End of the quarter

Breitbart: "Stocks tumble into the worst first half in 50 years."

I usually calculate out my retirement savings on a quarterly basis but I can't do it today.  Too depressing.

How'd that visit with the funny man work out, Joey?

Twitchy: "Yikes! Latest polling data is ‘devastating for Biden’."

Golly, it's almost like Joey's laugh-up with Jimmy Kimmel didn't sit well with Americans facing record-high inflation: 

Sounds convincing

Babylon Bee: "Jan. 6 Committee Says Cassidy Hutchinson Told Them That She Heard Mark Meadows Say That A Secret Service Agent’s Friend’s Cousin’s Husband Once Heard That One Of Trump’s Other Aides Said She Thinks She Heard Him Say He Wanted To 'Do An Insurrection'." 

Now we know why this committee doesn't allow cross-examination of their witnesses. 

That was quick

Legal Insurrection: "Multiple Reporters: Secret Service to Dispute J6 Committee Star Witness." - "The January 6 Committee’s star witness’s testimony went up in flames almost as soon as she finished it." 

Your terms are acceptable

Timothy Carney has a good column called "Yes, liberals, please own the cons" which highlights how the Left continuously and willfully misrepresents the positions of the Right.  They get all their stereotypes from HuffPost comment boards:

Perhaps all of these commentators and operatives are really this ignorant. Perhaps they have never spoken to a pro-lifer about abortion and unwanted pregnancy, to a gun-rights activist about gun ownership, or to a school choice or religious-liberty champion about free exercise and school choice. The other possibility is that these public figures just enjoy stirring up hatred among their followers.

Neither explanation reflects well on any of them. And this, such as it is, is the inherent advantage that conservatives have in the culture wars. We are constantly exposed to the Left's views. They have been shoved down our throats for decades. We know and understand their arguments. Many on the Left are exposed only to caricatures of our views. They can't even conceive of the idea that there are other views.

We know our enemy better than they do.

This reminds me of a study performed where groups were asked to fill out a questionnaire based on their own beliefs and then how they thought somebody on the opposite side of the political spectrum would answer:

The results were clear and consistent. Moderates and conservatives were most accurate in their predictions, whether they were pretending to be liberals or conservatives. Liberals were the least accurate, especially those who described themselves as “very liberal.” 

Sounds like epistemic closure to me.

Word salad Kamala

Seriously, what is wrong with this woman?  Every time she opens her mouth, it's like the sound of a chainsaw cutting through a dictionary.  NY Post: "CNN gives Kamala Harris the easiest layup — and she still misses."

This is what I hear every time Kamala Harris speaks:

The Left hates free speech, a continuing series

Reason: "Supreme Court Says High School Coach's Postgame Prayers Are Protected Free Speech" - "A 6–3 majority sees it as noncoercive and not a violation of the Establishment Clause." 

Just go, Billie Joe

Gateway Pundit: "Washed Up Green Day Singer Says He’s Renouncing His US Citizenship Because of Supreme Court Decision on Roe v Wade."

Armstrong continued, “Oh, I’m not kidding, you’re going to get a lot of me in the coming days.”

Narrator: "He was kidding." 

Also, Billie Joe, you're old enough to join AARP.  Do you have to drop f-bombs in every other word you speak?  Grow up.

Treason

 

I come here to praise Harry Reid

The former Senate majority leader brought us to this moment by triggering the "nuclear option" on judicial nominees.  Hey Harry!  Aren't you worried the Republicans might gain control of the Senate and force through Supreme Court nominees?

REPORTER: “Aren’t you worried Republicans will just get rid of the filibuster on the Supreme Court anyway?”

REID: “Let ‘em do it! Why in the world we’d care? We were trying to protect everybody. I mean, if they want simple majority, fine. I mean all these threats, ‘we’re going to change the rules’ … As Senator Schumer said, what is the choice? Continue like we are or have democracy?”

And they did it!  Marc Theissen called it all the way back in 2011:

While Republicans are in a strong position to take control of the Senate, their odds of winning a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority are remote. But now, thanks to Reid, they may not need 60 votes. Reid has established that the majority can ignore the rules in order to gag the minority and declare something dilatory by simple majority vote. This is a filibuster-busting precedent that a Republican majority could use to overcome Democratic opposition on any number of issues–from taxes and spending to revising the debt-limit deal, reversing defense spending cuts and even repealing Obamacare.

In other words, trampling the rights of the minority when you are poised to become the minority isn’t particularly smart. Reid may come to regret his nuclear hypocrisy if he becomes minority leader again in 2012. Indeed, he may have just given the GOP the key to undoing the Obama agenda. That’s the problem with nuclear fallout–you never know which direction it will blow.

Followed by Jonathan Turley in 2018: "A bill comes due: Reid's folly becomes the Democratic nightmare": "The result was the final demise of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees when the Republicans took power.  The result for the Democrats is Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was confirmed by a 50 to 48 vote."

Let's not diminish the contribution by Chuck Schumer though:

We could put Chuck Schumer on the same pedestal. The current Senate Majority Leader led an indisputably stupid attempt to filibuster Neil Gorsuch’s appointment to the Supreme Court in 2017, which led to McConnell’s retributive rule change that used Reid’s precedent to free up Gorsuch’s confirmation vote. That led directly to the confirmations of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett too, giving the court its current 6-3 conservative lineup.

Harry Reid’s dark and partisan extremism started it all, though. Congrats to all the Senate Democrats who fell into a completely obvious and predictable trap in 2013. Well done.

Well done, indeed.  

Unclear on the concept

Twitchy: "Biden’s Justice Department issues a statement respectfully disagreeing with the Supreme Court’s decision."

Who asked you?  Just do your job.  Clown show.

Update - Red State: "Merrick Garland Should Be Impeached for His Response to Roe Being Overturned."

Yes, I also noticed that statistical trick

Ace: "Lyin' Biden Proposes Suspending the Federal Gas Tax, and Urges States to Cut State Gas Taxes, But Proposes Nothing to Increase Supply; Claims He's Producing More Oil Than Trump, and Claims Only the War in Ukraine Has Caused Increase in Gas Prices."

He claims the US is producing more oil now, "on average," than it did under Trump.

Note he says "on average," not "at peak."

That's because the worldwide covid shutdown and attendant crash in demand for oil caused, naturally, a sharp fall in the production of oil. So Trump's oil production, which had hit all-time records, then slowed down starting in December 2019 -- lowering his "average" oil production.

This is on par with his often-repeated claim that he's reduced the deficit by $1.6 trillion or that he's created a whole bunch of jobs.  Biden doesn't want you to notice that both are due to the end of covid stimuli and the attendant return of lost jobs.

Perfect response

Is that why a dollar will only get you 70% of what it did last year? https://t.co/8Hhud9StsC

— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) June 21, 2022

Can you imagine flexing over something so trivial?

Invest billions of dollars, you evil profiteers

Hot Air: "Washington Post: Investor response to Biden's anti-oil policies is why we can't get more gasoline, you know." 

Inspiring!

Breitbart: "White House's latest catchphrase: 'Recession is not inevitable.'"  

That's the best news I've heard since "inflation is transitory." 

Is tomorrow the day for Dobbs?

If I'm reading the calendar on SCOTUSblog correctly, there are only two more days where the Supreme Court will issue opinions.  I'm just guessing here but it seems that if they wait until Thursday for the Dobbs decision, it will only be an invitation for a protest to build.

BIden is just living in denial now

Excellent article from Jim Geraghty here:

Joe Biden is 79 years and seven months old. The presidency is one of the toughest jobs in the world. It is partially an issue of mental and verbal discipline, which were never Biden’s strengths to begin with. But now he’s overwhelmed by the problems of the job and coping through denial. Last week, he finally did another sit-down interview in which he contended to the Associated Press that “every other major industrial country in the world” has higher inflation, which is not even close to the case. Biden insisted that there is “zero evidence” that the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed in March 2021 contributed to inflation, and that it did not have even a “marginal, minor impact on inflation.” He said Americans should not believe warnings about a possible recession. With every available indicator pointing to a GOP tsunami in the midterm elections, Biden insisted that Democrats would not merely keep control of the House and Senate but would “pick up as many as four seats in the Senate.”

If you haven't seen it, the transcript of that interview with the Associated Press is just wild.  It's a farrago of self-puffery, outright lies, and pathetic denial.  Today he was asked about the pending recession and Biden once again lied about the consensus of economists until his daughter whisked him away, Easter Bunny-style.

He simply rejects your reality and replaces it with his own, the one where he's the hero.

Extra - Whoa, Joe!  Slow down with that busy schedule of yours. 

It sure does

So they spent $2 billion on enhanced Capitol Security after Jan 6 and the Triumph dog puppeteer can still just sneak into the Capitol?

Sounds about right.

— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) June 18, 2022

Here comes the government to help

Reason: "Congress and Biden Probably Just Made the Shipping Problem Worse."

Last summer, amid clogged ports and skyrocketing international shipping rates, irate U.S. exporters called on Congress to act. The result was the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA), passed with bipartisan support in Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on June 16. The law is ostensibly aimed at reforming U.S. shipping law to provide fair treatment for American exporters. Unfortunately, the bill creates a mess of a law that does little to address current domestic regulations that exacerbated problems in the supply chain caused by the pandemic, which have yet to fully abate.

.....

The OSRA may be a political win as Congress "did something"—likely the law's primary goal—but this law should not be mistaken for a serious attempt to improve the United States' ability to meet its shipping needs.

Actual results always take a back seat to "good intentions." 

Stock market down $7 trillion

TIPP Insights: "18 Charts Reveal The Darkness Behind Economic Confidence - Americans worry about bills and making ends meet. Inflation is a $460 monthly tax for each household." 

The lies, the lies

Not shocking at all

Entirely predictable: "Windfall Tax Blowback Shock."

Britain’s Tory party is not good for much these days, except, perhaps, for providing useful lessons on how not to do things.

In this case, they implemented a windfall tax on oil profits and the oil companies decided: "Hey, maybe we shouldn't invest in development and production when the government is hostile to our industry."

Will the current Administration learn a lesson from the Brits?  No, it will not.  

A whole semi-truck full

Twitchy: "‘Operation Fly Formula’ will bring in a whopping 22 tons of baby formula from Switzerland Thursday." 

The adults are back in charge!

Old man yells at crowd

Red State: "Biden Unleashed: Geriatric President Screams and Rants Uncontrollably While Addressing Union Members."

The transcript of Biden's screech included my favorite story:

I grew up in household not far from here, in Claymont and Wilmington, where if the price of a gallon of gasoline went up, it was a conversation at the dinner table. 

Get some new material, Joe.  Seriously:

And I come from a family where, in fact, when the price of a gallon of gasoline went up, it was a discussion at the dinner table. 

I was raised in a household when the price of gasoline rose precipitously, it was the discussion at the table.

I grew up in a family about 100 miles from here that if — where if the price of gas went up, you felt it.  It was a discussion at the kitchen table. 

I come from a family where when the pr- — when the price of gas or food went up, we felt it.  It was a discussion at the kitchen table.

I grew up in family where if prices went up for things that were daily requirements like the gallon of gasoline, it became a discussion at the kitchen table.

I come from a family — not a joke — where when the price of a gallon of gasoline went up, it was a conversation at our kitchen table. 

I came from a family that when the price of a gallon of gasoline went up, it was a topic of conversation at the kitchen table.

I grew up in a family where the price of gasoline went up at the pump, it was a discussion at the kitchen table.

Look, I grew up in a family — not a joke — where if the price of a gallon of gasoline went up, it was a conversation at our kitchen table.

As you’ve heard me say before, I grew up in a family, like many of you, where when the price of a gallon of gasoline went up, it was discussed at the kitchen table.

Yeah, we've heard it before.  Not a joke.

Prepare for responsibility shift

Red State: "Joe Biden Gets Smashed by Resurrected Clip, Karine-Jean Pierre Flails in Response." 

By the way, watch the old clip of Biden taking credit for the rising stock market to see how Trump lives rent-free in his head.

Bare Shelves Biden

Shot: "Moody's: Inflation to cost families an extra $5520 per year, up from last projection."

Chaser:

Media bias again

Hot Air: "Maher: The Times buried the Kavanaugh assassination story because he's a conservative."

His point is true beyond a shadow of a doubt and has been for a long time. It’s a neat follow-up to yesterday’s post about media gatekeeping, in fact. Partisan media aggressively filters the news it covers to shield its audience from information that might shake their faith in “the team.” But big media filters too, even when it feels obliged to pay some attention to major developments that disfavor their own side. A gunman showing up outside Sonia Sotomayor’s home would be big news, illustrating a right-wing “climate of hate.” Whereas a gunman showing up outside Brett Kavanaugh’s home is a page-20 curio about a random lunatic.

When the NY Times or other mainstream media sources cover a story like this, do they ever consider how they'd frame it if political parties were reversed?  It seems not.

The Left hates free speech, continued

The Corner: "Authoritarians Hate Dissent." - "We can’t have people doubting government policy on that, now can we?" 

Mr. "Take Responsibility" strikes again

The buck stops elsewhere for Dementia Joe.  His speeches have become so rote I could write them ahead of time and save everybody the trouble of watching them.  For example, I was 100% sure Joey was going to start off with this ancient chestnut:

Look, folks, today I’d like to speak about my top economic priority: fighting inflation.  I understand Americans are anxious, and they’re anxious with good reason.  I was raised in a household when the price of gasoline rose precipitously, it was the discussion at the table.  It made a difference when food prices went up.

Every time.  Every economic speech.  And now on to the dodge:

But we’ve never seen anything like Putin’s tax on both food and gas.

Then he prattles through the job numbers which nobody cares about when real wages are declining because Americans paying $460 a month more than they did a year ago for basic supplies.

Guess who retires in 13 years

Hot Air: "Social Security only has 13 years before it goes broke." - "It’s hard to see how we’re going to get this fixed in the current environment. I guess we’re just going to keep watching the go-broke date get closer until someone has no choice but to deal with it." 

Social Security is perhaps the last universal program left in government where benefits are proportional to what is paid into the system.  There is no solution proffered by the Democrats that doesn't turn it into yet another welfare program. 

Three Pinocchio Joe

Red State: "Biden’s Senility Takes Center-Stage on Jimmy Kimmel, His Political Excuse-Making Was Worse."  Nothing's ever his fault.

I watched this train wreck on YouTube and noted that - again - Biden repeated the thoroughly debunked story that he traveled 17,000 miles with China's Xi.  It appears there's no way to get Joe to abandon these stories in his mind. 

Extra - PJ Media: "Biden Glitched so Badly During His Interview That Jimmy Kimmel Had to Cut to a Commercial."

Incitement

Fox News: "Kavanaugh incident shows Schumer should be impeached under Democrats' standards: Watters." - "By Schumer's party's own standards, Watters said, the New York Democrat should be impeached over his incitement. If Roske were a right-wing agitator, he argued, Democrats would tie his independent actions to someone like Donald Trump."

If this was a Trump supporter at Sotomayor's house, we'd never hear the end of it from the mainstream media.

Misdeed must not prosper

The Corner: "Issue Dobbs Now."

That “political pressure” has now mutated into the attempted assassination of a Supreme Court Justice. If Chief Justice Roberts really wants to protect his Court, he will issue Dobbs immediately. Roe is extralegal nonsense, and it has turned the Supreme Court into something it is not. Overturn it — and do it straight away.

Abortion is one of those issues I'm agnostic on.  I'm less agnostic on the idea that opinions should bend to the "heckler's veto" or - more to the point - death threats.

It that's the way you want to play: get ready to play by the same rules you've established.

Believe me, we knew it all along

PJ Media: "Democrats Admit the True Purpose of J6 Hearings."  So did the New York Times but then that's the same as Democrats.

I don't get the motivation behind Impeachment 3.0.  Putting aside the conspicuous political nature of these hearings, a lot of Americans voted for Dementia Joe because they wanted to "turn the page" on the Trump era.  Americans have little interest in the next Trump show trial. 

Well, good luck with all that.

But the experts said

Red State: "Media Is Finally Starting to Acknowledge That Joe Biden Is a Mess."

Gee, it's funny how that narrative shifted.  The experts said!

Maverick flies

Breitbart: "Woketard Leftists whine as "Top Gun" continues to overperform."

I saw "Top Gun Maverick" last weekend and it was good.  In all honesty, it was the "trench attack" scene from "Star Wars" but in an Iranian canyon, complete with a deus ex machina save from the Millennium Falcon in the moment of maximum peril.

There's one thing I want to mention that I think makes this movie special.  There's a female aviator - callsign "Phoenix" - who is a pilot who just happens to be a woman.  There's no questioning from the male aviators about her ability to be among them, they don't overtly hit on her as testosterone-driven men will, and there's no tiresome dialogue about "I can do anything a man can do."  She can fly a plane, everybody appears to know this, and nobody makes a stereotypical comment about her gender.

Sweet mercy, it was so nice to see a movie that avoided that all-too-common trope.

Student loan forgiveness

The Corner: "‘There Are a Lot of People Very Close to the President Who Privately Understand That This Is a Complete Disaster’."

If there are “a lot of people very close to the president who privately understand that this is a complete disaster for them,” then those people need to speak up now, before Biden commits a generational political mistake. The move is statutorily illegal, it is morally revolting, and it is disgracefully self-serving. If Biden does it, he will damage our system of government, tear the country further apart, and confirm forever that he is little more than a puppet. If, indeed, there are people on his staff who can see this too, then worrying “privately” ain’t gonna cut it.

No less than Nancy Pelosi has stated the President just can't wave his magic wand and forgive student loan debt.  This will really be the acid test whether Joe Biden is President or just a puppet.

I want to believe

PJ Media: "U.S. Intel: 'Everyone Is Sensing the End Is Near' for Putin." 

Out of the loop

Twitchy: "Biden’s answer about why he didn’t move faster on the baby formula crisis speaks volumes."

Extra - Legal Insurrection: "Biden had No Idea About the Severity of Baby Formula Recall Until Months After It Happened." 

More - Red State: "Joe Biden, Karine Jean-Pierre Get Signals Crossed on Baby Formula Crisis in Staggering Show of Incompetence."