NFL player shot

Gateway Pundit: "49ers Star Rookie Ricky Pearsall Shot During a Robbery Incident in Crime-Ridden San Francisco."

Looks like "wearing a Rolex in San Francisco" is the new "wearing a short skirt at the club." 

Why would Trump do this?

Hot Air: "Amandla Stenberg: The Acolyte Got Canceled Because of 'Hyper-Conservative Bigotry'."

I haven't seen it but by all accounts "The Acolyte" was hilariously bad and the subject of multiple YouTube videos ripping every episode.  This coping mechanism may be funnier.

Damning with faint praise

Of course conservatives are going to opine that Kamala's interview was a train wreck, but a lot of figures on the political left don't seem to think it was great shakes either.

CNN (!) even had to note that she lied about her position on fracking.

Any more interviews planned, Kamala?

The tell that Kamala didn't do great is that literally no one in the Harris camp or the media are calling for her to do more interviews today. They're going to treat that one as THE interview and then hope to run out the clock, at least until after the debate.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 30, 2024

On the other hand

PJ Media: "Kamala's First 'Interview' Was the Dumpster Fire You Expected It Would Be."

CNN anchor Dana Bash actually asked some decent questions, but what really struck me about the interview was that Kamala Harris, more often than not, avoided answering most of the questions, and Bash didn't seem to be concerned with getting an actual answer.

You knew things were going to be bad when Harris really struggled to give a coherent answer to the cliché question about what she would do on "on day one."

For a moment, I thought Bash was going to corner Harris on the Administration's immigration policy when she asked (paraphrasing) "Why did you wait three-and-a-half years to implement the executive order that slowed down border crossings?"  Biden has bragged about how border crossings are (now) lower than when Trump left office after an EO - why the wait?  This could have been dong long before that placeholder legislation for future excuses was written.

Instead Harris just repeated Biden's tired excuse: it's Trump's fault.  There was no follow-up.

Extra - Outkick: "Kamala Harris-CNN Interview Continues Plot To Hide The Real Kamala"

Congresswoman Nancy Mace said it best. "Shout out to commercials... at least I think I've learned more about Sleep Number beds than I have about Kamala Harris' policies and plans."

That's a good line.

More - The Corner: "The CNN Interview Revealed Only That Kamala Harris Is as Vacuous as Her Campaign."  

We have been waiting ever since the day Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race for Kamala Harris to sit down in front of a camera and take questions from an interviewer. And if nothing else, we have learned why: In the friendliest possible format — a joint interview with VP nominee and emotional-support midwesterner Tim Walz, conducted by Dana Bash with the delicacy of an ornithologist gently hand-feeding hatchling chicks — Harris has revealed that her gaseously mindless word-cloud of a campaign is in fact an accurate reflection of her own personal vacuousness.

(Cackle) 

Dana Bash is doing a good job

As a conservative who believes the mainstream media is hopelessly biased, it's jarring to see some even-handed and probing questions.  The fracking part was particularly good.

The Left hates free speech

Jonathan Turley: "Meta CEO Zuckerberg admits he was part of the Biden-Harris censorship scheme. You've been warned, America - Zuckerberg is suddenly very, very sorry about censoring opposing views but only came after his company fought for years to conceal the evidence." 

Kamala dons the MAGA hat

USA Today: "Kamala Harris steals another idea from Trump. Now she wants to build the wall – no joke. - The border wall is just the latest example of Kamala Harris' backtracking on former stances. Her convictions seem about as deep as what the polls tell her to support."

Never change, NY Post:

This is kinda funny

Twitchy: "What About Tim? Politico Admits Tim Walz Avoids Interviews Because Has No Idea What Harris' Policies Are."

A Vice Presidential candidate is usually designated as the "attack dog" of the campaign but Tim Walz won't do interviews for fear he'll be asked what Kamala believes.

Kamala won't debate

Here we go: "Kamala Harris Is Trying to Back Out of the Debates."

Hot Air: "Trump: Kamala Wants to Duck Debates."

Legal Insurrection: "ABC Must Announce the Rules of the Trump, Harris Debate - Hot mics, seats, and notes? It’s a “he said, she said” situation. Tell us the debate rules, ABC."

What's this "notes" B.S.?  Who brings notes to a debate?  The whole point of a debate is that you must stand and deliver on your position.  This only confirms the belief that neither Biden nor Harris can survive separated from a teleprompter.

Also: the hot microphone ploy is just so Harris can do her girlboss "I'm speaking" schtick if Trump clears his throat.  It's all so obvious.

This is just setting up for an excuse to back out.

Politico and Axios

National Review: "Two Publications That Might as Well Be Run by the DNC" - "In a market positively saturated with fawning and propagandistic coverage of the Harris campaign, two Virginia-based newsrooms stand out for their commitment to that mission." 

Related - ABC "News" Jonathan Karl beclowns himself this morning shilling for Harris.

Accurate

Remember, kids, Donald Trump is responsible for every page of Project 2025, which he did not write, is not on his campaign page, and has explicitly disowned, but Kamala Harris not responsible for ANYTHING HER OWN ADMINISTRATION HAS DONE WHILE SHE IS VICE PRESIDENT.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 23, 2024

"In the name of saving democracy, the Democratic Party set itself to dismantling it."

Transcript of Robert F. Kennedy's remarks: "RFK Jr. Exits Race, Endorses Trump: In The Name Of Saving Democracy, The Democratic Party Is Dismantling It." 

It's for your own good, peasant. 

Testify, brother, testify

Hot Air: "RFK Withdraws, Endorses Trump in Court Filing"

"Democracy has become little more than a slogan for our political institutions, for our media," Kennedy lamented, "and for the Democratic Party." Kennedy blasted Democrats for their "lawfare" against both his campaign and against Trump, while committing "a palace coup" against Biden after the "predictable" outcome of the debate. He also tore into Democrats for anointing Kamala Harris without any democratic process at all, "only smoke and mirrors ... at the Chicago circus." And he ripped the media for its complicity in covering up the coup and shrugging off the Harris strategy of hiding from reporters. 

Kennedy accused American media outlets of colluding with both the DNC and government agencies on censorship. It's a "naked exercise of executive power" against its political opponents, and told reporters in the room that they and their employers are responsible for the decline of American democracy as a result. 

"Governments don't censor lies," Kennedy observed. "They don't fear lies. They censor the truth."

Look who has been red-pilled.  Kennedy also tore into Kamala for her basement strategy and the media's collusion in that strategy.

Kamala got zero votes, has given zero press conferences, has given zero interviews, and had to stage buying a bag of Doritos.

This is the most ridiculous, anti-democratic, laughable joke I’ve ever seen in politics.

— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) August 22, 2024

Fantasy football draft night!

Picked up Patrick Mahomes and A.J. Brown - not bad.

Whoopsie part 2

CNN: "New data shows US job growth has been far weaker than initially reported."

How does it happen that certain reporting keeps getting retracted?  It's a mystery!

Whoopsie!

Fox News: "PBS host apologizes for reporting Trump pressed Netanyahu to abandon hostage deal: 'This was a mistake'."

"PBS NewsHour" anchor Judy Woodruff apologized Wednesday for reporting a story about former President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that both leaders have staunchly denied.

Woodruff posted an apology to X expressing regret for reporting this week that in a phone call, Trump urged Netanyahu to delay a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas until after the 2024 presidential election to benefit him politically.

"This was a mistake and I apologize for it," Woodruff wrote. 

Mistakes were made, the media said.  It's astonishing how these mistakes only - and always - go in one direction.  

Has the AP ever made a “mistake” that favored Republicans that you had to correct?

— Joseph Gelman (@ifofgot) August 20, 2024

Good question

Reason: "If Joe Biden Saved the Economy, Why Do We Need Kamala Harris' Price Controls? - Democrats are pushing a jarringly disconnected economic message." 

The media happily plays along

The Corner: "Neither Harris Nor Walz Is Willing to Be Interviewed by Anyone but Each Other."

Think about it: Harris has been the de facto nominee for almost a month, and Walz has been Harris’s running mate for nearly two weeks now. Neither one has done a single interview or press conference — no sit-down with 60 Minutes, no meeting with a newspaper editorial board, no Sunday shows. No interviews with local network television affiliates in swing states. Not even an on-the-record chat with Walz’s hometown papers or radio stations.

The difference between them and their opponents couldn’t be any more stark. And it’s long past time that the mainstream media started giving Harris and Walz a lot more grief about their shameless effort to avoid questioning between now and Election Day.

It's obvious why: Harris is a dimwit.  Her interview with Lester Holt on the border was such a train wreck that she didn't have another sitdown interview for an entire year.  She's only made a handful of utterances since becoming the de facto candidate and even those were inscrutable word salads.

I don't think she'll debate.  It would definitively expose her as a fraud.

Extra - Gotta control the audience!  "Patrons Furious After They All Got Tossed Out of Famous Restaurant to Have 'Staged' Event for Harris."  It's all a show.  

"Oh yeah, she's awful"

Red State: "Biden's Former Chief of Staff Admits Kamala Harris Vice Presidency Was a Failure."

The DNC starts tomorrow and remember this one fact: if it wasn't for the debate, the Democrats and the mainstream media were going to cover for Dementia Joe all the way to Election Day.  Now, due to election fund transfer rules, they're stuck with their DEI hire and they need to pretend she's up to the job.

The Queen of Word Salads can't do an interview or press conference but we're supposed to pretend she can be Commander-in-Chief.  C'mon, man.

It was a coup and MoDo is OK with that

This Maureen Dowd article is making the rounds: "The Dems Are Delighted. But a Coup Is Still a Coup."

It wasn’t exactly “Julius Caesar” in Rehoboth Beach. But it was a tectonic shift and, of course, there were going to be serious reverberations. Even though it was the right thing to do, because Joe Biden was not going to be able to campaign, much less serve as president for another four years, in a fully vital way, it was a jaw-dropping putsch.

Yeah but ultimately we find that Maureen Dowd is totally fine with the subversion of democracy as long as we can stop Trump.  When you've decided that your opponent cannot be afforded any of the rights and expectations of a fair fight then anything goes.

It was a coup?  Oh, that's too bad but Trump.

Interesting strategy

NY Post: "Kamala Harris admits food prices have surged under Biden: ‘Still too high’."

It's literally the hot dog guy skit: "we're all trying to figure out who did this!"

The end of clapter

Outkick: "Jimmy Kimmel Worried Late Night Shows Will Disappear Soon, But Would Anyone Notice?"

I think the last time I saw a late night show was when Trump had his hair ruffled by Jimmy Fallon.  I'm old enough to remember Johnny Carson and David Letterman who kept the jokes universal.  Now all of late night is infected with clapter designed to get audience to clap like seals for the Message.

By the way: even the quality of the non-political "comedy" is threadbare.  Kimmel makes fun of Americans who can't find the USA on a map and Fallon plays insipid party games.  This is comedy?  There's no set up, no depth, no punchlines - just silly giggling at each other.

Back from vacation

I'm going to spend the weekend reading the transcripts of all of Kamala's press conferences, news interviews and policy papers that I missed over the week.

Update: Done.  That was quick.

Summer hiatus

See you next weekend, loyal readers.

If you’re wondering why they have kept Kamala Harris on a teleprompter and avoided all voter and media interactions for the first 19 days of her campaign, this is why. Watch it: pic.twitter.com/fijmvI7n7K

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 9, 2024

We're at the "what flavor of ice cream?" stage of journalism

National Review: "The Coddling Of Kamala Is Taking Left-Wing Bias to a New Stratosphere."

If we take the broader view of what has unfolded in this election, we are left with one stunning example of media malpractice after another. At the start of this year, they spent months trying to cover up President Biden’s declining mental health, and attempted to “debunk” any efforts by conservative media to point out the obvious. Then, when the debate happened and they could no longer it cover up, they worked 24/7 with Democratic operatives to hound him out of the race, even seizing on some of the same examples of mental decline that just weeks earlier they had dismissed as “cheap fakes.” They then pointed to their focus on Biden’s mental decline as evidence that they were unbiased, despite the fact that they were merely joining their Democratic friends in lobbying for a stronger ticket.

As I recently noted, it was only a couple months ago that the Washington Post was calling for Kamala to resign from the vice presidency.  Now the mainstream media is all-in on propping her up.

Flashback: "Press slammed for making Biden their fav flavor with ice cream questions." 

Unmagic Kingdom

Ace: "Disney Offers Only 30 Minutes for Questions in Its Quarterly Earnings Report; Offers Excuses For Low Attendance At Its Parks."

This quip made me laugh:

They have a great, Spinal-Tap-Manager-Level euphemism for poor park attendance: a "moderation of consumer demand" for its services and "experiences."

If you're familiar with "Spinal Tap" there's a scene where the rock band's manager explains away the band's dwindling popularity by saying the band's appeal has become "more selective." 

I'm one of those "Disney" people and, although I'm still dedicated to the Disney Cruise Line, I can't see myself going to the Orlando parks any time in the near future.  It's a shame because I love the Wilderness Lodge but the Genie nonsense really turned me off the Parks.  I'm just speculating but I imagine a lot of Disney Fans feel the same way.

No questions: Day 17

USA Today: "Kamala Harris seems 'unburdened' by her lackluster past. She can thank the media for that. - Vice President Kamala Harris' limited public appearances and friendly media coverage have allowed her to create a new persona. Can it last until Election Day?" 

I'm having deja vu to another Democrat candidate who avoided interviews and press conferences before being exposed as a complete fraud on the debate stage. 

I can't believe they didn't pick Shapiro

You can tell the quality of Kamala's pick for VP by the reaction of the political sides:

New York magazine: "Republican Operatives Are ‘Thrilled’ Harris Picked Walz"

For several well-placed Republican insiders on Tuesday, the response to Kamala Harris’s choice of Tim Walz as vice-president was one of overwhelming joy. “We are cheering,” said one veteran Republican operative, opining that Harris had picked the weakest-possible running mate on Harris’s short list.

National Review: "A Sigh of Relief That It Isn’t Josh Shapiro."  I also thought he was the key to victory.

And then among the Democrats: "CNN consoles viewers as Kamala Harris appears to botch first governing decision with Walz pick."

Twitchy: "Let the Drama Begin: Van Jones Says Harris VP Pick Is Her 'Caving In' to Anti-Jewish Left."

Oh boy.  Then there's the Paper of Record: "Democrats Worried Choosing Jewish Vice President May Cost Them The All-Important "Death To America" Vote."

This is a pretty bad pick that doesn't flip a state, Walz has a checkered background of accused stolen valor and a very left-leaning governance in Minnesota, and it opens up a campaign based largely on law-and-order.

That's a good slogan there.

As someone who wants Kamala to lose, picking Walz is wonderful! It's political malpractice! Why?

1. Not from a swing state.
2. Radical, underscoring her radicalism.
3. She rejected (((Shapiro))) to please the pro-Hamas caucus.

She's not competent. And this pick shows it.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 6, 2024

When will Cassidy Hutchinson be charged with perjury?

Spoiler alert: she won't.  Her obvious lie was critical to the narrative and she'll rake it in with paid speeches while being feted at cocktail parties.  "Another J6 Lie Goes Into the Wood Chipper With the Release of Secret Service Report."

Remember Cassidy Hutchinson, the former West Wing aide who swore that the hearsay evidence she would tell the J6 Committee was the truth, the whole truth, so help her God? The new Inspector General's report on the Secret Service's activities on Jan. 6, 2021, has finally put this story and Hutchinson's reputation into the wood-chipper.

As you may recall, Hutchinson said that on January 6, as President Donald Trump was driven from his speech at a Save America rally to the White House, he "lunged" at the Secret Service driver when he learned that he wouldn't be going to the Capitol Building for a "peaceful and patriotic" protest. That was the story she told the January 6 Committee. 

---------

Hutchinson's "source" for the gossip was, she claimed, former Secret Service agent-turned-Trump White House Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Ornato. Ornato says he never witnessed the event, much less told her. 

Furthermore, the IG's redacted report says the Secret Service took more than four months before he made himself available where he reiterated that this Trump episode never happened. The other Secret Service agents who were in the car said Trump never lunged at the driver, though one reported that he was angry that he couldn't go. 

Remember the prime time, Hollywood-produced testimony for the Secret Service agents saying that this event never happened?  No, you didn't.  Kangaroo Court rules apply.

These are the rules you made

NY Post: "Potential Harris VP pick Josh Shapiro on defense over Israel after decades-old college essay surfaces."

I don't want to hear one single word about this was a long time ago after Democrats dredged up drinking games that Brett Kavanaugh played in high school. 

More things that are "complicated" acksually

Legal Insurrection: "Reuters Rides to Kamala Harris’ Rescue on the Border Crisis As Criticism Ramps Up." - "It goes without saying that whenever a Democrat is on the ropes, the mainstream media and their purported fact-checking divisions will inevitably swoop in to try to rescue them." 

The shifting standard of evidence

Washington Post opinion piece: "Trump baselessly blames assassination attempt on Democratic messaging."

In a world where every Trump tweet is a call to violence, golly, we just can't figure out the shooter's motive and it would be wrong to speculate.  When they find the notebook reading "I shot Trump because Joe Biden told me he was a threat to democracy" it will be dismissed and memory-holed just as readily. 

Guess we're going with Chicken-mala

Red State: "People Go to Town With the Memes After Kamala Refuses Fox Debate." 

By the way, it was noted that Kamala agreed to a debate with JD Vance before Biden dropped out.  According to the new rules made up by the Democrats, she's not allowed to back out of that debate.  Others have suggested that if substitutions are allowed, Trump should send Vance to the September 10th debate.

AYFKM with this headline?

New York Times: "Trump Backs Out of ABC Debate and Proposes One With Harris on Fox."

Trump should clarify that he agrees to show up to the September 10th debate with Biden.  

Kamala won't debate

NY Post: "Trump says he’s agreed to Fox News offer to debate Kamala Harris on Sept. 4."

Yeah, yeah, I was wrong with my repeated assertion that "Biden won't debate" but...was I really wrong?  I think it's unlikely that Harris will accept an invitation to debate on Fox News but Trump clearly has a good reason to reject ABC News, namely the standing litigation against the "news" division. 

Kamala hasn't had a single press conference or interview since her coup and she has no events planned for this weekend.  It's back to the basement, baby!  She can't speak like a normal person so she'll find some pretense to avoid a debate and depend on the mainstream media to drag her over the finish line.

We have no President

They were really going to hide this all the way up to the election: "Friday Eve's News Dumps AGAIN Make Everybody Wonder Who's REALLY In Charge of the Country." 

Border Czar Kamala

Looks like Shapiro

Stephen Green: "Wargaming the Electoral College: Keystone Edition" - "All indications are that demi-President Kamala Harris will pick Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate and I'm not going to sugarcoat this one for you — that's a problem."

Yes, Pennsylvania is a key - if not the key - to cracking the electoral college math.

Markets are (ahem) correcting

Hot Air: "Recession Coming? Job Growth Lays an Egg in July"

The major markets are all down 1-3% this morning.  Lucky for me, yesterday was the day my company purchases stock for the employee stock purchase plan...just in time for the price to drop 10%.

The binder-to-teleprompter strategy

She does this only because she knows the mainstream media will never call her out.

The unwillingness to take questions from perhaps the friendliest press in the history of the country is shocking https://t.co/0CVJj5wKlJ

— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) August 1, 2024

Just a waste of time

Fox News: "Schumer won't commit to Senate votes for Biden’s long-shot radical SCOTUS overhaul - President Biden's sweeping SCOTUS proposal stands little chance of clearing significant hurdles in a divided Congress." 

This is just unconstitutional pandering like forgiving student loans.