Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Quick Hits: Volume CXIII

- By now you've probably heard about the racially tinged interview Mark Halperin conducted with GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz.

Here's a summary of the controversial line of questioning regarding Cruz's Cuban heritage.


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Not surprising that a conservative venue like the National Review was critical of said questions.

Whatever drove Halperin to grill Cruz about his Cuban bona fides, however, Halperin’s critics are right to lay into him. Ted Cruz should be judged based on whether his policies will help or harm voters, not based on whether he can name his favorite Cuban musician.

That's pretty much common sense, something you'd anticipate NR would point out.

Oh, wait. You mean it was the far left rag Think Progress who actually defended Cruz here?!?! I wonder if that was the final straw leading up to Halperin's apology.


- Despite the fact the Minnesota Twins have actually played some watchable baseball this season, some fans have found other areas which need shoring up.

Three games over 500 for the first time in five years — those are numbers any true Twins fan can appreciate. Still, Kip Carver is questioning his loyalty after what he captured during Saturday’s National Anthem.

“That’s just unacceptable,” Carver said.

“I see seven Twins standing in front of the dugout, and I look toward the White Sox dugout. I’m not sure how many but an entire line of folks,” Carver said as he pointed to the picture he took.

Twins President Dave St. Peter told WCCO players tend to get into strict rituals at home. They could be getting treatment in the clubhouse or warming up in the batting cage while the National Anthem is going on.

“If a player isn’t on the line, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t respect the National Anthem,” he said. “It’s because he’s doing everything he can to get ready for that day’s game.”

The Twins have fielded dozens of complaints after Kip’s photos were shared hundreds of times online.

“Frankly, I wish there were more guys out every single game,” St. Peter said.

I'm old school, so I too believe that every player should at least stand for the Anthem. I'm not suggesting players have to sing along or even place hands over hearts, but standing in silence would suffice.  It shows solidarity with the country you're playing in, regardless of citizenship.

With all that said, I'm not nearly in as big a twist over this as Mr. Carver. If players don't want to stand for the National Anthem, the next best thing they can do is stay back in the clubhouse so others who cherish this ritual can participate without distraction.


- The leftist media has been know to blame the Tea Party movement and/or the NRA when mass shootings have taken place over the past 5 years or so. The media's chanting point has been the TP provokes violence because of their "anti-government" rhetoric or the NRA creates a "culture of violence" with it's refusal to support any gun control measures.

Given the media's own narrative of police officers randomly shooting and/or brutalizing unarmed young black men (a CNN panel perpetuated the "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" lie), are they willing to live by standards they set for others and take responsibility for an incident in Hattiesburg, MS?

It started as a traffic stop and ended in a hail of gunfire. Now two police officers in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, are dead, four suspects are facing charges and a community is mourning.

Officers Benjamin Deen, 34, and Liquori Tate, 24
(a black man. Does his life matter, BLM? - ed.), were making a traffic stop Saturday evening when they were shot, Mayor Johnny DuPree said. They were taken to a hospital, but did not survive.

Authorities accuse the suspects of fleeing the crime scene, allegedly stealing a police cruiser and using it as a getaway car.

Joanie Calloway, 22, was charged with two counts of capital murder, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said Sunday.

Marvin Banks, 29, also faces two counts of capital murder, along with counts of grand theft auto and felon in possession of a firearm. Police charged his brother, Curtis Banks, with two counts of accessory after the fact of capital murder, the agency said. And a fourth suspect, Cornelius Clark, was charged with obstruction of justice Sunday, the mayor's office said.

As deputies escorted him into a police station Sunday, Curtis Banks wailed and repeated "I didn't do it."

Obviously I'm being facetious when I say the media should accept some responsibility for these slayings. But given their penchant for saying others' rhetoric leads to fatalities, accepting some measure of culpability here would actually show some consistency.

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