On Colin Kaepernick's sit-outs

Power Line Blog  "News out of the sports world is that no NFL teams want to sign free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick, not merely because he may be washed up, but because of his political stunts. An unnamed NFL insider told Bleacher Report:

“[Many teams] genuinely hate him and can’t stand what he did (kneeling for the national anthem). They want nothing to do with him. They won’t move on. They think showing no interest is a form of punishment. I think some teams also want to use Kaepernick as a cautionary tale to stop other players in the future from doing what he did.”

When I spoke to a handful of executives at the combine a few weeks ago, one even called him “an embarrassment to football.”

"This brings to mind a short passage from a certain recent book that every Power Line reader should have by now (hint, hint, for the laggards) that reflects on this scene:

The shame of protesting athletes is that they are unable to make out a parallel between the exertions necessary for excellence on the playing field that commands the loyalty of sports fans and the exertions necessary for excellence in a nation that commands the loyalty of citizens. Game plans, like constitutions, are not self-executing. Walter Berns put the problem this way:

A regime to which a good man can freely give his loyalty does not come about accidentally, it does not just grow through the passage of time; in addition to good fortune, it requires the conscious and intelligent effort of men who are aware of the goal and of the difficulties to be overcome before the goal can be achieved or approximated.

About the professional athletes disdaining the nation, Harry Jaffa would point again to the example of boxer Joe Louis. Louis once answered the question of why he was willing to fight for a country that treated blacks so badly: “There ain’t nothing wrong with this country that Hitler can fix.”

"And there ain’t nothing wrong with the country that Colin Kaepernick (and his imitators) are doing anything to fix either."

Colin Kaepernick and the consequences of liberal orthodoxy  . . . "Let me suggest that there's a specific type of liberal who never really makes big decisions.  Such people are so locked into a rigid orthodoxy that they simply follow its dictates without considering alternatives or consequences.  This is the ultimate risk-adverse behavior.  It is carried to its logical extreme in the safe-space trigger-warning world of American universities, where there is an intentional insulation from consequences and protection from alternatives.  It becomes quite natural for people schooled in this environment to believe that anyone anywhere who follows the liberal rules should enjoy the same dispensations.  If one follows the rules, good things should just happen.  Kaepernick was just following the liberal rules, so he should not be judged. " . . . 

Green Weenie of the Week: Yoga Pants?

Power Line Blog   "Is yoga ruining the planet? I doubt it, but if yoga comes in for some slagging from the Green Weenies I’m happy to play along. And not exactly yoga, but yoga pants! So says Heat Street:

Yoga Pants, ‘Active Wear’ Are Destroying the Oceans

Comfortable clothes are emerging as a source of plastic that’s increasingly ending up in the oceans and potentially contaminating seafood, according to Gulf Coast researchers launching a two-year study of microscopic plastics in the waters from south Texas to the Florida Keys.

The project, led by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, will rely partly on volunteers participating in coastal cleanup events. It also will expand a year’s worth of data collected around the state of Florida that predominantly found microfibers — shreds of plastic even smaller than microbeads flowing down bathroom sinks and shower drains.

Yoga pants, Patagonia’s cozy jackets, sweat-wicking athletic wear and other garments made from synthetic materials shed microscopic plastic fibers — called “microfibers” — when they’re laundered. Wastewater systems flush the microfibers into natural waterways, eventually reaching the sea.

"I especially like it that the report singles out Patagonia, which is the most environmentally sanctimonious sporting apparel company anywhere. (I refuse to buy any Patagonia products for this reason.)"

Dennis Prager explains that without God, there is no morality; there are just opinions

Watcher of Weasels  "The phrase “moral relativism” gets thrown around a lot. The Right things it’s bad; the Left thinks it’s good — indeed, that it is the only non-arrogant way to view the world. With his usual clarity and acuity, Dennis Prager explains why the Left is wrong. Absent an external source of absolute morality — and Prager I both think that the Judeo-Christian God is the best way to define good and evil — people have nothing but feelings and opinions to guide them. And as the 20th century shows, absent God, the wrong kind of demagogue can manipulate these feelings and opinions in a way that leads to tens of millions of dead people, and incalculable numbers of people who live in fear and squalor."

"If you don’t have time to watch the video, or you’d like to expand your understanding of its contents, I highly recommend Wolf Howling’s post about the war on religion. He wrote it many years ago, but events since he published it prove him prophetic:" . . .

CBO’s Alternate Facts about Obamacare

Galen Institute  "Millions may lose coverage next year if Congress does not repeal Obamacare.

That’s not what this week’s Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis says, but it is reality. CBO’s estimating models seem impervious to reality.

"In the real world, the Obamacare exchanges are in crisis, millions of uninsured people willingly pay or avoid IRS penalties, and consumers struggle with rising premiums and cost-sharing requirements.

"But for CBO, Obamacare is a sea of tranquility. The agency assumes that only 26 million people under the age of 65 will be uninsured this year and next if Obamacare is left in place. To hit that mark, 2 million fewer people would have to be uninsured this year than last.

"That seems unlikely. The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) estimates that 27.9 million people under age 65 lacked coverage as of September 30 last year, the most recent date for which government survey data are available. That represents little improvement over its estimate of 28.4 million as of December 2015, meaning that the number of non-elderly uninsured declined by only half a million through the first nine months of last year.

"Since then, the Obamacare individual exchanges have begun to implode. Fewer people signed up during the open-enrollment period this year than last, due in part to premium hikes that averaged 25 percent. Other insurance companies didn’t bother raising prices; they fled the exchanges. By January, 1,000 counties were down to their last insurer. Five entire states have just a single company selling through the exchanges.

"A rational observer might worry that the exchanges were on the brink of doom. Not CBO. Its analysts believe that Obamacare is on the cusp of a miracle. The number of nonelderly uninsured not only will drop this year but hold steady in 2018, according to CBO, even though millions could find themselves without an insurer in their exchanges." . . .

Clinton Staffers May Receive Soros Funding For Trump War

Daily Caller

"Anti-Trump activists lead by former Hillary Clinton campaign operatives may soon receive funding from left-wing billionaire George Soros.

"Democracy Alliance, the Soros-aligned group of Democratic donors, is considering funding protest group Indivisible and the Women’s March organization, which recently joined forces to take on President Donald Trump, USA Today reports.

"As originally reported by The Daily Caller, at least six former Clinton campaign operatives are playing key roles for Women’s March, which has continued mobilizing opposition against Trump’s agenda. 

. . . 

"Soros and other Democracy Alliance donors met in Washington, D.C. this past November to strategize how to best oppose Trump’s agenda. (RELATED: Leaked Audio Reveals Anti-Trump Forces Manufacturing Hostile Town Hall)

"Soros is well-known for bankrolling various left-wing efforts, including Black Lives Matter, and sank millions of dollars into supporting Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful presidential campaign.

"The billionaire once wrote that he considers himself “some kind of god” with “messianic fantasies,” according to the Los Angeles Times." . . .

Trump wants to pull plug on Obama-Era Fuel Standards

Legal Insurrection

"In response, California politicians to impose tighter standards as Michigan’s leaders plan for new auto plants."

 

"President Trump directed the Environmental Protection Agency to shelve aggressive vehicle fuel economy targets that have been a foundation for promoting climate change alarmism policies that have hurt the American automotive industry.

Trump revealed his plans during a speech at an automotive testing center near Detroit after discussing the issue during a round-table meeting at the American Center for Mobility with auto company executives and workers.

“This is going to be a new era for American jobs and job creation,” Trump said at the meeting.

The EPA under Obama had promulgated a rule for cars and trucks requiring a fleet-wide average of 36 mpg in real-world driving by 2025.

Trump’s decision, while having no immediate effect, requires the Environmental Protection Agency to determine no later than April 2018 whether the 2022-2025 standards established are appropriate. If the EPA determines they are not appropriate, the agency will submit a new proposal next year.

"I suspect that the new EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, will find there was quite a bit that was inappropriate about the jacked-up fuel economy rules, finalized in the waning days of Obama’s presidency." . . .

"Team Trump is already kicking butt at the United Nations"

NY Post

Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley

. . . "As US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley pointed out Monday, only one country is subjected to regular scrutiny and condemnation in each of the three annual sessions of the 47-member Geneva-based human rights body.

"Guess which one.

“ 'It’s not Syria, where the regime has systematically slaughtered and tortured its own people,” Haley said.

“ 'It’s not Iran, where public hangings are a regular occurrence. It’s not North Korea, where the regime uses forced labor camps to crush its people into submission.

“ 'It’s Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.”

"The council was established in 2006 to replace the discredited Human Rights Commission. It was widely hailed by UN supporters as major “reform,” but it turned out that this rose by another name smelled just as rotten.

"The George W. Bush administration didn’t buy it and refused to join in.

"Then President Barack Obama’s State Department, while admitting the council was still obsessed with Israel, argued that by joining, America could effect change from the inside.

"Team Obama forced the adoption of resolutions about North Korea, Syria and other areas of concern. But the fundamental nature of the council remained.

"According to the group UN Watch, in the decade since its inception, the council condemned Israel 68 times, compared to 67 condemnations of all other countries combined.

"No wonder Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrote recently to UN supporters that unless the council in Geneva ends its bias — and stops admitting serious human rights violators as members — the United States will walk.

"And guess what: In other UN corners, such pressure is already showing results." . . .

The Meals On Wheels Lie Keeps Rolling Along

IBD

"Budget: Let's start with a basic fact. Contrary to news reports last week, President Trump is not eliminating funding for Meals on Wheels. He's not even cutting it.  (Emphasis mine, TD)

"How do we know this? Meals on Wheels says so. A statement issued by Meals on Wheels America on Thursday notes that 35% of the revenues at the 5,000 or so local Meals on Wheels programs come via the Older Americans Act Nutrition Program.

"Trump's budget outline says nothing about this program whatsoever.

"What Trump's budget does propose is cutting is the corruption-prone Community Development Block Grant program, run out of Housing and Urban Development. Some, but not all, state and local governments use a tiny portion of that grant money, at their own discretion, to "augment funding for Meals on Wheels," according to the statement.

"Nevertheless, when the New York Times reported on Trump's budget last Wednesday, they dispensed with such details, and simply said that CDBG "funds popular programs like Meals on Wheels, housing assistance and other community assistance efforts."

"This misleading shorthand quickly turned into "Trump wants to kill Meals on Wheels.' " . . .

On the Trump budget

"President Trump submitted his first budget to Congress Tuesday and titled it America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again. It adds fifty-four billion dollars for defense and it cuts funding for PBS. Today’s episode of Sesame Street is brought to you by the letters W,T and F."  Comedian Argus Hamilton

Rich Terrell

US military operations; Trump lets his generals lead; Obama micromanaged

Did he not have a clue about LBJ in Vietnam? A lesson unlearned.

Althouse  "According to the NYT, which recognizes Trump's return to what is the better approach. 

The change is at the heart of a re-engineering of the National Security Council’s role under its new leader, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, and reflects Mr. Trump’s belief that the N.S.C. should focus less on military operations and tactics and more on strategic issues. A guiding precept for the president and his team is that the balance of power in the world has shifted against American interests, and that General McMaster should focus on developing foreign and economic policy options in concert with the Pentagon, State Department and other agencies to respond to that challenge....

“In defense of the Obama administration, every single time we went to the president and asked for something more, we eventually got it, though we often had to jump through a lot of hoops,” said Andrew Exum, a former Army Ranger who held a senior position at the Defense Department under Mr. Obama. “The episode that took the cake was toward the end of the administration, when we literally had cabinet secretaries debating the movement of three helicopters from Iraq to Syria.”

. . .

 

The Last Sunday Morning

Mike Adams   
"Author’s Note: This is a continuation of my last column “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”"

. . . "I did not know it at the time but my father had gotten irritated with me in 2013 when I published my last book. In that book, I mentioned that an atheist father and a fundamentalist mother had raised me. Apparently, Dad objected to the reference strongly enough to approach my mother and say, “Mike called me an atheist. I’m not an atheist. I’m an agnostic!” In retrospect, it appears that a crack had emerged in the armor of the man who in 1975 refused my mother’s request to attend my baptism with the emphatic declaration, “There is no God!” 

"Apparently, the crack in the armor had also grown with time. In fact, just days before I arrived in Houston to have my last conversation with dad, mom had seen evidence of his change of heart. It was revealed in what would be her last conversation with him. In that conversation, she was telling my dad that she wanted the poem, “When I Must Leave You,” to be read at her funeral. Then she read the poem to him, which ends with this line: 

     And never, never be afraid to die.

      For I am waiting for you in the sky. 

"Upon hearing it, my father turned to my mother and said, “I know that I’m dying, Marilyn.” He paused and then he added, “I’ll wait for you.” Those were the last words he ever spoke to his wife of 62 years." . . .