Eric Florack on March 2nd, 2016
Eric Florack on March 2nd, 2016
davidl on February 29th, 2016

Jake Tapper trolled Donald Trump for a sound byte for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign and the Donald refused to step into Tapper’s snare, Tapper to Trump, via Red State:

Will you, unequivocally, condemn David Duke and say that you don’t want his vote or that of any white supremacists during this election?

Tapper is trolling for general election sound byte. His question contains to separate element, which taken in isolation, have a different answer. First Tapper asks Trump to denounce David Duke. OK, what politician would not. However second, Tapper asks Trump if he wants Duke to vote for him. Every politician wants every vote. Did Tapper ever ask Barrack Hussein Obama to tell the domestic terrorist, and Obama supporter Bill Ayers not to vote for Obama? Of course not, Obama was running for president and wanted every vote, including those of domestic terrorists like Ayers or religious bigots like Reverend Wright.

Not that I think Trump is a smart man, but a smart politician once did given a smart answer to Trapper’s gotcha type of question, from Red State:

“Those of us in public life can only resent the use of our names by those who seek political recognition for the repugnant doctrines of hate they espouse.

“The politics of racial hatred and religious bigotry practiced by the Klan and others have no place in this country, and are destructive of the values for which America has always stood.”

Alas, the Donald is no Gipper.

Waiting for Tapper to ask Mrs. Clinton about her courting the support of Black Lives Matter in four, three, two ….

davidl on February 25th, 2016

Mrs. Clinton, the same woman who failed the DC bar exam, formerly known as the Smartest Woman in the World, and her hand picked media stooge, Steve Harvey, are both too stupid to know the Declaration of Independence from the Constitution of the United States, from Fox News:

The Democratic presidential front-runner mistakenly cited a “constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” during the interview with host Steve Harvey.

“We’ve got to say to the gun lobby, you know what, there is a constitutional right for people to own guns, but there’s also a constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that enables us to have a safe country where we are able to protect our children and others from this senseless gun violence,” she said.

Harvey offered her an approving “absolutely.”

Mrs. Clinton is you want to clamp down on senseless gun violence secure our borders and put an end to sanctuary cities. If you want to curtail violence against children, defund Planned Parenthood.

davidl on February 23rd, 2016

Playing the race card is amounts to conceding the argument.   However I  do find it amusing to see the roles reversed.    Doctor Ben Carson is the dying gasps of his campaign has played the race card on Dim Won, b/k/a Barrack Obama:

Washington (CNN)Ben Carson suggested that if elected president he might be the first African-American to hold the position noting, President Barack Obama was “raised white” and outside of the United States.

“He’s an ‘African’ American. He was, you know, raised white. Many of his formative years were spent in Indonesia. So, for him to, you know, claim that, you know, he identifies with the experience of black Americans, I think, is a bit of a stretch,” the retired neurosurgeon told Politico’s Glenn Thrush on his “Off Message” podcast aired Tuesday.

Rather playing the race card, Doctor Ben should have played the stupid card.    Speaking of the stupid card, MSNBC is arguing the Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are somehow not Hispanic, from Newsbusters:

As if they didn’t learn anything from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the panel on Monday’s Nightly Show decided to call into question the Hispanic credentials of Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio

Score one for Doctor Ben.

davidl on February 20th, 2016

Mrs. Clinton, the one formerly known as the Smartest Woman in the World, is now too stupid to know that she has made her paid speeches to Wall Street relevant,

First Mrs. Clinton makes specific claims to as what she told Wall Street, and wants credit for it, from Hill:

“I was the candidate who went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the candidate who said to them, ‘You are wrecking our economy.’ “

Then, Mrs. Clinton  refuses to release speeches which would collaborate what she said:

“I am happy to release anything I have when everyone else does the same, because every other candidate in this race has given speeches to private groups, including Sen. Sanders,” she said during Thursday’s MSNBC Democratic presidential town hall, referring to rival candidate Bernie Sanders.

Bernie Sanders has not campaigned on the basis of what he told, or did not tell, Well Street. As such, Sanders’ Wall Street speeches, if he made any, are simply not relevant.

davidl on February 18th, 2016

Pope Francis posits a test for Christianity, and fails it.   Francis strikes me as man of much belief, but little learning. Similar to his his fellow traveler, Maddy Albright, Francis claims to be able know another man’s soul.

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Thursday that Donald Trump is “not Christian” if he wants to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. Trump immediately fired back, saying it is disgraceful for a religious leader to question a person’s faith

It has almost be said that a man who lives behind walls should not judge another man’s walls.   The Vatican is a walled city, and for good reason.   I know of no plan Francis has to take the walls down.    Francis is no Gipper.

On to the Donald, Politico has the Donald’s full throat, in character, and thoroughly unconvincing response to Pope Francis, here.   Had Trump but said, “I forgive [Pope Francis]”,  I would have been impressed.   If brevity be the sole of wit, Trump is a witless fool.

davidl on February 18th, 2016

From Micaiah Bilger, Life News,

Kansas family Ian and Brittani McIntire were heartbroken when doctors told them that one of their unborn twins probably will die before he is born.

Baby Mason McIntire has a hole in his heart and an abnormal brain. But the family said they are clinging to the knowledge that Mason is not alone in the womb. His unborn twin sister, Madilyn, is there to comfort him.

On Tuesday, the family shared with their local news station a heartbreaking ultrasound image of baby Mason’s tiny hand clinging onto his sister’s fingers.

Life is hard.  Love is good.

davidl on February 17th, 2016

 

From  the biologically confused CBS:

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota would be the first state in the U.S. to approve a law requiring transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their sex at birth if the governor signs a bill passed Tuesday by the state Senate.

Why does it take legislative action to require boys to use the boy’s room and girls to use the girl’s room?   It is a fact that sex is immutable.   If you are born a male, you will die a male.

davidl on February 16th, 2016

Preface, video:

snark2.jpgThe Snark of the Day, Ed Morrissey:

Some candidates only seem barking mad. Others take it to a more literal degree.

Hat tip: Caleb Howe, Red State.

I gotta give Mrs. Clinton some credit.   She should know something about dogs.   She is married to one, B.J. Clinton, and employs attack dogs like James Carville.

Then where Mrs. Clinton made her mistake was when she veered from her area of expertise, to wit dogs, to one of profound weakness economics.   The economic downturn of 2008 was born by the the Clinton’s administration enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act.  The Clinton administration forced banks to make bad loans and eventually the loans failed.  Not that expect Mrs. Clinton to be able to understand that.

+

 

Eric Florack on February 15th, 2016

Tonight finds me outside Rochester. I’ll be headed down into New Jersey in the morning come around 5 o’clock or so. They got some serious weather down there right now, and I’m hearing from people in various places across the mid section of the eastern seaboard, that the weather is terrible flights are being cancelled the driving is horrendous and so on. It’s all part of the game for me of course, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. There are times I’d just as soon not drive and tomorrow is one of them.

As it happens I’m here because of a minor malfunction that popped up in the truck. I’ll have to deal with it for a couple of days because the rest of the system is still scrambling trying to get everything together from that cold snap we had up here yesterday. As you may know, diesel fuel has a tendency to freeze and truly mess things up. Well that’s what happened for the majority of our fleet, & I gather from drivers from other lines that we are not alone. Again, it’s part of the game, particularly this time of year.

Valentine’s Day passed this year almost on March in our family. That is sad because Donna deserves better than that. Given the proximity of Valentine’s Day to her birthday though its always ended up being less of a celebration for us and then it might have been. It’s usually us going out for a weekend to celebrate both days.

I cherish the time that she and I have together, but I must confess that’s this job I have takes a lot out of a body, & I always feel a little guilty that I wasn’t able to spend as much time awake and alert with the family as I might have been otherwise. They understand, and all that, but still. Again, part of the game I suppose.

Sigh.
Onto other matters…

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This evening I note the passage of one of the greats of the Supreme Court, Justice Antonin Scalia. Ronald Reagan certainly knew what he was doing when he nominated him to the court some time ago.

Beyond that, I will leave the task of praising Scalia and his work to others who will certainly do so… and it is right that they should.

But at this stage, it is my opinion that Scalia’s passing puts an even sharper focus on the upcoming election and its results, and it’s this that I want to concentrate on here tonight.

First of all, the rare occurrence of my agreement with Mitch McConnell is noteworthy. McConnell suggests that it’s a good idea for us to hold off on appointing a new justice until such time as the election goes past us. In other words, to leave the election to decide the type of justice that we shall have to install his place. Personally I wonder if Mitch McConnell and the remainder of the Republican Senate have the testicular mass to stick to that idea. Time will tell, but I’m somewhat skeptical.

Speaking of skepticism, I will admit that there is a certain part of me that considers the timing of Scalia’s passing to be too damned convenient for it not to have been arranged. Occam’s razor cuts two ways on this one. First, it can be easily said that Scalia’s passing certainly benefits the left, because it allows a stone cold left as president to appoint a stone cold leftist jurist, and, given the current balance of the court, completely change that balance. Moreover with the GOPs record of bending over forward to give Obama everything he wants it seems to me that the chances are extremely high that such an appointment would go through.

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On the other hand it also seems to me that if the Senate and McConnell and the other leaders in Congress in particular have the guts to stand up to Obama and reject anything he sends down until such time as the election goes past, then we have a decent chance of not only taking the White House but also ending up with another strict constitutionalist in the chair just vacated by Scalia.

Not to put too fine an edge on it, I will say that if we fail to replace Scalia with someone of his like and way of thinking, we will lose the country.

Recognizing this I refuse to believe that others don’t understand what’s at stake here, and therefore it seems to me also that this would be a gigantic get out the vote aid for the GOP. With something on the order of 30% of the country thinking that is too conservative, or put another way the vast majority of Americans appreciating a conservative court and perhaps a majority of them also wanting a more conservative court it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see which way this next election is going to go if the point of Supreme Court justice appointments is made essential point in the campaigns.

Then again, the record of the GOP on this matter hasn’t been all that great lately. We’ve ended up with several appointees to the Supreme Court who turned out to be far more left-leaning then was needed and certainly left leaning enough to catch the president Who nominated them by surprise. Consider Anthony Kennedy, who recently opened that  the Constitution is a Floyd documents, as an example… Consider also the chief justice.

It’s my guess that the White House will be exerting all kinds of pressure on each individual senator, trying to get Obama’s sure to be liberal candidate  on to the court.

Of course there is President or Congress not wanting to approve any one this far along in a lame duck presidency. Ponder for example the specter of Chuckles the Clown Schumer.

Of course, there was more president than that, even. As David French says…

Does any sentient human being believe that if the Democrats had the Senate majority in the final year of a conservative president’s second term — and Justice Ginsburg’s seat came open — they would approve any nominee from that president? Further, does any sentient human being believe that the Democrats’ behavior in 1987-88 — when they engaged in shameful character assassination against Robert Bork before finally confirming Anthony Kennedy — represented Democratic cooperation with President Reagan?

Indeed. And consider also the character assassination tossed by the Democrats at Justice Thomas.

We will hear much wailing and gnashing of teeth  from the left, and from Obama specifically over the supposedly obstructionist Republicans. He will do anything he can to secure whatever is left of his legacy. But he must not succeed, else we have lost the country, game over. What Reagan called the last best hope for freedom this planet has, will be gone.

Say what you will about the idea that the death of Antonin Scalia was arranged, that could go either way. As I say, I think it’s awfully convenient, him passing on just now. And the circumstances along with the lack of an autopsy strike me as  suspicious. But what strikes me as interesting and indicative of the level of trust that Obama currently has from the American people is that a large portion of the American people wouldn’t put such an execution past him. Or his fellow travelers.

That, I think, is the measure of the last 8 years.

And down the road I go. I’ll see you tomorrow.

davidl on February 15th, 2016

:snark2.jpgThe Snark of the Day, Victor Davis Hanson

[B.J.] was not, then, the garden-variety beltway philander, but in a special uncouth class that might have won him an indictment without his political immunities. It is bad enough for Hillary to be married to a serial skirt-chaser, but quite worse to have a husband hop on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s Lolita Express jet.

Hat tip:  Ed Driscoll, Instapundit.

I confess that  could have pulled any paragraph as the snark.

davidl on February 12th, 2016

Clinton_Hillary_pretty_in_orangeI set the Wayback Machine to January 27, 1998,  and Mrs. Clinton on the Today Show:

“Well, I don’t know if I’ve been that dramatic. That would sound like a good line from a movie. But I do believe that this is a battle. I mean, look at the very people who are involved in this — they have popped up in other settings. This is — the great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president.”

Eighteen years ago Mrs. Clinton adopted the phrase “vast right wing conspiracy” in an vain attempt to convince the public that her husband, B.J. Clinton did not have an affair with his intern Monica Lewinsky.  Lucky for Miss Lewinsky she saved her  soiled blue dress, and the rest is history.

Flash forward, the Clintonistas are still played the same VRWC card, from Jack Heretik, Washington Free Beacon:

Hillary Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon on Thursday accused the State Department Inspector General’s office of launching baseless fishing expeditions aimed at harming Clinton’s campaign.

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked Fallon about a Washington Post report that the State Department issued a subpoena to the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton family’s charity, for documents about projects that needed federal government approval while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. This included records from Clinton’s controversial aide, Huma Abedin.

[…]

Fallon didn’t walk back his allegation when pressed by Blitzer, who pointed out that State Department Inspector General Steve Linick was handpicked by President Obama and confirmed by a Democratic-controlled Senate in 2013.

“So you say this fishing expedition or whatever you’re calling it, that there’s sort of a plot inside the inspector general’s office in the State Department, to get Hillary Clinton?” Blitzer asked.

“All I know is they have mounted several different fishing expedition-style investigations since she decided to run for president,” Fallon said. “There’s no basis to any of them and it is intended to create headwinds for her campaign. It is not going to work.”

Maybe Mrs. Clinton can forward a message to Dirty Harry Reid on why and how he allowed Steve Linick to be confirmed an Inspector General for the Obama regime State Department?

In the meantime Mrs. Clinton, find a new excuse!

Eric Florack on February 11th, 2016

Tonight I’m north of Scranton, heading for the Albany area and then back to the Rochester area. They’re bringing you back a little bit early this week because I’m going to be moving back into my truck and giving up the one of the borrowing for the last week. Good thing too, my back hurts from the seat in this thing.

It’s been kind of a weird winter around here, I gather that they had some serious snow between Rochester and Syracuse last night and early yesterday morning. To the point, where the New York Thruway was closed around Weedsport or so, for a while.

Such is life in these parts I guess.

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You know the Flint Michigan thing, has brought to mind an interesting correlation. It started, as most of you know, where the entire city of Flint Michigan is being poisoned with lead from the city water system.

Which in turn, apparently, brought out the report that Michael Moore is in hospital because of the water problems there. (Personally I have trouble believing that anyone with his kind of money is drinking tap water, but leaving that aside for the moment…) I wish Mr Moore the best in his recovery, I genuinely do want him to recover. Mostly because I want to see how he manages to blame for his current condition, given that everyone responsible for the maintenance and redesign of the water system in Flint is a  Democrat.

The cognitive dissonance alone would be worth the admission price.

We know that lead poisoning causes insanity and certainly irrational thinking. For example we know that the denizens of ancient Rome just prior to the fall thereof , particularly their leadership, is known to have high amounts of lead in their bodies. Similarly, we know King George also suffered from lead poisoning.

With all that in mind it occurrs to me to ask whether or not the leftist politics that we’ve seen coming out of Michael Moore was lead poisoning induced insanity.

That in turn, led me to consider that leftist politics holds sway in most major metropolitan areas. Areas which have older water systems, which routinely use lead piping. I note the correlation, and I wonder if there is more than mere correlation.

Now, I doubt I have to draw a line from A to B to C on this one, but perhaps it’ll be worthwhile to examine where liberal politics do not hold sway. Areas that those in the aforementioned big cities like to call “fly over country.”

In those areas water systems are more individually kept, and less Municipal inputs to such things, and they tend to be someone younger systems, and better maintained. And, what do you know, far less in the way of leftist politics.

Other matters. It occurs to me to note that if Ted Cruz was a Democrat, and then press would be all over the fact that he had managed as a Hispanic to turn in an impressive showing in Iowa and in New Hampshire. I guess being a minority only counts when you’re a Democrat.

I noticed the stock market crash going even further. Now we’re starting to see huge amounts of gold and other tangible items being sold as a hedge against the Obama economy. Welcome to hope and change.

And down the road I go. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Eric Florack on February 11th, 2016

Editor’s note, I actually wrote this last night, but forgot to send it until this morning when I noticed it hadn’t gone yet.

Additionally, I think in the process of trying to get my ramble going yesterday I may have deleted the post of Davids… and I offer David an apology.

This evening I am in Dorrance Pennsylvania. I’m in a little ma and pa truck stop called the Blue Ridge Travel Center just off 81 exit 155. Nice little place and they’re expanding. They should have the expanded building done by midsummer. I wish them all the luck in the world. They’re good people.

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I’ll headed to the Bronx tomorrow morning, and then probably back north after that.

In looking at the New Hampshire results, we are reminded how Hillary Clinton’s surrogate, Madeleine Albright, told voters there that they would be going to hell if they didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton. As that turned out, better than half the Democratic voters in New Hampshire took one look at Hillary Clinton and decided hell was the better deal. (Hat tip to Bill Hobbs…) I’m not inclined to question their judgment on that particular point, though I will wonder again how many didn’t vote at all, not seeing a sane choice to vote for.

Not that it mattered anyway, Hillary still managed to have 6 of 8 super delegates. You see the Democrat party decided a long time ago that voters shouldn’t matter, and as such Hillary Clinton new had those 6. superdelegates before a single vote was cast in New Hampshire. Can you say the fix is in? Thus does Bernie Sanders learn what it’s like to have the political class steal something from you that you worked hard for. Funny how things even out that way.

In looking at the lay of the land across the rest of the country one supposes that Sanders won’t do as well outside of the extraordinarily liberal Northeast. So, it may all be a moot point anyway. On the other hand things could go the other way if the indictment against Clinton ever shows up. But you know, I wonder if it will. After all, the sword of Damocles is only useful while it hangs. Once it falls, it’s no longer of use. And I have little doubt in my mind that her indictment or the threat thereof is being orchestrated.

On the other side of the fence, we have Trump winning and Bush coming in second? I have some serious doubts about the validity of that. That said, the whole thing takes on the appearance of an open revolt on the part of the voters. Which apparently was what the Democrats had in mind when they developed that cockamamie superdelegates system.

Meanwhile former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is reportedly eyeing a presidential run, and it’s my guess that he sees an opening in those New Hampshire results. I can’t let that go by the old without noting the Bloomberg has a long record of seeing things that aren’t there.

Meanwhile Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie are both gone from the campaign trail. Interesting that Carson hasn’t dropped out yet. Of course, the rumor mill was that he was going to drop out. Frankly I suspect that rumor coming out prematurely is the only reason he’s still in the thing other than wanting to be The  Donalds vice president. Personally, I’d rather see somebody with his talent in the Office of Surgeon General, which frankly is probably where he’s going to end up anyway.

Interesting though how in her farewell speech, Carly Fiorina didn’t echo Madeleine Albright, condemning women to hell for not supporting her. I guess that’s the difference here, Republicans tend not to usurp the role of God. Anyway, what she decided to do instead was used her speech to attack the faux feminism as preached by Clinton and Albright. Frankly, whoever gets the nomination should put her in a cabinet post of some kind. I think she deserves it.