Fred Bauer @fredbauerblog Twitter profile

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Fred Bauer

18 days

In the new print issue of @NRO , I have a longform essay on Nietzsche, Plato, the "Bronze Age" project, and the surprising resilience of modern life. It all started when I was fifteen and found a used copy of "Beyond Good and Evil"...

Bronze Age Menace | National Review

The antihuman vision of Costin Alamariu.

www.nationalreview.com

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

Kind of wild to see the following vibe shift: 2020: "Kids are resilient. So we can close schools and mask 2-year-olds for 8 hours a day. Don't worry--they'll adapt." 2022: "This [deep harm to children] was to be expected. Of course closures hurt them. Now, let's do the work."

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

Two structural things the Oz-Fetterman debate illuminated: *Profound crisis of reporter class. Months and months spent obscuring true extent of Fetterman's health issues. When NBC reporter dared to report on this, massive retaliatory campaign from colleagues (even @AP ).

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Fred Bauer

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4 years

It's almost like having domestic manufacturing capacity matters....

MyPillow

@MyPillowUSA

4 years

MyPillow is excited to announce that we are now manufacturing face masks for hospitals across the country!

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

@ZekeJMiller @PressSec Romney literally voted to impeach Trump twice.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

Pretty striking that a bill that would transform employment-based migration (for the benefit of a few industries) just passed the Senate and has gotten relatively little press coverage.

U.S. Tech Workers

@USTechWorkers

3 years

Breaking: Sen. Mike Lee has passed HR1044 w/Lee Amendments without any objections.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

7 years

After Tuesday, it has become increasingly clear that a fixation on identity politics is a major electoral weakness for the Left.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

*In a weeks-long voting season, voters may cast ballots before they know full picture of a candidacy.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

Senator Markey calls objecting to the counting of Electoral Votes "seditious." In the House, he voted to object to the counting of Ohio's EVs in 2005.

Ed Markey

@EdMarkey

3 years

Radical Republicans are waging an insurrection against the United States Constitution and our democracy. The notion that there was any meaningful voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election is a dangerous, anti-democratic, treasonous, fiction.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

7 years

Underemphasized finding in this Gallup poll: Only 5% of Americans want immigration levels increased.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

7 years

Not clear why GOP should give into Democratic hard-liners on this point.

Mark Krikorian

@MarkSKrikorian

7 years

"Democrats will not accept any policy provision that will help identify other immigrants here illegally."

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

6 years

As outsider politicians continue to gain power, it's worth remembering one of the reasons why they've had such an opportunity: The political center accepted as conventional wisdom ideas that, in reality, are quite extreme.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

@PeterMoskos Does this mean that kidnapping would no longer be a cause for incarceration? Or assaulting a police officer (as long as a deadly weapon was not used to cause serious injury)?

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

6 years

Must say that I'm looking forward to tomorrow's @davidfrum / Steve Bannon debate...

Munk Debates: The Globe speaks to Stephen Bannon and David Frum

At Friday’s Munk debate in Toronto, Stephen Bannon, former strategist for U.S. President Donald Trump, and David Frum, a senior editor at The Atlantic magazine, debated the following resolution: Be...

www.theglobeandmail.com

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

This offers an example of the way college education is used to reinforce a class hierarchy. Meadows got his degree 40 YEARS ago. For chief of staff, shouldn't the rest of his adult life matter more than whether he spent 2 or 4 years in college?

Jennifer Jacobs

@JenniferJJacobs

4 years

Some of the response around the WH to the Mulvaney/Meadows swap is: How does a small town real estate developer with an associate’s degree get to be chief of staff? “Meadows is there to be the President’s buddy,” one source told me.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

7 years

. @Acosta might not know this, but there are more English-speaking people in India, the Philippines, and Nigeria than in UK.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

At pp. 2468-9, omnibus includes a provision allowing DHS to issue extra H-2B guest-worker visas if there's a shortage of workers "who are willing, qualified, and able to perform temporary nonagricultural labor." (Even as millions of Americans are jobless...)

Jake Sherman

@JakeSherman

3 years

Here it is. 5593 pages. The funding/covid relief bill.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

7 years

Does anyone have footage of CNN saying "Barack Obama's so-called Affordable Care Act"? #askingforafriend

CNN

@CNN

7 years

Ted Cruz’s so-called Consumer Freedom amendment to be included in new health care plan

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

And 2020 will be the first time since 1968 that a Harvard or Yale graduate will not be on a major-party presidential ticket.

Ben Jacobs

@Bencjacobs

4 years

Kamala Harris's selection means that the Democratic ticket will not have someone with an Ivy League degree for the first time since 1984

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

@esaagar It's almost like "corporate tax-cuts + angry tweets" might not be the best governing or campaign strategy...

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

7 years

One of the biggest losers tonight: The theory that shaming voters was an appropriate substitute for listening to them.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

Many polls had Collins down by 4 at least--with almost 80% of the vote in, she has a 9-point lead!

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

Your regular reminder that it's not simply the amount of testing the separates the US and South Korean responses. South Korea's approach to #COVID19 involves a comprehensive system of granular surveillance and confinement that no central authority in the US has ever had.

Derek Thompson

@DKThomp

4 years

It's fantastic that South Korea is reopening malls, restaurants, and clubs. It's also important to be clear what that re-opening model entails: a test & trace apparatus capable of identifying and quarantining 1,000+ people in 48 hours if one family tests positive for the virus.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

10 months

Not clear that DeSantis can win a battle with Trump over who is the most "based"--so he might be better off not trying. Instead, he might have more luck returning to the kind of "normie" politics that fueled his 2022 landslide.

Why Ron DeSantis should launch a normie insurgency

Ron DeSantis has had a torrid few months and, just yesterday, it was announced that the Florida Governor had cut a third of his campaign staff. With Donald Trump riding high in the national polls,...

unherd.com

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

2020 really needs its own lexicon: "disinformation" = "information I don't like" "conspiracy theory" = "politically damaging claim" "facts" = "unsubstantiated rumors I find appealing" "fact-checking" = "editorializing to protect my friends and hurt my foes"

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

5 years

In many respects, a tight labor market is an egalitarian enterprise (and it's likely a pro-growth one, too). Contrary to some corporate talking points, rising wages are a vehicle for spreading economic growth--not a sign of a "worker shortage."

Daniel McCarthy

@ToryAnarchist

5 years

“The benefits of a strong job market are spreading in the form of higher wages for many of those left behind for much of the past decade’s economic expansion, including young Americans, low-income households and people with the least education.” via @WSJ

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 months

These "protests" are one of the more prominent assertions of hierarchy and status in the contemporary United States. Certain groups are permitted to break the law with near-impunity.

Yashar Ali 🐘

@yashar

4 months

A dad gets out of his car and confronts cease fire protesters who were blocking traffic to the Brooklyn Bridge. “I have a daughter in Brooklyn!“

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

Reminder: In laying the groundwork for a governing majority, Ronald Reagan didn't spend that much time denouncing Richard Nixon or obsessing over Watergate. Instead, he focused on developing his distinctive brand and addressing the problems facing the United States.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

1 year

Peach State context for GA runoff: GOP ran the table for statewide races in 2022 (other than Senate). Republicans hold majorities in both houses of state legislature. US House delegation is 9R-5D for next Congress. This isn't a state hostile to GOP! But it is Trump-skeptical.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

Worth noting that the filibuster protects federalism, too. Because a narrow majority does not have a blank check to impose its vision on the nation, states have room for policy diversity and innovation.

Leader McConnell

@LeaderMcConnell

2 years

The Senate was designed to make it difficult to have radical change in the country unless there are huge majorities on one side or the other. The filibuster prevents extremism. Democrats want to eliminate it so they can fundamentally change the structure of America forever.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

8 years

Pat Toomey, a former Club for Growth president, comes out against TPP

Sen. Pat Toomey: The TPP falls short

Why the Trans-Pacific Partnership would be a bad trade deal for Pennsylvanians.

www.post-gazette.com

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

1 year

More evidence that Trump is more interested in dominating the Republican Party than winning elections. (More of a desire to beat a challenger within the GOP than to win on Election Day...)

Joel Weingart

@JoelWeingart_

1 year

ROLLING STONE: Trump advisor says regarding Ron DeSantis: "Team Trump doesn't want to just beat him. Team Trump wants to humiliate him maybe more than they've ever wanted to humiliate anybody on a national stage"

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

Georgetown Law's admission rate was 13% last year. Its median LSAT was somewhere around the 97th percentile. The students here are not wallflowers but driven winners in the meritocracy. In making these demands, the students are using the tactics approved by American power-elite.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 months

Even more than politics, though, this clip also offers a window on when many institutions of popular culture were more vital. Back in the 1990s, SNL was more heterogeneous. It didn't need to shoehorn Republicans into simply being the "bad guys"--and the comedy was richer.

Fred

@Grand_handsomer

4 months

In 1995 the republicans celebrated their first 100 days of being in the majority by having Chris Farley address them as Speaker Gingrich. Apparently politics used to be fun

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

One of the things I was trying to get at in this piece is that 2020 was a dramatic experiment: to rip away the traditional democratic limits on power. That experiment had many failures, and there should be an accounting of them to avoid future missteps.

Liberal Democracy Hasn’t Prevailed Yet | National Review

China and Russia may be struggling, but tensions in Western systems of government persist.

www.nationalreview.com

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

Seriously, if you're going to be suspending any migration category, what's the common-good argument for not suspending the H-1B program? Millions of new college graduates are about to enter the worst employment environment since the Great Depression.

Mark Krikorian

@MarkSKrikorian

4 years

It's actually "temporary" worker programs that should have been paused first. They're not really temporary (most end up staying) but they're not free workers, able to change jobs/occupations/locations at will, and so undermine US workers even more than extra green-card holders.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

So to say that it's "un-American" for some people to want to have different standards misses how US public education currently works (policymakers are already imposing standards, some with significant ideological weight).

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

8 months

The relaxation of dress code for senators but not staff offers a window into a broader shift in psychology of the American elite: From the idea that power demanded some kind of personal restrictions (formal dress, etc.) to idea that power should mean escape from restriction.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

Two ironies: Warren herself has constantly supported filibusters. The abolitionist Charles Sumner, who once held Warren's Senate seat, used filibuster to protest an early form of reconstruction in Louisiana because he believed it did not do enough to protect civil rights.

Axios

@axios

3 years

Warren: "The filibuster has deep roots in racism, and it should not be permitted to serve that function, or to create or to create a veto for the minority. In a democracy, it's majority rules."

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 months

In my latest for @Telegraph , I discuss how the attempt to dismiss plagiarism charges because they're brought by the "wrong" people (i.e., @realchrisrufo , @realChrisBrunet , and @aaronsibarium ) highlights the bigger crisis of elite credibility.

By defending the indefensible Gay, American elites have forfeited the high ground

Elite institutions are facing a crisis of credibility – and Claudine Gay’s resignation won’t fix it

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

Signatories to this letter calling for more H-2B visas include Lindsey Graham, Elise Stefanik, and Doug Collins. A good reminder that defending the president in cable-news hits is not the same as supporting a pro-worker policy platform.

Mark Krikorian

@MarkSKrikorian

4 years

The List: 26 GOP Senators, 97 House Republicans Ask for More Foreign Workers to Fill U.S. Jobs

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

In the past, @SenMikeLee and others have criticized using an omnibus bill to pass a legislative buffet. Omnibus negotiations are characterized by rushed secrecy, which might be a reason not to bundle immigration legislation into the omnibus.

How to Paralyze the Immigration System in One Ill-Conceived Step | National Review

An effort by Congress to remove per-country caps on employment-based green cards could backfire disastrously.

www.nationalreview.com

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

Report that omnibus could include immigration bill that would remove country caps and potentially cause a global logjam for the recruitment of talent (for scientific research, academic institutions, businesses, medicine, the arts, etc.). @USTechWorkers @RyanGirdusky @kausmickey

Ira J. Kurzban

@IraKurzban

3 years

Congress is about to slip in the OMNIBUS spending bill a horrible IMMIGRATION bill (HR 1044)that will end immig. through employment for decades except for Indian nationals. If they can pass bad laws like HR 1044 DEMAND inclusion of DACA/TPS NOW in Omnibus.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 months

This kind of raises questions about whether these calls are appropriate. In soms locations, voting in caucuses hasn't even started.

Cameron Joseph

@cam_joseph

4 months

CNN just called the Iowa causes for Trump. Some precincts haven't even finished voting yet and it's already this clear from what's coming in. I've never seen a caucus called anywhere near this fast.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

7 years

It should matter to all of us if our nation's future leadership caste is being trained in doctrines of suppression and sophistry.

Chris Hayes

@chrislhayes

7 years

If you haven't been paying attention to right wing media recently,it's *amazing* how much attention current campus controversies have gotten

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

@SaysSimonson A powerful shift going on right now in the ethos of the Internet more broadly: from "the more information and transparency, the better" to "expunge unhelpful information--I mean MISinformation."

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

5 years

A subtheme of this @FredBarnes column: A hyper-polarized, trench-warfare Congress gives increased power to federal judges and executive-branch bureaucrats.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

1 year

As in 2016, one of Trump's great advantages in 2024 primary is the ardent desire of many American journalists that he be the GOP nominee.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

@HotlineJosh @jaketapper And, frankly, does a ban on ballot harvesting count even as a "strict voting regulation"? Many states with high rates of voter participation ban it.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

Republicans on the Hill like to complain about "Big Tech," but some are considering inserting a law into the omnibus bill that would reward Silicon Valley by paralyzing employment-based immigration from most of the world & for many other economic sectors.

How to Paralyze the Immigration System in One Ill-Conceived Step | National Review

An effort by Congress to remove per-country caps on employment-based green cards could backfire disastrously.

www.nationalreview.com

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

If a "populist" or "nationalist" politician in Europe had called for scrapping a 200-year-old parliamentary protection for the minority party, how many columns would the Washington Post devote to calling him a threat to "liberal-democratic norms"?

Johnny Verhovek

@JTHVerhovek

4 years

Biden on Obama’s call to get rid of the filibuster: “I'm on record as saying that if the Republicans — if there's no way to move, other than getting rid of the filibuster that's what we'll do.”

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

@realchrisrufo @ZaidJilani "Dude dude dude have you ever considered that the 'oceans' that supposedly 'separate' 'continents' are actually just the product of an authoritarian impulse to create some 'geological' Other!????"

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

Here are 29 pages promulgated by the state of Oregon laying out standards for "social sciences integrated with ethnic studies." Whether you like it or not, states already have granular requirements for education.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

@toad_spotted Pearl Harbor is a rather inconvenient event for the chic dogma that the United States is a vast empire of evil inflicting suffering on a passive world.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

6 months

While Trump's team is calling for an end to the primary, only 62% of *Republicans* think that Trump should run again for the presidency. Rural voters (which Republicans have relied more on in recent cycles) oppose another Trump run 45%-41%. This is not overwhelming enthusiasm.

InteractivePolls

@IAPolls2022

6 months

🇺🇲 NATIONAL POLL: @YouGovAmerica Trump 43% [+1] Biden 42% [=] -- Another candidate 7% —— GOP PRES: Trump 57% [+1] DeSantis 19% [+2] Haley 9% [+1] Ramaswamy 4% [-1] Scott 3% [+2] Christie 0% [-1] [Change vs Oct. 31] N=1,271 | 546 GOP RVs | 11/11-14

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

In 2017--not the 1960s, 70s, or even 80s-- @SenBobCasey signed a letter pledging to oppose any effort to weaken the filibuster. When he was in the minority, Senator Casey was a great defender of the filibuster. #norms .

Senators Collins, Coons Lead Effort to Preserve 60 Vote Threshold for Legislation | U.S. Senator...

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Chris Coons (D-DE) led a bipartisan group...

www.collins.senate.gov

Senator Bob Casey

@SenBobCasey

3 years

It’s not just that the filibuster is not in the Constitution – it’s that it has evolved into one of the biggest roadblocks to progress in the Senate. This isn’t the Senate of the 1960s, ‘70s or even ‘80s. We must change with the times if we hope to accomplish lasting change.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

7 months

The Gaetz gambit (team up with Democrats to oust a Republican Speaker) reveals how coalitional incentives make a narrow Democratic majority considerably more politically disciplined than a narrow Republican majority. And that can have strategic costs for GOP...

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

Crazy idea: "Republicans buy sneakers, too" was actually in the interests of both corporate profits and civic comity. Using big business to push vanguardist ideology (often with extreme hypocrisy) opens door to a lot of disruption.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

As Congress continues to negotiate over the omnibus, a reminder that a proposed immigration component could reward Silicon Valley while threatening the employment-based immigration system for other economic sectors.

How to Paralyze the Immigration System in One Ill-Conceived Step | National Review

An effort by Congress to remove per-country caps on employment-based green cards could backfire disastrously.

www.nationalreview.com

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

@EsotericCD One of the weirdest things about the argument that "harming millions of children was a necessary price for containing COVID" is that many other nations did not come close to the draconian policies imposed in many US districts--and yet they had no worse COVID outcomes.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

. @billscher punctures some myths about the filibuster here (no, civil rights measures were not the only ones blocked by the filibuster after Reconstruction):

The “Talking Filibuster” Has Unintended Consequences | Washington Monthly

The idea of making senators pull all-nighters sounds like a sensible filibuster reform. But the procedure, a favorite of Strom Thurmond and Frank Capra, has its limits.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

6 years

. @thechrisbuskirk warns Trump about the dangers of a "read my lips" moment on immigration.

Opinion | Mr. President, don’t betray your base

The Goodlatte bill, which would deal with “dreamers” and fund the wall, is the way forward.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

Two potential big winners from this court-packing proposal: @JoeManchinWV and @SenatorSinema . This offers a huge piece of evidence for their claims that the filibuster is constitutionally important for blocking partisan overreach.

Kyle Griffin

@kylegriffin1

3 years

Congressional Democrats plan to unveil legislation expanding the size of the Supreme Court from 9 justices to 13. The bill is led in the House by Jerry Nadler, Hank Johnson, and Mondaire Jones. In the Senate, the bill is being championed by Ed Markey.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

Not necessarily endorsing the "center-right" framing, but one could conversely observe that Republicans have won the House in 10 of the past 14 elections. Not sure American political dynamics can be reduced to the presidency...

Sahil Kapur

@sahilkapur

3 years

With Democrats winning the popular vote in 7 out of the last 8 elections, it’s past time to retire the “center-right country” trope.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

Actually, it would be 51 senators "setting back" a presidential agenda. Even if they're not in the majority, Republicans are still senators! The idea that senators are obligated to serve a president's agenda undermines the principle of checks and balances.

ABC News

@ABC

2 years

A single senator is about to seriously set back an entire presidential agenda.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

6 years

It's kind of weird when pundits say that Trump betrays the GOP legacy as the "party of Lincoln" by opposing "free trade." Like many of the great statesmen in the Federalist-Whig-Republican strand of American politics (Hamilton, Coolidge, etc.), Lincoln was a tariff supporter.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

Via @NRO : The Massachusetts legislature considers a number of bills to institute a “critical approach and pedagogy” for a curriculum of ethnic studies, “decolonization,” and “social justice” instruction.

Massachusetts Wants ‘Woke’ Activists to Set School Curricula | National Review

Bills proposed by the state legislature would empower left-wing interest groups to determine what kids learn in schools.

www.nationalreview.com

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

Noteworthy: These draft documents contain some specific policy proposals: *Scrap Section 230 *Require Remain in Mexico *Criminalize fentanyl analogues *Place hold on federal funds for DAs who refuse to enforce laws *Expand school choice

Alayna Treene

@alaynatreene

2 years

NEW: Kevin McCarthy will formally roll out a four-part "Commitment to America" in Pittsburgh on Sept. 19 to tell voters why they should vote for Republicans — not just against Democrats w/ @AndrewSolender

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

@TheEliKlein @SIfill_ And it's not just closures. Much of the world also did not mask small children in early schooling and daycare facilities (the consequences of which we're just starting to understand). There was no medical justification for masking therapists for kids with speech delays.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

So far, Trump Super PAC spending more invested in settling old scores ($500,000 v. Liz Cheney and $4 million in opposing Kemp in the primary) than winning seats for Republicans in general election.

Burgess Everett

@burgessev

2 years

News: Republicans want Trump to move his $99M in PAC money into the Senate races. McConnell advising Trump-friendly candidates/senators to urge Trump to transfer millions into super PACs supporting GOP candidates, per sources @meridithmcgraw

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

Note the spin in calling E-Verify "controversial." Polls show that 71% of FL voters support mandatory E-Verify (including majorities in both parties).

Marketing and Communications

www.unf.edu

Mark Krikorian

@MarkSKrikorian

4 years

Mandatory E-Verify bills "have faced fierce pushback from Florida’s agriculture, tourism & construction industries, including major GOP donors. But DeSantis has made the controversial proposal one of his top priorities for next year’s legislative session."

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

Two figures Senate Republicans might keep in mind when weighing the politics of voting to convict Trump: Jeff Sessions and Mitt Romney. One shows how little Trump repays past loyalty; the other hints that opposing Trump doesn't necessarily lead to political annihilation.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

The point here is not whether or not they are good standards. It's that they are granular, non-neutral standards. They enshrine a certain intellectual approach.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

5 months

Back in January 2021, I said that, if it were successful, Trump's strategy to overturn the 2020 election would have been a constitutional Rubicon. In 2023, Trump's opponents have their own Rubicon moment: Using the 14th Amendment to start throwing candidates off the ballot.

Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

The kind of constitutional chaos required by the overturn-the-election campaign would have wreaked havoc with internal American politics--with geopolitical implications. (The VP just nullifying Electoral Votes would have been a constitutional Rubicon.)

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

A thread from almost exactly four years ago thinking about the broader consequences of leaking Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders. A number of troubling precedents were set during the Trump years...

Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

7 years

Moreover, as yesterday's leaks show, these efforts can destroy norms and have implications far beyond Trump. 3/

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

Just an observation: Probably not a good idea for former high-ranking US officials to say that half the USA is worse than ISIS, Soviet Communists, and Pol Pot. That kind of vitriol exacerbates polarization and risks undermining trust in valuable national-security institutions.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

1 year

Reminder of how prominent Democrats have lobbied for the expulsion of their political opponents from legislative office.

Beto O'Rourke

@BetoORourke

3 years

The El Paso Times demands that “Congress police its own and vote to expel Cruz.” If your Senator has not yet committed to voting to expel Hawley and Cruz, you can reach them through the Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

The past few weeks, Senator Schumer laid the groundwork for declaring 2022 "rigged." Now, President Biden is preemptively casting doubt on the legitimacy of American elections.

Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

Along similar lines, it's interesting that outlets that have been warning about the existential threat of the "Big Lie" for the past year have not pressed Senator Schumer on his claim that US elections are a "rigged game" unless his preferred bills can pass.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

6 years

Interesting argument that, because Japan resisted neoliberalism (on immigration, trade, etc.), it has been more immune to populism:

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

1 year

@charlescwcooke "We're in a battle for the soul of the Constitution, so I now need to take unilateral executive action. Anything to avoid negotiating with Congress!"

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

9 months

Georgia (along with Arizona) is ground zero for how indulging Trump costs Republicans winnable elections. Kemp led a successful effort to block Trump-branded challengers to incumbent Republicans--and GOP was rewarded with electoral victories in 2022.

Brian Kemp

@BrianKempGA

9 months

Every Republican running for President would be better than Joe Biden. Any candidate who does not commit to supporting the eventual nominee is putting themselves ahead of the future of our country. 2024 is too important for political games.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

1 year

In 2018, anti-Trump bestseller "How Democracies Die" said some "authoritarian" indicators were: *Taking legal action against political opponents *Saying that opponents were agents of a foreign government *Calling opponents existential threat to country

Whose Democracy? Which Authoritarianism? | National Review

In seeking his defeat, Trump’s enemies on the left often demonstrate the very same behaviors they’ve previously condemned.

www.nationalreview.com

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

Some of what motivates contemporary "populists" is less the rejection of expertise (contrary to some chic myths) and more the belief that those who hold power have failed to live up to their responsibilities--not the abolition of the establishment, but its reform.

Saagar Enjeti

@esaagar

4 years

Part 2: "We aren't anti-elite, we just want a better elite....an elite that doesn't go to Harvard and work in private equity or fix bread prices, an elite that owes something to the American working class"

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

6 years

Turning to the United States: Giving the People's Republic of China permanent normal trade relations was also an incredibly extreme position: It gave an authoritarian regime that had no interest in the free market the ability to intervene in the American economy.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 months

This decision reveals the constitutional fractures risked by a "self-executing 14th Amendment" strategy of ballot disqualification. A quick 🧵

Kyle Cheney

@kyledcheney

4 months

BREAKING: Maine Secretary of State rules Trump is ineligible to appear on 2024 ballot. 34-page decision:

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 months

It really is remarkable how Trump 2024 is in so many ways diametrically opposed to Trump 2016. 2016: Outsider candidate focused on policy interventions on trade and migration. 2024: Candidate of Beltway Republicans running an issue-light campaign.

Ann Coulter

@AnnCoulter

4 months

Correct. In 2016, he was talking about immigration. Voters loved it and the media hated it. In 2024, he's talking about himself, claiming the 2020 election was "stolen," denouncing all the people HE hired, making the same promises he broke as president, and calling himself…

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

@chrislhayes Unfortunately, the popularization of conspiracy theories to delegitimize presidential elections predates Trump. Hillary Clinton still holds that the 2016 election was not "on the level." See also challenges to 2000 and 2004 elections.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

1 year

@walterkirn @mtaibbi Does a disservice to readers to portray anyone who's not a party-line journalist as a "conservative." Both Weiss and Taibbi are critical of many of the practices of major media outlets--but that doesn't make them conservatives!

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

1 year

Trump's signature issues for 2024 so far are overturning the 2020 election and fighting numerous legal investigations. The Trump Show sucked up the oxygen for policy movement when he was president. Any signs that Trump has learned how to govern since then?

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

8 months

This kind of encapsulates the serious civic problems with the 14th Amendment strategy. Going 14A is a radical break with tradition of open elections--political nitroglycerin. Rather than being measured in talking about it, CO SoS slips into standard partisan massaging.

The Hill

@thehill

8 months

Colorado secretary of state calls Trump a ‘liar,’ vows to see ballot lawsuit through

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

7 months

Not an original insight at this point, but I'll say it anyway: The continued paralysis of House Republicans is a sign that some members still haven't reckoned with the fact that Republicans whiffed on the 2022 midterms--let alone why they did so poorly.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

By the way, it probably would be a mistake to let means-testing slow down this stimulus. You can always back-end means-test it by making it taxable income (I forgot who first mentioned that) or by having a one-year mini-tax-hike on upper-income households to compensate for that $

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

One of the weirder turns of 2020 is how, in responding to coronavirus, the Trump campaign has not emphasized some of the policy themes that helped him win in 2016: border controls, made-in-the-USA industrial policy, decoupling from the PRC, etc.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

@guypbenson @brithume Probably worth mentioning that, if you look at polls, opposition to teaching divisive "woke" identity politics can be found across ethnic groups.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

6 years

Angela Merkel's open-door approach to migration is also quite radical. "Wir schaffen das" became a slogan for a utopianism disconnected from the realities of concrete political life.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

4 years

Boston voted this week to take down a statue of Abraham Lincoln. The current revolutionary iconoclasm is not just about Confederate statues.

David Axelrod

@davidaxelrod

4 years

Would that the @POTUS were anywhere near as zealous about safeguarding the lives of Americans from an epic pandemic as he is to preserve Confederate statues.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

3 years

A norm worth considering: Posting videos meant to shame or humiliate a random person (like a hotel clerk or a passerby) should be viewed as an act of aggression.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

5 years

Forgiveness is a republican virtue--endless vengeance fits in better in a totalitarian regime.

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

1 year

@baseballcrank 2016: Trump attracted enough working class voters and conventional Republicans to pull an inside straight. 2020: Trump alienated enough voters that formerly reliable Republican states (AZ and GA) flipped to the Democrats and he washed out in key Rustbelt states (PA, WI, MI).

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

1 year

@JacobAShell Not to discount contemporary challenges (and there are a lot!), but 400K seems high. I know many, many kid-age families in the Boston suburbs who make much less than that and have most of those features (maybe not trips abroad).

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Fred Bauer

@fredbauerblog

2 years

@davidfrum RIP thorn, one of the literal dead letters of the English language. (thorn=>th...)

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