Will they go to church?
Of course, for some, science is a religion.
Category Archives: Political Commentary
The Delay In Spaceport Brownsville
Joe Pappalardo has the story. I wonder how much of it is due to environmental impact assessment, and if so, if it would be as hard if they were doing an airport instead? Back in 2004, we tried to extend the categorical exception that the aviation industry gets from the National Environmental Protection Act to space transportation, but the result was weak tea, leaving waivers up the discretion of the head of the EPA. Something I’d like to see in an amended version of the Commercial Space Launch Act would be to make it a clean extension, with no discretion from Gina (or any future administrator). It would be interesting to see if that made it veto bait for Obama, though.
The Anglosphere
Are Germany and France joining it?
I don’t think this is right:
America is actually moving away from Europe politically and culturally, becoming more like Latin America in character and more concerned with east Asia. Increasingly Britain may have less in common with the United States, let alone Commonwealth countries like India, and more in common with English-speaking Germany – and even France where English proficiency is finally catching up.
If we’re “becoming more like Latin America in character,” it’s because we have people in power who seem happy for us to become a banana republic. Most of America remains more in the Anglosphere than the UK itself, which is becoming more European. It’s not just about language.
Emulsifiers
More evidence that the crap we’ve been putting in processed food (in part) to avoid fat is what’s making us fat. What a disaster.
Star Trek Heresy
Matthew Continetti does not love Spock.
Last week, I tweeted that I was going to write a post about how Obama is not Spock like, but to the degrees that he is, I agree that it’s Spock’s most annoying traits.
[Afternoon update]
The gauntlet has been thrown:
Continetti just glosses over the sacrifice at the Battle of the Mutara Nebula, I assume because he knows it demolishes his case. What about the personal loss at the betrayal of Valeris? What about the hurtful but necessary decision — directly enforced by Spock — to let Edith Keeler die? How I hated him for that! But look, who among us wouldn’t let Hitler dominate the world in exchange for a lifetime of sweet sweet loving from young Joan Collins? Anyone? No one? Just me?
Heh.
Hillary Email Update
So, according to this story, the server was physically in her house. I wonder who actually set it up? It’s hard to imagine her being able to do it.
[Update a while later]
Why you should care about Hillary’s email:
A spokesman for Clinton says that her actions comply with the “letter and spirit of the rules.” To put it kindly, this seems to be complete nonsense. Federal officials are not supposed to have private e-mail silos that are their sole means of official digital communication and are reviewed only by their personal staff. And that should apply doubly to the holder of one of the most important cabinet roles. Moreover, the fact that she never even got a State Department address certainly gives the impression that this was a deliberate attempt to avoid the public eye. She didn’t just sloppily default to her own personal e-mail address, as many people do; she also made sure that it was not possible to accidentally send her an e-mail on a work account that government oversight groups could access.
Even more troubling is the fact that a large number of people in the White House and the State Department must have known that she was using a private address that wouldn’t leave copies on government servers. Why didn’t any of them gently suggest that this was not OK?
If this were a normal campaign, Clinton’s primary opponents would be cackling with glee as they fired up the oppo cannon. But this is not a normal primary season, and Democrats will instead devote their time to coming up with excuses for her behavior, or reasons that it’s really not a big deal that the secretary of state structured her communications to avoid leaving a checkable record. They have to, because jettisoning Hillary Clinton at this point would almost certainly mean losing the race in 2016. She has drawn in all the donor funds and media attention that would normally have been spread among several candidates. There is no one ready to step into that vacuum, and it is already too late to start grooming someone new.
As in the nineties, the Democrats’ utter contempt for us, and the rule of law, is palpable. That’s when I resolved I’d never vote for one again, under any circumstances.
[Update a few minutes later]
More thoughts from Mark Steyn, and Jonah Goldberg:
Mrs. Clinton weighed in to somewhat greater effect. She tweeted, “I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.”
This was a reference to the “55,000 pages” of e-mails Clinton handed over to the State Department in response to a request. It’s also a classic bit of misdirection. Among the swirling issues at play is whether Clinton handed over all of her official business e-mails as required. (The State Department offers no clarity on this.) The whole point of having your own private server is that no one can check to make sure you didn’t selectively delete or withhold e-mails.
The number of pages is also meaningless. First, if you’ve ever printed out e-mail, you know that “pages” and “e-mails” are not synonymous terms. But even if they were, so what? I could release 99.99 percent of all my e-mails, and you’d see little more than boring work product, press releases, spam, and appeals from Nigerian oil ministers. My incriminating stuff could remain invisible — valuable snowflakes held back from a blizzard of chaff. If you don’t think the Clintons are capable of such legerdemain, I refer you to the Clinton-inspired debate over billing records and the meaning of “is.”
This points to another reason why I think Clinton will survive this mess. If there’s a damning e-mail out there, it’s been deleted, and the relevant hard drive would be harder to find than Jimmy Hoffa’s body. So critics are probably left with the task of proving a negative.
It’s worth noting, though, that given the apparent insecurity of the system, it’s likely that someone has incriminating emails. Maybe even Vladimir Putin.
[Mid-morning update]
Bruce Webster still isn’t convinced that the server was in the house. I haven’t seen any good evidence of it myself. As he notes, if true, this has implications for subpoenas. I should note that I have several domains, that I host on a server which is also my email server. But it’s a hundred miles away.
Bolden Versus Culberson
Marcia Smith has the story on yesterday’s NASA appropriation hearing, in which Chairman Culberson and General Bolden beclowned each other. More thoughts anon.
[Update a while later]
Here’s Culberson’s statement. I haven’t read it yet in detail.
Lindzen Versus Grijalva
More thoughts on the climate witch hunt:
How would the mainstream media react if a Republican congressman lobbed threatening inquiries hounding seven university presidents regarding the funding of professors’ research? Or if Republican congressmen sent threatening letters to the heads of left-wing think tanks? They would summon the ghost of Joe McCarthy. The Times would lead the pack and we’d still be hearing about it.
Yeah, but those Republicans are evil.
Millennials’ Tech Savviness
They don’t have that much.
This is the result of decades of terrible public schooling, thanks to the teachers’ unions.
Hillary’s Email Escapades
The wonderful thing about this is that it has the potential not only to take down the entire decades-long Clinton crime syndicate, but this administration, and perhaps the Democrat Party establishment, because they continue to circle the wagons.
[Update a few minutes later]
I saw what you did there, Instapundit.
[Update a couple minutes later]
The Clinton political machine isn’t as well oiled as advertised.
[Update mid morning]
She’s lost Gizmodo. Not sure what you’ve lost when you’ve lost Gizmodo, though.
[Update a couple minutes later]
When Mean Girls meets the Mob:
…this is what the American Experiment has come to in the hands of these awful people and their awful political party: “a symbol of status within the family’s inner circle, conferring prestige and closeness to the secretary.”
Think about that for a moment. Not only was Hillary’s use of private email for government business illegal and unethical (stop laughing), but it was used as a status symbol among the courtiers — including no doubt members of the lickspittle media, who tremble with near sexual-delight as they approach her majesty. In the incestuous club that houses the Democrat-Media Complex, every “job” is both temporary and secondary to the overall career, which is dominating American political discourse and becoming handsomely rewarded for one’s ability to manipulate the system. No wonder the Democrats have such contempt for the Stupid Party and the voters who foolishly support it.
In a just world, these people would be seen for what they are — nihilistic, dangerous, evil. Their fealty to the country is nearly non-existent and their “patriotism,” insofar as it exists at all, extends only to the imaginary country that may or may not exist after they get finished with the business of “fundamental transformation.” They enter “public service” as near paupers and leave aboard the Lolita Express as millionaires, having accomplished next to nothing except making themselves famous.
The Clintons were a criminal syndicate in the nineties, and nothing has changed.
[Early-afternoon update]
Hillary Clinton’s State Department fired an ambassador for using private email.
Rules and laws are for the little people.