Actor Pat Harrington, Jr. passed away yesterday of complications from Alzheimer's Disease. He was 86.
Following his father's footsteps into acting, Harrington is best remembered for his portrayal of Schneider, the mustachioed maintenance man on the CBS comedy One Day at a Time from 1975 to 1984. The Schneider character was popular enough that there was consideration of giving Harrington a spinoff show, but this never came to fruition.
The world has lost an important conservative voice, an elegant and wickedly funny writer, and a true American character with the passing Wednesday of Florence King. Miss King (and woe be to the poor sod who addressed her as Ms. King, or as Florence without an invitation to do so) was 80. She died in her long-time home of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Florence King was a conservative, but hardly a standard issue one. Her view of the world tended to the curmudgeonly, and she often described herself politically as a royalist. She had no patience with populist foolishness and no delusions about the weak timber of mankind. Her column, which ran for years in National Review, was called “The Misanthrope’s Corner.” She deployed no euphemisms, which she called verbal stool softeners. Her work appeared in other conservative publications, including, I’m happy to say, The American Spectator.
If there was any question, up until now, as to whether Donald Trump's support had finally reached critical mass and may not be enough to earn him Iowa, I think you've finaly gotten an answer. Over the weekend, as polls showed Ted Cruz taking the lead among likely Iowa Caucus voters, Donald Trump started making hay about Cruz's eligibility to run for President. He hasn't quite accused Cruz of being a Kenyan Muslim imposter with designs on an American dictatorship quite yet, but he's suggested that Cruz might want to obtain a declaratory judgment on what it means to be a "natrual born citizen" before things go too far. After all, it would be a shame if something were to happen to that Presidential campaign you've got there.
For a man who has Many Serious Thoughts about the relationship between cronyism and government efficiency, Bernie Sanders and his wife certainly seem to have taken advantage of the public system themselves, when given the chance.
According to a report by the Washington Free Beacon, Sanders and his wife frequently steered money from his campaign and her job at a Burlington College to their own benefit, and to the benefit of their kids, and used their positions of influence to do favors for family friends.
According to Jane O’Meara Sanders, the senator’s wife, Sanders’ House campaigns paid her more than $90,000 for consulting and ad placement services from 2002 to 2004. She pocketed about $30,000 of that money.
Her daughter Carina Driscoll, Sanders’ stepdaughter, also drew a salary from the campaign. She was paid more than $65,000 between 2000 and 2004, according to her mother.
In order to maintain the support of the world's Lena Dunham acolytes, Hillary Clinton has taken to involving herself in the radical feminist cause du jour: the battle against rampant sexual assault on college campuses. Sure, the crusade has pressed on without much regard for typical things like due process and reality, but radical feminism requires that people have something to fear in order to maintain its relevance in an age of increasing opportunity.
Fortunately for Hillary, feminists don't care to delve too deeply into their heroes' pasts, or they'd find that Clinton herself is an unapologetic apologist for a possible sexual predator: her husband. While the media may still be convinced that accusations of Bill Clinton's "preferences" are still "alleged," Hillary Clinton has much to answer for if she sees fit to assume that every person who alleges sexual violence against another is telling the truth and "deserves to be believed and supported."
On the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, police in Paris shot and killed a man wielding a knife shouting "Allahu Akbar!!!" in front of a Metro station. The man, who has not been identified, was found with an ISIS flag.
Fortunately, no one else was injured in the incident.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has stated that investigations were underway to determine the identity of the attacker and his motivations.
While the man's identity may not yet be known, I think the motivations of a man wielding a knife and an ISIS flag while shouting "Allahu Akbar!!!" are abundantly clear.
The Baseball Hall of Fame will have two new members this July. The BBWAA announced the elections of Ken Griffey, Jr. and Mike Piazza to Cooperstown. They both received in excess of the 75% of the required vote.
Junior Griffey, who had his best years with the Seattle Mariners, earned a record 99.3% of the vote in his first year of eligibility appearing on 437 out of 440 ballots. He surpasses Tom Seaver who received 98.8% of the vote in 1992. Meanwhile, Piazza earned 83% of the BBWAA vote in his fourth year on the ballot. Griffey, Jr. and Piazza are quite the contrast. Griffey, Jr. was a number one draft pick while Piazza was drafted by the Dodgers in the 62nd round as a favor to Tommy Lasorda. Some favor. Still, one should expect Piazza to be wearing a Mets cap when he gets enshrined.
Houston Astros great Jeff Bagwell missed enshrinement by 15 votes. But his vote total went up from 55.7% to 71.6%. Bagwell will surely get in 2017 as will Tim Raines who shot up from 55% to 69.8%. Next year will be Raines' last on the ballot.
I am amused that Donald Trump is once again reminding voters that Ted Cruz was born in Canada.
Before speaking at a rally on Monday night in Lowell, Massachusetts, Trump stated, “Republicans are going to have to ask themselves the question: ‘Do we want a candidate who could be tied up in court for two years?’ That’d be a big problem.”
Yet it was only four months ago just as the two were to appear together at a rally on Capitol Hill opposing the Iran nuclear deal when Trump told reporters, “I hear it was checked out by every attorney and every which way and I understand Ted is in fine shape.”
The first shot in the British Labour Party's civil war was fired last night when leader Jeremy Corbyn fired (or they say in Britain, sacked) Shadow Europe Minister Pat McFadden for saying that no one forces terrorists to kill innocent people. I kid you not.
On November 17th, four days after the Paris attacks, McFadden stood up in the House of Commons during Prime Minister's Questions and posed this question to David Cameron:
Dale Benn asks, by e-mail, the following question:
Excepting economics what subject do you [Boudreaux] feel is most important for economists to know better?