Hat tip to the New York Post for the link.
Sunday, May 17, 2026
Election Fraud Investigations
Jim Hoff, writing at Gateway Pundit, quotes acting Attorney General Todd Blanche being interviewed by Fox News' Maria Bartiromo earlier today. Their topic - accusations of the 2020 presidential election being rigged.
We have multiple investigations going on in Arizona, in Georgia, in Fulton County, Georgia.
We’re very focused on finding out whether the right people voted, whether people who were supposed to vote actually voted, and whether there was one vote cast per voter.
Let's hope Blanche isn't exaggerating too much. I'd love to see indictments and convictions.
The key question is whether there will ever be proof that enough states' votes were rigged to show the wrong guy was inaugurated? That truly would be the all-time bombshell Hoff excitedly claims is coming.
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I focus on the fact that many more people voted in 2020 than in either 2016 or 2024. Who were those mystery voters, did they even exist, and why was that the only time they bothered to vote - questions no one has answered to my satisfaction. I suspect truckloads of bogus ballots never seen by a voter and 'bent' voting machines tallying 'ghost voters.'
Sincere Flattery
Instapundit links to a College Fix article touting the claim by a U. of Miami law professor that cultural appropriation should be made illegal. Really?
I disagree. Whatever happened to the truism that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? As long as we remember from whence the idea was borrowed, imitation is fine. The small NV town in which I winter has Mexican, Italian, Thai, and Japanese restaurants, that’s cultural appropriation aplenty.
One could wonder whether the professor - J. Janewa Osei-Tutu - isn't miffed because her culture-of-origin is insufficiently imitated, hence little flattered?
The Nostalgia of a Roadtrip Pro
As spring gets ready to segue into summer, how appropriate that RealClearPolitics brings us not one, but two articles celebrating the great American roadtrip. Each is in its own way rewarding, see them here and here.
Reading these reminds me I haven’t shared with COTTonLINE readers the DrsC’s love of the open road. Both teachers with summers off, we bought our first RV in 1972, a little van-based Class B motorhome. Our trip that summer took us on a loop from central CA up through southern OR to Crater Lake NP and back.
The next three summers we toured most of the US. In 1973 we went across the south, from our home base in northern CA, we saw the Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, Dallas TX, NOLA, MS, AL, FL clear down to Key West, and back west to CA, gone nearly 3 months.
In 1974 we did the middle route CA across UT (Zion and Bryce NPs) AZ (Chaco and Canyon de Chelly NPs), OK, MO, AR, TN, to the Carolinas, north to DC, and home on I-80 via Yellowstone and the Tetons NPs. Another almost 3 months.
In 1975 our trip went north to the east coast, up the coast via Boston, Bar Harbor NP and LL Bean to Cape Breton Island NP in Nova Scotia, and home via eastern Canada till we dropped down to I-90 to run west with another visit to Yellowstone and Grand Teton NPs. Again over 2 months.
At this point we’d seen most of the US, so in 1976 we took leave from our teaching jobs and moved to DC-adjacent MD for 2 years while the other DrC did her PhD work and I was a temporary bureaucrat. While there vacations were somewhat limited but we did a Christmas drive down the Natchez Trace NP and a summer trip back to Maine. We moved back to CA in 1978, stopping by northwestern Wyoming one more time.
Bottom line, we owned a series of 6 RVs for 51 years, drove them all over the US and Canada, including to Alaska. We’ve also RVed in New Zealand twice, and recommend it. We are roadtrip veterans, and we loved all of it.
We sold our last RV 3 years ago when RVing became too hard for old bodies to handle, and we still miss it. We watch RVs go past on the highway and feel a twinge of envy mixed with nostalgia. We have memories you can’t imagine unless you’ve done it.
Barone Opines
Year in and out, Michael Barone is one of our most savvy political observers. It’s not too soon to be thinking about the outcome of November’s midterm election. For the Washington Examiner, Barone does just that.
He considers the redistricting now going on, the state of the economy, the history of midterm outcomes, and the latest trends. Spoiler alert, he calls it a toss-up, while cautioning that much can happen in the next 5+ months. It is an excellent summary of the current state of play.
Saturday, May 16, 2026
Thinking About Taiwan
About the US position on Taiwan's relationship to China, I have formulated my own opinion of how we should proceed. China maintains Taiwan is and always has been part of China.
The people of Taiwan are Chinese, they speak and write Chinese, but are independent of the PRC in everything but name. China claims they are a rebellious province and that is certainly the post-World War II history.
If the people of Taiwan voluntarily chose to rejoin China, we would not object. If the PRC tried to force them to rejoin, we view that as wrong.
I think of Taiwan as a member of the Chinese 'family' who has cut most ties with the rest of the clan. An analogy would be an adult child who for his/her own lifestyle or ideological reasons has stopped being close with the parents and sibs.
In that situation Americans oppose any moves by the family to force the child to be close. We urge the parties to learn to live with their differences, or live with the separation.
There are cultures in which a family coercing or even killing a rebellious offspring is permitted or even expected - so-called 'honor killings,' for example. Our culture punishes such coercive behavior on the part of individuals, families, or even nations.
Friday, May 15, 2026
Tens of Millions of Mopeds
Fox News’ Bret Baier, in Beijing for the Xi/Trump summit, commented on the tens of millions of mopeds and light motorcycles in China. What he didn’t note is that they run on gasoline, which China does not produce and must import, much of it from Iran. Iranian oil is currently blockaded.
If those tens of millions of personal transport units are parked for lack of fuel, their owners become unhappy pedestrians. Even the autocratic Xi has to consider large numbers of unhappy people are a problem he doesn’t need.
A web search produced the following factoid:
In 2022, 13.8 million gasoline motorcycles were sold in China, which includes mopeds and light motorcycles.
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Major Matters
A recent study of Texas graduates by the Postsecondary Commission found that programmatic choice (college major) was more important than institutional selectivity in predicting post-graduation salary in the out years (10 years and beyond). Engineering and computer science were one and two, business (my field) ran third.
This is a finding the Ivies won't cherish, but from which my former students have benefitted.
Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Teachers Unions a Problem
Writing at American Greatness, Larry Sand chronicles "mounting resistance" to teachers unions. It's about time, too.
When the DrsC were students in public K-12 too many decades ago, the schools did a good job for most students, certainly for both of us.
The failure of public education began as teachers unions began to become politically powerful. As their strength grew, public education withered.
Now teachers unions are a major political force in the US and perhaps the Democrat party's strongest backer. Meanwhile public education has, in many jurisdictions, failed to a great extent. Students can't read at grade level, can't do simple arithmetic, and would have no idea how to write a cogent paragraph.
Teacher training programs at colleges and universities now draw their majors from the lowest quartile of the student body. K-12 teaching has become the major students choose when they can't cut it in other programs. It wasn't always so, but it is now.
Pupils were better off when teachers unions either didn't exist or lacked power. We should rethink collective bargaining for government employees in general, and teachers in particular.
The protection unions provide teachers is almost always redundant. Unions end up defending the jobs of mediocre teachers who would be better suited to other employment.
If teacher unions disappeared, kids would benefit.
Monday, May 11, 2026
Friedman Has a Dream
COTTonLINE’s favorite foreign policy analyst - George Friedman - has experienced an outbreak of optimism. We’ll take a look at what he foresees. Fortunately, he isn’t coy about why he thinks things are on the mend.
First, Friedman believes recent events suggest Putin has concluded he has to end the Ukraine war - on the best terms he can get - because his economy is sputtering and his war is stalled. He will have had to conclude Russia cannot recapture former imperial glory, after touting that as his avowed goal.
Second, Friedman believes we are on the threshold of a turning point in our relations with China.. Again economic determination seems to be his fulcrum.
He thinks a modus vivendi for Taiwan can be achieved that protects the status quo. He notes that, beyond the China Sea, China has not been militarily active. He believes the summit of Trump and Xi would not be happening if most sticking points hadn’t been worked out in advance by lower level functionaries.
Friedman foresees a final end to the Cold War, that began in 1945, and a new beginning globally. It is a beautiful dream that could happen if human cussedness doesn’t get in the way, as it so often does.
Is Friedman correct about both Putin and Xi experiencing an outbreak of realism? I am less certain than he. Nevertheless he makes an argument for both I believe you’ll find interesting. Whether you find it persuasive is up to you.
Sunday, May 10, 2026
About the Wiles Claim
On Friday we wrote that Trump's office manager Susie Wiles thinks Trump would have won the 2020 election were it not for mass cheating. You may have wondered, as I did, what led her to make this statement.
At PJ Media, Matt Margolis has assembled at least some of what Wiles has been hearing. He reports Monica Crowley, White House chief of protocol, believes the evidence will be forthcoming.
On-air, FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo concerning rigging of the 2020 election.
We are going to be making arrests, and it's coming, and I promise you, it's coming soon.
Margolis adds:
A federal grand jury in Florida is actively examining issues related to the 2020 election. The Department of Justice has also just brought in former U.S. attorney and Trump ally Joe diGenova to work alongside prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida.
The Covid epidemic gave the Democrats near-perfect "cover" for their 2020 election machinations, with "extreme emergency" powers being exercised left and right. I hope these investigations don't become another extravagant promise that fails to materialize.
Saturday, May 9, 2026
Happy Mothers Day
Time to wish all mothers who read this a Happy Mothers Day tomorrow. The DrsC's mothers have passed, but we remember them fondly.
We both had very good mothers, bright, multitalented and hard working. What neither of them exhibited was an excess of gushy, sweet empathy.
I've often wondered if the then-conventional wisdom was to be as matter-of-fact as they both were. Regardless, they raised successful children for which we are grateful and of whom they were proud.
Friday, May 8, 2026
Wiles: He Wuz Robbed
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, speaking to the Independent Women’s Forum’s Awards Gala in Washington, DC, yesterday. She told of first meeting Donald Trump after the 2020 election.
We had a lovely dinner and at the end of it, he wanted to know why he won Florida but maybe struggled in some other states—that I think we’re going to find out he actually did win. (emphasis added)
The 2020 election was hinky six ways from Sunday. Where did millions of extra voters - seen never before or since - come from and disappear to? It wouldn't surprise me if Wiles is correct.
An Emerging Trend?
Recent months have seen a lot of back and forth on Congressional redistricting but it is starting to look like Republicans are going to win the battle and come out with more seats. Don't expect any gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair at COTTonLINE over that outcome.
Honest evaluators have long felt the US is at heart a center-right country and its legislature should reflect our ideological balance. Obviously Congress hasn't always done so. Perhaps it will going forward.
I recognize more than a few of my acquaintances and neighbors will be unhappy with the expected policies that result. Reciprocally, I care as little about their new angst as they cared about my unhappiness in years past.
Onward....
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