The Year 2022 in Review

From arguably the best channel on all of Youtube: Ordinary Things.  Let's all look back on a year of uprisings from Sri Lanka to China to Iran.  Also, I finally learned who Andrew Tate is.

Have a safe and Happy New Year everyone and see you in 2023!

Um, yeah, don't be a Viking

I'm just finishing up "Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings," an excellent book about the rise and fall of the Vikings.

So imagine my surprise to see this opinion piece: "Viking virtues can help defeat woke enemies of America."

Uh, yeah, so about that.  There's been a fair amount of favorable fictionalization of the Vikings both in television and in professional sports.  And, yes, they were ahead of their time in naval technology and exploration.  But they were bad.  Any kind of atrocity you could assign to an invading military force was committed by the Vikings including - ahem - "contributing to the DNA" of England and Ireland.  For hundreds of years, they either pillaged and killed or took a sizable ransom to go away.

Fun fact to balance off this heavy post: Viking helmets did not have horns.  Just a complete myth.

Oh, we know the (D)ifference

NY Post: "George Santos takes the cake, but why does Joe Biden get a pass for his lies?"

Related - American Spectator: "Release Pelosi’s Tax Returns."  

Today's top headline

NY Post: "Biden signs $1.7T spending bill after it’s flown 1,500 miles to St. Croix." 

This should buy us a day without climate change sermonizing. 

Electric slide

Reason: "Free Market Think Tank Names Georgia Electric Vehicle Plant the 'Worst Economic Development Deal of 2022' - Rivian, an electric truck manufacturer that hopes to compete with Tesla, received a lucrative deal to build a new factory in Georgia despite concerns about its finances."

Check out the hysterical xenophobe

Red State: "Joe Biden's Words Come Back to Bite Him as U.S. Ramps up Travel Restrictions on China."

Fix the border

Hot Air: "Supreme Court leaves Title 42 in place for now and Gorsuch is right."

Gorsuch is the ghost of Antonin Scalia here, who firmly believed that the Supreme Court was not some kind of "super-legislative" branch when Congress wouldn't do its job.  Better to keep shipping illegals to Democrat cities until they care about the border. 

Extra - The Corner: "Neil Gorsuch Gets It Right on Title 42." - "Those who argue that the Supreme Court should serve as a policy-making arm of the Right are adopting the same philosophy that they decried when liberals were doing it."  Yup.

Back to the bunker

Fox News: "Biden has granted only seven formal sit-down interviews with journalists in 2022 - Joe and Jill Biden's most recent interview was with Drew Barrymore."

Yes, that was a hard-hitting interview, complete with a round of "The Newlywed Game."

Over the past five days, Biden has spent 40 minutes at a children's hospital and now he's on vacation again. 

The minimum wage is zero

Fox Business: "McDonald's unveils first automated location, social media worried it will cut 'millions' of jobs."

Covid had a role in this.  The other day, I ordered from Dunkin' Donuts on my phone and picked it up on the way to work.  Human interaction was nil. 

Maybe try a pro-American movie with a strong male lead

Just spitballing here, Hollywood.  Breitbart: "Hollywood Lost More Than $500 Billion in Market Value in 2022." 

Merry Christmas, everyone

Shut up, they explained

Reason: "5 Infuriating Ways People Got the First Amendment Wrong in 2022 - As free speech becomes an increasingly important part of the culture war, people won't stop misinterpreting—and outright violating—the First Amendment."

Joe doesn't remember what he said yesterday

Not the Bee: "President Biden laments our politics have "gotten so angry, so mean" and I'm sure it's because of all you semi-fascist domestic extremists." 

Well, that's good news

THE HOES ARE STILL ALIVE pic.twitter.com/EN5I88wOwt

— erin alyce (@herooine) December 20, 2022

Gulp

Marketwatch: "FTX co-founder Gary Wang, ex-Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison plead guilty to federal charges." 

Can't believe "do not come" didn't work

Hot Air: "Kamala jumps on the bandwagon as she blames Republicans for the Biden border crisis."

Honestly, though, what else is she going to say?  The only solution is to keep sending busloads of illegals to New York City and Washington D.C.

Extra - NY Post editorial: "Mayor Eric Adams is 100% correct: New York’s migrant nightmare CAN’T continue." 

Plausible!

Babylon Bee: "Musk Hides 5 Golden Tickets In Teslas To Find One Worthy Of Taking Over Twitter." 

Mystery in Amherst remains unsolved

College Fix: "Here are 14 times campus hate crimes turned out to be hoaxes in 2022."

This gives me the opportunity to remind everybody about the terrible hate crime that occurred at the University of Massachusetts in September 2021, a crime that remains unsolved to this day.

At the time, it made national news: "UMass Investigating 'Blatantly Racist' Emails Sent To Black Student Organizations" and Umass officials sprang into action:

Dear Campus Community,

The anti-Black racist incidents that have occurred on our campus this semester, described in an email from Vice Chancellor Nefertiti Walker last week, are contemptible and cowardly. We will not be intimidated by the hateful acts of craven individuals who hide in anonymity. We stand with our students who have been victimized, and we will continually strive for a more equitable community grounded in the principles of dignity and respect.

I want to share with you today that we have secured the services of Stroz Friedberg Digital Forensics, a leading national firm in cyber security, to assist us in our investigation of the source of the racist emails that were sent to members of Black student organizations.

Emphasis in original.  Unfortunately, after spending what I assume was thousands of taxpayer funds to track down the perpetrators of this hate crime that definitely happened, nobody has ever been caught.  And if memory serves, Umass hired a different forensic group to find the perpetrators but no dice.

This leads to three potential conclusions: 1) the hate mail senders effectively hid their identity by using VPNs and spoofing Eastern European servers or something, 2) the investigators never found any evidence that the emails were sent at all or 3) they found the emails were sent by somebody in the Umass community.

The fact that this once-national story has been allowed to quietly fade away without any follow-up from the Umass front office says a lot.

The green scam

American Institute for Economic Research: "Green Energy is the Modern “Broken Window”."

Oh, now it's a problem

Fox News: "Eric Adams warns of NYC service cuts to prioritize migrants as Title 42 expires: 'This can't continue'."

Adams asserted that "New York City has managed this crisis entirely on its own," and the city's requests from the state and federal government for funding and other assistance "have been mostly ignored." 

I forget: who are the state and federal authorities that can provide funding to New York?  You should name and shame them, Mayor Adams.

Extra - Legal Insurrection: "El Paso Border Patrol Facility Over Capacity as Agents Feel ‘Completely Defeated’ Days Before Title 42 Expires." 

Reminder: Joe Biden has never visited the southern border.

The Left hates free speech, continued

Daily Caller: "‘Take Aim’: Adam Schiff Threatens Big Tech Unless They Censor More Content." 

I'm not even mad, that was amazing

The Other McCain: "The dumbest play in NFL history." 

I thought I'd seen in all in the NFL. 

Makin' stuff up...again

Red State: "Biden Makes up a Story About Awarding a Purple Heart, and It Gets Much Worse From There."

If we had a real press, he’d be lambasted for it, but we don’t so we get shrugs at what has become a continual stream of blatant lies. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a president (certainly not in my lifetime) who makes up so many personal stories, and you’d never know it without following conservative accounts on social media because none of the legacy outlets are going to tell you. They’re too busy quizzing Biden on what his favorite flavor of ice cream is.

This is entirely true: Biden has to work in a family story into every speech.  Half the time it's some made-up story and 100% of the time, it's a tiresome trope to feign relatability. 

Tell us again about how you had a discussion around the kitchen table every time the price of gas went up a nickel, Joey.

This is genius

Hey big spender

Reason: "November's $249 Billion Federal Budget Deficit Set a Record. Now, Congress Is Preparing To Spend Even More."  

Go build your own Twitter

Federalist: "The Left-Wing Journalists Elon Musk Suspended From Twitter Got What They Deserved." - "Hypocritical reporters who long thought of Twitter as their own personal fiefdom are getting a little comeuppance. Good."  

By all accounts, Musk is only imposing a temporary ban because these "journalists" doxxed his family.  This is somehow less of a threat than using the wrong pronouns. 

Update - Just like that: "Musk lifts Twitter suspensions of journalists: ‘People have spoken’."

The (Leftist) colleges hate free speech

NY Post: "After a 15-year decline, more colleges have become hostile to free speech." - "While it may come as no surprise at this point, a new analysis spotlights just how hostile to free speech our system of higher education has become — and it’s getting worse." 

Fulfill your obligations, California

Hot Air: "California "reparations" hearings go as you would expect."

Pay up, California.  Live up to your own standards.

Democracy dying in pinkslips

Shot: "WaPo busted for stealth-editing article after getting busted for lying about Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss."

Chaser: "Washington Post Announces Layoffs, and Coddled Socialist Staffers Do Not React Well."

Hangover: "WaPo Town Hall Goes Off the Rails As Publisher Refuses to Take Questions."

Learn to code.  

I don't mean to celebrate the loss of anybody's job but the modern American journalist is an amalgam of liberal insularity, smug self-importance, and marginal talent.  Not one of them blinked twice when they advocated for policies that affected the livelihood of the hardhat set.

The #1 streaming movie in America now

It's "Home Alone."  This always makes me laugh:

Guess who's coming home for Christmas!

Red State: "Crypto Fraud and Democrat Megadonor Sam Bankman-Fried Has Been Arrested in the Bahamas." 

"Bake me a cake" part 2

Reason: "A Likely Win for Free Speech."

Last week, the Supreme Court heard argument in 303 Creative v. Elenis, the latest wedding vendor case–this time concerning a web designer who does not wish to design sites for same-sex weddings. The wedding vendor cases typically present a conflict between free speech, including religiously-motivated speech, and equality in the marketplace for goods and services. Based on last week's argument, it seems the Court is ready to rule in favor of free speech this time...

The Masterpiece Cakeshop case was ruled on more narrow technical grounds than this case and the author notes: "The Court will have a hard time avoiding a broader ruling in 303 Creative—though some of the justices may try."  Sonia Sotomayor in particular will employ her usual practice of twisting the law to meet her personal beliefs.  Otherwise, from what I've read from the court transcripts, it seems like it's heading towards a solid victory for the First Amendment.

Good.

"It's OK because they're insured"

Moonbattery: "Shoplifting Drives Up Prices at Walmart"

This is insanity:

Just one month ago, the chief financial officer at Walmart’s biggest rival, Target, also revealed that shoplifting at its stores had jumped more than 50 percent year on year, leading to more than $400 million in losses in 2022 alone.

It's my belief that the future of retail is Amazon delivering everything to Amazon lockers.  Until then: "New York City store locks up Spam in plastic case amid crime spike."

The thoroughly revamped loss-prevention regime at the Port Authority Duane Reade has finally created something of beauty, a sort of Jeff Koons homage. pic.twitter.com/gtlpzY2l9G

— willy 🌜💧 (@willystaley) July 28, 2022

Somehow we survived the death of democracy in darkness

NY Magazine: "Just What Did the Times Walkout Change?"

Nothing and nobody cared.

They allow cellphones in classrooms?

NY Post: "50 shell-shocked teachers, staff flee chaotic Florida school district."

I read this article and couldn't believe they allow cellphones in classrooms.

The Left hates free speech, Twitter edition

Real Clear Politics: "Dem Attacks on Musk Prove Their Support for Free Speech Is Dead." - "When Elon Musk reached an agreement to acquire Twitter for $44 billion in October, the deal was met with a wave of outrage from the left. Democrats spanning the nation condemned the acquisition, claiming that it was “dangerous” for America. Now, we’re starting to figure out why."

The debate shifted from "it's a private company, they can do what they want!" to "we need to investigate Elon Musk and regulate Twitter" so fast, I got whiplash. 

Extra - Neo: "The Twitter files: leftism requires censorship." 

In the title of this post I wrote that leftism requires censorship. It cannot stand on its own and must stifle criticism or having its failures pointed out.

Censorship is the Left's go-to move. 

Accurate, so very accurate

Babylon Bee: "Disinformation Down 92% As NYT Writers Go On Strike." 

The Committee just wants to date her

Hot Air: "AOC under investigation by House Ethics Committee."  There will be no charges because you can't prove that America's dumbest Congressperson had criminal intent.  That would require brains. 

Kids in cages? What kids in cages?

Breitbart: "Joe Biden Can’t Find Time to Inspect Border After Vacationing 271 Days in 2 Years: ‘There Are More Important Things’."

It's true.  Joe Biden was very busy today doing...nothing:

Don't worry: he'll be heading off to Delaware tomorrow to rest up from a hard week of exactly one public event.

Democracy dies with white male shark experts

Fox News: "‘Shark Week’ blasted for ‘overwhelmingly’ featuring ‘White men' as shark experts in Washington Post report."

I was worried the mainstream media would beclown themselves again but they've earned a Pulitzer with this groundbreaking expose.

Trust in media running on empty

Shot: "How Corrupt is a Corrupt Media? - The media has ceased to exist, and the public plods on by assuming as true whatever the media suppresses and as false whatever the media covers."

Chaser: "Media Tailspin Continues As Trust Hits Record Lows: I&I/TIPP Poll."

We're merely three days away from the New York Times strike.  Will Joe Biden ask Congress to intervene to avoid this national disaster?  Democracy is dying in darkness!

Oh no

Don Surber: "Bidenomics leads to NYT strike." - "Barring some miracle, the staff of the New York Times will go on strike for 24 hours on Thursday. Its elitist readers may be denied their sanitized version of the world."

It's hard to believe that, when I was younger, I subscribed to the NY Times and Rolling Stone and the Atlantic.

These people are certifiably crazy

Fox News: "Mother frets her own daughter is 'bad for the earth' in Washington Post analysis piece - Environmentalist claimed having 'a single child' was right decision because of climate change." 

Confirming what we knew

NY Post: "Hunter Biden laptop bombshell: Twitter invented reason to censor Post’s reporting."

Once you adopt the position that censorship is justified against a political opponent, where does it stop?  Is it kosher for mail carriers to destroy mail-in ballots if they know the political leaning of the voter?  How about shutting down Fox News?

Scratch a liberal and find a tyrant.

Shockingly accurate

Babylon Bee: "Man Reads Tweet He Disagrees With, Dies." 

Oh that's (D)ifferent

Hot Air: "Time: Denying election results legit is not election denying."

Red State: "Media Pounces on GOP After Inconvenient Truths About Hakeem Jeffries Are Pointed Out."

The media doesn't even try to hide its bias anymore.  Noted fascist Jamie Raskin will testify. 

What happens when you graduate at the bottom of your law school class

The Corner: "Thus Far, the Constitution Has Held Up Against President Biden’s Executive Despotism."

Since August, President Joe Biden, that ertswhile restorer of our norms, has: (1) issued an executive order that he knew full well was illegal; (2) altered that illegal executive order in an attempt to avoid judicial review; and (3) asked the courts to allow him to proceed with his illegal executive order, so that, by the time it is inevitably struck down, the case has been rendered moot.

"YOLO, let's see what unconstitutional overreach I can do before someone stops me" isn't much of a governing style.

Unbelievable self-own

Twitchy: "Sen. Warren says Elon Musk shouldn’t be able to decide who gets to be heard from and who doesn’t."

Extra - Red State: "Elizabeth Warren Accidentally Explains the Problem With Twitter Before Elon"

The hypocrisy is astounding. https://t.co/T6cPrAxHbf

— Lisa Christine •.•.•.•.•.• (@lisachristinect) November 30, 2022

Best and brightest, y'all

Hot Air: "Why can't Karine Jean-Pierre pronounce Nobel Prize?" - "KJP is a perfect example of someone who has a prestigious job simply because she checks off several identity boxes in a Democrat administration."

Stop. Do not pass Go.

Do not spend $200 billion.

Reason: "With Congressional Gridlock, Americans Get a National Breather." - "That's good news for Americans baffled by Democrats' insistence on treating the U.S. economy as something between a laboratory experiment and a toy train set, with lawmakers indulging their whims through serial rounds of life-altering policy moves." 

This guy has always been a clown

Red State: "Adam Schiff Has an Incredible Change of Heart on Congressional Investigations." 

Here come the pre-nups

I found this to be an interesting statistic from "‘Financial infidelity’ has money-conscious Gen Zers and Millennials saying ‘I don’t’."

The Knot’s Financial Study 2022 found that 43% of those surveyed were most likely to consider it a deal breaker if their partner was secretive about finances or dishonest about money being spent.

Research has also found that more couples are signing prenups regardless of their financial status — they’re not just for Gisele and Tom Brady. A new report from the Harris Poll found that 15% of U.S. adults surveyed signed a prenup, which is up from just 3% in 2010. It also found that 35% of unmarried people say they’re likely to sign a prenup in the future.

Also:

This aligns with other data. A new survey from buy-now, pay-later company Affirm found that millennials see the ability to manage money as the most attractive trait in a partner.

That's not a bad thing.

Spot the fake news story

The Bee: "Karine Jean-Pierre Insists It’s Not Her Job To Answer Questions Like Some Sort Of Press Secretary."

Not the Bee: "This man threw bricks at a NYC gay bar and liberals blamed it on right-wing bigotry. Turns out the guy is... well, you know." 

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody

Go Patriots!

Nice work if you can get it

Just a reminder to consider as you're paying 20% more for Thanksgiving, here's Joe Biden's public schedule since returning from the G20 summit:

Thursday: nothing

Friday: meeting with business and labor leaders

Saturday: wedding

Sunday: birthday party

Monday: pardoned the Thanksgiving turkey

Tuesday: travel to Nantucket

Wednesday (today): nothing

The paper of record

Babylon Bee: "CBS News Officially Confirms That Lincoln Has Been Shot." 

So...just like Reddit

Ace: "Leftist Totalitarians -- Or, as They Call Themselves, "Journalists" -- Flee the Hell of Free Speech That Is Twitter for the Leftwing Site Mastodon, and Make It Into What They Wish Twitter Always Had Been: A Site Where You Ban Anyone Who Disagrees."

I love this headline so much.  The story confirms all the stereotypes about journalists: they're a clubby, thin-skinned group of faux intellectuals who can't stand up to the wispiest breeze of dissent.

Of course

Fox News: "USDA blames Russia for rising price of Thanksgiving dinner."

USDA did not respond to questions from Fox News Digital about how Russia’s war against Ukraine is affecting turkey prices.

There's that "taking responsibility" White House in action again.

Debt forgiveness is unconstitutional

Let them eat solar panels

Time: "Here's How Much More Expensive Your Thanksgiving Dinner Will Be This Year"

The average American’s Thanksgiving dinner is likely to increase by about 20%, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual survey—by far the biggest jump recorded in the 37-year history of the report.

The cost for a holiday feast rose to $64.05 for 10 people, up from $53.31 from last year’s average, and a nearly 37% increase in cost from two years ago. The massive jump is perhaps not surprising, given that food inflation is at a four-decade high—but it demonstrates the increasing pressure on Americans’ finances.

In case you missed it, here's Joe lying yesterday:

Inflation at the grocery store is coming down slightly.

As far as I can tell from reviewing his speeches, this is the only time he's ever addressed food inflation.  People need to eat, Joe.

Also: get diabetes and then save on insulin!

Biden tells people concerned about heating their homes this winter that they can get a tax credit to install solar panels on their roofs. pic.twitter.com/MRVPmZTD0N

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 18, 2022

Stop standing

Volokh Conspiracy: "Biden Administration Asks Supreme Court to Lift Injunction Blocking their Massive Loan Forgiveness Program."

Most experts believe the Administration has a much better chance of prevailing on standing than on the merits. That may be why the administration itself has significantly reduced the scope of the program in order to eliminate some potential plaintiffs who might be able to get standing.

The White House is putting all their effort into preventing standing in this case because they know they will fail on the law itself.  

Loser

The Corner: "Pelosi failed."

Nancy Pelosi is not an especially impressive figure. She was elected to Congress in 1986, and she spent her first six years in Washington, D.C., as a rank-and-file member of Congress who did nothing of any great interest. That changed after Bill Clinton was elected in 1992, but the immediate overreach resulted in Pelosi and her colleagues annoying the public so profoundly that the Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years, and then stayed in the minority for the following twelve.

As noted here, her final act was to undermine the very institution she occasionally led.

I can name that tune in one note

Twitchy: "High school cross-country runner goes from 72nd to first place; What’s her secret?" 

Never change, NY Post

The front page of today's New York Post: "Florida man makes announcement."

Story on page 26. 

That's nice, I guess

Red State: "BREAKING: Republicans Win the House of Representatives."

The way things are going, I expect this will be reversed by morning. 

This moron used to be a law professor

Let's be clear: President Biden has the legal authority to cancel student debt.

Republican officials need to get out of the way so Americans can get this much-needed relief.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 14, 2022

This tweet was posted this morning and didn't make it to lunch.  CNBC: "Federal appeals court blocks Biden student debt relief program nationwide."

That's what the media does

TIPP Insights: "Bidenflation Continues To Sting Americans At 13.3% - On Thursday, the media celebrated when Bidenflation rose from 12.8% to 13.3% in October." 

Thanks for the votes, stupid

NY Post editorial: "Biden’s student-debt con job fooled Gen Z for the midterms — will the kids wake up?"

By promising young people massive debt relief (that he knew the courts would strike down), Biden likely helped save countless Democrats in the midterms. 

Look at the numbers: 27% of eligible voters aged 18 to 29 cast ballots; 63% percent of those votes, per exit polls, went for Democrats. John Fetterman claimed 70% of the youth vote in his Pennsylvania Senate race; Arizona’s Mark Kelly claimed 76%. 

Yet these whippersnappers are now likely to get nothing for their trouble.

I'm not sure that the youth vote shifted much above it's normal levels but if you judge this issue by the posts on Reddit, it was Gen Z's only reason for voting.

It was always obviously unconstitutional. 

I got a lot of issues

Red State: "This Election Was an Unmitigated Disaster, and It's Time to Air Some Grievances."

Where have you gone, Johnny Carson?

Federalist: "Late-Night TV’s Unbearable Politics Isn’t About Amusing People, It’s About Indoctrinating Them."  

No to Joe's YOLO

The Corner: "Judge Finds That Biden’s Illegal Student-Loan Order Is Illegal."

This particular suit had to do with the Administrative Procedure Act. As the Post noted, “the suit alleges the administration violated federal procedures by denying borrowers the opportunity to provide public comment before unveiling the program.” But that’s just one small part of the order’s extraordinary illegality. From the start, it has been entirely obvious that if the question ever reached the merits of this case, it would be nixed by the courts. And so it has.

It was clear that this Administration was using one machination after another to avoid the question of standing, knowing that this unconstitutional declaration would never survive on legal merits.

Extra - An excerpt from the ruling:

"In this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone. Instead, we are ruled by a Constitution that provides for three distinct and independent branches of government…The Court is not blind to the current political division in our country. But it is fundamental to the survival of our Republic that the separation of powers as outlined in our Constitution be preserved. And having interpreted the HEROES Act, the Court holds that it does not provide ‘clear congressional authorization’ for the Program proposed by the Secretary." 

The rationalization stage

Power Line: "It could have been worse."

Unvarnished disappointment

Townhall: "Republican Voters Deserve Answers and Accountability"

There's no way to sugarcoat it — Republicans got bamboozled in the midterms. All the polls that we reported showing Republican candidates surging in the final weeks of their campaigns, the race ratings from the Cook Political Report, and the overconfident statements from GOP leaders were all significantly overly optimistic about what we all watched play out on Tuesday night. 

No kidding.  I took my cue from Real Clear Politics who predicted a minimum - minimum! - pickup of 14 Republicans in the House and an average of 31.  At this writing, the current pickup is +3.  Three!

RCP also said Republicans would pick up +3 in the Senate and, at this point, it looks like the GOP might pick up only Nevada.  To be fair to RCP, there were a lot of pollsters pulling in the same direction.  Looking at you, Nate Silver.

I don't get it.  We're in a technical recession, inflation is the highest in 40 years, the border is porous, and gas prices are rising again.  Was abortion and "democracy" really the tipping point when mothers can't find baby formula on the shelves?

Worst of all, that desiccated old corn husk of a President is going to shuffle off to the Rose Garden to claim victory.

Heads must roll at the RNC.

Looking like that +37 prediction was high

There were some bellwether races in Virginia that went to Biden that were going to portend whether it was going to be a red wave for Republicans.  Well, it wasn't to be, which surprised me considering Joe Biden literally has the lowest approval rating at this point in his Presidency in the history of modern polling.  I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to stay up for the Senate calls which are very close.

Spanberger and Wexton re-elections in Virginia, combined with RI-2, suggest some real limits to the red wave in the House. Remains to be seen how that plays out in statewide races. - @baseballcrank https://t.co/nNwPq4eZgO

— National Review (@NRO) November 9, 2022

Prediction night

You've been waiting for it, and here it is!  

House: +37 Republicans for the House, bringing majority up to 249.

Senate: +3 in the Senate, picking up Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.  Georgia will go to runoff in December but Walker will win.  Under different circumstances, I would say that Arizona would go to Kelly but Kari Lake is going to the governor's office and I think she'll pull Masters over the finish line.

Governors: Kari Lake wins in Arizona and runs for President in 2024.

The wrong message from the wrong messenger

 USA Today: "Why Biden's closing argument worries some Democrats and could miss the mark with midterm voters."

Tell me more about the threat to democracy, Joe, while gas prices are heading up again.

The White House walks back another Biden gaffe

Dementia Joe said he wanted to shut down the coal industry.  Bloomberg: "White House Defends Biden End-of-Coal Remark Manchin Derided."

The White House sought to reframe comments by President Joe Biden on closing coal plants as part of a US “energy transition,” responding to harsh criticism by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin days before midterm elections with Democratic congressional majorities at stake.

Biden’s comments while campaigning in California “have been twisted to suggest a meaning that was not intended” and the president “regrets it if anyone hearing these remarks took offense,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Saturday.

Ever the consummate politician, Biden made this comment right before heading to Pennsylvania.

Any comment, John Fetterman?

Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman, who was campaigning with Biden in the final days leading up to the midterm elections, did not respond to a request for comment on whether he shares Biden’s goals for the coal industry. However, during his failed 2016 Senate campaign, Fetterman signed the “Leave It In the Ground” pledge, promising to support a moratorium on any federal leases for energy development, including coal.

Winter is coming.

Extra - Twitchy: "WH spox says you did NOT hear Biden say that thing you clearly heard him say about coal plants"

More - Victory Girls: "WH Scrambles To Walk Back Biden’s Coal Remarks."

Pretty much

Red State: "MSNBC's Joy Reid Thinks You're Stupid, Goes Full Clown World With Ridiculous Claim About Inflation."  

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to sell some blood so I can buy some food.

Extra Joy Reid fun:

Yes, they are every bit this stupid. https://t.co/36sBrKhlUZ

— Gregarious Much (@gregarious_much) November 5, 2022

Joe Biden is truly concerned about the issues of the day

In this case, the press suggesting that crowds aren't enthusiastic to see him:

And I find that, you know, most of the debate that occurs in the places I visit — I know you don’t think it, but I think we have pretty good crowds.  They’re fairly enthusiastic.  You don’t write it that way, but they are.

Crowds are so stoked to see Dementia Joe that they need Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to play hype-woman to a half-filled college gymnasium.

No kidding, you don't say

Hot Air: "NY Times: Biden has made a lot of economic claims recently that aren't true."

Oh, do tell.  Here's Dementia Joe at an event yesterday:

So, the economy is up.  The price of inflation is down.  Real incomes are up.  Gas prices are down and need to come down further. 

....

And, folks, look, the American people are beginning to see the benefit of the economy that works for them.  Families have more net worth than before the pandemic.  Fewer families are behind on their mortgages, their credit card bills than before the pandemic. 

None of this is true.

There's a new sheriff in town

Not the Bee: "The White House was so embarrassed by actually getting fact checked that it deleted its bogus tweet about Social Security."

Imagine that: Twitter fact-checking a Democrat, instead of suppressing incriminating info.

Here in the People's Republic

NECN: "Mass. Energy Price Hikes Go Into Effect" - "National Grid’s winter energy price hikes that go into effect Tuesday mean that the average monthly electric bill will go up by 64% and the average monthly natural gas bill will increase by 24%."

Winter heat is overrated.

So very true

NY Post: "Democrats desperate to censor anyone that disagrees with them." 

Don't take anything for Granite

See what I did there?  The Other McCain: "Red wave hits New Hampshire?"

So it’s not just one poll — there is a trend of polls showing that the race has shifted toward Bolduc since late September, and this picture of increasing GOP momentum is a nationwide phenomenon.

The big shock today was a St. Anselm poll with a very high sample of >1500 likely voters indicating Don Bolduc has taken a 1% lead in the Senate race over Maggie Hassan.  After factoring in historic undersampling of Republicans in NH polling, Real Clear Politics moved this race to a predicted GOP pickup.

The mystery deepens!

Red State: "What Are the Odds? Burned Fetterman Sign Was on Farm of DNC Speaker." 

Since the secret Saudi deal fell through

It's time to move to Plan B: "Biden paints oil firms as war profiteers, talks windfall tax."

Evergreen:

Photo credit: Jussie Smollett

Hot Air:  "Talk we must about Fetterman's burning yard sign."

Let’s just call this what it was. It was a staged event. It was a hoax designed to try to profit off of the liberal wave of accusations about violent attacks by “MAGA extremists.” But it wasn’t even a good hoax.

You'd think this extraordinary event of mega-MAGA hate would bring the media running to cover this story but instead: crickets.

They know.

The basement strategy for the mentally compromised

NY Post: "Are we living through ‘Weekend at Biden’s’? America needs to know, but the complicit media won’t ask."

Are staffers covering up for President Joe Biden the way they did for Senate candidate John Fetterman?

Tuesday night’s debate revealed Fetterman’s debilitated post-stroke condition — and thus also exposed both the campaign staff who’d hidden the truth and the Dem-loving members of the media who for months covered for the progressive politico, even stomping on any reporters who raised doubts.

Like Fetterman, Biden keeps the media at arm’s length — vastly more so than any recent prez. He did only nine formal press conferences in all of 2021, and eight so far this year. He’s done just 20 sit-down interviews (many of them softball) through the first year-and-a-half of his presidency.

It's a mystery why the mainstream media keeps losing credibility.  An absolute enigma.

He only has one speech

Fox News: "Biden spends little time talking about Fetterman during Pennsylvania rally."

That's because Dementia Joe only has one speech to give.  He gives it over and over and over and over and over again.  The only thing that ever changes is the random interjection of "not a joke" or "that's not hyperbole."

Dementia Joe has done exactly one solo press conference in all of 2022, back in January.  When he does sit down with a friendly interviewer, he inevitably commits a gaffe.

This is normal:

Heh, that's pretty good

Babylon Bee: "Babylon Bee Writers Struggling To Think Of Joke Worth $44 Billion."

Yeah, I saw that

NY Post: "New ad blasting Biden over immigration airs during World Series: ‘No mas’." 

It's funny because it's true

Babylon Bee: "Heartbroken Progressives Forced To Resort To Old-Fashioned Technique Of Just Not Reading Tweets They Don't Like."

Remember how we were told "it's a private company, they can censor who they want?"  Good times, good times.

Yeah, let's throw down gloves

Tweet of the day:

You can read most WaPo articles by copying the url into https://t.co/xxXkhQYzpa

That will get you around their paywall so you won't be giving them any ad revenue or feeding their tracking software with your data https://t.co/9fCPC5pr0G

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) October 28, 2022

Red tsunami rising

Hot Air: "USA Today poll: GOP getting 40% of the Hispanic vote and 21% of Black vote."

Throw the damn towel

Guy Benson: "An Excruciating, Disqualifying Debate in Pennsylvania." 

Must be nice

Dementia Joe has a single event today and then it's off to Delaware for a long weekend.

How does Fetterman happen? The media

Here's Jim Geraghty on how the mainstream media facilitates candidates like John Fetterman:

Allow me to offer a controversial theory: A lot of Democratic Party candidates and strategists have bad judgment because they’ve grown used to a usually friendly media bailing them out of the consequences of their bad decisions.

...

I don’t know that Democratic candidates or campaign strategists consciously think, “Oh, we’ll be fine, the media is on our side and will cover for us.” I think they just get used to having the consequences of every mistake and dumb decision mitigated by generous media coverage. They walk around with the wind constantly at their backs, convinced that they are wiser and better at their jobs than they really are. And when that wind at their backs stops blowing, they’re stunned — suddenly everything is much harder.

So very true, and confirmed by post-debate coverage.  I was watching the evening news tonight and Andrea Mitchell (*spit*) said that this debate was not Fetterman's "forum."  WTF does that mean?  What kind of fora is acceptable for a United States Senator?

Roll out the excuses and disopprobrium, Democrats and media (I repeat myself).  There's no way normal Americans are going to look at that debate and vote for Fetterman.  It's done.

Apology due

The Corner: "Gisele Fetterman Owes Dasha Burns an Apology"

John Fetterman was a monumental disaster at this evening’s debate. I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s badly incapacitated, and those who are pretending otherwise must stop immediately. A lot of people — including Fetterman’s wife — owe public apologies to NBC’s Dasha Burns, who reported a couple of weeks ago that Fetterman could not understand her small talk, and was smeared and lambasted for her troubles.

Red State: "John Fetterman's Debate Was Much Worse Than Expected"

The debate between John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz is in the book, and I’m going to make the most non-hyperbolic statement ever made on this site. That debate was the worst, most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen in politics.

I watched the whole debate it was unlike anything I've ever seen in my 50+ years.  Fetterman is done.  Congratulations, Senator Oz.

Extra - Before this debate, there was only a 3-cent difference in the PredictIt political market between Oz and Fetterman.  Post-debate?  Twenty-three.  

The Oz-Fetterman debate in a nutshell

 

What just happened? #PASen pic.twitter.com/aJRDZVFU2x

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 26, 2022

Gaffe then have a laugh

Red State: "Clean-Up on Aisle Biden By His Handlers Just Makes Things All the Worse."

The lies are just getting lazier and lazier. I mean, I know that Karine Jean-Pierre is the worst press secretary in modern history, but you’d think she could get a few people around here with some sense of creativity. If you are going to tell a falsehood, at least make it somewhat believable, otherwise, it just mimics parody.

This was a variation of the "top of mind" fiasco, where the White House Press Office needed to scramble to come up with some kind of explanation for Dementia Joe's latest lie.  They simply cannot say anything approximating the truth that Biden is losing it.

Say...where is Jackie?

Extra - Hot Air: "So Biden got confused and the White House is lying to cover for him."

More - Powerline: "Who is our President?"

No oil for Joe

Wall Street Journal: "Biden Pitches Plan to Refill Oil Reserves, but Producers Are Skeptical - U.S. companies are wary of boosting output even though the government is offering to buy oil at fixed prices."

Gee, I wonder why.  Oh, wait, I remember: the pledge to end fossil fuels.

Standing and fall

The Corner: "Eighth Circuit Slams the Brakes on Biden Student-Loan Debt Cancellation."

This article contends that the Biden administration is putting 100% of its effort into preventing a party from finding standing in a lawsuit because it's so blatantly unconstitutional it will surely fail in court. 

Extra - "Here’s proof Biden knows his student loan bailout is illegal." 

Illegal plan stopped...for now

National Review: "Appeals Court Temporarily Blocks Biden’s Student-Loan ‘Forgiveness’ Plan." 

No comment

Red State: "Dazed and Confused Joe Biden Campaigns With Dazed and Confused John Fetterman." - "Joe Biden’s handlers let him out of the basement on Thursday, and things went about as well as you could expect. That is to say that things went terribly."

Fetterman did not address the event and, when questioned by a reporter, his wife ran interference.

Extra - Twitchy: "What a mess." 

The calls are coming from inside the house!

Hot Air: "BOOM! 59% of voters think MSM is a "major threat" to Democracy: NYT/Siena Poll."

Old and Busted: "Democracy dies in darkness" - Washington Post

New and Shiny: "You are the darkness, Washington Post." - America

I like this Kari Lake

More than any other candidate, Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake knows how to handle the biased media: "Lake to reporters: Wanna talk about "election deniers"? I've got a few receipts."

"So it’s okay for Democrats to question elections but it’s not okay for Republicans? It’s crock of BS, everyone knows it, we have our freedom of speech and we’re not going relinquish it to a bunch of fake news propagandists. If you want a copy of these I’m sure Anthony will help you get a copy and help you learn how to journalist but look it up. It has been happening for a long time."

No kidding: the mainstream media are absolute White Knights for Democrats like Joe Biden and John Fetterman but every Republican needs to answer for their sins.

Kari Lake is done pretending the media is objective and even-balanced.  Judging from this most recent Gallup poll, so is most of America:

Americans' distrust in the media is at a record high, as for the first time ever, the percentage of Americans with no trust at all in the media is higher than the percentage of those with a great deal or fair amount combined, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Keep an eye out for a load of Seymour Skinner memes after the midterms.

100%

Bloomberg: "Forecast for US Recession Within Year Hits 100% in Blow to Biden."

Good thing I invested my hot dog savings:

Kari rising

The Corner: "Arizona Democrats Begin to Recognize the Consequences of Their Actions." 

If it wasn't for these meddling kids!

Fear of Republican pouncing

Hot Air: "Liberal columnist freaks out over ad showing actual crime in America." 

He did the meme

Fox News: "Biden blasted for telling reporter the economy is 'strong as hell' while eating ice cream."

Look, Jack: not a joke.

Literally this meme brought to life https://t.co/0INisSEOM4 pic.twitter.com/s7JFRX2Pif

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 16, 2022

Why would Warren G. Harding do this?

I caught this misstep from Dementia Joe yesterday:

Look, in 1922, the price for one blood pressure drug that millions of Medicare patients — beneficiaries rely on went up one — went up by 500 percent. 

Harding did this even before Medicare existed.

Everything old is new again!

Fox News: "China’s Xi Jinping grabs more power, pushing Asia closer to war"

War in Europe?  Check.

War in Asia?  Check.

Gas rationing?  Check.

Polio?  Check.

A President with a disability?  Check.

Boondoggle

Reason: "We Told You Why and How California's High-Speed Rail Wouldn't Work. You Chose Not To Listen. - "The New York Times newsroom illustrates what happens when you listen to the New York Times editorial board."

Must see TV

According to the daily presidential schedule, Biden is going to give a speech "on lowering costs for American families."

Since he only ever repeats the same talking points over and over, let me tell you what he'll say at 6:10 EST.  The Inflation Reduction Act will lower the cost on drugs (in two years) and Tim Scott wants put Social Security up for a vote every 5 years but there this guy in Wisconsin Ron Johnson who wants to vote every year and my dad used to say "do you have any breathing room?"

Update - Boy, did I call this one.

I've been told this is serious

PJ Media: "Did Joe Biden Try to Blackmail the Saudis To Interfere With the Midterms?" 

Another day, another lie

Hey, it's a good thing the Washington Post took down their Presidential lie counter, huh?  Twitchy: "President Joe Biden tells crowd in Colorado that his son Beau ‘lost his life in Iraq’."

LIke I said:

“Incorrectly said”
As he’s been “incorrectly saying” for decades that his first wife was killed by a drunk driver.
He’s always been a fraud.

— Gibbsville Man (@GibbsvilleMan) October 12, 2022

Joe Biden is a pathological liar

Only a day after the NY Times wrote an article noting that Dementia Joe makes up a lot of stories that just aren't true, Biden said "hold my beer."

This was a comment he made today to firefighters:

Firefighters have saved my life and the life of my family.  I want to just tell you for a moment — I know a lot of you know from — if anyone is from Delaware there knows — you know, way back in 1972, before I got sworn in, my family — my wife was Christmas shopping with my three children and — and a tractor trailer — they got in an accident — broadsided, and killed my wife, killed my daughter.  And my two boys, who were then almost three and almost four, were on top of their dead sister and mother.  And it took the Jaws of Life from my local fire department volunteers to get them out and get them to the hospital.  And it saved their lives.

Emphasis added for the active voice used here.  For not the first time, Biden used this story to smear truck driver Curtis Dunn who was completely faultless for this accident:

Joe's calling card is decency, an affable man without a malicious bone in his body. Yet he allowed Dunn, who died in 1999, to go to his grave having been falsely shamed by Biden as a drunk driver responsible for the death of Biden's wife and newborn daughter. What "decent" man does that.

Back in 2019, Jack Fowler called Biden's sickening embellishment - for personal or political gain - "the most disturbing thing about Joe Biden."  Joe has learned exactly nothing over the years and proved it again today.

It was all lies

CNN: "FBI offered Christopher Steele $1 million to prove dossier claims, senior FBI analyst testifies."

These stories appeared hours apart

NY Post: "PayPal says policy to fine customers for ‘misinformation’ was an ‘error’."

Reason: "PayPal Says It Won't Fine Users $2,500 for Misinformation, but It Will Fine Them for 'Intolerance'."

Time to short Paypal.  Get woke, go broke.

Everything to everyone

Not much of a sanctuary city

NY Post: "Migrants bused to NYC hotel going door-to-door asking for help." 

Trolling level: master

Red State: "'Unhinged' Katie Hobbs Freaks When Kari Lake Shows up in Town Hall Audience."

The tl;dr is that the two candidates for the Arizona's governors race were supposed to appear in separate town hall meetings but the Republican candidate sat in the front row of the audience and the Democrat hid in the green room until she left.

How ya like them apples, Big Apple?

Hot Air: "New York's emergency: getting what they asked for." - "If you voted for Joe Biden, you voted for this. And if you voted for it, you should have to deal with it. If I had my druthers every single illegal alien would be sent to a sanctuary city."

When woke self-preening meets reality

Martha's Vineyard vibe:

The Saudi rug pull

Hot Air: "WaPo, AP: On further review, it sure looks like the Saudis f'd with a Biden, no?" - "This week, however, the Saudi and OPEC+ decision to yank back on production when Biden clearly wanted his fist-bump buddy to increase it paints the meeting in an entirely new light. In fact, as the Washington Post concedes, it now looks like a deliberate humiliation, and even the White House agrees." 

You laugh but Gronk would do it

The Onion: "Tom Brady Urges Rob Gronkowski To Join Him For Last Year Of Marriage." 

Where are the factcheckers?

Here's Joe Biden, lying:

For example, it’s one thing to have inflation go up because of the price of gasoline — even now, it’s still coming down — but, you know, beyond the basic things, what are the things that really matter to people?

Absolutely false.  Completely untrue.  Let's get to work, factcheckers.

Failure to learn history

I found some dark humor in this article: "Lessons Not Learned: OPEC+ and the Financial Times."

Some of us are old enough to remember 1973 and 1979. If it has taken half a century to realize that our “partners” in the Gulf are not reliable, well . . .

Yes, some of us are, what's the word?  "Old."  I remember gas lines that stretched around the block and winters that required a lot of blankets at night.

The reality, however, is that we have long understood that neither these countries nor their associates are reliable suppliers, which is why the U.S.’s reestablishing its energy independence in the last decade was widely understood to be such a big deal. Thanks to ill-timed and reckless climate policies (which are unlikely to have much of an impact on the climate), that advantage is now being thrown away, with consequences that we are already beginning to see.

This the energy version of "good times make weak men."  Energy has been an affordable and accessible commodity for so long, people forgot what it meant when it wasn't so accessible.  Europe is about to learn a hard lesson, one they should have prepared for. 

Oh so *now* crime is a problem

NBC News: "In key battlegrounds, GOP onslaught of crime ads tightens Senate races" - "The strategy, while not new, appears to be resonating particularly in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, alarming some Wisconsin Democrats." 

Walter Mitty visits IBM

This is on Dementia Joe's schedule today:

The President delivers remarks on creating jobs in the Hudson Valley, lowering costs, and ensuring the future is made in America

So that means either we're going to get the story about how the price of gasoline was a discussion around the kitchen table or the story about how Young Joe Biden designed integrated circuits in his early career before he became a truck driver.

The definition of insanity

Fox Business: "Biden to release 10M more barrels from Strategic Petroleum Reserve in November in wake of OPEC+ cuts."

This is fine:

October surprise

Fox Business: "OPEC+ ministers agree to cut production by 2M barrels per day."

Looks like that fist bump didn't work, Joey: "White House 'Having a Spasm and Panicking' Over OPEC Oil Cut." 

Extra - OPEC to Biden: drop dead.  "In a further humiliation for the administration, this move comes after a “full court press” from the administration against OPEC+ countries, warning them not to cut production."

Biden: “Saudis will pump more oil”

Saudis: “Biden doesn’t speak for OPEC”

OPEC: “We’re pumping less oil now” pic.twitter.com/pYW5UIy92p

— John Hasson (@SonofHas) October 4, 2022

Self-own at the Times

Twitchy: "Mollie Hemingway spots NY Times debunking their own election ‘conspiracy theory’ debunking just a day earlier."

Journalism 2022.

A template to follow

Red State: "Kari Lake Takes 'Unhinged' Katie Hobbs Apart, Gives Masterclass in Handling the Press."

Look at her go.  She asks why her opponent refuses to debate, just like John Fetterman in PA.  You go, girl!

We all saw this coming

Hot Air: "WaPo: The Dem narrative on gas prices will return to "presidents don't control" ... again."

Update - Right on cue: "Karine Jean-Pierre explains to Peter Doocy that it’s unfair to blame Biden for rising gas prices because ‘it’s a lot more nuanced than that’."  Oh, the nuance, the nuance.

Evergreen:

There is literally video, "factchecker"

Twitchy: "PolitiFact comes to Kamala Harris’ rescue after she said that hurricane relief resources should be based on equity." 

Making it up as they go along

NY Post: "Biden’s rollback of student-loan-forgiveness plan pulls up the curtain on his Potemkin White House." 

Extra - Federalist: "What You Need To Know About This Lawsuit Against Biden’s $1 Trillion Student Loan Giveaway" - "The fact that the administration announced this “forgiveness” via a Q&A on a website speaks to the slapdash nature of this entire process." 

$7/gallon

Power Line: "California apparently didn’t get the Biden Administration memo about the good news of falling gasoline prices."

I've been to California many times and, man, I don't get it.  Housing is crazy, traffic is insane, homelessness, high taxes, drugs, and gas prices that swallow your income driving to work.  I don't get why Republicans can't make inroads in state that used to be led by Reagan.

Let's just say I strongly disagree with Randy Newman.

Womp womp

Hot Air: "Stacey Abrams loses Georgia voting rights lawsuit on all counts." 

Imagine being this much of a toady

Here's Jill Lawrence at USA Today: "What Joe Biden's memory lapse about the late Jackie Walorski really told us"

It’s unfortunate that he made the mistake. At the same time, it demonstrated a generosity and professionalism that was also present in Biden’s Tuesday conversation with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a frequent and harsh Biden critic, as Hurricane Ian bore down on his state. 

This is some amazing gaslighting, as if Biden didn't compare Americans to George Wallace and call half of Americans "semi-fascists," whatever that means.

So much unity.  Such healing.

Stock market plunge

Red State: "Past Statements Come Back With a Vengeance to Haunt Joe Biden and Ron Klain."

Must be time to bring out the old "jobs coming back" crutch, the answer to every piece of bad financial news.

ICYMI - We're now officially in a recession.  

Time to impeach

The Corner: ‘This Is a Constitutional Crisis’

“I consider this to be a constitutional crisis,” he said. “I think that from start to finish, we are witnessing a president test the established legal order of the United States. . . . His broader party know that he’s not allowed to. But he went ahead and willfully did it anyway.”

Biden YOLO'd into this student debt plan, which is now being changed on the fly to avoid the eventual lawsuits.