Things I learned on the Sunday morning shows

1. The actions of a handful of looters should not be used to paint a broad brush to condemn the legitimate protesters who are angry over the George Floyd tragedy.

2. The actions of a single cop in Minneapolis indicates systematic failure of the entire American police force and it must undergo sweeping institutional reform.

Out of control in NYC

This story is wild: "NY woman faces attempted murder charges for throwing molotov cocktail at NYPD van."

These two sisters drove down from Catskill, New York (just below Albany) to join in the riots.  The sister who threw the bomb won't be heading home anytime soon.

SpaceX eclipses NASA

Fox News: "SpaceX makes history, launches NASA astronauts into space from US soil for the first time since 2011."

A couple years ago, I was briefly a project engineer working on the Orion space program for NASA.  I won't get into the job itself but after a while I saw NASA less as an administration to launch people into space and more of a political entity playing upon nostalgia and spreading patronage.  NASA Watch, in particular, has detailed how the Space Launch System (SLS) keeps getting more expensive while falling further behind schedule.

So it's not surprising at all that the future of space flight is in the private hands of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos now.

Arrest in Minneapolis

Hot Air: "Officer In Floyd Death Arrested; Update: Third-Degree Murder — Or Manslaughter."

I wonder if Chauvin is going to use the "following my training" defense since it appears that other officers were using the same (deadly) technique.

Update - Hmmm...maybe "deadly" was too strong: "Preliminary Findings Are That George Floyd Didn’t Die Of Strangulation And Had Underlying Health Conditions."

Good review

Charles Lipson: "What the 'Obamagate' Scandals Mean and Why They Matter." 

Listen to the experts

They say so many contradictory things, one of them must be right.  NY Post: "Healthy people should wear masks only if caring for coronavirus patients, WHO says." 

Law and order and Amy and Kamala

Twitchy: "Is Amy Klobuchar canceled? Possible VP pick gets tangled up in George Floyd case."  Well, as Twitchy explains: yes and no.  She was a prosecutor but at the time of this sensitive case, she was largely running for the Senate.

But will that matter?  Rumor is that African-Americans hate Amy as a VP pick and even peripheral association with the Floyd case is going to depress her stock.  Then there's the buzz that Kamala Harris is on the rise because Biden's "you ain't black" gaffe is going to force him to choose an African-American running mate.  But Kamala Harris has her own racial problems as a former prosecutor as Tulsi Gabbard spectacularly exposed.

So maybe a former prosecutor isn't the winning move for Biden's VP.  Now the freshest cut is that Elizabeth Warren would be Biden's best choice, which is sheer insanity.

Honestly, if I was forced to make a prediction, I'd guess Val Demings of Florida.  She checks the right boxes and comes from a state Biden needs to win.  She also didn't imply Biden was a racist on a national stage.

Extra - Althouse: "Biden will need to gently close the door on Vice President Amy."  

In the words of Trump: "Wrong."

Fox News: "Trump warns social media giants that feds can ‘regulate’ or ‘close them down’ amid fight with Twitter."

I can't even imagine what authority Trump has to shut down a free speech platform and this just feeds into the impression that he entertains tyranny whenever his feelings get hurt.

Bar the door, Katy Tur!

Haha, this video is great.  Twitchy: "Classic: Passerby outs MSNBC’s cameraman for not wearing a mask like the reporter on camera."

It's funny because the reporter's only goal was to shame all the people around him.  You can hear his stomach drop when he's forced to say "...and the cameraman."  Self-own complete.

Extra fun - From Red State.

The end of an era

Yesterday, I took all my CDs off the shelf and put them into boxes.  About a year ago, I got a Google Play subscription and now I use it all the time to listen to anything I want.  Really the only place I listen to CDs anymore are in the car and, during most of my commute, I listen to the news.

So, yes, it's nice to think I'll have a copy of "London Calling" in physical form, it will always be near unless the Internet implodes.

Trivia time!

First CD I ever purchased: "Abbey Road" by the Beatles.
The last CD (probably): "The Very Best of Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes"

Memorial Day

The experts were all wrong

Reason: "The CDC's New 'Best Estimate' Implies a COVID-19 Infection Fatality Rate Below 0.3%" - "That rate is much lower than the numbers used in the horrifying projections that shaped the government response to the epidemic."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the current "best estimate" for the fatality rate among Americans with COVID-19 symptoms is 0.4 percent. The CDC also estimates that 35 percent of people infected by the COVID-19 virus never develop symptoms. Those numbers imply that the virus kills less than 0.3 percent of people infected by it—far lower than the infection fatality rates (IFRs) assumed by the alarming projections that drove the initial government response to the epidemic, including broad business closure and stay-at-home orders.

Let's be honest: the coronavirus response has been a complete s--- show for the "believe science!" narrative.  The Surgeon General said not to use masks, then he did.  The CDC response has been a mess.  Andrew Cuomo darkly warned he needed 30,000 ventilators, didn't use the ones he had, and then shipped them to other states.  The predictive models have been less accurate than a monkey throwing darts.  We've shut down our entire economy based on these models that - oopsie! - are now showing to be an order of magnitude away from reality:

Lockdown caused more deaths than it saved, a Nobel laureate scientist said on Saturday, as he predicted the UK would emerge from Covid-19 within weeks.

Michael Levitt, a Stanford University professor who correctly predicted the initial trajectory of the pandemic, sent messages to Professor Neil Ferguson in March telling the influential government advisor he had over-estimated the potential death toll by "10 or 12 times".

We may not question the Nobel Prize-winning scientist.  Or Greta Thunberg. 

The deep personality dive on Biden's accuser

Hot Air: "The Media Finally Figures Out How To (Safely) Dismiss Tara Reade."

Simply claiming that Reade is a liar goes completely against the narrative. But giving her the same level of default acceptance as was shown toward Christine Blasey Ford would breathe far too much life into her story and potentially imperil the electoral prospects of Joe Biden. We certainly couldn’t have that, could we?

The Washington Post who reported that Blasey-Ford's family declined to corroborate her account and generally refused to talk to the press.  (Later, the conservative media reported that Blasey-Ford's father essentially apologized for his daughter's behavior.)  You would have thought that red flag would have launched a hundred personality studies in the mainstream media but then that would have been "victimizing survivors all over again."

Suddenly, the media once so bent on FBI investigations and protecting survivors has found a new respect for due process and the "sluts and nuts" narrative. 

The Flynn fiasco

Pretty good summary here: "The Flynn Frame-Up: Everything Was Done by the Book."  "So, yes, the disgraced former FBI director did proceed by the book — the book of illegality and dirty tricks."

Dragging Sleepy Joe over the finish line

Fox News: "CNN downplays Biden's 'you ain't black' comments, avoids on-air coverage throughout the day."

Amazing prediction

I really laughed at this: an announced declared that a batter would get his first career home run by hitting a fastball into left-center field on a 3-1 count.  (Second clip in this video). 

Layers of fact-checkers

PJ Media: "On Thursday, GQ added an embarrassing retraction to a story about Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” in the abortion case Roe v. Wade (1973). GQ falsely claimed that the notorious Alabama segregationist George Wallace was a Republican."

These mistakes only always go in one direction.

OMG

Twitchy: "Joe Biden tells young black man ‘you ain’t black’ since he’s not sure if he’s voting Biden or Trump."

This is the plantation mentality of the Democratic Party where you're either a good Democrat or a traitor to the cause.

Flashback: "Biden tells African-American audience GOP ticket would put them "back in chains"

Extra - Lots of fun tweets at Breitbart.

More - Hot Air: "What’s worse here — the cultural appropriation, or the Democratic-plantation attitude?"

Flashback, 1987-style: "But campaigning in Alabama in April, Biden talked of his sympathy for the South; bragged of an award he had received from George Wallace in 1973 and said ‘we [Delawareans] were on the South’s side in the Civil War."

The hand of Mandamus!

Sounds like a bad horror movie.  Legal Insurrection (of course): "Appeals Court Orders Judge Emmet Sullivan To Explain His Actions In Michael Flynn Case."

The D.C. Circuit has issued an order which is as unusual as Sullivan’s own conduct.

I'm not a legal expert, but I don't get it either.  What's the end game here?  It's not like the judge can appoint somebody to prosecute the case against Flynn.

The garbage media and Liberty University

Instapundit: "Dear Journalists: If you want people to stop thinking of you as garbage, stop being garbage." 

They can't help themselves.

Nice entitlement programs ya got there...

...be a shame if something happened to them.

National Review: "U.S. Birthrate Falls to Record Low." 

Not suspicious at all

Everybody sends themselves an ass-covering email on the very day they leave office.  Federalist: "BREAKING: Declassified Susan Rice Email Confirms Michael Flynn Was Personally Targeted In Oval Office Meeting" - "Newly declassified portions of a key Susan Rice email confirm that Michael Flynn was personally targeted during a January 5 Oval Office meeting with Obama."

Extra - Red State: "What’s most noteworthy though is the lack of any evidence whatsoever to back up their suspicions. Talking to the Russian ambassador is not a crime, nor is discussing future policy goals during a transition. The Obama administration had no right at all to play god here and attempt to sandbag Flynn. They did so anyway, and in a way that would be seen as incredibly scandalous if a GOP administration had pulled this nonsense."  No kidding.

And this - Powerline: "Rice foresaw that despite the Obama holdovers’ best efforts, the truth about their “Russia investigation” could come to light someday. If that happened, she wanted it to be on record that President Obama had authorized her to lie, on advice from James Comey."

No way out

Reason: "Feminists Who Now Claim They Never Meant 'Believe All Women' Are Gaslighting Us" - "The central tenet of the #MeToo movement is being memory-holed."

We tried to warn them this would blow up in their pink hats, but they wouldn't listen.

The media is garbage

An ongoing expose:

We've always been at war with Eastasia

The Corner: "More ‘Believe Women’ Revisionism from Feminists."

Those golden oldies

Fox News: "Dems tell Supreme Court of 'ongoing' new impeachment inquiry in effort to obtain Mueller materials."

Sure, guys.  Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff are now like the guys who wear their letter jacket two years after graduating high school, cornering you at the local bar and talking about the "big game."

"Remember that time we impeached Trump?  That was cool."

What did Joe know and when did he forget it?

Law professor Jonathan Turley: "The unmasking of Joe Biden."

Biden has repeatedly denied knowledge of the investigation. Just a day before the latest disclosure, George Stephanopoulos asked Biden in an interview what he knew of the Flynn investigation. Biden was adamant that he knew nothing about “those moves” and he called it a diversion. But that is not true if he took the relatively uncommon action for a vice president of demanding the unmasking of Flynn information.

Yet none of this matters. A Democratic administration using a secret court to investigate the opposing political campaign does not matter to many in Congress or in the media anyway. An investigation continuing despite the lack of credible information supporting collusion does not matter to them either. A president and a vice president who take personal interest in the surveillance of their political opponents also does not matter.

There was a time, however, when all of this did matter. There was once a time when this would be viewed as the story of the century, including the unmasking of Biden himself in this investigation. But these are not those times, and this cannot be the story. Russian collusion is the story and, as Biden stressed, the rest is just a diversion. It is up to the public to decide who has been ultimately unmasked by the Flynn investigation.

On Friday, Politico writer Jack Schafer dismissed the Obama spying controversy with a wave of his hand.  They just don't care.  The media needs to drag Joe Biden over that finish line, a la "Weekend at Bernies."

Summer's coming

NY Post: "People flock to NYC-area bars, beaches as ‘quarantine fatigue’ intensifies."

Nice work if you can get it

National Review: "Our nevermind media."  "The media shrug at their massive bungling of major stories." 

Offred nods

This quote is making the rounds:

“That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on.”

It's hard for me to write about what we should do about the lockdown because I'm still working so not much has changed.  Clearly, there are others with strong opinions on this matter.  I think if I had been furloughed and told to stay indoors, I'd be clamoring to break out.

She doesn't recall

Federalist: "Samantha Power Claimed She Never Tried To Unmask Michael Flynn, But Records Show She Unmasked Him 7 Times" - "Newly declassified records show that Samantha Power made seven separate unmasking requests related to Flynn in late 2016 and early 2017."

There won't be any outrage until the parties flip

Obama’s FBI used a bogus file of fiction bought by Hillary’s campaign to mislead a judge so it could spy on the nominee for the other party and then pressure a probe after GOP victory, but this isn’t a scandal about the corruption of Democrats or DOJ because shut up bot.

— Razor (@hale_razor) March 28, 2019

Special election time

Shot: "Two Special Elections On Tuesday Could Hint At Another Blue Wave In 2020."

Chaser: "GOP poised to retake Katie Hill's California seat, as Trump-backed candidate wins big in Wisconsin."

Hangover:

There it is again!

Trending phrases on Instapundit this morning:

I STILL THINK THEY’RE GOING TO TRY TO PULL A TORRICELLI BEFORE THE ELECTION: Tepid Democratic support for Biden helps odds of Trump reelection.

Haha.

Call for the FBI investigation

It's the only way to clear your name, Joe.  National Review: "Conservatives Need to Talk about Tara Reade Precisely because Truth Matters."

That brings us back to “believe all women.” You are never, ever going to get liberals, progressives, and Democrats to admit that the standard they espouse is bad and dangerous until they are compelled to live under it themselves (or at least to explain openly why they believe they should be exempt from them, as Linda Hirshman did in her clarifying recent New York Times op-ed, “I Believe Tara Reade. I’m Voting for Joe Biden Anyway”). As I have noted before, that was one of the lessons of the two-decade-long battle over the Independent Counsel statute: Only when it came back to bite one of their own did Democrats admit that the statute was bad and dangerous.

That's what makes it so much fun, all the squirming and equivocating.

From "I know nothing" to "I was aware" in record time

Deb Heine: "Biden Denies Knowing Anything About Flynn Investigation Before Admitting He ‘Was Aware’."

Lying or misfiring synapses?  You make the call, America!

Flynn and the missing 302

Byron York's Daily Memo: "The big thing we still don't know about the Michael Flynn Case."  "Here's the amazing thing: Michael Flynn's defense has never seen the original 302. Never. Flynn, under enormous pressure from Trump-Russia special counsel Robert Mueller, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI without ever reading what Pientka originally wrote about the interview."

Obamagate emerging

NY Post: "It looks like President Obama ordered up phony RussiaGate scandal."

The lesson here for future Presidents: fire everybody from the previous administration.

Extra - American Thinker: "Obama's coup attempt."  This was all supposed to be hidden by a Hillary administration.  Oops.

Well, that was a quick read

I clicked on the link to this Federalist article titled: "Rep. Jim Jordan: A Look Back On The Russia, Mueller, And Flynn Investigations."  This is the entire article:

We were right about everything.

Time to start collecting some scalps, John Durham.

Everybody act surprised

Fox News: "NBC admits Chuck Todd's 'Meet the Press' deceptively edited Barr remarks on Flynn."

High-school graduate Chuck Todd is the absolute worst.

Update: "Fire Chuck Todd Over Barr Interview “Fraud”; NBC Admits “Error”."

And this: "Stephanopoulos played Obama's statement without noting that he was wrong on charge and wrong on the lack of precedent."  Funny how all these journalistic mistakes only go in one direction.

A tactical lie

New Neo: "A “pretty darn invested” Obama rallies the troops and gives them their talking points."  "Obama is a sanctimonious, arrogant, dangerous, viper."

And a reminder from Don Surber: "Obama pardoned a general who actually lied to the FBI."

This is your Saturday reminder

Revealed this week about RussiaGate:

Everything the MSM told you was a lie

Everything Congressional Democrats told you was a lie

Everything the "Intelligence Community" told you was a lie

Everything we told you about the Russia Hoax was the Truth

Nobody on the left cares

— Carpe Donktum🔹 (@CarpeDonktum) May 9, 2020

Dear Susan: I'm so glad we did everything legal-like

Federalist: "Obama, Biden Oval Office Meeting On January 5 Was Key To Entire Anti-Trump Operation" - "Susan Rice's bizarre Inauguration Day email about that meeting helps explain the campaign of leaks, lies, and obstruction that followed."

I'm shocked Andrea Mitchell fell for this

A "professional" like her?  Why some might say journalists are just liberal hacks with bylines, but not me.  Hot Air: "Jimmy Kimmel’s Fake News About Mike Pence Went Viral Thanks To Blue Check Progressives."

Kimmel is a comedian.  What's Andrea Mitchell's excuse?

The FBI hid evidence

NY Post: "Collapse of Michael Flynn case is latest sign ‘RussiaGate’ was a complete fraud."

Also: what did Biden know and when did he forget it? 

"Pull a Torricelli" makes a comeback

This obscure phrase is known only by political junkies, so pull up a chair.  In 2002, New Jersey senator Robert Torricelli was running for re-election when he was hit with multiple ethics charges.  This sent his poll numbers into a nosedive and, mortally wounded, he dropped out of the race to be replaced by veteran NJ politician Frank Lautenberg, who would go on to win.  Therefore, the phrase "pulling a Torricelli" means replacing your damaged candidate a month before the election.

Here's Instapundit:

There’s a good argument that Joe Biden is Bob Dole without the war heroism, the legislative achievements, the dry sense of humor, or the ability to speak in complete sentences. But everything is up in the air, and there’s a good chance that the Democrats will try to pull a Torricelli and replace Biden at the last minute.

And here's Ace:

You know, I hate being right about some things. I said forever that Joe Biden would not make it to the election as the nominee. And damnit, I was right.

What's going on?  Only that the San Luis Obispo Tribune is reporting "Exclusive: 1996 court document confirms Tara Reade told of harassment in Biden’s office."  IF true, this would be the sixth contemporaneous (or a couple years after the alleged event) corroborating evidence that something happened in Joe Biden's office.  Meanwhile, Megan Kelly has an interview with Tara Reade, who says she's willing to testify under oath.

"Pull a Torricelli" - if this story continues to develop with this trajectory, it's gonna happen.

Kayleigh McEnany drops the mic

Daily Wire: "Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Reminds Media How They Downplayed Coronavirus Outbreak."

What's so great about this clip is that it reveals the utter predictability of the press.  McEnany knew they were champing at the bit for another "gotcha!" moment and, when it reliably appeared, she threw it right back.  The media is always looking to cast blame and she re-cast it as a question on how much blame the media should take.  How many deaths have they caused? 

Oh that's not a real question, they sniffed.

Broke in Chicago

Free Beacon: "How do you solve a problem like Illinois?" - "As a coronavirus-driven cash crunch collides with nearly two decades of unbalanced budgets and exorbitant pension spending, insolvency is on the horizon in Illinois."

Suddenly so very mysterious

Hot Air: "NPR Public Editor: We Were ‘Too Slow’ Reporting On Tara Reade’s Allegations Against Biden."

This is what the left-leaning media does week after week, year after year. They apply two different standards and then, even when it’s obvious there are different standards being used, even when they bother to notice that’s the case, they still profess themselves mystified as to the reason.

Yes, it's a mystery.  Every time.

The Fauxcahontas flip

Legal Insurrection: "Elizabeth Warren Says Joe Biden Has Been ‘Credible and Convincing,’ Infuriating the Berners."

If you think a person who was a Republican in Oklahoma and a Democrat in Massachusetts has any core beliefs beyond political ambition, then I have news for you. 

Calvinball at the NY Times

I've always said that Michelle Goldberg is the dumbest columnist at the New York Times.  Today she pretty much proved it: "‘Changing the rules’: NYT’s Michelle Goldberg pulls off impressive feats of intellectual gymnastics in piece comparing Christine Blasey Ford with Tara Reade."

Mark Hemingway sums it up: "Huh. Democrats are actually going with the talking point that Blasey Ford has more corroborating evidence than Reade.  Best of luck with that!"

Extra - David Harsanyi: "You can believe whomever you choose in the alleged sexual-misconduct cases of Joe Biden and Brett Kavanaugh, but you can’t revise history to erase your partisan double standards."

The coronavirus puzzle

Reason: "8 Possible Reasons for the Huge International Differences in COVID-19 Deaths" - "For each plausible theory, there are puzzling counterexamples."

Talking point: "It's a job interview"

Hot Air: "If Kavanaugh Wasn’t Entitled To The Benefit Of The Doubt In A “Job Interview,” Why Is Biden?"

A total charade

Legal Insurrection: "Sec. of Senate says “no discretion” to release any info on Tara Reade, while Biden and DNC still refuse U. Delaware archives search."

So first Biden says "check the National Archives" and the Archives responds that they don't have the personnel records.  Now Biden says "check the Senate" and the secretary says he has no discretion.  As LI wonders: "Hmmm, did Biden’s lawyers know this when they requested the secretary release his records?"

Good question!  Are they complicit or merely inept?

Lotsa links

Battle Swarm: "Biden Watch for May 4, 2020." 

Threading that needle

Red State: "The NYT Tries to Throw the DNC a Bone Over Tara Reade Allegation, Gets an Answer They Didn’t Expect."

This story is great.  The famously liberal New York Times needed to avoid the appearance of a double standard, given their grilling of Brett Kavanaugh.  But they also can't call for an FBI investigation because that might be too damaging to Biden.

A-ha! thought the Times: let's advise that the Democrats investigate themselves!  What could go wrong?  We avoid looking like hypocrites and the DNC can clear their guy.

Oops.

Extra - The reviews are in: "Journalists mock NY Times' call for 'unbiased' DNC panel to investigate Biden: 'Is this satire?'."

More - DB Update: "On Biden and Reade, The New York Times Renders Itself Beyond Parody."

Adam Schlesinger wrote this

Life goes on

Two weeks ago I went to my local Lowe's and the place was a ghost town.  Today it was packed.

It didn't hurt that it's a beautiful day and lots of people are prepping lawns.

Joe Hidin'

Politico: "Search for Tara Reade complaint threatens to backfire on Biden" - "The former VP’s refusal to open his archived Senate records could cause serious headaches for his campaign."

Joe tries the ol' National Archives dodge

PJ Media: "Joe Biden Lied About Where Tara Reade's 1993 Sexual Harassment Claim Would Be."

Joe Biden said that Tara Reade's complaint could only be at the National Archives, at what was then called the Office of Fair Employment Practices. But, a National Archives spokesperson told me that they do not hold records from that office.

Why would Joe Biden put out a false trail for Reade’s complaint? The answer is obvious. He doesn’t want to release his senatorial records that are being held at the University of Delaware, but he wants to give the appearance of full transparency with his bogus call for the National Archives to release any documents pertaining to Reade’s allegation—which he knows they don’t have.

Nice try, Joe! Call for the FBI investigation.  It's the only way to clear your name, I've been told.

Cracks in the media dike

Los Angeles Times (!): "Editorial: Tara Reade’s allegation that Joe Biden assaulted her demands an independent investigation." 

Payback time

Mollie Hemingway: "Democrats Are Reaping The ‘Whirlwind’ Kavanaugh Warned About" - "The media and Democrats were enraged when Brett Kavanaugh warned that their unethical behavior against him might have consequences. They should have listened."