Here they go again
The Hill recently was the latest publication to use photographs taken at the border during the presidential administration of Barack Obama but publish them as if they were new policies of the Trump administration.
The photographs of children covered in tinfoil blankets and sleeping on floors actually were taken five years ago, the deputy director of communications for Trump's 2020 campaign pointed out on Twitter.
"This photo," Matt Wolking said, "was taken in Arizona in 2014, when Joe Biden was Vice President."
Just a year ago, when publications were doing the same thing, one of Obama's own speechwriters, commenting on the old photos, said, "This is happening right now, and the only debate that matters is how we force our government to get these kids back to their families as fast as humanly possible."
Eventually, the Associated Press, which published the original photos, had to issue a fact check correction:
"The photos, taken by The Associated Press, were from 2014, during the Obama administration, but were presented by liberal activists as if they showed the effects of Trump's immigration policy now. [Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio] Villaraigosa, [Obama speechwriter Jon] Favreau and some others deleted their tweets when the mistake was pointed out.
"They had linked to a June 2014 online story by The Arizona Republic titled 'First peek: Immigrant children flood detention center.'"
Crowd suggests he stick to his day job
Pete Buttigieg, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor making a long-shot run at the presidency, took a run at trying to secure some of the black vote last week when he appeared at a Chicago conference hosted by Jesse Jackson.
Things got off to a cringeworthy start when the candidate took the stage. Most candidates are used to getting standing ovations at such points, but the crowd was a little lukewarm in its greeting.
"He's our guest, on your feet," Jackson had to prompt.
Opening his address, Buttigieg said he was "honored" just to be in the presence of U.S. House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, whose annual fish fry in June Buttigieg had to miss while dealing with racial strife in South Bend.
"At the fish fry that he hosted a few days ago, they did not run out of fish," the candidate joked. "Even after feeding literally thousands of Democratic candidates for president, so congratulations to you."
The crowd either didn't understand the biblical reference to Jesus feeding the 5,000 or wondered why they were being congratulated for something that happened in South Carolina.
The sound of crickets would have been appropriate.
RBG off the chain
United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg let slip something momentous about the supposedly conservative high court during an address at Georgetown Law School's Supreme Court Institute last week: For the first time in history this fall, more of the court's clerks will be women rather than men.
"There is a very important first on the Supreme Court this [coming] term," she said, "and it's thanks to our new justice, Justice Kavanaugh."
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, she said, had appointed an entirely female staff. This is the Kavanaugh who was accused of being a serial sex abuser in his past by a number of women who testified at his confirmation hearings last summer or who spoke about him to the media at the time. Most of the women later admitted they made up what they'd said. Still, one would think if Kavanaugh was everything the media said he was, no woman would clerk for him.
Ginsburg, having revealed such a fact about the supposedly conservative court, may be drummed out of her status as a feminist heroine. Time will tell.
Who'll do our bidding?
Organized labor has given the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates a combined $12.5 million over the course of their political careers, according to a Washington Free Beacon review of state and federal campaign records.
The two dozen candidates are salivating in the hopes of union endorsements, and two campaigns (U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro) have tried to seed the pot by unionizing their campaign staffers.
Not surprisingly, Sanders, who calls himself a democratic socialist and whose collectivist ideas are in line with most unions, is the top recipient, having pulled in nearly $2 million. But U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California, in only her first term, is second with $1.8 million. Former Vice President Joe Biden received only $363,499, perhaps explaining his flagging support among Democrats.
Harris and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey have perfect lifetime scores from the AFL-CIO's legislative scorecard, and Warren and Sanders have 98% marks.
"We're looking for a candidate who understands that the single best way to make our economy fairer is by making it easier to join a union," John Weber, press secretary for the AFL-CIO, said in a telling statement.