I tend to think this is true

NY Post: "Douglas Murray: Putin’s playbook is the same a quarter-century later — peace talks are pointless."

I honestly don't know what can be done in Ukraine if Putin can't be dissuaded by military quagmire and international pressure.  Back to maximum sanctions and military shipments to Kiev, I guess.

It's a flop

Jim Treacher: "Everybody Hates Jake."

Who is the audience for Jake Tapper’s new book, Original Sin? Apparently, there isn’t one.

Republicans are mad at Tapper for pretending he had nothing to do with the cover-up of Joe Biden’s senility. Democrats are mad at him for admitting there was a cover-up of Joe Biden’s senility. He’s taking a drubbing from pretty much everybody.

Tee-hee!

Only 54,000 books sold.  Next stop: the bargain bin.

Extra - from Althouse:

By the way, I'm seeing reports that Tapper's book — despite the onslaught of publicity — isn't doing very well. I know I won't buy it. I think he shouldn't be rewarded for sitting on the information, apparently in the hope of helping Democrats win the election, and now trying to profit from revealing it. And it's absurd the way he's been going around acting as though he has just learned that journalists ought to do journalism and report events as they happen without toadying to the powerful.

Exactly.

Pay up

 

Fixed it pic.twitter.com/RE7pRCIKD3

— Declaration of Memes (@LibertyCappy) May 30, 2025

This is great news!

Hollywood Reporter: "Joy Reid Launching New Video Podcast in Post-Cable TV Push (Exclusive)" - "The former MSNBC host will launch 'The Joy Reid Show' next month, with plans to expand to five days per week later this year."

If I know one thing, it's that America is clamoring for more left-wing news commentary. 

Pay for your own speech

NY Post: "Harvard’s bogus ‘free speech’ claim — 1st Amendment doesn’t make taxpayers cough up cash." 

Kids are stupid but at least their feelings weren't hurt

Jonathan Turley: "“Grading for Equity”: San Fran Public Schools Trigger Outcry with Plan to Lower Standards for Students."

For the longest time, the People's Republic of Massachusetts had a standard test (the MCAS) that students were required to pass for high school graduation.  The concept was that kids who graduated in the Bay State were guaranteed a minimum education.  But then the teachers' unions convinced voters it was racist or something and the standard was removed.

Trump should accept $15 + an apology

The apology is what we're really looking for here.  Wall Street Journal: "Paramount Has Offered $15 Million to Settle CBS Lawsuit. Trump Wants More."

Get the apology from "60 Minutes."  That's worth its weight in gold. 

Fake it until you make it

And then Data Colada will take it all away.

Fox News: "Harvard revokes professor's tenure in rare move amid data manipulation allegations - Francesca Gino, who once earned over $1M annually, maintains her innocence."

I've published some technical papers and for a short period I was an editor/reviewer for conference proceedings.  The "publish or perish" mania is very real and it leads to shortcuts and sometimes outright fraud.  The Data Colada guys faced legal peril for pointing out these frauds and they've been vindicated; they're the real heroes in this story.

Cut it to the bone!

NY Post: "Washington Post announces another buyout program targeting veteran staffers, other departments."

Everybody act surprised

Outkick: "WNBA Concludes Allegations Of Racism From Fever Fans Towards Angel Reese Were 'Not Substantiated'." 

Even though every single person has a video recorder in their hands, this nonsense claim had to go through a full investigation.  

Memorial Day

Fox News fallacy

National Review: "Why the Media keep getting it wrong"

This reflexive tribalism has crippled the journalistic class, hindering its members’ ability to perform their jobs even half competently. The instinct to filter information through a “left good, right bad” filter has prevented them from developing a finely tuned sense of skepticism, whether toward a dubious report they’re conditioned to accept as true or toward friendly sources who are clearly covering up an inconvenient fact. They have grown so accustomed to assuming the worst of their enemies and the noblest intentions of their allies that they have forgotten how to ask basic questions or notice when something is amiss.

Americans have noticed.  

"The mainstream media handed Trump the Presidency"

What a stupid article

Every newspaper has to have its "dumbest opinion writer" and for the Boston Globe that person is Yvonne Abraham.  She basically writes the same essay over and over again: Orange Man Bad.  Today is no different: "Trump won’t stop attacking Harvard. We need to treat it like an emergency."

Yes, shed a tear for the institution with a $50 billion endowment.

They [attacks on Harvard] include multiple bogus investigations, including one from the Justice Department into whether Harvard has been lying to the government about its admissions policy; billions in federal research funding cuts and freezes at the school and its partners for various reasons, from the school’s purported failure to stem antisemitism on campus, to discrimination against white students, to its failure to include enough conservative faculty and orthodoxy to satisfy the administration.

Well, are these allegations true, Yvonne?  Is Harvard skirting admission policies set down by the Supreme Court?  Is it taking steps to protect Jewish students?  Like a typical leftie "journalist" this paragraph just sits there and we're supposed to believe - like good Boston Globe readers - the allegations are lies because they were made by the Trump administration. 

This is implied in the next section of this piece where Abraham claims Trump doesn't care about the Jews (including his own grandchildren) because...some crypto coins have offensive names.  No, I am not making that up.

Fifty of the people who bought their way into a private audience with Trump at his Virginia golf club on Thursday night own crypto assets with names only white supremacists could love.

As the article Abraham links to this story reports, the crypto world is full of stupid coins and there's no evidence that these people even know they own them due to the way crypto is mined:

It is not clear to what extent holders of these assets intended to acquire them. For example, it is possible to automate purchases, a strategy that wouldn’t necessarily take into account the name of the assets being purchased. Furthermore, even if the buyers did knowingly buy the tokens, they could have done so solely as a bet on their value, indifferent to the name of the asset. 

But now that we've gotten to the heart of every Yvonne Abraham article, let's cut-and-paste the usual Project 2025 and Viktor Orban stuff before finishing up with the standard cry to the clouds:

And if the extremists who run the country get away with doing this to Harvard, they can destroy any school, kicking crucial pillars out from under our democracy.

Sure thing, toots.  If democracy is so precious, why doesn't Harvard use its own money to protect it?  Don't answer: we know why.

When journalism happens to Democrats

Red State: "Book: Kamala Burst Into Profanity-Laced Tirade After CNN Dared Question Her About Biden Disaster Debate."

Quote:

“This motherf–ker doesn’t treat me like the damn vice president of the United States, she said to colleagues,” according to the new book “Original Sin,” co-authored by Anderson’s CNN colleague Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.

Kamala loves to demand respect she hasn't earned.  Remember this classic?  "‘A Sign Of Disrespect’: New Book Claims VP Wanted Biden’s Staff To Stand Whenever She Walked In."

Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a new book from New York Times journalists Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, took offense when West Wing staffers — who stood to greet President Joe Biden — failed to do so as she entered the room.

It's a mystery why her office had a >90% turnover rate.  All you need is one reporter pushing an uncomfortable question and you see the real Kamala.  Her career is done, 

Don't be so surprised

The Wrap: "WaPo Roasted for ‘Blatant Antisemitism’ of Article Asking ‘Where Jews Belong’ After DC Shooting: ‘Wherever I Damn Well Please’." 

No accountability

Hot Air: "Jussie Smollett Settles Lawsuit, Proclaims His Innocence."

It's hard to believe that this farce is six years old and Smollett still hasn't faced any kind of consequences except for one day in jail and a paltry $50,000 fine paid to the charity of his choice.  To this day he's never had to admit to what everybody knows is true. 

Damn, Trump really hates Harvard

Fox News: "Trump administration terminates Harvard's student visa program - Existing international students must transfer or leave US as DHS demands protest footage and disciplinary records."

Everybody knows that international students are an absolute cash cow for American colleges.  Prediction: Harvard will cave on Trump's demands to keep that sweet international cash flowing. 

“All schools have a constitutional right to accept as many foreign students as they want and the Government has to rubber stamp them all or they’ll be in contempt of court”

~ some random District Judge tomorrow https://t.co/1rc3j9Nljp

— Enguerrand VII de Coucy (@ingelramdecoucy) May 22, 2025

Let us now praise Peter Doocy

He was right about everything.  Twitchy: "Peter Doocy: The Lone Watchdog Who Questioned Biden’s Fitness from the Start." 

That was the plan

Charles C.W. Cooke: "Let’s Face It — the Plan Was for Biden to Die in Office." 

I'm looking forward to reading "Tidewater Dreams"

Media Nation: "How an AI-generated guide to summer books that don’t exist found its way into two newspapers."

Well, this is embarrassing. The Chicago Sun-Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer have been caught running an AI-generated guide to summer books that don’t exist.

The best and the brightest!  It's hard to believe they were fooled by such an obvious lies.  Professional journalists!

Hillary is an awful person

Legal Insurrection: "Hillary Clinton: A Republican Female President Would be a ‘Handmaiden to the Patriarchy’."

I've heard tell that both Hillary and Kamala's campaign were so bad that a Democrat woman will never win the Presidency.  A true feminist would therefore support a Republican female candidate but that outcome, to Hillary, is deplorable. 

The coverup and the gaslighting

Great essay from Sasha Stone: "All the President's Media - Alex Thompson is getting awards, and Jake Tapper is getting in the lifeboat."

To most of us who aren’t inside the bubble of the Left, the Tapper/Thompson book looks more like a rescue mission than a Mea Culpa. They have a book to sell, and they know who their best and most profitable buyers are - people who read the New Yorker with disposable income who have thrown money at the Democrats for almost a decade, all with the promise that they’d make the bad orange man go away.

What I know after a decade of irresponsible fear-mongering is that the “original sin” was the moment the Left, with all of the power, called itself “the resistance,” and with the help of a complicit press corps, went to war on a duly elected president and his supporters.

The news industry suppressed reporting the news when it might help the Bad Orange Man.

And let’s never forget The Atlantic: pic.twitter.com/KRPrBo6MdD

— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) May 17, 2025

A complete loon

Looks like they've identified the guy who tried to blow up a fertility clinic in California: "REPORT: Palm Springs Fertility Clinic Bomber Was 'Anti-Natalist' Identified As 25-Year-Old Edward Bartkus."

Andy Ngo posts some of his manifesto and it's out there, man.

Why aren't you rubes paying attention?

NY Times: "One Thing Helping Trump’s Approval Rating: Some People Are Not Paying Attention."

Yes, that's the only explanation for Trump's approval rating.  

This article is amazing

These MSM clowns seriously have no concept of their own bias.  Washington Post: "Trump Justice Dept. considers removing key check on lawmaker prosecutions - The Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section is charged with ensuring cases against elected officials are not politically motivated. The Trump administration is considering changing that."

Funny, I remember a certain Justice Department deciding to raid a certain former President's home in a move that was - although unprecedented - certainly not politically motivated, oh no sir.  Do you know how many times this incident is mentioned in the article?

Zero point zero.  GFY Washington Post.

Who "signed" all those pardons?

We don’t need @jaketapper or anyone else to tell us Biden has been increasingly senile since the 2020 election. We need them to tell us who was actually running the federal government from 2020-2024 and how they did it. You’re not coming clean until you come clean about that.

— Randy Barnett (@RandyEBarnett) May 17, 2025

There's only one thing I'm absolutely sure that Biden was in charge of and that's the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.  I firmly believe he pressed for that debacle because he desperately wanted to give a speech before the 20th anniversary of 9/11.  Well, he got his wish.

We're ALL trying to find out who did this

AMAC: "Media Shocked That Media Covered Up Biden’s Cognitive Decline." 

Excruciating

Hot Air: "NEW: Hur Tapes Released -- And It's Worse Than You Imagined."

It's not (just) that Biden sounds tired and his voice is raspy.  It's that his responses jump the track and go all over the place.  He's asked about the classified documents he retained and suddenly the discussion turns into Gutenberg's printing press and the impact on Europe.  What?

Robert Hur: 100% vindicated. 

This is true

Reason: "James Comey's Deleted '86 47' Instagram Post Is Obviously Protected by the First Amendment - A lot of conservatives are falling prey to the same snowflakery they criticize." 

It's surely protected speech but we're allowed to point out the hypocrisy of the Left's new "Assassination Chic." 

It turns out there is a way to stay independent

Pay your own bills.  Hot Air: "Harvard: By Golly, We Found Our Own Money to Fund Our Research!"

Shed a tear for Harvard shelling out a tiny portion of its $53 billion endowment. 

You love to see it

Ace: "Paid Liar Jen Psaki's Ratings Tank."

This story is repeating itself across the mainstream media but everybody keeps doubling down on the same old echo chamber.

Good to know security is tight around a Kennedy

Red State: "Scary Moment As Turmoil Erupts from Protesters Right Behind RFK Jr. During HHS Cong. Hearing." 

Out: Cheap Fakes. In: We wuz tricked!

Ace: "Democrat-Media Party In Full Conspiracy to Blame Only Biden and His Six Closest Advisors for the Greatest Electoral Fraud Ever Perpetrated on the American People."

Ace gets it exactly right here: this whole backlash against the Biden White House is a desperate and futile attempt to rehabilitate the reputation of the mainstream media:

How many times did we point out that Biden did all of his photo ops between 11 am and 4pm?

That's why we called him Sundown -- because people with dementia begin getting fuzzy around sundown.

But Jake Tapper, Super-Reporter, is just getting around to reporting this now.

I despise these media types, oozing with self-regard and smelling their own farts.  Caught in the coverup, they now need to pivot to claim they're the victims here.  When Joe Biden didn't sit down for traditional Super Bowl interviews, none of them wondered why a President would miss the chance to address the largest-possible audience he would ever have.  They didn't look at his schedule or the transcripts of his fundraising stops where he would tell the same stories over and over.  There was no reporting about the odd editing of having a dozen jump-cuts in a 30-second spot.

Stop the gaslighting.  We see you.

"Procedural concerns"

NBC: "DNC panel recommends redo of vote that elevated David Hogg to vice chair after procedural concerns."

David Hogg has been an embarrassing disaster for the DNC, advocating against fellow Democrats and clowning himself on Bill Maher.  But the "protect Democracy!" crowd can't just get rid of him since he was elected at the DNC convention.

What to do?  Oh, yeah!  There were problems with the "procedure" that only came to light three months later.

Sign of the times

Outkick: "McD's After Dark: DC-Area McDonald's Dining Room Is Now 21+"

That sign being: "no kids allowed."  The destruction of brick and mortar stores continues apace. 

Stay away from UCLA doctors

This report from the Washington Free Beacon is pretty wild: "'A Failed Medical School': How Racial Preferences, Supposedly Outlawed in California, Have Persisted at UCLA - Up to half of UCLA medical students now fail basic tests of medical competence. Whistleblowers say affirmative action, illegal in California since 1996, is to blame."

"UCLA still produces some very good graduates," one professor said. "But a third to a half of the medical school is incredibly unqualified."

Oh boy, I don't like those odds.  We're really heading towards a Harrison Bergeron world. 

The Peacemaker

Fox News: "Trump announces India and Pakistan agreed to ceasefire - President Trump declares Pakistan and India agreed to ceasefire"

So Trump gets the Nobel Peace Prize, right? 

The big guy needs cash

Gateway Pundit: "Democrats Privately Furious That Joe Biden Won’t Just Leave the National Stage."

Please stop this elder abuse

Just let Joe Biden retire in peace.  PJ Media: "A ‘Nuclear Bomb’ of Damaging Revelations Is Coming for Biden and Democrats."

Biden’s interview on “The View” was, as we previously reported, a disaster. Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin had asked Joe Biden to respond to claims—sourced from Democrats themselves in several books—that his cognitive decline became significantly worse during his final year in office. The premise, she noted, reflected what many had already suspected as early as his 2020 campaign.

Biden denied the allegations, saying, “They are wrong. There’s nothing to sustain that,” but what followed only reinforced the concerns. His response quickly devolved into incoherent rambling, touching on the Capitol riot, COVID-19, and “the incompetence of the last outfit,” all in a confusing jumble of half-finished thoughts. At one point, he admitted, “I’m—I’m talking too long,” prompting Jill Biden to step in and take over the interview, clearly recognizing the need to contain the damage.

The question about Biden's cognitive decline was the most predicted question in the history of predictable questions and his response was merely "it's wrong" followed by random words indicating it's not wrong at all.

The word on the street is that the "Biden Inc." grift is falling apart since nobody is paying for Biden's speeches and, curiously!, nobody wants Hunter Biden's art anymore.

Take the L, hypocrite

Twitchy: "The Atlantic Journo Jonathan Chait's Own Words Come Back to Haunt Him on Fetterman Hit Piece."

It's really something how these hacks have complete amnesia when it comes to their past statements.

Turn about = fair play

Legal Insurrection: "Report: FBI Opens Case Against Letitia James for Alleged Mortgage Fraud."

From what I've read about this case, it's pretty much black letter law, so I expect the defense will heavily lean on 1) racism, 2) sexism, and 3) political retribution.

An American Pope!

I never thought I'd see an American Pope in my lifetime.  Nice.

Now it can be told...again

Ace: "More Than 60 US Servicemembers Were Injured Building Biden's Grotesque Hamas-Appeasing Gaza Pier -- A Figure That Was Covered Up Until Now." 

Nothing of value was lost

NY Post: "Dozens of masked anti-Israel protesters arrested after storming Columbia library, shoving past security as Ivy Leaguers prep for finals."

Normally I'd say that the journalism majors didn't have a chance to "study" but that would be mean.

I guess we're talking about Michelle Obama now

PJ Media: "Michelle Obama Goes Into Therapy, Is ‘Transitioning’ To Next Phase of Her Life."

How insufferable can Michelle Obama get? I suppose it makes sense — her fame has always been tied to her husband, and now she’s grappling with the fact that she’s no longer the center of attention. Her attempt to stay relevant, like that flop of a podcast with her brother, hasn’t exactly set the world on fire. 

Sure, she still has a loyal fanbase hanging on her every word, but lately she’s been making the rounds on every podcast she can find, eager to complain about how hard life is as “a black woman in America” and all the usual talking points. Honestly, if she wants to “transition” into anything, maybe she should start with silence.

There are very few people who have led a more privileged life than Michelle Obama but her vast wealth is a pittance compared to the coin of victimhood.  Nobody is tuning in to the podcast of her griping about how tough she had it in the White House.

Buy a Tesla

Hot Air: "California Gas Prices To Increase Up to 75% in 2026."

A USC professor has estimated that gas prices in California could rise to $8.43/gallon due to the loss of oil refineries. 

Me neither

Sasha Stone: "I Used to Value PBS and NPR. Not Anymore."

I stopped listening to NPR but today I turned it on while searching for a new podcast to stream.  NPR really has become the joke that conservatives claim: it was four minutes of excruciating liberal propaganda before I managed to turn away. 

Can't sugarcoat it anymore

Jonathan Turley: "The Cost of Arrogance: NPR’s undoing is a cautionary tale for the media." 

Related: "The Media Has Learned Nothing Week at Legal Insurrection." 

SLS/Orion grounded

Ars Technica: "White House budget seeks to end SLS, Orion, and Lunar Gateway programs."

The changes to SLS, Orion, and Gateway have been widely speculated upon in recent months, but seeing them in black and white is still significant. The development of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft has been a budget fixture for decades, costing in excess of $3 billion a year for slow progress. The projects have been widely derided as "jobs programs." However, that is one reason Congress has so fiercely supported them: They provide good-paying, reliable jobs across the country.

I spent exactly one terrible year working on the Orion program before fleeing to my (much better) current job.  During that time, there were regular newsletters and reports about how the work for the program was spread across multiple states and supporting countless subcontractors.  The actual work of producing a finished good was a secondary goal, IMO.

Extra - Speaking of setting taxpayer $ on fire: "California's High-Speed Rail Project Says 'Hold My Beer,' Manages to Get Horribly, Comically Worse." 

Zero it out

Federalist: "Here Are 12 Reasons Why NPR And PBS Deserved To Be Defunded." 

Terrible good news

I bet CNN hated reporting this. https://t.co/BPCJc22x9A

— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) May 2, 2025

Democrats still screaming at the sky

MSN: "Pritzker’s Total-War Message Is a Hit Among Angry Democrats."

But now, a voice from outside Washington (and not, believe it or not, California’s voluble governor, who has been all over the place in the debate over how to grapple with Trump 2.0) has turned the volume knob all the way up to 11 and may have preempted the ground for maximum combativeness.

What is the nature of this opposition?  Dunno.  According to the article it involves "fighting everywhere all at once" and mass protests.  Twenty-five hour filibusters?  It's time for 26-hour filibusters!

To say that Pritzker pulled no punches is an understatement. He compared the conduct of the current administration to those who ruled Nazi Germany and czarist Russia.

Of course.  Because those regimes were notoriously tolerant to anti-government protests.  This is all so much virtue signaling but this Kabuki dance is all the Democrats have at this point.

Stock futures up

Breitbart: "U.S. added 177,000 jobs in April, better than expected, as economy defies doomsayers." 

What a beautiful morning

Yahoo News: "Trump signs executive order to halt funding to PBS, NPR."

I used to listen to NPR fairly religiously but over the last ten years or so it has become unlistenable.  I didn't have a beef against PBS until "Washington Week" became a non-stop propaganda outlet.

Ain't we traveling to El Salvador no more?

Red State: "New: Body Cam Footage of 'Maryland Dad' Abrego-Garcia Released, and Democrats Look Like Imbeciles." 

You don't hate the media enough, continued

Twitchy: "Compare and Contrast: Two Headlines on Deportations Illustrate Why NO ONE Trust the Media Anymore." 

Fun fact

When you're doing intermittent fasting, breakfast for dinner is awesome.

They backed that horse

Hot Air: "Abrego Garcia Case Keeps Getting Worse for Dems-13."

The rumor going around is that Hakeem Jeffries put the kibosh on trips to El Salvador which means either 1) the new information coming out hurts the Dems narrative and/or 2) the internal polls are in.