Sunday, March 26, 2023

What an unexpected development

Wall Street Journal: "The Real Cost of the Inflation Reduction Act Subsidies: $1.2 Trillion - Goldman Sachs says the uncapped tax credits will cost three times what Democrats claimed."
The Inflation Reduction Act may go down as one of the greatest confidence tricks on taxpayers in history. Democrats used accounting gimmicks to claim the partisan law would reduce the budget deficit. But now a Goldman Sachs report projects its myriad green subsidies will cost $1.2 trillion—more than three times what the law’s supporters claimed.

The Congressional Budget Office forecast that the IRA’s energy and climate provisions would cost $391 billion between 2022 and 2031, but this appears to be a huge under-estimate. One reason is companies are rushing to cash in on tax credits that aren’t capped. The Biden Administration is also loosely interpreting conditions for the credits.
Of course they are.  Just like Obamacare or any other big government spending plan, the trick is to get it through Congress with promises of being "deficit neutral" and then cast away the spending limits.  Every. Single. Time:
At its start, in 1966, Medicare cost $3 billion. The House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost only about $12 billion by 1990 (a figure that included an allowance for inflation). This was a supposedly "conservative" estimate. But in 1990 Medicare actually cost $107 billion.
And now?
In 2021, Medicare benefit payments totaled $829 billion, up from $541 billion in 2011. 
Whoopsie!



Saturday, March 25, 2023

Very on-brand

College Fix: "A debate on DEI will be held at MIT. The university’s DEI deans refuse to participate."

"Deans," plural?   ðŸ™„

NPR is a clown show

Twitchy: "NPR roasted for claiming ‘limited scientific evidence’ trans women have a physical advantage."

I can't even listen to NPR on my morning commute.  It's not just the obvious political bias, it's stuff like this where they just make up fiction to suit their preferred narrative.

But, hey, if there's no physical advantage between the sexes, why do we even have the WNBA?  Let them all play together, equally.  Throw some boxing matches in there, too.

Friday, March 24, 2023

Michigan turns anti-choice

Reason: "Michigan Repeals Right-To-Work Law - A decade as a right-to-work state made Michigan better off." 

The Left hates free speech, Virginia edition

In this case, they're protesting against the governor of Virginia: "Diversity and Inclusion means shutting people up." - "The largest college Democrat group in Virginia wants you to know that keeping Republicans off campus is required if you value diversity and inclusion." 

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Inconceivable!

Associated Press: "Biden approval dips near lowest point: AP-NORC poll."

I'll tell you why: as inflation stays stubbornly high, the border is unguarded, and banks are failing, Joe Biden spent the week (so far) meeting with the cast of "Ted Lasso" and then handing out medals to Mindy Kaling and Bruce Springsteen.  Yesterday and today, he gave his same tired speech to two different groups.  It doesn't matter who the audience might be, Joey wants you to applaud his gracious spending of taxpayer money.  Joey doesn't want to be questioned.

Sure a recession is right around the corner but did you hear that insulin is only $35 now?


Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Save the internet millionaires!

Federalist: "The Silicon Valley Bank Bailout Sends Exactly The Wrong Message And Endangers The Economy." - "Normal people should be furious. Once again, the government changed the rules everyone lives by for a small, extremely wealthy, and politically connected group of people."

The most relevant commentary I've heard about protecting 100% of SVB's deposits is that it essentially sends the message that the Fed will protect 100% of all bank deposits everywhere.  After all, why should SVB get special protection above the standard FDIC limits?

Normally there's a process where a bank winds down assets and pays so many cents on a dollar to all creditors.  The Fed decided to just fire up the money printers - again.

Shouted down

Hollywood in Toto: "‘Ted Lasso’s’ White House Visit Proves Woke Is a Joke (Again)." 

Monday, March 20, 2023

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Fact checked, at last

Not the Bee: "Biden claims billionaires only pay 3% in taxes, gets absolutely clowned by Elon Musk."

Dementia Joe Biden has been repeating this completely bogus statistic that billionaires only pay 3% of their taxes for months now and this is the first time I've seen pushback.  My question is this: where are the keyboard warriors at the Washington Post and New York Times who were so eager to catalog every misstep of a certain previous President?

That was a rhetorical question.  We know it's (D)ifferent. 

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Wokesters don't like to be called woke

Federalist: "‘Woke’ Effectively Describes The Left’s Insanity, And That’s Why They Hate When You Say It." - "Woke-ism is intentionally ambiguous. So when you describe it, that offends those who wish for its intentions to remain murky."

Hence the bend towards censorship.

Friday, March 17, 2023

"You f--d up! You trusted us."

Red State: "Reporters Rip Into WH for Not Answering Questions, Then WH Stiffs Them Again."



Salt in the wound

It wasn't bad enough that Howard University lost in the first round of March Madness, they had to endure a cringe speech (is there any other kind?) from Kamala Harris.  Outkick: "Kamala Harris talks to Howard basketball team like they’re a bunch of little leaguers." 
It’s just so, so, so bad. Not only did these poor Howard players just lose by 30, but now they have to listen to Kamala Harris talk to them like they just lost the little league county championship game.
I have no idea why Kamala talks to everybody as if they're third-graders, with her exaggerated cadence and low-rent vocabulary.

At least she stopped talking about Venn diagrams.

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Seven Sisters --> Seven Misters

PJ Media: "It’s the End of Women’s Colleges as We Know It, and You Know Why." 

I was curious about Smith College here in Western Massachusetts and - unsurprising for a college based in Northampton - it accepts dudes that identify as women.  Sounds like a low-budget movie in the making.

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Fake fake fake

Red State: "Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte: Biden Gets Busted by Twitter Fact Checkers Again."

If there's a God in heaven then somebody will ask binder-reader KJP if this letter is a fake at the next White House press conference.  Because it's totally a fake.

Prove me wrong, KJP!  Let's get "Charlotte" on camera. 

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

I didn't want to buy food anyway

Reason: "Inflation Isn't Going Away" - "Prices rose by 0.4 percent in February and core inflation was up 0.5 percent, the third consecutive month that it has increased."

You know the numbers are bad because Joey didn't add an event to his daily calendar.  

Monday, March 13, 2023

It's a bailout

The Corner: "Biden’s Big Bank Bailout."
And then, once the management of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature screwed up badly enough, the federal government decided, “Never mind. We’re going to protect every amount for every bank customer.” The Biden administration may not like people calling that a bailout, but that is indeed a bailout.

As our Phil Klein writes, “In practice, it has created a huge moral hazard by signaling that the $250,000 FDIC limit on deposit insurance does not exist in practice. The clear signal it sends is that when financial institutions make poor decisions, the government will swoop in to clean up the mess.”

As the editors of the Wall Street Journal conclude, “This is a de facto bailout of the banking system, even as regulators and Biden officials have been telling us that the economy is great and there was nothing to worry about.”
It's unsurprising that the same crew who tried to push through student loan forgiveness has no idea what "moral hazard" means.  As for that Deposit Insurance Fund:

But insulin is $35

PJ Media: "The Biden Economy Is Falling Apart, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once." 

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Risk management

NY Post: "While Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, top executive pushed ‘woke’ programs." - "A head of risk management at Silicon Valley Bank spent considerable time spearheading multiple “woke” LGBTQ+ programs, including a “safe space” for coming out stories, as the firm catapulted toward collapse." 

Saturday, March 11, 2023

There go entitlements

Wall Street Journal: "Biden’s Budget Is an Assault on Social Security - High taxes and crushing regulations will starve entitlement programs into insolvency."
President Biden released his 2024 budget request Thursday while continuing to accuse Republicans of scheming to cut benefits for seniors. But he’s got it backward. By advancing policies that hinder the economic growth that drives prosperity, Mr. Biden and his Democratic colleagues are the ones depriving Social Security and Medicare of the hundreds of billions of dollars those programs need to remain solvent.
Biden couldn't get these tax and spend proposals passed when Democrats controlled both sides of Congress.  This is a just a political document, to be dismissed.

Funny 'cause it's true

The Paper of Record: "Senate To Now Be Controlled By Whichever Party Has Fewer Senators In Hospital." 

Thursday, March 09, 2023

AYFKM?

Hot Air: "J6 committee co-chair: None of us watched the surveillance video, actually." 

Pure gaslighting from the NY Times

The Corner: "The Fetterman Guarantee."
In an absolutely shocking piece of “journalism,” the New York Times profiles how the office of John Fetterman is operating while the senator recovers from severe depression and a stroke at Walter Reed Hospital.
There is so much in this report that is wrong, troubling, or outright horrifying that it cannot be covered in a single blog post or column. Here’s one: “It is not unusual for lawmakers to be told by members of their staff, sometimes after the fact, what bills they are co-sponsoring.” This is simply not true.
This story is part of the ongoing prevarication by Democrats and the media - I repeat myself - that Fetterman is a functioning Senator as long as he maintains room temperature. 

Wednesday, March 08, 2023

Fish gotta swim. Democrats gotta...

PJ Media:"Chuck Schumer Calls for Censoring Tucker Carlson Over J6 Coverage."

Of course.  I watched Tucker's Monday show (missed Tuesday) and all he did was provide additional footage and context that was denied the American people during the sham J6 hearings.  It was always a Soviet show trial and Tucker proved that by showing videos pushing back on the chosen narrative.  Watching the Shaman politely escorted by Capitol Police and Brian Sicknick upright moments after he was "killed" was a revelation conveniently hidden from view up until now.

But Democrats, as always, are eager to confront those they disagree with facts on their side, right?  That's why this headline was exciting!  "Sen. Chuck Schumer agrees to go on Tucker Carlson’s show IF… (LOL)."

Yeah, they don't do that.  Otherwise you end up getting called out on national television.  Stay in your safe zone, kiddos.

Truth below:

Sunday, March 05, 2023

We are Borg. You will be intoxicated.

Western Massachusetts update: "UMass Amherst warns against TikTok binge drinking trend after 28 ambulance calls Saturday."
University of Massachusetts Amherst is warning against a TikTok trend after the Amherst Fire Department received 28 calls for ambulance transports over the weekend.

UMass and Amherst officials said in a press release that numerous students were seen carrying “borgs” or “blackout rage gallons,” gallon jugs filled with alcohol, electrolytes and water, during off-campus student gatherings on Saturday. The binge drinking trend gained popularity on the social media app TikTok and has been seen at colleges around the country.
Every March, we need to make plans to stay far away from Amherst during the Blarney Blowout.

Friday, March 03, 2023

Fulfilling the Buttigieg standard for the DOT

Townhall: "Biden's FAA Nominee Can't Answer a Single Question About Aviation."


More on Sotomayor's great legal mind

James G. Martin Center: "The Supreme Court Hears Arguments in the Challenge to Biden’s Student-Loan Giveaway."
As is her wont, Justice Sonia Sotomayor would like the case to be decided on emotional grounds. She said to Nebraska’s attorney, “There’s 50 million students who will benefit from this. Many of them don’t have assets to bail them out after the pandemic. And what you’re saying is that we’re going to give judges the right to determine how much to give them instead of the Secretary of Education.” That probably won’t sway any of the justices who understand that the case turns on the legality of what the president has decreed, not on how many people might benefit from having their student loans cancelled.
Imagine that: a Justice ruling on the law.  Sotomayor is a joke.

Thursday, March 02, 2023

The Wise Latina just making stuff up

Considering the case for student loan forgiveness before the Supreme Court, I wrote this the other day:
My feeling is that this effort to disappear obligations to the government is so wildly unconstitutional that only Sotomayor could possibly vote for it.
Charles C.W. Cooke similarly noticed Sotomayor's shoddy legal reasoning designed to bring about her desired outcome: "Please show us the Experts Clause of the Constitution, Justices Sotomayor and Kagan."
This is a nonsense argument from Sotomayor. First off, the question before the Court is not “how much aid” to give to students. The question before the Court is whether the statute it is examining — the 2003 HEROES Act — confers upon the executive branch the power to do what it’s trying to do. If it does, it does. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. The amount of aid doesn’t enter into that calculation. Neither does the level of “expertise and experience” exhibited by the incumbent Secretary of Education. That Secretary could have the most sparkling mind in American history, or he could be a total moron, and, in both cases, the issue before the Court would be same: “Does he have the power to do it?” There is no provision within the United States Constitution that accords unlimited power to bureaucrats simply because some people consider them to be well-credentialed.
As for Sotomayor’s suggestion that, by superintending this statutory matter, the Court is taking it upon itself to set policy, “instead of leaving that decision in the hands of the person who has experience with these questions,” that too is absolute rot.
Sotomayor is a fraud.

Wednesday, March 01, 2023

News from Berkeley East

Boston Globe: "Northampton to use pandemic relief dollars for ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ manhole covers - Four custom manhole covers will be incorporated into an upcoming Main Street redesign."

Other taxpayer's money. 

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

It's gonna be a "no" from me, dawg

SCOTUSblog: "Biden’s student-loan forgiveness plan gets cold reception from conservative justices."

If you recall, dear reader, the Biden administration kept changing the rules on this scheme to avoid standing so this case would never arrive at the Supreme Court.  Now that it's there, it looks like dead meat.

As predicted, the Wise Latina settled on the answer she wanted and worked backwards to find the legal justification.  

Listening to oral arguments on student loan case

The student loan forgiveness case - Biden v. Nebraska - was before the Supreme Court today and better legal minds than mine will have commentary later.

But expect to hear a lot about the lawn care kid.

Chief Justice Roberts presented a hypothetical where two brothers went to college: one of them took federal loans and the other took a loan to start a lawn care business to save and/or pay off his tuition.  Justice Roberts asked why the lawn care kid shouldn't have his loans forgiven.

The Biden Administration's position is: oh, that kid is SOL.

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Yesterday's conspiracy theories

Wall Street Journal: "U.S. Energy Department Report Says Lab Leak Most Likely Source of Global Coronavirus Pandemic."

Now - now - the truth can be told that virtually everything said about Covid was wrong.  We should set up a betting pool to see when it's revealed the vaccine contained tracking microchips? 

Saturday, February 25, 2023

Inflation rises again

Wall Street Journal: "Battle of the Inflation Bulge - The PCE price rebound in January supports the view of the Federal Reserve’s hawks."

You knew the inflation report was bad because Biden didn't rush out and add a speech to his daily schedule.  Instead he just flew to Delaware for the weekend. 

He's useless

Fox News: "Jordan questions Biden's hiring of Pete Buttigieg amid East Palestine fallout: 'no transportation experience'." 

Thursday, February 23, 2023

"The president can't do it—so that's not even a discussion"

So said Nancy Pelosi back in 2021 before she decided - tada! - never mind.  Reason: "No, the HEROES Act Doesn't Let Biden Forgive Student Loans - "If it was an emergency, why wait three years to provide the forgiveness? Why present it in a political framework, as fulfilling a campaign promise?" said one higher education expert."

My feeling is that this effort to disappear obligations to the government is so wildly unconstitutional that only Sotomayor could possibly vote for it.

Yeah, I've noticed

Hot Air: "401Krushed: Bidenomics and retirement are not good bedfellows." - "Retirees lost 23% of their 401(k) savings in 2022, Fidelity says." 

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

It's a mystery why trust in the media keeps plunging

Ace: "Andrea Mitchell Lies, Claiming Ron DeSantis Demands That "Slavery and the Aftermath of Slavery Should Not Be Taught to Florida Schoolchildren"."
We can no longer treat them respectfully. We can no longer treat them with dignity.

We can no longer treat them with tolerance.

Tolerance and respect are a two-way street -- and when one side refuses to grant it, the other side must refuse to grant it back.
Andrea Mitchell later submitted a completely horses--t "apology" to try to address the backlash but the damage was done.  I know I've said this before but it's long past time that Republicans push back on the Chuck Todds of the media (essentially everyone) who have no interest in fairness and objectivity.

Every conservative/Republican should show up on the Sunday talk shows with the absolutely reasonable assumption that the host is an enemy.  They need to confronted on previous statements and the disparity in questions depending on political persuasion.  This is required homework: there should be no expectation that the mainstream media will be fair

Extra - Being in the mainstream media means never having to say you're sorry.  

Sunday, February 19, 2023

Haha - I *just* used that metaphor!

Twitchy: "LOL: The Left eating the Left is on the menu as Code Pink crashes Biden’s DC dinner."

The crocodile eats you last

NY Post: "Radical left turns on woke New York Times." - "After abandoning standards of fairness to push a crazy woke agenda, they are suddenly discovering that appeasing the far left is impossible." 

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Friday, February 17, 2023

Not a joke: we're going broke

Issues & Insights: "The CBO Exposes Biden’s $5.45 Trillion Lie." - "While spending the country into ruin, President Joe Biden likes to portray himself as a fiscal conservative who has cut the deficit in half in the past two years. But a new report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office shows just how big a lie this is — a 5 1/2 trillion dollar lie, to be exact." 

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Entirely predictable because of math

Hot Air: "CBO: Deficits will rise to $2 trillion per year over the next decade."

Unsurprisingly, these deficits will be driven by entitlement spending, a fiscal reckoning that has been known for decades.  We're now in a political standoff where nobody is willing to make necessary changes and both Medicare and Social Security will run out of cash.  Gradual changes that could have been made years ago will now lead to crashing tidal waves of forced reform.

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Sunday, February 12, 2023

Watch this video

Joe Biden is an absolute liar and hypocrite when it comes to Social Security:

When CRT replaces the three Rs

Legal Insurrection: "Baltimore: 23 Schools Have Zero Students Who Can Do Math at Grade Level."

If you factor in schools where one or two students passed, that number of failing schools doubles.

For those of you from Baltimore, that means 46.

Friday, February 10, 2023

Yoink!

NY Post: "NYC shoplifting hit record highs last year: ‘We can’t stop them’."

I think it was somebody commenting on the border crisis who said "if you call everyone who wants to stop the flow of illegals 'racist,' - guess what - people are going to hire the racists to fix the problem."  Since the police and security are powerless to stop theft, either shopkeepers are going to start shooting or we're just going to order everything shipped to Amazon lockers.

Thursday, February 09, 2023

Unclear on the concept: NY Times edition

Reason: "The New York Times Warns That Freedom of Speech 'Threatens Public Health' and 'Democracy Itself'.  Key graf: "There is no denying that when people are free to express their opinions, no matter how misguided, ill-informed, or hateful, some of them will say things that are misleading, demonstrably false, or divisive. The First Amendment nevertheless guarantees their right to say those things, based on the premise that the dangers posed by unfettered speech are preferable to the dangers posed by government attempts to regulate speech in what it perceives as the public interest." 

Why don't they fix the speech on his teleprompter?

Joe Biden keeps repeating the same lie, over and over:
Biden said Republicans want to cut taxes for billionaires, “who pay virtually only 3% of their income now – 3%, they pay.”

Facts First: Biden’s “3%” claim is incorrect. For the second time in less than a week, Biden inaccurately described a 2021 finding from economists in his administration that the wealthiest 400 billionaire families paid an average of 8.2% of their income in federal individual income taxes between 2010 and 2018; after CNN inquired about Biden’s “3%” claim on Thursday, the White House published a corrected official transcript that uses “8%” instead. Also, it’s important to note that even that 8% number is contested, since it is an alternative calculation that includes unrealized capital gains that are not treated as taxable income under federal law.
Despite this walkback, Biden repeated this falsehood again today, citing the 3% figure which has been thoroughly debunked by his own White House.

It's obvious that Dementia Joe is just reading off an enormous teleprompter at every speech.  Why doesn't his staff fix this error?

Related: Jonathan Turley: "Biden's bottomless Pinocchio." 

Tuesday, February 07, 2023

Hard pass

I won't be watching Dementia Joe's State of the Union address.  I can only take so much unity

Monday, February 06, 2023

The state of the union is terrible

Federalist: "Here’s Everything Biden Won’t Tell You About The Disastrous State Of Our Union."

Americans aren't fooled anymore: "Four in 10 Americans say they've gotten worse off financially since Joe Biden became president, the most in ABC News/Washington Post polls dating back 37 years."

You read that right: the worst economic rating for a President since they started taking this poll.  Way to go, Joey baby!

Watch the media narrative shift as predictably as possible

There's a new Don't Walk Run video out today on Joe Biden's mishandling of classified documents, but it's more interesting to see how the media covers up for Joey.

The narrative shifts - conveniently! - from "it was only a handful of documents" to "there's too much overclassification" as the story unfolds.


Saturday, February 04, 2023

The mainstream media commits suicide

Here's a brief overview of a much larger report in the Columbia Journalism Review about how so-called "news" reporters went insane to get Orange Man:
Several days ago the most comprehensively documented and carefully written account of the mainstream media’s toxic and ultimately self-destructive relationship with Donald Trump was published by Columbia Journalism Review. And if you haven’t heard about it, then that doesn’t surprise me, because the reaction from the rest of the mainstream media (including its reliably voluble and strident online commentariat) has been notably muted as well.

The reason is that the piece from CJR (a reliably institutional media organ, informally the dean of its academic wing) was a thoroughly sourced and timelined four-part series by ex–New York Times reporter Jeff Gerth about how Russiagate — which now best describes the media’s conduct in publishing, amplifying, and laundering what turned out to be partisan-concocted bunk about Trump’s purported treasonous compromise by the Russian government — ended up destroying its institutional credibility. It opens by noting that prior to Trump’s taking office (not winning the election, mind you, but taking office) the mainstream media held a net positive rating among Americans in institutional reputation, but that rating now hovers around a 26 percent level of credibility. And more than anything else, it was their recklessness in pursuing the fantasy of Russiagate that frittered away that institutional capital.
I generally try to avoid talking about Trump on this blog but I revel in watching the demise of the mainstream media, which has had nothing but an adversarial and hostile relationship against American conservatives in general and Republican politicians in particular.  The cottage industry of criticism against Ron DeSantis is just the latest example of their playbook.  Keep it up, clowns, and never look back.

Thursday, February 02, 2023

"A bizarrely poor strategy"

The Corner: "What’s Wrong with Hunter Biden’s Legal Team?"

The legal strategy seems to be that they're suing because people are spreading content of Hunter's laptop which they - simultaneously - insist is not Hunter's laptop.

Huh?

That's what the media does

Federalist: "The Media Keep Lying To Protect Ilhan Omar."
Omar, when already a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, compared the United States to Hamas and the Taliban. After she was elected to Congress, Omar diminished the 9/11 attacks—“some people did something”— to exaggerate the presence of “Islamophobia” in this country, a comment that was worse, not better, in context. When Omar says House members are expected to pay “allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country” or that supporters of Israel are in it for “Benjamins,” she is not “being critical” of any policy, she is spreading ugly “tropes.”

The press then uncritically repeats Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s claim that Democrats “unequivocally condemned” Omar four years ago, without any pushback. But either Jeffries is lying or doesn’t understand that “unequivocal” means with “no doubt and “unambiguous.” The House passed a watered-down resolution mentioning Alfred Dreyfus, Leo Frank, Henry Ford, and “anti-Muslim bigotry” — and a bunch of other bad -isms — that never even mentions Omar. One expects there will be no media “fact checks” forthcoming.
The Democrats never think the policies they initiate will backfire on them.  It seems this is a lesson they refuse to learn and the media is happy to preserve their preferred narrative.

News from Massachusetts

Legal Insurrection: "Massachusetts Bill Offers to Cut Your Prison Time if You Donate Organs." 

It's called a Commonwealth, so share your kidney.

Monday, January 30, 2023

Joe Biden is a congenital liar

Red State: "Biden's Brain Breaks and He Comes up With a Doozy of a New Amtrak Story."

Here it is:
“I can say it now since there’s different leadership,” Biden confided. “I used to about 15% of the time ride with the engineers. For real. And I’m the only guy that I’m aware of, when I stopped riding Amtrak that had a key to get in the back.”
This is absolutely a lie.

I'm in a unique position to comment on this tall tale.  My father was an engineer for Conrail and then Amtrak over a 30-year career working out of Sunnyside Yard in Queens.  He told me in no uncertain terms that unauthorized personnel were not allowed in the cab, under any circumstances.  In fact, he told me the story of a fellow engineer who thought it would be cool to show his young son what he does and bought him into the cab for a ride.  Upon reaching the end of the line, he was summarily fired. 

Why does Biden feel the need to lie about his past, over and over?  Is he that insecure or is he just senile?  You can tell he's lying when he says "not a joke" or "my word as a Biden."  It's fiction.


Sunday, January 29, 2023

Returning to the scene of the crime

Twitchy: "Miranda Devine spots a ‘strange’ last-minute change to Biden’s weekend schedule."

The White House updated the President's Daily Schedule to indicate Biden will be leaving his vacation at Camp David to resume his vacation in Delaware this afternoon.

Why the sudden update?  Time to clean out the garage: "FBI seized Biden notebooks that may reference classified material in Delaware home search." 

Friday, January 27, 2023

One question

I wondered if Dementia Joe Biden was going to answer any questions on his classified documents, considering the discovery of additional items were found over the previous weekend by the FBI.  Not only did he avoid the documents issue, Joe only did a handful of events and made sure that there was no chance for the press to ask questions.

Essentially Joe came back from vacation on Monday, answered a single question about Ukraine on Wednesday, and went back on vacation today. 

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Got his first name wrong and forgot his last

NY Post: "Biden repeatedly calls Dem Rep. Don Beyer by wrong name in echo of ‘Where’s Jackie?’ gaffe." 

Patty Murray recommends

Ace: "Surprise! Biden's Latest Appointment to the Federal Judiciary Doesn't Know What Article II of the Constitution Is."

Here's the moment where she lamely says: "I was told there would be no math."  (Same vibe).

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Lucy and the football again

Hot Air: "So we're doing Social Security reform again?"

No...no we're not.  The flailing Biden administration is already spreading the well-worn biannual lie to scare Grandma.  Republicans will recoil from any reform effort and nothing will change.  The only way there will ever be any reform is if responsible politicians start with the fact that Social Security is going broke.

Repeat these words from the Social Security Trustees Report over and over:
Based on our best estimates, the 2022 reports determine:

• The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, which pays retirement and survivors benefits, will be able to pay scheduled benefits on a timely basis until 2034, one year later than reported last year. At that time, the fund's reserves will become depleted and continuing tax income will be sufficient to pay 77 percent of scheduled benefits.
Until the debate is reframed to emphasize the mathematical fact that benefits will be cut automatically - by law - there will never be any reform.

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

He's an awesome musician (his sister too)

Time: "Who Is Clyde Lawrence, the Artist Testifying at the Senate Ticketmaster Hearing?"

I saw Clyde Lawrence on the news tonight and I was so excited.  Lawrence is a soul-funk band with Clyde and Gracie Lawrence at the heart.  I've been a big fan for years and caught their act at the (now defunct) Iron Horse in Northampton, MA.  Boy, I'm so glad I did because 1) they put on an awesome high-energy show, 2) the Iron Horse closed down and 3) they're too big now for podunk venues like Western Massachusetts.

Good for Lawrence.

Here's the acoustic version of "Don't Lose Sight" which you might recognize in the background of a recent Microsoft Surface commercial:

It's come to this

Legal Insurrection: "British Museum Now Banning Term “Mummy” to ‘Respect’ Ancient Dead." 

Saturday, January 21, 2023

YGTBKM

Fox News: "DOJ seizes more classified docs from Biden's Wilmington home after 12-hour search." 

The mainstream media commits suicide

Red State: "When It Comes to Trusting the Media, We're Past the Point of No Return."
It’s very hard to argue with the idea that we’re now past the point of no return when it comes to whether or not to trust the mainstream media. Even with Donald Trump out of office, the media hasn’t stopped. They’re only getting worse in their partisan attacks and it’s getting to a point where conservatives really have no recourse other than to not engage anymore.
Here in Western Massachusetts, the Springfield paper has been in a slow decline, filling in the spaces with syndicated stories and advice columnists.  In my opinion, the editorial direction has been so completely lopsided that the once-vibrant letters page used to invite viewpoints from all over the political spectrum.  Now the same four or five kooks write every letter to the paper, always adhering to the far-left viewpoint.  It's one big bubble and anybody to the right of a typical Northampton reader has given up on dialogue...and subscriptions.  

Friday, January 20, 2023

Friday night news dump

Fox News: "Over quarter of a million migrant encounters in December alone, CBP confirms." - "The number of migrant encounters in December surpassed 250,000, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed on Friday -- marking a new high for the Biden-era border crisis as it enters its third year."

Make sure to bury that news in the Saturday paper, amirite?


Furthermore, the story notes that burying this update is a pattern with the Biden administration:
It’s almost a running joke for those who keep an eye on when these numbers are released each month. Typically, the numbers are released sometime within the first ten days or so of a month. That changed as the Biden border crisis continued to grow worse. Each month, the release of the numbers happened a little later in the month. Now DHS releases the numbers during the late middle to end of the month, and always in a Friday evening news dump. This month was no different.
Yup.

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Very on-brand

Power Line: "Democrats try to criminalize free speech."  Because they hate it.

Geoengineering fiction becomes fact

Here's the plot of Neal Stephenson's 2021 novel "Termination Shock":

The book is about a solar geoengineering project conceived by a Texas oil-industry billionaire named T.R. Schmidt. Schmidt builds a launcher on the Texas-Mexico border to fire sulfur into the air, a form of stratospheric aerosol injection intended to cool the planet by reflecting sunlight into space. This technique replicates the effects of volcanic eruptions that inject sulfates into the atmosphere and produce global cooling, such as the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption.

Somebody is doing this now and nobody's quite sure what impact it will make:

An American startup firm has admitted to releasing reactive particles into the atmosphere in an attempt to alter the climate. The move has attracted widespread criticism, and marks a potentially dangerous new stage in the intensifying response to Earth’s “climate crisis”.

Just before Christmas 2022, the firm ‘Make Sunsets’ acknowledged it had launched weather balloons containing sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. The launches took place in April 2022, in Baja California, Mexico, months before the company was even incorporated.

When quizzed about it, the company’s CEO, Luke Iseman, was unrepentant. “It’s morally wrong, in my opinion, for us not to be doing this”, he said, adding that it’s important “to do this as quickly and safely as we can,” because of the threat of man-made climate change.

In the book, the Indian government sends a military squad to destroy the sulfur launching site because the monsoon period was delayed. 

Oh isn't that nice of them?

Wall Street Journal: "Justice Department Considered but Rejected Role in Biden Documents Search - Officials opted for hands-off approach to leave special counsel’s probe uncompromised"
The Justice Department considered having FBI agents monitor a search by President Biden’s lawyers for classified documents at his homes but decided against it, both to avoid complicating later stages of the investigation and because Mr. Biden’s attorneys had quickly turned over a first batch and were cooperating, according to people familiar with the matter.

After Mr. Biden’s lawyers discovered documents marked as classified dating from his term as vice president at an office he used at a Washington-based think tank on Nov. 2, the Justice Department opened an inquiry into why and how they got there. Mr. Biden’s legal team prepared to search his other properties for any similar documents, and discussed with the Justice Department the prospect of having FBI agents present while Mr. Biden’s lawyers conducted the additional searches.
A White House correspondent today, suddenly discovering journalism, asked KJP why White House lawyers contacted the West Wing upon discovering classified documents instead of the Department of Justice.  Of course, she didn't answer.

Sunday, January 15, 2023

So begins the cover-up

Byron York: "The big problem with the Joe Biden documents story."
The biggest problem with the Joe Biden documents story is this: We know only what Joe Biden's lawyers have told us. And the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the case will make the problem worse.
No kidding: now every time Biden is asked about his Corvette storage issues, he can just say: "Oh, the Justice Department is looking into it."


Friday, January 13, 2023

I'll believe it when I see it

This will be a short-lived feint towards credibility.  Hot Air: "Dem disaster: Media bailing on Biden in new scandal?"

The press agrees on one thing: Karine Jean-Pierre is a clown.


Thursday, January 12, 2023

Who are these "people," Joe?

Here's Biden on Tuesday:
Well, let me get rid of the easy one first. People know I take classified documents and classified information seriously.
And today, citing the "Corvette standard" of security:
Q  So the material was in a locked garage?
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Yes, as well as my Corvette.
 
But as I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents and classified material seriously.
Who are these "people" that believes Biden takes top secret material seriously?  Unsurprisingly, this is another false conceit that Biden arrogates upon himself.

You have to wonder if the Secret Service has been instructed to take a bullet for Joe Biden's ego.

Biden first did what he habitually does, which is to assert that “people know” some supposed attribute of his that, in fact, is neither an attribute of his nor believed by “people” to be one. In this instance, he said, “People know I take classified documents and classified information seriously.” We don’t know any such thing. The most sensitive thing Biden is known to have handled in his long political career is the pullout from Afghanistan, an utter catastrophe of his own making. He is a notorious plagiarist and résumé inflater whose best-known trait is to say with brimming confidence things that are not only untrue but easily demonstrated to be untrue. Everything about him screams sloppy and erratic, which is why White House aides charged with damage control hold their breath every time he speaks. There is absolutely no reason to believe he is any more careful in his handling of classified intelligence than in his handling of anything else.
"How could anybody be so irresponsible?"  


Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Nuclear launch codes

That's how this works, right?  We just assume they're nuclear launch codes until the truth can be quietly reported several months later.


They're classified nuclear launch codes, Joe, and kickback receipts from Ukraine for Hunter's phony-baloney sinecure.  

CNN gonna CNN

Twitchy: "CNN: Biden’s classified documents are ‘a new line of attack’ that fell into Republicans’ laps."

The predictable "Republicans pounce." 

Enjoy your new precedent

Don Surber: "McCarthy cleans House."
Kevin McCarthy kicked Ilhan Omar, Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell off powerful committees, just as he said he would do in November. The move comes two years after Pelosi banned Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from all committees.

Paybacks aren't a bitch. Pelosi is.

He bounced Swalwell and Schiff from the intelligence committee and barred Omar from the foreign affairs committee. Swalwell slept with Fang Fang, a spy for Red China.
It used to be up to the minority leader to bounce his/her own members but Nancy Pelosi broke that standard.  Ed Driscoll notes: "As with Harry Reid and the filibuster, why do Democrats think the rules they change won’t apply to them when they’re the party out of power?"

Justice Gorsuch says "hi" from the Supreme Court.

Monday, January 09, 2023

Fake news

CBS News: "U.S. attorney reviewing documents marked classified from Joe Biden's vice presidency found at Biden think tank."

You know this is phony because the words "Biden" and "think" are next to each other. 

Man gives hundredth interview whining about loss of privacy

Ace: "Harry Markle Will Be Excluded from Charles' Coronation After Continuing Attacks on Royal Family Made in Quickie Cash-In Book, Spare."

It's been said that a true friend will tell you what you don't want to hear.  I don't think Prince Harry has a single friend to pull him aside and tell him how self-destructive his behavior is in the eyes of the world.

Save your money, Harry.  This book deal will be your last cash cow.

Sunday, January 08, 2023

The Left hates free speech - Schiff edition

Jonathan Turley: "“We Don’t Do This”: Adam Schiff and the Underbelly of American Censorship." - "Rather than simply refute the allegation, Schiff wanted Sperry and other critics silenced. His office reportedly laid out steps to cleanse Twitter of their criticism, including an instruction to “remove any and all content about Mr. Misko and other Committee staff from its service — to include quotes, retweets, and reactions to that content." 

Kabuki theater

Washington Examiner: "Biden’s Potemkin trip to the southern border"
Days before President Joe Biden visited El Paso, Texas, this afternoon, local and federal authorities began clearing out migrant encampments. Federal agents said this was a response to community complaints of rising crime, but it is more likely that the president's impending visit and the need to avoid embarrassing photos was decisive.

Biden will learn nothing from his trip because he doesn’t want to learn anything.
As I've noted before, Biden doesn't take any responsibility for the border crisis.  As long as he can continue to blame Republicans, Biden can absolve himself of all transgressions.  It's his go-to move.

Evergreen:


Saturday, January 07, 2023

The hardest working man in Washington

After a week's vacation in St. Croix, Joe Biden held exactly two public events this past week, before heading back to Delaware today. 

McCarthy elected Speaker of the House

PJ Media: "Kevin McCarthy Elected 55th Speaker of the House. Here's How It Went Down."

I like all the concessions he agreed to including spending caps and hard line on the debt ceiling.  Our national debt is utterly out of control in the wake of covid.

Thursday, January 05, 2023

He looks terrible

I don't know if Joe Biden is getting over a cold or something but he looked like death warmed over during his speech on border security today.  Legal Insurrection: "Biden Proves He Knows Nothing About the Border or Immigration in a Rambling Speech - He doesn’t know what CBP stands for, called Vice President Kamala Harris “President Harris,” thought you could replace Title 42 with Title 8, and said 20,000lbs of fentanyl could only kill 1,000 people." 

Every speech that Brandon gives is a self-indulgent ego stroke.  Yesterday he gave a speech on infrastructure which was a non-stop "I am a generous God!" farrago.  Today he needed to address the worst border crisis in America's history and, dontcha know, it's all the Republicans' fault.  When Joey can't blame somebody else for a disaster - like Afghanistan - he just pretends it went great.

Desperate Afghans falling from U.S. Military planes?  Gosh, that was four or five days ago!  Sheesh.

Good

Wall Street Journal: "Public Schools Lost More Than One Million Students During Pandemic."
Declining birthrates, a rise in home schooling and growing competition from private and charter schools are contributing to the decline in traditional public-school enrollment, according to school officials.
Huh, it's almost like - when given the opportunity - Americans are choosing schools they think will provide better outcomes for their children.

Wednesday, January 04, 2023

Joey's first day back at work in 2023

Yeah, it's a mystery

Twitchy: "President Biden lets us know why the economy ‘got so bad 2 years ago’." 

Tuesday, January 03, 2023

The man who's always wrong

Legal Insurrection: "CBS Lets Humanity-Hating Curmudgeon Paul Ehrlich Spew More Climate Panic Inanity."

NPR is a left-wing outfit

Looking for even-handed commentary on National Public Radio?  Well, they run the full gamut of opinion from liberal to Communist.  Washington Examiner: "National Progressive Radio strikes again."
NPR’s Morning Edition ran a segment on Monday that perfectly encapsulated the broadcaster’s left-wing assumptions, its determination to spread them, the contemptuous betrayal of its mission to represent varied views, and its modus operandi camouflaging propaganda as news.

It’s worth documenting periodically lest we forget that this bias and lack of intellectual curiosity offers a skewed view of important issues and derogates what the national broadcaster is for. We should not sink into oblivious resignation. The segment, from national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson, concerned President Joe Biden outpacing his predecessors in appointing judges and, in doing so, reshaping the federal bench. It’s a vital subject on which a news organization with pretensions to public service (using taxpayer money it describes as "essential" to operations) has a duty to be balanced. Instead, all four people quoted in the piece were from the Left and pursued the same narrative. Two were Biden employees.
You would expect nothing less than the crew that found racism in the Beatles.