What Difference, at this Point, Does it Make?
At a news conference this month, Mrs. Clinton appeared to provide two answers about whether she still had copies of her emails. First, she said that she “chose not to keep” her private personal emails after her lawyers had examined the account and determined on their own which ones were personal and which were State Department records. But later, she said that the server, which contained personal communication by her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, “will remain private.” The server was kept at their home in Chappaqua, N.Y., which is protected around the clock by the Secret Service. (New York Times, 3/28/2015)
Our next president.
America weeps.
Dirty Harry
Mr. Reid’s admirers seem to think Mr. Reid is their champion, but the reason he has carried so much water for Mr. Obama isn’t liberal ideals. It’s the result of a crude political bargain in which Mr. Reid agreed to do the President’s dirty work on Capitol Hill if Mr. Obama blocked the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. (Wall Street Journal, 3/30/2015)
Reid will be feted at his retirement by Democrats and the media who will use words like "tireless" and "unflinching." We are glad to be reminded of his crass political deals. And, of course, we will always cherish his description of Barack Obama as "a light-skinned African American with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." If John Boehner used such language he would be in a nursing home now. No such banishment for Reid, however, because Obama 'knows what is in Reid's heart.'
Measured
Measures similar to that signed into law by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence this week are already in place at the federal level and in some 30 states. The law covers a relatively complex issue—setting a legal framework for those who claim a government rule or requirement is hampering their exercise of religion. (Wall Street Journal, 3/29/2015)
The Gay Mafia along with its Liberal enablers are apoplectic about a new Indiana law.
Which is exceedingly complex to understand, never mind explain.
Which mirrors federal law.
And state law in thirty states.
It does not matter, however, because any opportunity to cry "homophobe!" is an opportunity not to be missed.
Adventurous
One of Silicon Valley’s most famous venture capital firms prevailed on Friday over a former partner in a closely watched suit claiming gender discrimination, but hardly got away unscathed. The plaintiff, Ellen Pao, had accused the firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, of discriminating against her in the course of her employment and eventual dismissal.
...
After the jurors rejected each of her four claims, they were found to be one vote short on a claim about her termination. For two hours, doubt reigned, the media unspooled possible outcomes and the jury went back to work. In the end, the problem seemed more juror confusion than anything else, and the claim went down with the others. (New York Times, 3/28/2015)
We have absolutely no idea whether Ellen Pao's lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers had any merit. We don't know if either party is good or bad. What amazes us, however, is the way in which the New York Times and feminists can claim that the case 'prompts a debate' and 'sends a powerful signal.'
How exactly? She lost.
On every single count.
What does failure look like?
"The very foundation of the United States, without which this nation could not survive as a democracy, is that its citizens shall be kept informed, so that on the truth, and the truth alone, they may build their judgments. The public has a right to know when the executive branch of the government makes far-reaching commitments which affect millions of persons and which might seriously endanger the security of the United States. The support of the public is equally essential to our government in carrying out a policy toward other nations. The peace of the globe itself calls for the maintenance of a policy of firmness by the United States backed by military strength. History has already proved that such a policy is a far more effective deterrent of international aggression than a policy of inertia, vacillation or appeasement." (from I Saw Poland Betrayed: An American Ambassador Reports to the American People, Arthur Bliss Lane, United States Ambassador to Poland, 1944 - 1947)
Let the Liberal media feeding frenzy on Ted Cruz begin now that he has announced for president. Here are some facts you should know first:
- He graduated cum laude from Princeton.
- He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law.
- Harvard's Alan Dershowitz (no great friend of conservatives) said about him: "Cruz was off-the-charts brilliant." (Wikipedia)
Liberals are enamored of people who are smart. Or in the case of Barack Obama, people who they think are smart, even though those same people never released their academic transcripts. What will they say about Cruz?
Suspended
The police here said Monday that they had found no evidence that a woman was gang raped at a University of Virginia fraternity house in 2012, and they were suspending their investigation, after a lengthy inquiry in which the alleged victim refused to cooperate. (New York Times, 3/23/2015)
Prediction: This will have absolutely no effect. Feminists will continue to scream ad nauseum about the "culture of rape" on American college campuses.
Avoidance
To avoid a future built on the unsustainable ground of permanent Israeli military subjugation of the Palestinians, the question now is what Palestinians, Americans and the rest of the world should do next to keep the hope of peace alive. (New York Times editorial, 3/24/2015)
What can Palestinians do to "keep the hope of peace alive?" That's a tough one. We do not have any good ideas there. Oh wait! How about this idea: stop building tunnels into Israeli territory in order to launch terror attacks on Israeli civilians. Maybe, just maybe if Palestinians stopped doing that they could keep the hope of peace alive.
Extra Extra
Vermont had a very small uninsured population and paid out extra subsidies that made its program extremely attractive... (New York Times, 3/24/2015)
Wait, not only is Vermont subsidizing eighty percent of its insured population, but it also paid "extra subsidies?"
How did we not know about this before now? Get Shumlin on the line!
Yemen: Another Obama Foreign Policy Success!
The evacuation of 125 United States Special Operations advisers from Yemen in the past two days is the latest blow to the Obama administration’s counterterrorism campaign, which is already struggling with significant setbacks in Syria, Libya and elsewhere in the volatile region, American officials said Sunday. (New York Times, 3/23/2015)
“This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years.” President B. Hussein Obama
Practices
But they did show that Mrs. Clinton’s top aides at times corresponded with her about State Department matters from their personal email accounts, raising questions about her recent assertions that she made it her practice to email aides at their government addresses so the messages would be preserved, in compliance with federal record-keeping regulations. (New York Times, 3/23/2015)
Reminding us - once again - of the late William Safire's depiction of Hillary Clinton as a "congenital liar."
No Conflicts Here
When Mr. Mezvinsky and his partners began raising money in 2011 for a new hedge fund firm, Eaglevale Partners, a number of investors in the firm were longtime supporters of the Clintons, according to interviews and financial documents reviewed by The New York Times. Tens of millions of dollars raised by Eaglevale can be attributed to investors with some relationship or link to the Clintons.
...
Mr. Mezvinsky is a Stanford graduate who is the child of political parents himself. His father, Edward M. Mezvinsky, was a two-term member of Congress from Iowa, and his mother, Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, served a term in Congress from Pennsylvania. (New York Times, 3/23/2015)
First, a reminder to all that the Clinton's son-in-law is a hedge fund executive. How Hillary is going to square this with the Elizabeth Warren-Bernie Sanders wing of the Democrat party is anyone's guess.
And then there is the small matter of Edward M. Mezvinsky. What is the New York Times forgetting to tell us? Thinking..... Oh, that's right! It's this:
His father, Ed Mezvinsky, was a two-term Democratic congressman, representing Iowa’s first congressional district from 1973 to 1977. But in 2002, the former congressman pleaded guilty to swindling more than $10 million from family and friends in a Ponzi-esque scheme. (abcnews.com, 9/27/2014)
Perhaps the New York Times did not know this. Or - and it pains us to even think this - Times reporters knew it and simply chose to omit it because they are dishonest journalists.
Coffee Black
Howard D. Schultz, the chief executive of Starbucks, said in a letter to employees on Sunday that baristas would no longer be encouraged to write the phrase “Race Together” on customers’ coffee cups, drawing to a close a widely derided component of the company’s plan to promote a discussion on racial issues. (New York Times, 3/23/2015)
Sources say that Starbucks intends shortly to roll out a new communication campaign in which baristas will ask customers to rate the job performance of President Obama on a scale of 1 (high) to 10 (low). All customers who rate him 5 or below will be given a free latte.
We Can Breathe (Again)
Giving implicit credence to the named sources who described Michael Brown as having his hands up as he was fired on by Officer Darren Wilson, I criticized the use of unnamed sources who offered opposing information: They said that the officer had reason to fear Mr. Brown. I even went so far as to call those unnamed sources “ghosts” because readers had so little ability to evaluate their identity and credibility... But I want to go further now and say that what I wrote was substantially flawed. (Margaret Sullivan, Public Editor, New York Times, 3/23/2015)
The New York Times confesses. Too bad they do not put it on the front page...as they did the initial slander.
Wordy
“We take him at his word when he said that it wouldn’t happen during his prime ministership, and so that’s why we’ve got to evaluate what other options are available to make sure that we don’t see a chaotic situation in the region,” Mr. Obama said in the interview, which was taped Friday. (Wall Street Journal, 3/23/2015)
Obama on Netanyahu.
And we took Obama at this word when he said that we could keep our health insurance....
Failure to Improve
Gov. Peter Shumlin says the state will consider abandoning the Vermont Health Connect insurance exchange and moving to a federally supported system if the state-based marketplace fails to improve.
"We now have a vendor with a proven delivery record to finish the job," Shumlin said in a statement. "Ideally, Vermonters will continue to benefit from the Vermont-focused health insurance marketplace that we all envisioned, a system that builds upon our history of health reform and advances our goal of health coverage for all Vermonters.
"But if our system can't deliver for Vermonters by next fall," Shumlin continued, "we'll need to take action to move permanently to a system that can." Vermont Health Connect has suffered back-end technological problems and cost overruns since launching in October 2013. (Burlington Free Press, 3/20/2015)
So everything is going swimmingly as far as health care reform in Vermont goes...except for that pesky website. Which is where people go to buy health care. (As a user of VHC we can confirm: it is a nightmare).
And how about that tough accountability from Gov. Shumlin? 'If we can't fix the website - two years after its launch, mind you - we are going to abandon it!'
The Logic of Obama's Foreign Policy
The sharpened tone indicates that the Obama administration may be re-evaluating its relationship with its closest ally in the Middle East, having lost patience with Mr. Netanyahu in the closing days of an election campaign in which he spotlighted deep disagreements with President Obama over a Palestinian state and a nuclear deal with Iran.....The moves confirmed that instead of acting quickly to smooth over tensions with Mr. Netanyahu that burst to the fore in the weeks running up to the Israeli elections, the White House is stoking the acrimony. (New York Times, 3/21/2015)
Country Obama Improves Relations With: Cuba
Country Obama Wants to Isolate: Israel
Burnt Grounds
Scrawled on Starbucks cups, the words “Race Together” were intended to stimulate conversations about race relations in America, beginning just days before the company’s annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday. But the coffee company’s campaign has instead unleashed widespread vitriol and derision. (New York Times, 3/19/2015)
So try this: head into Starbucks and suggest to your barrista that you believe Officer Darren Wilson acted in self-defense and that Michael Brown committed felonious assault on a peace officer. That's a conversation about race that might stimulate some discussion! Of course, you might get slipped a decaf coffee...
The Passion
Allies, antagonists and average Israelis have long struggled to understand just what Mr. Netanyahu, a deft political strategist, actually believes in, beyond his passionate commitment to Israel’s security and to the Jewish people. (New York Times, 3/19/2015)
So Netanyahu is passionately dedicated to the security and fate of Israelis. And somehow the New York Times claims there is confusion on the part of observers with respect to his core beliefs. Sounds like Bibi has it just about right. Of course the Times would say there was no confusion if Netanyahu were publicly in favor of, say, gay marriage or legalized marijuana. Then they would say that everyone knows where he stands on the issues.
Miscount
The Census Bureau asks Americans about subjects as varied as race, religion, annual income and even their source of home heating. But there is one glaring demographic omission: The census does not ask people about their sexual orientation. (New York Times, 3/20/2015)
Glaring omission? Since when has the Census Bureau been tasked with determining the sexual practices of Americans. Wouldn't Liberals be outraged that the government is prying into the private sex lives of ordinary citizens?
Quote of the Day
“It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it.” (Thomas Sowell, Knowledge And Decisions)
It has been too long since we have quoted Sowell.
Questionable
The question moving forward for Mr. Obama may be whether he should essentially write off the Israeli prime minister in much the same way he has written off building any relationship with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, another frequent antagonist. (New York Times, 3/18/2015)
Relationships that Obama has not written off (in fact they are thriving!) include: the Iranian mullahs and the Castro brothers.
Never Never Land
But personally, Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu have never become close, aides said. The Israeli prime minister is known for being difficult. James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state, once barred Mr. Netanyahu, then a more junior government official, from the halls of the State Department. President Bill Clinton famously disliked Mr. Netanyahu. (New York Times, 3/18/2015)
Liberals are beside themselves that Netanyahu was resoundingly re-elected. They haven't been this upset since... well, since the recent U.S. mid-term elections. And so the New York Times decides that the best approach is to trash-talk Bibi.
Meanwhile, over at MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell takes the democratic election of Netanyahu as a sign of the end of days. Helpfully, she interviews Palestinians who provide objective analyses of the horrible consequences that this election has for the region.
Just kidding about the "objective" part!
