign policy and every facet of life. Yes, the Palestinians call for the destruction of Israel, but Israel is wrong to defend itself. Yes, the Iranian mullahs have lied about their nuclear program, but that is no reason not to do a deal with them. Yes, millions have entered the country illegally, but we need to grant them amnesty. Yes, we would prefer that our teenagers not smoke marijuana, but we should legalize it. Welcome to the America that Liberals have fashioned. 


Party On
Such is the state of a party in which Barack Obama is the extreme-right flank. (Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, 6/16/2015)

Liberal friends constantly remind us that they used to be Republicans before the party became too extreme. So now are they no longer Democrats?

Bernie's Next Target: Too Many Breakfast Cereal Choices

Tumultuous
In a sign of the tumult in the health insurance industry under the Affordable Care Act, companies are seeking wildly differing rate increases in premiums for 2016, with some as high as 85 percent, according to information released on Monday by the federal government for the 37 states using HealthCare.gov as their exchange. (New York Times, 6/2/2015)

Barack Obama: "You can keep your insurance. In fact, it is going to cost less. We're bending the cost curve. Everything will be wonderful."


Shot Through
Shootings in New York City have been rising for two straight years, the first time that has happened since the end of the 1990s, when the city was still in the early years of a remarkable downturn in crime. 
....
New York is not alone in seeing a rise in violence. In some cities, like Baltimore and Chicago, the increase has been far greater, a fact that New York officials are quick to highlight, albeit privately. (New York Times, 6/2/2015)

So to be clear, chaos reigns in cities where Liberals rule and where the aforementioned Liberals have defanged the police. 


Her Highness
Hillary Rodham Clinton will hold the first major rally of her presidential campaign on June 13 on Roosevelt Island in New York City, before embarking on a five-day swing through the four states with the earliest Democratic nominating contests, her campaign said on Monday. (New York Times, 6/2/2015)

In keeping with protocol, Clinton will not take any questions from the press. Or from attendees. She will, however, take contributions. Make your check out to the Clinton Crime Family Foundation.


Kidding
When the media describe the Clintons as resilient or unsinkable or bulletproof—the ultimate “Comeback Kids”—what they really mean is that they are shameless. Nothing embarrasses them, so nobody stops them. (Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, 6/2/2015)

Kinda makes sense, doesn't it?


Asked and Answered
Monday while President Barack Obama was answering questions at a town hall with YSEALI Fellows, an exchange program for community leaders from ASEAN, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, he said his administration has restored the United States as the “the most respected country on earth.” (Breitbart.com, 6/2/2015)

This is not a joke. Obama actually said this.

Coming Soon from Democrats: The Republican War on Children!

Bernie Sanders: Keystone XL 'makes no sense to me' (Washington Examiner, 11/18/2014)

RedStateVT: Bernie Sanders 'makes no sense to us' (RedStateVT, 11/18/2014)


Currently
In the current Democratic-controlled Senate, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, has long refused to bring a Keystone bill to a vote for fear that it could hurt the re-election chances of environmental-minded Democrats who might have voted against a project that is popular with many voters. (New York Times, 11/18/2014)

So to fellow bloggers who write endlessly of Republican obstructionism we forward the passage above. Turns out Harry Reid's Senate (which never passed a budget either, by the way) may have doing some obstruction of their own! Also nice to hear that the Keystone pipeline is "popular with many voters." We are guessing that said voters like jobs and low gas prices. 


Starkly
President Obama is poised to ignore stark warnings that executive action on immigration would amount to “violating our laws” and would be “very difficult to defend legally.”

Those warnings came not from Republican lawmakers but from Mr. Obama himself.

For years, he has waved aside the demands of Latino activists and Democratic allies who begged him to act on his own, and he insisted publicly that a decision to shield millions of immigrants from deportation without an act of Congress would amount to nothing less than the dictates of a king, not a president. (New York Times, 11/18/2014)

For any of you cynics out there, remember: Republicans flip flop, Democrats evolve.


Mutually
But since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, the relationship between the Obama administration and insurers has evolved into a powerful, mutually beneficial partnership that has been a boon to the nation’s largest private health plans and led to a profitable surge in their Medicaid enrollment. (New York Times, 11/17/2014)

During the Obamacare debate, Charles Krauthammer once famously said: "I care not a whit about the insurance companies." We agree. They sold their souls to Obama for short term profits but given the opportunity Obama will sell them out in a heartbeat.


Surely
As headlines go, “ Obama Moves Close to Calling Russian Action in Ukraine an Invasion,” from a weekend story in the New York Times , must surely rank among the year’s most revealing. The Obama presidency has long been at odds with the obvious. Once this was called hope.

Now it is generally recognized as farce. (Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, 11/17/2014)

Bret Stephens picks up on RedStateVT's recent point!


Extensively
Mr. Gruber wrote a 2011 cartoon book called “Health Care Reform” that aimed to explain the federal law. A note about the author says Mr. Gruber “consulted extensively with the Obama administration and Congress during the development” of the law. (Wall Street Journal, 11/17/2014)

Of all the egregious sins that Gruber has perpetrated, surely this is the worst: he wrote a cartoon book on Obamacare. 


And Then This
Here comes the tea party of the left. (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 11/17/2014)

Honest column from Milbank. Yes, the Dems have a tea party too.

Broken Ties

Vermont Healthcare Efficiency
From Vermont Health Connect October 6, 2014:
Hello! We are writing to let you know that you have a new notice regarding your bill for health care benefits from Vermont Health Connect. To view your notice, please click on the link below and log in to your account.

From Vermont Health Connect October 7, 2014:
Hello! We are writing to let you know that you have a new notice regarding your bill for health care benefits from Vermont Health Connect. To view your notice, please click on the link below and log in to your account.

From Vermont Health Connect later in the day on October 7, 2014:
Hello! Earlier today and yesterday, some Vermont Health Connect customers received an email that referenced invoices and online payments. We apologize for this incorrect email and any confusion or inconvenience that it caused. 

We have mailed you a paper invoice this week that correctly describes your two current payment options:

1)    Phone...  

2)    Mail... 

Not to worry, all will be better when Vermont adopts single payer!


Weakly
A corollary point, surely not lost on Mr. Putin, Ayatollah Khamenei and other rogues is that they have a free hand at least until January 2017. The conclusion: If ever there was a time to revise their regional orders in ways more to their liking, better to do so now, when there’s a self-infatuated weakling in the White House. (Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, 10/13/2014)

Obama's withdrawal creates a vacuum that the bad guys willingly exploit.


Obviously
It’s not too soon to state the obvious: At this point, the war against the Islamic State can be seen only as failing. (Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, 10/13/2014)

When Obama loses Eugene Robinson you know it is over for our novelty president. 


Measured
(The Iranians) have taken the measure of Obama. He lacks menace. Menace is essential in a world leader if he (or she) is going to be feared as well as admired. (Richard Cohen, Washington Post, 10/13/2014)

Liberals are finally catching on: the world's bad actors will only behave if they fear America's power. Unfortunately, no one fears Obama.  


Safety
He’s called America a country founded on guns, and explained that firearms are just in the nation’s DNA. The 50-year-old also said he doesn’t feel safe without a gun in his house when he’s home with his wife and children. (Dailycaller.com, 10/14/2014)

Who is this fifty year old gun advocate? Why it's none other than Hollywood uber Liberal Brad Pitt! Proving again that when Liberals are threatened they turn to automatic weapons...which they would deny to others!

Fight to Win

Blessed
Complacency is a kind explanation for Washington's latest plan to make it harder for the National Security Agency to prevent the next attack. A bill recently introduced by Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, with the blessing of President Obama, went so far beyond earlier proposals that a judge writing on behalf of the entire federal judiciary last week objected that the bill is unworkable and unconstitutional and would make terrorism likelier. (L. Gordon Crovitz, Wall Street Journal, 8/10/2014)

Thanks to the efforts of Vermont's senior statesman Patrick Leahy, America's ability to fight terrorism is now weaker. And so this:

...no one should be surprised if intelligence fails to stop the next attack. In an area where accountability has been scarce, the names on the to-blame list would begin with Barack Obama and Patrick Leahy.


Sheared
The question is whether she (Hillary Clinton) can belittle Barack Obama as much as she must in order to win, but not so much that it plays as an act of sheer betrayal. (Frank Bruni, New York Times, 8/11/2014)

A Liberal commentary that we (gulp) agree with....


Disavowed
There are a few possible answers to that one. One is that the views she expressed in the interview are sincere and long-held and she was always a closet neoconservative; Commentary magazine is delivered to her mailbox in an unmarked brown envelope. Another is that Mrs. Clinton can read a poll: Americans now disapprove of the president's handling of foreign policy by a 57% to 37% margin, and she belatedly needs to disavow the consequences of the policies she once advocated. A third is that she believes in whatever she says, at least at the time she's saying it. She is a Clinton, after all. (Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, 8/11/2014)

So what is Hillary thinking now that she has begun distancing herself from Obama?  There is certainly a part of us that thinks she is or was a 'strong defense' Democrat. She voted for the Iraq War and agreed with Bush that Sadaam Hussein had WMDs. One can conclude that the Howard Dean faction of the Dem party pulled her to the left forcing her to disavow earlier positions. Which, of course, does not speak well of her on issues of fortitude and consistency.


Stuffed
As the criticism became public, Obama was doggedly sticking with his plans to go on vacation — a decision that, if not in the category of stupid stuff, could fit under the heading of “tone deafness.” (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 8/11/2014)

It is Liberals who are now attacking the Vacationer-in-Chief.


Urged
The Obama Administration was so preoccupied with a grand political solution in Baghdad that for weeks it refused to arm the Kurds for fear of offending Mr. Maliki, even as it was urging Mr. Maliki to resign. How's that for consistent logic? (Wall Street Journal, 8/11/2014)

Possible Obama responses? 

I never urged Maliki to resign.

It is all Bush's fault.

Fore!


Stunned
After nearly four decades in elected office in Hawaii, Gov. Neil Abercrombie was dealt a stunning defeat in his bid for re-election over the weekend, becoming the first incumbent governor in the state’s history to lose in his party’s primary....The race will almost certainly mark the end of Mr. Abercrombie’s long political career. At age 76, he collected only about 31 percent of the vote, compared with 66 percent for Mr. Ige....Mr. Abercrombie enjoyed strong support from the Democratic establishment, including President Obama, as well as huge fund-raising advantages. (New York Times, 8/9/2014)

A firmly entrenched Democrat backed by Obama IN HIS HOME STATE secures only 31% of the vote!

November could be fun!

Let Us Go Then

Wonderin'
Why did MSNBC's Chris Matthews fail to ask President Obama to grade himself on his five years in office? Last time Obama was asked he gave himself a B+. What does he think he deserves now?

What happened to the "Republican War on Women" that we heard so much about during the last presidential election? Is it over? Who won?


Briefs
...charitable contributions made by the Jane Fonda Foundation. Grand total for the years 2007 to 2011: zero dollars.
...
Ms. Fonda isn't exactly the world's first cheapskate limousine liberal: Think of Bill Clinton claiming a tax deduction for donating his underwear, or the $353 Al Gore gave to charity in 1997. (Bret Stephens, WSJ, 12/16/2013)

Why are Liberals such cheapskates when it comes to charitable giving? Because they believe that the government should be responsible for charity through entitlement programs.


Valued
Politicians talk about family values but do almost nothing to help families. They talk about parental responsibility but do almost nothing to help parents. They talk about self-sufficiency but do precious little to make self-sufficiency a reality for those who must struggle hardest to achieve it.
....
...it was exciting last week to see Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut introduce the FAMILY Act, the acronym standing for their Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act. The bill would provide partial income for up to 12 weeks of leave for new parents and for other family demands, such as care for a sick family member, including a domestic partner. (E.J. Dionne, Jr., Washington Post, 12/15/2013)

So Dionne Jr. believes it is the duty of government to promote family values, apparently by giving families more government-mandated freebies. This is the essence of Liberal philosophy: illogical, contradictory, and bizarre. 

Did you drop out of school and get hooked on drugs? Did you get pregnant and then abandoned by your drug-addicted boyfriend? Do you have three children by three different men? Do you abuse your health through alcohol and fast food? Would you rather panhandle than clean toilets? Not to worry! Liberals will give you complete immunity and protect you from your bad decisions. It's Family Values!


Critical Care
In America’s health-care dialogue, emergency rooms have come to symbolize the system’s economic and medical defects. To critics, typical ERs are swamped by the uninsured, who — lacking a regular doctor or source of care — go where they will be treated. Performing routine medicine at high prices, ERs are crowded and costly. If the uninsured had insurance, these problems would recede. Better medicine at less cost.

Who could oppose that? Well, nobody. It was a selling point for the Affordable Care Act. The trouble is that the story is mostly make-believe. (Robert J. Samuelson, Washington Post, 12/11/2013)

Good article which we recommend to Liberal bloggers who continually cite the use of emergency rooms by the uninsured as a major reason why we need Obamacare. Maybe not....

Regret and Abide

Stoned
“It is impractical to negotiate with a stone wall,” was how the judge referred to the unions’ reticence to make concessions on the pension issue. (NYT, 12/4/2013)

Will unions learn from the Detroit bankruptcy? Better yet will Democrats who have ruled the city for decades learn? (Answer below.)

No.


Imposition
The notice published on Monday includes proposals on several other issues. Certain health plans sponsored by labor unions would be exempted from new fees imposed on insurance companies and on many self-insured group health plans.

Labor unions have been lobbying for such an exemption, saying the fees could be “highly disruptive” to Taft-Hartley plans administered jointly by labor and management representatives in construction, entertainment and other industries. (NYT, 12/3/2013)

Why do Republicans hate Obamacare? Yes, it's the enlargement of the entitlement state, it's the top-down government control, it's the lies told to sell it. It's all those things. But it is also something else. It's the crass corruption that surrounds the entire endeavor, such as giving waivers to political supporters.


Tone Deaf
In the White House briefing room, too, there was a change in tone. The death watch for Obamacare had been suspended and the conversation turned to other possible problems: Will HealthCare.gov be ready for a surge in enrollments later this month? Why hasn’t the administration started a campaign to direct more people to the site? (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 12/2/2013)

Milbank - who is like a yo-yo on Obama, up one day, down the next - declares the problem solved. Now the only issue will be managing the wonderfulness that is Obamacare. (Oh, and never mind that 40% of the system isn't even built.)


Talk Around Town
'Private sector velocity and effectiveness." "An Amazon-like shopping experience." Suddenly Team Obama is talking up capitalist enterprise as the model for how Healthcare.gov ought to work. After five years of assailing "millionaires and billionaires" and extolling the virtues of "collective action," this is progress. (Bret Stephens, WSJ, 12/2/2013)

Good one from Stephens, but be forewarned: Team Obama will think nothing about bashing the capitalist model five minutes from now if it is convenient for them to do so. 

Let's Dish

Woebegone
The financial woes of Detroit, which last month became the nation’s largest city to file for bankruptcy protection, dwarf the financial issues here. But as Detroit makes its way through the federal court system, other cities, including Chicago, are wrestling with overwhelming pension liabilities that threaten to undermine their capacity to provide municipal services and secure their futures. (NYT, 8/5/2013)

Let's see...what do both Detroit and Chicago have in common? Yes, it's true that they are both cities, but that is not the answer we were looking for. If you said, however, that they are both cities that are financial basket cases and that have been run for decades by Democrats then you would be correct. Democrats see no connection whatsoever between their policies and financial ruin. 

We are not a big fan of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, but - credit where it is due - at least he gets it:

But Mr. Emanuel has openly called for increasing retirement ages, raising workers’ contributions toward their own pensions and temporarily freezing inflation adjustments now paid to retirees, all of which amount, union leaders say, to benefit cuts. (NYT, 8/5/2013)


Interception
The Obama administration’s decision last week to close nearly two dozen diplomatic missions and issue a worldwide travel alert came after the United States intercepted electronic communications in which the head of Al Qaeda ordered the leader of the group’s affiliate in Yemen to carry out an attack as early as this past Sunday, according to American officials. (NYT, 8/5/2013)

It has been a year since Obama ran for re-election proclaiming Al Qaeda was "on the run." Will the Legitimate Media now challenge him on this point? Of course they will not. Obama gets a pass, just as he got a pass on high unemployment, high gas prices, Solyndra, "saving" Detroit, golf, Benghazi and everything else. 


Stakeout
Michael R. Bloomberg has staked much of his reputation as the mayor of New York City on improving students’ test scores, and has trumpeted gains in math and reading as validation of his 12-year effort to remake the city’s schools.

But the mayor’s telling of history is poised to receive one of its most vigorous challenges yet on Wednesday, when New York State is expected to report drastic drops in student performance across the state because of a new set of tougher exams.

In New York City, the proportion of students deemed proficient in math and reading could decrease by as many as 30 percentage points, city officials said, threatening to hand Mr. Bloomberg a public relations problem five months before he is set to leave office.

Already, many of Mr. Bloomberg’s rivals — the teachers’ union, parent groups, and several of the Democratic candidates vying to succeed him — have begun to use the prospect of a steep drop in scores to call into question the mayor’s record on education.

The United Federation of Teachers on Friday released a 1,000-word memo, in part blaming Mr. Bloomberg for poor test results, saying he had not done enough to train teachers for the new standards, known as Common Core. (NYT, 8/4/2013)

We loved this one. We are no great fans of Bloomberg (either), but we give him credit for standing up to the teachers union. 

According to the union it is Bloomberg's fault that test scores for NYC students declined. It has nothing to do with teachers.

Why do young people so often fail to demonstrate accountability for their actions? Maybe THAT is what they are learning in school from teachers.


Quote of the Day
The second shortest distance in Washington now runs between an Obama speech and its empirical disproof. (Bret Stephens, WSJ, 8/5/2013)

Pockets of Resistance

Weighs, Leaps, Stints
As he weighs whether to leap into the race for mayor this year, Mr. Weiner’s lucrative stint in business could serve as a compelling campaign credential, blunting efforts to portray him as a career politician, even as it raises uncomfortable questions about the speed with which he cashed in on his government connections. (NYT, 4/29/2013)

The New York Times in 2011:  "As he weighs whether to leap into the race for president this year, Mr. Romney's lucrative stint in business could serve as a compelling campaign credential...."

Just kidding!


Evidentiary
President Obama on Tuesday said there will be no rush to judgment on escalating U.S. intervention in Syria until there is hard evidence of the use of chemical weapons by the government. 

“We now have evidence that chemical weapons have been used inside of Syria,” he said in a wide-ranging news conference at the White House. “But we don’t know when they were used, how they were used, or who used them [...] If we end up rushing to judgment without hard, effective evidence, then we can find ourselves where we can’t mobilize the international community to support what we do." (Washington Post, 4/30/2013)

The administration will go from arguing that it's too soon to intervene in Syria, to arguing that it's too late.
...
Mr. Obama will treat evidence of Iran's impending nuclearization the way he has looked at Syria's use of chemical weapons, demanding a standard of proof that will be impossible to meet until it is too late to do much about it.  (Bret Stephens, WSJ, 4/29/2013)

Great prescient column by Stephens which actually faults both Obama and Netanyahu for dithering on Iran. 


Convincing
When the ghastly news from Boylston Street first hit, there was an immediate divide between those who were sure the attack was a form of Islamic terrorism and those just as convinced that it was organized by domestic, right-wing extremists. April 15 was Tax Day, after all.
...
My faith in a tolerant, pluralistic America made me worry that hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Muslim citizens could become the victims of our anger — much as Italian Americans were stereotyped in the days of Sacco and Vanzetti.
...
I also found it disturbing that we have given scant attention to the April 17 explosion at the fertilizer plant in West, Tex., that killed 15 people and injured more than 200.

As the labor writer Mike Elk pointed out this week in a Post commentary, industrial accidents are far more common than are acts of terror. We have more control over how we enforce worker-safety laws than we do over random acts of violence. Yet we have allowed the Texas story to be buried beneath all our speculation about the Tsarnaev brothers. (E.J. Dionne Jr, Washington Post, 4/24/2013)

Just getting around to E.J.'s column from last week. And what a column it was! 

First we get the old head fake: "Maybe the Boston bombing was the militias!" Which nobody except E.J. thought for more than four seconds. 

Then we get: "Let's not blame the Muslims..." Turns out it was the Muslims. 

Then - bizarrely - we get: "Don't forget the Texas fertilizer explosion."

It's official, E.J. is now rivaling Charles Blow for the title: Funniest Liberal Columnist.


Consider This
Former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy and Kevin Sabet, President Obama’s previous senior advisor at the Office of National Drug Control and Policy, spoke out Thursday against marijuana deregulation efforts under consideration in the Vermont Legislature. (VTDiggers.org, 4/25/2013)

Even a Kennedy argues against pot. Good for Patrick Kennedy!


Nickle Here, There
Gov. Peter Shumlin on Monday afternoon signed the transportation budget bill that contains a new gas tax, meaning the tax will go into effect Wednesday.  The tax is a net increase of 5.9 cents per gallon.  (Burlington Free Press, 4/29/2013)

On behalf of the plumbers, electricians, contractors, painters, teachers and all other working class people in Vermont: "Thanks for nothing Shummy!" 

Vote him out.