Clumsy Kamala: Why Kamala Harris may be her own worst enemy

"What trips up Kamala Harris is an evident desire to please her audience. She wants no enemies to her left, no identity politics left untouched. She can't run as a prosecutor—crime fighting is so 1990s—but she can run as brash, bold, and woke."   . . .

Matthew Continetti  "No Democrat running for president has had a better 2019 than Kamala Harris. The numbers tell the tale. The California senator was in the low single digits in polls conducted before her official launch on January 28. She is now in the low double digits, running third behind Joe Biden, who enjoys cosmic name recognition, and Bernie Sanders, whose devoted supporters brought him a second-place finish last time. But polls do not tell the whole story.

"Harris raised $1.5 million in the day after declaring her candidacy. That number, impressive for a senator not even a third of the way through her first term, has been bested only by Sanders, a socialist who has a venture capitalist's talent for raising money. He brought in $5.9 million in the first 24 hours of his campaign. Harris, however, has something Sanders does not.

"She is a fresh face of middle age (54 years) and of diverse background (her father is Jamaican, her mother Indian) whose chief rivals at the moment are two geriatric white men. As Democrats search for someone new to lead them against President Trump, Harris has distinguished herself from the field. Her CNN town hall drew record ratings, while Amy Klobuchar's flopped. And Harris leads the 2020 Democrats in social media interactions, according to an Axios/Newswhip study. She's had a good launch. But there's a caveat.

"David Axelrod has described presidential campaigns as MRIs for the soul. He means that a candidate is subjected to pressures strong enough to reveal his or her true character. What voters get at the end of the process is a fuller picture of the men and women they choose to inhabit the White House. In these early weeks of what is certain to be a seemingly endless and certainly vitriolic campaign, Harris has demonstrated both strengths and weaknesses." . . . 

The Difference Between Newsweek’s Reporting Of Smollett Hoax Vs. Conservative Activist Attacked On Video

Daily Caller  "Newsweek’s initial coverage of the Jussie Smollett hate crime hoax and the alleged assault that took place Tuesday on UC Berkeley’s campus drew skepticism Friday from many, though Newsweek defends its reporting as appropriately “cautious.”

"Smollett alleged that two supporters of President Donald Trump assaulted him and poured a bleach-like substance on him while shouting racist and homophobic slurs last month. He was arrested for allegedly orchestrating the entire hoax earlier this week.

Newsweek published, “‘Empire’ Actor Jussie Smollett Hospitalized For Possible Hate Crime With ‘Unknown Chemical Substance’: Report,” by Kelly Wynne, the day after the alleged attack on Jan. 29.

"The article’s lede reads: “Empire actor Jussie Smollett was hospitalized Monday in Chicago after being attacked by two men who allegedly screamed praise to President Donald Trump.”

"The way the article is written appears to confirm that the attack happened. The detail of the attackers screaming “praise to President Donald Trump,” however, was left as uncorroborated.

"Now, the Chicago Police Department believes the entire attack was self-orchestrated by Smollett, and he has been charged with submitting a false report.

"In another incident Tuesday, Hayden Williams, an employee of the nonprofit Leadership Institute, got into an altercation that ended with him being punched in the face. The tail end of the incident was caught on camera." . . .

Watch the man in black allegedly punch the conservative activist:

The alleged attacker and the alleged punch

Here’s A List Of Hoax ‘Hate Crimes’ In The Trump Era

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Praises Trump’s Leadership Against Russia

Daily Caller

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko praised President Donald Trump’s leadership in tackling the Russian threat during a Friday interview on Fox News.

"Poroshenko seemed perturbed by Trump’s desire to get along with Putin, letting out a sigh before explaining that it is only possible to talk to the Russian leader from a position of strength. However, he also said that he is confident in the United States’ stance on Russia. (RELATED: Five Times Trump Has Slapped Down Russia)

“ 'I think that this administration do an excellent, a great job,” Poroshenko said. “This is not only sanctions, for example, presenting Javelin — this is a modern anti-tank system … this has saved a lot of life for Ukrainian soldiers.”

"Poroshenko declined to speak negatively about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who infamously presented Russia with a red reset button, and former president Barack Obama, who mocked Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for calling Russia the country’s greatest geopolitical foe. Instead, he opted to praise the current administration’s role.

“I have a feeling that U.S. administration clear[ly] understand[s] the possible danger of Putin despite of any of their statement.  And with this situation, we have in Ukraine the problem [is] that they should keep power dry.  And with this situation I’m absolutely confident that only strong U.S., the global leadership of the United States and the leadership of the President Trump can keep the world safe.” . . .

Our Infanticidal Moment

National Review Editors

Senator Patty Murray (D, Wash.) is one of several Senate Democrats

 who appear set to oppose the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors 

"Democrats are increasingly open in their support for abortion all the way through pregnancy. Legislation from Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) asks them whether they will draw a line even there.

"The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which the Senate will consider on Monday, requires doctors to provide medical care to infants born alive in the course of attempted abortions and forbids killing them. Senator Sasse brought the legislation to the floor after Virginia’s Democratic governor Ralph Northam endorsed allowing mothers and physicians to determine whether newborns should be left to die, at least in some circumstances.

"Democratic senators managed to avoid opining on Northam’s remarks, with help from reporters who chose to ignore or distort them. But Sasse’s bill forces the issue: Does increasing support among Democrats for abortion up until birth preclude them from supporting a bill that mandates medical care for newborns?
"The answer appears to be yes. When Sasse requested unanimous consent to his legislation earlier this month, he was blocked by Democratic senator Patty Murray of Washington, who claimed that there are already laws against infanticide. In the context of abortion, this is false. No federal law enacts an explicit requirement that newborns be afforded “the same degree” of care that “any other child born alive at the same gestational age” would receive, as Sasse’s bill does. Only 33 states have a law like this in place, and those laws can, of course, be removed. New York’s recent abortion expansion affirmatively repealed the state’s born-alive protections.
"Sounding eerily like Northam, opponents of the bill, including Planned Parenthood, claim that it will unduly restrict women’s health-care options. But this legislation places no restrictions on access to abortion or on the type of abortion a woman can receive. " . . .

2020 Democrat candidates are now supporting reparations for slavery

You may love President Trump or you may hate him, but right now he is all that is standing between us and these Democrats. Don't you wake up every day wondering what the left will do to us next? TD

Peter Barry Chowka  "On February 21, a New York Times feature story about proposals for the government to pay American blacks reparations for slavery has moved the issue closer to the front burner in the lead up to next year's presidential elections.  The article's title summarized the story: "2020 Democrats Embrace Race-Conscious Policies, Including Reparations."  Largely overshadowed on an incredibly busy news day was the disclosure that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), one of the early frontrunners for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, is now enthusiastically on the reparations bandwagon:

Ms. Warren also said she supported reparations for black Americans impacted by slavery — a policy that experts say could cost several trillion dollars.

. . .  "The Times noted that the pro-reparations policy has also been embraced by another prominent candidate for the 2020 nomination:

Last week, Senator Kamala Harris of California agreed with a radio host's recent suggestion that government reparations for black Americans were necessary to address the legacies of slavery and discrimination.  Ms. Harris later affirmed that support in a statement to The Times.

"The Times confirmed the existence of a plethora of additional race-based policy proposals by Democrats, attributing them to virtuous ends:" . . .

There are so very many African-Americans who have in the past been terribly mistreated by whites, especially under Jim Crow laws. I recall in my own time black guards standing unserved and uninvited outside eating places while Nazi POWs were fed during transport. There were the Tuskegee Airmen who were mocked in spite of their excellent combat record in WW2; towns I was in where black GIs disappeared because all the establishments I myself could enter had "Whites only" signs. 

If only we could undo those shamed by being asked to leave businesses and community events; those having been victimized by a legal system that stood against them and supported those white bigots who cheated them, including - I fear - members of my own family in the deep South.

It is those Americans I wish so badly that we could undo the wrong we have done them. But I cannot bear the thought of further enriching the likes of Al Sharpton, Farrakhan, and Maxine Waters along with those crowds who loot and burn cities; those who gather flash mobs to pick businesses clean and those enjoying the "knock-out game". Further, I can see that a case could be made for reparations being owed by black activists to those murdered by rioters, or had their livelihoods destroyed because of their words.

Not one dime should go to those chanting "Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon"!

I fear there may sadly be no way to compensate those who have genuinely suffered degradation in the past without all the well-intentioned reparations (whatever those might be) sucked into the hands of those hoping to enrich themselves by their demagoguery.

Electing this particular black president seemed to have been worse than nothing. 

The Tunnel Dweller.

Bernie blows his big chance to explain socialism in Venezuela

. . . "Sanders argues that the real danger in Venezuela is U.S. intervention, not starving people .  If someone has to starve so the U.S. doesn't intervene, he's obviously all in, because Trump's brandished weapon, aid, can't be allowed in if a socialist government says "no.' "

Monica Showalter  "Bernie Sanders, 77, who's been defending socialist Venezuela for years, and who'd now like to be our president, has some explaining to do.

"An MSNBC interviewer, captured on video by The Right Scoop, gave him just that opportunity, as you can see from this screen shot here:

. . . "Blowing out the private sector through price controls and currency controls, all in the name of "fairness," is a pretty good way to leave just oil as the only money game in town as an unintended (or, given that these are socialists at war with the "greedy" private sector, intended) consequence of socialism writ large.

"Socialist central planning from the state, in that government-knows-best way of Bernie Sanders and all his socialist allies, is another way to Venezuelify a nation through socialism.  In 2003, Venezuela's strongman Hugo Chávez, following his Cowen-described creation of conditions for the destruction of the private sector through the expansion of government, nevertheless still had the state oil industry as his money source to ensure his permanent power, which he justified as "la revolución."  Instead of guarding the oil like Gollum's ring, which would have required free-market business practices, he fired all the oil experts and replaced them with politically connected cronies chosen for their socialism and then spent the oil company's earnings on welfare instead of operational investment, as a normal company would do.

"That's a really good way to run out of other people's money.

"Is Bernie Sanders saying he'd never dream of doing any such things in the name of "fairness" or "ending greed" or "the people"?

"Of course not.  That's why he can't answer the question.

"What's more, Sanders's last statements are a mishmash of true and false premises, which make the rest of his response inchoate." . . .

Spare me all the pieties about Jussie Smollett

"The rush to exploit the alleged but phony hate crime was unseemly because of all the holes in the story. But blinded by hatred of Trump, and anxious to benefit themselves, people like Don Lemon of CNN and Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris sought to benefit themselves."

Thomas Lifson
"[Disclaimer: Jussie Smollett, like all defendants, is entitled to the presumption of innocence in his forthcoming trial[s].  The following analysis is based on the assumption that the evidence presented by assistant state's attorney Risa Lanier is valid and that the charges against him are true.  Registered voters in Cook County, who are members of his potential jury pool, are strongly cautioned that reading further may make them ineligible to sit in judgment at trial.]"

. . . "According to the information presented by police superintendent Eddie Johnson and prosecutor Risa Lanier, greed was one root of the hoax.  Smollett's pay per episode of Empire has been variously reported as as low as $65,000 and as high as $125,000.  Either figure puts him in the dreaded one percent at the top of the income distribution.  Progressives love to lecture us about the injustice of high incomes but always exempt their own.  Being a progressive is akin to the papal indulgences of the Middle Ages.

But there is another obvious motive: political — hatred of Donald Trump.  Drudge has been featuring a picture of him that says it all:"

. . . "While all reports of crime, including "hate crimes," deserve thorough investigation, the fact is that fake hate crime reports are epidemic — Tawana Brawley, Duke lacrosse, UVA fraternities, and many other lesser known instances.  An entire website, http://www.fakehatecrimes.org, is devoted to the epidemic, and they currently have 349 items, including Smollett.  I have repeatedly made the point that there is not enough hate to go around, because our politics and society reward people who claim to be victims." . . .

Leftist Hate Projection. Updated with reactions of students

Power Line Blog  "The left would have you believe that America is a sea of hate from deplorable Trump voters, and on campus especially we hear endlessly that dissent from the party line is “literal” violence to vulnerable peoples. Strangely, actual violence on campuses (and elsewhere) seems to be the monopoly of the left. Such as this incident at Berkeley today, where a student with a table on Sproul Plaza promoting Turning Point USA was assaulted. Notice that the leftist thug says the Turning Point person is “promoting violence,” while he is the only one throwing punches.
(Leftist language advisory)

. . . "This is hardly a unique occurrence. The Berkeley College Republicans often have a table out on Sproul Plaza, where they are frequently spit on, have their signs and printed material ripped up, and are subject to loads of verbal abuse. But as conservatives are made of tougher stuff, they roll with it rather than demanding a “safe space.' ”

Update:
The birth place of the Free Speech Movement again puts a hit out on free speech.  

. . . "Several people were happy Williams got punched.

“OH MY GOD THE MAGA PEOPLE ON UC BERKELEY CAMPUS YESTERDAY GOT PUNCHED IN THE FACE BY SOMEONE THIS MAKES ME FEEL EMOTIONALLY SO MUCH BETTER,” Yuvi Panda, who works for Berkeley Institute for Data Science, wrote Wednesday. “Thank you, random stranger for not letting it go unchallenged. Hope you aren’t in too much trouble. F*** you, Turning Point USA.”

“WHAT Is sproul here’s name!!!” Twitter user gisselle wrote. “Who socked the ugly maga guy!!! i would like to give him a gift.”

WHAT IS sproul hero’s name!!! WHO socked the ugly maga guy!!!! i would like to send him a gift

— gisselle (@LaTierraMadre) February 21, 2019

“ 'There was some MAGA guy tabling on campus today and someone punched him in the face LMFAO,” user going by the moniker i am tall tweeted.

there was some MAGA guy tabling on campus today and someone punched him in the face LMFAO

— i am tall (@judyleajackson) February 19, 2019

. . .  

In the Market for Fetal Body Parts, a Baby’s Brain Sells for $3,340

Democrats on the select panel have called the investigation a “witch hunt” by Blackburn and other Republicans who oppose abortion.

Daily Signal

"Republicans on the special House panel investigating the transfer of fetal tissue from aborted babies will present evidence in a hearing today that breaks down the price per body part.
"With release of this evidence, Republicans say, they have enough documentation to show that several abortion clinics and middleman procurement businesses may have violated federal law.
“ 'It is just horrifying,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who leads the House’s investigation of the fetal tissue industry, told The Daily Signal. “They are putting a dollar value on these organs from these children—unborn children that have been aborted. It is just beyond belief.”
"According to Republicans involved in the investigation, a researcher paid a middleman procurement company $3,340 for a fetal brain, $595 for a “baby skull matched to upper and lower limbs,” and $890 for “upper and lower limbs with hands and feet.”
"Middleman procurement businesses are companies that obtain tissue and other body parts from aborted babies and provide them to institutions or other organizations for research. Under federal law, the transportation of fetal tissue is based on a nonprofit model." . . .

Kamala’s father says ancestors are ‘turning in their graves’ after her latest stunt

Harris has endorsed other controversial topics. Late last year, Harris compared the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to the Ku Klux Klan.

The Media Equalizer

"Sen. Kamala Harris announced one month ago that she’s running for president, and her own father is already turning on her.
"Earlier this month, Harris said during an interview that she attributed her support for smoking marijuana to her Jamaican heritage.
"Donald Harris, the Senator’s father, is a Stanford University economics professor emeritus. In a statement to Jamaica Global Online, he slammed his daughter for pushing “identity politics” and said her grandparents are “turning in their graves.”
“ 'My dear departed grandmothers (whose extraordinary legacy I described in a recent essay on this website), as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics,” the professor wrote in the statement.
“ 'Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty,” he added." . . .

Harris declared she supported Black Lives Matter.

A Citizen Suing the Department of Justice Needs More than Just a Winning Legal Argument

  haryl Attkisson  . . . "Who is behind the move to use government surveillance tools against innocent Americans? Do some of these officials still work inside the government? Were some of them the very same officials now implicated in alleged surveillance abuses during Campaign 2016?

The Case

"In late January, an appeals court heard oral arguments in my federal lawsuit, now entering its fourth year. A panel of three judges will determine what happens next. Here are several possible outcomes: " . . .

. . . "For example, when it came time to print our brief to submit to the U.S. Court of Appeals, I figured I could have printed it at home for about a $20 cost in terms of ink and paper. I could have had it printed at a professional printing center for about $40.

"But in our legal system, those aren’t options. The procedures require us to have the brief professionally printed and bound in a book format. And only certain companies may be used for this service. 

"So how much was it to print the briefing in the required format?

"Instead of $20, it was $4,367.70.

"Just to print a brief." . . .

"It would be easy to give up. That’s why, I think, the government so often comes out on top, even when it’s arguably done something improper or illegal. Ordinary citizens like us don’t have the millions of dollars it takes to pursue justice against an adversary that has unlimited time and money. They have to give up.

"I’m grateful to the constitutional, privacy, civil rights and whistleblower advocates who discovered a few months ago that there were no groups assisting Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI, and started the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund to assist with the lawsuit and fight government overreach.

"If you wish to contribute to this fund, the GoFundMe page is here." . . .

WOW: Sharyl Attkisson’s story about how the DOD responded to her request for photos taken night of Benghazi will INFURIATE you   "The details Sharyl Attkisson shared about what happened when she requested photos from the White House taken the night of the Benghazi attack is absolutely infuriating. Trust us, you’ll be making the same cranky face after you read her tweets … "

Turn against the Democrat media and they will try to eat you alive, as former CBS reporter Lara Logan discovered.
. . ." Those women were universally described as “survivors,” but Lara Logan never is. Criticism of those women – even polite questions about the inconsistencies in their claims – was denounced as “attacking” them, but Lara Logan enjoys no such courtesy. The left long ago decided Logan is a “right-wing shill,” and that political identity trumps everything else about her." . . .