We'll get to that minor detail later

Federalist: "At Fox Town Hall, Bernie Sanders Still Can’t Explain How He’s Paying For ‘Medicare For All’." 

Bernie on Fox News for town hall meeting

Ya gotta give the guy props for showing up on Fox News when the other Democrats run scared.  It was clearly a friendly crowd and Sanders couldn't help but take some gratuitous shots at Fox.  That aside, his performance was lackluster - if not bizarre - for a guy who's been in politics for so long.

Shorter Sanders:
1) An issue is raised
2) Bernie: "I'll tell you what I wouldn't do.  I wouldn't do whatever Trump's doing on this issue."
3) Yeah, so what would you do as President?
4) Bernie: Complete nutcase answer

The immigration question was completely predictable and his big idea was better tents.  On the Green New Deal, Martha MacCallum asked a very good question about why it eschews nuclear power which is a reliable energy source that produces no greenhouse gases.  Bernie just deflected with some weird story about how Burlington, Vermont converted to all renewable energy (mostly from burning wood).  On Medicare for All, he just lied about the cost and the ability to see any doctor you want.  His closing statement was essentially "do you want lots of stuff paid for by somebody else?"

The crowd did.

Crybullies in action

National Review: "To Defend Ilhan Omar, Democrats Use Identity Politics as a Shield."  "The Democrats and media cannot have it both ways. They cannot work diligently to elevate Omar’s voice and then rule out of bounds attacks against the person they’ve elevated — especially when her own words are often hateful and cruel."

Notre Dame

Today I learned that the Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus at the crucifixion is one of the most cherished relics held at Notre Dame cathedral.

Update - Saved!

Won't somebody defend this poor, anti-semitic victim?

Commentary: "Ilhan Omar, Con Artist - She's got a feel for her dupes."  "You see? She’s just an all-loving, rage-filled, anti-Semitic victim of prejudice."

Skipping a beat

This video was so engaging:

It's never enough

Let's see: Massachusetts legalized the lottery and, more recently, marijuana and casinos.  But we need more money.  Hot Air: "MA Rolls Out Literal Millionaires Tax."

The Massachusetts constitution dictates that everybody pays the same state tax rate, so the constitution needs to be amended.  But, ya know, "other people's money."

Related - The Atlantic: "What on Earth is wrong with Connecticut?"

Doubling down on stupidity

Man, this broad is dim.  Red State: "AOC Challenges Dan Crenshaw Over 9/11 With The Hottest Of All Hot Takes, It Doesn’t Go Well."

It's impossible to penetrate AOC's armor of self-regard.  She cares - oh so deeply - and the only route to salvation is to support huge government programs.

Ladies and gentlemen, the chair of the House Financial Services Committee

Maxine Waters appears to not know that the government nationalized students loans 10 years ago despite chairing a committee that regulates the banks...? pic.twitter.com/9cqA1dv962

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) April 10, 2019

Good review of Barr's testimony

This was supposed to be a budget meeting but, of course, it turned to Russia!  Via Ace: "Most Important Take-Aways from AG Barr's Testimony This Morning."  This one is good:

5, when Democrats whined that there's no way that a human could read 300-400 pages of a report (much of which was merely transcripts of testimony which can be skimmed) in a few days, he rebutted that he already knew the general contours of the report because he had been given a preliminary briefing on the findings of no collusion, no obstruction on March 5th.

So Saint Mueller gave Barr a heads-up on the non-charges, allowed Barr to use his conclusions in the summary memo, and is helping with the redactions.

That's how deep the conspiracy goes.

The original race-baiter

Federalist: "Why Are Democrats Kissing The Ring Of Al Sharpton?" - "Many of the same Democrat hopefuls who boycotted AIPAC last month could be found pandering to the infamous race-baiter this week."

As I've written before, I grew up in the New York area (northern NJ) right around the time that Sharpton was pushing the Tawana Brawley hoax.  F that guy.

Throwing shade

Nancy Pelosi follows Obama's lead.  Hot Air: "Pelosi Knocks ‘People With A Lot Of Twitter Followers’ Who Don’t Have The Votes To Pass Anything." 

Varsity blues for the limousine liberals

You rarely see begging like this from Rod Dreher in "The joy of schadenfreude":

Please, please, please read the whole thing. You have to treat yourself. The friend who sent me the link said that he and his wife were taking turns reading parts of it aloud to each other. It’s that good.

He's referring to this article by Caitlin Flanagan in the Atlantic called "They had it coming" which is a great double-meaning title referring to the evident guilt of parents who cheated to get their kids into elite colleges and their overweening sense of entitlement:

Every parent assumed that whatever alchemy of good genes and good credit had gotten his child a spot at the prep school was the same one that would land him a spot at a hyper-selective college. It was true that a quarter of the class went to the Ivy League, and another quarter to places such as Stanford, MIT, and Amherst. But that still left half the class, and I was the one who had to tell their parents that they were going to have to be flexible. Before each meeting, I prepared a list of good colleges that the kid had a strong chance of getting into, but these parents didn’t want colleges their kids had a strong chance of getting into; they wanted colleges their kids didn’t have a chance in hell of getting into. A successful first meeting often consisted of walking them back from the crack pipe of Harvard to the Adderall crash of Middlebury and then scheduling a follow-up meeting to douse them with the bong water of Denison.

And, as the article reveals, anything but ASU.  This paragraph sums up the mindset:

These parents—many of them avowed Trump haters—are furious that what once belonged to them has been taken away, and they are driven mad with the need to reclaim it for their children. The changed admissions landscape at the elite colleges is the aspect of American life that doesn’t feel right to them; it’s the lost thing, the arcadia that disappeared so slowly they didn’t even realize it was happening until it was gone. They can’t believe it—they truly can’t believe it—when they realize that even the colleges they had assumed would be their child’s back-up, emergency plan probably won’t accept them. They pay thousands and thousands of dollars for untimed testing and private counselors; they scour lists of board members at colleges, looking for any possible connections; they pay for enhancing summer programs that only underscore their children’s privilege. And—as poor whites did in the years leading up to 2016—they complain about it endlessly. At every parent coffee, silent auction, dinner party, Clippers game, book club, and wine tasting, someone is bitching about admissions. And some of these parents, it turns out, haven’t just been bitching; some of them decided to go MAGA.

That's what makes this scandal so delicious.  The self-righteous types who make sartorial choices inspired by Hillary Clinton and now (probably) donate to Elizabeth "The system is rigged!" Warren are the ones doing the rigging.

It's all too much

Too much government power, that is.  David French: "The Trump era should make libertarians of us all."

Now the Democratic war against Donald Trump has exposed yet another bad law. Congress can investigate your finances — no matter who you are — for any reason or no reason at all. The fact that Trump is the man currently under the microscope should in no way lessen our objection to such an atrocious policy. Bad laws don’t become good just because they’re used to target people you happen to dislike.

How you like that expanded executive power now?

With Beto in Iowa

Via Powerline, a first-hand report of a Beto campaign stop in Iowa.

Have the Democrats learned nothing from the nuclear option?

It's now widely acknowledged by all of Washington that when Harry Reid triggered the nuclear option on judicial nominees, all bets were off.  Here's the New York Times celebrating the "return to democracy":

Republicans warned that the rule change could haunt the Democrats if they lost the White House and the Senate.

And that's how you got Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and (soon) Amy Coney Barrett.  Now they want Trump's tax returns because...they want them.  Hot Air: "Trump Lawyer Sends Letter To Treasury: You Shouldn’t Hand Over His Tax Returns To House Democrats."

A strong letter, worth reading in full. There are legal arguments made and precedents cited but at the heart of it is a simple prudential question:

Why should Congress be able to use the IRS to gather dirt on its political enemies?

As the article explains, the same law that allows Congress the power to look at anybody's tax return also applies to the President.  Do Democrats really want to unleash the Kraken of Trump directing the IRS to look into the Democrats' dirty laundry?  You know that's exactly what he'll do, Lois Lerner-style.

Jussie to Chicago: drop dead

Fox News: "Jussie Smollett won't reimburse Chicago's investigation costs; city vows civil suit."

Given the last deal, Chicago will be lucky to get a pack of gum.

Getting the pill

This is interesting.  Hit and Run: "Over-the-Counter Birth Control Bill Launched by Senate Republicans" - "It would fast-track FDA review of applications to free the pill from prescriptions and let people use health savings accounts for non-Rx drugs."

The government needs your $$$

Zero Hedge: "Breathtakingly Terrible Idea": Top Democrat Proposes Taxing Unrealized Capital Gains."  "According to the WSJ, the top Democrat on the Senate’s tax-writing committee has proposed taxing unrealized gains in investment assets every year at the same rates as other income, offering not only an idea that would transform how the U.S. taxes the wealthiest people, but a solid reason for those same people to get the hell out of America." 

Moving the goalposts (again) on the Mueller report

In today's NY Times, House Judiciary chairman Jerrold Nadler wrote that, darn it, we've waited long enough and the entire unabridged Mueller report must be released, post-haste.  Jim Geraghty has some thoughts: "Chairman Nadler’s Cynical Argument."

In his letter to Congress, Attorney General William Barr specifically cited Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e), which provides that government attorneys and the jurors themselves, among others, “must not disclose a matter occurring before the grand jury.” Barr didn’t make this rule up, it’s not obscure or optional, and Nadler knows darn well about its importance. Barr stated in a letter to Nadler and the judiciary committee that the special counsel’s office is assisting in identifying portions that are grand-jury testimony or relate to ongoing investigations or prosecutions.

But because the Democrats prefer a narrative of a sinister cover-up, Nadler just averts his eyes and pretends the rules on grand jury testimony don’t exist.

Here's my theory: the Democrats have seen a leaked copy of the Mueller report and they know it's a huge nothingburger.  But they've been selling this hoax for two years so what recourse to they have?  Simple: set up the narrative that the real conspiracy can be found in the redacted sections, the ones that have to be removed by law.

Fun with chyrons

Rachel Maddow: AG Barr is going through the Mueller report by himself!

MSNBC: Don't listen to Rachel.  She cray-cray.

There must be a pony in here somewhere!

Real Clear Politics: "MSNBC Keeps Mueller Story Alive, But the Public Is Done."

Title refers to a favorite Ronald Reagan joke.

Waiting on the report

I don't know if Mueller's report will include a long explication on the bogus Steele dossier, but I really hope it does.  This phony piece of fiction is the genesis of this whole mess.

Obama’s FBI used a bogus file of fiction bought by Hillary’s campaign to mislead a judge so it could spy on the nominee for the other party and then pressure a probe after GOP victory, but this isn’t a scandal about the corruption of Democrats or DOJ because shut up bot.

— Razor (@hale_razor) March 28, 2019

That was quick

#MeToo claims Handsy Joe. The Corner: "Joe Biden Is Done."

I think he’ll probably still run — how can an ego monster like Biden resist when the polls put him at the top of the pack? — but his 2020 candidacy will perish as quickly as his previous presidential campaigns. The Democratic candidate with the best chance of beating President Trump is doomed.

Biden suffers from the same enthusiasm gap that plagued Hillary: "sure, I suppose, why not."

Extra - Vox: "The media gave Biden a pass for years. It won’t in 2020."

Meanwhile in Chicago

Twitchy: "Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association blasts Jussie Smollett deal."  As in it violates Illinois law.

One tweet/comment is interesting: "Something happened that made disposing of that case URGENT for somebody.  There are any number of ways for a prosecutor to make a case go away, even an incompetent fool wouldn't choose to do it the way they did it.  There's something else going on here.  Something very bad."

I think it's crazy they couldn't at least get an apology out of the guy.

Awesome sauce

Sauce for the gander, that is.  Atlantic: "Inside Trump’s Strategy to Use Mueller on the Campaign Trail"

Trump allies see Barr’s letter as a kind of Swiss Army knife—a tool useful in all kinds of situations. Not only is it exculpatory, they say, but it also implicitly rebukes the press for its coverage of the Russia investigation, inoculating Trump from any future scandal that reporters might unearth. According to a source familiar with internal discussions at the Republican National Committee and the pro-Trump super PAC America First, both organizations are “geared up for any nonsense to come.”

They’re already prepared to attack reporters. “Any reporter who tries that will be hit with 30-second spots of all their ridiculous claims about collusion,” said the source, who, like others interviewed for this story, requested anonymity to describe private conversations. “Their tweets have all been screencapped. It’s all ready to go.”

I hope Trump goes to the White House Correspondents Dinner and gives a Soviet-style four-hour speech where he reads off all the fake news from the past two years.

CNN: We read words from papers and teleprompters

Federalist: "CNN President Peddles New Excuse For Garbage Russia Coverage: ‘We Are Not Investigators’"

So the show "CNN Investigates" is the equivalent of a Subway "foot long."

Zero point zero votes

Fox News: "Green New Deal fails Senate test vote as dozens of Democrats vote 'present'."

As Instapundit notes, this vote to save the Earth took place in the Republican-controlled Senate but it won't even get a vote in the Democrat-controlled House.  Why do Democrats deny climate change and hate Gaia?

Wrong again

Michael Goodwin: "The New York Times owes Americans a big, fat apology."

Democrats with bylines

Rich Lowry: "The media's disgrace."

There will soon enough be an effort to memory-hole it, but the media coverage of the Russia investigation was abysmal and self-discrediting — obsessive and hysterical, often suggesting that the smoking gun was right around the corner, sometimes supporting its hoped-for result with erroneous, too-good-to-check reporting. Never has so little come of so many screaming chyrons. Every mini-scooplet was played up like major news, and if you went on air and said that collusion was unlikely and we should wait for the evidence, you were often treated like you were in the tank for Trump. The last two years have been a disgrace, and no one should forget it.

This will be the new standard by which all other scandals against Republicans will be judged.

Extinguish those Mueller votive candles, NY Times

Matt Taibbi (formerly of Rolling Stone) calls out the American press:

Stories have been coming out for some time now hinting Mueller’s final report might leave audiences “disappointed,” as if a President not being a foreign spy could somehow be bad news.

Openly using such language has, all along, been an indictment. Imagine how tone-deaf you’d have to be to not realize it makes you look bad, when news does not match audience expectations you raised. To be unaware of this is mind-boggling, the journalistic equivalent of walking outside without pants.

There will be people protesting: the Mueller report doesn’t prove anything! What about the 37 indictments? The convictions? The Trump tower revelations? The lies! The meeting with Don, Jr.? The financial matters! There’s an ongoing grand jury investigation, and possible sealed indictments, and the House will still investigate, and…

Stop. Just stop. Any journalist who goes there is making it worse.

This unvarnished bias was on display in the Sunday morning shows where Adam Schiff is still being allowed to peddle this hoax without serious pushback, following a pattern that started on November 9th, 2016.  Taibbi points out that Schiff cited the Steele dossier as gospel even though the Congressman knew it was unverified.  But the media was uninterested in that because Orange Man Bad:

For years, every hint the dossier might be true became a banner headline, while every time doubt was cast on Steele’s revelations, the press was quiet.

No kidding.  Somewhere in Prague, Michael Cohen's cellphone is pinging away.

Whatever you may think of Trump - and I'm no great fan - he's really exposed the fake news American press.

Hands up, don't shoot. Trump's a Russian spy. Kavanaugh ran a secret gang rape cartel. Covington kids assaulted a vet.

Never forget that these lies--and yes, they were outright lies--were deliberately peddled by all the same people for all the same reasons.

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) March 24, 2019

No crime but a coup

Andrew McCarthy: "After Mueller’s Exoneration of Trump, Full Disclosure."

In sum, we have endured a two-year ordeal in which the president of the United States was forced to govern under a cloud of suspicion — suspicion of being a traitor, of scheming with a foreign adversary to steal an election. This happened because the Obama administration — which opened the probe of the Trump campaign, and which opted to use foreign counterintelligence spying powers rather than give Trump a defensive briefing about suspected Russian infiltration of his campaign — methodically forced its suspicions about Trump into the public domain.

Read the whole thing.

It was all impeachment fantasy

Swallowed whole by the Democrats and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself).  Here's Caitlin Johnstone via Medium: "The Mueller Report Is In. They Were Wrong. We Were Right."

I’ve been saying Russiagate is bullshit from the beginning, and I’ve been called a Trump shill, a Kremlin propagandist, a Nazi and a troll every day for saying so by credulous mass media-consuming dupes who drank the Kool Aid. And I’ve only taken a fraction of the flack more high profile Russiagate skeptics like Glenn Greenwald and Michael Tracey have been getting for expressing doubt in the Gospel According to Maddow. The insane, maniacal McCarthyite feeding frenzy that these people were plunged into by nonstop mass media propaganda drowned out the important voices who tried to argue that public energy was being sucked into Russia hysteria and used to manufacture support for dangerous cold war escalations with a nuclear superpower.

I was watching Joy Reid on MSNBC this morning to gauge the Left's reaction and I cannot understate the batshit craziness going on there.  I'll try to pull up a transcript when it's available but in the course of about an hour she and her nutcase panel evoked Richard Nixon, Benedict Arnold, and Judas.

Never stop reminding them of this. Never stop mocking them for it. Never stop mocking their idiotic Rachel Maddow worship. Never stop mocking the Robert Mueller prayer candles.

I'm on it!

What else do they got?

Politico: "Democrats plot ways to force release of Mueller findings - Democrats signal that they're ready to use aggressive tactics to force the attorney general to make the report public."

They have invested so much into this narrative that it's impossible for them to accept Mueller's findings, that they once upheld as the gold standard.  The Democrats know that the Muller report contains grand jury testimony and confidential information that, according to DOJ guidelines, cannot be released to the public.  So it will be a year-long campaign of innuendo and hearsay with whispers of a cover-up.

Related - Byron York: "Five things that didn't happen in the Mueller investigation."

Nothingburgers for everyone

Hot Air: "Mueller Submits His Report To Bill Barr, Ending Russiagate Probe; Update: No More Indictments Or Sealed Indictments."

Did you hear that?  No indictments of anyone related to conspiring with Russia.  None.

When will Trump get apologies from the "journalists" who promulgated this farce?

Meanwhile, anyone who questioned the hackery and endless news cycles built on completely unsubstantiated speculation was summarily dismissed as a MAGA fanatic, incapable of objectivity. https://t.co/nkDea2w3X8

— Kemberlee Kaye (@KemberleeKaye) March 22, 2019

The bassline on "Peg"

Meh, how about something different?  Here's a video I've been watching a lot:

Democrats keep losing so the rules are dumb

Commentary: "Democrats vs. the Constitution - There can be only one."

Barely satire: "Candidates Propose Changes To Fix Flaw In Constitution That Allows Republicans To Be Elected."

You, CNN, are the real hero here

"Journalism".  Hot Air: "CNN Wins Cronkite Award For That Garbage Gun-Control Town Hall It Held After Parkland."

Extra - The Corner: "Media Gives Itself Award for Disastrous Gun-Control ‘Town Hall’."  "CNN’s “Parkland Town Hall” was, without a doubt, the single worst thing I have seen aired on a major news station since I moved to the United States eight years ago. For it to have received an award is . . . well, actually quite fitting, I suppose."

Here comes Joe!

Washington Examiner: "Joe Biden's popularity is about to nosedive."

The liberal magazine Harper's last month ran a cover story on "Joe Biden’s disastrous legislative legacy" recounting his tough-on-crime initiatives and chumminess with banking interests.  For example:

Despite pleas from the ­NAACP and the ­ACLU, the 1990s brought no relief from Biden’s crime crusade. He vied with the first Bush Administration to introduce ever more draconian laws, including one proposing to expand the number of offenses for which the death penalty would be permitted to fifty-one. Bill Clinton quickly became a reliable ally upon his 1992 election, and Biden encouraged him to “maintain crime as a Democratic initiative” with suitably tough legislation. The ensuing 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, passed with enthusiastic administration pressure, would consign millions of black Americans to a life behind bars.

If current Democrat voters are unaware of Biden's checkered past, I'm sure his competitors for the nomination will be ready to remind them.

Extra - Ace: "Don't call Joe Biden a hero."

And this - LA Times: "The burden of a 40-year career: Some of Joe Biden’s record doesn’t age well."  "Biden opposed school busing for desegregation in the 1970s. He voted for a measure aimed at outlawing gay marriage in the 1990s. He was an ally of the banking and credit card industries."

A new generation of environmental panic

Associated Press: "Students globally protest warming, pleading for their future."  Cue the drama:

— In Washington, protesters spoke in front of a banner saying “We don’t want to die.”

— In San Francisco, 1,000 demonstrators descended on the local offices of Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wanting passage of the massive “Green New Deal” bill proposed in the U.S. Congress.

— In St. Paul, Minnesota, about 1,000 students gathered before the state Capitol, chanting “Stop denying the earth is dying.”

RME, I wish these kids would go back to eating Tide Pods.  These kids are too young to know the apocalypse is always ten years away and they're too invested in the cheap moral high of "saving the world" to know the world has never been cleaner. 

Low wages and multiple OSHA violations

Why did Bernie Sanders' campaign staff feel the need to unionize?  Let's wildly speculate.

Ha ha ha, how's that "Facts First" campaign going?

This is a rotten apple:

This chart from @roadmn is BRUTAL.

CNN is dying. pic.twitter.com/x43Ri5L8Zf

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) March 14, 2019

Don't you just hate when that happens?

PJ Media: "SPLC Co-Founder Morris Dees Fired, Outside Audit Ordered."  The audit is long overdue.

This is not the Onion

Elizabeth Warren can't believe that somebody would lie about their background to gain a position at a selective college.

The two-year temper tantrum because Hillary lost

Federalist: "If Pelosi Believed Her Claims About Trump And Russia, She Would Impeach - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision not to impeach Donald Trump is the clearest indication possible that Democrats do not believe he colluded with Russia."

One thing is clear to any fair observer: if Pelosi and Schiff really believed their outlandish rhetoric on Russian collusion, they would be moving to impeach the president. If they believed, as they previously claimed, that there is clear evidence to show Trump is in bed with Putin, they could not move fast enough to present that evidence and force Republicans to defend an obviously compromised commander in chief. The fact is, they don’t have the evidence, and they don’t expect Special Counsel Robert Mueller to provide it.

After all this time insisting that the evidence is staring us in the face!, the new spin is that, well, those darn Republicans will never impeach and we don't want to tear the country apart with the process.  Because that's how dedicated the Democrats are to the high principles of fairness, legal procedure, apple pie and America.

Poor Tom Steyer is going to be in my backyard tomorrow night but I just don't think I have the heart (or time) to go heckle him.

Good heavens, she is dim

Hot Air: "AOC Attacks Wells Fargo Bank For Funding The Dakota Access Pipeline."

When is the media going to call her out on this arrant nonsense?

Donkey Chompers is running the show now

Townhall: "Nervous Nancy Has Lost Control of Her Crazy Party."

Suddenly, instead of playing the fake moderate game, Nancy’s minions had to suck up to a bunch of braying bimbos from safe blue seats. All the nonsense Reps. Talib, Omar, and Ocasio-Cortez spewed on social media and MSNBC thrilled the Democrat base. But what Normal people heard was, “We hate Israel. We hate the idea that you can have cars. We hate you.”

And the fact that these commie-come-latelys are so inept is icing on the cake. Rep. Omar couldn’t help but run her fool mouth about what she really thought of the Jews. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez could not manage to let fly with her Green New Deal without making the rookie mistake of telling the people what was actually in it. Free money for those unwilling to work? Maybe that dog hunts among the simpletons in her New York City district, but in America, not so much.

As Kurt Schlichter notes here, Pelosi desperately wanted to present the new House Democrats as the "sensible" party but all they have is fading dreams of impeachment and the Freshwoman Kooks.

So they got nothin'

From Fox News Sunday this morning, here's Congresswoman Katie Hill (D-CA):

WALLACE: As you sit here right now, do you feel that you have seen hard evidence that Donald Trump, either in the campaign or as president, committed a crime? And, if so, a crime that rises to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors for impeachment?

HILL: I believe that I have seen enough that makes me feel like we need to continue down this path. I don't feel like there is enough of -- I feel like impeachment is as much of a political process as it is anything else. And I think that we have to make sure that we are providing all of the information, airing it all out so that the public can feel with as much certainty as -- as, you know, members of Congress, that -- that that's the case and that we need to continue down this path.

This aligns with Adam Schiff's appearance on Meet the Press where he whined that Trump didn't sit down for an interview with Mueller.  We're now approaching the "acceptance" stage where Democrats try to prepare their true believers for the big letdown.

That person's name? Albert Einstein.

Twitchy: "Kamala Harris’ press secretary has a ‘crazy story’ he wants you to believe about a SC voter in a MAGA hat."

Relevant: That happened.

So that's a 'no' on the pay raise?

Reddit: "Jussie Smollett update: 'Empire' actor indicted on 16 felony counts by grand jury."

What I think is kinda funny is that initially the police reported they doubted the "attack" took place because they have no video.  Turns out, Smollett wanted to be on video but the camera was facing in the wrong direction.  Just crazy, the whole thing.

The Atlantic magazine got woke

And I hope it goes broke.  Exhibit "X"is yesterday's B.S. moral equivalence suggesting that R. Kelly is on the same moral plane as Brett Kavanaugh.  I have pretty much given up on the expectation of an apology from the mainstream media for Justice Kavanaugh whose name was unfairly dragged through the mud without - to this day - a hint of evidence.  But you'd think that even now they could leave the guy alone.

As a former subscriber, I could not agree with this sentiment more:

Used to read your magazine cover to cover. Your 2015 issue on “What Isis Really Wants” was required reading in my house. The speed with which the Atlantic has declined since then is mind-boggling. Feeling better about not renewing my subscription after this latest trash.

— Wayne Dean (@waydean) March 7, 2019

He sure did

Hot Air: "Did Lanny Davis Confirm Cohen Lied In Testimony About Trump Pardon?"

"Probably lied about Prague, too!" - excited Resistors. 

Yeah, right, Fox News is the problem

The Federalist: "DNC Blacklisting Of Fox News Proves GOP Needs To Fight Media."

Mollie Hemingway goes into to considerable detail here including Chuck Todd, who is just the worst.  I had the misfortune to catch "Meet the Press" this past weekend and this is accurate:

NBC’s Chuck Todd showed his legendarily extreme bias on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” show. He falsely claimed Rep. Jim Jordan was sharing opinion, not facts, when he accurately discussed Michael Cohen’s testimony that he’d never been to Prague — a central claim of a discredited dossier, secretly funded by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee, secretly fed to media outlets and intelligence agencies, and used to undermine the Trump administration for more than two years.

But when Sen. Mark Warner claimed there was evidence of collusion with Russia, Todd didn’t push back in any way, despite the lack of evidence. 

High-school graduate Todd interrupted and argued with Jordan but let Warner go along with the Narrative.

Don't call it a fishing expedition

Unintentional humor on NPR's Morning Edition this morning:

MARTIN: But - I mean, it is so sprawling. How do you combat the criticism that it is a fishing expedition?

DEAN: I don't buy that at all. What we're looking at is possibilities of obstruction of justice, public corruption, abuse of power by this administration in these documents, most of which have already been requested by other entities, whether it was the Mueller commission or others. These documents will either reveal that there are things wrong, or they might reveal there's nothing to see here.

There's definitely, absolutely the possibility that there might be something there or not.  We're sending out dozens and dozens of requests for information, and one of them might bear fruit, but don't call it a fishing expedition.

That's not entertainment!

Hollywood in Toto: "Captain Marvel drowns in victimhood, dull action."

Movies like “Wonder Woman,” “The Terminator” and “Aliens” showcased powerful women. They packed a feminist punch without ever suggesting a lecture. They entertained first and foremost. The culture absorbed their subtle messages on their own.

“Captain Marvel,” down to the eye-rolling musical choice of No Doubt’s “Just a Girl,” cares far more about lecturing audiences than entertaining them.

And boy, does it show.

Brie Larson is tired of your mainsplaining and the Hollywood patriarchy.  Here's a clip of Larson dressing down Tom Hiddleston for oppressing her with his lookism and judgementalship at her totally appropriate sartorial choice.

Now on the cover of the "Rolling Stone"

Washington Free Beacon: "Leading Jewish Groups Demand Anti-Semitic Omar Be Removed From Foreign Affairs Committee" - "Jewish groups slam Omar's anti-Semitic language, ties to groups advocating terrorism."

Flashback - Atlantic: "The Women's March Has a Farrakhan Problem" - "The group refuses to be accountable for a high-level alliance with an open anti-Semite."

Author of phony dossier clams up

Why so reticent, Chris?  The Hill: "Christopher Steele cancels remarks on disinformation at conference."  "Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum, who was set to moderate the panel Steele would have taken part in, told Politico that he got "cold feet" and backed out on advice of his counsel."

Begun the sneaker wars have

I was thumbing through the Boston Globe sports section and there's a half-page ad from Skechers featuring a split Nike sneaker and the tagline "Just Blew It."  Heh.

Save the nukes

Minuteman: "Going nuclear."

One thing I'd like to add to Tom's review on the benefits of nuclear power.  It seems counter-intuitive but the burning of coal releases much more radiation into the atmosphere than atomic power because of radioactive isotopes in the coal. 

Buh-bye Liz

The Bulwark: "Is Elizabeth Warren’s Campaign Already Over? - Except for the shouting, yes."  I wanted to highlight this one part:

For Liz Warren, everything is a “fight.” 

Her’s isn’t a presidential campaign, it’s “the fight of our lives.” Her mission is a “fight that began in the streets,” a “fight for big structural change” and, she repeatedly assures us, “I’m in that fight all the way!” She dropped the progressive’s “F-bomb” a total of 26 times in her announcement speech.  

OMG, yes, she's always fighting and fighting the fight against those who need to be fought.  The other joke I make that she alternates between "the rich and the powerful" and "the wealthy and well-connected" depending on what day it is.

Profile in courage, this ain't

The Hill: "Dems wrestle over how to vote on ‘Green New Deal’."  The Senate Democrats are conspiring to vote 'present' on the non-binding resolution and even the Senator who threw his support behind the plan is backing away:

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the Senate co-sponsor of Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal resolution, said he’s working with Schumer and declined to say whether he would vote present instead of “yes” on his own proposal.

Brave Ed Markey bravely ran away.

Now we know why this was delayed several times

The Hill: "Michael Cohen's pathetic 'Cry for Me, Argentina' performance."

Okay, so no Russian collusion. No trip to Prague. No direct instruction to lie. And no secret effort asking WikiLeaks to hack the Democratic National Committee.

Pretty good stuff … for the Trump defense team.

Just a lot of hearsay and begging for empathy.  Cohen's big "bombshell" was that Roger Stone gave Trump inside information on Wikileaks in July 2016.  This would be the same information that Julian Assange was tweeting and appearing on TV to tout in June 2016.  Big reveal.

They ran out of other peoples' money

NPR: "If a Wealth Tax is Such a Good Idea, Why Did Europe Kill Theirs?"  It's a bad idea and unconstitutional to boot.

Kerjillion bazillion shabadoo

Hot Air: "Sure, Why Not: Green New Deal Could Cost $93 Trillion Over 10 Years, Study Says."

Remember, though: when you're on the "right side of history" and literally trying to save the world, piffling little things like the cost are not up for discussion.

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C.S. Lewis.

Believe some survivors

Associated Press: "Virginia’s Fairfax compares himself to lynching victims."

When he finished his five-minute impromptu speech, stunned senators sat in awkward silence.

I'll bet.  One of Fairfax's accusers is speaking to law enforcement.

Russians everywhere

The Week: "The Mueller Joke"

From the very beginning, the special counsel investigation has been a string of anecdotes, compound adjectives ("Russia-linked"), and vanquished dreams in search of a conspiracy. The only crimes of which Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, and the rest have been accused are ones that were alleged to have been committed either well before or long after the 2016 election; in many cases, indeed, they were said to have occurred during the course of the investigation itself — process crimes. None of the charges in question were about colluding with Russia. The only one that has even directly involved the presidential election was a violation of federal campaign finance law.

This two-year temper-tantrum over Hillary losing has, unfortunately, solidified into doctrine for the anti-Trump left.  It will join Al Gore's "stolen" election and fabulist Christine Blasey Ford's testimony in a long line of "truthy" stories.  After holding up Mueller as the gold standard of investigation, Adam Schiff has indicated he won't accept his conclusions.  Because of course he won't: what purpose does the guy serve without the Russia investigation?

If there's any justice at all, the Mueller investigation will indict Andrew McCabe and Fusion GPS for trying to kneecap a duly-elected President.

Extra - Hot Air: "We’re At Least “One Collusion Short” On Any Mueller Bombshell."

"Journalism"

If you're confused, the "alleged" incident is the one with the video. pic.twitter.com/9syht3kNZA

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) February 22, 2019

That time Amy was forkless

Hot Air: "Revealed: The Time Amy Klobuchar Ate A Salad With A Comb And Made An Aide Clean It."  Gross.

The Bee is Patti Labelle

Oh, NY-14, why did you elect such a dummy?  Fox News: "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed over anti-Amazon push in New York City billboard: 'Thanks for nothing'."

The Peacock is Neil Patrick Harris

In other news: "It’s official: Jussie Smollett hit with felony criminal charges, is negotiating surrender for his arrest."

Enter Sandmann

Big news tonight is that Covington Catholic teen Nicholas Sandman is suing the Washington Post for defamation and some people are really stoked!  A quarter-billion dollars?  Take that, Bezos!

It's times like this it's good to visit a legal blog like Legal Insurrection:

I’ve read the Complaint, but it is hard to find specific false statements about Sandmann. As the Complaint states many times, Sandmann relies on the alleged ” false and defamatory gist” of WaPo’s coverage (that phrase appears 24 times). Many of the statements attributed to WaPo that contributed to this gist are the repetition of statements from Phillips and others as part of the news coverage that create the impression (sometimes explicitly so) that the students (and by implication Sandmann) were the aggressors. I wonder, though, whether those conclusions by WaPo were opinions as a legal matter and thus protected by the First Amendment.

So my gut is telling me there may be some legal problems surviving a motion to dismiss. I’ll be looking for solid legal analysis by others on this. If you find any analysis that’s not just wishful thinking, please post in the comments.

Sandmann may have better claims against Phillips, but good luck collecting.

Well I'm ambivalent here: on the one hand, I dislike nuisance lawsuits but I also hate the mainstream media.  Maybe Sandmann will settle for some college tuition.

Demand is far greater than the supply

Heather MacDonald at City Journal: "The Frenzied Search for Racism" - "Elites bought Jussie Smollett’s story because it confirmed their cherished narrative about a hateful America."

It's like we've been fake-victimized again

Babylon Bee: "Nation's Liberals Devastated After Learning Hate Crime Didn't Actually Happen."

The nation’s liberals were struck by a devastating blow this week after finding out a hate crime, reported by Empire actor Jussie Smollet, didn’t actually happen.

“I needed this to be true,” said liberal columnist Hanna Spalding. “When I first heard the news of this attack, I was filled with so much hope. I felt so validated. Then that was taken away. Now I just want to cry into my pillow.”

The latest news is that Jussie was so upset that his hoax letter didn't lead to Trump's impeachment, he moved on to a hoax attack.

A complete farce

Federalist: "7 Big Takeaways From Andrew McCabe’s Planned Coup" - "McCabe's actions prove that the Russia probe was always tainted and that many in the FBI and DOJ aren’t public servants, but rather incompetent attention-seekers."

The guy is waiting for his indictment from the grand jury so he needs some lawyer cash from his new book.

Extra - Victor Davis Hanson: "Autopsy of a dead coup".  "McCabe was iconic of an utterly corrupt FBI Washington hierarchy, which we now know from the behavior of its disgraced and departed leadership. They posed as patriotic scouts, but in reality proved themselves arrogant, smug, and incompetent. They harbored such a sense of superiority that they were convinced they could act outside the law in reifying an “insurance policy” that would end the Trump presidency."

Don't forget about Christine "Baby Talk" Ford

News media hopped from the laughable Steele dossier, to CNN’s bogus Don Jr. emails scoop, to BuzzFeed’s bogus Michael Cohen scoop, to the vile Covington smears, to the obvious Jussie Smollett hoax, and yet journos wonder why people say “Learn to code” when they finally get fired.

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 17, 2019

How now, Jussie?

The Chicago police department would like a chit-chat.  Gateway Pundit: "Nigerian Bros Purchased the Rope Found Around Jussie Smollett’s Neck at Ace Hardware – Claim Smollett Paid Them to Orchestrate Attack."

Blondes are telling jokes about her

Powerline: "How dumb is Ocasio-Cortez?"

It's only going to get worse for her as the coverage shifts from "shiny new thing" to a public figure who has to substantiate her positions.  When she announced her Green New Deal the other day a reporter asked about nuclear power and she ceded the microphone to Senator Ed Markey with obvious relief.

Extra - Victory Girls: "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Econ Professors Should Be Fired."

Smollett lawyers up

Victory Girls: "Smollett Story Collapses Along with Liberal Virtue Signaling."  Chicago race hoaxer Jussie Smollett, who appears on some show on television, has hired a defense lawyer.  At this point, we can pretty much just move on to the next stage of finding ways to blame his behavior on Trump.

Golly it got quiet from 2009-2016

NATIONAL DEBT, TWITTER POSTS BY CNN

2008 $10.3T: 2
2009 $11.9T: 0
2010 $13.6T: 0
2011 $14.7T: 0
2012 $16.2T: 0
2013 $16.8T: 0
2014 $17.9T: 0
2015 $18.2T: 0
2016 $19.7T: 0
2017-now $22T: 11

But don’t call them biased. pic.twitter.com/vNO3wCwT5m

— Razor (@hale_razor) February 13, 2019

It will all be over soon

Federalist: "As The Russia Hoax Begins To Unravel, The Gaslighting Begins" - "The media has started backing away from the Russia collusion hoax. Many seem to know a reckoning is coming."

Ugh. No.

Hit and Run: "Trump Plans To Sign Border Deal and Declare National Emergency. Here’s What That Could Mean."

Trump's use of a national emergency declaration to secure border wall funding should trouble anyone who understands and appreciates separation of powers. According to a 2007 report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the 1976 National Emergencies Act entitles the president to "statutory delegations from Congress" that let him "seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces abroad, institute martial law, seize and control all transportation and communication, regulate the operation of private enterprise, restrict travel, and, in a variety of ways, control the lives of United States citizens."

We don't know what limits there are on a president's ability to declare a national emergency. There is definitely potential for civil liberties abuses, particularly in regard to eminent domain, which is the process by which the government forces a property owner to sell.

One of the common complaints I make about the border security issue is that it's so very easy for people in Western Massachusetts to make pronouncements when they will bear very little of the consequences of illegal immigration.  So I hesitate to say this but - c'mon - this is not a national emergency.  This is not terrorists slamming 747s into the World Trade Center; it's the typical level of border crossings that have existed forever.  There's nothing extraordinary about it.

Speaking as someone who has warmed up to Trump, this "emergency" smells like something cooked up to save face and it sets a terrible precedent.

Extra - This Trump tweet aged really well.

More - The Corner: "Courts Should Not Defer to Trump’s National-Security Pretext."

"The truth is more complicated"

Oh, fer sure, fer sure.  Twitchy: "‘Ready at the drop of a hat’: NYT gets to work carrying Kamala Harris’ bong water." 

You've let him down, Virginia

National Review: "Ralph Northam Has Nobody to Blame but Himself."

In the Post interview, Northam spoke as if the citizens of his state had done something terrible, and needed to make amends:

“It’s obvious from what happened this week that we still have a lot of work to do. There are still some very deep wounds in Virginia, and especially in the area of equity,” he said. “There are ongoing inequities to access to things like education, health care, mortgages, capital, entrepreneurship. And so this has been a real, I think, an awakening for Virginia. It has really raised the level of awareness for racial issues in Virginia. And so we’re ready to learn from our mistakes.”

What’s this “we” stuff?

Sensitivity training for all!

Unexpectedly, Republicans pounce!

Investor's Business Daily: "The Press Needs More Than A Super Bowl Ad To Fix Its Plunging Credibility."

This follows the NY Times parody headline: "Ocasio-Cortez Team Flubs A Green New Deal Summary, And Republicans Pounce."  There's only Republican scandals and Democrat scandals that Republicans seize on for political advantage.

And this - "The only problem with left-wing antisemitism is it might help Republicans"  Yup, the New York Times again.

Oh, Kamala

National Review: "Report: Harris Backed Policy of Reporting Arrested Juvenile Aliens to ICE."

During her time serving as San Francisco district attorney, Senator Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) supported a policy that required local law enforcement to report the arrest of juvenile illegal immigrants to federal immigration authorities.

Harris, who as a 2020 presidential contender has cast herself as an advocate for illegal immigrants, in 2008 publicly supported then-mayor Gavin Newsom’s implementation of a policy that required local law-enforcement officers to report the arrest of illegal juvenile aliens suspected of committing a felony, regardless of whether they were ultimately convicted.

Kamala was just trying to please her man.

Liz Warren launches campaign

Here's an exclusive picture of Liz Warren's presidential campaign launch:

I've heard that before

Via Instapundit: "Gabriel Malor: “This week we learned that blackface isn’t disqualifying for Democratic politicians, and plagiarism isn’t disqualifying for elite journalists.”

Ah, but the question should also be: is plagiarism disqualifying for Democratic politicians? 

Mistakes were made

It's delicious watching the former editor of the New York Times caught in a plagiarism scandal over her book on the fake news.  Althouse: "Jill Abramson, caught and waffling."

We're all gonna (yawn) die

Manhattan Contrarian: "The Climate Scare: Ever More Shrill, Ever Less Serious."  "Do you think that the Dems would bring in a few serious scientists to prove their case?  Don’t kid yourself.  The majority’s witnesses were two politicians, a clergyman, a climate activist, and a 16 year old."  Oh, they have the best feelz.  (Hat tip: Maggie's Farm).

Pressure building in Virginia

Guess who's going to be the first out the door for Virginia's "blackface" problem.  Twitchy: "Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, & others call on Justin Fairfax to resign."

Extra - From Instapundit.  

Bartenders! Is there anything they can't do?

If you can mix a mai tai, you can redesign the laws of economics and physics

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) February 7, 2019

La-la-la Lola

Ha-ha, my Google Play started to play the Kinks' "Lola" with the parenthetical "(Mono 'Cherry Cola' Single Version.)"

Which leads to a favorite bit of music trivia: in the original version Ray Davies sings "Coca Cola" but the BBC has a strict ban on commercial names, so:

The BBC banned the track for a different reason. The original song recorded in stereo had the word "Coca-Cola" in the lyrics, but because of BBC Radio's policy against product placement, Ray Davies was forced to make a 6000-mile round-trip flight from New York to London and back on June 3, 1970, interrupting the band's American tour, to change those words to the generic "cherry cola" for the single release, which is included on various compilation albums as well.

Davies: "...cherry cola".  "OK, Ray, we're done here."

Situational standards for fact-checking

Federalist: "The State Of American ‘Fact-Checking’ Is Completely Useless" - "With a veneer of impartiality, fact-checkers engage in a uniquely dishonest style of partisanship."

Thank heaven Trump was corrected in his "one-in-three" claim when it was really only 31%.

Learn to code

Fox News: "Kayleigh McEnany says Instagram removed her Elizabeth Warren post for 'harassment or bullying'"

Aw, this was barely 1/1024 of a bullying.

#Believecertainsurvivors

NPR: "Woman Alleging Sexual Assault By Virginia's Lt. Gov. Hires Washington Law Firm."

The same one hired by fabulist Christine Blasey Ford.  The first lesson will be to develop a quivering voice and talk like a scared toddler.

Extra - Daily Wire: "The Washington Post’s Bias In Running With Flimsy Accusations Against Kavanaugh And Not Fairfax Is Even Worse Than We Thought."

I can't think of a single example

Twitchy: "‘Has this ever happened before?’ Was Justin Fairfax literally born yesterday?"

Poor guy can't believe he's being attacked over uncorroborated sexual assault allegations.

Extra - Federalist: "Washington Post Displays Glaring Double Standard When Reporting Sexual Assault Claims."

Power Line: "Funny how the Post didn’t apply that same standard of review to Brett Kavanaugh, but of course he’s a Republican so shut up."

Patriots win!

The New England Patriots are now tied with the Steelers for the most Super Bowl wins (6).

The Patriots subreddit is gonna be LIT tonight.

Classic:

Super Bowl tomorrow!

Seen outside Boston:

Because of course they did

This is an apple.  Newsbusters: "CNN Mislabels Racist Democrat Governor Northam as a Republican."

Related - Twitchy: "Journos wonder why GOP oppo research didn’t dig up Northam blackface pics, everybody else wonders why the media didn’t."

We missed our chance to pounce!

Low expectations in Newark

I loved the unintentional humor of this line from an article about Cory Booker:

In Newark, Booker beat the corrupt old guard and became the first mayor in 45 years to leave office without being indicted.

Wow!  Let's skip the election.