News roundup
(1) I think Troy Jackson may be in trouble in Maine (I certainly hope so). Not only was he rude to Susan Collins in their debate, but he didn’t backtrack during a later interview.
But that’s not really what I’m basing my opinion on. Granted, I’ve got a sample of exactly one, but I was talking to a Maine resident friend of mine the other day and she – a very strong Democrat and TDS sufferer – said she had reservations about Jackson and was having trouble imagining voting for him.
(2) Neil Bush says he voted for Talarico in Texas.
Because of course he did.
“My vote was motivated by two things: deep concern about Ken Paxton’s record and genuine admiration for the character and principles I see in James Talarico,” Bush wrote in a Facebook post. …
In his post, Neil Bush wrote that he is “deeply troubled by Paxton’s conduct as Texas Attorney General, particularly his decision to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election in other states in an effort to help Donald Trump remain in power.”
January 6th and its aftermath – the gift that keeps on giving.
(3) This is a fascinating article in Tablet magazine that discusses why Israel is a fertility outlier among Westernized nations, with average birth rates considerably higher than the rest of the group.
(4) The DOJ has charged 28 non-citizens found on California voter rolls. Also, the DOJ is suing California about its reluctance to cooperate with determining the citizenship of its voters:
The Department of Justice on Thursday sued California for alleged “state-facilitated voter fraud,” seeking to block 20,000 people on the voter rolls suspected of being noncitizens. …
The DOJ specifically asked that the court bar California from tabulating mail-in ballots from likely noncitizens until the effective determination of that voters’ citizenship status.
But Los Angeles – where most of these people live – is saying it lacks a way to verify citizenship.
Don’t bet much on word that Russia is “ready in principle” to resume three-way peace talks with Ukraine and the United States next month; after all, thugocrat Vladimir Putin has been ready to end the war since the day he started it . . . as long as his victim surrenders.
Maybe, just maybe, Moscow is signaling something positive, since that statement emerged after presidential envoy Steve Witkoff briefed Putin on the latest US ceasefire proposals, which he’d already cleared with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and other allies at an Oslo sitdown the day before.
Indeed, Zelensky announced he’ll accept a cease-fire that freezes current lines in place, allowing Russia to continue occupying vast swathes of his nation.
On the other hand, Putin’s made plenty of ready-to-talk noises before, only to then demand unilateral concessions before any actual sitdown.
I have no expectation that any change will come of this.
But Los Angeles – where most of these people live – is saying it lacks a way to verify citizenship.
No problem. Farm out citizen verification to Texas, which has it figured out. 🙂
A lot of GOP establishment types would rather “lose with dignity” than do anything about the Bolsheviks in the other party. The Bush family, Thune, McConnell, Thom Tillis, the late John McCain, all of them.
Are they naive, willfully stupid, or are they actors being paid to play a part?
I have mixed feelings about the prospects for peace in Ukraine. On one hand this has clearly become a quagmire for Russia. It is now longer since their RE-invasion of Ukraine in 2022 than the entire Russian involvement in WWII from the German invasion to V-E Day. Though it’s hard to say Ukraine is “winning” since Russia still occupies part of the country Russia has made scant territorial gains at enormous expense. You’d think Putin would like a face-saving way out, especially if he gets to keep some territory as Zelensky has reportedly offered.
But Putin while not a communist ideologically is completely a product of the Soviet system. He served in the KGB for 15 years. So the only way he knows how to play is hardball. I’m not making any predictions.
(3) Fascinating. I read it rather carefully.
(The second graph in the article is an animated GIF that’s very cool. Anyone with a more serious interest in how quantitative data is presented graphically should check it out.)
The author suggests that Israel’s persistently higher than “western normal” birthrates is something of a uniquely Jewish phenomenon. A cultural thing that seems to persist in a way that many other cultural influences don’t.
I could ramble on about my German Catholic influences and how persistent those are for me. (They aren’t. In spite of my wife’s very Catholic family causing us to go to a Catholic marriage indoctrination retreat. Make babies y’all! 😉 )
Or the Jewish experience, of which my knowledge is quite limited though interesting to me. Knowledge mostly obtained from my east coast college friends and some media and celebrity bios etc.
One of those comes to mind, namely journalist David Gregory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gregory_(journalist)
Very secular, with a Methodist wife, he had little interest in the Jewish religion until his three children got a bit older. His wife was raising them as Christians amidst his disinterest, when he had his little epiphany. No, the kids need to know their Jewish history and a bit about the religion. A conversion from secular to traditional-religious, according to the article’s categories.
Actor Kevin Pollack had a similar “conversion” IIRC.
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I wondered how COVID lockdowns would affect birthrates. A downward blip followed by an upward blip. Largely a wash, with a very slight net upward effect that then dissipated.
CoPilot gives more detail with the query: How was the US birth rate influenced by COVID lockdowns? If anyone is interested.
Neil Bush and the younger Barbara Bush? Does anyone care?
I read somewhere that the Russian army is in real trouble in Ukraine at the moment. You wonder how long Russian mothers will send their sons into that meat grinder. Or maybe they don’t. But surely Russian prisons are nearly empty by now; and N. Korea does not have an endless supply of Martyrs to Communism.
On the other hand, it is becoming clear that in the age of drones, wars will be fought less on battlefields and more at long range against civilians and infrastructure. Putin may feel that he can still pound Kiev into submission with his rocketry and drone force.
‘What did you do in the most recent Great Patriotic War, Daddy?’ ‘I was a highly decorated drone pilot’.
If I’m not mistaken, Neil Bush was the only member of generation 3 of the Bush clan who was on the record in favor of DJT at any point.
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I wouldn’t insist that Bush vote for Paxton, who has all sorts of issues. There was no good reason for him to vote for Talarico, much less say he ‘admired’ him.
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Every time you think the Bush clan has finally hit bottom and cannot sink any lower, one of them proves you wrong. It’s time for rank-and-file Republicans to adopt the policy that a Bush or a Cheney scion is an antagonist until such time as they provide some piece of evidence they are not.
(2) Neil Bush says he voted for Talarico in Texas.
Web search: Neil Mallon Bush is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist…
In recent days, neo hammered home the importance of “virtue signaling” amongst many ardent liberals. Color me jaded, but I’d guess a guy like Neil Bush might say a lot of things just aren’t so. Kind of like a much younger Donald Trump saying he’s a Democrat. Trump could have changed, but I doubt it.
Neil Bush and the younger Barbara Bush? Does anyone care?
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Not interested in their opinions (though it peaked my interest to discover in an interview Billy Bush’s frank admission that figures at NBC released a twelve year old tape they’d surreptitiously recorded of DJT in order to damage his candidacy (“I was collateral damage”). It’s another indicator that the people who ran the Republican Party at its apex and center for 26 years (Messrs. Dole and Gingerich prominent exceptions) were actually hostile to the interests of Republican voters.
That’s all you need to know about the Bush family.
The Bush GOP party is long gone. Good riddance!
But the GWB Presidential Library at SMU is cool. Even better, the National Medal of Honor Museum.
If you admire Talarico you are lost.
Wasn’t it Neil behind the Silverado scam when Daddy Bush was Prez? From what I can tell, the Bush family were RINOS from way back when. Crooked as a Clinton; untrustworthy as Obama.
I’m just old enough to remember when Prescott Bush, father to Bush 41 and grandfather to Bush 43, was senator from my native state of Connecticut. Though they posed as good ol’ boy Texans the Bush family never completely got rid of that old money/old Yankee aroma.
The Cuban Missile Crisis, as Viewed From a Soviet Launch Facility
https://davidfoster273133.substack.com/p/the-cuban-missile-crisis-as-viewed
Talafreako has a favorite drag queen that he named without a moments hesitation. That is NOT normal.
“If you admire Talarico you are lost.” martin
What is ‘lost’ is their moral compass.
What are we to imagine about how the Bush family votes? Are we to imagine that they have a dinner meeting where they all decide to vote the same way? Are we to think they are still a relevant political dynasty, complete with palace intrigues? Is it important that they never vote Democrat, to a one? Would it be any more important if they all declared themselves as MAGA? None of this is news, and none of it is revelatory. Nobody cares who they voted for. I think it’s a pathetic attempt at influence.
The GOP is slowly but surely getting rid of the Chamber of Commerce types. Yes it’s a long agonizing process but take heart. Can you even imagine someone like John Cornyn getting his butt kicked (15 points?) 25 years ago? We’re getting there & the Bush types are flaunting their true colors for all to see.
@ Neo > “The DOJ has charged 28 non-citizens found on California voter rolls. Also, the DOJ is suing California about its reluctance to cooperate with determining the citizenship of its voters”
There will certainly be some judge who will step in to stop the DOJ from doing anything, and California will fume and fuss (as in Neo’s second link), but one major goal of the Trump administration will be achieved: the media, at some point, will have to talk about it*, and some citizens may start to realize that their governments are hiding a LOT of things, and may even start to wonder WHY.
Maybe a CaliforniaDataRepublican will spring forth from the ashes of the state and start connecting dots for them.
*Caveat: the Regime Media has become expert at ignoring stories it doesn’t want its useful idiots to see, and spinning those it can’t ignore (waves to NYT and WaPo), but the alternative media is getting bigger and gaining traction.
They will lie about everything and anything, everyone and anyone.
They have a country to save, doncha’ know…
The Bush family has had a beef with DJT ever since he denied Jeb! his rightful POTUS nomination in 2016. The fact that Hillary would have thumped Jeb! handily doesn’t seem to matter.
And since 2016, Trump allies (like Abbot, Paxton and Lt. Gov. Patrick) have pushed Bush family members out of statewide office in Texas.
The Bush family still not over George P Bush loss to Paxton in 2022. Texas is over the Bush family.
I’m just old enough to remember when Prescott Bush, father to Bush 41 and grandfather to Bush 43, was senator from my native state of Connecticut. Though they posed as good ol’ boy Texans the Bush family never completely got rid of that old money/old Yankee aroma.
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Prescott Bush Sr grew up in Columbus, Ohio (though he was sent to schools in New England as an adolescent). His father was the son of a clergyman building a career in the railroad industry; the family money was piled up during Prescott Sr.’s lifetime (and Prescott Sr declined his share of his father’s estate btw). Prescott’s grandfather was born in Upstate New York and moved from congregation to congregation during his life; he did have at least one posting in New England but was primarily farther west.
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Prescott, Sr. married a woman from a wealthy family in St. Louis; note, though, that the dry goods business that made the Weir-Walker family wealthy was founded in 1878; their money was crisp. Prescott Sr. worked in Massachusetts for a few years, then in 1924 joined his father-in-law in business in New York. He had a house in Connecticut, but it was in a township smack on the Connecticut-New York border and populated with commuters.
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Prescott Bush Jr. began his business career working for Pan Am in Brazil, then returned to the U.S. in 1951 settling in the same township and, like his father commuted into Manhattan for work. George H.W. decamped to Texas in 1948 (Midland, then Houston). Jonathan lived and worked various places in the BosWash corridor. Willian (“Bucky”) Bush decamped to St. Louis in 1962 and spent his life there. Sister Nancy Ellis did spend her life in greater Boston, which was her husband’s home town.
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Barbara Pierce Bush was born into a middle class family (in Westchester County, NY) which made good during her lifetime. Her parents had settled in New York in 1919 and both were from middle class families in southwest Ohio. Her family goes back generations in Ohio and in the western border counties of Pennsylvania.
The Bush family, as a type, is one thing. How they got to their present positions and where those came from to be available are subjects for discussion. More importantly, in terms of electoral results is a weirder phenomenon. How many people think they can get free stuff by voting for it and there won’t be any downside. That’s third-grade econ and most grow out of it. But I ran into a few IN COLLEGE who thought Somebody—either LBJ or some nearly divine force–should decree a cloud of wonderfulness descend on our society. That it didn’t happen meant that Higher Up were evil, wherever they came from. Trying to explain how this might not work elicited something like, “You hate the poor.”. And I think they believed it, not used it as some kind of distraction technique when faced with reality. I figured they’d grow out of it. Maybe they did, But there’s a new crop and it’s bigger.
As to Putin, abd Iran for that matter, Trump keeps talking about a “deal”. IU;m not sure what he means by that. But it sounds as if he thinks he’s dealing with rational actors who see thngs as he does and know, or will shortly, that they’re at the point where the best deal they’re going to get–calculated rationally–is here and further “negotiating” leads down hill. Habits from Trump’s business life?
Critics of Trump’s ways presume the oppo is rational and if it doesn’t do as they would, being rational as the critics are, it must be our fault/ Seen this before.
But what if Putin isn’t rational in these matters? Despite getting soem serious rank in the KGB, neither he nor his cronies had any clue how crappy their military was. “three weeks….?” And no idea that Ukraine would resist as they did, nor that outside forces would support them as lavishly as has been the case. How on earth did he–with Russian intel for his sources–miss that? Or did he know it and just go ahead anyway? Which would not be rational. And to pay the price for what rational people would consider not much of a gain–Uke real estate–and keep paying it. Rational? Which brings up the question of what Putin, not rational critics on our side, would think of as a victory. And if he gets to keep what he has would he think it’s a victory? All you rational folks howling about how can this be a “victory” considering the cost can take a hike.. It’s up to this guy who wants to restore the glories and power of the USSR, not you. And if he thinks he won, it means he’ll try again. Rational actor doesn’t apply here, Or, in Iran as well. If those guys die of US or Israeli weapons, surrounded by irretrievable chaos,,,..they go to heaven. Figure that into your rational “deal”.
Texas is over the Bush family.
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The Bushes, father and son, carried Texas as Presidential candidates, but so has every other Republican presidential candidate since 1978. Successful Texas campaigns by Bushes would be two congressional races around Houston (1966, 1968), two gubernatorial contests (1994, 1998), and two elections for state land commissioner (2014, 2018). Three members of generation three (b. 1945-1971) have made runs for public office, of whom two succeeded. A couple from generation four (b. 1968-199?) have also run for office, with one succeeding.