Category: Hot Air

Nation-Building President Ain’t Got Time For Backstabbery

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by Smitty

Jazz Shaw over at HotAir is off the mark, methinks, with: “In three tweets, Trump undoes all the gains he made during Irma and Harvey”

  1. Trump is showing loyalty to FEMA and military responders who are doing optimal work. If you want them to work above “adequate”, you don’t let your peoples’ efforts go under the bus, where Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz seeks to toss them.
  2. Listen to the San Juan mayor’s sound bite over at HotAir, which could lead you to believe that Trump is to Puerto Rico as Obama was to Tennessee flood victims. Is that actually the case? What an imbalanced, straight-to-Narrative little screed.   San Juan should vote her out at the next election, so that she can get a job making beds in a large hotel, where a tucking fool can feel right at home.
  3. This is the President who not only grasps the media chess match, but doesn’t hesitate to put the opponent in check. We voted for him both out of dread of Her Majesty, and the expectation of non-flaccid response to this sort of blatant Commie propaganda. Trump’s response is tame, in context.
  4. Unlike Irma and Harvey, the Puerto Rico situation is “over there”, and less subject to feedback from people on the ground acting as a check on the Commie media pulling #FakeNews from its nethers. The media is purely tactical. It seeks to hit hard, hit now, and then shrug later, when the truth gets out.

Once again, we’re seeing Trump getting the job substantially done, and a bunch of concern trolling over he stylistic aspects of how that job gets done.

If anything, Trump has demonstrated an almost immaculate capacity to gauge how to handle feedback from the media. The claim that he’s “undone gains” seems overblown.

Update: more at Rare.

Lunch With Noah Rothman

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by Smitty

You may have seen this a few years back:

That ad comes to mind reading Noah Rothman over at Hot Air as he surveys a few recent URLs concerning the Convention of States notion. Rothman makes a fair point: there is no risk-free way to revisit our founding document:

For conservatives who ostensibly venerate the Constitution, it is odd to see so many of them fail to acknowledge that proposing it’s[sic] complete revision undermines their political position dramatically. Displaying respect for the Founders’ ideals and creating the conditions whereby their work might be entirely demolished are mutually exclusive.

Do you mean the way Wilson planted the IED in the form of Amendments 16 & 17, plus the Federal Reserve Act back in 1913? Or do you mean the way the size of the House froze in 1910, making our government substantially less representative?

Many on the right have contended that a Convention of States is distinct from a constitutional convention. What’s more, they might say, that process could be the only way to rein in the unelected elements of the federal government, like the judiciary or the nation’s unwieldy and proliferating regulatory agencies. Some on the right contend that the Constitution has been so perverted that it is already essentially defunct. But these same conservatives, who often lament the fact that Republican lawmakers are so regularly rolled by left-wing organizations and liberal politicians, would be foolish to vest in these GOP officeholders the authority to remake the system entirely. They would quickly find that conservative politicians who regularly fail to outmaneuver liberals in Congress don’t find their luck has improved on the convention floor.

OK, so: do the homework. Got it.

From a conservative perspective, the ideals and priorities of those who came of age in the Enlightenment are vastly superior to the self-obsession that masquerades as political principle today. The document that emerges from a modern convention would not look anything like the 18th Century accord that harnessed human imperfection and utilized one man’s basest impulses to check another’s. That divinely inspired document, while perhaps flawed and frequently misinterpreted, remains preferable to the technocratic, anti-federalist charter that would emerge from a 2015 convention (presuming that anything at all could possibly pass such a body).

Perhaps I’m putting too fine a point on it, but I wouldn’t go further than “divinely informed”, and even that’s a stretch. The Constitution is a secular product. Full stop.
“preferable to the technocratic, anti-federalist charter that would emerge”
Again, that’s precisely where Wilson’s Folly has taken us. The guy at the table is choking. Technology is seeing progressively oppressive use. Technology should liberate, instead.

When liberals like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg gush over national charters like South Africa’s 19-year-old constitution, they are often only fetishizing the new and the foreign. That’s a nagging and unattractive trait that conservatives laudably fail to entertain. The right’s frustration with the current state of affairs cannot be satisfied by attempting to change the rules of the game. To convene a Convention of States is to open a Pandora’s Box.

And you, young apprentice, are caught between the Scylla and Charybdis.

It’s time for some bold, Tea Party-driven Heimlich action to dislodge the Progressive projectile currently choking our politics. Lead, follow, or get the focaccia out of the way, Noah.

Props To Prof. William Jacobson And Judicial Watch

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by Smitty

Legal Insurrection does the Founder’s Work:

The short version is that the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department warned NBC News that it could not possess an actual high-capacity magazine, but NBC News went ahead and did it anyway. The MPD recommended a warrant for Gregory’s arrest, but that request was nixed by the D.C. Attorney General Irvin Nathan because — my paraphrase — Gregory was just too nice a guy and had no other criminal intent.

That attitude stood in stark contrast to the D.C. Attorney General’s vigorous prosecution of other lesser-known people who also were nice people and had no other criminal intent, but violated D.C.’s gun laws.

We served a Freedom of Information Act request but D.C. held back numerous documents. So we filed suit.

We were assisted by attorneys Jim Peterson and Ramona Cotca of Judicial Watch, who did a great job. Everybody give them a round of applause.

This is another tiny step along the way toward recovering from a system awash in too many laws, “unexpectedly” unwilling to enforce them, and thus veering toward tyranny.

via Hot Air

Ah, So: Normalize Relations With Cuba, Import A Few Legions Of Doctors

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by Smitty

Over at Hot Air, Morrissey points out what a despicable [redacted] liar Harry Reid is/was during ObamaCare’s quest for stillbirth:

The “doc fix” dodge had been going on for some time, but Reid took it to a new level in order to fool the CBO into scoring ObamaCare as deficit-neutral. He submitted the Senate-written bill with the cuts to the CBO while winning AMA endorsement with a separate and temporary suspension of those cuts that the CBO didn’t get to see. That and the “temporary” Medicaid reimbursement rates have kept up the pretense of deficit neutrality ever since while pushing off the day of reckoning … until now.

Would that his embalming fluid were mislaid, so that Harry Reid could dry up and blow away. Do read the whole article as this week will see some major cuts to entitlement funding kick in. The groin.
While reading the Hot Air post aloud to Mrs. Other Smitty, she pointed out the related problem that a lot of these high-speed health plans require a specimen of the increasingly rare Primary Care Physician species:

A survey this year by The Physicians Foundation found that 81 percent of doctors describe themselves as either over-extended or at full capacity, and 44 percent said they planned to cut back on the number of patients they see, retire, work part-time or close their practice to new patients.

At the same time, insurance companies have routinely limited the number of doctors and providers on their plans as a way to cut costs. The result has further restricted some patients’ ability to get appointments quickly.

One purpose of the new health law was connecting patients, many of whom never had insurance before, with primary care doctors to prevent them from landing in the emergency room when they are sicker and their care is more expensive. Yet nearly 1 in 5 Americans lives in a region designated as having a shortage of primary care physicians, and the number of doctors entering the field isn’t expected to keep pace with demand.

The Association of American Medical Colleges projects the shortage will grow to about 66,000 in little more than a decade as fewer residency slots are available and as more medical students choose higher-paying specialty areas.

If only. . .there were some. . .handy location which happened to be chock-a-block with docs that would jump, say, a 90 mile stretch of water just to see some patients. Such a place would have to be crankin’ out the Marcus Welbys to compensate for the U.S. physician shortfall, though: you’d need at least as many as can be found in Cuba.

Certainly, swiping Cuba’s doctors could trigger a crisis for the Castro regime. However, we’re talking about Barack here. Standard operating procedure: someone else’s problem (SOP/SEP). Too, having a bunch of Spanish-speaking doctors, raised in an authoritarian system, treat the rest of your new Executive Amnesty citizens is sure going to help the Libertarian vote, isn’t it?

Anyway, you read it here first: normalizing Cuba relations is just the latest defibrillation effort for BHO’s dying signature legislative abortion.

Sarah Palin Is Doing A Far Better Job Of Not Running For President Than Jeb Bush

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by Smitty

She seems to be having a much better effect on actual conservatives in office than His Jebness:

Governor Palin endorsed 22 candidates for various offices during the midterm finals, including senators, governors, lieutenant governors, congressmen, and attorneys general. Of those so endorsed, an incredible 20 were elected – contrasted with, for example, Hillary Clinton’s record of 8 wins out 24 endorsed candidates.

Beyond the success of her endorsed candidates lies a much deeper reason for Palin being seen as “Achiever of the Year”: those Palin endorsed in their respective primaries who then went on to win the general election battles. As in the past with, among others, senators Ted Cruz, Kelly Ayotte, and Deb Fischer, and Governor Nikki Haley, who owe their elections in their primary campaigns to Palin’s endorsement at a critical juncture, so too could new senators Ben Sasse and Joni Ernst, and new Alaska governor Bill Walker (and, remarkably, his Democrat lieutenant governor Byron Mallott) be considered to owe all or a substantial part of their nominations to Palin’s endorsement.

For all her detractors’ cries of “irrelevance” and “she’s just a reality show entertainer” (those two being among the nicer epithets), Palin goes on, election cycle after election cycle, populating Congress with her endorsed candidates in a cost-effective manner, and in such numbers that the likes of Karl Rove with his 1% success rate can surely view only with hidden admiration, if not downright envy.

She seems an acknowledged ambassador to the conservative base:

If former Alaska Gov. and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin enters the 2016 presidential election, she will face stiff competition from a wide field of qualified Republican candidates. However, she may face greater challenges from her numerous detractors, especially those in the liberal media whose vitriol towards Palin knows no bounds.

Many believe that Palin is most powerful as a conservative spokesperson who has a remarkable ability to motivate and inspire her base. In fact, she has been confirmed as a speaker at the Iowa Freedom Summit in January 2015. She will be joined by at least nine GOP presidential hopefuls and whether her purpose at the event is to motivate or throw her hat in the election ring is uncertain.

It remains to be seen if the base’s contempt for the Vichy GOP can be overcome by dread of Her Majesty, the way the dread of the Goreacle led to (barely) enough support for a Republican “triumph” in 2000. All I can say is that I’m not voting for another Bush. Should Sarah Palin opt to run (and, in all candor, I’m more of a Scott Walker fan) she could well play the Ross Perot role in a Bush/Clinton ’92 re-run.

And I don’t care, Rove. You and any other Progressive jackwagons on the False Choice Express can tell me that failure to vote for candidate B is really a vote for candidate C. Screw you, to the wall, with a large diameter drill. IF the Vichy GOP foist Jeb on the base, AND we suffer eight years  of Her Majesty, it’s YOUR flipping fault for  nominating the chap.

I don’t actually bear any personal animus toward Jeb. I’m just not playing along with this anti-American dynastic noise. The argument that the Commies are cheerfully doing so via Her Majesty is strangely non-compelling. If Jeb wants to earn some respect, how about calmly announcing that he’s declining a run in a few months, and offering his talents in service of his country a la the Koch brothers, and funding outfits like Heritage and AFP? Such a move would do more to advance the needed  reforms in this country than actually running for the sake of polishing his ego.

I cannot support Jeb at all. I could support Sarah, in the same vein I supported Romney in 2012. I’d sooner support a third attempt at POTUS from Ward Cleaver than I would seeing Jeb on the ticket. No, no, a thousand nos, and again: get lost with the dynastic politics => “CNN/ORC Poll: Bush surges to 2016 GOP frontrunner”

via Hot Air and Instapundit

Update: Memeorandum thread

Mandatory Reading: “Collectivism and the Presumption of Guilt”

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by Smitty

Go over and read this excellent piece by Hayward in full. A taste (emphasis original):

This presumption of guilt is absolutely crucial to collectivism. The Left must teach its subjects to think of themselves as criminals. That’s the only way law-abiding people will endure levels of coercive power that would normally require specific accusations, a fair trial, and the possibility of appeals. Social-justice “crimes” can be prosecuted without any of those things. There is no appeal from the sentence, and no statute of limitations on the crimes, as any left-winger who thinks today’s American citizens need to suffer for the historical offense of slavery will be happy to explain to you. There’s no evidence you can present in your defense, for the Left has read your mind, and knows better than you what demons lurk in its recesses.
This is one reason the Left dislikes the trappings of constitutional law and order.

Our recovery from Progressivism is going to hinge upon restoring the distinction between theological guilt, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” and legal guilt, which still requires due process.

It’s almost  as if Progress is about substituting government for God. . .

via Hot Air headlines

“Blinded By Delight”

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by Smitty

With apologies to Springsteen, and admiration for his lyrical density, here is some love for Eric Holder:

“Blinded By Delight”

Hippies Yippies Drippies and pinheads named Zippy with a Commie zampolit
In the dumps with these chumps as the environmentalist pumps his head all full of ‘it
With the border in disorder, due to Eric Holder, once again he’s Congress-bound
Where Louie Gohmert communicated butt-hurt as his integrity crashed to the ground
And for Trey Gowdy the sky was very cloudy due to prosecutorial discretion
Which for Eric was no fun, as his head gets so little sun, lodged in its position
And now young Scott with a bracelet for his 10-shot tried to excercise his rights
And some southpaw scofflaw shot him point-blank in the jaw–injustice that Holder delights

Eric was blinded by delight
He cut up like a schmuck, another goner on the right
Blinded by delight
He got down but he never got tight, he’ll get a pardon, alright

The bit about Scott is a hypothetical, built on the notion that these pissant laws only harming people who follow them, and strangely affecting the scofflaws not at all.

That is one long set of lyrics, though, and I wasn’t going to get much more than this done anytime soon.

Our country cannot be rid of this Holder cretin quickly enough. What a poster child for everything good people despise about political appointees.