So, the Black Lives Matter thing? If you had guessed it was ginned up by commie activists, you guessed right. It does, after all, have the primary mark of a leftwing program – it is based upon lies.
John Stoehr over at The Week notes that Hillary will continue Obama’s policies and this is proof that Hillary is the change we need. I wonder: do our progs even remotely realize how silly their double-speak sounds?
Pretty sure that Team Hillary’s prediction of a what will result from a Sanders win in Iowa is “a plague of locusts o’er the land” – Nate Silver, however, breaks it down pretty well. Bottom line: Iowa and New Hampshire are Sanders country…filled with white, upper class liberals. Elsewhere in the country, not so much. On the other hand, a Sanders win in both places might tilt enough voters in SC his way to make even a Hillary win look weak…and then just about everything is up for grabs in the Democrat primary.
Apparently, Bill Clinton wasn’t looking a picture of health at a rally – and there are plenty of questions about Hillary’s overall health. Sanders, at 74, does appear at times more vigorous than both of them (maybe being a granola-eating hippy does have benefits?). Not to be disrespectful, here, but in the Clinton’s we are proposing to elect a Geezer-American as President. This can be done – most famously by Reagan…but Reagan looked and acted like the picture of good health. Question: if Hillary gets elected and is incapacitated while in office, would the Administration tell us?
Trump is to travel to Arkansas next week – Allahpundit notes the oddity. The obvious conclusion – Huckabee is going to endorse Trump. Allahpundit notes some strong reasons for doing this (animosity towards Cruz; possibility of some position with Trump…maybe even a VP pick). It would be yet another major Evangelical voice coming out for Trump who is, well, let’s just say he’s a bit theologically vague and has a checkered past. I admit I don’t understand the willingness of Evangelicals to back Trump – especially against rock-solid Evangelicals like Cruz (and Huckabee). Maybe this is just because I’m Catholic and can’t see it all from the inside…I fully understand the forgive thing (it is only anti-Christians who believe that Christians are cruel and unforgiving), but I wouldn’t expect someone like Trump – who has not, apparently, repented of those past actions which rather flew in the face of Christian morality – to get this sort of Evangelical support. But, there it is…
The Administration is changing the rules on labeling Israeli-made products. Seems that if you make your product on land the Administration considers Palestine, you can’t call it “Made in Israel”. This is to punish Israel over the Settlements issue. But if they aren’t labeled “Made in Israel”, then what will they be labeled? That is unclear. But what is clear is that, once again, the Obama Administration is signalling anti-Israel views.
Blogs For Victory 
Mark, you and I are not the only ones bewildered by why some people do what they do. My personal opinion is that they are often motivated by things other than the reasons they give. Evangelical support for Trump is an example. Here a whole demographic which has been quite clear and quite vehement about the need for morality in government, for the requirement of good character in our leaders, has many of its “leaders” openly supporting the one potential candidate with the most public history of bad character and lack of morality.
The kindest explanation for this—and it is not kind at all—is that these purported evangelical Christians are willing to set aside the principles they have been waving around for all these years, ever since Zippergate, because they think it is now less important than electing someone who “can get things done”. No matter how he does it. There was so much talk about how character DOES matter—but now it doesn’t.
They even seem to be redefining their own religious beliefs, now accepting that a man does not have to acknowledge that he has sinned, much less ask for forgiveness, to be forgiven, at least by them. I wonder if they think God also forgives those who don’t find any fault with their own behavior, or ask for forgiveness. Or maybe God doesn’t seem to be a very big part of the equation.
That is why this quote, from Thomas Sowell’s latest article, seems so relevant.
“More than two centuries ago, Edmund Burke said: “Constitute government how you please, infinitely the greater part of it must depend upon the exercise of the powers which are left at large to the prudence and uprightness of ministers of state.”
In other words, the personal character of the people to whom you entrust the powers of government matters even more than what kinds of government institutions there are. There have been some good kings and some bad presidents, as well as vice versa”
http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2016/01/30/grow-up-n2112211
Nearly three years ago I got in a discussion with the husband of an old girl friend of mine from high school. It was such an interesting conversation that I actually wrote three posts here titled Discussion with a Liberal. Parts 2 and 3 are here and here. It turned out, IMHO, to be one of the best pieces I’ve ever written. Even more interesting, and not surprising to any of the Conservatives here, is the fact that Part 4 never materialized because he got in a snit and started calling me names when we got into a discussion of climate change, and I made fun of his proof that consisted of an article in Rolling Stone.
Anyway, to make a long story short, one of the things he said that was not completely reflected in his side of the discussion was that he considered most deeply religious people, particularly evangelicals, to be hypocrites, and I think nowhere is that more evident than the evangelical support for Trump.
Democracy is messy – which is why, of course, thinking people favor an iron Republic. As Chesterton said, we’ll have Rules or we’ll have Rulers. There aren’t any other options. We either write up our strict rules and observe them to the last jot and tittle, or we will get a government of Men doing whatever they please.
And, yes, I realize that puts you in a better position than me – given your very strict insistence upon the Rules!
Listening to Trump refer to his newfound conservatism and his deep Christian faith, going as far as posing with a Bible, always reminded me of an old Outback Steakhouse commercial. I couldn’t find it, but I found several that had the same message, from one of the actors of Flight of the Conchords—basically, “I’m a vegetarian. Oh, I eat beef. And pork. And chicken. I guess I’m semi-veg.” More fun with the Aussie (actually New Zealand) accent.
As an aside, if you like Monty Python-like silliness, you might try to track down some of the old Flight of the Conchords clips. The one about the boys trying to learn how to flip the bird is particularly funny,
Hey, it’s Sunday morning, have a great cup of coffee and a lot of snow outside so it is a good time to catch up on some things on the ‘net.
This may make me a Colbert fan:
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/christinerousselle/2016/01/31/stephen-colbert-exposes-trumps-flipflops-in-hilarious-trump-vs-trump-debate-n2112526
OK, I know he’s a Lib who will do the same to any GOP nominee, but this is funny. And relevant.
Very funny, and it only scratches the surface.
It started off with the comment about Trump backing off from having to deal with Megyn Kelly and commenting on Trump’s weakness when it comes to dealing with “strong blonde women” while showing his photo next to Hillary. And it got better from there.
Good news for a Monday—-it looks like Cruz won Iowa for the Republicans and the Dems are about equally split on which train wreck they are betting on. Rubio only a point behind Trump at the last count—he looks energized, while Trump looks like a deer in the headlights.