HALF-FULL REPORT 06/24/16

Britain’s vote yesterday (6/23) to leave the European Union (51.9 leave, 48.1 remain) is the most significant international political development this century, the first good news for lovers of liberty in a very long time.

The voters defied the will of the political establishment.  Prime Minister David Cameron, most Conservative MPs, all Labour MPs, and most of the British media supported remain.

The voters were divided along class lines.  By and large, the middle class, and the working proportion of the working class voted to leave.  The wealthy, university students and professors, and those dependent on welfare voted remain.  Leave won because so many who customarily vote Labour defied their political leadership.

The first consequence of the Brexit vote was the resignation of Prime Minister Cameron.  It was the honorable thing to do, and he did it with a gracious statement. Disgruntled Labour MPs announced plans to oust Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Brexit could doom the EU.  Leaders of populist parties in France, Holland, Sweden, Denmark and Italy have called for their own referenda in the wake of it.

Brexit also could mean the end of the United Kingdom.  Scotland voted 62-38 to remain.  A referendum on Scottish independence in 2014 narrowly failed.  Brexit may trigger another one.  Northern Ireland voted to remain, 55.7-44.3.

I don’t think the breakup of the United Kingdom would be, on balance, a bad thing.  Scots largely have become deadbeats who subsist on welfare provided by English taxpayers.  Scotland is the stronghold of the Labour Party.  If Scotland became independent, it would have roughly the same effect on British politics as if California and New York were to leave the United States.  Northern Ireland is, to a lesser degree, also welfare queen, which really ought to be united with the rest of Ireland.

What happens next depends mostly on whether winners and losers behave like adults.  An exit from the EU needn’t be an exit from Europe.  It made perfect sense for Europeans (under the umbrella of NATO) to unite for common defense.  A European common market was also an excellent idea.  A common currency (the Euro) was, on balance, a poor idea.  (Britain had retained the pound sterling.)

What was revolting – and revolted against – was the attempt by globalist elites to impose an undemocratic and unworkable political union.  I think the turning point in Brexit’s upset victory were the efforts of EU honchos to force member countries to take in hordes of Muslim “immigrants,” and the rioting in Calais Monday and Tuesday by “immigrants” demanding to go to Britain.

There will be short term economic pain, for us as well as for Britain, no matter what.  But it needn’t be severe, or last long, if the EU honchos step back from political union.  But if the globalist elites try to punish Britain for voting for liberty, democracy and national sovereignty, things could get very messy.

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Democrats gave us a vivid illustration this week why here as well as in Britain, “levels of dissatisfaction with leadership have reached revolutionary levels.”

In support of President Obama’s efforts to conceal from the American people that the killer in the worst mass shooting in American history was a radical Islamist, a registered Democrat and a fan of Hillary Clinton, Democrats conducted a series of stunts to blame the murders on a rifle Omar Mateen didn’t use, Republicans, Christians, and the NRA.

The Senate Monday:

Their filibusters against the GOP measures indicate Democrats want an issue and a fund-raising gimmick more sensible gun laws.

Democrats are fighting for a “bad, stupid bill,” said Gawker.  “The use of error-prone and unfair watch lists is not the way to regulate guns in America,” said the ACLU.

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If you buy an AR-15, you’re “buying it to do bad things,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH.

At least 5 million Americans own AR-15s.  Just 248 people were murdered with rifles in 2014, (0.03 percent of all murders that year. If we assume that all the killers used AR-15s (not true), then at least .99995 percent of AR-15 owners committed no crimes with them.

In this century there have been 9 shootings with 10 or more fatalities.  Pistols were used in most of them.  All took place in “gun free zones.”  Three of the shooters were Islamists.  None were members of the NRA, or registered Republicans.

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By voting down the gun control measures civil libertarians also opposed, “the Senate GOP have decided to sell weapons to ISIS,” said Sens. Murphy and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

This was the only acknowledgement Democrats made that Omar Mateen was an Islamist who pledged loyalty to ISIS.

Republicans have done nothing to arm ISIS, but President Obama and his former Secretary of State have.  Most of the weapons the administration shipped to the “Free Syrian Army” fighting the dictatorship of Bashir Assad wound up (we hope inadvertently) in the hands of ISIS and other extremist groups.  These include arms from Khadafy’s stockpiles sent via the CIA “annex” to our consulate in Benghazi, and U.S. weapons sent more directly.

The weapons – which included anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles and multiple rocket launchers – were intended for “moderate” Syrian rebels. But there are no “moderate” Syrian rebels.

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The action moved to the House Tuesday, where Democrats staged a sit-in for gun control.  Journalists who gushed about how  “historic” this was should study a little history.  Republicans in the House pulled the same gimmick eight years before.

It was said to see Rep. John Lewis, D-GA, a hero of the Civil Rights movement, demonstrating in favor of depriving people of their constitutional rights on the basis of secret lists.

The sit in ended Thursday without their demands being met (a few hours after House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi declared the protest would continue until they were) so Democrats could catch early flights home to begin the recess.

A 4-4 tie in the Supreme Court Thursday (6/23) effectively prevents President Obama from implementing his immigration policy for the remainder of his term.

Texas and 25 other states sued to block implementation of Obama’s executive order that would have shielded more than four million illegal immigrants from deportation.  Obama had no constitutional authority to order it, the state attorneys general argued.  The tie leaves in place lower court injunctions against the Obama policy.

In a 4-3 vote, the Supremes upheld race-based affirmative action in college admissions.

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A federal judge in Wyoming threw out Tuesday (6/21) the Interior Department’s regulations restricting fracking on public lands.

“Congress has not delegated to the Department of Interior the authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing,” wrote Judge Scott Skavdahl, an Obama appointee. “The BLM’s effort to do so through the Fracking Rule is in excess of its statutory authority and contrary to law.”

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The bosses at Veterans Administration hospitals and clinics in Houston were ordering employees to record clinic cancellations as patient cancellations, the inspector general for the VA found. Vets, on average, had to wait 81 days to get an appointment – 78 days longer than was being shown in the electronic scheduling system.

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Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-PA, was convicted Tuesday on multiple counts of racketeering and bribery.  It did not receive the attention from the news media it would have gotten if the Philadelphia Democrat had been a Republican.

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Judge Barry Williams found Officer Caesar Goodson, driver of the van in which petty criminal Freddie Gray suffered his fatal injury, not guilty on all charges yesterday.

States Attorney Marilyn Mosby is now 0 for 3, and prosecutorial misconduct has been exposed. If she brought the charges against the six Baltimore cops to enhance her political career, she miscalculated.

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Bryan Pagliano, the Clinton IT staffer who is the smallest fish in the FBI dragnet, took the 5^th Amendment 125 times when he was being deposed Wednesday by Judicial Watch, pursuant to its FOIA lawsuit against the State Department.

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There’s still no bump in the polls for Hillary.  In a CNN-ORC poll Tuesday, she was at 47 percent – 7 percentage points less than at the beginning of May. But she still led Donald Trump.  In a Bloomberg poll yesterday, it was Hillary 48, Trump 35.  In a Rasmussen poll yesterday, it was Hillary 44, Trump 39. In a Reuters poll yesterday, it was Hillary 44, Trump 34.  In two polls in Arizona this week, Hillary had small leads.

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Trump’s week began with a bang Monday morning with the news he’d fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.  The announcement may have been timed to divert attention from the FEC filing due that day.

The firing may have been a ruse.  On Thursday, Lewandowski was hired as a commentator on CNN by The Donald’s pal Jeff Zucker, president of the network.  As journalism, this was ridiculous, because Lewandowski signed a non-disclosure agreement that basically forbids him from saying anything critical about Trump.

“Can’t think of any standard of decency or honesty this appointment meets,” said Jay Rosen, who teaches journalism at New York University.

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Trump’s campaign raised $5.6 million in May (a shockingly low number for a presumptive nominee), spent $6.7 million that month – about 20 percent of that in disbursements to various Trump enterprises.  He entered June with just $1.3 million on hand. (Hillary had $42 million).

Trump’s campaign is $45.7 million in debt…all of which was owed to The Donald.

“That means that every penny of the next $45.7 million in donations to the Trump campaign could literally go directly to Trump’s personal bank accounts,” said Timothy Carney of the Washington Examiner.

Trump “is now looking into the abyss,” said Ed Rollins, who heads a pro-Trump super PAC.  “He can either start writing checks and selling some buildings and golf courses or get on the phones and talk to donors.”

“If Donald Trump were fractionally as rich as he says he is, he would write a $200 million check to propel his campaign,” tweeted Mark Cuban,.  “He doesn’t have the cash.”

Nor – as I noted in last week’s HFR – has he been willing to make fund-raising calls.

After three days of bad publicity, Trump announced yesterday he was “forgiving” the loans he made to his campaign – but provided no documentation to prove he has in fact done it.  It remains to be seen if this will be enough to mollify potential donors.

Trump’s campaign “smells like one big self-dealing scam,” Carney said.

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To make up for not having one last week, I have three heroes of the week.  Two are the Brits who voted for Brexit, and Prime Minister David Cameron, for taking it like a man.

My heroine of the week is Nadia Murad, a 21-year-old Yazidi girl and former ISIS sex slave.

“The USA must act,” she told the Senate Homeland Security Committee Wednesday. “(ISIS) will not give up their weapons unless we force them to give up their weapons.”

The Orlando massacre is a consequence of President Obama’s failure to do anything serious to eradicate ISIS, Nadia Murad said.

“If a country as strong as your country cannot protect its citizens in Orlando…how come a small minority like us can protect ourselves when we are in the heart of the land where the radicals are?” she asked.