Capitalism has found a way to work with human nature.
Socialism, on the other hand, can be implemented only by denying it, despite the fact that human nature unfortunately finds itself attracted to the concept.
The Mueller Report
I drove up to Fremont from LA early this morning, and listened to Fox News in the car, and heard Barr’s press conference, then commentary on the released document.
The notion that Trump obstructed justice is now clearly absurd, but we’re going to continue to be dragged through this mud right up until the election. I hope that the Democrats badly regret it on November 11, 2020 (which coincidentally, will be Armistice Day).
[Update early evening]
The Barr has been raised:
…here is the existential issue that the report confronts us with. William Barr observed at one point that ‘all Americans can and should be grateful to have [the president’s innocence] confirmed.’ And yet many people, far from being grateful, will be enraged. And that is a huge problem for the Republic.
What has happened over the past two-plus years is a fundamental attack on the legitimacy of our democratic republic. Tactical partisan maneuvering has overwhelmed the institution of presidential elections. Note that this is a one-party party. It probably started in earnest with the election of George W. Bush in 2000. Al Gore withdrew his concession and put the country through months of legal wrangling. Republicans were unhappy when Barack Obama was elected in 2008 and again in 2012. But there was no question of his legitimacy. But when Donald Trump won in 2016, the sort of antidemocratic forces that beset George Bush had mutated from an angry squad of activists into an army of deniers.
Should that substitution of weaponized tactical maneuvering continue to intrude upon the legitimacy of our elections, those elections will be decided less and less at the ballot box and more and more by interest-group jockeying, bribery, and intimidation.
It’s going to get uglier before it gets prettier.
[Update a few minutes later]
The Democrats continue to destroy themselves over the Mueller report.
I don’t mind that much, but my fear is that they’ll take the rest of us down with them.
[Friday-morning update]
“Mueller completely dropped the ball with his obstruction punt.”
Unlike some, I don’t think that Trump owes Mueller an apology. It seems clear to me that he dragged this out, even though he knew many months ago that there was no collusion, for no purpose other than to provide the Democrats with ammunition to continue to if not impeach, to cripple the administration. People keep telling me that he’s a Republican, but if so, he would appear to be a Never Trumper. Frustrated himself that, despite loading his team with Clinton supporters and donors, he couldn’t get anything solid against Trump, he instead decided to smear him.
[Update a while later]
Mueller, Trump, and ‘two years of bullshit.’
[Noon update]
Volume II of the Mueller report is a two-hundred page op-ed that should never have been written.
[Late-afternoon updates]
Mark Penn (former Bill Clinton pollster): Mueller is over. Democrats should move on. Trump is no Nixon.
Off To Fremont
I’ve been advertising the renewed Space Access Conference for a few weeks in the left sidebar. I’m heading off to it in the morning. Hope I’ll see some of my readers there.
Trump’s 2016 Coalition
A judicial election in Wisconsin shows that it’s still alive and well for 2020.
While I remain no fan of Trump, there is (as usual) no Democrat, in the race or out of it (and it seems like more are now in than out) that I can imagine supporting against him.
[Wednesday-afternoon update]
Sorry, link was missing. Fixed now.
Making The Barrier Reef Great Again
A major blow for free speech in academia in Australia. And yes, there should be consequences for people who do this sort of thing.
The Media, Fusion GPS, And The FBI
There remain a lot of unanswered questions.
Let’s hope Horowitz, Barr, and maybe Huber get to the bottom of them in the next couple months.
Kim Kardashian Is Right
You shouldn’t have to attend law school to practice law. I hadn’t realized that you could pass the bar without a J.D. in California. That seems far too sensible for this state.
[Update a few minutes later]
Reading through the piece, it becomes hugely clear what a monstrous scam the bar associations are.
[Update a few more minutes later]
Why are the bar pass rates sunk to record lows? Gail Heriot (from whom I got this link) may have an answer, and it’s all part of the general “progressive” scam.
More Lab-Grown Meat
It looks like these people are trying harder to match the nutritional value of meat. I don’t understand what she means about chicken tasting “gamey,” though. Game tastes gamey, but not chicken.
Pursue Those Indictments
Yes, what happened here does dwarf Watergate in its corruption and criminality. And yes, it should be, but sadly is not amazing that the Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) continue to attempt to deny that the previous administration spied on the political campaign of its political opponent.
[Update Tuesday morning]
No, Joe Scarborough (who has descended deep into idiocy since he teamed up with Mika), the FBI investigation was not “done by the book”:
Presumably some of the spying on the Trump campaign was done “by the book,” but that doesn’t include using false information as pretext to spy on Americans, attempting to extort elected officials through bogus investigations, refusing to charge ideological allies who committed crimes, lying to Congress, refusing to respond to congressional document requests, using intelligence and law enforcement as “insurance policies” against political enemies, widespread unmasking of political opponents and dissemination of their information, using foreign spies to produce evidence not permissible in court, circular introduction of “evidence” to government agents that is reintroduced through media leaks, and various other actions taken by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Scarborough would have you believe that these actions are completely typical and normal, that informants are placed against campaigns all the time. If that’s true, who else are they doing it against? Can Donald Trump’s officials open investigations against the many Democratic candidates without notifying Congress, using bogus opposition research to secure wiretaps? To quote an MSNBC morning host, “Is he that stupid?”
Why, yes. Yes he is.
[Update later Tuesday morning]
Behind the shady plan to spy on the Trump campaign.
[Bumped]
FAA Space Licensing
The new NPRM has been released. People have until mid-June to comment.