007

BBC: "Sean Connery: James Bond actor dies aged 90."

This news is:

Sign of these crazy times

Jonathan Turley: "'Not Pro-Black': Wisconsin students unanimously vote to remove Lincoln status as racist."  

Unanimously.  There wasn't one brave soul to stand up and say "this is insane."  Sad. 

Kicked to the curb

Reason: "California's Proposition 22 Pits the Future Against Its Enemies" - "The ballot initiative would allow companies such as Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash to classify workers as independent contractors rather than as permanent employees."  

This is all about lashing the worker to the government.

Carry that water

Mollie Hemingway: "Yes, Media Are Rigging The Election Against Half The Country. Here’s How - Will all this be enough for mass media to win the day? People will find out next week." 

Extra - Long post via Instapundit.  

The big picture

John Stossel: "Don't Freak Out About the Election" - "The most important parts of life happen outside of politics." 

Not even hiding the bias

Ace: "Glenn Greenwald Resigns From His Own Media Company, The Intercept -- Because The Editors In Chief Are Repudiating The Site's Mission Statement and Imposing Complete Censorship Over Any Mention of the Biden Crime Family Scandal."

Instapundit comments: "What is going on in media now is not normal. It is, in fact, a species of coup. Should Biden win, many will regard his victory as essentially illegitimate because of this, and they will have a good argument." 

All opinions are welcome that agree with ours

The Corner: "The New York Times’ Echo Chamber."  "The New York Times opinion section has published, as of 11 a.m. on Tuesday morning, seven consecutive pieces about the need to reform the Supreme Court."  

Justice Amy Coney Barrett

Fox News: "Senate confirms Amy Coney Barrett to Supreme Court, cements 6-3 conservative majority."

Noice.  She's only 48 and will be on the Court for 40 years.

Because of course they did

Hot Air: "Washington Post Fact Checker Bails Out Biden After “Four More Years Of George” Gaffe."

Ace: "Media Goes Into Overdrive Claiming That Sundown Joe Didn't Say He Was Running Against George."

Whatever you do, don't watch the video and make up your own mind.

Extra - Bernard Goldberg: "American Journalism 2020: R.I.P." 

Oh, that's unverified...because we refuse to verify it

Here's Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone (neither one a fan of Trump) giving voice to what we all see: "With the Hunter Biden Expose, Suppression is a Bigger Scandal Than The Actual Story - Unprecedented efforts to squelch information about a New York Post story may prove to be more dangerous corruption than whatever Hunter Biden did with a crooked Ukrainian energy company."  

Extra - NPR can't be bothered with Hunter but they sure had time for any unsubstantiated Kavanaugh allegation that came down the pike.

Fun's over

P. J. O'Rourke is my favorite political humorist; I have all his books.  So I have to listen to his latest take on the election:

"Biden's campaign platform is 564 pages long. It promises everything to everybody. It's full of unicorns and flying ponies and candy-flavored rainbows and pixie dust. And when those flying ponies glide with the marzipan rainbows and pixie dust starts to gum up the works of society … we're going to be in for a mess … But on the other hand, I think we're done with this experiment of having the inmates run the asylum."

I'm pessimistic on Trump's chances if only because Trump fatigue is palpable and, as I like to say, sometimes Americans just want to "turn the page."  But then I've been wrong on so many elections, the last time I voted for the "winner" was 2004.  So who knows.  

The Ralph Northam effect

Breitbart: "Jeffrey Toobin proves hating Trump means you can do no wrong."  

TGIF Fun!

It's been a long week at work, so here's a video I liked:

Democrats hoisted by their petard one more time

Hot Air: "Judiciary Endorses Barrett, 12-0; Lee: “Abuse Of Power Is Their Agenda”  All the Democrats boycotted the vote so how did they get around the quorum call?  By using Chuck Schumer's tactics against him yet again:

The idea of the boycott was to prevent Graham from having a quorum for the vote, delaying the process indefinitely. Graham took a page from the 2013 playbook of Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid and decided to change the precedent, reverting to general Senate rules on committee hearings rather than Judiciary Committee rules. The former do not require anything other than a simple majority to conduct official business.

ACB will be Justice Barrett on Monday. 

Extra - Federalist: "Amy Coney Barrett Will Be Confirmed Because Kavanaugh Battle Taught GOP To Stop Getting Played By Democrat Dirty Tricks."  Good.

The fifth column

New Neo: "Compare and contrast: loyalty to the candidates."

When the press takes sides so openly and nakedly, and is joined by social media giants, we have reached a level of partisan information control I thought I’d never see in this country. But that’s where we are. And it’s in service of a candidate who has always been of mediocre intelligence at best and is now cognitively faded, who is almost certainly corrupt, who has been wrong on almost every important issue that exists, is a long-term liar and plagiarist, and will be putty in the hands of the most extreme leftists in his party who hate America and capitalism and want both destroyed.

Say what you will about Trump but he's exposed the rot underneath the floorboards of the American media.  Every single one of them thinks they're Woodward and Bernstein and their standards of fairness will turn on a dime when it suits their crusade.  

ICYMI: "Just 9% trust media ‘a great deal,’ 33% 'none at all,' highest ever."  

Weak deflection, Gray Lady

Red State: "NYTs Tries Desperate Anti-Trump Hit to Distract From Hunter Biden, Makes Things Worse."

In case you're wondering, all those journalistic standards about using leaked information obtained without authorization have flipped again.

Joe, what was the most enchanting thing about your milkshake?

 Rich Lowry: "The Biden Protection Racket."

Never before have the media been so openly fearful of asking or reporting something that might hurt a presidential candidate. What are supposed to be the animating values of our adversarial press — informing the public, getting answers, holding the powerful to account — have all been subordinated to the protection racket that is coverage of Joe Biden.

Classic reference in the title.

The media isn't even pretending anymore

PJ Media: "The Media Will Drag Joe Biden Across the Finish Line if It's the Last Thing They Do."

Victor Davis Hanson gives a review of the unapologetic bias of the American left:

An avuncular Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor, Jim Lehrer, or Abe Rosenthal at least went through the motions of reporting news that was awkward or even embarrassing to the Left. Their agenda was 1960s-vintage Great Society liberalism, seen as the natural evolution from the New Deal and post-war internationalism. Edward R. Murrow, the ACLU of old, and Free Speech Movement at Berkeley—these were their liberal referents. Those days are gone.

Yet even during the Obama years, when studies showed the president had received the most slanted media honeymoon in news history, overt media bias was, at least, as hotly denied as it intensified. There were still a few ossified, quarter-hearted efforts now and then to mention the IRS scandal, the surveillance of Associated Press reporters, the various scandals embroiling the Veterans Administration, General Service Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Secret Service. But even that thin pretense is over now, too.

After the eight year tongue bath that the media gave their Chosen One, how about a grace period for the newly-elected President?

When early on in the Trump Administration, the liberal Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy found that in the first 100 days all news coverage was on average 80 percent anti-Trump—93 percent negative in the case of CNN and NBC—no one seemed embarrassed. 

Have no fear.  The media is on the case to get tough answers from Grandpa Joe: 

On the rare occasion that the media gets to ask Joe Biden a question, they ask him what flavor milkshake he got.

Really. That was the question. https://t.co/B6vSFNqXVP

— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) October 18, 2020

More shocking shockers

Red State: "Shocker: The Next Presidential Debate Moderator Has Deep Democrat Ties, Celebrated Christmas With the Obamas."  

Just another undecided voter

The Hill: "Biden town hall questioner worked as speechwriter in Obama administration."  Isn't it funny how this keeps happening?  Must be a coincidence.  

I was looking forward to his unbiased debate moderation

Prepare to be shocked.  Ace: "Shocker: Allegedly Unbiased "Journalist," Former Biden Intern, and Would-Be Moderator of Second Debate Admits He... Lied Like Anthony Weiner in Claiming He Was "#HACKED!" 

In his apology, Steve Scully deployed the "this damn war and that lying son of a bitch Johnson!" excuse to blame Trump for goading him into exposing his lies. 

Nothing to see here, move along

Reason: "The Media Does Not Want You To Read, Share, or Discuss The New York Post's Hunter Biden Scoop."

Boy, I bet Brett Kavanaugh wishes this new "total suppression of stories that haven't been 100% solid-gold verified" standard had been in effect during his confirmation hearings.

— John Hayward (@Doc_0) October 14, 2020

Sheldon Whitehouse mansplains for 30 minutes straight

Red State: "Sheldon Whitehouse Goes Full-On Looney Tunes While ‘Questioning’ ACB."

"Questioning" is in quotes because he didn't ask a single question.  Maybe he thought he was the one everyone was supposed to be "hearing."

Just another day trusting the scientists

Federalist: "CDC Study Finds Overwhelming Majority Of People Getting Coronavirus Wore Masks."

"Things we don't like are illegal"

By definition.  National Review: "The Orwell Hearing: Dems Warp Meaning of ‘Court Packing’."  

What media bias? The AP falls in line with the new narrative.

Looks like the new Democrat talking point is that packing the Supreme Court is a valid proposal since the Republicans "packed the court first."  Ya know, with the entirely Constitutional practice of approving judges in the Senate.  Kudos to Jake Tapper (of CNN!) for pointing this out.

Now, with Orwellian speed, the Associated Press has adopted the Democrats' language of "depoliticizing" the Court will replace "packing."  Nothing surprising me when it comes to media bias anymore.  

Debate prep is for losers, apparently

Rich Lowry: "Trump Is Letting Down His Side."  "If the existence of the country itself is on the ballot, why not prepare better for debates? Why not use Twitter exclusively for messages that advance his cause rather than detract from them? Why waste any time on petty animosities and distractions? Why not write down a health-care plan and a COVID-19 plan to blunt Biden’s most potent issues?"  

The voters don't need to know that

Why should voters know how you stand on a position in an election?  Anyway, I'll just leave this here: 

What a terrible pattern of hacking

Poor Steve Scully: his Twitter account seems to get hacked every time there's an embarrassing post.  Red State: "Whoops: Debate Moderator Steve Scully has a History of Claiming to Be ‘Hacked,’ Deletes Twitter Account."  

This is a good time to remind everyone that Scully was a former intern for Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy. He has a long history of supporting Democrats, including posting glowing pictures with Biden as recently as 2016. He also shared Never Trump material during the previous presidential cycle.

Scully has deleted his account now.

These "journalists" always claim the superhuman power of complete objectivity and, gosh darn it, they're willing to alienate friends and family for the higher good.

That's what they tell themselves.

Update - NY Post: "Biden-Trump presidential debate in Miami officially canceled."  

What exactly are we doing here?

I've been complaining about the decline of discussion on the Sunday morning talk shows for a long time.  I'm old enough to remember when New York senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan would go on "Meet the Press" and - imagine this - answer questions.  He was a happy warrior who would state his positions without obfuscation or ambiguity.  I miss that guy.

Then there was the Vice Presidential debate.  Real Clear Politics: "Few Interruptions, Even Fewer Straight Answers."

This began early in the night with a double dodge of the most pertinent question during a pandemic. Debate moderator Susan Page asked: Had they discussed safeguards or procedures with their running mates in case of presidential disability? Pence gave an unrelated answer about how Democrats had “undermined public confidence in a vaccine.” When it was her turn, Harris inexplicably talked about when Biden asked her to join the ticket, calling it “one of the most memorable days of my life.”

Page moved on. Her question went unanswered. The non sequiturs kept coming.

At one point, Pence turned a question about abortion into a meandering reply about the U.S. attack on Iranian intelligence commander Qasem Soleimani. Harris saw that gambit and raised him one: Asked if the next president should be transparent about his health records, Harris brought up Trump’s recently leaked tax returns.

What a waste of time.  After one of the early Democrat debates, it was decreed that the raising of hands to indicate a clear-cut position on an issue was verboten.  Too much honesty!  Now news shows and campaigns and debates will only be the recitation of stale talking points.

2020 does it again

NY Post: "Eddie Van Halen, rock guitar god, dead of throat cancer at 65."

Not a huge VH fan, but respect the talent.  Trivia for ya: Eddie played the guitar solo in Michael Jackson's "Beat It."  

What happens when you can't level bogus charges

Rich Lowry: "Democrats Haven’t Landed a Punch on Amy Coney Barrett."  "The ratio of progressive outrage over the nomination of federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett to supposed reasons that the U.S. Senate shouldn’t confirm her is completely out of whack — there’s a surfeit of the former and almost none of the latter."  

Coddling Grandpa Joe

Fox News: "NBC town hall panned as 'Biden infomercial': 'Undecided voters' didn't seem so 'undecided' - 'Can't blame him for doing it,' Politico reporter Marc Caputo said."

Unsurprising.  Did you see all the stories about Biden saying he depended on a "black woman to stock the grocery shelf?"  Of course you didn't: he's a Democrat and that's not news.

The media plays defense for Grandpa Joe and relentless, indefatigable offense against Trump: "The Media Coverage Of Trump’s Covid Diagnosis Was A Disgrace."  

LA isn't a big media market

Game 1 of the NBA Finals had the lowest ratings of any finals game.

Game 2: "Hold my beer."  

Democrats very concerned about Senators' health

Unless they need legislation passed, then get your ass out there on the Senator floor.  Flashback: "Senator Robert Byrd is seriously ill."

Democrats will need every vote they can get. With the midterm elections on the horizon, Washington is as polarized as ever and, for the second time in just over six months, President Obama’s agenda could once again hinge on Mr. Byrd’s health.

In the final days of the health care debate, Mr. Byrd appeared for several crucial votes — pushed each time to the Senate floor in his plaid wheelchair and greeted by handshakes and applause from his colleagues. He spent six weeks in the hospital last spring with a staph infection, prompting persistent speculation about his health and who would replace him if he became too sick to finish his term.

Funny how it wasn't "reckless" to push an ill 92-year old guy out on the Senate floor back then.

Revisionist history

Issues and Insights: "No Joe, You Didn’t Hand Trump A Booming Economy."  

Another day, another bad faith argument for delay on ACB

Kevin Williamson calls it:

Chuck Schumer has called for a delay in confirming Barrett because of the president’s COVID diagnosis. In other news, Schumer thinks the vote should be delayed because water is wet, because bears defecate in an arboreal setting, and because it is bad luck to confirm Republican nominees on days of the week ending in “y.”

Chuck Schumer is mimicking Jake Blues' many excuses for why they just can't have hearings.  The latest, via Amy Klobuchar, is that gosh-darn-it, it's just not safe to have hearings, despite the fact that the Senator had previously praised virtual meetings.

Fox News’s Chris Wallace noted that the Judiciary Committee, of which Klobuchar is a member, has held virtual hearings before and that Klobuchar earlier praised the panel's chairman, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), for arranging them.

After the Kavanaugh nightmare, I don't see why Democrats should be afforded an iota of consideration for their many bad faith tactics.  Full steam ahead, Mitch.

The Senate has been holding virtual hearings already. That's not what this is about.

Virtual hearings rob Schumer and the left of the protest spectacle of barnstorming into elevators and Code Pink screaming and dragged from the room. That's all this is about. https://t.co/1HqvJdAACQ

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) October 4, 2020

Golden state

Reason: "California Is a Cautionary Tale for America - California bounds from one crisis to another; most of them being self-imposed." 

Um...hmm

Fox News: "Trump being transferred to Walter Reed 'out of an abundance of caution,' after testing positive for coronavirus."  

A NYT editor ventures outside the bubble

Hot Air: "NYT Editor: By Golly, These Anarchists Just Want To Watch The World Burn."

Quinn also didn’t find evidence for the most popular counter-narrative on the Left either, which were that these were conducted by “white supremacists.” Antifa is exactly who everyone except media outlets like the NYT thinks they are — leftist “insurrectionary anarchists” who just want to watch the world burn.

...

Unfortunately for Ms. Stockman, we don’t really have a Joker Award for Belatedly Discovering That Some People Want to Watch the World Burn. (Maybe that should be an Alfred Award, anyway.) However, we do have the Captain Louis Renault Award, and it applies well to an NYT editorial board member who is shocked, shocked to learn that her own paper can’t report on reality.

 

 Actually, I think the more appropriate award would be the Pauline Kael trophy for political insulation:

"I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don't know. They're outside my ken. But sometimes when I'm in a theater I can feel them."

I only know one person who reads the New Yorker, plus or minus one.  

Yuge news

Fox News: "President Trump, first lady test positive for coronavirus, set to quarantine at White House."

It's a mystery why this trend continues

Washington Examiner: "Just 9% trust media ‘a great deal,’ 33% 'none at all,' highest ever."  According to Gallup, BTW.