In a move that blindsided nearly everyone, Nikki Haley has resigned as UN Ambassador after a superstar performance at the General Assembly. No one seems to know why she's leaving; she says she's not running in 2020, and Trump says he hopes she'll come back in another role.
I've always liked Nikki Haley. I wish her well.
Enjoy the Bias Confirmation
If you thought the recent Grievance Studies Scandal was a hoot and would like to read five academics pile on and utterly confirm your prior biases against all this fashionable nonsense, here's your opportunity.
Update: Five academics, not five philosophers as I originally said.
Update: Five academics, not five philosophers as I originally said.
Less power to the people
There's a lot of squawking this week about how things frustrate the popular vote, as if the Constution read in its entirety: "Do whatever the majority thinks is OK."
From the New York Sun:
The job of the Senators is to represent the states.
That’s the Senate’s very purpose. The Left likes to suggest that the only reason for this was to protect slavery. Yet even the original Constitution anticipated an end to slavery. It still made the equal representation of the states in the Senate the only feature of the parchment that could never be amended absent the consent of the state being denied equal representation.
It is the foundation of our federalist system.Now I admit I had completely forgotten this. The Heritage Guide to the Constitution explains it here:
Article V specifies the means by which the Constitution of the United States can be amended. It ends by forbidding amendments that would repeal the language in Article I, Section 9, which prohibits a ban on the importation of slaves prior to 1808, or the language in Article I, Section 3, which provides for equal representation of the states in the Senate. These are the only textually entrenched provisions of the Constitution. The first prohibition was absolute but of limited duration—it was to be in force for only twenty years; the second was less absolute—"no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate"—but permanent.
Tides
Looks to me like a bunch of "toss-ups" just edged into the "red" column. Republicans need 20 of the remaining 32 toss-ups to retain the majority in the House.
Quit drawing the wrong conclusions!
I've stayed away from the latest StudiesStudiesGate story, not because it isn't one of the funniest things I've read in years, but I suppose because it felt too much like piling on from the right. I initially clicked on an Atlantic article because it promised to buck the trend by sharing the thoughts of a disappointed progressive who was genuinely chagrined by what the hoax revealed about the state of Trendy academia. Indeed, the article started out that way, even revealing one nugget that I'd managed to miss before: the hoaxers got someone to publish an article suggesting that the remedy for excessively patriarchal astronomy was to encourage the field not only of feminist astrology but . . . interpretive dance. Now, I thought "interpretive dance" was a "tell" for even the least observant, but, OK, these academics really were that dense and humorless.
The author goes on, however, to warn us not to make too much of this embarrassment:
By the way, I think it's just awful how Dr. Ford doesn't get the respect she deserves for her psychology Ph. D. I've just recovered a suppressed memory suggesting that her thesis was on interpretive dance. OK, that may not be literally true, but it feels true, it's my truth, and who are you to say that someone else's phallo-truth is more valid? Turn up the music. No, not the BeeGees! Get that Lindsey Graham video out my head!
The author goes on, however, to warn us not to make too much of this embarrassment:
Like just about everything else in this depressing national moment, Sokal Squared is already being used as ammunition in the great American culture war. Many conservatives who are deeply hostile to the science of climate change, and who dismiss out of hand the studies that attest to deep injustices in our society, are using Sokol Squared to smear all academics as biased culture warriors. The Federalist, a right-wing news and commentary site, went so far as to spread the apparent ideological bias of a few journals in one particular corner of academia to most professors, the mainstream media, and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee.Now they've gone too far. Undermine American academia all you like, you heartless right-wingers, but don't attack the integrity of the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. They're all that stands between us and an erosion of bedrock principles like due process and the presumption of innocence.
By the way, I think it's just awful how Dr. Ford doesn't get the respect she deserves for her psychology Ph. D. I've just recovered a suppressed memory suggesting that her thesis was on interpretive dance. OK, that may not be literally true, but it feels true, it's my truth, and who are you to say that someone else's phallo-truth is more valid? Turn up the music. No, not the BeeGees! Get that Lindsey Graham video out my head!
In other news
I'm so glad there finally is some other news. Of course, I'm still hoping that all future public appearances by Lindsey Graham on-stage will be accompanied by the strains of "Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk. . . ."
But I thought we might all enjoy this would-be bank heist story, complete with the Just a Lowly Bank Teller dramatic moment, about how a group of investigators and regulators helped Angola avoid a theft of $500 million from its public treasury. As Harry Anderson used to say, a fool and his money never should have gotten together in the first place.
But I thought we might all enjoy this would-be bank heist story, complete with the Just a Lowly Bank Teller dramatic moment, about how a group of investigators and regulators helped Angola avoid a theft of $500 million from its public treasury. As Harry Anderson used to say, a fool and his money never should have gotten together in the first place.
Show's Over
You know it's all over when the Downfall video posts.
There's also this Lindsey Graham video (language warning).
But I like this CCR version better. The Duran Duran version is not as good. But the Pixies version has something going for it.
Congratulations, Justice Kavanaugh.
Mr. Hines, you can choose whether you prefer the twenty bucks or the case of beer, but if you pick the latter you can help me drink it.
UPDATE:
Lindsey Graham with exploding fist bumps.
UPDATE:
UFC fighter shouts out to "Special K."
The big UFC victory of the night: "Donald Trump called me and told me to knock this Russian m*****f***** out.... USA in this house."
UPDATE:
There's also this Lindsey Graham video (language warning).
But I like this CCR version better. The Duran Duran version is not as good. But the Pixies version has something going for it.
Congratulations, Justice Kavanaugh.
Mr. Hines, you can choose whether you prefer the twenty bucks or the case of beer, but if you pick the latter you can help me drink it.
UPDATE:
Lindsey Graham with exploding fist bumps.
UPDATE:
UFC fighter shouts out to "Special K."
The big UFC victory of the night: "Donald Trump called me and told me to knock this Russian m*****f***** out.... USA in this house."
UPDATE:
Dispatches From Colonel Kurt’s Cruise
Quite a few old bloggers here tonight. Of the BLACKFIVE crew, me and Jim and Mr. Wolf. Ace of Spades is here. So is “Armed Liberal” of Winds of Change. [UPDATE: And streiff from Red State.] Lots of vets, lots of national security experts. Two Democrats [UPDATE: three], otherwise Republicans, but all are celebrating the day’s news. Great Ethiopian food thanks to one of the guests, an immigrant and friend. A quite respectable outlay of beer and wine [UPDATE: plus very fine bourbon and Laphroaig]. One professional comedian, one author of adventure fiction. One of Ted Cruz’s people, but otherwise no politicos that I’m aware of myself.
Colonel Kurt is a wild and crazy guy. Ace of Spades came dressed in a sailor suit.
UPDATE: A very pleasant evening. I spent most of it on one corner of Jim's patio that was staked out by myself and an old Iraq comrade, where we were joined by a rotating assortment of the veterans from the party. Jim traveled more widely, and probably has better stories -- or anyway stories he's more likely to repeat. Good times.
Colonel Kurt is a wild and crazy guy. Ace of Spades came dressed in a sailor suit.
UPDATE: A very pleasant evening. I spent most of it on one corner of Jim's patio that was staked out by myself and an old Iraq comrade, where we were joined by a rotating assortment of the veterans from the party. Jim traveled more widely, and probably has better stories -- or anyway stories he's more likely to repeat. Good times.
Draken Harald Hårfagre
By great good fortune, this beautiful ship's voyage to DC coincides with my need to be here for Jimbo's book party. I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to see it in person. What a fine tribute, and what a worthy thing to sail such a ship across the Atlantic. All news is not bad, and the weather is fine.
Partial Credit
Sen. Murkowski yesterday displayed bad judgment in my opinion; but if this report is true and she follows through with it, she'll show class today. Showing class is not nothing.
Not everyone lost
Some good came out of this dumpster fire.
[Kavanaugh's] statement was variously dismissed or praised as “Trumpian” in its bluntness and disregard of convention. My friend Frank Cannon, in a column for The Hill, went a step further by observing, “For Republicans, Sept. 27, 2018, should be remembered as the day when their party became, clearly and unapologetically, the Party of Donald Trump.” And it is true that there was something about the scene that clarified, for anyone who needed it, the logic of Donald Trump’s ascension in American politics.
The judge, after all, was there in the first place courtesy of a president who has unequivocally kept his word on judicial appointments, sparing conservatives even the suspense that used to precede Supreme Court nominations by Republican presidents. And if the tone in which Kavanaugh addressed Democrats on the Judiciary Committee reflected the influence of Donald Trump, by displaying no respect for connivers who deserved none, then, yes, we could use more of it. Sometimes presidential words of conciliation and uplift are called for, and sometimes we can do without the gloss. I have never felt more attuned to the rhetorical style of our different kind of president than when, on first reaction, he called the smear campaign against his nominee the “con job” that it is.
As Bill McGurn notes in the Wall Street Journal, the worst part of all this for Kavanaugh is that it’s not even about him. His travails have nothing to do with some dark event in 1982, and everything to do with a disastrous event in early 1973, the act of “raw judicial power,” as Justice Byron White called Roe v. Wade, that smothered good will in American politics like nothing else could, corrupting everything it touches.
What I been saying
If you see yourself as perpetually in need of a champion, be careful what champion you choose. There can be a hefty price-tag attached to these bargains.
Wait, what?
I need help understanding something. I'm just a fragile woman, spirit broken by the patriarchy, and I lack the analytical skills that society unfairly assumes are the only valid cognitive skill for assessing difficult life problems. My glorious feminine intuition isn't up to the task of grasping how a city's police force can be disqualified by "conflict of interest" from investigating the claims of a prominent state official whose son is on the City Council. I'm not sure which party is involved, is that important? Can you big strong men help me? And then I need you to move a couch. Then shut up.
Rs win cloture vote on Kavanaugh
From the Guardian, which for some reason was the only source I could find that would lay the results out plainly:
Senate votes to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination to final vote.
The Senate voted 51-49 in favor of the cloture motion, which will bring an end to debate on Kavanaugh’s nomination to the supreme court.
The final vote on his confirmation could happen as early as tomorrow.
Support for cloture is not equivalent to support for Kavanaugh, so it’s not clear whether or not he will make it through.
A key senator, Republican Susan Collins of Maine, said she will reveal her plan for the final vote in a speech at 3pm this afternoon.There's also an FBI investigation supplemental executive summary out, concluding that there is no corrobation for accusations against Kavanaugh, but strangely enough I can't find a link to it on any MSM sites except Fox. So here's a link to Wolf Howling at Bookworm Room instead.
Don’t Miss October
Today’s was the most perfect afternoon that I can remember. Don’t forget to get outside.
The picture is from a while ago: I’m mostly steel horses these days. But it made me happy to see it again.
The picture is from a while ago: I’m mostly steel horses these days. But it made me happy to see it again.
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