The Democrats' Electoral Disadvantage Is Getting Worse

If a majority-Republican Senate copies the minority Democrats’ 2017 playbook, a Democratic administration can be brought to a halt and never permitted to function. The Democrats asked for it. Let’s hope they get it, good and hard.

Power Line  "At FiveThirtyEight, David Wasserman has a heartwarming analysis of why the Democratic Party is pretty much hosed in Congressional elections for the foreseeable future:

Even if Democrats were to win every single 2018 House and Senate race for seats representing places that Hillary Clinton won or that Trump won by less than 3 percentage points — a pretty good midterm by historical standards — they could still fall short of the House majority and lose five Senate seats.
***
In the last few decades, Democrats have expanded their advantages in California and New York — states with huge urban centers that combined to give Clinton a 6 million vote edge, more than twice her national margin. But those two states elect only 4 percent of the Senate. Meanwhile, Republicans have made huge advances in small rural states — think Arkansas, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and West Virginia — that wield disproportionate power in the upper chamber compared to their populations.
***
In 2016, Trump lost the national popular vote by 2.1 percentage points, but Republicans won the median House seat by 3.4 points and the median Senate seat by 3.6 points — that’s the widest Senate gap in at least a century and tied with 2012 for the widest House disparity in the last half-century.

"The Senate is where the GOP has the largest built-in advantage, since so many Democratic voters are concentrated in a few large states:"

EPA chief dumps on Obama administration, marks 2nd anniversary of Animas River spill

Legal Insurrection

The “event happened and the Obama administration did not show up.”

"While the American press focused on a supposed Russia-Trump connection, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently reminded the country about a real domestic disaster caused by the Obama Administration: The Animas River Spill.

"Scott Pruitt visited the Animas River site last week, where over 3 million gallons of acidic, heavy-metal-laden waste water was accidentally released into the environment, and had some harsh words for Team Obama.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt marked the two-year anniversary of the Gold King Mine disaster in Colorado on Friday by pointing out how the Obama administration erred in causing the massive 3 million gallons toxic spill.

“We want to make sure things are done right,” Pruitt told local news ahead of touring the mine site. “If anyone else would have done what the EPA had done under Obama, with respect to this spill, they would have likely been put in jail.”

…The “event happened and the Obama administration did not show up,” Pruitt said. “Neither the president nor the vice president came to this site after it occurred. And Coloradans have said that they have felt left out.”

"Legal Insurrection readers may recall that the EPA decided that it did not have to pay damage claims totaling $1.2 billion from the 2015 disaster, claiming sovereign immunity.

Pruitt is re-evaluating the rejected claims.

“I’ve already sent out a letter to all the claimants who have filed claims asking them to resubmit,” . . .

Rebranded Hillary Clinton Sets Her Sights On The Pulpit

Shillady said that Clinton, a Methodist, has always been greatly influenced by her faith. “It’s been there all along,” Shillady said. “The general public didn’t necessarily want to accept the fact that she’s a Christian because there’s so many critics out there about the Clintons.”

Daily Caller

"Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is looking to become a spiritual leader after losing to President Donald Trump in 2016, according to reports from people in Clinton’s circle.

"Clinton wants to preach, according to her pastor Rev. Bill Shillady, who has written a book about the former secretary of state’s spiritual life, particularly during her years-long campaign for president.

"During a promotional photoshoot for “Strong for a Moment Like This: The Daily Devotions Of Hillary Rodham Clinton,” a year’s worth of devotions tailored for Clinton as she campaigned for president, Clinton told Shillady that she’d like spiritual leadership to be part of her career.

"Clinton asked Shillady not to write about her desire to be a pastor, however, because “it will make me seem much too pious,” Clinton told Shillady, according The Atlantic." . . .

Far-Left Serial Accuser Targets Eric Bolling

"Eric Bolling shared Cain’s passion. So did Bill O’Reilly and Charles Payne over at Fox Business. They all succumbed to the “feminazi” assault. They were all conservative dragons that had to be slayed."

Satire...just satire, satirical satire. TD

Daniel John Sobieski  "Fox news icon Bill O’Reilly, arguably the man who propelled Fox News into media dominance, was the first at Fox News to fold his tent under duress and slip away under the cloud of multiple charges of sexual harassment. He was the first Fox News conservative target of a liberal left that also targeted the likes of Herman Cain and even Donald Trump himself.

"One of his accusers was Caroline Heldman, a far-left professor at Occidental College whom some have dubbed a “feminazi” who in a tweet said after O’Reilly’s fall, “We can slay dragons”. As Yahoo News reported on her charges: . . .

. . . 

"Caroline Heldman is rapidly becoming the woman who cried “harassment”  She is a far-left ideologue who showed up at President Trump’s inauguration with a sign that read  “good people don’t vote for rapists”. She was a plaintiff in a sexual assault case filed with others against Occidental, Heldman’s school. She and the others were represented by Gloria Allred, the same far left feminist lawyer who led the campaign against former GOP candidate Herman Cain:. . . 

 . . .

"The likes of Gloria Allred, Caroline Helbman, and the rest didn’t care about their more credible and documented claims. As Investor’s Business Daily editorialized in 2011, righteous indignation and claims of victimhood are a one-way street for the liberal grievance industry:" . . .

Mom of pro-Trump child can't find a baker to make a pro-Trump cake

" 'Civil rights" have now become preeminent over freedom of religion.  That cornerstone freedom has been eroded by the belief that "social justice" is being denied protected groups because Christians object to the gay lifestyle and gay marriage. "

Rick Moran  "A 9 year old who wrote a letter of support to President Trump that was read by Sarah Huckabee Sanders at a press briefing last month said that his mother had to bake him a MAGA hat cake herself because she couldn't find a baker who would do it." . . .

. . . 

"An example of freedom of speech exercised by the bakers? There certainly aren't any national organizations fighting for Dyan's right to have a cake honoring his political hero. 

"This is unlike several bakers who have been sued by LGBT activists for refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding." . . .

“Similarly here, cake shops declined Pickle’s order for conscience reasons,” Mr. Farris wrote in a blog post on Thursday. “Yet, no one on the Left is calling for legal action against the cake shops. And neither should anyone on the Right.”
“The fact is that these cake shops have freedom of speech,” he continued. “They have the right to decline to use their artistic talents to celebrate events or promote messages that violate their beliefs, even if it offends a nice little kid.”

" About the only difference between political objections to baking Trump cakes and a religious objection to baking gay marriage cakes is the Civil Rights Act. And it isn't so much the act itself, it's how the law is being interpreted and the declining importance in the eyes of the American legal system of religious freedom." . . .

Except perhaps when Sharia Law is demanded in a democracy?

McMaster: The Ultimate Holdover

Sadly, in view of McMaster's role leading tanks against the Iraqi Republican Guard in the greatest tank battle since WW2 during the Gulf War.

The American Spectator  "Why President Trump needs to fire his national security advisor."

"Many in the conservative media are urging President Trump to fire his national security advisor, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster. McMaster should be fired forthwith, but the reasons being argued are subsidiary to the primary reasons McMaster has to go.

"The debate over McMaster has been framed in terms of his loyalty to Trump. Though loyalty to the president is important, McMaster’s ideology and bad judgment are what make him unfit for the position.

"For eight years the Obama administration relentlessly politicized everything it touched. Those dedicated to Obama’s ideology were embedded in every agency at every level.

"Obama’s failures are numerous and highly damaging to our national security. His State Department produced an awful arms agreement with the Russians, tried desperately to pressure Israel into an untenable peace agreement, and proudly signed Obama’s nuclear weapons deal with Iran.

"Obama’s Defense Department supported the massive spending cuts Obama engineered. Those cuts are the source of the readiness crisis we now face which, for example, leave about 70% of Marine Corps F-18s unfit to fly combat missions. Moreover, the Pentagon never took a stand against Obama’s Iran deal or his dangerous Russian strategic weapons deal.

"The Pentagon failed to alert American forces on the anniversaries of 9/11 (on one of which the Benghazi attacks occurred) and dedicated itself to fighting climate change and social experimentation such as admitting women to special forces and welcoming transgendered people. The army secretary ordered commanders to compromise readiness in favor of lactation needs of serving soldiers." . . .  Also this: McMaster Worked at Think Tank Backed by Soros-Funded Group that Helped Obama Sell Iran Nuclear Deal

American Populism Has Left the Left Behind

From Occupy Wall Street to President Trump — it squandered its huge opportunity.   "Ironically, the acting-up of Occupy Wall Street led to Donald Trump’s presidency. At a moment ripe for populist anger, the left, aided by mainstream media, turned it instead into an elitist temper tantrum. As a result, Middle Americans saw how little they resembled the left and went decisively in the opposite direction.

"The left has never had it easy in America. Prosperity aplenty rarely let leftist movements crawl far from the cradle. The Financial Crisis therefore held special promise. Its particulars seemed to be the seeds for which the left had so often longed.

. . . 

"Billed as the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, it was even better political fodder. Unlike the Great Depression, which affected the entire population because it was based in the monetary system, the Financial Crisis seemed to have winners and losers cast by Frank Capra. There were bailouts to the malefactors — those “too big to fail” — while those on Main Street — “too small to save” — paid. For the left, the Financial Crisis offered unparalleled promise as It’s a Wonderful Crisis.

"On September 17, 2011, almost four years after the financial crisis began, the left responded. Occupy Wall Street seized Zuccotti Park in New York City… and the mainstream media. While Occupy Wall Street held the park for two months, it still has not relinquished its hold on mainstream media." . . .

"Google Fires Author of Divisive Memo on Gender Differences."

Althouse

"Bloomberg reports. 

Earlier on Monday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a note to employees that said portions of the memo “violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.”...  A Google representative, asked about the dismissal, referred to Pichai’s memo.

[James] Damore’s 10-page memorandum accused Google of silencing conservative political opinions and argued that biological differences play a role in the shortage of women in tech and leadership positions. It circulated widely inside the company and became public over the weekend, causing a furor that amplified the pressure on Google executives to take a more definitive stand.

Dershowitz: Being Black Doesn't Give You a License to Call People Racist

pinterest.

Fox News Insider  "Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz had some strong words for Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), who accused him of being a racist.

"Being black doesn't give you a license to call people racist any more than being Jewish gives you a license to call people anti-Semitic," the lifelong Democrat told host Abby Huntsman.

"Last week, Special Counsel Robert Mueller impaneled a grand jury for the investigation into the Trump campaign's relationship with Russia.

"Dershowitz noted that moving the grand jury from Virginia to District of Columbia was good for those who oppose the president.

" '[Washington] has an ethnic and racial composition that would be somewhat less favorable to Donald Trump," Derhsowtiz said.

"Congresswoman Waters attacked Dershowitz over his statement, calling it "absolutely racist."

" 'We will not stand for it," she said on MSNBC.

" 'Race matters," Dershowitz pushed back. "She ought to be ashamed of herself."

" 'Any experienced lawyer understands that both prosecutors and defense attorneys look at factors like ethnicity, race, political affiliation when they decide what venue is best for their case," he stated.

" 'Race and ethnicity is part of everyone's life experience, and Maxine Waters more than anyone ought to know that," he concluded."

Bongino: Maxine Waters Is a Fraud

Now Democrats will intensify their hatred for  this administration.

Weasel Zippers    Via Washington Examiner:

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is poised to reverse the Obama administration’s policy and return to a competitive bidding process to award Section 8 housing, according to a well-placed source in the department.

The move would overturn the Obama-era methodology of using a grant-style process that was rebuked by administrators and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court.

The HUD official said many of the steps necessary to change back to the competitive procurement method are being taken now, but didn’t want to comment on when the announcement from the department might happen for fear of tainting the bidding process.

Supporters of the competitive bidding procurement process say the net result will increase efficiency in the program and save taxpayer money. And Republican lawmakers that have been critical of HUD’s actions in the past are applauding the change in course as well.

“When dealing with performance-based Section 8 contract administrators, it’s clear that full and open competition is the way to get the best value for the taxpayer,” said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla. “As Chairman of the Housing Appropriations Subcommittee, I have repeatedly insisted both publicly and privately that HUD follow Congressional intent, the GAO, and the Supreme Court.”

Keep reading…

Star chamber* justice condemns Eric Bolling of Fox News without a trial

Peter Barry Chowka

"A system of sorts has been perfected to destroy the most effective conservative spokesmen on the Fox News Channel, and it operated with stunning efficiency over the last few days.  A marginal writer with a documented background as a high level political operative and fundraiser in left wing Democrat politics published an unsourced article at a far left Web site, HuffPost (formerly theHuffington Post). The article claimed that multiple anonymous sources supposedly confirmed to the writer that “several years ago” prominent Fox News channel (FNC) host and anchor Eric Bolling – who happens to be a strong supporter of President Donald Trump – texted a graphic, lewd photo of male genitalia to two or three of his FNC female colleagues." . . .

Ali

"The scribe responsible for the damaging article on Bolling uses the byline Yashar Ali. According to an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 2016, his full name is Yashar Ali Hedayat. After a short career doing work behind the camera in Hollywood, Ali Hedayat – reportedly from a wealthy background in Illinois, according to the Plain Dealer – started working as a Democrat political operative. According to several mainstream sources, he reportedly raised between $100,000 and $150,000 for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign. As an individual in recent years, the Federal Election Commission reports “Yashar Hedayat” contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Democrat political campaigns." . . .

. . . "This is pretty much the status quo now: A writer who hardly anyone had heard of publishes a 900 word article in a left wing website relying on exclusively anonymous sources alleging someone of prominence texted one lewd photo to two or three female colleagues several years ago. The details are scanty and the corroboration non-existent. And without a shred of evidence, that targeted individual is immediately taken off the air, has his name expunged from his company’s website, is smeared if not libeled in thousands of news articles including in foreign media, and is left to languish while a Democrat-dominated law firm “investigates” the “charges” against him – which will determine the accused’s fate." . . .

*Star Chamber: A former court of inquisitorial and criminal jurisdiction in England that sat without a jury and that became noted for its arbitrary methods and severe punishments, abolished 1641. Any tribunal, committee, or the like, which proceeds by arbitrary or unfair methods.

The Last White Democrat President

Frontpage Mag

"Bill Clinton was almost certainly the last Southern Democrat to sit in the White House. Obama took Arkansas from a Democrat trifecta to a Republican trifecta. Trump beat Hillary on her husband’s home turf by 60% to 33%. But Bill may also be the last white Democrat to make it to the White House.

"Democrats have three choices in 2020.

"They can try running a white New England leftist like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren who will appeal to the white college leftist base, they can take a shot at a minority progressive like Deval Patrick or Cory Booker who will bring out the minority vote and the progressives, or they can take a gamble on a general candidate who might still appeal to working class white voters like Joe Biden.

"Obama’s people are pushing Patrick. Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s Ethel Gumm, gushes that Patrick is what “my heart desires.” He’s also what the demographic transformation of the Democrats requires." . . .