Russia returns.
Like your crazy ex who just won’t go away, Russia is back.
Last night we received two bombshells in the Russia investigation: 1. US investigators wiretapped former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort under secret court orders before and after the election. 2. Mueller prosecutors told Manafort that they planned to indict him.
Let’s start with number one.
According to sources that spoke with CNN, Manafort became the subject of an FBI investigation in 2014 that looked into a number of consulting firms that did work with Ukraine’s former ruling party.
The second surveillance warrant came after the government intercepted communications between Manafort and suspected Russian operatives.
And number two.
On top of investigating Trump associates’ communications with Russian operatives, Mueller has Manafort under investigation for possible violations of tax laws, money-laundering and requirements to disclose foreign lobbying.
After the FBI raided Manafort’s house, investigators told Manafort he would face criminal charges.
Bottom line: if these reports are true, that level of corruption close to the president is disturbing. Especially since the corruption is tied to our number one geopolitical foe. But to be clear, these reports don’t mean Manafort is guilty of anything. Yet.
Pelosi got what was coming to her.
If you live by lawlessness, you die by it.
That’s the double-edged sword Democrats are starting to be cut by.
Nancy Pelosi experienced it first-hand yesterday at a Dreamer press conference in San Francisco. She looked helpless and even scared as pro-immigration activists shouted her down using the same tactics Occupy Wall Street used on conservatives just a few years ago:
How did Pelosi not see this coming?
When Democrats used hurricane relief funding as ransom for a budget deal, hardly anyone on the left batted an eye. But now, they’ve basically done the same thing with DACA. They’ve shelved it to pursue legislation that’s already failed. In other words, they’re holding it ransom while they watch the political fallout from another failed bill.
Does anyone who believes in open borders and mass amnesty still think Democrats care about DACA children? Of course they don’t and more people on the left are waking up to that.
Sure, Trump, Schumer and Pelosi are making deals. The problem is that they’re bad for both sides. A vast majority of those on both the left and right want radical change. What happens when all they get is four to eight more years of the status quo? And maybe the better question is, who will rise up to promise them something different?
College diversity crisis?
Diversity, for diversity’s sake, is meaningless.
For America’s college education industry, however, diversity is very meaningful. And apparently, diversity at America’s elite colleges is in jeopardy.
According to The New York Times, 15 percent of American 18-year-olds were black and 22 percent Hispanic in 2015, yet college freshmen at elite colleges were only 6 percent black and 13 percent Hispanic. Those numbers were lower than they were in 1980.
For progressives, this signals a crisis. The New York Times says these colleges need to go above and beyond affirmative action to fix this problem.
A Georgetown law professor says elite colleges will only reflect America’s overall diversity when colleges “blow up the system” of admissions. She even proposes that colleges stop using standardized test scores in the admission process.
We’ve got to stop it with the diversity hand-wringing. Affirmative action is inherently unfair. Perhaps it started with good intentions, but like most progressive ideas, it imploded.
How about an admissions system that is simply merit-based? That may be too much to ask at this point.
Maybe it’s time to look at how much we’re paying for an education. College is insanely expensive. Even though our elite colleges have endowments in the billions of dollars --- all tax-exempt --- tuition is more expensive than ever. College is big business and progressivism and affirmative action are all part of the game.
Corey Comperatore's firefighting gear outside the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company. The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images
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