Gorillas in the mist vibe

Not the Bee: "The New York Times just ran a 1,400-word story to explain what cross necklaces are."

Today I learned it's not just a lower-case "t'!  Thanks, New York Times!

You can stop gaslighting us anytime now

NEW: Former CNN reporter Chris Cillizza says journalists were *not* covering up Biden's mental decline but were rather just too trusting of the Biden White House.

"I think it was an inherent and sort of unconscious bias more than a conscious bias."

The clowns in the media never… pic.twitter.com/xXq0WkLrQw

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 28, 2025

Trump is right again

Boston Globe: "Harvard releases searing reports on antisemitism, Islamophobia. ‘I am sorry,’ President Alan Garber says."

That report may bolster the Trump administration’s accusations, although, as the report’s authors note, it is focused on the events of the past academic year, not the current one.

In an open letter Tuesday, Harvard president Alan Garber emphasized that point in the letter’s first sentence. “The 2023-24 academic year was disappointing and painful,” he wrote in the letter’s first sentence.

Taken together, the reports described an institution that had failed to provide adequate support to its minority students at a time when they needed it most.

Despite outward appearances, you know that the biggest crisis for Harvard was admitting Trump was right all along.  The "oh, that was last year" rationalization is desperate. 

"She is dating a gang member"

NY Post: "Kilmar Abrego Garcia accused of being gang-banger in 2018 court docs — in latest claim of MS-13 affiliation."

I can see the mainstream media dismissing this story since it comes from the New York Post.  Just like Hunter's laptop.

Nobody is above the law

Jonathan Turley: "“This Judge is a Hero”: Democratic Politicians and Judges Praise Judge Dugan and Call for Resistance." 

The Red States take control

Twitchy: "READ STATES: Mississippi and Louisiana Outperform California, New York on Literacy, Math Testing."

I forget where I heard/read it but there was such an interesting story about how Mississippi and Louisiana were tired of being at the bottom of every education list so they invested in a wholesale revision of their education systems.  They both went back to phonics to teach reading, eliminated social advancement, and set standards across the state for reading and math.

Now they're ahead of the fruitcakes in California and New York.  Massachusetts is next. 

This headline makes me smile

Ace: "The Media Is at the Height of Its Power and Aren't at all Scared that Their Influence has been Slipping for Decades and is now Undeniable."

CNN is about an inch away of being beat in the ratings by a test pattern. 

Comments turned off

I really didn't expect anything different.  Red State: "Hoo Boy: Booker and Jeffries Hold Sit-In on Steps of Congress - I Can't Stop Laughing." 

Absolute clown show.

Exactly how much taxpayer $ was going to the Left

An older but good analysis over at Manhattan Contrarian: "Trying To Figure Out How Much Of The Government Grants Goes To Left-Wing Causes And Propaganda."

One excerpt:

More generally, here is an article from Harvard Magazine in 2022 that breaks down the faculty of Harvard’s “Arts & Sciences” divisions between science, humanities and social sciences.  (“Arts & Sciences” excludes the professional schools like Law, Medicine and Business.). In round numbers, it’s 40% science and 60% humanities and social sciences.  [Harvard President Alan] Garber doesn’t even try to defend anything in the majority consisting of humanities and social sciences.  A huge percentage of that is America hatred and Marxism.

Harvard wants to pretend that every dollar is being stolen from cancer research when 1) a lot of it is going to the humanities and 2) even the cancer research is larded up with "indirect" charges that go to overhead and sometimes yachts. 

This is an interesting coincidence:

A huge and barely-explored question remains, which is how much federal funding finds its way via various NGOs to Democrat-supporting political groups?  A tantalizing hint emerged on March 27, when a gun-control group called March for Our Lives suddenly laid off 13 of its 16 paid staffers.  March for Our Lives is the group founded by anti-gun activist David Hogg, the same guy who got elected Vice Chair of the DNC on February 1.  The stated mission of MFOL is “voter engagement” on the gun control issue.  Go to the tax filings of MFOL, and you will not find any disclosures of who the donors are.

Look in the mirror: you're the unwitting donor.

Everything is a kneejerk reaction

Townhall: "They Did It Again: Trump Set Another Trap for Dems on Rogue Judges."

Is there a single principle the Left will stand on and not abandon the moment it applies to the other side?  Are we still getting rid of the Jim Crow filibuster or nah?

That's pretty funny

We got a new Pope pic.twitter.com/ptU4SI44Ie

— Ned (@Nedsfeed) April 25, 2025

You don't hate the media enough

You think you do, but you don't.  Ace: "The New York Times Whines That an Illegal Alien Was Deported After 21 Years (Cue the Violins) "to a 'Home' He Barely Knew"."

Spoiler alert: this illegal served 15 years for kidnapping, a fact buried in the story with a throwaway line about a "kidnapping conviction he disputed."

This would be the first time in the history of the world a criminal said he didna do nuffin.

The ballad of "Maryland Man"

Breitbart: "Tim Pool's first question humiliates White House press corps." 

They all knew

The Washington Free Beacon has an article: "THEY KNEW: 30 Times Democrats Worried (Privately) About Biden’s Decline Before the Debate Fiasco."

This one made me chuckle the most:

26) In May, Daley grew even more concerned after attending a Biden campaign fundraiser in Chicago. "I’ll tell you, I got rattled," he told Whipple. "They had a receiving line, a photo line. And I had not seen the president up close in a couple of years. And I went through it with my wife—and he was friendly and all that, but he was just not the same guy." Daley called Biden's chief of staff, Jeff Zients, and begged him not to let the president go on stage with Trump at the CNN debate. "Do not do this," he said. "I’m telling you, don’t do it. I’m just telling you, come up with something, but do not do it."

I'm on the record repeatedly asserting that Joe Biden would never debate but his pride overruled his discretion and I've never been so happy to be wrong.

Analysis: true

Hot Air: "All Democrats Do Is Lie"

Lost among all the verbal salvos thrown out there is the simple fact that Abrego Garcia DID get due process, and he WAS adjudicated to be a gang member by an immigration judge. It was not a criminal trial because, after all, they didn't want to jail him but rather deport him, but the judge said right there in his order that the evidence showed he was a member of MS 13. 

Van Hollen lied. Right there on CNN, and many times elsewhere. 

As somebody noticed, the Democrats game is that there is no "due process" to get illegals into the country but plenty of due process to get them out.

What now, Chris Van Hollen?

Twitchy: "Paging Chris Van Hollen: Two More 'Maryland Men' Arrested Over Murder of 23-Year-Old Mother."

Will Maryland Senator Van Hollen make the trip to extend condolences to a woman (allegedly) murdered by an illegal?  Or does he only make trips to El Salvador to visit illegal wife beaters?

California ruins everything

Can't California do anything right anymore?  Every thing the Golden State touches turns to...not gold.  Now even Hollywood is circling the drain: "Hollywood At Risk of Becoming the “Next Detroit Auto.” L.A. Production Insiders Voice Alarm - As a new tally shows plummeting shoot days in Los Angeles, organizers gathered to strategize on ways to get postproduction and music incentives included in California's bill to boost the industry."

This is from about a month ago but here's Rob Lowe going off about California's hassle, red tape, taxes, and high expenses:

“There are no tax credits [in California], so like, all those other places are offering 40% — 40%. And then on top of that, there’s other stuff that they do,” Lowe, 61, said to Adam Scott on “Literally!”

“And then, that’s not even talking about union stuff. It’s just tax, economics of it all, so it’s criminal what California and LA have let happen — it’s criminal. Everybody should be fired.”

The tirade ensued after Lowe revealed he shoots his Fox program “The Floor” in Dublin.

“Why do I shoot my American game show ‘The Floor’ in Ireland?” the podcast host asked. “It’s cheaper to bring in 100 people to Ireland than to walk across the lot at Fox.”

That's right: they shoot "The Floor" in Dublin because production costs are so much lower and it's actually cheaper to fly all the contestants across the pond.  Just crazy.

Chuck Todd is the hot dog guy

Twitchy: "Chuck Todd Pretends He Didn’t Take Part in Trying to Deplatform and Destroy President Trump."

Long-time readers (both of you!) know I have a special contempt for high-school graduate Chuck Todd who perpetually believes he is the savior of journalism and therefore the country.  Now he's playing like the Internet doesn't exist and we don't have the evidence of his previous actions.

GFY Chuck.

Don't threaten me with a good time

Boston Globe: "Conservatives, be careful what you wish for at Harvard - Harvard has been slowly reforming itself under pressure. But now that the government is punishing the university anyway, its leaders may paradoxically feel less pressure to change."

Will it become the progressive version of Hillsdale College — a conservative hub that isn’t bashful about its entirely private funding status?

All of that might seem premature, since we don’t at this point know exactly what funds Harvard has lost or how deep the cuts go. But the more funds the Trump administration strips from Harvard, the more pressure points it removes. Indeed, the university paradoxically may feel less pressure to reform, since the government has already used up its main point of leverage. And it could even feel free to turn back the clock on changes most conservatives have celebrated.

Do it, Harvard.  Just drop the mask and get off the government dole.

Ground control to major clowns

Don Surber: "Did Katy Perry just kill feminism?"

Pretty funny take.

Congratulations, you played yourself

Legal Insurrection: "Sen. Van Hollen Meets with Abrego Garcia, Forgets Cameras Exist" - "Van Hollen made a grave mistake. His photo with the likely MS-13 gang member is political poison for his party. What a foolish unforced error." 

Interesting response

NY Post: "Ex-NY Times editor breaks down in tears, apologizes to Sarah Palin at defamation trial — but former Alaska gov wasn’t buying it."

ICYMI, this case is being re-tried because the first judge declared he would toss the case while the jury was deliberating.  Understandably, an appellate judge told us that smartphones exist and that the jury almost certainly heard the news their decision was irrelevant. 

Sarah Palin probably won't win this case either but it's fun to watch the NY Times squirm. 

And Luigi

I wish somebody loved me the way Democrats love illegal, wife beating, MS-13 gang members.

— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) April 17, 2025

Say her name

Townhall: "Today's Guest at the White House Was a Shocker...and Heartbreaking." 

Legal Insurrection: "Rachel Morin’s Mother Blasts Sen. Van Hollen for Trying to Free Suspected MS-13 Member - “And to have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge or barely acknowledged my daughter and the brutal death that she endured..so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen.”

That's not allowed

Joe Biden created, through executive action and thin air, a program to ship immigrants into the country.

Donald Trump signed an executive action to reverse this and an Obama judge blocked it.  Of course.

The Left, and Harvard, hate free speech

But I repeat myself.  Daily Caller: "‘Why Didn’t The Left Care?’: CNBC Panelists Descend Into Shouting Match As Host Calls Out Left’s Hypocrisy On Speech."

Kernen further argued that Harvard University allows for students to shout antisemitic rhetoric on campus, but expresses outrage when conservatives practice their rights to free speech.

“The left, they don’t care about. They’re not up in arms about sending people to jail for a tweet over in the U.K. You don’t get to pick and choose. They pick and choose when sometimes they want free speech, when it doesn’t suit them, they don’t want free speech,” Kernen said. “If you misgender someone, you get thrown off the faculty. But if you say ‘from the river to the sea’ and lead a demonstration at that campus and say ‘genocide the Jews,’ you’re all celebrated at Harvard. That’s where this comes from.”

Poor, poor Harvard and their $53 billion endowment.

I want to believe this is going to happen

NY Post: "White House readies plan for Congress to ax taxpayer funding for NPR, PBS."

The major funding changes are contained in a long-awaited “rescissions” plan, obtained and first reported by The Post, that pitches a clawback of $1.1 billion appropriated for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and $8.3 billion from USAID.

A memo drafted by White House budget director Russ Vought — and requested by GOP congressional leaders — accuses CPB of a “lengthy history of anti-conservative bias” and cites “waste, fraud, and abuse” at USAID.

All of this is true, but I'm concerned about making a request to Congress, even if it can be passed on a straight majority via reconciliation.  

This is a masterpiece

A cautionary tale about Facebook Marketplace: 😭pic.twitter.com/YuMu3GLGHz

— AlphaFo𝕏 (@Alphafox78) April 12, 2025

Credibility destroyed

Sasha Stone: "How The Media's Elitism Cost Them Their Credibility - And it might be too late to turn things around."

One minor quibble with this otherwise excellent essay: no mention of the media's execrable treatment of Brett Kavanaugh.  That was the irredeemable moment for me where it became clear that the mainstream media had no interest in fairness or telling the truth.

Burn them all to the ground.

They pay college football players now?

I read this story about the Tennessee quarterback leaving the team and realized I've been completely out of the loop on college sports nowadays. 

Bernie's perpetual grift

BREAKING: Bernie Sanders has some terrible news.

Donald Trump is rapidly turning America into an oligarchy. pic.twitter.com/VCfd5sxgx4

— MAZE (@mazemoore) April 11, 2025

Being a Democrat turns you into a wimp

What happened to astronaut Mark Kelly?  I can't believe he said this:

Reporter: "Did you like the no emissions on the Tesla, though, being electric?" 

Kelly: (Reluctantly) "Yeah, yeah. You know, I--"

Reporter: "'Cause the truck doesn't get very good miles per gallon."

Kelly: "I bought the Tesla for its performance. That thing was really fast. Um, but there were also things I didn't like about it. And I couldn't drive it anymore. I mean, the guy's calling me names. You saw that."

Reporter: "I did see that. Thanks, Senator."

Elon called him names.  This is the response from a person who isn't eight years old.  My God.

Well, I'm sure this exchange will turn the tide with young male voters.

Rachel Maddow: I'm a journalism

Ace: "On Eve of Trial, NBC Settles $30 Million Defamation Suit With Obstetrician That Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and Niccole Wallace Repeatedly and Recklessly Defamed as a "Uterus Collector" Who Butchers Women and Steals the Uteruses of Immigrant Women."

I'm astonished that the woman who ran with the Russia Russia Russia hoax for three years has been duped again.  Just gobsmacked. 

Well, bye

Twitchy: "Greenland Base Commander Relieved of Her Post After Publicly Undermining VP Visit." 

Why can't Chuck Todd go away?

PJ Media: "Chuck Todd Finally Confesses but There's a Catch."

The point — once again — is that the entire mainstream media knew that Biden wasn't just unfit to run for reelection but that he was already so deep into senility that he was effectively a figurehead, a puppet of unknown figures. The electorate had the right to know all this, and Chuck Damn Todd had the duty to report it. 

Chuck Todd is a complete hack and his recent attempts to justify covering up for Biden is just part of his typical M.O.  He loves to cosplay as the White Knight protector of a higher truth, the same way he censored all viewpoints that didn't align with the environmental nuts. 

Go away, Chuck.  Nobody wants you here.  Take Stephanopoulos with you.

Snubbed

Hot Air: "Hilarious: Leavitt Refused to Answer Journalists Who Specify Pronouns in Bio." 

Those kids are sneaky

PJ Media: "DOGE Uncovers Massive Unemployment Fraud Under Biden Administration."

• 24,500 people, allegedly over 115 years old, claimed $59 million in benefits.
• 28,000 supposed children between the ages of 1 and 5 claimed $254 million.
• 9,700 claims from people with future birth dates totaled $69 million

It's a start.

To be fair it was first class on JetBlue

NY Post: "AOC flies first-class to Bernie Sanders’ ‘Fight Oligarchy’ rally as critics pan lefty pol for battling inequality one ‘mimosa at a time’." 

It's a constitutional crisis!

Liberals Devastated As Stock Market Recovers https://t.co/m3MVBz2cPS pic.twitter.com/xGnz02iw9d

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) April 9, 2025

AYFKM?

Legal Insurrection: "Judge Orders Trump to Restore Associated Press Access to White House - “No, the Court simply holds that under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists—be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere—it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints.”

According to this logic, the White House cannot refuse a pass to any person calling himself/herself a "journalist."

Also, if the White House press secretary calls on everybody but the Associated Press during a press conference, is that also a violation of this order?  Does the White House have any discretion at all or is it only ever under the thumb of compulsion by flighty judicial decisions?

I feel like this is a hill the White House should fight on and it should use press access during the Biden administration as a counterargument.  

Mann overboard

Daily Caller: "Court Delivers Massive Blow To Famed Climate Scientist Who Sued Critics."

Hawaii judges

Volokh Conspiracy: "Twice, SCOTUS Finds Coastal Courts Improperly Exercised Venue - In two consecutive orders, the Court signals that progressive litigants forum shopped to the wrong courts." 

* reference to title here among other examples of judicial YOLOing.

Seems like a big deal

Fox News: "Supreme Court grants Trump request to lift stay halting Venezuelan deportations - Justices on the high court ruled 5-4 to grant the administration's request to lift the stay, in a temporary victory for Trump and his allies."

This ruling gives an imprimatur to Trump's broad interpretation of immigration laws.

You did it. The crazy son of a bitch, you did it.

Fox News: "Women's pool tournament championship features 2 transgender players after beating female competition."

Well, this is terrifying

Red State: "Intel Sources Claim China Plans Attack on Taiwan in 'Next Few Months'." 

Now it can be told

Looking back on this Jim Geraghty article from August 2021 is amazing in light of all the tell-all books coming out now: "Something Is Wrong with the President." 

The Bud Light-ification of Hollywood

Federalist: "Snow White Bombing Was The Best Gift Hollywood Could Give Us."

I don't want to see Disney fail.  I like Disney.  But Snow White represents a larger ideological drift in Hollywood where Americans who just want to be entertained with a story are cudgeled with modern posturing.  Thus the downward spiral of movie viewership. 

You can blame the failure of Snow White on its main star dumping on 1) the original story, 2) Disney fans and 3) half the country.  But I think people would have still gone to see the classic story if it had remained the classic story instead of the "girlboss" trope so popular and ubiquitous in contemporary movies.

Recently there was a story in the paper that the art house cinema in the middle of Amherst, Massachusetts was facing financial pressure due to waning attendance.  For those of you who don't know much about Western Massachusetts, this is the perfectly ideal place for a boutique cinema, smack-dab in the middle of the Five College system.  My wife and I used to be regulars but we've gone less and less over the years; the last movie we saw there was "The Holdovers" (which was great!).  Now you need to look no further than Conclave and Emilia Perez to understand why we - and many others - have skipped the movie house.  Like Snow White, it's just a non-stop diminution of traditional values dressed up as entertainment and people aren't buying it anymore.

Watch this: the real reason the US is betting on tariffs

This is the way, part #2

Always - always - throw it back in their faces.  Red State: "Grab Some Popcorn: Amy Klobuchar Tries to Corner Witness on Attacking Judges, Gets Hit by Schumer Threat." 

Awesome way to start the weekend!

Townhall: "This Reporter Had Only Four Words for This Dem Rep After She Accused Him of Serial Sexual Harassment."

The words were: "See you in court."  This is the way.  $10 million libel lawsuit.

Stock up on avocados

NY Post: "Shoppers may need to buy these items quickly before Trump’s tariffs kick in."

I'm not a fan of these tariffs although I understand Trump's motivation.  But historically they're not the best tool and the libertarian in me says the government should stay out of this.

Mental illness

Fox Business: "Liberals admit to shoplifting from Whole Foods as a way to stick it to Jeff Bezos - 'If a billionaire can steal from me, I can scrape a little off the top, too,' one man confessing to theft said."

This is the same mindset leading to the keying of Teslas to stick it to Elon Musk and his American automobile company.  T.S. Eliot had it right:

"Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm; but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves."

 

They've learned nothing

Shot: "Cory Booker’s sad stunt epitomizes Democrats’ empty agenda."

Chaser: "Sad Trombone: Dems in Deep Disarray As More Bad Polling News Hits Them Where It Hurts."

Hangover: "Cory Booker’s Record 25 Hour Filibuster Overshadowed by Dem Party’s All-Time Low 21% Approval Rating." 

Extra - Outkick: "Cory Booker Finally Shuts Up Just In Time For Dems To Get Hit With An Embarrassing New Approval Rating." 

New focus group research has dropped

Twitchy: "'McCarthyism' Is the New 'Hitler': Sen. Markey Goes on CNN to Whine About Trump Withholding Harvard Funds." 

Won't somebody think of the poor Harvard students? 

Where were the Inspectors General?

Mark Tapscott: "Three Groups That Could Have Prevented the Stench Being Uncovered by DOGE - Where Were They While Fraudster Politicians and Bureaucrats in Both Parties Swam in Corruption and Waste of Your Tax Dollars and Mine?" 

Who watches the watchdogs?  I guess DOGE now.