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Liz Sheld:
“…At this point in the game if you think this investigation is about Trump-RUSSIA collusion, you must be an idiot. It’s clear that President Trump and those in his orbit are being subjected to a forensic examination of their lives in order to obstruct Trump’s presidency, as punishment to those who have supported him, and to dissuade others from working for him…”
Good economic news:
Dan Bongino:
“What would happen if an illegal immigrant used a plastic straw in California?”
The out-of-whack “priorities” among California lawmakers has opened the mockery floodgates.
I agree with some of this. Interesting piece at any rate.
H. W. Crocker:
“…North and South venerated the Founders. They shared the same language, the same religion, and, in large part, the same general stock. Most of all, they shared what Jeff Sessions was recently rebuked for calling an “Anglo-American heritage” of liberty under law, stretching from the mists of medieval England — even before Magna Carta — to our own Bill of Rights.
Today, however, our divisions are so deep and fundamental that Americans cannot even agree on what marriage is or what a man or a woman is (which is pretty darn fundamental).
The lunatic self-righteousness of the Left (and yes, I’m afraid one must point fingers here), where disagreement is bigotry to be prohibited by law or even condemned and prosecuted as treason, is a consuming, destructive fire that will not be easily quenched, and cannot be reached by cool waters of rational argument…”
Mollie Hemingway:
“…Whatever you think about Trump’s reaction to the release of the FISA application, the media reaction to the story was disingenuous and even more hyperbolic than the president’s tweets. After a year of continuous and alarming revelations, the media are still more interested in proving the Trump campaign treasonously colluded with Russia than wrestling with the fact that the FBI spied on a presidential campaign, and used dubious partisan political research to justify their surveillance.
The media reaction to both the redacted Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) wiretap applications and President Trump’s tweets was pure gaslighting. They claimed the FISA applications hurt the critics’ case. It wasn’t that they reported the news that critics of the FISA application felt vindicated while defenders of the wiretap applications also felt vindicated. They wrote as partisans in a war with those skeptical of FISA abuse…”
Michael Barone:
“…Sometimes a society’s values change sharply with almost no one noticing, much less anticipating the consequences. In 1968, according to a Gallup survey, 70 percent of American adults said that a family of three or more children was “ideal”—about the same number as in Gallup surveys starting in 1938. That number helps explain the postwar baby boom that exploded after Americans were no longer constrained by depression and world war.
Those values and those numbers didn’t last. By 1978, Gallup reported that only 32 percent considered three or more children “ideal.” The numbers have hovered around there ever since, spiking to just 41 percent amid the late 1990s tech boom.
The change in values and behavior took time to register. Just before the 1972 election, Richard Nixon and a Democratic Congress goosed up Social Security benefits. They figured the baby boom generation was just delaying producing a baby boom of its own. They were wrong, and Social Security has needed patching up ever since. . . .
The trend varies among demographic groups. Native-born Hispanics and blacks used to have above-replacement (2.1 births per woman) rates. Now they’re below-replacement, almost as low as native-born whites and Asians, which are down only a bit. Immigrant birth levels remain above replacement levels among blacks, but only barely above among Hispanics and below among whites and Asians.
One possible consequence: Those often gleeful predictions that whites will soon be a minority will not be realized so soon, or maybe ever. Nor is it clear, as sociologist Richard Alba has suggested, that often-intermarrying Hispanics and Asians will see themselves as aggrieved minorities. They might, as Italians and Poles once did, just blend in.
Also, the sharp drop in Hispanic birth rates, combined with the sharp drop in Hispanic (especially Mexican) immigration post-2007, means a lower proportion of immigrants with low skills competing for jobs with low-skilled Americans. Asian immigrants may outnumber Hispanics and arrive with significantly higher skill levels. So do immigrants from African countries like Nigeria and Ghana. Their capacity for expanding the economy rather than competing for low-skilled jobs may point to unexpected growth. And neither group arrives with grievances rooted in slavery and American racial segregation.
Other familiar trends may be reversed. Demographer Lyman Stone, citing various data, argues that “the decline in fertility is mostly due to declining marriage,” as he writes in IFS Studies. The issue lies with black and lower-income white women having difficulty finding suitable spouses. They might have more success if the recent increase in downscale wages continues.
Similarly, fewer young people would get caught in the trap of incurring huge college debt for worthless degrees (or no degrees at all) if, as the Manhattan Institute’s Aaron Renn suggests, higher education enrollments, already declining, start plunging precipitously around 2025. Might young people who bypass college find constructive jobs and marry and raise families as their counterparts did in the postwar years?…”
Paratroopers descend over Alaska
Elliot Abrams:
“…I would add a third consideration. I cannot recall previous high intelligence officials acting the way Brennan and Clapper have in vocally assaulting the succeeding administration in a highly partisan manner. Think of Directors of National Intelligence John Negroponte, John McConnell and Dennis Blair, and think of CIA Directors like William Webster, Robert Gates, James Woolsey, John Deutch and George Tenet, and you’ll immediately see that what’s happening now is unprecedented. Brennan and Clapper may well believe that Trump is a threat to the country and as such, merits a break from the norms. They are entitled to their beliefs and can go on attacking—but they shouldn’t have access to classified information.
One has to assume that the partisan views Brennan and Clapper now express were the same views they held when in office, and it is impossible to believe such views did not affect their conduct of their offices. They have done real damage to the belief and expectation that partisan politics will not affect the way our intelligence agencies operate, or the advice they give. They have also led to a reasonable suspicion they might deliberately leak something that could in their view damage the administration or contradict its assertions…”
The apparent trade deal between the US and EU is very important. Just a few days ago critics argued the president had isolated the US from the world economy and the EU would never negotiate. Oops!
Roger Simon:
“…They must be burning whatever gallons of midnight oil they have left at MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS, NBC, ABC, etc. — all the propaganda organs of the Democratic Party — trying to figure out how to downplay the agreement Donald Trump just made with European Union President Jean-Claude Juncker, but it’s not going to be easy. This is the beginning of a massive free trade deal between Europe and the U.S. with zero tariffs outside the auto industry. If even half of it comes true, there will be a (okay, why not?) YUUUGE growth in trade benefitting both sides of the Atlantic.
Forget porn stars. Forget tapes. Forget evil Vlad and Rocket Man. Forget insulting our NATO partners (whatever that means). Forget that pseudo-socialist with the hyphenated name. Forget Mueller, sleazy Strzok , Adam “Leaker” Schiff, Fingers Clapper, Knuckles Brennan, Rocko Rosenstein, or any of the sordid crew. Forget even Twitter! (well, maybe). By comparison, those are all sideshows. As everyone knows, in politics, “It’s the economy, stupid!”
Or, put another way, “It’s the art of the deal.” And that’s what came through today and then some. This is the most significant moment of Trump’s presidency since the tax law passed — and he’s had plenty, more than any president of any of our lifetimes if you actually think about it…”
“…Let’s get right to the good stuff: In a new poll conducted by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal, just 33 percent of those surveyed think the Democratic Party is ‘in the mainstream.’ More than half (56 percent) consider them out of step…”
Outstanding analysis of the malfeasance at FBI and later DOJ relating to the Clinton e-mail scandal.
Gregg Jarrett:
“…In one of the more stunning revelations contained in the report compiled by the Justice Department’s watchdog, former FBI Director James Comey claimed he doesn’t remember the moment he decided – and put down in writing — that Hillary Clinton had committed crimes.
We know that on or about May 2, 2016, Comey composed a statement summarizing Clinton’s mishandling of classified documents, concluding that she was “grossly negligent.” Those pivotal words have a distinct legal meaning, and are drawn directly from a federal statute, 18 U.S.C. 793(f), which makes it a felony to handle classified documents in a “grossly negligent” manner.
Comey used the exact phrase not once, but twice.
Based on Comey’s finding, Clinton should have faced a multiple-count criminal indictment, since the FBI discovered that she had stored 110 classified emails on her unauthorized, private computer server. Other people had been prosecuted for similar conduct that jeopardized national security in violation of the law. Yet, Comey – despite characterizing Clinton’s actions with the clear language denoting violation of the law – saw to it that no charges were ever brought against Clinton.
Under questioning, Comey admitted to the Inspector General Michael Horowitz that he authored the May 2 statement and penned every word of it himself. But then he offered the implausible claim that “he did not recall that his original draft used the term ‘gross negligence,’ and did not recall discussions about that issue.”
Comey’s amnesia is preposterous. He would have us believe that, as FBI director, he memorialized in print his decision that the leading candidate for president of the United States had committed crimes, yet later could not recollect anything about the most important decision of his career.
The truth is that Comey well remembers what he wrote, because he participated in subsequent discussions with top officials at the FBI about Clinton’s “gross negligence.” Several meetings were held on the subject and contemporaneous notes prove that Comey was in attendance. Those records show that although Comey was convinced that Clinton was “grossly negligent” in violation of the law, he was determined to clear her notwithstanding. To achieve this somersault and absolve the soon-to-be Democratic nominee, the legally damning terminology would have to be stricken from his statement…”
It also finds unbelievable incompetence, and neglect from her superiors Think anybody was fired?
Government run healthcare would be great!
Maxine Waters:
‘Americans should be out in the streets screaming’ for Trump’s head
Related tweet of the day on Brett Kavanaugh nomination from Randy Barnett:
Make your own assessment of the Occupy ICE movement.
The City of Portland was getting ready to clear out the anti-borders Occupy ICE encampment set up by protesters who apparently missed the irony of building border walls around their little fortress made from old couches and other trash. If you missed it earlier, here’s video of their headquarters:
NOW: A look inside what remains at the #OccupyICEPDX camp after Portland Police forced the last protesters out. #KOIN6News pic.twitter.com/CYwZkNPJnK
— Elise Haas (@EliseKOIN) July 25, 2018
The same thing happens in communist nations. It’s almost as if the MSM are not straight news, but rather the communications arm of the democrat party.
“…During the 18 months of the Trump presidency, immigration has received more airtime on the three broadcast evening news shows than any other policy topic. The networks’ coverage has been relentlessly hostile to the administration (92% negative, just 8% positive), largely because these newscasts have framed nearly all of their coverage around the plight of those adversely affected by the administration’s enforcement agenda, and have virtually ignored law enforcement or anyone harmed by illegal immigration…”
The Washington Free Beacon has compiled a highlight reel of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s greatest hits, framed by DNC chairperson Tom Perez praising Ocasio-Cortez as “the future” of the Democratic Party. I certainly hope so! Occupy the Democratic Party! Pretty funny pathetic:
U.S. Navy personnel, protected by Biological Isolation Garments, are recovering the Apollo 11 crew from the re-entry vehicle, which landed safely in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969, after an eight-day mission on the moon.
John Hinderaker:
“…I follow the Rasmussen survey because it is currently the only presidential approval daily tracking poll, and because its consistent methodology makes it a good trend barometer. The Rasmussen poll–also significant because it samples likely voters–finds an almost imperceptible hit to President Trump’s approval as a result of the Helsinki hysteria, which already seems to be more or less over…It seems obvious that pretty much everyone has an opinion of Donald Trump that isn’t likely to change much. Certainly shrieking MSNBC hosts, Hollywood actresses and Bob Mueller aren’t going to have much impact. Still less will many voters change their minds about Trump if it emerges that he gave money to a Playboy Playmate, as his former lawyer now alleges. Ho hum. In all these matters, for the reasons Paul stated, the voters are far wiser than the leftist pundits….”