Yeah, it's a mystery, NPR

NPR: "More people are getting away with murder. Unsolved killings reach a record high."

Word search hit on "defund" = zero.

Rant

OMG, Microsoft Outlook and/or MSN: stop allowing emails from "Costco" into my Inbox.  There are no Costcos in Columbia or Nigeria.  Don't you find it strange that Costco is sending randomized email addresses from foreign countries?  Doesn't that raise a red flag?

I have marked this as junk, blocked addresses, and reported phishing.  Take a hint, already.  Anything with "Costco" anywhere in the address or content is junk, OK?  Sheesh.  Gmail doesn't have this problem, just sayin'.

Weekend at Bernie's

Federalist: "How Far Will Corporate Media Go To Cover For And Re-Elect Joe Biden?" - "The president’s press conference cheat sheet raises serious questions about journalistic ethics as well as his declining mental state."

It’s one thing for the White House staff to tell the president what to do or even to supply him with answers to possible questions that he can’t be relied upon to remember without a script in front of him. It’s quite another when members of the White House press corps are actively colluding in the charade. And that is what the photo of his presser cheat sheet revealed.

Gosh, I wonder why trust in the mainstream media keeps falling. 

Collusion

Federalist: "How Far Will Corporate Media Go To Cover For And Re-Elect Joe Biden?" - "The president’s press conference cheat sheet raises serious questions about journalistic ethics as well as his declining mental state."

Trust in the mainstream media keeps dropping for some reason.  

Just reading that teleprompter

Fox News: "Biden hit by fact checker for repeatedly touting 'highly misleading' deficit claim: 'Bottomless Pinocchio'." 

Well, it's KJP, so

Red State: "White House Responds to 'Cheat Sheet' Controversy With Laughable Gaslighting." 

Extra - National Review: "Biden’s Journalist Cheat Sheet: The New Collusion Scandal"  It seems like the media has warmed to the idea of advancing questions to Presidents.  "This revelation led some political observers to wonder whether the White House had been soliciting reporters’ questions ahead of time to prepare the president’s response, which, of course, they had. Indeed, this presidency has been soliciting reporters’ questions from its outset."

More - Spectator: "Biden’s pre-written questions present a crisis of confidence." - "This should be a legitimate scandal for this White House, as they try to push an eighty-year-old president onto the country for a second term while it appears he cannot answer questions without a cue card." 

As Instapundit often notes, the media is just Democratic Party operatives with bylines. 

We don't have a President

We have an ancient and compromised old man who can only read off teleprompters and cheat sheets.

I wasn't going to mention this (again) but Biden gave a speech yesterday that was word-for-word indistinguishable from the same speech he's given maybe fifty times before.  He lies over and over again to the point that the Washington Post has given Dementia Joe a "bottomless Pinocchio" for claims that have been repeatedly debunked.  Joey doesn't care.  He's just going to keep on lying.

Does he even know he's lying?  It's a fair question.  Because it's become obvious that Joe just reads whatever is put in front of him on a teleprompter.  And now today the news is that Dementia Joe had a cheat sheet with the exact question that would be asked of him in advance: "Biden caught with crib notes detailing reporter's question prior to calling on her during press conference."

President Biden is no stranger to detailed cheat sheets when speaking to the press, but the president's team seems to have taken things up a notch after he revealed a pre-written question from a reporter during Wednesday's press conference.

Joe Biden can't handle an unscripted press conference, he can't do an interview, he needs extremely detailed instructions to perform the most basic functions.

We don't have a President.  We have a puppet.  Put "go f--- yourself San Diego" on his giant teleprompter and he'll read it out.

Asked and answered

Power Line: "Is Kamala Harris the dumbest person ever to be Vice President?"

Let's put it this way: every affirmative action hire in this Administration has been a walking disaster from Kamala, KJP, and Mayor Pete.  

This is like a parody of modern Democrats https://t.co/BYKsyKY9gu

— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) April 26, 2023

Success must be punished

Reason: "Borrowers With High Credit Scores Penalized Under New Federal Mortgage Fee Plan." 

As I predicted

Hot Air: "Shopping the Folsom Street Target in San Francisco is like shopping Folsom Prison."

Actually, the specific prediction I made was that we're heading towards a retail market where everything is ordered and shipped to Amazon lockers.  Target locking up everything in their store is simply a precursor to this future.  

Extra - Twitchy: "ClownWorld_ shares the absolute state of a Target store in San Francisco." 

Billionaires almost triple their tax rate!

For months, Dementia Joe has been repeating the lie that billionaires only pay an average tax rate of 3%.  Here's Joey on Tuesday:

I might add: We have now about a thousand billionaires.  Know what the average tax rate is?  Three — T-H-R-E-E — percent.  Three percent.

And then two days later on Thursday:

And, by the way, I’m not saying every American cheats on their taxes. But you have — we have a thousand billionaires in America. You know, the average tax rate they pay? Eight. E-I-G-H[-T] percent. Eight percent.

Of course, this is still a ridiculous and easily provable lie which is why Joey avoids press conferences where he might be asked about it. 

The Left and Right agree

Bloomberg: "Biden Needs to Negotiate on the Debt Ceiling - Yes, Republicans are acting cynically. But sometimes leadership demands compromises."

Washington Monthly: "Biden Should Start Budget Talks Now - McCarthy has a weak hand when it comes to the debt ceiling, so there’s no reason to keep giving the speaker the cold shoulder."

Before covid, federal spending in 2019 was $3.5 trillion.  In 2020 it was $5.6 trillion while incurring a $3 trillion deficit.  Covid is over.  What is the reason to maintain these elevated spending and deficit levels?

Related - AIER: "Will Federal Spending Be Brought Under Control?"  

Back from Huntsville, Alabama

Hello, scattered readers.  I'm back from a business trip to Huntsville which is the most Defense-dense town I've ever seen.  Most airport advertisements are for McDonalds or Apple; every ad in the terminal was for companies like Raytheon and Northrop Grumman.  

Anyway - catching up - I want to address the Fox News/Dominion mess and this is based mostly on a podcast I heard the other day.  I spend a lot of time pointing out the one-sided bias of the news media often saying "these mistakes only go in one direction."  Well, this clearly went the other way.

The main thing I learned is that Fox's main crime was giving oxygen to a story that they didn't believe by hosting Trump representatives.  They did it for "clicks and likes" as the kids say.  It was wrong and they paid a pretty penny (although CNN called it "chump change" if I remember correctly).

Sure they could have fought it out by using the "whoopsie!" defense but Murdoch's insurance company probably forced this to an early end. 

That's too much free speech, JMU edition

Reason: "College Debate Team Comes Out Against Debate - In response to a controversial campus speaker, James Madison University's debate team announced that "a general climate of free speech should not extend to requiring us to platform or amplify ideas that are exclusionary, discriminatory, or hostile."

Reap what you sow

The Paper of Record: "Chicago Mayor Warns That If Local Walmart Locations Close People Will Have Fewer Places To Shoplift."

Let's check in on the "defund police" capital of America

The Oregonian: "REI to close only Portland store, citing break-ins, theft."

REI is the latest major retailer to close Portland stores, and the highest-profile among them to publicly blame theft as the reason. Nike closed one of its Portland stores to public access, telling city officials the closure was due to shoplifting. Walmart also recently closed its only two Portland stores for underperformance.

Chicago: "Hold my beer." 

He's exhausted from his taxpayer-funded Ireland vacation

Twitchy: "It’s been a long week already so the Biden WH called a 9 a.m. lid."

It's pretty obvious we don't have a President.

The Left hates free speech: California edition

Free Beacon: "The Babylon Bee Sues To Block California Censorship Law."

Humor website The Babylon Bee is suing to block a California law it claims gives the state power to censor their content.

The satirical website is part of a coalition that petitioned a California federal court on Tuesday to block AB 587, a 2022 law that requires social media companies to periodically report certain content to the government, including "hate speech" and "disinformation." The plaintiffs claim the bill is a "vehicle" for California Democrats to crack down on speech they find distasteful.

Hat tip to Ace who accurately notes: 

The left is nothing but defunding the police and censoring speech.

Yup, after they declare it "distasteful" or "hurtful." 

Chicago to Walmart: Stay open so we can continue to rob you

This editorial in the Chicago Sun-Times is really something.  Walmart is shuttering four of their stores in the Chicago area after losing "tens of millions of dollars" and the paper is shocked: "Walmart closures: Small businesses, not big box stores, are better bet in struggling neighborhoods."

Just before the reopening of several Walmart stores that were damaged in the unrest following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, President and CEO Doug McMillon vowed “Walmart’s commitment to Chicago remains strong. We are not going anywhere.”

Emphasis mine.  I guess "damage" is what we're calling all the widespread looting in the summer of 2020.  And despite heavy losses, Walmart did re-open those Chicago stores.  They promptly resumed losing money.  Hey, Walmart, how about a heads-up?

When stores are in danger of closing because of poor sales and lack of profit, communities with the fewest options deserve an advance heads up. Walmart says its continuous attempts to remedy the challenges, with the help of the city and community, were unsuccessful.

This is wild.  Do we really need to tell people that stores aren't going to stay open if they lose millions year after year?  Gosh, if only there had been a heads-up.  Oh wait: "Rising thefts at Walmart could lead to price jumps, store closures, CEO says."

Walmart stores across the U.S. are grappling with an uptick in shoplifting that could lead to higher prices and closed stores if the problem persists, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said Tuesday. 

“Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

That Heads-up! was made a year ago.  The community leaders in Chicago have a plan though:

Barring an about-face from the company, the group declared it was ready to protest at other Walmarts around Chicago and beyond. 

“The same Black and Brown people who made this store will be the same ones who walk away,” said incoming 6th Ward Ald. William Hall, pastor of St. James Community Church in Chatham. “If Walmart does not invest on this land, we will go from Chicago to Indiana to Michigan” to protest at other Walmart stores.

Yeah, that'll work.

Bake me a cake, part 2

Jonathan Turley: "Florists’ free speech: Liberals in Tennessee appear to be making the case for conservative justices."

Totally within your rights, florists.  Just like the baker. 

Hey, I know that mall

NY Post: "Garden State Plaza Mall to require chaperones for kids under 18 amid TikTok-inspired mayhem."  

Joe on vacation again

Paper of Record: "Drunk Irishmen Say They Understood Biden's Dublin Speech Perfectly."

Don't worry, America.  The President is finishing up his very important "work" in Ireland to start his weekend vacation in Delaware.  

I'll believe it when I see it

The Hill: "Finally, we have a true shot at bipartisan social security reform." 

Tennessee Calvinball

Here's Charles C.W. Cooke: "Against the Tennessee lie"

In the New York Times, Thomas Edsall follows much of the rest of the media and lies through his teeth about what happened in Tennessee last week.

Well, the NY Times is gonna NY Times.

In the long term, however, I believe that the media’s decision was a poor one, if just because it has reminded many conservatives that progressives — and the press, but I repeat myself — do not actually believe in anything. For the last two years, Americans have been told — correctly — that storming into legislative chambers and interrupting their work is “undemocratic” per se, and that, if we do not want to see more of it, it must be punished wherever it happens. For the record, I agree — and have agreed — very strongly with this proposition. And yet, the moment — the very moment — that a couple of lawmakers whom the media likes chose to invite a mob into a legislative chamber and to deliberately interrupt its work, the moral poles were reversed and it was those who objected who were deemed to be “undemocratic.” This is Calvinball. It is cynicism. It is a nihilistic disgrace. And, in the long-run, it will prove to have been a tactical mistake.

Believe me, we're taking notice and in my opinion it's only a matter of time until Kamala Harris is shouted down by a bullhorn.  Watch how quickly that situation will be (D)ifferent. 

Then it's totally cool

Byron York: "When Democrats attack democracy." 

The silence is the answer

Twitchy: "Press corps groans as KJP tells them no president has taken as many shouted questions as Biden."

During today's "press conference," KJP was asked why Biden isn't have a press conference with a foreign leader during his Ireland swing, as is customary.  KJP lied, of course, saying that it's a mutual decision made with the foreign leader.  Sure thing, toots.

All this and inflation, too

The Corner: "CBO: Federal Debt Payments Up 41 Percent Thanks to Higher Interest Rates." 

That's trillion with a "T"

Reason Online: "Republicans' and Democrats' Refusal To Reform Social Security and Medicare Is Political Malpractice - In 10 years, the programs' funds will be insolvent. Over the next 30 years, they will run a $116 trillion shortfall."

Social Security, readers might remember, has been relying on its trust funds' IOU since 2010 to fully pay for retirees' benefits. Assets are running low and will be gone by 2033. When that happens, it won't be authorized to make the entirety of these payments—only the amount it collects in payroll taxes. That's a 23 percent cut. You can tell a similar story about the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for Medicare. By 2031, the program will be insolvent, and benefits will be cut by 11 percent. That's an understatement since the solvency calculations exclude Medicare's physician (Part B) and drug (Part D) programs, which face a $1 trillion shortfall over the next decade.

To pretend that Social Security and Medicare shouldn't be touched is nothing short of political malpractice. Over the next 30 years, the two programs will run a $116 trillion shortfall. This number accounts for the significant amount of interest payments on the debt the government will ring up in the process. While we might be able to stumble along indefinitely, all that borrowing will slow—perhaps even halt—our economic growth, making funding the programs that much more difficult.

Entitlements escape the normal solutions because there is no way we can just "tax the rich" to pay for such a massive program.  No politician wants to tell (younger) voters that they need to dig deeper to get benefits that might not be available when they turn older. 

Happy Easter

Paper of Record: "Due To Inflation, Easter Bunny Forced To Hide Ramen Noodles In Yard." 

There goes Joe, taking responsibility and not blaming others again

So brave, such leadership.  Ace: "Biden Junta Releases Report on His Bloody Afghanistan Bungling The Day Before Most of DC Goes On Vacation; NSC Spokesliar Claims It's Not About "Accountability," But Also, It's All Trump's Fault."

Here's CBS News's Ed O'Keefe sounding suspiciously like a red-pilled journalist:

"This 12-page document is a whitewash. It is narrative. It is light on specifics. It is devoid of citations. And it is in essence their version of events. As the classified reports conducted by the State Department and the Pentagon are being sent to lawmakers on the relevant committees for their full review, White House saying it will not release those classified reports to the general public, although, inevitably, details of those reports likely will ultimately somehow get out there in the public severe sphere. We’ll wait to see how and when."

O'Keefe also criticized the news dump on the afternoon before a holiday weekend.  Fun fact: Dementia Joe Biden took a break from his grueling schedule of having lunch with Kamala so he could leave for Camp David on Thursday afternoon and start the long weekend.  He left the White House via a motorcade so that he could avoid the press pool he would have to pass if he used Marine One.

The cuts are coming

Red State: "Social Security Benefits Expected to Be Insolvent in 10 Years, Surprising No One." 

The Ponzi scheme can only continue as long as there are new suckers.

MSNBC has the sadz

Whelp, the Trump indictment is out and it's as flimsy as we all expected.  Let's do a roundup:

Here's lawyer John Hinderaker at Powerline: "Trump indictment: as bad as we thought"

The indictment alleges that all of this was done “with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof,” but it never says what that other crime was. The second crime is mandatory because without it, falsifying a business record under New York law is a misdemeanor on which the statute of limitation has run. Presumably the second crime is alleged to be a campaign finance violation. But the payment to Daniels did not violate the campaign finance laws.

Emphasis mine.  Here's my other go-to legal source, Legal Insurrection: "‘Underwhelming’: Reactions to Trump’s Arraignment Shows It’s a Nothingburger" - “There’s a curious omission in the Donald Trump indictment and statement of facts – The specific federal law Trump violated.”

Nobody can put lipstick on this pig: "Legal Experts Across the Political Spectrum Are Laughing at Alvin Bragg's Indictment of Donald Trump."

It looks like Alvin Bragg is going to make the history books, just not in the way he expected:

Alvin Bragg’s unsealed indictment is an indictment of Alvin Bragg. Legitimate law schools will forever use this indictment to teach the concept of prosecutorial abuse of discretion. All Americans, regardless of political persuasions, should condemn this indictment as the travesty… https://t.co/UQshdUftsr

— John Ratcliffe (@JohnRatcliffe) April 4, 2023

And finally, here's Dan McLaughlin with just his first legal analysis of this stink bomb: "The Ridiculousness of the Trump Indictment, Part One: The Statute of Limitations Problem"

The last payment, and last false record, charged in the indictment, came in December 2017, more than five years ago. A charge under the misdemeanor statute would obviously be time-barred, which is a major reason why Bragg has pursued a felony charge. But that is also outside the five-year window, so some creative lawyering would be required to even get this case a hearing.

Shhh!  The actual charges are a secret.  That's the American way:

Prosecutors don’t have to reveal all of their evidence ahead of trial, but basic notions of fair play require you to inform a criminal defendant of the basis for the charges against him, such that he can present a defense. Bragg refuses to do that.

An absolute banana-republic farce.

The Babylon Bee does it again

Hot Air: "Chinese spy balloon that was totally blocked from gathering intel was totally gathering intel."

I'm sure the media that covered up for Dementia Joe will issue a mea culpa any day now.

Any day now.

The Bee called it:

Biden Says He’ll Shoot Down Chinese Spy Balloon As Soon As He’s Done Letting It Spy https://t.co/rdYAnALclI

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) February 3, 2023

The NY Times printed that? Huh!

New York Times (free link courtesy of RCP): "Trump’s Prosecution Has Set a Dangerous Precedent." 

But at least one thing seems clear: Mr. Bragg may have been the first local prosecutor to do it, but he will probably not be the last. Every local prosecutor in the country will now feel that he or she has free rein to criminally investigate and prosecute presidents after they leave office. Democrats currently cheering the charges against Mr. Trump may feel differently if — or when — a Democrat, perhaps even President Biden, ends up on the receiving end of a similar effort by any of the thousands of prosecutors elected to local office, eager to make a name for themselves by prosecuting a former president of the United States.

What do you mean, "perhaps?"  This is a lesson the Democrats never learn. 

The Ponzi scheme is starting to collapse

Reason: "Social Security Will Be Insolvent by 2033" - "New data from the program's trustees show that insolvency will hit a year sooner than previously expected, giving policy makers just a decade before automatic benefit cuts occur."

You will be made to care

Accurate:

"Journalism"

Twitchy: "LOL: Fact checking the fact checker – Glenn Kessler gets utterly owned by Twitter Community Notes."

These "fact checks" always go in one direction.  Always.

Clown nose off

Outkick: "Jon Stewart, former comedian, makes it official: I'm a hypocritical wokester."