Tuesday, 6 April 2021

Daily Digest

Daily Digest

Link to Power LinePower Line

Caitlyn for Governor?

Posted: 06 Apr 2021 04:07 PM PDT

(John Hinderaker)

Caitlyn Jenner reportedly is considering a run for Governor of California:


From the Axios story:

Jenner is being assisted in her consideration by Caroline Wren, a longtime GOP fundraiser. Wren initially met Jenner through her work with the American Unity Fund, a GOP nonprofit focused on LGBT issues.

Wren previously worked at Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee for President Trump’s 2020 campaign, and also helped organize the rally he addressed immediately before the U.S. Capitol assault on Jan. 6.

The context, of course, is the upcoming (I think) recall of Governor Gavin Newsom. As I understand it, the recall ballot will have two questions. The first is, should Governor Newsom be recalled? If “Yes” wins, the second question is, who should replace him? I don’t believe there is any limit to the number of people who can pay a few thousand dollars and get on the ballot. If that is correct, it places a premium on 1) celebrity, and 2) niche appeal. That is how Arnold Schwarzenegger became Governor of California: he got the most votes when Gray Davis was recalled.

Given that format, Caitlyn Jenner may have a real chance of being the next governor. One of my daughters comments, “If the first transgender governor is a Republican people will lose their minds.” A spectacle worth seeing. And finally:

A Comic Book for Our Cartoon President

Posted: 06 Apr 2021 02:30 PM PDT

(Steven Hayward)

I thought surely this comic book cover that came to me over the transom was a joke or satire of some kind, but no—it’s real!

Here is some of the description from the publisher:

Dr. Jill Biden is the First Lady of the United States of America, and she’s defining that role in a way no other First Lady has before her. A mother, grandmother, and lifelong educator, Dr. Biden has worked tirelessly to raise awareness about women’s issues and issues that affect families. Although she calls community colleges “one of America’s best-kept secrets,” it’s no secret that she’s Joe Biden’s best-known advocate and supporter. Read her story of love, loss, faith, and redemption in this new comic book by TidalWave Comics.

"We believe that it is important for readers to have inspiring role models, to learn about extraordinary individuals that have overcome challenges to make a difference in the world. That was the thought process Darren G. Davis went through before creating the comic book series "Female Force."

Writer Michael Frizell, an educator at Missouri State University in Springfield, "Jill Biden is an educator like me, making this script easier for me to research than some of the assignments I’ve had from TidalWave. When I write these scripts, I think of the comic like a photo album. With roughly twenty pages to work with and about five pictures per page, how can I tell Jill Biden’s story in one hundred pictures?

I have questions, starting with: why did they superimpose Jill Biden’s head on Melania Trump’s figure on the cover?

Well, actually, that is about my only question. These sample panels speak for themselves:

 

There’s more, but this is enough. Now, I suppose someone might be pulling our leg. The same comic book publisher, based in Portland, Oregon, also has a line of Stormy Daniels comic books:

Biden tries to distance himself from woke MLB decision

Posted: 06 Apr 2021 09:47 AM PDT

(Paul Mirengoff)

The White House is trying to insulate Joe Biden from Major League Baseball’s decision to take the all-star game away from Atlanta (it will be played in Denver, Colorado where, arguably, it’s a little easier to vote, legitimately and fraudulently). It’s understandable that Team Biden wants to distance the president from the decision, given the blowback it has produced, plus the poll showing that more Americans support Georgia’s election law than oppose it.

However, the White House has no honest way of disassociating itself from MLB’s decision. When asked whether MLB should pull the all-star game from Atlanta, Joe Biden said he would “strongly support them doing that.” Soon thereafter, MLB did it.

By way of spin, Jen Psaki tries to pull off the hidden ball trick. She stated:

[Biden] was not dictating what Major League Baseball should do. He supports them being able to make the decision. . . .

Her statement is true, but trivial. Biden lacks the power to dictate to MLB. But by using the “bully pulpit,” he can influence what this and other businesses do.

It’s likely that, by putting his thumb on the scale, Biden caused MLB to move the game. Before Biden weighed in, both Stacey Abrams and Jon Ossoff had opposed moving the game from their state. Their status as, respectively, the leading leftist on voting issue and the senior Senator from Georgia, gave MLB sufficient cover not to move the game. Biden’s statement of “strong” support for moving the game probably shifted the balance.

In the end, however, it doesn’t matter whether his statement caused the decision. Presidents are held to account for that which they say they strongly support.

If, as president, Donald Trump had said he strongly supports removing major sports events from sanctuary cities, he would have been accountable for this statement regardless of whether a subsequent pulling of an event was due to what he said. Indeed, he would have been accountable even if no event was pulled.

Trump lacked the power to tell people not to wear masks during the pandemic. But if Trump had said he strongly supports not wearing masks, it would be no defense to cite his lack of power, or to say later on that people should make their own decisions. Those who favor mask wearing would have been incensed at Trump’s statement.

Similarly, those who think it’s outrageous that MLB took sides in the dispute over Georgia’s election law should be incensed that, before MLB made its decision, Biden expressed strong support for punishing Georgia.

Today’s Theological Heresies on Race and Climate

Posted: 06 Apr 2021 08:06 AM PDT

(Steven Hayward)

• If you have a Wall Street Journal subscription, don’t miss today’s Gerard Baker column, “The C-Suite Converts to the New Political Religion.” If you don’t have a subscription, here’s the key part:

The modern secularists who deride the hagridden mysticism of traditional religion are now the most devoted congregants in the First Church of Antiracism. Penitents line up to be shriven for their white privilege, bending the knee before the altar of justice and equity. They present pendants of the martyred St. George of Minneapolis for blessing from Hollywood prelates and Ivy League divines, solemnly chanting canticles from the Black Lives Matter breviary.

The men who run Major League Baseball, Delta Air Lines, Coca-Cola and other giants have been quick to mouth the required antiphony of the modern liturgy. After long careers in which they seemed happy to let their talents propel them to unimaginable wealth, they've now discovered that the society that elevated them was founded in evil.

But instead of doing the honorable thing, and stepping down in favor of some less-privileged underling, they demonstrate a commitment to the faith by denouncing others. Here you have the essence of the new faith and morals of the woke classes, the truly privileged people in our society: I'm not to blame, you understand; it's all those other white folk.

My question is: when did corporate presidents become college presidents? It happened so slowly I hardly even noticed. . .

• Speaking of theological heresies, the Cult of Climate Change has struck again. If you think climate change represents a potential apocalypse for the planet, you’d think we’d want to know as much as possible about every means of forestalling it, including what is known as “geoengineering” or “solar radiation management” (i.e., cool the planet by mimicking the effects of a volcano) The idea has been around for a while now, but the climatistas stoutly oppose it because the real purpose of the Cult of Climate Change is purging us of our sins of using hydrocarbon energy.

Thus the New York Times reports that an experiment to gather data by a Harvard geoengineering research project has been canceled:

A test flight for researching ways to cool Earth by blocking sunlight will not take place as planned in Sweden this June, following objections from environmentalists, scientists and Indigenous groups there. . .

Solar geoengineering has long been a subject of intense debate among scientists and policymakers, often seen as a desperate, potentially dangerous measure that could have unintended consequences for regional climates. Even conducting research on the subject has been viewed as harmful in that it could distract society from the goal of reducing emissions of planet-warming gases to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

But there is a growing view among some scientists that, with the world not making nearly enough progress in reducing emissions, research in geoengineering is needed to learn more about how and whether it would work if pressure grew to use the technology. Last month, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, an influential scientific advisory body, called on the United States to spend at least $100 million on research.

Shapes of things (29)

Posted: 06 Apr 2021 05:52 AM PDT

(Scott Johnson)

Our friend John Eastman is the former law clerk to Clarence Thomas and former Chapman University law professor. John was in the news this past January in connection with election related advice he rendered in the Oval Office to President Trump and Vice President Pence.

John recently sat for an interview on issues of election fraud with Spectator Washington editor Amber Athey. The Spectator’s pseudonymous Cockburn now reports that YouTube and Vimeo have removed video of the interview:

Amber pressed Eastman on his claims of fraud from multiple angles. She asked why the Trump campaign lost so many court cases, whether or not the Supreme Court was wrong to refuse the case brought by Texas alleging illegal changes to voting laws in the run-up to the election, if the campaign will release all of the evidence they claim to have now that they've exhausted most of their court challenges, and more. When Eastman suggested that the courts acted in a partisan and biased manner, Amber pointed out that some of the challenges were rejected by Trump-appointed judges. That is to say, this was hardly a free-for-all. Eastman was merely offered the opportunity to present his case while addressing the many criticisms of the Trump campaign's claims.

Nonetheless, YouTube said that the video violated its policy on misinformation. When the Steamboat Institute [where Athey is a fellow] attempted to post the video under a different title, YouTube removed it again and revoked Steamboat's ability to post videos for a full week. Vimeo also removed the video, saying that they “do not permit content that seeks to spread false or misleading information about voting.”

And then there is this:

This all occurred at the same time that Democrats and the mainstream media spread actual misinformation about Georgia's new voting law. They claimed that the Georgia law provides serious restrictions on voting, leading numerous corporations to boycott doing business with the state. Major League Baseball, for example, pulled its annual All-Star Game from Atlanta over pressure from its corporate sponsors. Never mind the fact that the Georgia law actually expands in-person voting. The left claims the law has a provision that prohibits people from handing out water or snacks to people waiting in line to vote — but poll workers and election officials are still allowed to do so.

The good news is that Steamboat was finally able to upload the interview to the Canadian video platform Rumble. As Cockburn says, “You can watch it here and decide for yourself if this video is as dangerous as Big Tech claims.”
at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

BREAKING: North Carolina automotive group acquires 7 Upstate dealerships

Breaking news from GSA Business Report Click here to view this message in a browser window. ...