Chancellor Merkel is having one heck of a hard time forming a government – not entirely surprising for a party leader who only got 33% of the vote (the lowest vote for her CDU in the post-WWII era). She won’t work with populist AfD, and the classic-liberal FDP couldn’t go with Merkel’s immigration and economic policies. Latest is she’s trying to work out a deal with the socialist SPD…and that a supposedly Conservative party would want to work with the SPD is all anyone needs to know about how corrupt politics is these days (earlier, she was trying to work with the downright fascist Greens to form a government). It has got me thinking: Germany is nothing but a mistake.

I know, kinda harsh. But, really, what is Germany? It was a mere geographic expression until Bismarck dragooned most of it (less Austria and a couple other bits and pieces) into joining Prussia in the misbegotten German Empire in 1870. Prussia, itself, wasn’t much to write home about – like all German States, it was really no more than the personal property of one family – in this case, the Hohenzollern’s, who started out as the Margrave of Brandenburg, and managed to get their estate raised to the dignity of a Kingdom in 1701. It had no organic connection to, say, Bavaria or Baden…heck, even the type of German spoken in Prussia was different from that spoken in Bavaria. And Bavaria and Baden had vastly more culturally in common with France and Austria than they did with Prussia. But, the deed was done – and it was fused together by Prussian militarism and Bismarck’s bleakly amoral Realpolitik. In hindsight, the proper policy to pursue after the monster was slain in 1918 was to re-break up Germany. All we did by allowing it to survive is to give Hitler his chance – and since the defeat of Hitler, what we’ve got in the center of Europe is a still powerful entity which doesn’t even know what it is or what it wants. Unified Germany has been a bane to rational policy in Europe for 147 years. I feel for a people who can’t be patriotic because to be a German patriot would mean either honoring the Kaiser or the Fuhrer – broken up into constituent parts, a Bavarian or Saxon patriot would have something to talk about. What is to become of it, I don’t know – but as long as Merkel is in charge, it’ll just go from bad to worse.

Legal Insurrection points out that the Mueller investigation looks more and more like the revenge of James Comey, and I can’t find much to disagree with on that. On the other hand, some observers I’ve come across figure that Mueller might have switch to the pro-Trump side and is actually setting up a massive attack against the Deep State – there is some sense in that. After all, we all look at is as bad that a whole bunch of Obama- and Clinton-bots were brought in by Mueller but, think about it: these people are no longer at Justice or the FBI and thus can’t gum up the works there. I’m still in favor of firing Mueller and bringing this charade to an end – but I guess Trump has his reasons for holding fire. I can’t believe that it is fear – the man clearly doesn’t fear what his opponents will say about him over any particular action he takes.

Snowflakes demand we stop calling them snowflakes because this hurts their feelz. I’m sure all of you will accord this demand all the respect you can muster for snowflake whines.

The Bake the Cake court case has caused a lot of social media argument. My view: no one should be compelled to work they don’t want to do. Unless the public safety requires it, everyone should be free to refuse service to anyone, at any time, for any reason…or none at all.

Most of those we deport are sweet, well-meaning Dreamers who just want to help terrible criminals we don’t want in our country. I know, you’re totally shocked.

Our tax-loving liberals are displeased they’ll have to actually pay their taxes. Advocating for high taxes is merest virtue-signalling…most often done by people who are rich enough to pay the freight/canny enough to hide their income.

Conyers has called it quits – and endorsed his son to replace him. Funny, I thought we tossed out monarchy in 1776.

Interesting observation from a comment over at Instapundit:

Did the prosecution tell Flynn’s lawyer that their main witness against him was removed for bias? Since Strzok led the interview and his testimony would be needed to establish untruthfulness, he is a critical witness not just a prosecutor. If not disclosed, would this not be a Giglio violation? This is the kind of misconduct that can get a case dismissed and a lawyer disbarred. It is a Constitutional violation. This has bothered me since I heard about it.

It does seem odd to me – the whole case seems to hinge on the word of a man who is clearly on the side of Hillary and opposed to Trump.

Personally, I think that Flynn is being railroaded and he copped a plea simply to make it end – unlike certain Clinton people we know, Flynn hasn’t amassed a gigantic fortune over his years of public service and thus can’t afford the massive legal team a drawn-out case would require…and as he’d be tried in DC, where 91% of the people voted for Hillary, even a first-rate legal defense might be unavailing. As there was no Trump/Russia collusion, there’s nothing Flynn can say, even if he wants to, which would in any way compromise the President. Given that Trump has been in the public eye for decades and has never run afoul of criminal law before, I suspect there’s nothing Flynn can say which will cause Trump legal trouble in that direction. He might be able to help Mueller get someone else on a process crime, but that would be about it. Given that one of Mueller’s investigators was revealed to be a pro-Hillary hack, there are grave doubts about the entire investigation. My view remains as it has been: fire Mueller. End this charade.

Our liberal friends are reacting to the Senate passage of the tax bill in the calm, reasonable way we’ve come to expect: America has been killed. Outside of that, there are some things to like, and some things not to like in the bill. Everyone, I think, can find things to delight and dismay in the bill…and such is the way of things when laws have to be enacted on consensus. The basic thrust of it – a reduction in tax rates – is unarguably good. Be better if there were deficit reductions attached, but we also know (“we” as in Conservatives; liberals don’t know this because they refuse to know it) that the spur to economic growth will result in revenues far in excess of those projected, so the long-term effect will be deficit reducing. I’m in favor of the elimination of the SALT deductions – sorry, high-tax-State fellow Americans, but I don’t think it right that low-tax States should essentially subsidize your profligate and almost entirely Democrat-run States. Don’t like it? Vote in some tax-cutting Republicans. Increasing the child-tax credit is generally a good thing, but anyone thinking that tax credits actually help in demographic matters is foolish: Americans aren’t having kids because they’ve lost hope. Restoration of hope will result in a higher birth rate.

Poll says Roy Moore is ahead. Poll says Roy Moore is behind. Polls are bogus. Especially the poll showing Moore behind – supposedly, Donald Trump is approved by 50% of Alabama voters. Just a year ago, Trump got 62% of Alabama’s votes…and I can’t think of a single thing Trump as done which would make Alabama voters sour on him. Still, don’t go with polls…remember, you’re being told to trust “free” information provided in a partisan election. No one provides “free” information in such a setting unless they’ve got an axe to grind, one way or the other. I think that this is what was missed in most polling over the past 50 years: the people providing the polls are not disinterested. And in these days of hyper-partisanship, just less so than before. Personally, I think Moore wins it by about 10 percentage points – but, we’ll see.

The latest Fake News flare up was ABC’s Brian Ross putting out a bogus report on the Flynn plea – asserting that something happened during Trump’s time as a candidate when it actually happened when Trump was President-Elect. The crucial aspect of this is that what Flynn did for President-Elect Trump was not only legal, but fairly routine for a Presidential transition. Ross reported it falsely and it stirred up quite a storm…even tanked the stock market for a bit. Ross is now on suspension. Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) has long advised that we should treat MSMers as Democrats with by-lines – I go a little further and advise to treat them like Pravda. The MSM, as it relates to Trump, has not the slightest interest in telling the truth. I can only assume they’ve got their marching orders from the DNC and have been told to just say whatever comes to mind, as long as it works out anti-Trump. This can’t just be error; it can’t just be partisan Democrats getting ahead of themselves – they are telling such stupid and egregious lies that it must be coordinated. Someone on the Democrat side has decided that this will work to Democrats long term benefit. I can only suppose they hope the constant drumbeat will eventually convince Republicans in Congress to abandon Trump. There is something to be said for that…but I think, in the end, too many GOPers in Congress know that crossing Trump is political suicide for themselves. A Corker, Flake or McCain out there doesn’t care…but I also note that Corker and Flake aren’t running for re-election while McCain’s prospect of surviving until his next election is thin. Unless something Earth-shattering comes out about Trump, the Congressional GOP will stick with him…and, meanwhile, the MSM lying all the time will just make it ever more likely that nothing Earth-shattering can come out because even if it did, no one will believe it.

I’ve been saying that Never Trump would move over to Progressivism – and over the past couple days I’ve seen prominent Never Trumpers say the TEA Party was motivated by racial animus against Obama and that the tax reform plan is just a giveaway to the rich. So it goes – and I’m more and more convinced that the reason these people called themselves Conservative is because they didn’t want to be in a party which had working class people as it’s backbone. As the Democrats abandoned the working class, so have they become more acceptable to those we now know as Never Trump. It’s really just all an attitude on their part…and they spoke the words of Conservatism because, from Reagan to Trump, there was no real worry that being Conservative would have you associating with those uncouth, redneck morons. On reflection, this shift was inevitable once the TEA Party got started…once, that is, that common folks who aren’t government dependents started speaking up. Trump merely accelerated the process…and it makes me think that Trump saw what I saw: that there was a chance for the GOP to poach lots of Democrat votes if they’d jettison the Country Club/Chamber of Commerce style Republicanism. Never Trump – and the Democrats – think that they’ll now capture the suburbs and thus return to dominance. What they’re going to find out, however, is that playing well in the ‘burbs is nation-wide political poison. You’ve got to get working folks on your side – most Americans fall into the working stiff category. What I expect to actually happen over the next ten years it that the GOP, now Populist-Conservative, will start to make inroads into working class votes in the cities to go along with their working class votes in the rural areas. Never Trump will join their Progressives and be happy sneering at us…and we’ll be happy they keep losing.

Trump calls out Faux-ahontas, gets her mad…but she really needs to come fully clean on her claims of Native ancestry.

Keith Olbermann has decided to call it quits on anti-Trump rants.

In case you’re keeping score, the gender wars are now up to “LGGBDTTTIQQAAP“.

Joy Behar, who some years back said she didn’t believe in God, is now saying that God is calling her to save our country.

There are reports that black Africans are being sold in slave markets in Libya – another of Hillary’s grand legacies.

Europeans are decorating anti-terror barriers for the Christmas holidays. I suggest if they’d actually become Christian and rediscover bravery, they wouldn’t need the barriers…but, that’s just me.

Leandra English, a Progressive hack holding an Obama-era sinecure at the CFPB, is suing President Trump in an attempt to prevent him from replacing her as director of the CFPB. The level of absurdity on the left just keeps growing.

I’ve been trying to think of a time when the Elite of any nation actually got it right. Now, to clarify, there have been times when a member of the Elite hit upon the right solution, but the Elite, as a class, has been consistently wrong in all ages as far as I can see. I think this stems from the fact that once safely ensconced in the Elite, you rapidly lose whatever touch you had with reality…you can’t see how what you do will effect flesh and blood people who aren’t Elite and thus can’t afford to pay the price for Elite mistakes. If anyone wants to call me wrong and pick out where the Elite went right while Joe Average went wrong, I’m all ears. But, remember, it has to be an all right/all wrong thing…no cheating by finding something where, just maybe, the Elite was slightly less stupid than the mob.

I don’t know how many of your know who Justice Willett is, but he’s the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, Trump’s nominee to fill a seat on the 5th Circuit…and one heck of a funny Twitter user. Once upon a time, during one of our interminable marriage debates, he Tweeted out that he could support a Constitutional right to marry bacon. Naturally, his Democrat critics took the joke seriously.

Roy Moore is not backing down. How will it come out? I was getting sure that he was going to lose next month, but Larry Sabato just switched the race to “Leans Dem”, so I figure Moore has it in the bag. It is a very confusing thing, in my view: there are lots of accusers, but plenty of holes in their stories…which shows the impossibility of really judging events decades in the past which weren’t brought forward at the time. I honestly don’t know what the best course is – I don’t want to allow the Democrats to win a turn, but I also don’t want someone who would do what Moore is accused of in office. On the other hand, it’s not like the Senate is some bastion of moral probity, to begin with. I’m just glad I don’t live in Alabama so I don’t have to make an actual choice.

Someone, aside from me, is calling the Student Loan Program what is is: a scam.

Do Trump’s Liberal Critics Seem Increasingly Unhinged? Yes. Next question?

Economists around the world are stunned that by some, strange magic, middle class people are doing better under Trump…they just can’t figure out why.

The Supreme Court will take up a case challenging a California law which requires anti-abortion health care providers to provide information on abortion options. It is a free speech case and I hope the Court rules correctly.

So much, that I can’t really think of it all…but this is the stuff which has stuck in my mind today:

Democracy for America has pulled it’s support for Virginia’s Democrat candidate for governor – he, apparently, was insufficiently in tune with the Party Line on immigration. Now, why did Northam fall into heresy? I can only surmise that the Republican candidate’s attacks on the immigration issue are bearing fruit and Northam felt he had to so something with the election coming on Tuesday. Stay tuned.

Trump called for the death penalty for the NYC terror suspect and our Progressives friends got themselves into a snit that he didn’t call for the death penalty for the Vegas shooter…forgetting, I guess, that the Vegas shooter is already dead. Details – our Progressives ain’t too good with them.

A guy on his way out of employment at Twitter shut down Trump’s Twitter account. Liberals were temporarily pleased.

Democrats seem to have decided to throw Hillary under the bus: starting with Donna Brazile admitting that the primaries were rigged for Hillary. Also admitting that Obama left the DNC $24 million in debt. Also also admitting that Hillary seemed to use donations to the DNC as a slush fund for her Presidential campaign. Also also also Brazile glossing over her responsibility for all this. The only question is whether they are doing this just to get rid of a political barnacle, or whether they’ve been tipped off by Mueller’s team that bad news is coming.

Melania Trump to be protected by an all-female Japanese security team – which sounds really, really awesome. I hope she’s got a lair in some island volcano somewhere…

The GOP tax plan strips out the ability of illegal immigrants to get various tax credits. Which is a big, “no duh” for most of us because, you know, they are illegal and not supposed to even be in the country, let alone getting tax credits. There are other good things in there – also some things which seem a bit more dodgy. We’ll have to see what finally comes out of the Congressional sausage factory.

The Bolsheviks are calling for Revolution on November 4th. Not particularly worried. Don’t get me wrong: these guys ever get on top and you and I are going to be sharing bunks at the re-education camp; but these guys are simply nuts, at the moment.

In the Progressive paradise of Sacramento, California, 200 women have signed a letter claiming massive sexual harassment. Not a single person is surprised. But I did make Twitchy for the second time over it.

I’ll give you a moment to, once again, bask in my reflected glory.

This has been noted in the comments here, but it is worth it’s own entry: George Washington’s Church – the Church helped pay for, that is, and worshiped in for many years of his life – wants to take down a plaque in his honor. As you know, I was ok with tearing down Confederate statues (or, at least, moving them away from public squares), but now I’ve reconsidered: this isn’t about who and how we honor, but just a foot in the door in erasing all of American history. If the left wants to fight a political battle over this issue, then let’s have at it: we win.

Medical science is hard at work on anti-aging treatments. I don’t like this, all that much. I know it’d be great to keep the eyesight and not lose muscle and bone mass as we age. I totally understand that. But do we really want to live to be 150 or 200 years old? We can barely contain our wickedness with 80 years…give us people who at 110 are just as vigorous as people today are at, say, 40, and we’ll be opening up a can of worms which we might well come to regret. People who start to think themselves immortal are going to start getting ever more filled with pride. Everyone is still going to die: living a very long life is probably just going to make it harder for people to do so. I’m just glad this thing won’t be fully developed until I’m out of here.

Sometimes, a RINO has a purpose: Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) calls for DNC and Clinton campaign officials to re-testify about the Trump dossier.

The Virginia governors race is turning on the immigration issue: the bottom line question is whether or not Democrats agree we should have borders. The Experts are telling us that the Democrat is set to win…but the Experts also told us Hillary was going to win. We’ll have to see how it comes out…but if the Republican wins (I rate it 50/50), it will be just more evidence that the electorate is changing.

Shocking news! Trump supporters still want the Wall.

I’ll pause a moment while you recover.

All better, now? Ok, on we go.

Did you hear that the WHO appointed Robert Mugabe a goodwill ambassador? I’ve heard they’ve reconsidered the move, but the fact that they made it, at all, says all that needs to be said about the UN and associated organizations. They are corrupt to the bone and not worthy of the attention of decent people. The sooner we abandon this relic of Yalta, the better.

Lindsay Graham said he had no idea that US troops were in Niger. I admit, myself, to being rather hazy on it…I seem to recall a decision to send some forces into that part of Africa a few years back, but let’s face it: the MSM didn’t actually report much on this particular Obama War. But, still, Graham is a Senator. He gets briefed on these things – I don’t know what is actually worse: the prospect that he’s lying about not knowing, or the real possibility that he simply didn’t know.

Andrew Sullivan is of the opinion that immigration is the issue which could lose the next election for the Democrats. There is some truth to that, but I think the larger point is that our Ruling Class’ (here and Europe) determination to have open borders indicates contempt for the Ruled. There is a sense that those in charge want to have the immigrants in not so much for the sake of the immigrants, but simply so they can preen themselves about being morally superior to those who have questions about open immigration. The continued rush by the Ruling Class to press forward on the Progressive plan as if Hillary had won last year is merely building up a mountain of disgust on the part of the regular folks…who will, I think, make the Ruling Class pay at the polls.

Governor Brown of California had a flash of sanity. Somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered that due process of law is rather a good thing.

Salon made up a list of Conservatives worth following on Twitter. You now have your list of who not to follow.

Harvey Weinstein has been demoted from Progressive Hero to Evil Defender of Patriarchy. Bill retains his position as Progressive Hero, however.

You’re a racist. No, really – Progressives say so. Again.

Trump and McConnell had a get together. I think the Trumpsters are doing wrong by McConnell. As I’ve said before, he’s probably one of the most reliable people trying to help Trump…if only because he knows that if Trump wins, the GOP wins; if Trump loses, the GOP loses.

Don Surber has some observations about the press and freedom. My view: a free press is only worthwhile if it isn’t all on one side. Biased journalism isn’t the problem – the press has always been biased. Used to be, however, that there was biased journalism in favor of all sides…and so, in the aggregate, the truth would come out. These days, 90% of the press (at least) is all on one side…and that they pretend to objectivity merely makes their bias more pronounced.

Jimmy Kimmel isn’t upset that Republicans no longer watch his show. I’ve never seen it, so I wouldn’t know.

O J Simpson is out searching for the real killers partying with women. The only thing I don’t understand: why any woman, even for pay, would want to be around him?

Our SJW friends have moved on from toppling Lee to going after statues of Lincoln. This is just how the left is – but I think that people tire, at long last, of it all. The proof will be in the electoral pudding, but I think that 2018 and 2020 will surprise a lot of people.

Yet another fake hate crime. These days, I always work on the assumption that hate crimes are all fake. There just aren’t enough real racists left in America to sustain a hate crime campaign. Tops, a few hundred thousand Americans subscribe to the absurdity that a person is inferior based on skin color. In order to keep race hatred alive, the race-baiters are forced to use fraud.

Yes, I did celebrate Columbus Day. He did absolutely nothing wrong and the long-term effects of his actions were splendid for the entire world. I think we should have Cortez Day, too…unless someone wants to argue we should have seen how a civilization which ripped out living human hearts and then ate the corpses would have developed.

Harvey Weinstein is just what happens when money becomes the most important thing in the world – he had control of bags of money, and so was allowed to get away with things poor people can’t. I know my fellow Conservatives will get angry with me over this, but the solution to this isn’t a host of new laws, but just one law: tax away excess wealth. Heck, don’t even call it “taxation”…call it what it would be, “confiscation”. Confiscate every cent over, say, $100 million – and then bundle it up in to $100,000.00 increments and give it out via a lottery system using SSN’s to random American citizen adults. This is Redistribution…a key element in a Distributist system. A hundred million dollar fortune is still quite a lot – we’d still have a host of rich people. But not so many people so rich that they can easily buy their way out of trouble…nor buy massive influence in government. And passing the cash around to regular folks would allow a host of new things to rise…things rich people can’t imagine, because they don’t care about. This is the way things work, by the way, people: freedom allows wealth to concentrate and then the concentrated wealth must be broken up to ensure the long-term health of the society. It was when the Romans stopped periodically breaking up the great concentrations of wealth that they started to die. When would the re-concentration begin? As soon as you finished redistribution…but the immense imbalance we have now would take a century to reproduce itself and, meanwhile, the redistribution would allow a lot of new blood to enter the ranks of the rich…new blood which, at least for a while, would not think of itself as special just because it has money.

Twitter banned an ad by GOP Senate Candidate Marsha Blackburn – the reason being that Blackburn made an anti-abortion statement that Twitter considers inflammatory. This, of course, is just Progressive fascism – and thing we’re used to. Twitter, being run by Progs, also didn’t have the wit to understand that the ban would just make everyone watch it on different platforms…Blackburn should send a thank you letter. I’ve seen the ad – Blackburn is no squish. We need her in the Senate, and having her as the replacement for Corker will just make it all that much better. I kinda imagine that this is what Amazona would say, if she ran for Senate.

Texans don’t seem to mind carrying guns around.

President Trump and Vice President Pence had laid out a strong plan for space exploration. Glenn Reynolds points out that it can help the national spirit when we take on such grand tasks. I agree – but I think we should advance things in the time line. Won’t really cost too much more money to, say, get us to Mars by 2027.

UPDATE: We’re all safe here – all friends and family accounted for.

I had just finished watching Sink the Bismarck! – watching it because it is a cool movie and I’ve still got a bit of a thing for Dana Wynter. After it was over, I switched over to catch the local news for the weather before going to bed. They were reporting as I switched on that ever more police were heading towards the Mandalay Bay. That resort is about 10 miles as the crow flies and 13 as the car drives from me. The unfolding of the horror brought back memories of both 9/11 and, long way back, the Cleveland Elementary shootings in 1979.

I wound up very tired all through Monday because I didn’t get to sleep until about 1 am, and then promptly woke up with a nightmare…I can’t remember what it was, but it shocked me wide awake again for about an hour, I guess. It is just so very terrible…the Strip is a playground and it is for people 8 to 80. Yes, there is the seamy side of it, but also things for families and kids to do. It is also very, very safe – you never worry when you’re down there because police and casino security are ubiquitous and the whole place is constantly under electronic surveillance. And then this. And so very strange – the stories about the shooter just don’t fit anything we’ve experienced, at least so far. Of course, the authorities may be withholding key information as they continue their investigation. We’ll see. At all events, please say your prayers for the dead and wounded.

I had been mostly staring blankly at the novel – kinda stuck. Knew where I wanted the story to end, but couldn’t quite figure out how to get from where I was to there…then, last night, I just sat down and started plugging away. Only got down about 2,000 words, but I now know how to finish up this book and it’s going to be fantastic. Very fun, very unexpected ending. So, anyways, still having a grand time on the novel…hope to have it out by about May 1st.

Other than that, started feeling a bit light in the head Sunday morning…then a bit sinusy. Figured it was allergies until I talked to my wife after work – she’s plugged up and starting to cough. A Cold has Arrived! Sucks – but better to get it out of the way early in the season, I guess.

The NFL has mostly surrendered – a few jerks still out there kneeling, but the Powers That Be in the NFL clearly want this to go away. It might – but I don’t think it’ll ever be as it was, and if it ever is, at least not for a long while. The magic is gone – of course, we all saw it going for a while. This kneeling bit just ripped the blinders off. Did you know that the Chargers Quarterback, Phillip Rivers, will make $20,813,000.00 this year? Haven’t watched the last two weeks, but the Bolts are now 0-4. $20 million for one player and the team is utter garbage. Highest paid guy in the NFL this year is the Quarterback for the Lions: he’ll get $27,000,000.00. At least they are 3-1. But that seems a high price to pay for someone to toss a football around. And I’ve nothing against any of them making that money…but it does put them in a financial world that 99.9% of the fans will never approach. Where’s the connection? And then you get the guys who are making millions who are, well, rather creepy. Tattoos all over the place, freakish hair styles, lots of rumors (and some times not rumors) of nauseating behavior off the field. Just add to that disrespect for the flag of the nation which pours that kind of wealth on them, and you get turned off. Heck with them and heck with the sport – Baseball is still partially acceptable and my Cubs have a shot at the big dance. I’ll pay attention to that. And now that Vegas has a hockey team, maybe I’ll take the time to learn about the game and become a fan.

Any real military officer will tell you that logistics is everything – and the problem in Puerto Rico isn’t lack of attention and effort, but a simple problem of logistics. This, in turn, appears to be a huge problem because the government of Puerto Rico let infrastructure run down over the past few decades. A tropical island in the regular path of hurricanes should make hurricane survivability of infrastructure the highest priority. Puerto Rico didn’t.

Now, naturally, the MSM is trying to cook up a Katrina and blame it on Trump – and they are using the same template. Difference is that (a) Trump fights back and (b) his supporters also fight back. It has been a very vigorous pushback against the MSM Narrative about Puerto Rico. Our Fredcons are wringing their hands over it, as usual, but no one cares what they think.

Nicholas Kristof kept up the New York Times‘ century-long tradition of truckling to Communist tyranny this past week in North Korea.

Some are thinking that the Socialists are now the TEA Party of the left. A lot of jokes are being made about this, but in a certain sense, it is correct: the out-and-out Socialists are just taking the Democrats at their word and going to the logical conclusion. My hope is that the Democrats continue to drop the mask and start campaigning on what they really want. The Socialists might force them to it by 2020.