I’ve been reading a biography of President Grant. Early take: he was the First Trump. To be sure, there are gigantic differences between the men – Grant being very humble at all times and, also, a man of very strict Christian morals. But, Grant, like Trump, was a normal man who succeeded by beating the upper crust types…who despised him for beating them. Part of the reason why Lee became so revered (north and south) was because people who hated Grant – which included a lot of people up north, especially in the GOP leadership – built up Lee to help tear down Grant. You gotta remember, though it is hard, that Lee’s greatest triumph, Chancellorsville, was actually botched. He should have bagged the Union army just as Napoleon did the Austrian army at Austerlitz. He failed to do so. And his attack on the last day of Gettysburg was a dismal failure of imagination. Grant had his mistakes, too, most notably Cold Harbor…but Grant never failed of his aim: in war, he always accomplished what he set out to do. It is rare that a general can boast of that.

Democracy is always very much a fight between the ins and the outs. The people on the inside want to remain inside and will only be pleased if other insiders get in…they will fight tooth and nail to keep the outsider out, or destroy him if he slips in. What we’re seeing play out here has happened before…some times the outsiders win, most times they lose (Grant could never quite defeat the political forces arrayed against him: he got re-elected, but when he left office, the insiders still controlled the destinies of the Republic). We’ll see if Trump does better.

There are rumors that the Minnesota Democrats are seeking a primary challenger to Rep. Omar. They won’t get one – they can’t. In the end, racial bean counting has become so ingrained in how Democrats view the world that the only person who could possibly be allowed to challenge Omar would be someone just like Omar.

Don’t send your kid to college – send him or her to trade school:

…consider Dan Maurer, a journeyman pipefitter with United Association Local 190, a plumber and pipe trades union in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He’s one class away from an associate degree in applied science. He left general construction and carpentry to pursue the mechanical trades and today does welding, plumbing, and medical gas piping for Boone & Darr, a mechanical contractor in Ann Arbor. A rock-solid middle-class breadwinner, Maurer is the sole support for his stay-at-home wife and two young daughters, no small feat today for any young family.

A future in the trades begins even before you graduate high school, he says: “Pay attention while you’re in public school to the education that’s right in front of you. It’s free. It’s a gift. When you go on from there to pursue a trade, remember that whatever you put into it is what you get out of it.”

More and more of that, please. We need hands-on people who know how things work…that is what we need for the practical reason of making things work, and for the future because innovation really comes from the ground up as people doing the work think of better ways to do it.

Ace collects some horror stories from the Trans front. What the State is doing – allowing/forcing – vis a vis kids who claim to be trans is appalling. If you’re the parent of a young boy or girl and that kid suddenly decides they are trans, you’re not going to be able to stop it. You might find yourself in grave legal jeopardy if you tried to stop it…and as the article notes, there seems to be unlimited funds for kids to transition. Who is ponying up this money? How did this get decided? We need to look very deeply into this, totally unafraid of the names the left us will call us for doing so. This isn’t about whether and adult can choose this (they can) nor whether we should show respect to those who have (of course we should)…this is about whether or not a minor child can choose this without parental consent…and whether or not doctors should be allowed, even with consent, to permanently, physically alter a child (I say, “no”: hey, if the kid is really determined on this, then at 18 he/she/xir can have at it…but no permanent alternations until the kid is at the age of consent).

Beto announced he’s running for President on the “hey, don’t I look young and cool?” platform. Geraghty points out:

If Beto had an R after his name instead of a D, you’d hear he was boarding-school-attending judge’s son who dodged serious charges for the DUI & burglary, used eminent domain to gentrify poor Latino neighborhoods & married into a billionaire’s family.

So, a woman in Massachusetts attacks a man for wearing a MAGA hat. All too common SJW action these days – but there’s a twist: she is an illegal immigrant and is now in ICE custody.

We’ve gone far wrong when foreigners illegally in our country think they have to right to do anything political. And how many are there like her? This really burns me up: it is like these people think we’re garbage and don’t even have a right to our own nation.

Leftist sucker Jorge Ramos got arrested by his hero Venezuelan dictator Maduro…Ramos found out that dictators brook no opposition of any kind. I’d like to feel sympathy for Ramos, but I can’t: if in 2019 you don’t understand that socialist dictators are bloodthirsty savages, then you are simply too stupid for words.

A warning that just because the Democrat primary is a clown car of socialist idiots, don’t think they can’t win. Do read it: it is important. The Democrats can win in 2020. I think their chances are better than usual at ousting an incumbent President because (1) the entirety of the global Establishment will help them in any way possible and (2) Trump is a polarizing figure who will generate a backlash. Now, on the flip side, (1) Trump is a polarizing figure who can get his own base to the polls and (2) outside the social media fever swamps, people are feeling pretty good about the country. But make no mistake about it, 2020 will be a hard fought campaign and, likely, a narrow decision regardless of how it goes.

Never Trumpers are determined, not to beat Trump, but to cause him enough damage that Democrats can beat him. They are going on history here: no President challenged in the primary has won a second term. That is true: but the thing is, each President challenged seriously in the primary was being challenged because it was perceived he wasn’t doing what the rank-and-file wanted done. The Never Trumpers despise the GOP rank-and-file. This is a revolt of the Cocktail Party. Even if they got a serious contender (like Governor Hogan of Maryland), it would immediately be perceived by GOP voters as the rise of the swamp…such a candidate, even if well funded, would be lucky to hit even 10% in any early primary, and that would be that. And, of course, everyone involved would have to go into it knowing that never again would they play any role in GOP politics. Most Never Trumpers are likely ok with that – this is being done as their last effort under the title of Republican…to try and give Democrats victory and then slide into Democrat party positions as a reward for their betrayal of the GOP.

Just been a busy week, hasn’t it?

Anyways, we had snow in Las Vegas. Real snow – like parts of the town getting 4 to 8 inches, and it isn’t melting off in an hour. Right around Casa Noonan, just a few dustings; but other friends have pictures up on Facebook with piles of snow and snowmen. This is very strange for Las Vegas. And this is the coldest, wettest winter I’ve ever experienced out here. Our average high this time of year is 64 degrees, by the way. Usually, I’m planting flowers by this time.

William Jacobson theorizes that with the Democrat primary field becoming a clown car, Democrats will draft Michelle Obama to save them from Four More Years of Trump. The Powers That Be will have to do something, or 2020 is going to be mighty disappointing. I think that so many Democrats are getting in because they believe MSNBC and so think that getting the nomination is tantamount to getting elected President. So far, I don’t see any of the declared candidates acting as if they are merely angling for a VP slot or laying the groundwork for future efforts…they all seem to be convinced they are the one. And the field will get more crowded…and the Starbucks billionaire guy will siphon away Democrat votes. They’ll have to do something.

Of course, they might not be able to – I never got the impression that Michelle Obama really cared about politics. And I’d love to see a deadlocked DNC with various Prog pressure groups trying to work out a compromise candidate.

Speaking of which, Harris and Warren have both come out in favor of reparations for African Americans. My first question: a friend of mine immigrated legally from the West Bank about 20 years ago; how much does he owe? That aside, I can’t think of anything which would make the Democrats toxic outside the deep, blue areas than arguing for reparations. They might feel it necessary in order to energize African American voters, but I can’t see it costing them less than two votes for every one they gain. So, I completely support the Democrats going in this direction.

Lara Logan is a reporter and she was brutally raped by a gang of Islamists during the Arab Spring. Now, she’s come out to say that the MSM is a mere propaganda arm – and for some reason, in spite of her courage and grit in overcoming terrible personal tragedy…she’s not getting a lot of MSM respect. Go figure.

Low T men are moody and angry – but, you already knew that.

SJW idiots try to torch a statue of General Lee…only problem is that it was a statue of General William C. Lee, father of the American airborne forces in WWII. Liberals are not just dumb, they are also astonishingly ignorant.

The Virginia Democrat saga has been sent into the Memory Hole by the MSM, but it turns out that Fairfax’ second accuser is willing to testify about it…so, maybe this gets back in the news. You can bet that VA GOPer’s wouldn’t mind holding a hearing or two in October about the whole mess.