He should have done this on the first day after being sworn in; now, they need only wait him out

Revenge of the Swamp Creatures: Masha Yovanovitch marches to Capitol Hill to testify in Trump impeachment trial

Trump signs executive order removing civil-service protections from certain positions within federal government agencies.

The need to reduce protections within the civil service became apparent when training based on critical race theory was banned from the government. Within two weeks of the order, whistleblowers started to report that their scheduled critical race training would proceed—in direct violation of the order.

Many who made their careers in private industry were stunned. Any department head or manager who operates in direct defiance of an order from a CEO would not remain on the team for long. Yet when this happened in federal agencies, no one was apparently held accountable.

I disagree with the author that this move “became apparent” with the refusal of government staffers to enforce Trump’s prohibition against critical race theory struggle sessions in government agencies, at least to the extent that it implies a new problem. Congress has delegated its powers of enforcement and interpretation of its laws to the regulatory staffers for decades. The resistance and open defiance of Trump’s orders have been more obvious than that displayed in prior administrations, but it’s nothing new.

i wonder who persuaded Trump to wait so long to make this reform; it’s far too late now unless, of course, he beats the polls and is given four more years.

Even then, we’ll see only a temporary fix, because the Swamp is resurgent, and will certainly rise again.

Movie Review: The Empty Man

Our nephew David Prior’s first film, The Empty Man, has finally been released (typical Hollywood story, the film’s champion at 2oth Century Fox was canned when Disney took over and the fil was orphaned, the release was pushed back a year till this August, and then along came COVID). It’s not playing near me, so I’m reprinting Gideon’s review, who saw it with Susie last Friday.

Scene from The Empty Man…..Saw it last night at Stamford’s Majestic Theater on Summer Street. The restaurant night-life around the theater was nearly as lively as always, despite all the &%@#-ing covid-19 restrictions, but very few people were entering the theater! That’s a shame. So put on your &%#@-ing mask and GO! It’s still the best way to watch movies.

The sneaky thing about this film is that it leaves so much to your imagination. In classic Hitchcock/Spielberg fashion, the director* makes you wait a while before you actually see what the hell is chasing the protagonist. Even when you do sort of see it, it’s not really menacing and then SUDDENLY! Whoa! Run! Get the hell outta there! But then, nothing…. was it really there? Spooky, scary, creepy.

And it never lets up. There are no moments in the movie where you are allowed to relax. Not because of non-stop, frenzied action, although there’s plenty of that, but even the quiet moments manage to keep you on edge: something is about to happen, you’re sure of it, and the accompanying sounds and music heighten that sense.

As for the acting, there are NO bad performances here, every actor in this film, no matter how small the part, is masterful. As a result, The Empty Man is riveting, thought-provoking and, most importantly, hugely entertaining. That’s everything you can ask of a movie. 

*The Director, David Prior, is my nephew. If I hadn’t liked this film, I would not have written about it all, so I’m truly thrilled I CAN write about it, it’s a masterpiece. Could it be a s’midge shorter? Sure, but saying so reminds me of that scene in Amadeus where the King tells Mozart his work was brilliant but contained “too many notes”.

A tale of two states

Sarah Gideon: Westport carpetbagger lands in Maine to free fellow coastal elites from the shortbus northerners

The NYT: Susan Collins hasn’t changed, but Maine has.

Being the New York Times, there’s the requisite Trump bashing in the article, but they got this right:

Maine has always been split between its more affluent coastline and its blue-collar interior. But the political and social gap has widened even further in recent years.

“A lot of the people down here are more connected to Napa Valley than they are Penobscot Valley,” said John Baldacci, a former Democratic governor of the state, who grew up in Bangor and now works in Portland.

The influx of transplants along the Maine coast and the migration of working-class whites into the Republican Party under Trump and LePage, who called himself “Trump before Trump,” have upended the state’s politics.

Perhaps most significant, and for Collins most threatening, LePage’s consecutive plurality victories prompted Maine [Democrats] to enact ranked-choice voting. In this system, voters rank their preference on the ballot so that those who receive few first-place votes are eliminated and the eventual winner garners a majority.

This means that the votes of those supporting a liberal independent candidate, Lisa Savage, can ultimately go to Gideon if Savage’s backers list Gideon as their second choice.

[snip]

Republicans used to run up some of their best margins in wealthy enclaves along the Atlantic, while Democrats consistently fared best in immigrant-heavy and union-organized mill towns farther inland.

Maps from the last two major elections, the 2016 presidential contest and the 2018 governor’s race, reveal a near-unbroken stretch of Democratic blue up the Atlantic Coast from Kittery to Bar Harbor.

There are effectively two states — one working class and more pro-Trump, and the other more upscale and deeply contemptuous of the president — that Collins must bridge.

They can be seen in the Trump lawn signs sprouting up across inland Maine and the ubiquity of Biden signs nearly anywhere saltwater is in the air.

Sarah Gideon (no relation) has been running non-stop radio ads and I assume television ads as well, attacking Collins for spending $26 million on her campaign. This is true; unsaid, however, is that the Democrat=ts have poured $74 million into Gideon’s coffers. Even this uneducated Trump voter can do that math: $100 million spent in total, in a state where total campaign expenditures, both sides, in 2014 was $8 million. The Democrats smell blood, and or purposes of controling the government, a senator from a state with just 1.3 million residents counts just as much as a senator from, say, California.

Although massive advertising may be less responsible for Collins impending defeat than the past two decades’ massive invasion by the Woke, the combination of being outspent and outnumbered will result in the removal of Collins who, as the Times notes, “is the one remaining Republican member of Congress from New England”.

Sad.

Hitler hid in a bunker. Biden is Literally Hitler!

“The president-in-waiting is preparing for the next debate”

His handlers have put Joe in his pajamas and returned him to his happy place for the next week.

Joe, the 80s are calling — they want their foreign policy back

There are our Ukrainians! They’ll stop the communist menace!

Biden: Russia is this country’s biggest threat

“The Cold War’s been over for twenty years”

And the sophisticates went wild

Reminder: Biden will bring back the foreign policy experts who're guided our country for decades

“Billions for tribute, not a penny for defense”

John Kerry: “There will be no separate peace between Israel and the Arab world. I want to make that very clear to all of you.”

Now there are three [Sudan signed a treaty with Israel this week] And there is no agreement with the Palestinians. Instead, they are becoming increasingly isolated as countries who used to financially support them grow increasingly frustrated with their intractable violence and inability to provide for their citizens.

None of these agreements would be possible without the blessing of Saudi Arabia, even though that nation has not announced anything yet [but has already opened its airspace to Israel]. Listening to an interview with Jared Kushner, who led a team in negotiating these agreements, it sounds like our own experts’ resistance was more challenging than discussions with leaders in the region.

It makes you wonder just how entrenched in one way of thinking our establishment and bureaucracy are. They go to the same schools, work for the same think tanks, and join the same professional associations. They assure you they know what is best, but not much ever really seems to change.

It took an outsider in Donald Trump to shatter some of the old assumptions, especially when it comes to foreign policy. A business career is about results. Successful business leaders cannot let problems persist, or they cost money. And to be clear, persistent foreign policy issues can be terribly costly, especially when it involves our military.

It should make you wonder if failure to solve problems among our entrenched political class comes from an inability or a lack of desire. Persistent problems require “experts” who make a living by fixing nothing. A great gig if you can get it. These same “experts” warned that every foreign policy move Trump made was going to start a war or backfire.

Their doomsday predictions never came true. Whether it was tariffs on China, pressuring our NATO allies to pay up, renegotiating trade deals, moving the embassy to Jerusalem, or killing General Soleimani, President Trump implemented his own strategy and won. Nothing has blown up, and there have been no new conflicts. No wonder they hate him.

And then there’s also the new economic treaty brokered by the White House between Kosovo and Serbia, and both countries agreeing to move their embassies to Jerusalem. The best Hillary and Biden could do over there was to dodge imaginary missiles and call out to Jon Kerry, busy on a swift boat in the Mekong Delta, for help.

Trump is also the first president since Reagan to not start a war; no wonder the Swamp is pissed.

The news that Democrat operatives in the press don't want you to see

Yep

Kansas! Is there no safe place left?

The Harpies at Kappa Alpha Theta hold a disciplinary hearing

University of Kansas sorority places member on probation for “unbecoming” social media posts.

According to documents provided to Fox News by sophomore Katherine Lauer, she was sanctioned by her sorority for "argumentative communication (verbal or otherwise) with members as a result of your social media posts that disregards [sic] different opinions."

[“we will honor the right to hold different opinions by punishing those with opinions different from ours” — the girls have obviously spent too much time being indoctrinated on campus —ED]

As part of the terms of her probation outlined in a letter on Monday, Lauer was asked to take a "social media posting holiday" for a week to do a "personal reflection and cleanse"

[“personal cleansing” — douche or enema? Both? Does she get to choose?]

and to watch a video selected by the sorority's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. She was also instructed to have an "open dialogue" with Kappa Alpha Theta chief operating officer Allie Dew to get a "broader education of America today."

Finally, she was told to focus on "positive, collegial conversations" when approached by other sorority members about her posts.

[I think that means she’s supposed to grovel and apologize for holding impure thoughts when confronted by her attackers]

[snip]

At issue is a social media post shared by Lauer from conservative pundit Candace Owens, who is African American, that claimed: "Black Lives Matter is an organization of white men, using the faces of dead Black people to raise millions of dollars toward electing White Democrats into positions of power.

[snip

Members of the committee also pressed her to admit she benefitted from white privilege and informed her of anonymous forms filled out by other members who described in-person conversations they had with Lauer which made the committee feel "alarmed." 

A sorry story of the disintegration of higher education but there’s this nugget of hope for the rest of us: [she was told that as a white woman] “it was not her place to state who is racist and who is not". That was apparently a reference to her denying that Trump is a racist, but if this general principle were applied to all college campuses and caterwauling mobs of suburban white kids confronting us while we try to dine outside, it would shut down 95% of the thugs and provide great, blessed relief.

Oh to enjoy the privileges and perquisites of a white liberal

Übermensch and Honorary Black as of Right, Professor and media-flack Jon Meacham

Oh-so-woke Vanderbilt instructor gives his professional opinion that Trump voters have “lizard brains”.

Asked by the Democrat operatives at MNBC for his expert analysis of Thursday night’s debate one Jon Meacham came through, thus justifying his appearance fee:

I think Trump did himself good with his base tonight,” Meacham said. “The question for America is how big that base is. There is a lizard brain in this country. Donald Trump is a product of the White man's, the anguished, nervous White guy's lizard brain.”

I had been blissfully unaware that a Meacham existed on earth until just last month when he was exposed for issuing a history test at Vanderbilt that allowed only one proper answer to the question, was the Constitution designed to perpetuate white supremacy and protect the institution of slavery?” (only a pedantic would point out that the question as phrased calls for a “yes” or “no” answer, not “true” or “false”)

But that’s a quibble. Vanderbilt students (ell, their parents, actually) pay $75,000 a year to be told what to think, not how, so they’re getting their money’s worth from this course and complainers can just STFU. And true or false exams at a once-respected university? Welcome to the new world of inclusiveness and participation degrees.

I’m more impressed by Meacham’s easy, self-confident assertion that, unlike Trump and his supporters, he himself has broken free and shed the “White man’s anguished, nervous lizard brain” and, so, presumably, can those students of his, if they’ll only just listen!

I used to just ignore people like this and shrug off their disdain: the dog barks, and the caravan moves on sort of thing. But over the past four years, I’ve gradually come, first, to despise them, and now actively hate them. Knowing that someone hates you and wishes you dead will do that.