A Sign of Sense in California?

Power Line Blog

What’s this? An actual expression of common sense in California? Yes, it has actually happened.

"CalPERS, the public employee retirement system in California, has one of the largest investment portfolios in the world (0ver $350 billion), though it is still not large enough to fulfill its pension obligations. Naturally being a political plaything, several years ago CalPERS board decided that it should use its investment clout on behalf of “social investing,” which of course means in plain speaking “lower return investing.” By its own estimate, CalPERS decision to exit tobacco stocks back in the late 1990s reduced portfolio returns by $3 billion from 2001 to 2014.

"It seems CalPERS has decided to beat a retreat from social investing. Barron’s reports today:

A funny thing happened recently in the left-leaning Golden State. In a board election last month, members of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or Calpers, the biggest pension fund in the nation, threw out their president and gave ESG investing a bloody nose.

ESG is the increasingly popular asset-management style that applies environmental, social, and governance standards to screen potential investments. Following this approach, an investor might avoid certain stocks or push shareholder proposals to modify corporate behavior. Unfortunately, they often favor hard-to-define social objectives rather than the narrower goal of maximizing shareholder returns.

. . .  "P.S. How long, however, will it be until California politicians demand that CalPERS divest from corporations that don’t meet California’s new legal mandate that half of their boards of directors must be women?  I give it one year or less."

Adam Schiff, Maxine Waters Vow Revenge And Ramped-Up Russiagate If Dems Take House

California against President Trump

Zero Hedge  "Democratic lawmakers are licking their chops for the opportunity to settle a few scores and ensure that "Russiagate" follows President Trump into the 2020 election. 
"California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters told a group of constituents last week what she would do after the November 6th election, which she said "may be the most important one that you've ever had to experience."
"The 80-year-old Rep. will chair the Financial Services Committee if Democrats regain control of the House. 
""I will be the first African-American, the first woman to chair the powerful Financial Services Committee," Waters said. "That’s all of Wall Street. That’s all the insurance companies, that’s all the banks. And so, of course, the CEOs of the banks now are saying, ‘What can we do to stop Maxine Waters because if she gets in she’s going to give us a bad time?'" 
"She then threatened Republicans: 
" 'I have people who are homeless who have never gotten back into a home. What am I going to do to you? What I am going to do to you is fair. I’m going to do to you what you did to us," Waters vowed. " . . .

"Another California Democrat, Adam Schiff, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer last week that if Democrats take back the house he will instigate investigations into Russian money laundering as well as President Trump's businesses. " . . .

Obama on the warpath

OBAMA UNHINGED: Mocks Hillary’s emails, Ebola, Trump, migrant caravan — in under 90 seconds!  Video
. . . "In less than 90 seconds, Obama defended Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to send and receive classified information, downplayed the severity of the Ebola virus, defended the migrant caravan trekking north toward the U.S., and attacked President Donald Trump." . . .
"No one loves Obama more than Obama, and he continues to prove that argument given he tends to make every speech all about himself."

ICYMI: Obama's 90-Second Temper Tantrum About Conservatives And The Midterm Election  "Former President Barack Obama has been traveling across the country campaigning on behalf of Democratic candidates. During a campaign rally for Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) in Miami on Friday, Obama became unhinged over conservatives and what we say will happen if Democrats take power. "In 2010, they said Bill and I were setting up death panels to kill your grandma. Remember that? In 2014 they said Ebola is going to kill all of us, shut the borders," Obama explained. "In 2016, it was Hillary’s emails. They were all wound up about that. Now, in 2018, they’re telling you the existential threat to America is a bunch of poor refugees a thousand miles away. They’re even taking our brave troops away from their families for a political stunt at the border. And our men and women deserve better than that." . . .

"It's easy to say that Republicans are trying to scare people into voting for them but the reality is simple: back in 2014, people were very afraid of Ebola. In 2016, Americans were genuinely concerned about Hillary's emails and the lack of security she had. And now, Americans are worried about what's taking place on our southern border. That's not "fear-mongering." It's called being in touch with the average American family." . . .Beth Baumann

Black leaders incensed over Don Lemon’s divisive rhetoric call on CNN chief to ‘put his house in order’

BPR  "A professional black leadership group called out the controversial comments by Don Lemon in a statement to CNN’s president.
"The black leadership network, Project 21, declared that Lemon’s racist comments in a segment calling “white men” the “biggest terror threat” facing the U.S. “cannot stand."

“Within a space of five seconds, CNN’s Don Lemon went from saying we shouldn’t demonize people to broadly labeling white men as our nation’s ‘biggest terror threat.’ That’s not responsible journalism,” Project 21 co-chairs Stacy Washington, Horace Cooper, and Bishop Council Nedd II wrote in their statement to the network president.

“This cannot stand,” they continued, calling on CNN President Jeff Zucker to “put his own house in order” instead of just blasting President Donald Trump for his words.

“ 'CNN President Jeff Zucker recently called out the White House for its criticism of the media, saying President Trump doesn’t comprehend the importance of the words he uses” the co-chairs wrote.  “It’s time for Zucker to put his own house in order – starting with explaining how Don Lemon’s outrageous statement can stand in light of Zucker’s call for civility.' ” . . .

How US sanctions will hit Iran

Arab News

The US withdrawal from the nuclear deal has already had a huge effect, including the devaluing of the Iranian rial and oil exports falling by about a million barrels a day. The impact of the sanctions was felt early on, with their announcement in May driving many companies to abandon Iran, causing the value of its currency to plummet

"DUBAI: While Iran braces for a new set of sanctions on Monday that will target its oil, shipping, energy and banking sectors, US measures have already taken a heavy toll on the Islamic republic.
"As part of the new sanctions, the US Treasury Department will add more than 700 names to its list of blocked entities as of Nov. 5, with the US working closely with countries to cut off Iranian oil exports as much as possible.
"The State Department said on Friday it has closed the “Obama-era condensate loophole,” which allowed countries to continue importing the byproducts of oil and natural gas from Iran even while sanctions were in place.
“ 'This loophole allowed millions of dollars to continue to flow to the regime,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “These sanctions hit at the core areas of Iran’s economy, and they are necessary to spur changes we seek on the part of the regime. The maximum pressure we imposed has caused the rial to drop dramatically, the country’s Cabinet is in disarray, and the Iranian people are raising their voices even louder against a corrupt and hypocritical regime.' ” . . .

Under Obama, the CIA Suffered a 'Catastrophic' Disaster

Michael Walsh

. . . "This is simply stunning. A rollup of networks across the world -- an event that began in Iran, where the Obama administration would soon enough be negotiating its much sought-after "nuclear deal framework," and ended with numerous deaths is the kind of thing of which intelligence nightmares and national-security disasters are made. One's first instinct is to look back and see who was CIA director during that period: Leon Panetta (Feb. 2009-June 2011); Michael Morell (acting director, July-Sept. 2011); David Petraeus (Sept. 2011-Nov. 2012); Morell again (acting, Nov. 2012-March 2013); and finally John Brennan, who served out the remainder of the Obama administration.

"In other words, a lot of churn during what we now know was a tumultuous time. Oddly enough, one important national-security position experienced exactly zero churn during these years, that of Homeland Security adviser. Which chair was occupied by John Brennan, until he stepped in at the CIA.

A former senior intelligence official with direct knowledge of the compromise said it had global implications for the CIA.  “You start thinking twice about people, from China to Russia to Iran to North Korea,” said the former official.  The CIA was worried about its network “totally unwinding worldwide.”

Yahoo News’ reporting on this global communications failure is based on conversations with eleven former U.S. intelligence and government officials directly familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive operations. Multiple former intelligence officials said that the damage from the potential global compromise was serious — even catastrophic — and will persist for years.

. . .
How on earth can any nation serve alongside the US, sharing their priceless secrets after
Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, and now this latest act of murderous ineptitude?

Dozens Of US Spies Killed After Iran And China Uncovered CIA Messaging Service Using Google  "The common denominator is Obama/Brennan.

"Via Yahoo:

Dozens of American spies were killed in Iran and China after a flawed communications service that allowed foreign foes to see what the agents were up to using Google, official sources have claimed."Between 2009 and 2013 the US Central Intelligence Agency suffered a “catastrophic” secret communications failure in a website used by officers and their field agents around the world to speak to each other, according to a report in Yahoo News, which heard from 11 former intelligence and government officials about the previously unreported disaster.“We’re still dealing with the fallout,” said one former national security official. “Dozens of people around the world were killed because of this.”The internet-based communications platform was first used in the Middle East to communicate with soldiers in war zones and had not been intended for widespread use but due to its ease of use and efficacy, it was adopted by agents despite its lack of sophistication, the sources claimed.Cracks only began to show when Iran, angered that the government under Barack Obama had discovered a secret Iranian nuclear weapon factory, went out with a fine tooth comb to find moles.It discovered the existence of one of the websites used by US agents using Google. US officials believe that Iranian spies were able to use Google as a search tool to find secret CIA websites, unbeknown to those using them.

. . .

Why Did Media And Democrats Abandon Their Investigation Into Brett Kavanaugh?

The Federalist  "What happened to the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct levied against Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation battle? The claims ranged from Christine Blasey Ford’s remotely plausible if unsubstantiated allegation of a violent attempted rape to Michael Avenatti’s completely outlandish and also unsubstantiated allegation of hosting serial gang rape parties.

"From September 12 to October 6, the claims absolutely dominated all major media. They ran on the front pages of all major newspapers and filled the hours on cable and network news. Magazine journalists at The New Yorker ran with the claims, despite massive corroboration problems.

"The claims were taken so seriously by the media and some U.S. senators it led to serious delays of the confirmation voting process. A hearing was held during and after which all the talking heads on cable asserted Blasey Ford was completely “credible.” Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, even maneuvered to reopen an FBI investigation to dig into the claims. Then they disappeared. Overnight.

"The argument for delaying the confirmation process indefinitely was that everyone needed time to investigate the allegations. The argument underlying the media coverage was that these allegations were “credible” and needed to be investigated and reported on given the importance of the lifetime position for which Kavanaugh was nominated. The allegations were hitting in the midst of the Me Too movement, which claims to address sexual assault by powerful men. It should be noted that for a claim to be declared “credible,” it doesn’t need to be verified or have any substantiating evidence but merely that journalists and pundits “believe” it or find it possible." .  . . Mollie Hemingway

Obama goes crazy on the campaign trail

Monica Showalter  "Is there anything more pathetic than an ex-president, who ought to be writing his memoirs and establishing a genuine presidential library for the study of his administration, is instead campaigning at a midterm like he's still running for president?

"Well, here he is, President Obama, making a fool of himself:

Video at the link.  

"As Drudge Report notes, citing American Mirror, his voice is actually cracking.

"Which I suppose happens when you campaign too much before half-empty stadiums and union halls.

"The man's time has passed, yet it's obvious he's desperate to still stay relevant, so now he's sounding crazy.

"He may indeed want Democrats taking the House in a bid to Get Trump, given that Trump has dismantled his sorry legacy.

"But there is probably something more going on than just that: Obama has openly stated he regretted that he was never able to run for office against Trump due to term limits. (He got the crotchety John McCain and the smooth, avuncular Mitt Romney instead, but no stimulating opposition challenge such as Trump.) Trump's a take-no-prisoners, break-all-the-niceties-rules authentic outsider who could give Obama a run for his money, and Obama, the ultimate insider, obviously finds that exciting.

"An Internet meme going around suggesting that Obama is paying participants $15 to attend his rallies seems to be fake at least in the instance being cited (and I saw nothing on Craigslist when I checked), and the empty union halls speak for themselves, but such companies do exist, as this 2015 Atlantic piece described.

"So for now, the net result seen is that Obama has lost all dignity and is rapidly losing his political stock as he screams and flails. The crowds aren't there, but he can't go away. The press, for now, is supporting him, but they're rapidly disgracing and discrediting themselves as well - witness their effort to portray an Andrew Gillum supporter in Florida as a voter who had her mind changed through the persuasive skills of Obama - who turned out to be Gillum's mother. When Obama loses the press, he's not going to be a happy camper, particularly if Democrats fail to take the House, the Senate, or some critical governorships on Tuesday."

'No evidence' to back Kavanaugh accusers' claims, Senate panel's report on FBI probe finds. Can the Justice sue for defamation?

Fox News   "An investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh by multiple women found that no witnesses could provide evidence to substantiate their claims, a letter to Senate Republicans from the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said Friday.
"According to the 414-page report released by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, investigators interviewed more than 40 people, monitored social media and news reports and reviewed evidence provided by the judge and his accusers.
"“Following the separate and extensive investigations by both the Committee and the FBI, there was no evidence to substantiate any of the claims of sexual assault made against Justice Kavanaugh,” the report states." . . .

Can Justice Kavanaugh sue for defamation? . . .

When directly asked by Committee investigators if she was, as she had claimed, the "Jane Doe" from Oceanside California who had sent the letter to Senator Harris, she admitted: "No, no, no. I did that as a way to grab attention.["]

"She never met him.  He never raped her.

"It's time for Justice Kavanaugh to consider a defamation suit.  Maybe he can't as a public person.  Maybe he does not want to put his family through this.

"However, we have in this lady's own words that the whole thing was the work of partisan and angry Democrats.  They set out to destroy a good man and nearly did.

"Yes, I hope Justice Kavanaugh considers a defamation suit.  I think we need someone to pay for this awful episode."

Gay Conservative Heckles-Rattles Barack Obama at Rally — “You Belong in Jail!!… You Belong in Jail!!” — Democrats Beat Him Up

The Gateway Pundit  

"CFP Founder Jacob Engels called out former President Barack Obama… moments after an Afro-Cuban man exposed how Obama abandoned the BLACK-LATINO community at Obama’s rally in Tampa, Florida on Friday.

"According to Big League Politics Jacob Engels, a fearless gay conservative, was forced to go undercover as a hipster to get inside the rally." . . .

Ben and Jerry’s Introduces ‘Pecan Resist’ Flavor, Slams ‘UnAmerican’ President Trump

Breitbart  "The two men who founded Ben and Jerry’s ice cream company – known for its leftist activism – were in Washington, DC, on Tuesday to announce the new “Pecan Resist” flavor mocking President Donald Trump and stating at the event that Trump “must be stopped.”    Video
 . . .

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were joined at the National Press Club by other leftist activists, including Color of Change, Honor the Earth, NETA and the anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour, co-founder of the anti-Trump Women’s March.

“In 40 years Ben and Jerry’s has never spoken out against the president of the United States and we do not do so lightly today,” Cohen said. “But these are not normal times.”  . . .

Image by Mike Harris

More at the link above.

Man Who Vandalized Synagogue, Set Fires At Jewish Buildings Was Democratic Activist Who Worked For Obama

Weasel Zippers 
"He was also a canvasser for the Obama campaign when he was 15, that’s how he met Christine Quinn*."

Via Daily Caller:

The suspect in the vandalism of a New York synagogue was a Democratic activist and former City Hall intern who worked on anti-hate crime issues, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

He is a “queer” black man informally adopted by a Jewish couple, and The New York Times’ charity, the Neediest Cases, helped pay for him to go to college where his focus was African American studies, according to a 2017 New York Times profile.

A political event with two Democratic candidates at the Union Temple of Brooklyn was canceled Friday after attendees found graffiti saying “Die Jew Rats” and “Hitler,” which one of the candidates said highlighted the need to vote out “hate.” Police arrested 26-year old James Polite later that night based on surveillance footage.

A year ago, The New York Times profiled Polite, noting that he was an LGBT foster youth who “could defy the statistics” after becoming the “adopted child of the Quinn administration,” as Christine Quinn, then the speaker of the New York city council, put it. “And it wasn’t just me. It was the entire City Council staff.”

Keep reading…

James Polite

*  "The suspect in a synagogue vandalism act that forced the cancellation of a Democratic event is reportedly a former City Hall employee who worked on anti-hate crime issues and is a Democratic activist, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
   "The New York Times and a Jewish couple helped the impoverished gay black man attend college where he studied African American studies, according to The Times.
   "He resented New York liberals as patronizing, and railed against Israel and cultural appropriation, according to his Facebook profile." . . .
   "Before knowing his identity, politicians said the vandalism demonstrated why voting Democratic was needed and highlighted government programs to combat such incidents."   From the Daily Caller