Posse Incitatus

Another Courageous Liberal

Every now and then, I like to give credit where credit is due when it comes to liberals who have the courage to criticize other liberals and/or failed liberal policy. My March 4, 2015 post, "Kudos to Courageous Liberals" singled out several of them. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to be a liberal and step out of the lockstep, left-wing narrative. Upset that apple cart, and expect to be demonized and ostracized (if not censored and fired from your job).

Today, I say 'hats off' to New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo, who penned a piece titled,  "America's Cities Are Unlivable. Blame Wealthy Liberals." Manjoo notes that many cities are run by progressives yet have intractable homelessness, unaffordable housing and streets littered with syringes and feces, among other disgusting detritus. 

California, which has fabulous wealth in areas like Silicon Valley and Hollywood, also has large swaths of counties that are struggling badly, a huge underclass and a dramatically shrinking middle class. The Golden State ranks as the most poverty-stricken state in the union. Fully one quarter of the nation's homeless people live in California.

Manjoo says a large part of the problem is restrictive zoning laws in cities that make affordable housing (i.e., apartments, condos, townhouses) scarce. You see, those who fancy themselves tolerant progressives often have an atttitude of "I've got mine!" and they don't want the riffraff to infringe upon their gated communities or neighborhoods with character (historic architecture, yards and landscaping, funky little shops that have been around for decades).

Obviously, other factors are at work, including alcoholism, drug addiction, mental illness, and people who are unemployed or underemployed because of various circumstances include having a criminal record, bad credit record and maybe just the inability to rise above a tough upbringing. But Manjoo pretty much focuses on policy, and that's fine.

One observation he makes, in the obligatory attempt to slam conservatives and Republicans, is that wealthy liberals in big cities are doing the same thing as the GOP and ICE: Trying to keep people out. Um, sorry Farhad, but this is really apples to oranges. The conservatives want border integrity. They recognize that allowing our nation to be swamped by ILLEGAL immigrants attempting to bull rush the border and enter our nation ILLEGALLY is crucial. Trump supporters want to keep out non-citizens who will be a burden to an already hurting nation.

Some of these destitute people smuggle drugs into the country. Some are gang bangers. Many harbor diseases. Many others are decent people with good hearts, but still lawbreakers. Most of these illegal aliens will burden our hospitals, social services, schools, law enforcement and judicial system.

We already have millions of citizens struggling with homelessness, drug addiction, mental health problems, the inability to get healthcare insurance, and in the case of military veterans, often painful physical and/or emotional ordeals. It is sheer insanity to want to bring in more desperate people when we cannot even take care of our own.

Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I read some of the comments, and their idiocy didn't surprise me at all (after all, these are folks who actually think the NY Times is gospel). One in particular sums up the left-wing view: It's not a local issue; it's a national issue: Income inequality.

It's frightening to think there are millions of naive liberals who actually believe the right recipe of laws, regulations, judicial rulings and bureaucratic oversight will bring about some sort of utopian income equality. It's even more disturbing to realize that these dreamers are utterly clueless about the myriad causes of income inequality (Hint: The causes are as varied as different personalities, facial features, skin colors, psychological makeups and hundreds of other attributes). The "solution" for income inequality (a totalitarian, big brother government that lords it over your every move) is FAR worse than income inequality. Yet income inequality is almost as much an obsession among leftists as climate change and the hopeless morass of gender identity politics.

When this kind of simpleton, superficial thinking permeates 50 percent of the electorate, it makes me pessimistic about our nation's future.

But I digress. Read Mr. Manjoo's column. It's pretty compelling.

The Democrat panic over declassification

Being a Democrat means never having to say your sorry.

It's funny how the same people who were demanding that grand jury testimony be (illegally) made public are now in a lather over Attorney General Robert Barr obtaining full declassification authority from President Trump.

Which is it, Dems, do you want the truth or not?

Old and busted:  "WE NEED ALL THE THINGS MADE PUBLIC!!!"

New hotness:  "NATIONAL SECURITY SOURCES AND METHODS!!!  KEEP IT ALL SECRET!1!"

The current Dem drive for impeachment can best be understood as a spoiling attack to muddy the waters.  It may get some headlines, but ultimately it will fail because the votes simply aren't there and criminal convictions speak louder than spin.

And that's what worries them.  Barr is a seasoned, shrewd lawyer.  He's going to build air-tight cases that likely won't even need to be prosecuted.

As I've noted before, there is zero loyalty in the modern Democrat machinery.  None of these people are going to jail to cover for someone else.  The public finger-pointing between James Comey and John Brennan is merely a glimpse of the deal-making going on in private.

I'm not one of those demanding life imprisonment for those involved.   It's not necessary.  Even a couple of months in prison will spell personal and professional ruin for these people.  They are lifelong bureaucrats with no other skills.  Having their security clearance pulled and a felony in their record will wreck them.

That's why they are desperate to cut a deal - and so shrill in their attempts to change the subject.

May finally out - UK's worst prime minister ever?

Theresa May has finally announced her resignation, ending one of the most sordid and disgraceful governments in British history.

I say this as a student of UK government.  When people think of awful prime ministers, Neville Chamberlain frequently comes to mind, but while Chamberlain's foreign policy was disastrous, he didn't undermine the core values and rights of the British people.

May has done exactly that.  Her nominally "conservative" government has turned a blind eye to rape gangs, stood helplessly as violent crime has surged and instead wastes police resources on censoring people's social media accounts.

Her political prosecution of Tommy Robinson is a national disgrace to the Sceptered Isle.

Electorally, he's wrecked her party and undermined public faith in the government itself.  She lied about holding a snap-election and then lost it.  She lied about implementing Brexit and then lied about its timetable.  

The Tories have lost their way and Nigel Farage's Brexit Party may be the only hope to rebuild British liberty.  

Set against these follies, Chamberlain looks pretty good by comparison.  When he reluctantly stepped aside, his successor faced a dire strategic situation, but at least could look with hope and confidence at the core institutions and society of the United Kingdom.  May's successor won't have that luxury.  Virtually every institution stands discredited.

Good riddens.

BONUS ANGLE:  Her ouster will likely free Donald Trump of any reluctance to expose British involvement in Spygate, particularly collusion between CIA and CGHQ.  I can't help but wonder if Trump's declassification order might have been a factor.

The Do-Nothing Demagogues

It's bad enough that the Democrat House is still obsessing over RUSSIA!™ and alleged obstruction of justice by President Trump and has not done anything worthwhile during nearly five months in the majority.

But now, in addition to endless subpoenas, testimony, demands for unredacted documents (often impossible to grant if the administration is to follow the law), and scurrilous character assassinations, the Democrats are exploiting the illegal immigrants and border meltdown for their own contemptible purposes.

There have been several unattended children from Central America who have died while in the custody of the Border Patrol during the past few weeks. As I have mentioned before, many of the illegal immigrants swamping our southern border carry diseases. Put them all together in cramped quarters, and sicknesses spread. 

Try to deal with the illegal immigrants in a rational, humane way that also protects the integrity of the border, and watch some left-wing judge step in with a capricious ruling against the administration. Because of the men and women in black robes, all illegal border crossers must be allowed to seek asylum. We simply don't have enough judges to conduct prompt hearings, and we struggle to process them. So they're released into the interior of the country, and many will never show up for their scheduled hearing. This lax policy encourages more lawbreakers to head north to escape their hellhole conditions. When does it ever end?

Democrat policies have facilitated putting untold young immigrants in grave danger of sexual exploitation and assault, as well as endangered their health and the health of others who journey from thousands of miles away in dangerous conditions. But don't expect the Dems to agree to a reasonable solution for the border. This is too valuable a political weapon for them.

In the past couple days, some Democrats have stepped way over the line with irresponsible and outrageous charges against the administration. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois clashed with Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan during a committee hearing, and concluded by saying, "At this point, with five kids that have died, 5,000 separated from their families, I feel like, and the evidence is really clear, this is intentional," Underwood said. "It's a policy choice being made on purpose by this administration, and it's cruel and inhumane."

McAleenan fired back, rightfully calling that "an appalling accusation." He was right.

It is galling to see Democrats bending over backwards to open the floodgates to hundreds of thousands of more destitute people when we have homeless encampments in many cities that are run by Democrats. When we have veterans who are homeless and cannot get adequate medical care of social services. When we have crumbling infrastructure, an opioid epidemic, horrendous big city schools and violent crime in too many urban neighborhoods. 

We're struggling, and people are looking in vain for Washington's politicians to do something. Good luck with that.

 

 

Plead the Fifth or Flee the Country

Diligent investigators are continuing to expose the corruption of many former Obama administration high level operatives, shining light into the dirty, dark places.

It's no surprise that erstwhile allies are beginning to turn on each other. Haven't we heard former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein slamming former FBI Director James Comey of late? And haven't former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper pointed fingers at each other regarding who wanted to use the infamous dossier to obtain a FISA warrant to surveil the Trump campaign? Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has also been caught up in the scrum. Expect more of this in the coming weeks.

Also expect pleas of the Fifth Amendment and/or attempts to turn tail and flee the country from people being held accountable once Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Attorney General Bill Barr's razor-sharp investigator John Durham get closer to the truth on the origins of the Deep State's Trump investigation. And watch out for more obstruction of justice by the Trump-hating crooks through deleted emails, scrubbing of hard drives -- maybe even the pounding of smartphones! Deja Vu all over again.

Remember what happened 20 years ago in the campaign finance scandal involving illicit Chinese money going to Bill Clinton and the Democrats? Targets of the investigation pled the Fifth Amendment and/or fled the country. Yet the press continued to tout the fantasy that this was strictly a political witch hunt. Wouldn't want to let solid evidence upset a left-wing narrative now, would we?

The latest breathless reporting by the corrupt media has White House Counsel Don McGahn obstructing justice by refusing to testify before a congressional committee. The implication is that McGahn never has and never will cooperate with the investigation into alleged collusion and/or obstruction of justice by President Trump. In fact, McGahn gave 30 hours of testimony to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He just doesn't want to be used as a Democrat puppet in the continued kabuki theater of the Democrat House.

The timing of the rats fleeing the sinking ship and turning viciously on each other is excellent for the Trumpster's 2020 campaign and chances for re-election. Many self-righteous liberals rage with indignation on Twitter and left-wing cable TV about how big a liar Donald Trump is. There's no doubt Trump lies, just like all politicians. But the lies coming from the likes of Brennan, Comey, Clapper, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and many others who worked for Obama promise to dwarf untruths from Trump -- probably by a 10-1 margin. This could get really interesting. Enjoy!

The progressive pharisees of National Review

It’s pretty well established that much of the left substitutes politics for religion.  What they lack in faith they make up for in ideology, which is why someone who disagrees with them on an issue is not merely wrong but objectively evil.

A leftist who urges a policy change flirts with heresy.

All of this has been true for a long time.

What is not as well known is that a certain brand of conservative has likewise substituted religion for politics.  Just as leftists see policy preferences as a path of secular salvation, these conservatives see religious preferences as a path of policy guidance – and people who disagree are (as in the above example) not merely wrong but objectively evil.

Similarly, those on their own side who don’t share their beliefs are heretics to be chastised and burned, not reasoned with.

I was too busy last week to write about this, but National Review-sponsored Quisling Never Trumper David French (and his wife) have been on a roll lately, denouncing their nominal political allies and co-religionists for supporting Donald Trump instead of (wait for it) Mitt Romney, that paragon of defeatist virtue.

The increasingly indispensable American Greatness has an excellent summary and rejoinder to French and his fellow Calvinist scolds (no really, French has used John Calvin as his Twitter avatar – no pretension there!) by Chris Buskirk.  It’s very much worth a read, but Buskirk misses the essential basis for French’s argument, which is that actual results are immaterial, what is important is the purity of one’s beliefs.

This is the mirror image of the left’s obsession with virtue-signaling.  For example, the left doesn’t care if gun control works, it is a moral imperative – or as they like to say: “Who we are.”

The same goes for open borders, tolerating violence (and excrement) on the street, and dozens of other policies that harm the people they are supposed to save.

Again, this has long been known, but it’s not until now that I realized why the Quisling Never Trumpers are equally indifferent to the suffering of the people they are supposed to be helping.  This is why Kevin Williamson’s infamous response to rural decline was to tell people to learn to code, or give up their good-paying manufacturing or mining job to be a greeter at Wal Mart.

Williamson’s callousness is essential to his moral conception of himself because virtue-signaling is all that matters.  Just like Hillary, the Never Trumpers regard the working classes as “deplorable,” whose individual well-being is less important than their salvation through suffering.

Another similarity between the FredoCons and their erstwhile enemies is their use of identity politics. 

Just as a progressive has to list all their qualifiers (gay, trans, ethnic, sexual) before speaking, David French likes to remind everyone that he’s an “Iraq War veteran” and that one of his three children was adopted.

Frankly, I think it’s pretty low to run around bragging about an adopted child as if it’s a trophy or resume item.  I’ve also noted many times that French was no Audie Murphy – he served as a lawyer, not an actual soldier.  (Indeed, JAG officers don’t even have to go through basic training.)

Now a cynic might also note that like his progressive counterparts, French figures he personally will never suffer hardship for his policies.  That’s for the impure.

One might further note that someone is paying French and his co-religionists a lot of money to hector their erstwhile allies.  Again, like progressivism it is a grift, but one that makes the recipients feel good about themselves.

Certainly Jonah Goldberg has been banging this drum for three years, demanding that people name Trump’s virtues and then ignoring the answers.  There’s a point where this repetition crosses the line from willfully obtuse to simply cashing a paycheck for hectoring religious people.

Perhaps the biggest indictment I can levy against these would-be pharisees is the fact that for all their moral sermonizing, they’re not only comfortable with putting far worse sinners in charge, but have zero problem spreading lies and slanders of their own in pursuit of the cause.

None of these people hesitated at all to spread the obviously fake dossier and they spent years passing taking hits from the same RUSSIA conspiracy bong that the Democrats were hitting so heavily.