PrairiePundit

Fox News:
A NASA astronaut has been accused of committing the first crime in outer space after her estranged wife alleged she stole her identity and accessed her bank account without permission during a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

Former Air Force intelligence officer Summer Worden, from Kansas, has been involved in a bitter divorce with astronaut Anne McClain since 2018 but the battle heated up after Worden filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and NASA’s Office of Inspector General accusing her wife of assuming her identity and gaining improper access to her private financial records while orbiting the earth, the New York Times reported.

Worden told the Times that she was tipped off when McClain somehow had knowledge about her private spending while on a mission with no way to know otherwise.

She contacted her bank and was informed that her sign-in credentials had been used on a computer registered to the National Aeronautics and Space Adm…

Thomas Lifson:
After legalizing homeless camping on city land, Austin, TX officials seek to gag cops talking about problems This is another example of why liberal politicians should all be voted out of office.  They not only push ridiculous policies but they become fascists in repressing criticism of those policies.

Adam Kredo:
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas threatened this week that "million of fighters" would swarm Jerusalem and topple the Jewish state's capital city, warning that "no matter how many houses and how many settlements they declare that they [plan to build] here and there—they shall all be destroyed."

Abbas, in an Arabic language speech at Jalazone Refugee Camp near Ramallah that was heavy with threats of destruction, doubled down on the Palestinian government's policy of using public money to pay convicted terrorists and their families, telling his audience, "We will not accept their designation of our martyrs as terrorists. Our martyrs are the martyrs of the homeland."

Abbas went on to rally those in attendance to swarm the city of Jerusalem and destroy all Jewish people living there. His remarks are the clearest sign to date that the leader has no interest in playing a role in a revamped peace process spearheaded by President …

Carol Greenwald:
President Trump said out loud what others are wondering: how can American Jews still vote for Democrats?  The New York Times and Washington Post are purposely distorting President Trump's point when he said Jews voting Democratic in the coming election showed either gross misinformation or disloyalty.  It was very clear that the "disloyalty" of Jews supporting the party of Tlaib and Omar was to other Jews, not the United States.  The president's comments were not invoking the "dual loyalty" canard, as his critics well know. By attacking the President, Trump's detractors are trying to divert attention from the Democrats' disturbing support for the antisemitic representatives Tlaib and Omar.  Rather than condemning the offensive and defamatory tirades of these two antisemites, Democratic congressman Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) accused Ambassador Friedman of dual loyalty for supporting Israel's position of banning these two agents provocateu…

Forbes:
Make no mistake about it, the trade war is absolutely remapping global supply chains ... to the detriment of Chinese manufacturing.

The percentage of China-leaving businesses surveyed by quality control and supply chain auditor QIMA was 80% for American companies and 67% for those based in the European Union.

QIMA has more than just anecdotal evidence. Demand for their China-based audits dropped by 13% as mainland manufacturers are either losing their foreign clients faster due to costs associated with tariffs or are relocating part of their manufacturing out of China to avoid those tariffs.

European companies are less affected by the trade war because their countries have not slapped tariffs on Chinese imports. But QIMA thinks they have their own reasons to reduce their dependence on China manufacturing. Most are diversifying throughout southeast Asia and closer to home.

This ongoing diversification of the global supply chain creates ample opportunities for corporate investor…

Bonchie:
The Left Don’t Actually Believe What They Are Selling About Climate Change The whole thing is worth reading but I particularly liked this Twitter rant in response to Obama's latest mansion purchase:
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Stephen Miller (the other one) made a great point on Twitter yesterday about this.


Stephen Miller
✔@redsteeze  · Aug 22, 2019
I don’t care that he bought a 15Million dollar mansion. He’s an ex president. Good for him. But don’t lecture me about my fucking straw when your 15Million dollar island mansion is the first thing to go when Greenland melts. https://twitter.com/brianmccoppin/status/1164702850112528385 …

Crenshaw is a class act who responds with logic and reason to left-wing radicals.  The radicals tend to double down in defense of their inane positions.  Why does Google give these people a forum while they try to ban reasonable conservatives like Dennis Prager?  By doing so Google is making the case against themselves.

Washington Post:
Trump, Danish leader had ‘constructive’ call after war of words, both U.S. and Denmark say Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen earlier called the president’s idea of buying Greenland “absurd”; Trump called that “nasty.” A more normal response to an offer to buy is "No thanks."  That is what Trump meant when he said Frederiksen's response was nasty by calling the proposal "absurd."  The proposal certainly was not absurd from the US perspective and it is one that could be mutually beneficial.

NY Times:
How David Koch and His Brother Shaped American Politics The billionaire, who died Friday, understood the power of changing ‘hearts and minds.’ He spent almost unlimited money on behalf of limited government. He and a group he supported was responsible for Republicans taking over state legislatures around the country and stopping the control freak Democrats after Obama pushed liberalism to a point of rebellion against Democrats.  Modern Democrats have gotten even wackier.  One of the strange things about the surviving Democrats is that they think the President who has created a growing economy and millions of new jobs is crazy.  Koch's freedom agenda is still relevant.

Bloomberg/Fuel Fix:
Half of Venezuela's oil rigs may disappear if U.S. waivers lapse I find it surprising that any American rigs are working in the country that nationalized American assets and created the ruinous socialist economy that has left people starving.   I am skeptical that further waives will be granted.

Washington Post:
The Apple Card is a beautiful baby bird and should be handled as such

A support page for the titanium credit card warns that if it comes into contact with leather or denim, the interaction could cause “permanent discoloration that might not wash off.” Does it come with a plastic or paper carrying slip?  A traditional plastic card would seem to be more practical.

The Hill:
Democratic governors fizzle in presidential race Two of them have already dropped out and a third is languishing.  The fact is that Democrat governors are just not as successful as Republican governors when it comes to delivering on their promises.

John Solomon:
August in Washington can be the political equivalent of an elephant graveyard: One good rain can wash away the dirt and expose the bones of scandals past.

And this August did not disappoint. Thanks to the relentless investigative work of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), we are learning that the Hillary Clinton email case may not really be settled.

A staff memo updating the two senators’ long-running probe discloses that the FBI — the version run in 2016 by the now-disgraced and fired James Comey, Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok — failed to pursue access to “highly classified” evidence that could have resolved important questions.

The failure to look at the evidence back in 2016 occurred even though the agents believed access to the sensitive evidence was “necessary” to complete the investigation into Clinton’s improper transmission of classified emails —…

Paul Bedard:
Federal arrests of noncitizens have jumped over 200% in the last 20 years and now account for 64% of those arrested, according to the Justice Department.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics said that federal arrests of non-Americans rose 234% from 1998-2018. For U.S. citizens, the percentage rose just 10% over those 20 years.

The newly released statistics feed the Trump administration’s narrative that an increase in immigration, especially illegal immigration, has fed a spike in crime.

Immigration expert Jessica M. Vaughan said the increase in arrests is due to increasing prosecution of illegal entry and re-entry by migrants. "Experience has taught the immigration agencies and DOJ that this works to reduce recidivism – in other words, when illegal crossers face some more severe consequence than just being sent back home, they don’t keep doing it," she explained.

Over that 20-year period, groups such as MS-13 have surged, first in urban areas and recently into rural…

Washington Free Beacon:
Obamas Strike Blow for Economic Justice, Donate Millions in Exchange for Massive Beachfront Estate

Former president conquers 'wealth anxiety' Being a Democrat politician is a road to riches for some like the Obamas and the Clintons.  You have to admit it beats living in Chicago.

Chuck Devore:
According to California Governor (and former San Francisco Mayor) Gavin Newsom, the “vast majority” of San Francisco’s homeless people “also come in from… Texas.”

To him, that’s “just an interesting fact;” to PolitiFact, it’s “Pants on Fire” inaccurate. PolitiFact goes as far as calling it “ridiculous.”

The tiniest factual nugget for Newsom’s fib was contained in data from a city program that hands out bus tickets to the homeless so they can travel to family or friends who have agreed to care for them. Of 12,268 tickets issued over 14 years through last year, 827 were to Texas—that’s 6.7% of the total—though the highest for any destination not in California.

It makes sense that Texas would be the most popular state other than California—as the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual interstate migration report shows that Texas has been the No. 1 state for people moving out of California for more than a decade.

That Newsom, San Francisco’s mayor from 2004 to 2011, would want to blame…

Erick Erickson:
Yes the President’s Behavior is Abnormal. But the Democrats’ Policies are Bat Crap Crazy.

I'd rather a President who wants to build a big beautiful wall than a Democrat who pretends there is no problem at the border.I'd rather a President who moves our embassy to Jerusalem than a Democrat who'd put one in Havana.I'd rather a President who imposes tariffs than a Democrat who wants to ban paper straws, plastic bags, and human consumption of cows while imposing a carbon tax.I'd rather a President who makes it difficult every day to support him than a Democrat who would make it difficult for a person of faith to exercise their religion in their work and daily life.The President may be nuts in his behavior, but I'll take his crazy over the insanity the Democrats who unleash on the United States. There is more.

I think that much of Trump's "abnormal" behavior is his deliberate trolling of the Democrats and the media that seems to be exposi…

Ruthie Bloom:
n fairness to US President Donald Trump, he is not alone in his bafflement at the behavior and political beliefs of the bulk of American Jewry. But as has been the case with previous of his often indelicate gut reactions to current events, his statement this week about Jews and the Democratic Party was distorted by his enemies and blown way out of proportion.

The scandal erupted when Trump responded to the vile press conference held on August 19 by antisemitic freshman congressional Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan), whose plan to visit Israel and “Palestine” earlier this month – on a mission to bash the Jewish state – was thwarted. Their sojourn, organized by the radical Palestinian NGO Miftah, not only supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, but has praised suicide bombers as “sacrificing their lives for the cause.” You know, the cause of killing Jews. Oh, and some of its members have written pieces cla…

Bloomberg/Fuel Fix:
Capital keeps marching out of Canada’s oil industry, with Kinder Morgan Inc.’s sale of its remaining holdings in the country on Wednesday adding to more than $30 billion of foreign-company divestitures in the past three years.

Pembina Pipeline Corp., based in Calgary, is snapping up Kinder’s Canadian assets and a cross-border pipeline in a $3.3 billion deal. For Houston-based Kinder, the deal completes an exit from a country that has frustrated more than a few companies -- from ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell Plc to Marathon Oil Corp.

The drumbeat of exits, rare for such a stable oil-producing country, adds an extra layer of gloom for an industry that accounts for about a fifth of Canada’s exports. The energy sector -- centered around Alberta’s oil sands -- has struggled to rebound since the 2014 crash in global oil prices, with capital spending declining for five straight years and job cuts pushing the province’s unemployment rate above 6%. Alberta is forecas…

Washington Post:

Should people have a right to sleep on city streets? Austin is joining the national battle over urban homelessness.

A new city rule allows people to sleep in public, but some residents are revolting over homeless encampments. It is a rather revolting development that could lead to unsanitary conditions and disease.  In the past Austin has been a clean city, but it is hard to be clean when people are camping on the side of the road. 

That they would allow this condition when the evidence from the West Coast is that it is a disaster is remarkable. 

To stop this they should tax the campers the way they tax homeowners and renters.  That would mean they would likely leave the city to camp somewhere else.  If they were pitching their tents in a state park they would have to pay a fee.  That would be a good starting point for them doing the same in a city.

NY Times:
Democrats to Union Members: The Economy Is Failing You Bernie Sanders rolled out a plan for organized labor as more than a dozen Democratic candidates pitched themselves to workers in Iowa. This is a patently false statement by the Democrats.  The return of manufacturing jobs means union workers in several industries are getting their jobs back.  This is true of the steel industry and of others.  Trump has also urged American automakers and foreign ones keep jobs in this country rather than exporting the.  He has certainly done more than Obama ever did on that front.  Obama famously said those jobs were "never coming back."

A smart candidate would not engage in such bald-faced lies.  They would tell how they think they can make it even better.  Fortunately for Trump, there are not that many smart Democrats anymore.  They are so blinded by their hate for him it makes them do things that are counterproductive.

Jerusalem Post:
One day after another mysterious explosion rocked arms depots belonging to Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias in Iraq, Israeli satellite imaging firm ImageSat International (ISI) claimed that Iran’s land bridge to Syria and Lebanon is under attack.

According to the assessment released on Thursday, three sites with storage hangers in the Baghdad area have been attacked in the last month.

“These sites are probably ammunition storages, possibly for missiles and unique weapons,” ISI said, adding that the “attack aimed to destroy the Iranian land bridge from Tehran to Syria and Lebanon as well as to prevent the Iranian capability of conducting attacks from the Iraqi territory against surrounding countries.”

On Tuesday, explosions rocked an arms depot belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) near Balad air base some 80 km. north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. According to ISI, which released images of the site taken on Thursday, shipping containers that had been sto…

Adam Mill:
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For some time now, Americans have been concerned about the role political correctness plays in fomenting divisions within America. Political correctness has many definitions. But Americans increasingly see it as the art of contorting every conversation into a reason to be offended. Donald Trump is a magnet for P.C. outrage and this latest effort to interpret everything he says as a secret message to white supremacists is the “going nuclear” of the politically correct.

The study “Hidden Tribes: A Study of America’s Polarized Landscape,” quoted one of the liberal respondents, “I have liberal views but I think political correctness has gone too far, absolutely. We have gotten to a point where everybody is offended by the smallest thing.” Jamal, one of the African-American respondents, expressed dislike for the way people are defined by labels, and he resists defining himself in terms of race or gender.

As Reason magazine noted, 80 percent of Americans in general believe po…

Washington Examiner:
'Medicare for all' plan politically poisonous to key Senate Democrat races

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Four recent polls show that a majority of Americans do not support the proposal, especially after finding out it would do away with their private health insurance.

Originally championed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and co-sponsored by fellow Democratic presidential primary contenders Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Cory Booker of New Jersey, the "Medicare for all" legislation is seen as a loser proposal that could hurt down-ballot Democratic races in both chambers. Sanders, a socialist, appears to stand alone in his full-throated and enduring support of the policy.
... The Democrats who thought the policy had support misunderstood the votes collected by Sanders in 2016.  Many of those votes were not based on the merits of his policies but on their dislike of Hillary Clinton as an alternative.  A…

Mike Ford:
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Candidate Trump started this strategy in 2016. Yes indeed, he paid solid attention to his base. They in turn paid him back by attending rallies and showing up to flip the lever for him in November 2016. But Donald Trump also did something else. He decided that he would fight on territory long ceded to the Democrats. For as long as I can remember and with the acquiescence of the Republican Party, Democrats have considered Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Gays and other discrete demographics, their electoral property.

In 2016, Donald J. Trump began to change all of that. He took the fight to the leftists on their own turf. However, he didn’t go groveling to the NAACP for the quadrennial obeisance Republicans were expected to make. Instead, he went directly to the Black communities, directly to the voters in Black churches and other locales. He spoke to Black pastors and humbly asked for their blessings and their prayers. When he spoke with Black voters he had a simple message: “W…

Reuters:
In west Texas, the center of the U.S. oil boom, about 3,800 students at Permian High School are crammed into a campus designed for 2,500, with 20 portable buildings to help with the overflow.

School officials had expected enrollment to fall after the last oil price crash, starting in 2014, but it kept rising - one sign of a growing resilience in the region’s oil economy as Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), Chevron (CVX.N) and other majors continue pouring billions of dollars into long-term investments here.

For most of the last century, oil money has flowed into this region like a rising tide during booms - but residents here had enough sense to know it would flow right back out again when the next bust hit. That cycle has always made officials, developers and voters wary of investing too much during the good times on everything from school construction to roads to housing.

That hesitance is fading fast as oil majors make ever-larger and longer-term commitments to drill in the Permian Bas…