The Ponzi scheme winds down

Reason: "Shaky Social Security Trust Fund May Run Out in 11 Years" - "Are you ready for 30 percent cuts in benefits to keep the program alive?"  

Squinting at the teleprompter

Legal Insurrection: "Joe Biden’s BIG LIE About Republican Voter Suppression Is About Busting The Legislative Filibuster" - "Biden blabbering about “the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War” is just an excuse to curtail liberty and destroy voting integrity."

First of all, I'm well on-record predicting there will be no change to the legislative filibuster.  Not gonna happen.  So we can skip that concern.

Second, after reading several accounts of "Biden's" speech, I'm struck by how exactly nobody thinks he had a hand in writing a single word.  The vast consensus is that his handlers pushed him on stage to read some words, with the promise of a pudding after he's done.

Eventually, the media will run out of questions on ice cream flavors

American Greatness: "The Democrats’ Topsy-Turvy Spin Machine - The media can’t cover for Joe Biden’s “Gong Show” administration indefinitely."

Everything appears to be topsy-turvy: the chairman of the joint chiefs and the chairman of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, made almost identical statements about critical race theory. The Democrats now claim the Republicans are the ones who wished to defund the police, and now they suddenly have discovered the virtue of voter identification, which, up until yesterday, they had been shrieking from the roof-tops was tantamount to the restoration of slavery. Apparently, it’s not Jim Crow after all. 

The media are so absurdly partisan they will try to allow the Democrats a free pass across the barricades on those issues. But the accumulating disasters for the Biden Administration will not be entirely absorbed by the (agonizingly slow) return to work of Americans after COVID and the miracle of the Warp Speed vaccine development, (for which Trump must receive no credit). The media can’t cover for this “Gong Show” administration indefinitely, but I must admit they have lasted longer than I expected, given their invertebrate response to almost everything else. 

Speaking of accumulating disasters: "Inflation surges to 13-year high."  

Minority rights

Red State: "Texas Democrats Decide to Play a Ridiculous Game of Chicken They Can't Win."

I'm so confused: is it the right of a minority to thwart the majority OK or not?  It's a binary question.

Tone deaf

Fox News: "Kamala Harris slammed for claiming rural Americans can't photocopy their IDs - The vice president tried to back her claim by saying rural communities don't have Kinkos or OfficeMax."

Do you know where I make my photocopies?  On my 20-year-old HP scanner/printer.

She's a piece of work.

Extra - From Twitchy. 

Afghan skedaddle

Althouse, quoting a CNN story: ""On Thursday President Joe Biden spoke in defense of his ill-considered, hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan, in remarks peopled with straw men and littered with false assertions."

One of these assertions is that, even though Biden has reversed dozens of Trump policies, gosh-darn-it he just can't reverse the agreement Trump made with the Taliban.

Speaking of which: "Joe Biden’s Nonsensical Claim That the Afghan Army Can Handle the Taliban from Here."  

Extra - Instapundit: "This is from Biden-friendly CNN, so you know it’s bad." 

Already over the Olympics

Reason: "With Spectators Banned, Tokyo Olympics Look Like an Even Bigger Money Pit."

Ugh.  I really have no interest in watching the woman's gymnastic team 20/7.

Conversations from Vox SJWs on race

This video showed up on my recommended YouTube videos: "Worst Vox Video EVER?"  I was intrigued.  It was a group of self-important, mid-20s people from Vox doing the only thing they ever do when it comes to the subject of race: self-flagellation.

Except for the black guy who said, no, it's not racist to want to date people from your same race.  "You like who you like."  Good for you, buddy.

Otherwise, what I absolutely loved and sent my head nodding up-and-down was when the host noted that there are always conversations about having conversations on race.  We need to acknowledge our sins and come together to have a real conversation.  We need to look past our biases and have that conversation.

One problem: we never have that conversation.

Anyway, check it out.  Well done, dude.

A Democrat must be President

Daily Wire: "‘Did A Money Printer Write This?’: CNBC Mocked For Saying That ‘Rising Wages’ Are A ‘Silver Lining’ Of Inflation."  

What kind of dirt does Putin have on Biden?

Wasn't this the same question asked every time Trump didn't threaten nuclear war?  Hot Air: "Washington Post: Putin isn't listening to President Biden on ransomware attacks so it's time to act."

Don't worry: Sleepy Joe will be checking his cheat sheets to see what to do.

Don't act surprised

Federalist: "When Stores Close Due To Rising Crime, Urban Blight Is Back — And It Will Get Worse."

How's the gaslighting business, Jen?

Fox News: "Washington Post gives White House 'Three Pinocchios' for claiming Republicans are defunding police."

This guy does a great job explaining the plot twist: 

Happy Fourth of July!

Enjoy a hot dog and some baseball, America.

While the U.S. media hides the decline

Daily Wire: "Foreign Media Skewer Joe Biden As ‘Barely Cogent,’ ‘Bizarre’." 

Ermergawd, Joe got ice cream again!

The internal polling must be horrific

Twitchy: "‘This is unbelievable’: Jen Psaki dials the ‘defund the police’ gaslighting up to eleven (again)."

Trying to think of another time where a sizable constituency in a party demanded something so politically toxic that party leaders said it was the other side’s idea all along https://t.co/irVmLYqTR7

— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) July 3, 2021

More Kamala leaks?

Red State: "Dems Leak More Fears About Kamala for the Future."

What's going on here?  Is this just disgruntled staffers or something more?  Some have suggested that the answer to cui bono is Jill Biden who (allegedly) has a frosty relationship with Kamala.  

This is good news, too

Wall Street Journal: "U.S. Added 850,000 Jobs in June Labor Rebound - Increase in jobs was the strongest since last August, as more Americans joined the labor force." 

Good news!

Babylon Bee: " Man Spending $5 A Gallon On Gas Excited To Learn He Will Save $0.16 On Cheese This Year."

ICYMI: "The White House wants you to know that your July 4th cookout will cost $0.16 less than last year."  

DOJ case against GA probably DOA

Power Line: "Supreme Court delivers major blow to Dems' campaign against state election laws."

The Department of Justice case against Georgia's election law was already ridiculous and now the Supreme Court has telegraphed it has no basis in law. 

Token in waiting

Politico: "‘Not a healthy environment’: Kamala Harris’ office rife with dissent." 

Gosh, I can't believe the California candidate who dropped out before the Iowa caucus would be accused of ineptness.  /sarc

The unserious and dying media

Shot - Fox News: "CNN, MSNBC's ratings collapse due to 'serious credibility problem' covering Biden, experts say."

Chaser - "Journalist" getting in the hard-hitting questions at Joe Biden's latest ice-cream run: "You're not getting any rocky road for infrastructure?"

Hangover - "Jake Tapper’s CNN Fear-Porn Show Lost 75 Percent Of Its Audience Since January." 

Ignore her

Hot Air: "Dan Crenshaw: Gwen Berry should be kicked off the U.S. Olympic team."

Can we not do this?  Look: she made her grand gesture and it's probably the last time we'll ever see her.

It's not funny but it's kinda funny

Look at the sign language translator behind Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot when she's asked about a couple killed execution-style.  At the 50 second mark.  

William Inge and Yogi Bear hardest hit

NY Post: "Joyce Carol Oates slams Brandeis University over ban on ‘picnic,’ other words."

Headline says it all

NY Post: "Kamala Harris doesn’t actually visit border, says nothing of substance, leaves — it was all theater."  

Box checked. 

Butt-hurt over the failure of HR1

Andrew McCarthy: "Biden Lawsuit against Georgia Election Law Illustrates Radicalism of DOJ and Its Civil Rights Chief." - "As our Caroline Downey reports, the Justice Department will today announce that it is suing Georgia over the latter’s election-integrity law. This is ridiculous. The law provides for voting far more extensive than the Constitution’s minimal standards, and well beyond what, about five minutes ago, were state-law norms. The lawsuit is yet another sign, as if we needed one, that the Biden Justice Department is the Obama DOJ 2.0, an activist tool that puts the awesome law-enforcement power of the federal government in the service of woke progressivism."  

It's funny because of the truthiness

Babylon Bee: "Biden Says Latinx Aren't Getting Vaccinated Because Their Giant Sombreros Make It Impossible To Enter Pharmacies."  

Unsurprising and so satisfying

There it is, American media: you're the worst.  The absolute worst: "U.S. Has Lowest Trust of Media In 46 Countries Surveyed, According to Reuters Institute Report."

Remember how after Trump surprised everybody and you guys were going to engage in some introspection?  For example, this New York Times article on November 9th, 2016: "How Did the Media — How Did We — Get This Wrong?"

Mr. Rutenberg had just finished writing about how the media had missed Mr. Trump’s wide appeal, and what that misfire says about journalists’ flawed understanding of major swaths of our country.

You guys were going to have a corn dog at the Iowa State Fair and rub elbows (the suede elbows on your tweed jackets) with the NASCAR fans.  But soon you fell back on your insular, hive-mind, bi-coastal ways and here we are.  Or rather, there you are.  At the bottom.

You earned this, American media.

We have GOT to figure out what’s wrong with these people! Readers and viewers, obviously. This should spark absolutely no introspection for anyone else. https://t.co/5GPOkvbNDv

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) June 23, 2021

Checking the box

Hot Air: "House Dem: This Harris border visit is a joke, you know."  Yeah, we know. 

Buckhead pulls on to the off-ramp

PJ Media: "Atlanta May Be Headed for a Final Divorce as Communities Nationwide Seek to Redraw the Lines."

Buckhead, a portion of Atlanta, Georgia, is looking to break free from the rest of a city in rapid decline. After decades of increased safety that started ahead of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, it took one woman and a single summer to ruin it. Not even New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio can beat Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ time for running a city into the ground. It took de Blasio two terms. Bottoms has been so spectacular she’s announced she won’t even run for a second one.

The stories of runaway crime are shocking, just violent assaults without a robbery motive.

Free speech, baby

Fox News: "Supreme Court rules school wrong to punish cheerleader for profane Snapchat rant in 8-1 free speech decision."

I'm a bit surprised that Clarence Thomas was the dissenting vote in this case.

Extra - "Stay classy, ACLU."  

As predicted, Kamala fails

Aside from handling the border crisis, Kamala Harris was given the job of moving the "For the People" act through the Senate.  She botched it.  And I'm not saying it was easy but it would have been a moral victory to peel off a single Republican and call it a bipartisan win.  Instead, it's obvious that Kamala backed away from her assignment and did absolutely nothing.

Hot Air had an article this morning about how the Left is noticing that Biden and Harris don't do much:

Did progressives even notice how Biden and Kamala Harris campaigned for their jobs last year? Biden restricted himself to tightly controlled appearances with very few people in attendance, and Harris didn’t get out much more than that. At the time, we assumed this was a political version of Mohammed Ali’s “Rope-a-Dope,” forcing the media to cover Trump rather than Biden. Strategy or not, it succeeded.

Since inauguration, however, Biden has barely changed this strategy — hiding from the media until forced into the open. It took more than two months for Biden to hold his first open press conference, and then didn’t do another until his G-7 trip and summit with Putin last week. He’s back in the White House now and hasn’t popped out to test his shadow since. It’s not that Biden and Harris aren’t using their bully pulpits to lead on the progressive agenda — it’s that they’re not leading at all.

Joe is an old dude.  What's Kamala's excuse, other than her unalloyed ineptness (see: her campaign.)?  She's just so bad at her job.  

This video is wild

Hot Air: "WaPo video: Here's how to understand your whiteness."

I can't fathom the mindset of these self-loathing white women.  It's Racial Stockholm Syndrome.

On the other hand are the American parents who are not insane: "The Backlash against Critical Race Theory Is Real"

Some of these approaches will be more effective — and more appropriate — than others, but, they are all now inevitable. They will not be stopped by academic sophistry. They will not be stopped by epithets and insults. And they certainly will not be stopped by professional pococurantists who simply refuse to believe that anyone could possibly care about the matter at all.

I had to look up pococurantist, too.

Defund NPR and CRT

This morning I was on the road and heard this tripe on NPR: "Understanding The Republican Opposition To Critical Race Theory."  Short summary: we're all a bunch of backward hicks for opposing Critical Race Theory (CRT) and - gosh darn it - we just don't understand it:

SPRUNT: You'll also hear some Republican lawmakers and media outlets say, you know, this theory is unpatriotic. It tells white people that they're racist, you know, just for being white, when, of course, the actual theory itself is about institutions, not individuals.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right. It's about the systems that are in play and how that has actually created more difficulties for Black and brown people.

Oh, heavens no, we're not attacking white people, just systemic racism.  Ben Shapiro has several videos where he asks the question: "What system?  What institution?"  But there's never an answer.  "Systemic racism" exists as a Schrodinger's Cat of social systems, both existing yet unprovable.

But remember: we're the uneducated rubes in this morality play, duped by those puppet masters at Fox News.

Noah Rothman has an article in Commentary saying the backlash against CRT is real and it's spectacular (excerpt on Instapundit):

The idea that conservatives did anything more than notice this mania is laughable. The legislative efforts on the local level, some of which flirt with violating civic and constitutional propriety, deserve skepticism because this reckoning is entirely organic. Right-wing overreach threatens that emerging consensus. But Republicans should take heart in how Democrats are trying to convince themselves that none of this is real, and no serious person questions the validity of CRT’s sudden ubiquity. They’ll never see it coming.

Americans are a tolerant group and they'll put up with a lot of stuff they don't necessarily agree with.  That is, until you get to their kids.  Then, brother, the gloves are off. 

Also: defund NPR.  Enough is enough.

Virtue signalling is a hell of a drug

Meanwhile, here in the Pioneer Valley, the Amherst-Northampton nexus of white liberals is up to their old tricks: "A price tag on trauma? Amherst weighs Black reparations."

I'm quite sure this effort is going nowhere fast since nobody - from Cori Bush to Ta-Nahesi Coates - has ever been able to articulate a plan for reparations.  Even the aggrieved former professor in the MSN story shrugs his shoulders and suggests they rename an office for him.

Related - Legal Insurrection: "Eleven U.S. Mayors Call For Paying Reparations In Their Cities" - "But have no idea how the money will be paid."  

Headline of the Day

Reason: "U.S. Space Force Finds 30 Kilos of Cocaine While Looking for Sea Turtles."  

Putin wins again

I'm sure Sleepy Joe gave Putin a real tongue-lashing before caving in.  Hot Air: "White House temporarily halts $100 million weapons sale to Ukraine."  

Even if this was planned or simply standard policy, why make this move less than a week after meeting with Putin?  C'mon, man!

He ain't getting any younger

Jim Treacher: "Joe Biden Is Too Old to Be President - We all know it"

Here's your "when you've lost CNN" moment: "CNN’s Jeff Zeleny says he’s never seen a president so protected by his aides as Joe Biden."  That explains why Dementia Joe has had a grand total of (checks notes) one formal press conference.

This was the end result of his blow-up at Kaitlin Collins: "Biden Gets No Pudding Cup Today As Punishment For Taking A Question."  

Leave Sleepy Joe alone!

This tweet is a near-perfect encapsulation of media bias:  

It’s so perfect I can’t stop laughing pic.twitter.com/IfmuwDssw2

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) June 16, 2021

Commenting is back on

Wow, my buddy Roger asked about commenting and, honestly, I wasn't aware it was turned off.  I had an...incident some time ago and I think my caretaker must have turned off comments.

Anyway, have at it.

But good intentions, part 2

Reason: "Study Finds Biden's American Jobs Plan Would Result in Fewer American Jobs - It’s a jobs plan that isn’t about jobs, and an infrastructure plan that isn’t about infrastructure." 

At least we'll have plenty of inflation. 

But good intentions

The Corner summarizes a study comparing the behavior of businesses in California and Texas with regard to minimum wage workers: "Unintended Consequences of a Minimum-Wage Hike."

Interestingly, as the minimum wage crept up in California relative to Texas, stores in the Golden State did not measurably reduce the number of employee hours they paid for. What they did, instead, was to spread those hours around: hire more workers, but have each employee work fewer hours.

What’s the advantage of doing this? Well, as the authors note, “workers have to work at least 20 hours per week on average to be eligible for retirement benefits and work at least 30 hours per week for employer-sponsored health insurance based on the [Affordable Care Act].” They estimate that stores can save roughly a quarter of the cost of the higher wages simply by getting out of contributing to these benefits.

In addition, the reduced hours per employee were more erratic as businesses tried to hold workers below the benefit threshold. 

Full docket

Volokh Conspiracy: "SCOTUS will decide 18 cases in the next two weeks" - "Trump is out of office. Justice Barrett replaced Justice Ginsburg. And there is an actual presidential commission considering Court Packing. And almost every outstanding case will turn right. Red June lies ahead."  

You done messed up, Tom Hanks

Did you think you could escape the Wokeness Apocalypse?  Wrong, Forrest Gump; it's never enough.

Sleepy media for Sleepy Joe

Washington Examiner: "Most of the media will sleep through the Biden years." - "No wonder Pulitzer-Prize-winning investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald calls the legacy media “stenographers for the state.” Press coverage of Biden isn’t just soft. It’s the least critical of any president in the past three decades, according to a study by nonpartisan think tank Pew Research Center."

I can think of a couple reasons for this aside from the media's typical bias.  Tapioca Brains can barely perform his minimal duties before Jill needs to lead him away by the elbow.  It's cruel to criticize a man who doesn't know what's going on half the time.  So the media calls a lid.

Extra - Twitchy: "Joe Biden's presser is just a hot mess."  "120 days," he growled, then fled.

Only ten?

Michael Goodwin: "My Top 10 media lies."  

Je suis Charlie

Reason: "The World Loves Free Speech—Except When They're Offended" - "Americans oppose restrictions, but report feeling less free to speak about political matters."  

Not surprising at all

Ace: "Surprise! The Leftwing Propaganda Media Is Bitterly Clinging To Their "Trump Ordered Tear Gas" Narrative, and Inventing Conspiracy Theories to Explain Away the Authoritative IG Report."  

Extra - Babylon Bee: "CNN Forced To Reset 'Days Since Trump Was Proven Right' Counter To Zero Again." 

She tweeted, unhindered

Hot Air: "Tlaib on Dems' rebuke of Omar: "Freedom of speech doesn't exist for Muslim women in Congress"

It's almost like they don't know what to do if they can't be victims.

Here's the pattern: Omar traffics in anti-semitism, provokes outrage, postures as a victim, walks it back, and is immediately praised by Democratic leadership. No consequences. Wash, rinse, repeat. https://t.co/IGn5RLpKoH

— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) June 10, 2021

There shall be many mea culpas

Haha - JK - there shalln't.

Ace: "Finally The Truth Comes Out: No, President Trump Did Not Order the Park Service to Clear Out the "Protesters" With Tear Gas to Do a Photo Op."  

The Ralph Northam standard of absolution

Shot: "The New York Times Helped a Vindictive Teen Destroy a Classmate Who Uttered a Racial Slur When She Was 15."

Chaser: "Leaked text messages show Hunter Biden dropping the N-word in casual conversation with his white lawyer."  

You're not going to move Manchin

Hot Air: "Breakdown: Biden ends talks with Capito over infrastructure".  Here's a take:

My half-baked cloak-and-dagger theory is that Biden tanked the negotiations deliberately, to put more pressure on Manchin at a moment when he’s already under tremendous pressure from the left to figure out a way to pass their agenda along partisan lines. The sooner he shows Manchin that the GOP won’t agree to anything, the sooner Manchin has to decide once and for all if he’s movable on doing things by a simple majority or if this is how it’s going to go for the rest of Biden’s presidency.

Honestly I don't know where people think this magical "pressure" is going to come from.  The dude has made his opinion on both the filibuster and reconciliation crystal-clear in speech and writing.  Repeatedly.

Chuck Schumer can't bring any pressure on Manchin.  The moment he does, Manchin could flip Republican and Chuckie is back to bring minority leader.  Nobody in West Virginia is putting pressure on Manchin to cave to the Democrats.  

The media and Democrats (I repeat myself) can't move Manchin.  He doesn't give a s--t.  

AOC's abuela is still poor

Jim Treacher: "AOC = Abjure Offered Cash"

AOC has yet to make a public statement about any of this, and I doubt any “journalists” will pursue it because they don’t want to embarrass her. What is she supposed to say? Her attempt to leverage her family’s problems for political ends was brilliantly exposed as a cheap stunt, and she can hardly condemn the people who raised a ton of money to help her grandma.

Congratulations to Matt Walsh at the Daily Wire for figuring out how to get AOC to finally shut up: Try to help her.

I've pretty much stopped writing about AOC because - let's face it - she's low-hanging fruit.  She's a deeply dumb person who, nonetheless, keeps shooting off her mouth and inviting ridicule.  When she's backed into a corner, she deploys one of two defenses: 1) you don't understand our culture and 2) I used to be a bartender.  Matt Walsh's trolling perfectly exposed her game.

And, no, the media won't ask her any questions.  Not poor Sandy. 

Nothing outside the State

Red State: "AOC's Family Rejects Generous Matt Walsh Fundraiser to the Tune of $100,000."

It is way more important for AOC to keep her dear abuela as a prop for the narrative that help can only come from the government.

Very revealing, indeed.

Victimhood is currency. https://t.co/tr1oNWlZxp

— PragerU (@prageru) June 5, 2021

Fauci is a fraud

Real Clear Markets: "Believe Your Own Eyes About Fauci E-Mails, Not the Fact Checkers." 

Trolling level: Legend

Daily Caller: "Matt Walsh’s Campaign To Save Ancestral Home Of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s Abuela Raises More Than $10,000 In One Hour."

I just checked the GoFundMe page and it's up to almost $92,000.  Dios mio.  

Slowly, so slowly, the light dawns

Twitchy: "‘Purely coincidental’?: Biden admin. changes its tune after lackluster jobs report."

After news that the labor participation rate dropped last month, certain lucid members of the Biden administration are admitting the obvious that paying people to stay home isn't working out. 

Stunning and brave

Federalist: "Biden Promises To Fly Gay Pride Flags ‘Around The World,’ Except Where Homosexuals Are Being Persecuted."  

It really isn't

Twitchy: "New York Times’ Ben Smith finds it ‘really amazing’ how the media mostly looked away from the lab-leak theory."

These no-talent ass clowns never learn.  You'd think the shock of the 2016 election and a breathless year of "Russia! Russia! Russia!" would force these dopes into some introspection.  Instead, they seem to have doubled down on woke.  They found a hero in Anthony Fauci because he was not Trump and mortgaged their credibility:

While the propagandist media is busy fawning over Fauci as some sort of superhuman godlet who was single-handedly battling WuFlu in some kind of one-man cage match against President Trump and the Wuhan coronavirus, these emails reveal a startling truth. They tell the story not just of Fauci’s blatant, politically-motivated lies to the public but also the great lengths the legacy media and Big Tech went to shut down any discussion of the virus’s origins or mask use efficacy. It was not about stopping the spread of “misinformation” but was a calculated political ploy to shut down the truth.  But we knew that.  And now we have proof.

Legal Insurrection’s very own Leslie, in her extensive coverage of the virus, posted reports that COVID-19 may have originated in a Chinese lab in March 2020. Such statements were deemed “misinformation” and banned from YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Oops.

Ben Smith is now the media critic at the New York Times and this happened on his watch:

Last week [July 2020], the Times ran a story about a 30-year-old Texas man who believed COVID-19 was a hoax and contracted the disease at a “COVID party” before dying. Every detail of the story was uncorroborated, which made it exactly the kind of urban legend that moral panics produce. Though it was viral on social media, because it confirmed all the prejudices of the Times’s energized liberal readership, the Times began to edit the story as it was criticized here in National Review and in Wired. The entire tone of the story went from credulous to skeptical, but you wouldn’t have noticed the difference if you hadn’t been paying close attention, because no editor’s notes were appended to it announcing the changes. The Times has begun “stealth editing” its stories in this manner more and more lately, effacing the traditional journalistic ethic that seeks to keep an intact record not just of the news, but of how the reporting of the news evolves.

I've highlighted the very important part to explain how narrative has supplanted fact in the media.  "Amazing," Ben?  Nope, it's the all-too-predictable result of the hive mentality in the Bubble.

Also doomed: the entire Democrat agenda

Big news via Hot Air: "Senate parliamentarian all but quashes new attempt at reconciliation."

Put briefly, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the Democrats already used their one "get out of filibuster free" card and can't use it again until the next fiscal year.

Looks like Mitch McConnell is back in charge.

Haha, now we know it's doomed

Hot Air: "Biden: I'm putting Kamala Harris in charge of getting voting rights legislation passed through Congress."

The obvious question is: will Kamala make the long journey to the Senate?

Memorial Day

Sen. Tom Cotton: "Memorial Day honors courage, sacrifice of greatest champions of liberty in history."

Let's hear it for the 14th amendment, too

Federalist: "Federal Court Strikes Down Race-Based Restaurant Bailouts In Biden’s COVID-19 Spending Bill."

This rule is so obviously a violation of the equal protection clause that I can't believe the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals split 2-1 on the decision.  But then I never thought a Supreme Court justice could come to the conclusion a baker could be forced to decorate a cake.

Freedom of speech, baby

This is a really excellent article: "Answers to 12 Bad Anti-Free Speech Arguments: Featuring That XKCD Cartoon Everyone Likes to Quote!"  

A confederacy of bootlickers

American Greatness: "Fawning Media Gets a Big Scoop on Biden’s Favorite Ice-Cream" - "When given a rare opportunity to question Joe Biden on any number of critical issues facing the nation—the crisis at the southern border, inflation, the Wuhan lab leak, skyrocketing gas prices, and rising crime rates, to name a few—the fawning corporate media on Thursday opted to grill him about his choice of ice cream instead."

It's funny because it's believable - Babylon Bee: "Reporters Cheer As Biden Takes Huge Bite Out Of Microphone Mistaking It For Ice Cream."  

It's inflation

PJ Media: "A Terrifying Omen For America Under Biden Becomes Even Worse."  

The narrative rules at the NY Times

Volokh Conspiracy: "Another Example of Why the New York Times is Not a Trustworthy Source" - "The Times doesn't even pay attention to its own reporting when it doesn't suit the narrative, in this case that until this month, recent antisemitic violence was largely a Trump-related phenomenon." 

Assemble the social workers

NY Post: "Atlanta councilman Antonio Brown, who voted to defund police, has car stolen."

Irony can be pretty ironic.

Alternate viewpoint

Red State: "Fox News' The Five Just Announced a Major, Permanent Departure"

It's Juan Williams who - I'll admit - I like.  While I disagree with him on most issues, he stands in the arena and defends his position. 

North to Alaska!

Reason: "A 135-Year-Old Maritime Law Is Stopping Cruise Ships From Returning to Alaska" - "President Biden signed a bill Monday that temporarily waives the regulation. Why not just repeal the law?"

Short version: Maritime law requires cruise ships to make at least one stop in a foreign country.  So if you take a cruise to Alaska, you're either going to depart from Vancouver or make a stop in Victoria.  But Canada was closing their ports due to covid and Congress passed a regulation waiver double-quick to get those cruise ships running again (both House and Senate passed on a voice vote).

Facts and "facts"

Matt Taibbi: "Fact-Checking" Takes Another Beating."  Concerning the origin of Covid:

The consensus was so strong that some well-known voices saw social media accounts suspended or closed for speculating about Covid-19 having a “lab origin.” One of those was University of Hong Kong virologist Dr. Li-Meng Yan, who went on Tucker Carlson’s show last September 15th to say “[Covid-19] is a man-made virus created in the lab.” After that appearance, PolitiFact — Poynter’s PolitiFact — gave the statement its dreaded “Pants on Fire” rating.

Taibbi gives a defense of fact-checkers but also correctly notes they bent the truth if it meant giving Trump an ounce of credit. 

Running out of other people's money

American Institute for Economic Research: "The War on Retirement"

Ironically, this war on retirement began with Social Security in 1935. Rather than establishing a forced savings program wherein people would save money during their working years and have that money returned to them during retirement, the government established a Ponzi scheme wherein later participants paid off earlier participants. As with all Ponzi schemes, the program was sustainable only if there were more people paying into the system than were receiving benefits from it. By the early 1980s, too few people were paying in, and Congress fired its first salvo at retirees by making previously tax-free retirement benefits taxable. This tweak in the rules breathed new life into the Ponzi scheme, and Social Security reserves once again grew. But the scheme faltered again in 2010 and since then, Social Security has been paying out more than it brings in. Current estimates have the trust fund becoming insolvent by 2035.

To keep this bloated program afloat, Congress will eventually be forced to fire yet another salvo when it either raises workers’ taxes or reduces retirees’ benefits. And with each passing year this albatross around workers’ necks will become heavier.

The only way the Social Security Ponzi scheme could keep on running was if Americans keep pumping out kids to become workers paying into the system.  Yet birth rates have been steady declining for the last six years leading to this moment: "U.S. Birthrate Fell By 4% In 2020, Hitting Another Record Low."  

Social Security contains the seeds of its own demise.  In the aforementioned year of 2035, per current law, once the Trust Fund is depleted, benefits will be automatically cut by 25% since the program can only pay out benefits equal to income.  For a program that already has a negative rate of investment return (unless you live over 90), this benefit cut will really expose the house of cards.

It's a riot they can't figure this out

A laugh riot, of course.  Twitchy: "Authors of NY Times op-ed get some help diagnosing reasons for ‘rapid decline’ in BLM support last year." 

I'm really curious what accounts for the Democrats' (still) positive opinion of BLM.  Here's a group that has pulled in millions of dollars in contributions and the only investment they've made is real estate in Topanga Hils, California.  

"Learn to code" - Mushhead Joe

Babylon Bee: "Laid-Off American Construction Workers Dress Up As Russians In Hopes Of Getting Job On New Russian Pipeline."  

Nothingburgers for dinner again

The Week: "The enormous downside of another long, public Trump investigation that comes to nothing."

At present, it's not clear Trump himself will ever be prosecuted. Tuesday's news is zero guarantee he'll be charged, tried, convicted, or imprisoned. To my mind, with the information currently available to the public, telling the American people to expect Trump's prosecution is telling them to engage in fantasy.

Memeorandum hit count tonight: "Trump" 16, "Biden" 8. 

There he goes, plagiarizing again

Twitchy: "Joe Biden delivered the same line to Coast Guard grads as Ronald Reagan" 

Ronald Reagan, 77, versus Joe Biden, 78. pic.twitter.com/tDs1l1ke6d

— tsar becket adams (@BecketAdams) May 19, 2021

Today we're [spins wheel] wearing masks

Daily Beast: "Biden’s CDC Chief Keeps Changing Her Story—And Confusing Everyone."

We're in the very best of hands. 

NY AG tries to save CNN

Hot Air: "NY AG declares "criminal investigation" of Trump Organization."

We fervently await the minor tax infraction that will result in a fine.  Well, CNN does.

Extra - Red State: "Wake me when it's over."  

In Nancy Pelosi's America

Law Enforcement Today: "Walgreens has closed 17 stores in Nancy Pelosi’s police-defunded San Francisco due to ‘out of control’ shoplifting."

The San Francisco Chronicle story is behind a pay wall but there's this detail:

In fact, a shoplifting incident occurred right in front of San Francisco Chronicle writer Phil Matier, as he was working on a story about “rampant shoplifting” and Walgreens closures.

Matier reported:

“No sooner had the clerk spoken than a man wearing a virus mask walked in, emptied two shelves of snacks into a bag, then headed back for the door.

“As he walked past the checkout line, a customer called out, ‘Sure you don’t want a drink with that?’”

Somebody had the munchies.

Crackpot adjacent here in Gilead

Margaret Sullivan, the media correspondent for the Washington Post, wrote (or implied) that "the United States is on track to become functionally an authoritarian White Christian nationalist state in the very near future."  Charles C.W. Cooke was not amused: "Bravo, Washington Post, You’re Now Spreading the Beliefs of Crackpots."

This is sheer lunacy. It is gibberish. It is the sign of a diseased mind. And it matters, because it is being shared by Margaret Sullivan, who is not some random from Twitter, but the former public editor of the New York Times and the current media columnist for the Washington Post. That Sullivan considers these words to be worth spreading around is an indictment of her judgment and of her conception of the world around her.

In a similar vein, I keep reading stories and hearing drivel on NPR about how America is "drifting away from democracy" because Georgia asked voters to provide a social security number before receiving a mail-in ballot.  

These journalism clowns can't bear to think that they're merely pencil scribblers so they need to invent these scenarios where they're the brave frontline fighters against Christians and fascists.

Highly related - Kurt Schlichter: "The Media Hates You And Is Shocked That You Hate It Back."  Get bent, hacks.  

They can't quit Trump

Newsbusters: "America Declines, Media Obsess Over GOP Squabbles."

Sometimes I head over to Memeorandum which describes itself as: "an auto-generated summary of the stories that US political commentators are discussing online right now."  So I guess you can't blame the site for bias since it appears to be run by some algorithm.  When I'm there, I do a word search on "Trump" and one on "Biden."

I don't think there's been a single day that there are more "Biden" mentions than "Trump."  Even this morning, five months after Inauguration Day, there are 11 Trump mentions to 8 for Biden.  

It's a bizarre obsession for a guy who isn't tweeting and really not doing much newsworthy.  The media wanted him gone and please come back.

Ain't so tough without your Twitter, are you Sandy?

I realize that Congress is supposed to this place of tradition and decorum, but this Washington Post story warms my heart.  (Safe Hot Air link here).

Two Washington Post reporters witnessed Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) exit the House chamber late Wednesday afternoon ahead of Greene (Ga.), who shouted “Hey Alexandria” twice in an effort to get her attention. When Ocasio-Cortez did not stop walking, Greene picked up her pace and began shouting at her and asking why she supports antifa, a loosely knit group of far-left activists, and Black Lives Matter, falsely labeling them “terrorist” groups. Greene also shouted that Ocasio-Cortez was failing to defend her “radical socialist” beliefs by declining to publicly debate the freshman from Georgia. “You don’t care about the American people,” Greene shouted. “Why do you support terrorists and antifa?”

AOC scurried away from Greene without a word of retort and then her spokesperson said the matter would be referred to the House's Sergeant at Arms.

So, AOC, who never tires of calling people racist on Twitter, fascists on Instagram, and unAmerican on Twitch streams (I assume) doesn't want to confront that very real threat IRL.  LOL.

The hypocritical icing on the cake is that the "Defund the Police" girl ran to the coppers for protection.  Because their speech is violence but our violence is speech.

No comment

The Corner: "Democrats Finally Find Something They Don’t Want to Blame on Putin."  

Otherwise, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln

I meant to link this one yesterday.  Twitchy: "RCP’s Tom Bevan highlights how far the media (WaPo in this case) will go to ‘soften the blow of bad news for Biden’."

In short, the Washington Post said the highest rise in inflation since 2008 isn't so bad if you ignore food and gasoline.  Ya know, stuff people need to survive.  

Let's just remove a couple of key drivers of inflation so the number doesn't look as bad, shall we?

This kind of stuff drives me crazy. Media going out of its way to soften blow of bad news for Biden, when for 4 years they would, on a daily basis, do the opposite for Trump. pic.twitter.com/AErfpTt0fo

— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) May 12, 2021

Compliant press will comply some more

Federalist: "Biden White House Edits Administration Quotes Before Letting Reporters Publish Them."

Gaslighting for Silver Alert Joe

Hot Air: "NY Times gets ratioed after claiming there are 'no long lines' for gasoline."

Ace: "Gas Shortage Hits East Coast as Biden Administration and His Media Praetorian Chant "There Is No Gas Shortage"."

Fox News: "Colonial Pipeline gas shortages widen: State-by-State breakdown - Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia among hardest states hit with fuel outages."

CNBC: "Pipeline outage forces American Airlines to add stops to some long-haul flights."  

Oh, yeah, it's because of the diversity

Fox News: "NBC won't air 2022 Golden Globes."  In their official statement, NBC lied and said it was because they need to see "meaningful reform."  Because NBC cares.

It's totally, totally not due to this:

Extra - From Twitchy.  

This is what you voted for, Baltimore

City Journal: "Anatomy of a Crime Wave - Baltimore’s experiment with de-policing has been disastrous—and deadly."

A decade ago, Baltimoreans became lab rats in a fateful experiment: their elected officials decided to treat the city’s long-running crime problem with many fewer cops. In effect, Baltimore began to defund its police and engage in de-policing long before those terms gained popular currency.

This experiment has been an abject failure. Since 2011, nearly 3,000 Baltimoreans have been murdered—one of every 200 city residents over that period. The annual homicide rate has climbed from 31 per 100,000 residents to 56—ten times the national rate. And 93 percent of the homicide victims of known race over this period were black.

Whatever you do, Baltimore, don't stop voting for the same politicians who perpetuate the same policies, while running a side hustle.  Same with you, Chicago.  

It's a treadmill

Daily Wire: "Dave Chappelle: ‘No One Can Be Woke Enough’."  

Twitter white-knights for Jimmy Carter

Hot Air: "Twitter's take on a tweet by Donald Trump Jr. is really something special."

Ed Driscoll has it 100% correct here:

I’m assuming the young tykes who program Twitter’s “Trending Posts” are far too young to have been around in the 1970s, and have no knowledge about just how gloomy the Carter years were, with runaway inflation, unemployment, interest rates, gas prices, a defenestrated military and the infamous “malaise speech.” They just know he has a (D) after his name,  he’s not the Bad Orange Man, and his son must be wrong, so Carter must be defended.

Those of us who lived through survived Carter's presidency remember the misery index, gas lines, and American impotence with the hostages in Iran.  The kiddies only know he swung a hammer to build some houses.

By the way, for about a week the Mobil in Chicopee that I pass on my way to work had a sign out front that read: "Store open / NO GAS" and I thought I was back in 1979 again.

When your only tool is a hammer...

...every problem looks like a nail of more spending.

Ace: "More Fallout from Disastrous Jobs Report: Left Declares That The Only Problem Is That Democrats Aren't Spending Enough!"  

I read this morning that out of 79 financial analysts, only two predicted the job gain would be less than 800,000. 

Extra - Federalist: "April Job Numbers Are So Bad, CNBC Thought It Was A Typo."

Beneath the skin, we're all the same

Which is to say: nobody wants to pay taxes.  Yahoo: "50 Cent moves from New York to Houston months after tax rant."  Here's the short answer:

New York state top rate: 8.82%

Texas state top rate (and bottom rate): 0%

This reminds me of a story way back in 2000 when Venus Williams won the U.S. Open.  Then-President Bill Clinton called to congratulate her and Venus complained about paying taxes:

That's $800,000 before Uncle Sam takes his big bite. Which may be why when Bill Clinton called to offer his congratulations, this year's Grand Slam winner took the occasion to make a pitch for a tax cut. Her reasoning was impeccable. Recounting her conversation to the Los Angeles Times, Ms. Williams described it as follows: "He said, 'You really worked hard.' I said, 'See, I did work hard and I want to keep this for me. I'm a good citizen.' " She asked, "Can you lower my taxes, please?"

So unpatriotic.  

Better to keep your mouth shut and be counted a fool

Fox News: "Jen Psaki admits Biden taking impromptu reporter questions is ‘not something we recommend’."  

“All of this is very cultural revolution, very Stalin"

The struggle sessions will continue until morale improves.  Hot Air: "John McWhorter on how to respond to the woke: 'We need to start telling them no'."  

Mad Libs for race hustlers

Every major newspaper has one: the black columnist who writes the same column over and over and over.  The Boston Globe has the awful Renee Graham but the New York Times has Charles Blow who has extruded the next column on his assembly line of race grievance.  This one is called: "Is America a Racist Country?"

Spoiler alert: Blow says "yes."  These articles have become so boilerplate, they can be filled in like a Mad Libs page on a bad baseball team. 

Step One: "Can you believe this guy?" preaching to the choir:

Last Sunday, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina added himself to the long list of Republicans who have denied the existence of systemic racism in this country. Graham said on “Fox News Sunday” that “our systems are not racist. America’s not a racist country.”

Can you believe this white guy?  How can he, or Tim Scott, or Kamala Harris deny we live in a racist country?  C'mon!

Step Two: The history from 150+ years ago:

Eight of the first 10 presidents personally enslaved Africans. In 1856, the chief justice of the United States wrote in the infamous ruling on the Dred Scott case that Black people “had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

That's right: nothing - nothing at all - has changed since Dred Scott.  Not Brown v. Board of Education, not the Civil Rights Act, not the Fair Housing Act.  We're always living in the sin of Dred Scott.

Step Three: Hard evidence of systemic racism (just kidding):

So, what does it mean for a system to be racist? Does the appellation depend on the system in question being openly, explicitly racist from top to bottom, or simply that there is some degree of measurable bias embedded in those systems? I assert the latter.

He sure does.  Blow can't demonstrate there's any system or institution that is explicitly racist, so we're left to fall back on the old disparate outcome dodge.  It goes like this: if there are racial disparities, it can only be explained by racism.  See how easy it is!  It certainly explains why the NBA is 75% black: racism against white guys.

Every single article is exactly like this, but Blow insists we need a "genuine debate among honest intellectuals" because, in his mind, he's the honest intellectual in this drama.  Only a racist would say otherwise in the ultimate win-win.

There's knitting to be done

Victory Girls: "Kamala Gets Another Job She Won’t Do."  

It also works in Zoom meetings

Joe Biden loves him some science.  Hot Air: "Tapper to Anita Dunn: Hey, why is Biden still wearing a mask outdoors?"  

By the way, remember when Zombie Joe was telling us we only need to wear masks for 100 days - that's all he's asking?  

Update from the Pioneer Valley

The University of Massachusetts Wind Ensemble had a free concert in downtown Amherst today.  Somewhat surprisingly (to me), they started with the "Star-Spangled Banner" and in a crowd of >300 people, I think only three wannabe hippies remained seated.  

Don't worry: the press will highlight this double standard

Twitchy: "Remember what Biden said about travel restrictions from Asia when Trump was president? He’d like you to forget that now."  

It's a crisis, yo!

Byron York: "Joe Biden, crisis monger." - "Last night, in his address to a joint session of Congress, Biden outdid himself, using "crisis" or "crises" ten times as he tried to whip up a sense of urgency to support his massive spending proposals and accompanying tax increases."

Reason: "Biden Is Using the Pandemic as an Excuse for Permanent Expansions of Government Power" - "For Biden, the pandemic has become a catchall justification for a slew of big-government programs that he and the Democratic Party already wanted to pursue."  

That's why he wears that ridiculous mask every chance he gets: gotta keep the covid panic ginned up.