How unqualified MAGA Cabinet candidates look good

I have been struck by two things in watching the confirmation hearings of Pete Hegseth (for Secretary of Defense) and Pam Bondi (for Attorney General). First, neither candidate should be confirmed - Hegseth for his lack of qualifications and personal flaws; Bondi for her refusal to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the 2020 election for the presidency. 

The second thing I noticed is that both nominees received high praise for their performances, despite their refusing to answer direct questions, or providing mendacious answers. Why? Because they decided a good defense was a strident offense. 

For example, whenever Hegseth was asked questions about sexually assaulting women or being drunk in the workplace, he responded loudly and angrily, "those are anonymous smears." Of course, there are a couple of problems with that response. First, the people who made those charges are not anonymous. The reporters know who they are. Plus there are legitimate reasons for their anonymity. The employees at Fox who charged Hegseth with having a drinking problem likely did not want to lose their jobs by going public. They likely were lower level employees, such as production assistants placing a microphone on Hegseth and smelling his alcohol-laced breath.

The other folks who engaged in "anonymous smears" were individual women who had signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in return for compensation. Again, these women are not truly anonymous. Hegseth and the reporters know who they are, but they are prohibited from going public. Remember, Hegseth refused a request to release the women from their NDAs. 

As for Bondi, she refused to answer many questions, either claiming the questions were "hypotheticals" or she did not have enough information about them (including Trump's comments about going after certain individuals such as Lynne Cheney). Instead, she went on the attack against Schiff, reminding the committee that Schiff was censored by a Republican House.

So, by refusing to give answers, and by doing so aggressively, Hegseth and Bondi likely will get jobs they absolutely do not deserve.

Candace does it again

Candace Owens is at it again. On her Friday podcast (Episode 130 on YouTube), Owens revived her allegation that Brigitte Macron was born a man, and transitioned to becoming female around the time that she was 30. She also suggested Brigitte Macron was guilty of the statutory rape of her former student Emmanuel Macron, who is now the President of France. 

The trigger for her new rant was her supposed receipt of a letter from the Macrons "threatening" her from publishing an expose proving Brigitte Macron was born a man. The letter also purportedly stated that Owens should not publicize its contents. Owens pushed back, stating that was an attempt to curb her rights to free speech.

Owens is playing with legal fire here. First, nothing happened between the Macrons until he was 15, the age of consent in France. Yes, Brigitte was 40, meaning that there was a 25-year age gap. But, Emmanuel Macron first declared he was going to marry Brigitte when he was 17, and finally did marry her when he was 29, so the age gap was not an issue. What was unusual was that the woman in the relationship was 25 years older, rather than the far more common situation of men being that much older than their wives (like Donald Trump being 24 years older than his wife Melania).

Second, the issue about Brigitte Macron's biological origins has already been litigated this year. In France, two female commentators were sued by the French First Lady and her brother for libel over this issue, and lost. Owens can ignore what happened in her pursuit of smearing the Macrons, but she does so at her own peril. 

Beyond that, it shows that Owens is way out of touch with reality.

Musk v. Starmer

Thanks to Elon Musk, it's been a long week for Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Great Britain. Musk has been attacking Starmer over the "grooming gangs scandal" where gangs of men, often Pakistani, targeted young girls (usually from poor backgrounds) to rape and torture. The gangs operated in a number of towns over a four-decade period. Musk has charged that Starmer did not do enough against the gangs when he was the chief prosecutor of England and Wales from 2008-2013. Musk has called on Starmer to be investigated as he was "complicit in the crimes." 

At a press conference on Monday, Starmer was asked by a reporter if he would take legal action against Musk for libel. Starmer replied: "My record is open. Every single case. prosecuted went to court, was looked at by a judge. I was overseen by the Attorney General, which for three of the five years was a Tory Attorney General.

Starmer then shifted the focus of the discussion to what the controversy means for British political culture: It is something about the nature of our politics. Because once we lose the anchor that truth matters in the robust debate we must have, then we're on a very slippery slope.

And when politicians who sat in government for many years are casual about honesty, decency, truth and the rule of law, calling for inquiries because they want to jump on a bandwagon of the far right, then that affects politics. Because a robust debate can only be based on the true facts.

And that's why this is actually an important point about our politics. It's not about what anyone may or may not say on Twitter.

That actually is the main issue. The main issue is what are politicians over here doing to stand up for the things that matter for our democracy and the way we have robust debate.

That's why I want to call it out. Because I think it really matters. It matters not just to me, to the Labour Party. It ought to matter, it used to matter, to all political parties. And it is a sign of where the Tory party have got to that we're even having this debate.

Then on Wednesday, the Parliament voted down an amendment to the Children's Wellbeing And Schools Bill that would have required another national inquiry into grooming gangs. The vote was 364-111. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch charged that failing to approve the probe amounted to a cover up. 

Meanwhile, Musk is meeting with opposition leaders to figure out ways to replace Starmer soon. Stay tuned.

Candace Owens' libel

To say that Candace is a fringe voice on the right is an understatement. Once a darling of the MAGA -- a featured speaker at Turning Point USA events and part of the Daily Caller media group -- her increasingly extreme positions are losing her support. In fact, the Daily Caller cut ties with her last spring.

One example of her far-out views is her claim that a number of world leaders, including former U.S. president Barack Obama,  Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, are all gay -- which must come as a surprise to their wives. 

But, the most outrageous claim by Owens is that Brigitte Macron -- wife of French president Emmanuel Macron -- is transgender. Owens' fantasy depicts Brigitte as actually being her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, and that she transitioned into being Brigitte. Owens also charges that Brigitte committed the statutory rape of Macron because he was 15 and she was "47" when they met (Note; Brigitte was 40). 

Brigitte Macron and her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux sued two French online conspiracy theorists this year and, in September, were both awarded damages ($8000 for Macron and $5000 for her brother). Interestingly, Owens has dramatically toned down her rhetoric about Brigitte Macron being a man. She clearly is afraid that if she was sued for libel, she would clearly lose. 

Fortunately for Candace Owens, there are dozens of other conspiracy theories that she engages in, and enough gullible followers out there, so she will have plenty to do. 

Mark Levin loses it

Hard-right commentator Mark Levin lost it Saturday night on his show "Life, Liberty and Levin" on Fox News. He claimed that there are "terrorist-promoting faculty" and "terrorist-linked student organizations" at U.S. universities. He charged that millions of illegal immigrants had coming from terrorist countries and receiving welfare from the government. 

The most unhinged thing that Levin declared on Saturday was that terrorist-influenced groups are chasing Jewish people in our cities as if there is a "Kristallnacht every night." During Kristallnacht, more than 1000 synagogues were burned or damaged, 7500 Jewish businesses were looted, 30,000 Jewish males aged 16-60 were arrests and almost 100 Jews were killed. Has there been even one incident that has approximated a Kristallnacht in this century? 

Further, Levin ranted that nothing was being done about these abuses because people were using the excuse of the First Amendment -- that the propaganda and verbal attacks were protected. Levin then went through a list of unprotected speech (defamation, threats) and included hate speech. I am surprised that Levin doesn't know this, but hate speech is protected by the First Amendment. Hate speech that includes calls for imminent violence or threats to people is not protected, but not hate speech in general.   

Levin, who has programs on both Westwood Radio and Fox News, was chief of staff for former Attorney General Edwin Meese, and then eventually became president of right wing Landmark Legal Foundation, so he should be familiar with First Amendment law. But, Levin has never let facts get in the way of a good narrative. 

Followup on Ryan Walters

So, Ryan Walters has more to say. Last night on Fox News, Walters responded to an article in the Daily Oklahoman that charged Walters with trying to create a "firestorm" with his comments that the teachers' unions were trying to turned public schools into terrorist camps. Walters claimed that the paper (that he referred to as "The Woke-lahoman") was trying to "gaslight" the public "on a terrorist attack." He continued, "You have a radical left wing teachers' union  that has pushed hatred for this country. You have Joe Biden. Kamala Harris. They have taught our young people to hate this country. They called Donald Trump Hitler." 

It's pretty clear that Walters has some anger toward his opposition. Perhaps he blames them for not getting an appointment to Trump's cabinet, despite buying all the Trump bibles. Perhaps it is because the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) named him "Theocrat of the Year" for his ordering public schools to incorporate the Bible into their social studies curricula, as well as his position that the separation of church and state "is a myth." FFRF and other groups also object to Walters' creation of the Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism at the Oklahoma Department of Education.

Beyond awarding Walters the theocrat of the year title, FFRF has joined with over 30 other groups to sue Walters over the Bible mandate, arguing that it is unconstitutional, and that it favors one religion (Christianity) over others. 

Walters responded on X by posting, "This is just another radical organization screaming into the void, desperate to stay relevant while the rest of us focus on what actually matters." I hope that what Walters means is focusing on improving Oklahoma's position of being 49th nationally in terms of quality of education rather than more culture wars. 

Ryan Walters: "We cannot allow our schools to become "terrorist training camps"

On Thursday, Ryan Walters, the ultra-conservative state superintendent of education in Oklahoma, posted a video on X claiming that the "radical left" teachers' unions have infiltrated schools and are training students to be terrorists. Walters lamented, "What a terrible day when we see terrorist attacks on American soil. It's absolutely tragic and we've got to look as a country on how these things happen. We absolutely have to shut down the border, to not allow terrorists to come across the border." (Note: Neither the New Orleans or Las Vegas perpetrators crossed the border).

Walters continued on with his baseless charges, "We also have to take a look at how are these terrorists coming from people that live in America. And, you know, you have schools that are teaching kids to hate their country, that this country is evil. You have the teachers' unions pushing this on our kids. The radical left wants people to hate this country. They've completely destroyed the integrity of the FBI by making them more concerned about DEI than about protecting Americans. It's a major part of this. 

Then Walters gave his big finish: "And look, this is a real uncomfortable truth, and I know the left is going to lose their mind, but listen: we cannot allow our schools to become terrorist training camps. We cannot allow our schools to teach our kids to hate this country. We cannot allow our kids to teach that this is an evil country." (Note: I think Walters meant to say that "We cannot allow our kids to be taught that this is an evil country). That is why we are getting back to the basics in Oklahoma to make sure that our kids love this country, understand American values, understand the role that the Constitution, the Bible, the Declaration of Independence played in American history. Because we want patriots, and that's going to be the focus of our schools."

Walters has been on a mission to transform secular education in Oklahoma into education that supports a government that resembles a theocracy more than a democracy. In a clear blurring of the lines of church and state, Walters declared on X in June that "Oklahoma kids will learn that the Bible and the Ten Commandments are foundational for western civilization. The left is upset, but one cannot rewrite history." Unless, of course, you are Ryan Walters.

In addition to the teaching of the Bible's role in America's development, Walters mandated that each public school display a Bible in their classrooms. In putting out a request for proposals (RFP) to purchase the Bibles to distribute, Walters set standards only met by two Bibles -- We the People Bible ($90) and God Bless the U.S.A. Bible ($60), both branded by Donald Trump. Walters requested $3 million to purchase 55,000 copies of the Bible for Oklahoma classrooms. (Note: Walters' request works out to be $54.55 per Bible, so he must be hoping for a volume discount from Trump).  

Given that Oklahoma ranks 49th in the country in terms of the quality of its educational system, you would think Walters would be more concerned about improving its schools' standing in the nation.