She is 91 and he is 94.
This is very clever and hilarious:https://youtu.be/ZL5CDt_1xcE
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SPLC can run but not hide. (See 1 below.)
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Later in the year I am bringing Salena Zito to town and she will be discussing the upcoming election and why she and her associate were able to correctly predict the 2016 election outcome. I consider Salena the female equivalent of Jack Germond, a dear deceased friend She does not stay in her "cocoon" but gets out among the "deplorables" unlike her media brethren in New York and California.
I should have the date in the next week or so. Stay tuned. (See 2 below.)
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Understanding Bibi's opponent. (See 3 below.)
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Should Virginia's Democrat Governor resign? Liberals, thou name is hypocrite? On the other hand, should one's past when there has been evidence of a visible degree of change, determine everything about that person. (See 4 and 4a below.)
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304,000 more "Crumbs" means bad news for Pelosi. (See 5 below.)
And:
Toga man rides in on his golden chariot. He is the "love" candidate. Perhaps he should have waited til Feb. 14 (Valentine Day) to announce his candidacy. (See 5a below.)
What is amazing about the announced Democrat candidates is they are all anti-American. I say this because they oppose everything that makes up the American Character. They oppose wealth, they oppose work, they believe in entitlements, they believe government knows best and should tax more of your sweat and they believe border protection is immoral if done by building walls and they certainly prefer funding welfare than our military.
They also stand in opposition to anything Trump does, particularly when he selects qualified judges because that is when they really resort to shredding reputations, as in the case of Justice Kavanaugh.
This is the Democrat Party that wants to run our nation.https://www.youtube.com/embed/
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Humor at the expense of those my age. (See 6 below.)
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Dick
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1) SPLC Hires High-Powered Defamation Lawyer to Defend Tax-Exempt Status in RICO Lawsuit
BY TYLER O'NEIL
On Thursday evening, Baltimore attorney Glen Keith Allen, who is suing the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for racketeering, wire fraud, defamation, and other claims, told PJ Media that the SPLC has hired a high-powered attorney to defend them in the case. Among other things, Allen's suit demands a court judgment against the SPLC's 501c3 tax-exempt status, which could seriously cripple the organization.
"The SPLC Defendants have engaged Chad Bowman of Ballard Spahr, a large and well-regarded D.C. law firm, as their counsel," Allen told PJ Media in an email statement. He also said that he has formally "served" the SPLC, Heidi Beirich, and Mark Potok and that they have acknowledged and received the service. In other words, it's on.
Ballard Spahr is a Philadelphia-based law firm with more than 650 lawyers nationwide. It was founded in 1885 and is highly respected in the legal field.
Chad R. Bowman is a Washington, D.C. counselor and litigator who focuses on working with new media and legacy media organizations, as well as other nonprofit and for-profits engaged in speech and public advocacy. Before joining Ballard Spahr, Bowman worked as a reporter at The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (BNA). He has represented media clients in cases involving defamation, privacy, copyright, subpoena, access, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and other First Amendment issues.
Bowman defended the Associated Press against a libel claim from Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, defended Gawker against a defamation claim from former Major League Baseball pitcher Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams, defended The New Yorkeragainst a defamation claim from Canadian art authenticator Paul Biro, and defended CBS Interactive against a defamation claim from Hall of Fame basketball player Scottie Pippen.
The SPLC's decision to hire an attorney with such a high profile, rather than looking to their own internal counsel, suggests a real fear that Allen's lawsuit has teeth and may prevail.
For his part, Allen told PJ Media he "filed a pro hac vice motion for the admission of Frederick C. Kelly, a New York lawyer," to serve as co-counsel.
The lawyer is expecting the SPLC to file a motion to dismiss.
As for the process moving forward, Allen sent PJ Media this rough timeline of the stages of a lawsuit:
- complaint filed
- complaint served on defendants
- initial disclosures and scheduling order
- negotiation of a confidentiality agreement
- defendants' motion to dismiss, i.e., argument that complaint on its face fails to state a viable claim
- if complaint survives a motion to dismiss, discovery, e.g., document exchange, interrogatories, depositions, and subpoenas to third parties
- defendants' motion for summary judgment based on what discovery revealed, i.e., argument that no reasonable fact finder could find for the plaintiff based on the evidence brought out in the discovery phase
- if the plaintiff survives the motion for summary judgment, on to trial
- trial
- post-trial motions by the losing party
- appeal to the federal circuit court of appeals (the Fourth Circuit in my case) by the losing party
- possible petition for review (writ of certiorari) by the U.S. Supreme Court -- discretionary (Supreme Court accepts only a small fraction of certiorari petitions)
Glen Keith Allen's lawsuit (which can be found on his website) brings no fewer than 9 counts against the SPLC, mostly involving an article that branded the Baltimore lawyer as a "Neo-Nazi lawyer." The article referenced documents that were allegedly stolen from the white nationalist group the National Alliance (NA) and for which the SPLC allegedly paid.
According to the lawsuit, the SPLC's receipt of stolen documents and the payment for them violated not only the law but also the canons of legal ethics in Alabama, where both Beirich and Potok are registered as lawyers. The SPLC is a 501c3 public interest law firm, so its involvement in this activity disqualifies its tax-exempt status.
The SPLC should also lose its tax-exempt status for mail and wire fraud, false statements on its tax forms, and campaigns of destruction and defamation against its perceived enemies, the lawsuit claims.
Allen notes that the SPLC and its Intelligence Project publish "hate maps" and "hate groups," artificially inflating the tallies by listing multiple chapters of an organization as separate "hate groups" and by using a malleable definition of "hate group" in order to "completely destroy these groups."
The SPLC defines "hate group" expansively, listing mainstream conservative and Christian groups like Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the Family Research Council (FRC) along with the Ku Klux Klan. Yet it constantly emphasizes the link between "hate groups" and violence. On the top of its 2016 "hate map," it states, "Hate and antigovernment extremist groups continue to operate at alarming levels in the U.S. — fomenting racist violence, seeking to poison our democracy, and, in some instances, plotting domestic terrorist attacks."
"It is, accordingly, false — and outrageous — for the SPLC to smear as 'hate groups' conservative Christian groups that on no fair and objective interpretation could so properly be stigmatized," Allen writes in the lawsuit.
He references falsely attacked groups like the Ruth Institute, D. James Kennedy Ministries, and Maajid Nawaz. The SPLC paid $3.375 million to settle a defamation lawsuit involving Nawaz, a Muslim reformer the SPLC branded an "anti-Islamic extremist." This settlement encouraged about 60 organizations to consider separate defamation lawsuits.
Allen also argues that the SPLC violated the IRS's requirement that 501c3 tax-exempt organizations refrain from participating in "any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office." Between October 2015 and November 2016, the smear group slammed Republican (and only Republican) candidates for president. Yet in its 2017 Form 990, the SPLC claimed under penalties of perjury that it did not engage in political campaign activities.
For these and other reasons, the SPLC should lose its tax-exempt status, the suit claims. Allen's suit also demands $1.5 million from the group under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The SPLC and its Intelligence Project allegedly collaborated to engage in illegal activity affecting interstate commerce and damaging Allen specifically.
Allen also claims that the SPLC, Beirich, and Potok caused intentional harm to his career and profited from his loss, defamed him, and aided and abetted Dilloway's breach of contract. In yet another count against the defendants, the lawsuit claims the SPLC negligently trained and supervised Beirich and Potok. In addition to the compensatory damages of $1.5 million, the suit demands punitive damages of $5 million.
While defamation cases are notoriously hard to win, the SPLC is uniquely vulnerable to them, thanks to public statements revealing the group's motive in smearing mainstream organizations as "hate groups" — to "completely destroy them."
Even Google may be vulnerable to such lawsuits due to its work with the SPLC. The far-Left group has consistently demanded that tech companies blacklist organizations on its list of "hate groups," and many have complied. Amazon, for instance, removed D. James Kennedy Ministries and ADF from its charity platform, Amazon Smile.
The far-Left smear group is almost certain to ask the court to dismiss Allen's lawsuit, but its decision to hire Chad Bowman is revealing. The SPLC knows its tax-exempt status is in trouble.
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2) As 2020 Campaigns Launch, Here’s How Trump Has Changed the Game
Here are some specific shifts to keep an eye on:
Trump refused to spend the money required to buy TV and radio time at a level that matched his opponent Hillary Clinton,” CNN’s Michael D’Antonio writes. “Saturation of the airwaves has long been a staple of campaigns. Trump, who prefers social media platforms like Twitter, decided to go directly to his supporters on platforms that cost him nothing.”
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2) As 2020 Campaigns Launch, Here’s How Trump Has Changed the Game
Few politicians or political insiders want to admit that President Trump is anything but lucky. Establishment Republicans don’t like the fact that he was able to infiltrate the party and spark a movement that didn’t fit their historical model for candidacy. Democrats not only disdain his method of rising to power, but also the message he preaches. The media, who receives stiff lashings from Trump on a regular basis, is naturally an adversary as well.
However, in their quietest moments of privacy, even the haters -- of which there are many -- can’t ignore the fact that he came onto the political stage in the summer of 2015 and fundamentally turned modern politics on its head. And while we could investigate numerous issues and practices that President 45 has fractured and rearranged, now’s the perfect time to focus on the issue of political campaigning -- something that the Trump team used to spark a massive wave of support that ultimately carried him to the shores of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Here we are in the first few weeks of 2019, and we’re only months away from a new set of campaigns, debates, and rallies. The 2020 election season will be upon us before we have time to blink and, if you look closely enough, you’ll notice that campaigns on both the left and right will be pulling techniques and methods from what the Trump team did just a few short years ago.
Here are some specific shifts to keep an eye on:
While political insiders will still follow the rules, per se, look for some of the fringe 2020 candidates to follow the Trump prescription of candidate over party. Whether it can work again remains to be seen.
“Trump refused to spend the money required to buy TV and radio time at a level that matched his opponent Hillary Clinton,” CNN’s Michael D’Antonio writes. “Saturation of the airwaves has long been a staple of campaigns. Trump, who prefers social media platforms like Twitter, decided to go directly to his supporters on platforms that cost him nothing.”
Trump was able to show that, for the first time in dozens of election cycles, grassroots-style campaigning still works on a large-scale basis. Sure, he had close to a billion dollars on hand, but with such a significant deficit to the Clinton camp, Trump had to be strategic with how he spent and where he disseminated his message.
In the 2020 campaign season, look for more grassroots campaigning. Social media will obviously play a significant role, but it won’t stop there. Print media could experience a revival of sorts.
“We see plenty of local politicians use flyers and brochures to spread their message,” explains Printing Center USA. “It wouldn’t be a surprise to see national politicians take a more localized approach and canvas key neighborhoods and communities with paper marketing materials that people can hold, touch, and even smell.”
Voters are tired of feeling like they have to go to a big city or turn on the TV to interact with politicians. They want politicians to come to them. Localized, grassroots campaigning makes this happen.
Campaign rallies are nothing new. Candidates have been using them for decades to spark interest and reach the masses, but Trump took his rallies to a totally new level. They weren’t just rallies -- they were boisterous gatherings of thousands who felt like they had a front row seat to an American revolution.
Rachel Gooder of Howard County, Iowa attended one Trump rally and said it left a lasting impression on her.
“He was so easy-going. It was almost like he was talking to us, and not giving a speech,” Gooder told the Washington Examiner. “He would crack some jokes and he was so relaxed. I loved it. Probably one of the best things I've done. It's one of the highlights of my life, just going to that and being a part of it. Watching how people reacted to what he was saying. It gave me shivers. It was just really, really cool.”
Perhaps “really, really cool” is the best way to describe a Trump rally. As opposed to standing still, holding a sign, and politely clapping on cue, Trump rallies consist of jumping, screaming, loud music, and unscripted speeches from a podium that looks like it’s set up for a rock concert, not a political speech.
While career politicians won’t take nearly the same approach in what they say -- lambasting the media, for example, still seems like something most candidates are hesitant to do -- look for many to try and replicate the same emotional high that Trump rallies create. Because if the 2016 election showed us anything, it’s that emotions are often more powerful than substance.
Rewriting the Rulebooks
Donald Trump shattered the natural order that characterized American politics for decades by exuding confidence and dismissing all who told him to act in a more measured manner. In doing so, he proved that it’s possible to be victorious in modern politics without being a career politician and without following a well-rehearsed script.
Some would say Trump’s campaign was inflammatory and over-the-top, but any time his opponents came after him, he doubled down and refused to recoil. And in a world where the average American is tired of seeing public figures apologize to appease virtual mobs and Twitter trolls, it was Trump’s consistency and resolve that ultimately appealed to millions of voters.
Candidate Trump didn’t do everything right, but at the end of a 19-month slog of a campaign, he was able to show that there’s more than one path to the Oval Office. And if the next set of presidential candidates are serious about earning the 2020 nomination, they’ll be forced to account for an entirely new rulebook -- one that was written by a real estate mogul, master marketer, and successful businessman
However, in their quietest moments of privacy, even the haters -- of which there are many -- can’t ignore the fact that he came onto the political stage in the summer of 2015 and fundamentally turned modern politics on its head. And while we could investigate numerous issues and practices that President 45 has fractured and rearranged, now’s the perfect time to focus on the issue of political campaigning -- something that the Trump team used to spark a massive wave of support that ultimately carried him to the shores of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Here we are in the first few weeks of 2019, and we’re only months away from a new set of campaigns, debates, and rallies. The 2020 election season will be upon us before we have time to blink and, if you look closely enough, you’ll notice that campaigns on both the left and right will be pulling techniques and methods from what the Trump team did just a few short years ago.
Here are some specific shifts to keep an eye on:
- Down With Party Unity
While political insiders will still follow the rules, per se, look for some of the fringe 2020 candidates to follow the Trump prescription of candidate over party. Whether it can work again remains to be seen.
- Paid Media Optional
“Trump refused to spend the money required to buy TV and radio time at a level that matched his opponent Hillary Clinton,” CNN’s Michael D’Antonio writes. “Saturation of the airwaves has long been a staple of campaigns. Trump, who prefers social media platforms like Twitter, decided to go directly to his supporters on platforms that cost him nothing.”Trump was able to show that, for the first time in dozens of election cycles, grassroots-style campaigning still works on a large-scale basis. Sure, he had close to a billion dollars on hand, but with such a significant deficit to the Clinton camp, Trump had to be strategic with how he spent and where he disseminated his message.
In the 2020 campaign season, look for more grassroots campaigning. Social media will obviously play a significant role, but it won’t stop there. Print media could experience a revival of sorts.
“We see plenty of local politicians use flyers and brochures to spread their message,” explains Printing Center USA. “It wouldn’t be a surprise to see national politicians take a more localized approach and canvas key neighborhoods and communities with paper marketing materials that people can hold, touch, and even smell.”
Voters are tired of feeling like they have to go to a big city or turn on the TV to interact with politicians. They want politicians to come to them. Localized, grassroots campaigning makes this happen.
- Rallies for the Win
Campaign rallies are nothing new. Candidates have been using them for decades to spark interest and reach the masses, but Trump took his rallies to a totally new level. They weren’t just rallies -- they were boisterous gatherings of thousands who felt like they had a front row seat to an American revolution.
Rachel Gooder of Howard County, Iowa attended one Trump rally and said it left a lasting impression on her.
“He was so easy-going. It was almost like he was talking to us, and not giving a speech,” Gooder told the Washington Examiner. “He would crack some jokes and he was so relaxed. I loved it. Probably one of the best things I've done. It's one of the highlights of my life, just going to that and being a part of it. Watching how people reacted to what he was saying. It gave me shivers. It was just really, really cool.”
Perhaps “really, really cool” is the best way to describe a Trump rally. As opposed to standing still, holding a sign, and politely clapping on cue, Trump rallies consist of jumping, screaming, loud music, and unscripted speeches from a podium that looks like it’s set up for a rock concert, not a political speech.
While career politicians won’t take nearly the same approach in what they say -- lambasting the media, for example, still seems like something most candidates are hesitant to do -- look for many to try and replicate the same emotional high that Trump rallies create. Because if the 2016 election showed us anything, it’s that emotions are often more powerful than substance.
Rewriting the Rulebooks
Donald Trump shattered the natural order that characterized American politics for decades by exuding confidence and dismissing all who told him to act in a more measured manner. In doing so, he proved that it’s possible to be victorious in modern politics without being a career politician and without following a well-rehearsed script.
Some would say Trump’s campaign was inflammatory and over-the-top, but any time his opponents came after him, he doubled down and refused to recoil. And in a world where the average American is tired of seeing public figures apologize to appease virtual mobs and Twitter trolls, it was Trump’s consistency and resolve that ultimately appealed to millions of voters.
Candidate Trump didn’t do everything right, but at the end of a 19-month slog of a campaign, he was able to show that there’s more than one path to the Oval Office. And if the next set of presidential candidates are serious about earning the 2020 nomination, they’ll be forced to account for an entirely new rulebook -- one that was written by a real estate mogul, master marketer, and successful businessman
Donald Trump has shown that he’s perfectly willing to break political rules and carve his own path. For the most part, this strategy has proven successful. So while they may not admit it, candidates on both sides of the party line will spend the next few years replicating his techniques.
The Trump Effect: Campaigning and More
Few politicians or political insiders want to admit that President Trump is anything but lucky. Establishment Republicans don’t like the fact that he was able to infiltrate the party and spark a movement that didn’t fit their historical model for candidacy. Democrats not only disdain his method of rising to power, but also the message he preaches. The media, who receives stiff lashings from Trump on a regular basis, is naturally an adversary as well.
However, in their quietest moments of privacy, even the haters -- of which there are many -- can’t ignore the fact that he came onto the political stage in the summer of 2015 and fundamentally turned modern politics on its head. And while we could investigate numerous issues and practices that President 45 has fractured and rearranged, now’s the perfect time to focus on the issue of political campaigning -- something that the Trump team used to spark a massive wave of support that ultimately carried him to the shores of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Here we are in the first few weeks of 2019, and we’re only months away from a new set of campaigns, debates, and rallies. The 2020 election season will be upon us before we have time to blink and, if you look closely enough, you’ll notice that campaigns on both the left and right will be pulling techniques and methods from what the Trump team did just a few short years ago.
The Trump Effect: Campaigning and More
Few politicians or political insiders want to admit that President Trump is anything but lucky. Establishment Republicans don’t like the fact that he was able to infiltrate the party and spark a movement that didn’t fit their historical model for candidacy. Democrats not only disdain his method of rising to power, but also the message he preaches. The media, who receives stiff lashings from Trump on a regular basis, is naturally an adversary as well.
However, in their quietest moments of privacy, even the haters -- of which there are many -- can’t ignore the fact that he came onto the political stage in the summer of 2015 and fundamentally turned modern politics on its head. And while we could investigate numerous issues and practices that President 45 has fractured and rearranged, now’s the perfect time to focus on the issue of political campaigning -- something that the Trump team used to spark a massive wave of support that ultimately carried him to the shores of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Here we are in the first few weeks of 2019, and we’re only months away from a new set of campaigns, debates, and rallies. The 2020 election season will be upon us before we have time to blink and, if you look closely enough, you’ll notice that campaigns on both the left and right will be pulling techniques and methods from what the Trump team did just a few short years ago.
Here are some specific shifts to keep an eye on:
- Down With Party Unity
Donald Trump has downplayed the notion that party unity is essential to campaign success. No candidate in history has been more divisive or confrontational. He had controversial nicknames for all of his opponents and wasn’t afraid to call out the Republican Party when he felt that they were out of touch.
While political insiders will still follow the rules, per se, look for some of the fringe 2020 candidates to follow the Trump prescription of candidate over party. Whether it can work again remains to be seen.
- Paid Media Optional
When it was all said and done, Hillary Clinton raised $1.4 billion for her campaign. Donald Trump’s team brought in $957 million. On paper, that’s a huge mismatch. But it was how the money was spent that ultimately swung the pendulum into Trump’s favor
Trump refused to spend the money required to buy TV and radio time at a level that matched his opponent Hillary Clinton,” CNN’s Michael D’Antonio writes. “Saturation of the airwaves has long been a staple of campaigns. Trump, who prefers social media platforms like Twitter, decided to go directly to his supporters on platforms that cost him nothing.”
Trump was able to show that, for the first time in dozens of election cycles, grassroots-style campaigning still works on a large-scale basis. Sure, he had close to a billion dollars on hand, but with such a significant deficit to the Clinton camp, Trump had to be strategic with how he spent and where he disseminated his message.
In the 2020 campaign season, look for more grassroots campaigning. Social media will obviously play a significant role, but it won’t stop there. Print media could experience a revival of sorts.
“We see plenty of local politicians use flyers and brochures to spread their message,” explains Printing Center USA. “It wouldn’t be a surprise to see national politicians take a more localized approach and canvas key neighborhoods and communities with paper marketing materials that people can hold, touch, and even smell.”
Voters are tired of feeling like they have to go to a big city or turn on the TV to interact with politicians. They want politicians to come to them. Localized, grassroots campaigning makes this happen.
- Rallies for the Win
Every presidential campaign has a few images that history will remember it by. Already, the pictures that tell the story of the Trump 2016 campaign are colorful snapshots from his many campaign rallies. It’s believed that he’s held more than 500 since 2015 (many during his presidency) and each is an astonishing and unique melting pot of culture, politics, and adrenaline.
Campaign rallies are nothing new. Candidates have been using them for decades to spark interest and reach the masses, but Trump took his rallies to a totally new level. They weren’t just rallies -- they were boisterous gatherings of thousands who felt like they had a front row seat to an American revolution.
Rachel Gooder of Howard County, Iowa attended one Trump rally and said it left a lasting impression on her.
“He was so easy-going. It was almost like he was talking to us, and not giving a speech,” Gooder told the Washington Examiner. “He would crack some jokes and he was so relaxed. I loved it. Probably one of the best things I've done. It's one of the highlights of my life, just going to that and being a part of it. Watching how people reacted to what he was saying. It gave me shivers. It was just really, really cool.”
Perhaps “really, really cool” is the best way to describe a Trump rally. As opposed to standing still, holding a sign, and politely clapping on cue, Trump rallies consist of jumping, screaming, loud music, and unscripted speeches from a podium that looks like it’s set up for a rock concert, not a political speech.
While career politicians won’t take nearly the same approach in what they say -- lambasting the media, for example, still seems like something most candidates are hesitant to do -- look for many to try and replicate the same emotional high that Trump rallies create. Because if the 2016 election showed us anything, it’s that emotions are often more powerful than substance.
Rewriting the Rulebooks
Donald Trump shattered the natural order that characterized American politics for decades by exuding confidence and dismissing all who told him to act in a more measured manner. In doing so, he proved that it’s possible to be victorious in modern politics without being a career politician and without following a well-rehearsed script.
Some would say Trump’s campaign was inflammatory and over-the-top, but any time his opponents came after him, he doubled down and refused to recoil. And in a world where the average American is tired of seeing public figures apologize to appease virtual mobs and Twitter trolls, it was Trump’s consistency and resolve that ultimately appealed to millions of voters.
Candidate Trump didn’t do everything right, but at the end of a 19-month slog of a campaign, he was able to show that there’s more than one path to the Oval Office. And if the next set of presidential candidates are serious about earning the 2020 nomination, they’ll be forced to account for an entirely new rulebook -- one that was written by a real estate mogul, master marketer, and successful businessman
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3)
| Weekly Observations: 7 About Gantz Campaign Dr. Aaron Lerner Some observations regarding former COS Gantz's speech last night and his candidacy in general: 1. Retreat of civilians: Gantz indicated that in the absence of a deal with the Palestinians that the Israeli civilian presence in Judea and Samaria be limited to the vaguely defined "settlement blocs". There would possibly be troops deployed in the Jordan Valley (he termed it Israel's "security border") but the communities in the Jordan Valley have never been included in anyone's delineation of the "settlement blocs". 2. No contours to deal with Palestinians: Gantz's requirements were all in the context of what Israeli would do unilaterally if there isn't a "deal". Its not clear what "red lines"Gantz has for a deal.. 3. No concern over Gaza arms build up: Gantz opposes the Qatari cash transfers that were already discontinued before he spoke but said nothing about the ongoing weapons build up in the Gaza Strip. 4. Muzzle criticism of senior officials and institutions? : "there shall not be wild attacks against the [IDF} Chief of Staff, the head of the police, and the attorney general...incitement against the institutions of the courts, culture and media." 5. Signal economic actors that participation in the housing sector may expose them to risk of prosecution: "I shall impose severe sanctions against those who profiteer in the prices of land and housing". 6. Risk Israeli lives when not legally required: Gantz has boasted that he risked the lives of Golani troops when he took precautions for the benefit of Palestinians which in his own judgment were not required by the law. He did not touch on this crucial issue in his remarks. 7. Military vs. civilian leadership in general: a short list of some of the instances that the brass was wrong and civilians right: - Developing and deploying Israeli spy satellites (the brass didn’t understand why we couldn't rely on America to share information). - Deploying submarines which can carry Jericho rockets (the brass didn't understand why Israel needs second strike capability). - Destroying Hezbollah's mid-range rockets in opening attack (the brass wanted to first attack Lebanese infrastructure) - Assessment of the importance of the Hamas tunnels (the brass - including Gantz - wanted to essentially ignore their existence) - Developing a large scale surface-to-surface guided missile capability (the brass likes planes). ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |
Reminder: Ralph Northam Won After Calling Ed Gillespie Racist
BY TYLER O'NEIL
On Friday, news broke that Gov. Ralph Northam (D-Va.) had a photo of him either in blackface or a Ku Klux Klan hood featured in his medical school yearbook. After a week of outrage over Northam's comments endorsing infanticide in cases of botched abortion, only this scandal finally led the governor to apologize.
Yet the news is particularly horrific because Northam ran a smear campaign against Ed Gillespie in 2017, and won the Virginia governor race after tarring Gillespie as a white nationalist.
He sent out a disgusting mailer (which I received in the mail) tying both President Donald Trump and Ed Gillespie to the white nationalists in Charlottesville, Va.
Later, an ad presented Gillespie as a genocidal white supremacist. Northam reported the ad as an "in-kind" donation to his campaign.
The current governor at the time, Terry McAuliffe, accused Gillespie of having run the "most racist" campaign in Virginia history. Yes, he suggested Gillespie's campaign was more racist than the secessionist movement supporting slavery, the segregationists, and the opposition to interracial marriage. That's how ridiculous it got.
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5)
Sorry for the Good News
A bang-up jobs report reveals underlying economic strength.
The Editorial Board
Friday was a bad day in certain media and political precincts as the labor market turned in another gangbuster performance in January. The recession may not be imminent after all, and more people are working and making more money. Apologies to Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and the writers at Bloomberg for the good news.
To be fair to the gloomsters, some economic signals have been negative. Consumer and business confidence has been lower following the stock market’s plunge in the autumn, especially December. The government shutdown suggested a political class that can’t shoot straight. Home prices and auto production are down, and growth in Europe and China is notably slowing.
Yet there was little bad news in the Labor Department’s sunny results for the first month of the year, despite the government shutdown. The economy produced 304,000 net new jobs in the month, 296,000 in the private economy where wealth is created.
Job growth was healthy across most industries, with a notable bump in construction (52,000) and durable-goods manufacturing (20,000). Manufacturing jobs have climbed 261,000 over the last year, 80% of them in durable goods. This is what happens when the political class takes its boot off the neck of private business, as the GOP Congress and Trump Administration did for two years.
Job growth has averaged 234,000 over the last 12 months, and 241,000 in the last three. The jobs surge helped the labor participation rate rise again to 63.2% and is now up 0.5-percentage point in the last year. All of this is especially impressive for an expansion that is nine-and-a-half years old with a jobless rate of 4%.
That rate has bumped up 0.3-percentage point since November, which might signal economic trouble. But the Labor gnomes said that was affected by the government shutdown and how furloughed workers were classified. Jobless claims also rose sharply this week, and any noise in these numbers should fall away in February if that is temporary.
The pace of wage gains slowed in the month, but they are still up 3.2% over the last year. Wage gains have averaged 3% or more for six months, which is up from 2% to 2.5% that marked the expansion during the Obama Presidency. With the decline in the rate of inflation below 2%, and especially with energy prices falling in recent months, real wage gains are also increasing.
All of this suggests underlying U.S. economic strength despite the slowdown in the rest of the world. The Federal Reserve’s welcome shift this week to a “patient” policy on raising interest rates should also remove near-term uncertainty for business. The biggest policy issue now is trade. If President Trump removes his threat of car tariffs, fulfills his Nafta negotiating promise to remove steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and strikes a new trade deal with China, growth could accelerate.
The strong job results are a reminder that economic growth is the best incomes policy. Faster growth means a tighter labor market, which means faster wage growth and expanded opportunities for the least skilled. Income redistribution schemes, whether offered by the political right or left, reduce growth and thus hurt the very people they are intended to help. The Trump Administration needs to keep its policy focus on growth above all.
5a) Spartacus in 2020
Cory Booker makes it official. Will he retreat from school choice?
The Editorial Board
Here’s the least surprising news of 2019: Cory Booker is running for President. “Together, we will channel our common pain back into our common purpose,” the New Jersey Senator said Friday in a launch video. “Together, America, we will rise.” That last part rings like an echo of Barack Obama’s old slogan, “Yes we can.”
Mr. Booker seems to believe he can rebuild the Obama coalition: moms, minorities and millennials. His first interviews Friday were given to black radio hosts and a Univision morning show, “Despierta América,” where Mr. Booker spoke Spanish almost exclusively. Then came a feel-good segment on “The View,” with his mother in the audience, where he cited the Hebrew prophets and urged Americans to “forget political labels.”
Mr. Booker, a 49-year-old vegan bachelor Rhodes scholar, came to prominence as the reform mayor of Newark from 2006-13. He lived in the projects, ate for a week on a “food stamp” diet, and got second-degree burns while pulling a neighbor from a house fire. If a carnival ride this summer goes haywire at the Iowa State Fair, Mr. Booker will climb to the rescue.
This flair for drama has sometimes gotten him into trouble. He used to talk about a friend named T-Bone, a drug dealer who threatened to kill Mr. Booker and then later came to him sobbing for help. Nobody has ever located T-Bone. A Rutgers historian once said Mr. Booker privately admitted to creating a “composite.”
Or recall last year’s confirmation hearings for Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Mr. Booker, dubbing himself “Spartacus,” released documents that he claimed were confidential, saying the truth was worth risking his expulsion from the Senate. As it happens, the files already were cleared for publication.
The theatrics seemed calculated to shore up Mr. Booker’s support among progressives, who haven’t forgiven his heresies. For years he strongly supported vouchers and charter schools. “I see,” he said in 2016, “how kids who have no history of college in their families suddenly have had the arc of their families’ trajectory changed as they’ve been liberated from what I call the imprisonment of institutions of failure.”
In 2012, when Mr. Obama pounded Mitt Romney’s private-equity work, Mr. Booker came to Wall Street’s defense. “If you look at the totality of Bain Capital’s record, it ain’t—they’ve done a lot to support businesses,” he said, calling such attacks “nauseating to me on both sides.”
Mr. Booker has real liberal bona fides. He backs Medicare for All and a Green New Deal. He wants a pilot program for a federal jobs guarantee. He also is a strong public speaker and could be formidable against President Trump. But first Mr. Booker must win over Democratic primary voters—and teachers unions. It would be a shame if he sells out school choice along the way.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
6) GETTING OLDER
A distraught senior citizen
phoned her doctor's office.
"Is it true," she wanted to know,
"that the medication
you prescribed has to be taken
for the rest of my life?"
"'Yes, I'm afraid so,"' the doctor told her.
There was a moment of silence
before the senior lady replied,
"I'm wondering, then,
just how serious is my condition
because this prescription is marked
'NO REFILLS'.."
~~~~~~~~~~
Aging:
Eventually you will reach a point
when you stop lying about your age
and start bragging about it. This is so true. I love to hear them say "you don't look that old."
~~~~~~~~~~
The older we get,
the fewer things
seem worth waiting in line for.
~~~~~~~~~~
Some people
try to turn back their odometers.
Not me!
I want people to know why
I look this way.
I've travelled a long way
and some of the roads weren't paved.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ah, being young is beautiful,
but being old is comfortable.
~~~~~~~~~~
Two guys, one old, one young,
are pushing their carts around- Wal-Mart
when they collide.
The old guy says to the young guy,
"Sorry about that. I'm looking for my wife,
and I guess I wasn't paying attention to where
6) GETTING OLDER
A distraught senior citizen
phoned her doctor's office.
"Is it true," she wanted to know,
"that the medication
you prescribed has to be taken
for the rest of my life?"
"'Yes, I'm afraid so,"' the doctor told her.
There was a moment of silence
before the senior lady replied,
"I'm wondering, then,
just how serious is my condition
because this prescription is marked
'NO REFILLS'.."
~~~~~~~~~~
Aging:
Eventually you will reach a point
when you stop lying about your age
and start bragging about it. This is so true. I love to hear them say "you don't look that old."
~~~~~~~~~~
The older we get,
the fewer things
seem worth waiting in line for.
~~~~~~~~~~
Some people
try to turn back their odometers.
Not me!
I want people to know why
I look this way.
I've travelled a long way
and some of the roads weren't paved.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ah, being young is beautiful,
but being old is comfortable.
~~~~~~~~~~
Two guys, one old, one young,
are pushing their carts around- Wal-Mart
when they collide.
The old guy says to the young guy,
"Sorry about that. I'm looking for my wife,
and I guess I wasn't paying attention to where
I was going."
The young guy says, "That's OK, it's a coincidence.
I'm looking for my wife, too...
I can't find her and I'm getting a little desperate."
The old guy says, "Well, maybe I can help you find her...
what does she look like?"
The young guy says, "Well, she is 27 years old, tall,
with red hair, blue eyes, is buxom...wearing no bra,
long legs, and is wearing short shorts.
What does your wife look like?'
To which the old guy says, doesn't matter,
let's look for yours."
~~~~~~~~~~
(And this final one especially for me,)"Lord, keep Your arm around my shoulder
and Your hand over my mouth!"
The young guy says, "That's OK, it's a coincidence.
I'm looking for my wife, too...
I can't find her and I'm getting a little desperate."
The old guy says, "Well, maybe I can help you find her...
what does she look like?"
The young guy says, "Well, she is 27 years old, tall,
with red hair, blue eyes, is buxom...wearing no bra,
long legs, and is wearing short shorts.
What does your wife look like?'
To which the old guy says, doesn't matter,
let's look for yours."
~~~~~~~~~~
(And this final one especially for me,)"Lord, keep Your arm around my shoulder
and Your hand over my mouth!"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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