Monthly Archives: March 2017
March 31, 2017 — John Hinderaker
If this Fox News report is correct, Rep. Devin Nunes is way ahead of the Democrats, and has known since January the identity of the Obama holdovers who illegally leaked the names of Trump associates to the press: The U.S. intelligence official who “unmasked,” or exposed, the names of multiple private citizens affiliated with the Trump team is someone “very well known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence
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March 31, 2017 — Scott Johnson
The American Spectator’s Jeffrey Lord has obtained an exclusive statement from Evelyn Farkas on the video of her appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show earlier this month that we posted in “A Times source outs herself.” This is the statement that she provided to Lord verbatim, although I have added paragraphing in the interest of readability: Unfortunately, a few days ago a strange video of unknown provenance popped up on
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March 31, 2017 — John Hinderaker
The Associated Press wants us to think that momentum is growing behind an anti-Gorsuch confirmation movement. It headlines: “Dem opposition to Trump court pick grows; Schumer warns GOP.” Senate Democratic opposition to President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee swelled Friday as Democrats neared the numbers needed for a filibuster, setting up a showdown with Republicans who have the votes to confirm Neil Gorsuch. Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Richard Blumenthal
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March 31, 2017 — Steven Hayward
Two terrific articles to bring to your attention today, and then an event announcement/invitation for East Bay Power Line readers. First up is Robert Boyers, a professor of English at Skidmore College and editor of Salmagundi, a literary journal not widely known beyond the halls of academe, writing this week in the Chronicle of Higher Education about “The Academy’s Assault on Intellectual Diversity.” Very much worth reading the whole thing,
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March 31, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Evelyn Farkas is the former Obama administration Department of Defense official who appeared on MSNBC earlier this month to explain and vouch for the page-one New York Times story on the Obatatons’ efforts to disseminate word of the Trump team’s supposed connection to Russian “hacking.” Farkas left the Department of Defense in late 2015 to become a Clinton campaign adviser. I wrote about her in “A Times source outs herself.”
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March 31, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Wall Street Journal reporter Jay Solomon’s new book is The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals that Reshaped the Middle East. Solomon has broken many stories on the Iran beat for the Journal. His new book is must reading on the critical national security challenge presented by the regime of the mad mullahs that is on a glide path to the acquisition of nuclear weapons with
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March 31, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday in “Senator Otis regrets” I quoted the Washington Times story on the White House event hosted by President Trump this past Tuesday evening. I commented sarcastically on Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and quoted the article noting her absence from the event along with that of several other Democratic Senate leaders. This morning Senator Klobuchar’s spokesman writes to correct the record: “I wanted to let you know that Sen. Klobuchar
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March 31, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll is herself isn’t thinking about LETTING UP. She writes: Being back in Minnesota in the winter has reminded me of a unique Minnesota expression of resilience and optimism. When you make plans to go out for the evening with a Minnesotan, by God, you’re going! There can be a whiteout blizzard, you cannot see your hand in front of your face, and you call your friend to say
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March 30, 2017 — John Hinderaker
The Democratic Party press is salivating at the Wall St. Journal’s report that General Michael Flynn’s lawyers are in discussions with Congressional committees investigating the criminal leaking of alleged information about Flynn by Obama administration holdovers in the intelligence agencies or the White House. The word is that Flynn has offered to testify in return for immunity. Is this a blockbuster story? Likely not. Via ZeroHedge, this is the complete
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March 30, 2017 — John Hinderaker
How crazy are liberals? This crazy: a lefty fashion commentator writing in New York Magazine describes her own creepy behavior, and turns it into an indictment of Melania and Donald Trump. The writer is Cintra Wilson, who worked for the New York Times–who else?–as a “critical shopper.” She describes an episode that occurred in 2011, and that reflects poorly on her: In the spring of 2011, toward the end of
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March 30, 2017 — John Hinderaker
Pretty much everyone on the right has praised President Trump’s appointments, and what we have seen of his spending proposals looks good, too. Here in Minnesota, we are seeing a good example of the difference between the Trump administration and the Hillary administration we avoided. The subject is light rail transit. Briefly, the powers that be have been trying to jam light rail transit down our throats for years. The
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March 30, 2017 — Steven Hayward
There’s a whole bunch of things on my spindle today that deserve brief notice. Let’s check ’em off. • We keep being told that Trump represents the specter of fascism and violence. But all of the violence and threats of violence are coming from the left. A Washington Post headline today: These Hispanic contractors offered to build Trump’s border wall. Then the death threats began. But remember, the left stands
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March 30, 2017 — Steven Hayward
George Will beat me to my idea for today’s Thought of the Morning with a column about the Senate filibuster based on a recent talk by Rep. Tom McClintock, who argued in Hillsdale’s Imprimis that what we should do is go back to the old way of doing filibusters. With all of the talk of ending the filibuster, at least for Supreme Court nominees, maybe we should instead talk of
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March 30, 2017 — Scott Johnson
The principle of equal treatment without regard to race is one that is close to my heart. Accordingly, one of my favorite books on a legal subject is Andrew Kull’s The Color-Blind Constitution. (I learned of the book at the time of its publication through Judge Alex Kosinski’s 1993 New Republic review/essay.) It is a book that is by turns inspiring and maddening. I recommend it without reservation to readers
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March 30, 2017 — Scott Johnson
I posit “Senator Otis” as my generic Senate Democrat — Amy Klobuchar, for example, who specializes in vacuous amiability, or Al Franken, who specializes in condescension and snark, to pick two nonrandom names. Senator Otis and his friends are prime subjects of the campaign to portray President Trump as a leader beyond the bounds of civilization. He is not legitimate. He is not to be treated as if he is.
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March 29, 2017 — John Hinderaker
As President Trump moves to fulfill his campaign promises across a wide range of issues, the response from the left is always the same: you can’t do that. Reduce immigration and travel to the U.S.? Left-wing judges purport to enjoin it. Try to build a southern wall? Forget it. Revoke by executive order the “clean power plan” that Barack Obama imposed by executive order? Multiple lawsuits have already been filed.
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March 29, 2017 — Scott Johnson
I’m not sure that Fozia Dualeh of the Twin Cities suburb Fridley is an immigrant or refugee, but I think it’s a pretty good bet. She has been charged with bilking taxpayers out of fraudulently procured welfare benefits in the amount of $118,000 over a one-and-one-half year period. That is an impressive accomplishment, but Ms. Dualeh seems to have had the invaluable assistance of her husband, Abdikhadar Y. Ismail. For
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