Quick Take on the Debate

Watched the GOP debate last night on the execrable CNBC network.

Why do Republicans frequent such dives? Why give loser networks such as CNBC and CNN, the Pan Am and TWA of the media world, the ratings and ad revenues bumps? Why not have Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton host the GOP debates and cut out the middle men?

This was, by far, the worst performance by the "mainstream" media, so far, in the debate cycle.  I was delighted when Sen. Ted Cruz, taking a page from Newt Gingrich's famous response in the South Carolina primary last cycle, tore into the moderators and ridiculed their questions,

The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. You look at the questions — Donald Trump, are you a comic book villain? Ben Carson, can you do math? John Kasich, will you insult two people over here? Marco Rubio, why don't you resign? Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen? How about talking about the substantive issues?"
 . . . "The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every thought and question from the media was, which of you is more handsome and wise? … The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believes that the moderators have any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be, 'What are your substantive solutions?'

I thought it ironic that Cruz took the opportunity to tear up the moderators one of the few times that he actually got asked a substantive question, i.e., his position on the just-concluded budget deal.

Sen. Marco Rubio had the best line about the media, “The Democrats have the ultimate super-PAC. It’s called the mainstream media.” Rubio also got in some good shots against Hillary Clinton, pointing out that despite the media's chorus of "Hillary's best week, yet," this was the week that America found out formally and on TV that she had lied about the causes of the Benghazi attack. The media, of course, have just yawned.

I thought that Gov. Kasich, whom I like, looked desperate, angry, and dying to get attention. In his desperation and anger, he might have done damage to the GOP in the general election. His line about "fantasy tax plans" could come back to haunt the GOP candidate next year. It is somewhat akin to Gingrich's unfortunate line re Romney about "vulture capitalism." That hurt Romney in the run against Obama.

Winners? Losers? Afraid you would ask.

The biggest losers, of course, were the dopey, ill-informed, blatantly biased CNBC moderators. On stage, I think the biggest losers were Kasich, Bush, and Paul--all three need to call it quits. Jeb Bush, whom I like, especially needs to pack it in: it just ain't happening for him. Governors Christie and Huckabee? They had some good stuff on social security but did not make much of an impression. They, also, should consider hanging up their spurs.

The winners: Rubio, Cruz, and perhaps Fiorina, who handled herself well substantively and with a sense of humor. Trump was more subdued, but did OK, just not earth-shaking. Carson needs to pep it up a bit. He is smart and genuine and has some good policy prescriptions but is so subdued that at times he seems half asleep.

What comes across strongly, however, is that any one of these GOP candidates would make a better president than the calamity we now have in the White House or the calamity that the DNC is about to crown as its choice for the 2016 elections.

Cars and Dogs

Playing with my cars and dogs. Will be posting soon, I hope . . .

A Little Nepotism . . .

Well, maybe not as bad as Biden, but . . . I want to encourage all of you to read an article by my son, Yonathan, just put up over at "The Mises Institute."

He does a pretty good job of taking apart Bernie Sanders' obsession with Scandinavia as the model for the USA. Bernie, after all, is an ignoramus when it comes to economics.

Worth a read.

OK, OK . . . the Demo Debate

As foretold by one and all, the Las Vegas debate was a snooze-fest. Not much in the way of attacks on Hillary by the boys; it was as if they had all resigned themselves to her winning the nomination.

Brooklyn Bernie Sanders, I must confess, showed some passion when he railed against the millionaires and billionaires. This speech must have sounded fresh and exciting when those talking points first arrived from Moscow at the Communist Party USA HQs in 1932.

Sanders showed his total lack of grasp of the law and national security by giving Hillary a pass-cum-endorsement on the email issue. Bernie, surprisingly, seemed the most moderate on gun control, obviously taking to heart the views of his rural voters in Vermont, but even he repeated the fallacy about closing the non-existent "gun show loophole," and some mumbo-jumbo about guns and mental health. He proved, once again, completely illiterate on economic issues and promised "lots of stuff."

Governor Martin O'Malley? He had a hard time getting past his tiresome attacks on the NRA (America's oldest civil rights organization) and seemed to blame the NRA for all the problems in his old stomping ground of Baltimore (more on this below). He recited the tired line about Bush leading us into war in Iraq with bogus intelligence . . . yawn.

Lincoln Chafee? Gee, I didn't even know he was still around. The former Republican, former Independent, former mayor, former senator, and former governor did not deliver--as the media had speculated he would--major attacks on the front runners and seemed eager only to redo the 2004 election by harping on the invasion of Iraq. He seems gleefully stuck in the recent past.

Former Senator, former Secretary of the Navy, and USMC combat veteran Jim Webb, frankly, seemed the only decent fellow on the stage. I met him many years ago and he struck me then as an honorable and patriotic man, in other words as somebody who does not belong in today's Democratic party. Webb was the only one who seemed to have a grasp of foreign policy and of the need for a US presence in the world. He also was the only one to mention protecting our borders. He did not get to say much, and on stage looked very much like a startled friend of mine did some thirty years ago when we accidentally wandered into a gay bar in Washington DC: his face broadcast the plaintive plea, "How do I get out of here?"

All were weak on immigration to say the least and even Webb signed off on granting illegals access to free medical care. All fumbled around with the "Black Lives Matter" meme and just could not declare it the nonsense that it is. O' Malley was notably hideous on the issue by talking about how over 300 young black men were killed in Baltimore every year that he was mayor and how different public reaction would have been if the dead had been white. Yes, Mr. Mayor, that's the point. They were not white. O'Malley, of course, skipped the unpleasant and Progressive-narrative-destroying fact that these dead did not result either from police actions or those of evil NRA-backed, gun-totting white Southerners. Almost to a man they were killed by other young black men. As I have noted many times (here, here, and here for example) murder in America, including by firearms, is largely a phenomenon within Democratic constituencies.

Economic policies? A disaster. Sanders openly declared himself a socialist who favored entrepreneurs--apparently unless they become successful, note to Bernie, there would have been no Wynn casino or Las Vegas if we had followed your policies. They all--Webb, I don't know--seemed to support much higher taxes and spending as the way to fix the mess made by high taxes and spending. Clinton, talked about giving everybody the opportunities she had had--I guess to be a bribe launderer in Arkansas, run a crooked "foundation," etc.?

Who won?

My answer to that tiresome question is . . . Hillary Clinton. I say that because her mastery at lying and gliding over inconvenient facts could win over the low-information voters who form the Democratic core constituency. She, for example, flat out lied when she said her private email server use was allowed by the State Department, but did it quite well.  I suspect, however, many pundits will declare Sanders the winner because of his "passion" and his "telling truth to power" style of rabble rousing. I refer them to CPUSA circa 1932 (see above).

I find it hard to believe that any sentient, working being, with a moderate level of information at his or her disposal and with any degree of love for our country could possibly support these candidates (pace Webb) who range from lame to outright lunatic and dangerous. Frankly put, you have to be an idiot or a "free stuff addict" to support these people.  Just wondering . . .

The Democrat "Debate" Looms

Can hardly wait!

I am just a bundle of nerves!

Every American wants to know: Will Emily Blunt be proud enough of the Democratic debaters to keep her US citizenship? We were so very saddened when she announced that following the Republican debate she had come to question her decision to become a US citizen. Poor Emily! Forced at gunpoint to become a US citizen, and forced, I tell you, forced to pay lower taxes than in her native UK. I hope she hears the sort of stuff at the October 13 DNC candidate debate that will make her proud of her new country. I trust multimillionaire Emily loves the progressive tax-and-spend ideas of Bernie Sanders that will ensure she pays a tax rate MUCH higher than she was paying in the UK, or forced, I tell you, forced to pay now in the poor ol' USA.

The Great "Debate" looms.

We will have old Hillary Clinton trying to explain who the new Hillary Clinton really is, and trying to get us to forget the real Hillary Clinton we have seen on the public stage for the past few decades. Then crazy 1930s Brooklyn Marxist Bernie Sanders will tell us we are not spending or taxing enough. Wealth is for distributing! Long live the USSR! And Governor O'Malley? Who knows? Will he try to explain the disaster that is now Baltimore, and that he helped keep that way during his eight years as mayor? Will he talk about his mediocre tenure as governor of Maryland, during which he enacted useless and liberty-destroying gun control laws? All of the Dems will try to get us to forget that the Democrats have been in charge for the better part of the past decade and that our social and economic problems have only worsened, our international standing greatly deteriorated, and our enemies grown stronger and bolder.

All that is missing is Joe Biden.

The country is just abuzz--well, CNN is--with speculation as to whether Uncle Joe will or will not run and what further messages he cynically fabricates having received from his dying son. Joe Biden is old, white, incompetent, corrupt, a serial fabricator and embellisher as well as a known plagiarist: he will fit right in on the Democrats' menu of offerings. Go for it, Joe! Maybe loony Labourite Neil Kinnock will write your inaugural speech for you!

They will prattle on about the nonexistent threat of climate change; the need for new federal programs to "save" the middle class from the very Wall Street and Silicon Valley tycoons who give money to the Democrats; the need to welcome further illegal immigration; and various useless and liberty-destroying proposals for gun control--ignoring, of course, that most murders are committed by Democrat constituents and occur in Democrat-run urban areas with the strictest gun control legislation in the country.

Let's rock!

I have my popcorn ready!

Sorry. Be Back Soon.

Couple of days to get some things in order and I'll be ranting again.

More Days of Progressive Insanity

Very eventful past few days, but hard to write about since many of the themes we see coming to the fore already have been explored over and over and at length on this humble blog, but here goes . . .

The good news. Yes, in response to the thousands of readers who have been asking the restoration work on my 73 Mach 1 is coming along smartly: new 17 inch rims and tires all around; four wheel disc brakes; new carburetor; new Hurst shifter; transmission due to arrive early next week from Texas; new battery; new wiring; MSD electronic distributor; all new suspension rear and front, etc. Looking good. The guys at Motech Performance in Murrieta are doing a great job. I also had them install an axle-back Roush exhaust system on my 2015 GT Mustang. Now it sounds as an American V-8 should sound! A great basso profundo rumble that makes the hair on your neck stand up, and scares awake sleeping dogs and children. I am contemplating a Roush Supercharger, but will have to evaluate carefully the budget and the Diplowife's mood re further "investment" in cars . . .

All that good news is somewhat counterbalanced by the fact that the country and the world are going to hell very fast. As I have said so many times that I am afraid of sounding gaga, things are not going well for the cause of Western civilization.

These last few days have been particularly bad. Let's start at home. A deranged piece of crap goes on a killing spree on a small Oregon campus and the Progressives can't wait for the facts before they start beating their anti-gun drums. We have the Emperor of the Progs, AKA "President" Obama, immediately launch a canned speech on the need for more gun control. No specifics. No laying out of what he means or wants. No explanation of how any new legislation would have prevented this shooting.

Obama and his Progressive pajama-boy friends should just come out and say what they really want: to scrap the second amendment, put gun makers and importers out of business, and seize all guns from private hands. Just say it. Let's debate that. Let's debate having the government as the sole possessor of weapons. Let's debate putting an end to one of the major checks on government power laid out in the Constitution. The media, of course, have a narrative that they push re gun violence and just won't give up despite the facts. In Oregon, we had a mixed-race immigrant who deeply admired the IRA and ISIS, and hated Christians enough to single them out for murder. The press version? The L.A. Times summed up the Prog approach best: ignore the killer's actual background and claim that he had "white supremacist" leanings--he, in fact, was as black as Obama . . . but, why bother with the facts? My daughter called me the day after the shooting to report that people at her school were saying the shooter was a Republican. With an exasperated tone, she said, "They don't understand that the Republican Party and the Irish Republican Army are not the same thing!" The low information, smart phone, Hollywood-infused morons strike again.

We see that the gun "debate," more a one-sided harangue, ignores a couple of brutal facts: nearly 50% of all murders in the USA are committed by a tiny percentage of the population, i.e., young black men. A very good chunk of the remaining violence and murders are committed by another small group of people, young Latin males. Violence and murder are overwhelmingly phenomena among and by Democratic constituents. Let me be very blunt: Be you black, white, brown, or "mixed," you are much safer in a Republican run area, e.g., "gun infested" Utah, than in a Democratic-run area, e.g., "gun free" Chicago. To have real "gun control" we need to start with the greatest offenders, Democrats. No gun sales to persons registered as Democrats or who vote for Democratic candidates. Democratic supporters should be required to give up their second amendment rights. Problem solved.

The presidential campaign, well, on the Democratic side we have one candidate, Hillary Clinton, who should be in prison, and another, Bernie Sanders, who apparently has never read a book on economics and recites old 1930s CPUSA talking points as though they are new and exciting--and gets thousands of idiots to cheer him! The GOP presidential candidates? Don't know yet. We'll see.

Abroad, as so repetitively discussed and predicted by this little blog, the West is in total collapse. Insane fiscal policies have devastated the economies of the West. Huge debts are being run up. The size and reach of government grows. All the major currencies and stock exchanges are in serious trouble. High unemployment remains persistent. The euro nonsense continues. Western leaders prattle on about climate change. To top it off, the West is now subjected to a massive influx of openly hostile Muslim "refugees" who are taking advantage of the chaos in the Muslim world to bring a slice of that chaos to the West. The chaos, of course, has been made immeasurably worse by the deranged policies followed by the Obama administration. As I have detailed at length before, Obama's criminally insane policies in Libya, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran have opened up a world of hurt. These policies have given openings to our old rivals, Russia and China, to replace Western influence in the Middle East--and elsewhere around the world, including in Latin America. We have a Secretary of State salivating over the possibility of getting the Nobel Peace Prize for helping the crazed Ayatollahs get a nuclear weapon. That sort of sums up where we are.

I am going to sit in my Mustang and listen to the sound of a V-8.