Tuesday roundup

Correlation much? CNN is cutting as many as 300 staffers in the wake of absolutely dismal ratings numbers for April. 

There's no indication that the worst offenders -- Chris Cuomo, Brian Stelter, Manu Raju, Don Lemon, and Jim Acosta -- are going anywhere. Likely it's mostly the behind-the-scenes employees -- who have nothing to do with the network's editorial spin -- slated lose their jobs. The (mostly white) men who are responsible for sending the ratings into a tailspin with their irresponsible reporting will no doubt keep their corner offices and their cushy multi-million dollar salaries.

This one is the kind of development that spurs me to attune my radar to any discussions about it that I might come across. Tariffs are bad; they're taxes, really. They distort the market values of particular goods and services, which has a ripple effect on an even wider array of goods and services. The other side of the coin, in the particular case of China, is that that country is decidedly not a good-faith trading partner. Intellectual property theft, insistence on 51 percent Chinese ownership of joint ventures, cyber-espionage. So the basic idea of letting China's trade negotiators know that we're not going to turn a blind eye, much less acquiesce to their vision of their own advantage seems like the right way to proceed. But, as I say, I'll be keeping my eye out for any economics wonks' suggestions of other ways to demonstrate hard-nosedness besides tariffs.

Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims is a chunk of dog vomit posing as a human being.

Dana Loesch has perfected the art of the Twitter smackdown. Here she gives Eric Swalwell what he has coming:

Eric Swalwell‏Verified account @ericswalwell

They (the NRA) hate me because they know I’m not the bogeyman they want ... I feel comfortable shooting guns. I do shoot guns. I think that they want the person who is proposing tougher gun laws to be someone who’s never handled a gun before.

Dana Loesch‏Verified account @DLoesch

Dana Loesch Retweeted Eric Swalwell

Even though you threatened to nuke and jail people if they didn’t turn over their guns, no one hates you. They’re just uninterested.

Why Betsy DeVos rocks - today's edition. An excerpt from her remarks at the Manhattan Institute's 19th annual Alexander Hamilton Awards dinner.

The kind of welcoming committee you get in post-America: Harassment of MAGA hat-wearers has been a thing for a while, but here's a new angle. A group of Asians in DC who were so attired and so harassed were defectors from North Korea. 

 

Tuesday roundup

Jay Nordlinger at NRO has a wonderful piece on a fine public servant: Betsy DeVos:

Betsy DeVos is the unlikeliest villain you ever met. She is warm, polite, earnest, and generous. A wealthy woman, she has devoted her life to getting poor children a better shot at life. She is the education secretary, as you know. And during her confirmation process, Bruce Kovner sent me a note.

Kovner, like DeVos, is a philanthropist and education reformer. He wrote, “Betsy is one of the most selfless souls I know, totally devoted to helping disadvantaged kids. Works so hard at it, it should be inspiring. It’s disheartening to see her opponents enjoying their chance to maul her. But Betsy can take it.”

She could do almost anything in life, including put her feet up at the beach. (Any beach.) Yet she is in the political and policy trenches, fighting for school choice and other reform, not for the sake of rich kids but for the worst off. For her pains, she has been called a “white supremacist,” a “rape apologist” (yes), and virtually every other name in the book.

Above, I wrote, “She is the education secretary, as you know.” I felt justified in saying “as you know” because DeVos’s name recognition is extraordinarily high — something like 80 percent. Can you name the previous secretaries of education, under Obama, Bush, Clinton, and Bush? It’s not easy, even for those in the “business.” Almost certainly, DeVos is famous because she is vilified — and yet she can use this to her advantage, as people pay attention to her.  

He takes quite a deep dive into her life and the formation of her views on education. Good stuff.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a problem with Amazon bringing 25,000 jobs to the New York area because Amazon is a corporation. 

You'd think she'd be pleased that NY state government taxpayers are subsidizing the move to the tune of $48,000 per job.

Hamas launched 200 rockets from Gaza into Israel in one day (yesterday).

The face of Satan:

An ad in support of Planned Parenthood featuring a live baby girl with the caption "she deserves to be a choice" is eliciting horror across the internet.

The 40-second ad, which is about three years old but gained attention over the weekend, hails from the Agenda Project Action Fund, a left-wing advocacy organization, after Nigerian pro-life activist Obianuju Ekeocha posted the video on her Twitter feed Friday. She received several notable retweets, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott and actress Patricia Heaton, both of whom were disgusted and incredulous.

With lullaby music playing in the background, footage of a cooing baby girl wearing a white cap is interspersed with the message: "She deserves to be ... loved, She deserves to be ... wanted, She deserves to be ... a choice."

The ad concludes with the hashtag #StandwithPP.

The Chinese Communist Party is expanding its control of the Chinese government with increasing momentum.