Do you have the constitutional right to make the President listen to you? I wrote about Twitter and free speech today at The Federalist.
trump
Iran: Can we not?
StandardDoes anyone want a land war in Asia? There’s no appetite for war on the left, center, or even most of the right. And yet we cannot allow other countries to shoot down our fantastically overpriced drones.
The President seems to be of two minds, himself, and it’s easy to see why. We need in in-between measure to punish Iran’s insolence while not creating a drawn-out conflict. We could seize assets equal to the value of the drone, but I think we’ve already seized all we can get. Likewise, sanctions are already dialed up on Iran, aren’t they.
Respectable nations used to punish wrongdoers with a nice shore bombardment, which would really be our best option. The problem: Tomahawk missiles cost more than a million bucks a piece. Why through good money after bad?
This is why we should not have retired our battleships. They are, admittedly, no good in a naval battle anymore. Carriers made them obsolete in that way. But parking the USS Iowa off the coast of a rogue nation’s largest port? That will get their attention. And with technology from the 1940s, you can’t beat the price. That’s fiscal conservatism and conservative foreign policy rolled into one. Anchors aweigh!
Rebuild Penn Station
StandardConservatives should support the effort to rebuild New York’s Penn Station to its former grandeur: my latest at The Federalist.
Rigging the vote
StandardCalifornia wants to exclude Donald Trump from the 2020 ballot and has joined the unconstitutional pact to require all electors to vote for the popular vote winner. Together, these acts make it near impossible for any Republican to win. I wrote about it today at The Federalist.
Jocks v. Nerds
StandardMy latest at The Federalist: like it or not, the American electorate almost always prefers jocks to nerds.
Republican simplicity
StandardNancy Pelosi is right to cancel the State of the Union address. Trump should cancel it permanently. My latest at The Federalist.
Philadelphia votes
StandardThis year, at last, the dream of Republicans in Pennsylvania came true as our swing state finally swung. It wasn’t my dream for 2016, exactly, since I voted for Johnson, but for many who pushed back against the idea that the Commonwealth was a purely Democratic state at the Presidential level, it was gratifying. In fact, according to Nate Silver’s 538 website, Pennsylvania was the tipping point in electing Trump.
Over the weekend, I charted the precinct-level results in Philadelphia, the city Hillary thought would save the state for her. As most observers of the Philly political scene would have expected, Clinton was weakest in the Far Northeast. I was also surprised at Trump’s strength in South Philly and the river wards. Trump’s best division (we call precincts divisions here) was in South Philly, 39-14, where he tallied 70.3% of the vote (it’s the big one in the far south of the 39th ward). Clinton had three divisions in North Philly where the people chose her unanimously (29-07, 29-16, and 32-29,) which I’ve marked with asterisks on the map. There were also two ties, both in the Northeast (64-17 and 66-18).
Most of this is only of interest to my Pennsylvania readers, but I hope you all enjoy the map. You can click on it to zoom in, but the file is pretty big, so it may take a minute.
