Ed Driscoll has a roundup of links chronicling them. We have to survive another year of this, unless the Democrats in the Senate suffer from a fit of sanity and agree to remove him.
Democrats
Thoughts from Bob Zimmerman on their increasing disconnect from reality on guns.
[Update a few minutes later]
Related: The Democrats’ compassion gap on terrorism.
They reserve their compassion for the enemy.
[Update a while later]
Here’s an example. Yes, the Obama administration nixed a probe into the California jihadis.
[Update a few minutes later]
And this: Whistleblower says Obama more concerned with rights of Islamists than with protecting the American people. That’s pretty obvious.
Trump
If he wanted to get Hillary elected, what would he be doing differently?
Perp-Walk Shots
Ken White has some questions for Reuters:
Who leaked the time and place of the arrest? Was it an FBI agent, a prosecutor, staff, a coordinating local cop? How high up in the government did the decision to leak the arrest go? Did the leak violate the law? Did it violate the defendant’s rights? What was the government’s purpose in leaking the time and place of the arrest? How does this instance fit into the pattern of which arrests get leaked and which don’t? Which nonviolent defendants without records get arrested, and which get summonsed in (or self-surrender through arrangement with their lawyers), and why? What impact does a front-page picture of a defendant in handcuffs have on the jury pool? Is that impact a feature, or a bug, of leaking it? Was the leak intended to inflict extra-judicial humiliation and punishment on the defendant? If the government lies about whether or not it leaked, would you still keep it secret?
“Journalism.”
Hillary’s Criminal Investigation
…continues to move forward. It’s really amazing to see all of the crimes that she’s committed. And I’d forgotten about this one:
All of her behavior has triggered the FBI investigation because she may have committed serious federal crimes. For example, it is a crime to steal federal property. What did she steal? By diverting to her own venue the digital metadata that accompany all emails — metadata that, when attached to the work-related emails of a government employee, belong to the government — she stole that data. The metadata do not appear on her paper copies — hence the argument that she stole and destroyed the government-owned metadata.
This is particularly troublesome for her present political ambitions because of a federal statute that disqualifies from public office all who have stolen federal property. (She is probably already barred from public office — though this was not prominently raised when she entered the U.S. Senate or the Department of State — because of the china, silverware and furniture that she and her husband took from the White House in January 2001.)
I didn’t realize until the 90s how completely corrupt and indifferent to the law Democrats are.
Scientology
I admire this woman’s sentiment, if not her approach:
After officers realized McMurtry was the hit-and-run driver, she admitted to her dangerous ride and asked if anybody was hurt, police said.
When cops told her there were no injuries and she smashed through the church’s lobby and nursery, McMurtry replied, “That’s too bad.”
McMurtry tried to justify her religious fender bender by claiming Scientology was evil because its members blackmail people, cops said.
You don’t say.
A Trump Nomination
John Hinderaker is thinking the unthinkable:
…what should principled conservatives do if neither party nominates a candidate of the right? I would certainly vote for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, but I think the most reasonable response is to provide no support to the non-conservative presidential candidate beyond the ballot, and focus instead on other races where true conservatives are running.
Apart from the fact that I don’t think he would make much of a chief executive, a Trump presidency could have the unfortunate effect of further disillusioning many on the right. Voters on the right often say that politicians lie, and sometimes, of course, they do. But usually the “lie” is a case of over-promising. When they are campaigning, conservatives, like liberals, often overstate what they will be able to accomplish in office. This engenders disappointment. But imagine if conservatives were to elect Trump under the misguided belief that he is one of them. He presumably won’t govern as a conservative; he hasn’t even promised to. More likely, he will govern in accordance with his belief that the Democrats are right on most issues, particularly the economy, and consistent with his acceptance of big government. I am afraid that conservatives who vote for Trump expecting something different will be in for a rude awakening, should he win.
Yes, Trump has no discernible political principles. This reminds me very much of the Perot phenomenon in 1992. I disagree, though, that Trump is likely to be the nominee.
[Update a while later]
Related thoughts from Frank Cagle:
I think a Trump presidency would be a disaster. While he talks a good game, he has no practical way to carry out his promises. Like Cas, he will say anything to grab attention, get a headline and get on television. But his success should be a warning to the political establishment. The American people are fed up with political correctness, and if you do not provide sensible solutions to the issues Trump has raised, don’t be surprised when he stands on the podium as the GOP nominee.
Yup.
[Thursday-morning update]
Thoughts from Max Boot on Trump’s profound and dangerous ignorance. Yes. When you don’t know what you don’t know, how can you possibly even choose competent policy advisors?
Childhood’s End
David Brin is remembering Arthur C. Clarke.
NASA’s Budget
The omnibus bill provides a boost, and full funding of Commercial Crew, for the first time ever. It also allows NASA to apply Soyuz payments for 2018 flights to the program, to get it flying in 2017 (I still think they could fly next year if they were serious about it). Loren Grush has more. Unfortunately, it also increases the SLS budget.
On the milspace side, it also lifts the restriction on the RD-180, which McCain is going nuts about on the floor right now, according to Twitter. He’s lambasting Shelby and Durbin by name.
[Update a while later]
The worst part of the NASA budget is that it overfunds SLS at the expense of (as usual) technology.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here‘s the McCain story. Nutty.
Raul Castro
Barack Obama doesn’t see him as an ideologue.
Of course not. Like Obama, he’s a “pragmatist.”