Reap that whirlwind

National Review: "Starbucks CEO: Progressive Cities ‘Have Abdicated Their Responsibility in Fighting Crime’."

Legal Insurrection: "Defunding the Police Has Backfired in Seattle as They Now Scramble to Hire More Cops."

Who could have seen this coming?  /sarc

"Cool bone saw, bro!"

Hot Air: "Biden: Saudis are lying and stop talking about our fist-bump."

This whole trip was ill-advised from the get-go.  The Saudis weren't going to raise oil production and, even if they could, they would likely spurn Biden for vowing to turn them into a "pariah" state.  Then, in exchange for nothing, MBS got the fist-bump photo-op he wanted.

No wonder Joe doesn't want to talk about it. 

Mildenhall

I saw that Air Force One is refueling at Mildenhall, UK today so it gives me an excuse to post this great Shins song:

Americans refuse to buy bad product

Axios: "News engagement plummets as Americans tune out." 

This dumpster fire Administration can't do anything right

Wall Street Journal: "Baby-Formula Shortage Deepens, Defying Replenishment Efforts - Out-of-stock levels remain high in U.S. stores: ‘Until those shelves are full, the crisis continues’."

And there's this: "Bidenflation pushes producer-price index up 11.3% in June."  Yeesh.  Time to break out the excuses.

C'mon, Jack!

Daily Wire: "Biden Dismisses Record-High Inflation News As ‘Out-Of-Date’."

Sri Lanka commits suicide

How it started: "Collapse of Sri Lanka Is a Failure of Leftism"

Sri Lanka, under the leadership of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, decided in April 2021 to become the world’s first all-organic country. The government banned the use of chemical fertilizers and banned their importation. The move was pitched as creating a self-reliant economy on the island nation and hailed as a great experiment in green policy-making. 

Milton Friedman said that if you put the government in charge of the Sahara Desert, there would be a sand shortage. What the Sri Lankan government has done is almost as unbelievable.

How it's going: "Sri Lanka president blocked by airport staff during attempt to flee country after protesters break into home."  

Not a surprise at all

Twitchy: "Ohio’s attorney general said his office has heard ‘not a whisper’ about a pregnant 10-year-old from Ohio."

Either this doctor failed to report a crime or she made up the story out of whole cloth.  Spoiler alert: it was the latter.

End of quote. Repeat the line.

Red State: "Even the New York Times is Now Amplifying Concerns About Biden's Age and Incoherence."

These people *never* think their tactics will boomerang

Twitchy: "AOC doesn’t understand the pearl-clutching over Kavanaugh protesters (her tweet also got flagged for misinformation)."

I, for one, am enjoying the fruits of Harry Reid's detonation of the nuclear option.

So that means the right can chase you out of a store or restaurant
It's all fair isn't that right?
You said it https://t.co/jRObpEC0Iu

— Conservative/Cowboy (@6988Cowboy) July 9, 2022

This story makes me so very, very happy

The Blaze: "Ratings hit rock bottom for Chuck Todd's 'Meet the Press'."

"Meet the Press" – the longest-running program on American television – had its worst ratings since Chuck Todd became the host in 2014, according to a new report.

"Meet the Press with Chuck Todd" recorded its lowest-rated quarter over the April-May-June period, according to Radar.

Extra super fun! - "Trust in news collapses to historic low." 

Sorry kid, regulations

Reason: "FDA Finally Admits It Caused the Baby Formula Shortage" - "The agency is now taking small steps to allow foreign formula manufacturers to import their goods into the U.S." 

When you allow your debating skills to atrophy

This was quite a post at Hot Air: "The overturning of Roe and the left's failure of imagination."  They never saw it coming and never felt the need to defend their position when condescension was so easily accessible:

Douthat piggybacked on that statement by noting the reason pro-choice people haven’t needed to debate the issue is that the entire culture was in lock-step agreement with them. Pro-lifers were just a sort of novelty they never had to really engage beyond a few talking points supplied by the abortion industry. He calls is a failure of imagination.

This is something I've touched upon repeatedly when I post "the Left hates free speech."  The Left doesn't deign to debate ideas with the other side when it's so much easier to just call them racist or sexist.  There's only one political side that regularly calls for censorship of cable news stations they find disagreeable or the deletion of ideas they deem hurtful or dangerous to Mother Earth.

In other words: shut up, they explained.

If the Left had the courage of their convictions, they'd be calling for debate at every turn.  They'd accept every opportunity to meet with conservative icons and put them in their place.  But not only do they refuse to acknowledge a differing viewpoint, they demand censorship. 

Rudderless, aimless and hopeless is no way to go through life, son

CNN: "After string of Supreme Court setbacks, Democrats wonder whether Biden White House is capable of urgency moment demands."

Top Democrats complain the President isn't acting with -- or perhaps is even capable of -- the urgency the moment demands.

"Rudderless, aimless and hopeless" is how one member of Congress described the White House.

Two dozen leading Democratic politicians and operatives, as well as several within the West Wing, tell CNN they feel this goes deeper than questions of ideology and posture. Instead, they say, it gets to questions of basic management.

Never mind asking if Joe Biden will be able to answer the 3 a.m. call.  He can't answer the 3 p.m. call; that's nap time.

Confidential informer

Townhall: "Will America Ever Find Out Who the Supreme Court Leaker Is?"

I'm surprised that they haven't identified this person considering there are only about 36 suspects (each Justice is allowed up to four clerks).  Conceivably, it could have been somebody in the photocopy room but I doubt it.

Say, they never did find out who leaked IRS tax returns either, did they? 

Probably Ron Klain

Hot Air: "Did a White House "intern" write the ridiculous gas station price hike tweet?" 

Happy Independence Day!

Now bake me a cake

Manhattan Contrarian: "There Are Two Fundamentally Irreconcilable Constitutional Visions."

Classic reference

Babylon Bee: "Running Short On Funds For A July 4th Barbecue, Man Opens The Family Safe To Retrieve The 16 Cents He Saved Last Year." 

Mr. "I won't blame others" does nothing but

The Corner: "The Long-Term Problem with Responding to a Crisis With Scapegoating."

If Biden’s message always seems to be some variation of, “I’d like to help, but other forces won’t cooperate, so there’s just not much I can do,” many voters are likely to respond, “if you can’t do anything to help with my problems… then what do we need you for?”

Yup.

Extra - Red State: "Biden's Numbers Hit Another All-Time Low While He Finds a New Target to Blame for Gas Prices." 

The show trial continues

Legal Insurrection: "Liz Cheney’s J6 Committee Show Trial Theatrics Are Further Exposed After ‘Concerning Messages’ Source Is Revealed" - “Cheney could have asked Hutchinson about [the messages] right then and there. But she instead chose to do the TV tease and leave everybody hanging.”

"Democrats aren't really this short-sighted, are they?"

Reason: "Abolishing the Filibuster To Protect Abortion Rights Would Clear the Way for Republicans To Ban Abortion." 

Back to the days of Jimmy Carter

The Corner: "On Top of All These Problems, an Economic Recession?"

There is a good chance that on the morning of July 29, the headline will be, “U.S. NOW IN RECESSION.”

Are there voters out there who will be more concerned about abortion, gun control, and the events of January 6? Sure. But those voters will be dwarfed by the number of voters who are irate about runaway inflation, high gas prices, high food prices, difficulty finding infant formula, lingering supply-chain problems, shrinking 401(k)s and the market, dwindling savings, and on top of all that, an economic recession.

Every day it seems to get worse and this Administration has no plans and nobody in charge. 

Of course he did

You'd think the press would call him out on this lie, but nah.  Fox Business: "Biden repeats false claim that US has lower inflation than rest of world." 

End of the quarter

Breitbart: "Stocks tumble into the worst first half in 50 years."

I usually calculate out my retirement savings on a quarterly basis but I can't do it today.  Too depressing.

How'd that visit with the funny man work out, Joey?

Twitchy: "Yikes! Latest polling data is ‘devastating for Biden’."

Golly, it's almost like Joey's laugh-up with Jimmy Kimmel didn't sit well with Americans facing record-high inflation: 

Sounds convincing

Babylon Bee: "Jan. 6 Committee Says Cassidy Hutchinson Told Them That She Heard Mark Meadows Say That A Secret Service Agent’s Friend’s Cousin’s Husband Once Heard That One Of Trump’s Other Aides Said She Thinks She Heard Him Say He Wanted To 'Do An Insurrection'." 

Now we know why this committee doesn't allow cross-examination of their witnesses. 

That was quick

Legal Insurrection: "Multiple Reporters: Secret Service to Dispute J6 Committee Star Witness." - "The January 6 Committee’s star witness’s testimony went up in flames almost as soon as she finished it." 

Your terms are acceptable

Timothy Carney has a good column called "Yes, liberals, please own the cons" which highlights how the Left continuously and willfully misrepresents the positions of the Right.  They get all their stereotypes from HuffPost comment boards:

Perhaps all of these commentators and operatives are really this ignorant. Perhaps they have never spoken to a pro-lifer about abortion and unwanted pregnancy, to a gun-rights activist about gun ownership, or to a school choice or religious-liberty champion about free exercise and school choice. The other possibility is that these public figures just enjoy stirring up hatred among their followers.

Neither explanation reflects well on any of them. And this, such as it is, is the inherent advantage that conservatives have in the culture wars. We are constantly exposed to the Left's views. They have been shoved down our throats for decades. We know and understand their arguments. Many on the Left are exposed only to caricatures of our views. They can't even conceive of the idea that there are other views.

We know our enemy better than they do.

This reminds me of a study performed where groups were asked to fill out a questionnaire based on their own beliefs and then how they thought somebody on the opposite side of the political spectrum would answer:

The results were clear and consistent. Moderates and conservatives were most accurate in their predictions, whether they were pretending to be liberals or conservatives. Liberals were the least accurate, especially those who described themselves as “very liberal.” 

Sounds like epistemic closure to me.

Word salad Kamala

Seriously, what is wrong with this woman?  Every time she opens her mouth, it's like the sound of a chainsaw cutting through a dictionary.  NY Post: "CNN gives Kamala Harris the easiest layup — and she still misses."

This is what I hear every time Kamala Harris speaks:

The Left hates free speech, a continuing series

Reason: "Supreme Court Says High School Coach's Postgame Prayers Are Protected Free Speech" - "A 6–3 majority sees it as noncoercive and not a violation of the Establishment Clause." 

Just go, Billie Joe

Gateway Pundit: "Washed Up Green Day Singer Says He’s Renouncing His US Citizenship Because of Supreme Court Decision on Roe v Wade."

Armstrong continued, “Oh, I’m not kidding, you’re going to get a lot of me in the coming days.”

Narrator: "He was kidding." 

Also, Billie Joe, you're old enough to join AARP.  Do you have to drop f-bombs in every other word you speak?  Grow up.

Treason

 

I come here to praise Harry Reid

The former Senate majority leader brought us to this moment by triggering the "nuclear option" on judicial nominees.  Hey Harry!  Aren't you worried the Republicans might gain control of the Senate and force through Supreme Court nominees?

REPORTER: “Aren’t you worried Republicans will just get rid of the filibuster on the Supreme Court anyway?”

REID: “Let ‘em do it! Why in the world we’d care? We were trying to protect everybody. I mean, if they want simple majority, fine. I mean all these threats, ‘we’re going to change the rules’ … As Senator Schumer said, what is the choice? Continue like we are or have democracy?”

And they did it!  Marc Theissen called it all the way back in 2011:

While Republicans are in a strong position to take control of the Senate, their odds of winning a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority are remote. But now, thanks to Reid, they may not need 60 votes. Reid has established that the majority can ignore the rules in order to gag the minority and declare something dilatory by simple majority vote. This is a filibuster-busting precedent that a Republican majority could use to overcome Democratic opposition on any number of issues–from taxes and spending to revising the debt-limit deal, reversing defense spending cuts and even repealing Obamacare.

In other words, trampling the rights of the minority when you are poised to become the minority isn’t particularly smart. Reid may come to regret his nuclear hypocrisy if he becomes minority leader again in 2012. Indeed, he may have just given the GOP the key to undoing the Obama agenda. That’s the problem with nuclear fallout–you never know which direction it will blow.

Followed by Jonathan Turley in 2018: "A bill comes due: Reid's folly becomes the Democratic nightmare": "The result was the final demise of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees when the Republicans took power.  The result for the Democrats is Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was confirmed by a 50 to 48 vote."

Let's not diminish the contribution by Chuck Schumer though:

We could put Chuck Schumer on the same pedestal. The current Senate Majority Leader led an indisputably stupid attempt to filibuster Neil Gorsuch’s appointment to the Supreme Court in 2017, which led to McConnell’s retributive rule change that used Reid’s precedent to free up Gorsuch’s confirmation vote. That led directly to the confirmations of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett too, giving the court its current 6-3 conservative lineup.

Harry Reid’s dark and partisan extremism started it all, though. Congrats to all the Senate Democrats who fell into a completely obvious and predictable trap in 2013. Well done.

Well done, indeed.  

Unclear on the concept

Twitchy: "Biden’s Justice Department issues a statement respectfully disagreeing with the Supreme Court’s decision."

Who asked you?  Just do your job.  Clown show.

Update - Red State: "Merrick Garland Should Be Impeached for His Response to Roe Being Overturned."

Yes, I also noticed that statistical trick

Ace: "Lyin' Biden Proposes Suspending the Federal Gas Tax, and Urges States to Cut State Gas Taxes, But Proposes Nothing to Increase Supply; Claims He's Producing More Oil Than Trump, and Claims Only the War in Ukraine Has Caused Increase in Gas Prices."

He claims the US is producing more oil now, "on average," than it did under Trump.

Note he says "on average," not "at peak."

That's because the worldwide covid shutdown and attendant crash in demand for oil caused, naturally, a sharp fall in the production of oil. So Trump's oil production, which had hit all-time records, then slowed down starting in December 2019 -- lowering his "average" oil production.

This is on par with his often-repeated claim that he's reduced the deficit by $1.6 trillion or that he's created a whole bunch of jobs.  Biden doesn't want you to notice that both are due to the end of covid stimuli and the attendant return of lost jobs.

Perfect response

Is that why a dollar will only get you 70% of what it did last year? https://t.co/8Hhud9StsC

— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) June 21, 2022

Can you imagine flexing over something so trivial?

Invest billions of dollars, you evil profiteers

Hot Air: "Washington Post: Investor response to Biden's anti-oil policies is why we can't get more gasoline, you know." 

Inspiring!

Breitbart: "White House's latest catchphrase: 'Recession is not inevitable.'"  

That's the best news I've heard since "inflation is transitory." 

Is tomorrow the day for Dobbs?

If I'm reading the calendar on SCOTUSblog correctly, there are only two more days where the Supreme Court will issue opinions.  I'm just guessing here but it seems that if they wait until Thursday for the Dobbs decision, it will only be an invitation for a protest to build.

BIden is just living in denial now

Excellent article from Jim Geraghty here:

Joe Biden is 79 years and seven months old. The presidency is one of the toughest jobs in the world. It is partially an issue of mental and verbal discipline, which were never Biden’s strengths to begin with. But now he’s overwhelmed by the problems of the job and coping through denial. Last week, he finally did another sit-down interview in which he contended to the Associated Press that “every other major industrial country in the world” has higher inflation, which is not even close to the case. Biden insisted that there is “zero evidence” that the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed in March 2021 contributed to inflation, and that it did not have even a “marginal, minor impact on inflation.” He said Americans should not believe warnings about a possible recession. With every available indicator pointing to a GOP tsunami in the midterm elections, Biden insisted that Democrats would not merely keep control of the House and Senate but would “pick up as many as four seats in the Senate.”

If you haven't seen it, the transcript of that interview with the Associated Press is just wild.  It's a farrago of self-puffery, outright lies, and pathetic denial.  Today he was asked about the pending recession and Biden once again lied about the consensus of economists until his daughter whisked him away, Easter Bunny-style.

He simply rejects your reality and replaces it with his own, the one where he's the hero.

Extra - Whoa, Joe!  Slow down with that busy schedule of yours. 

It sure does

So they spent $2 billion on enhanced Capitol Security after Jan 6 and the Triumph dog puppeteer can still just sneak into the Capitol?

Sounds about right.

— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) June 18, 2022

Here comes the government to help

Reason: "Congress and Biden Probably Just Made the Shipping Problem Worse."

Last summer, amid clogged ports and skyrocketing international shipping rates, irate U.S. exporters called on Congress to act. The result was the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA), passed with bipartisan support in Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on June 16. The law is ostensibly aimed at reforming U.S. shipping law to provide fair treatment for American exporters. Unfortunately, the bill creates a mess of a law that does little to address current domestic regulations that exacerbated problems in the supply chain caused by the pandemic, which have yet to fully abate.

.....

The OSRA may be a political win as Congress "did something"—likely the law's primary goal—but this law should not be mistaken for a serious attempt to improve the United States' ability to meet its shipping needs.

Actual results always take a back seat to "good intentions." 

Stock market down $7 trillion

TIPP Insights: "18 Charts Reveal The Darkness Behind Economic Confidence - Americans worry about bills and making ends meet. Inflation is a $460 monthly tax for each household." 

The lies, the lies

Not shocking at all

Entirely predictable: "Windfall Tax Blowback Shock."

Britain’s Tory party is not good for much these days, except, perhaps, for providing useful lessons on how not to do things.

In this case, they implemented a windfall tax on oil profits and the oil companies decided: "Hey, maybe we shouldn't invest in development and production when the government is hostile to our industry."

Will the current Administration learn a lesson from the Brits?  No, it will not.  

A whole semi-truck full

Twitchy: "‘Operation Fly Formula’ will bring in a whopping 22 tons of baby formula from Switzerland Thursday." 

The adults are back in charge!

Old man yells at crowd

Red State: "Biden Unleashed: Geriatric President Screams and Rants Uncontrollably While Addressing Union Members."

The transcript of Biden's screech included my favorite story:

I grew up in household not far from here, in Claymont and Wilmington, where if the price of a gallon of gasoline went up, it was a conversation at the dinner table. 

Get some new material, Joe.  Seriously:

And I come from a family where, in fact, when the price of a gallon of gasoline went up, it was a discussion at the dinner table. 

I was raised in a household when the price of gasoline rose precipitously, it was the discussion at the table.

I grew up in a family about 100 miles from here that if — where if the price of gas went up, you felt it.  It was a discussion at the kitchen table. 

I come from a family where when the pr- — when the price of gas or food went up, we felt it.  It was a discussion at the kitchen table.

I grew up in family where if prices went up for things that were daily requirements like the gallon of gasoline, it became a discussion at the kitchen table.

I come from a family — not a joke — where when the price of a gallon of gasoline went up, it was a conversation at our kitchen table. 

I came from a family that when the price of a gallon of gasoline went up, it was a topic of conversation at the kitchen table.

I grew up in a family where the price of gasoline went up at the pump, it was a discussion at the kitchen table.

Look, I grew up in a family — not a joke — where if the price of a gallon of gasoline went up, it was a conversation at our kitchen table.

As you’ve heard me say before, I grew up in a family, like many of you, where when the price of a gallon of gasoline went up, it was discussed at the kitchen table.

Yeah, we've heard it before.  Not a joke.

Prepare for responsibility shift

Red State: "Joe Biden Gets Smashed by Resurrected Clip, Karine-Jean Pierre Flails in Response." 

By the way, watch the old clip of Biden taking credit for the rising stock market to see how Trump lives rent-free in his head.

Bare Shelves Biden

Shot: "Moody's: Inflation to cost families an extra $5520 per year, up from last projection."

Chaser:

Media bias again

Hot Air: "Maher: The Times buried the Kavanaugh assassination story because he's a conservative."

His point is true beyond a shadow of a doubt and has been for a long time. It’s a neat follow-up to yesterday’s post about media gatekeeping, in fact. Partisan media aggressively filters the news it covers to shield its audience from information that might shake their faith in “the team.” But big media filters too, even when it feels obliged to pay some attention to major developments that disfavor their own side. A gunman showing up outside Sonia Sotomayor’s home would be big news, illustrating a right-wing “climate of hate.” Whereas a gunman showing up outside Brett Kavanaugh’s home is a page-20 curio about a random lunatic.

When the NY Times or other mainstream media sources cover a story like this, do they ever consider how they'd frame it if political parties were reversed?  It seems not.

The Left hates free speech, continued

The Corner: "Authoritarians Hate Dissent." - "We can’t have people doubting government policy on that, now can we?" 

Mr. "Take Responsibility" strikes again

The buck stops elsewhere for Dementia Joe.  His speeches have become so rote I could write them ahead of time and save everybody the trouble of watching them.  For example, I was 100% sure Joey was going to start off with this ancient chestnut:

Look, folks, today I’d like to speak about my top economic priority: fighting inflation.  I understand Americans are anxious, and they’re anxious with good reason.  I was raised in a household when the price of gasoline rose precipitously, it was the discussion at the table.  It made a difference when food prices went up.

Every time.  Every economic speech.  And now on to the dodge:

But we’ve never seen anything like Putin’s tax on both food and gas.

Then he prattles through the job numbers which nobody cares about when real wages are declining because Americans paying $460 a month more than they did a year ago for basic supplies.

Guess who retires in 13 years

Hot Air: "Social Security only has 13 years before it goes broke." - "It’s hard to see how we’re going to get this fixed in the current environment. I guess we’re just going to keep watching the go-broke date get closer until someone has no choice but to deal with it." 

Social Security is perhaps the last universal program left in government where benefits are proportional to what is paid into the system.  There is no solution proffered by the Democrats that doesn't turn it into yet another welfare program. 

Three Pinocchio Joe

Red State: "Biden’s Senility Takes Center-Stage on Jimmy Kimmel, His Political Excuse-Making Was Worse."  Nothing's ever his fault.

I watched this train wreck on YouTube and noted that - again - Biden repeated the thoroughly debunked story that he traveled 17,000 miles with China's Xi.  It appears there's no way to get Joe to abandon these stories in his mind. 

Extra - PJ Media: "Biden Glitched so Badly During His Interview That Jimmy Kimmel Had to Cut to a Commercial."

Incitement

Fox News: "Kavanaugh incident shows Schumer should be impeached under Democrats' standards: Watters." - "By Schumer's party's own standards, Watters said, the New York Democrat should be impeached over his incitement. If Roske were a right-wing agitator, he argued, Democrats would tie his independent actions to someone like Donald Trump."

If this was a Trump supporter at Sotomayor's house, we'd never hear the end of it from the mainstream media.

Misdeed must not prosper

The Corner: "Issue Dobbs Now."

That “political pressure” has now mutated into the attempted assassination of a Supreme Court Justice. If Chief Justice Roberts really wants to protect his Court, he will issue Dobbs immediately. Roe is extralegal nonsense, and it has turned the Supreme Court into something it is not. Overturn it — and do it straight away.

Abortion is one of those issues I'm agnostic on.  I'm less agnostic on the idea that opinions should bend to the "heckler's veto" or - more to the point - death threats.

It that's the way you want to play: get ready to play by the same rules you've established.

Believe me, we knew it all along

PJ Media: "Democrats Admit the True Purpose of J6 Hearings."  So did the New York Times but then that's the same as Democrats.

I don't get the motivation behind Impeachment 3.0.  Putting aside the conspicuous political nature of these hearings, a lot of Americans voted for Dementia Joe because they wanted to "turn the page" on the Trump era.  Americans have little interest in the next Trump show trial. 

Well, good luck with all that.

But the experts said

Red State: "Media Is Finally Starting to Acknowledge That Joe Biden Is a Mess."

Gee, it's funny how that narrative shifted.  The experts said!

Maverick flies

Breitbart: "Woketard Leftists whine as "Top Gun" continues to overperform."

I saw "Top Gun Maverick" last weekend and it was good.  In all honesty, it was the "trench attack" scene from "Star Wars" but in an Iranian canyon, complete with a deus ex machina save from the Millennium Falcon in the moment of maximum peril.

There's one thing I want to mention that I think makes this movie special.  There's a female aviator - callsign "Phoenix" - who is a pilot who just happens to be a woman.  There's no questioning from the male aviators about her ability to be among them, they don't overtly hit on her as testosterone-driven men will, and there's no tiresome dialogue about "I can do anything a man can do."  She can fly a plane, everybody appears to know this, and nobody makes a stereotypical comment about her gender.

Sweet mercy, it was so nice to see a movie that avoided that all-too-common trope.

Student loan forgiveness

The Corner: "‘There Are a Lot of People Very Close to the President Who Privately Understand That This Is a Complete Disaster’."

If there are “a lot of people very close to the president who privately understand that this is a complete disaster for them,” then those people need to speak up now, before Biden commits a generational political mistake. The move is statutorily illegal, it is morally revolting, and it is disgracefully self-serving. If Biden does it, he will damage our system of government, tear the country further apart, and confirm forever that he is little more than a puppet. If, indeed, there are people on his staff who can see this too, then worrying “privately” ain’t gonna cut it.

No less than Nancy Pelosi has stated the President just can't wave his magic wand and forgive student loan debt.  This will really be the acid test whether Joe Biden is President or just a puppet.

I want to believe

PJ Media: "U.S. Intel: 'Everyone Is Sensing the End Is Near' for Putin." 

Out of the loop

Twitchy: "Biden’s answer about why he didn’t move faster on the baby formula crisis speaks volumes."

Extra - Legal Insurrection: "Biden had No Idea About the Severity of Baby Formula Recall Until Months After It Happened." 

More - Red State: "Joe Biden, Karine Jean-Pierre Get Signals Crossed on Baby Formula Crisis in Staggering Show of Incompetence." 

Biden knows who's responsible for inflation: someone else

Remember when a President blaming others was "unbelievable" to Joe and "we deserve better from our commander in chief?"  Good times.  In a Wall Street Journal article allegedly written by Biden, he blames the Fed Chairman, Congress, Putin, and anybody but Joe Biden for runaway inflation.  CNN Business: "Joe Biden wants to show he's in charge of inflation ... while showing someone else is in charge."

President Joe Biden will meet with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Tuesday in a kind of performative politics that will almost certainly do nothing to help Americans better afford everyday items.

And, let's be honest, it'll probably do nothing for Biden's poll numbers, either, because Biden's desired outcomes from the the meeting are contradictory:

• He wants to show Americans that he's taking action on inflation.
• He wants to deflect responsibility and make clear that the other guy is in charge. 

That's the ego-driven motivation of Biden's latest gaslighting: he's setting up the excuses and pre-criminations for what is shaping up to be an epic repudiation in the midterms.  Because Joe Biden can't fail, he can only be failed by other people and circumstances beyond his control.

The Supreme Court mole hunt

Legal Insurrection: "Abortion-Leak Mole Hunt Intensifies At Supreme Court, Law Clerks Reportedly Targeted."

We're not talking about hundreds of potential suspects here: I think each justice gets six clerks so you're looking at a couple dozen potential leakers.  I have to believe that - collectively - they know who did it.  Stuff like that can't stay secret for long. 

A guide to Critical Race Theory

I thought this video was great and wanted to share:

Everything's going swimmingly

Breitbart: "Food inflation jumps to 41-year high."

I went to a local restaurant last night and there was a sign out front saying: "Yeah, so, some of the prices may be higher than what's listed on the menu."

So there's that.

The libertarian viewpoint on Uvalde

...is the same as everybody else's.  Reason: "While Dying Children Called 911 for Help, 19 Uvalde Police Waited in the Hallway. For 45 Minutes."

The public is still learning the truth of what actually happened on Tuesday. But based on what is currently known, it is hard to imagine a more appalling response from law enforcement. In fact, the word appalling doesn't even do this calamity justice. The police failed so completely, so utterly, so pathologically during those key 45 minutes—undoubtedly the longest 45 minutes of the fourth-graders' lives—that one wonders how such failure is even possible.

It's starting to feel like Uvalde is going to be a watershed moment for the way American citizens view the police force.  You're going to start to see more signs like this:

Gimme my money, Oberlin

Legal Insurrection: "Oops – Gibson’s Bakery Seeks To Execute On $36 Million Appeal Bond Since Oberlin College Failed To Obtain Stay Of Appeals Court Mandate - Motion filed in trial court today: “If Defendants wanted to stay execution of the mandate of the Ninth District Court of Appeals, they were required to seek that stay in the Ohio Supreme Court. They did not. Plaintiffs are entitled to judgment on the surety bond"

Get woke, go broke.

It gets worse

Hot Air: "BORTAC agents who were told not to enter the school waited 30 minutes and then went in anyway."  

Prediction: you're going to start to see a lot more of those schools with signs outside indicating everybody inside is armed.

One hour

Red State: "New Details of the Police Response to Uvalde Shooting Paint an Incredibly Disturbing Picture."

We should reserve judgement until all the details come out but the police spokesman sure was evasive in his press conference today.

Extra - From Instapundit. 

You can tell when it became a real crisis

Ace: "FDA's Top Official Will Acknowledge They Did Not Even Begin Discussing For the Impending Baby Formula Crisis Until Mid-February-- and Did Nothing About It Until the Last Several Weeks."

Let's see: Afghanistan, inflation, and hungry babies.  The only thing left to do is form a puppy-kicking club at this point. 

The one time we needed Mushmouth to be ambiguous

Twitchy: "White House grabs a mop for another cleanup in aisle Biden (this time about Taiwan)."

The United States has maintained a policy of "strategic ambiguity" for over half a century.  Joe Biden unraveled this policy so he could be the tough guy he always imagines himself to be. 

TIL John Fetterman is a racist

The Corner has the lowdown on the Senate candidate from Pennsylvania: "Who Among Us Has Not Chased Down an Unarmed Black Jogger with a Shotgun?"

Fetterman heard gunshots and assumed this innocent jogger must have had something to do with it.  It would be bad sport, sniffs the New York Times, to hold this incident against the candidate.

It was a huge mistake

The Atlantic: "Kids Are Far, Far Behind in School."

Starting in the spring of 2020, school boards and superintendents across the country faced a dreadful choice: Keep classrooms open and risk more COVID-19 deaths, or close schools and sacrifice children’s learning. In the name of safety, many districts shut down for long periods. But researchers are now learning that the closures came at a stiff price—a large decline in children’s achievement overall and a historic widening in achievement gaps by race and economic status.

The achievement loss is far greater than most educators and parents seem to realize. The only question now is whether state and local governments will recognize the magnitude of the educational damage and make students whole.

We gave in to hysterics and the teachers unions over the scientists and the kids paid the price.  Now a million of them have disappeared off the public rolls, signalling a new relation with public education.

BLM = Buy large mansions

NY Post: "Anti-cop pols yawn as slay spike hits black Americans hardest." 

Grasping at straws

Reason: "Banning 'Unconscionable Excessive' Gas Prices Is Risky Economic Nonsense - Democrats are trying to inject a political solution into an economic problem." 

Failing up

The Corner: "House Republicans Were Right to Vote against More FDA Funding."

Long story short: this legislation does nothing to help the baby formula shortage and instead was a payoff to the FDA for failing to do its job. 

RIP Ministry of Truth

We barely knew ye.  Reason: "Nina Jankowicz's Faulty Record, Not Her Critics, Doomed the Disinformation Board" - "And The Washington Post's wildly one-sided account of Jankowicz's fall was an exercise in government PR."

I have a theory: the Left finally figured out that the standards they set today might turn around on them in the future.  OK, well, I stole this from Bill Maher:

Then, Maher pointed out the inevitable way such an expansion of power will eventually be used against liberals and progressives. 

“Who do you think is going to be the Truth Czar in 2025?” he asked, implying that it may very well be a Republican appointee if the GOP wins the White House. 

In this observation, Maher makes an insight so often ignored by partisans on either side, who pursue short-term goals in ways that erode their own causes in the long term. For another example, look no further than the Democrats abolishing the filibuster for lower-court judicial nominees and then having Republicans under Trump go on to abolish it for Supreme Court nominees, too, enabling the appointment of more conservative justices. 

That was awesome.  Thanks, Harry Reid!

The Left hates free speech, continuing saga

Red State: "Chuck Schumer Makes a Cowardly Move After Tucker Carlson Calls His Bluff."

I've said this before but the Left loves to pontificate from the stage of "Hamilton" when they know there is zero chance of a rebuttal.  Same with Chuck Schumer.  Here was an epic chance to go right into the devil's den, but Chuck declined, because running away from debate is what they do.

I said publicly that I could beat up Floyd Mayweather. He called and challenged me to a fight. I’m declining. Floyd Mayweather needs to stop resorting to violence. https://t.co/jElhwCDBlx

— Kate Hyde (@KateHydeNY) May 17, 2022

"This isn't a classroom, ma'am!"

Daily Caller: "Mom Reads Aloud Purported Assignment Given To Daughter. School Board Cuts Her Mic Because It’s Too Obscene." 

Yeah, that's what they do

Hot Air: "Man, liberals are desperate to blame the GOP for gas prices." 

I guess we're all George Wallace again

Ace: "Surly, Cranky Dementia Patient Announces He's Done Being Polite."

Uh-oh, it looks like Joe Biden's unity effort has faltered and now - only now - he's going to say that Republicans want to put you in chains, and that they want Jim Crow 2.0, and they're happy when kids don't have insulin.  

Passing the buck

Joe Biden takes absolutely no responsibility for anything:

Fetch my fainting couch!

PJ Media: "AP Is Aghast That the GOP Would Use Biden's Failures as a Political Weapon. Aghast!" 

Can you imagine a political party pointing out the failure of an opposing politician?  What is this world coming to?

Just another day

Fox News: "National gas price average hits new record high at $4.45 per gallon." 

Biden's dementia runs deep

Because I like a cheap laugh, sometimes I read the transcripts from Joe Biden's public appearances.  The other night he appeared at a fundraiser and the speech is a farrago of lies, random thoughts, and mostly broken English.

The fact of the matter is, I’ve spent a lot of time with Xi Jinping — they tell me more than any other world leader has.  When he was vice president and I was vice president, I traveled 17,000 miles with him. 

This has been debunked multiple times but Joey just keeps repeating it.

I’ve had — I, obviously, will never name them, but I have — six of them have told me — senators I used to serve with; we served with; some of them you served with, Carol — said that, “You know, I agree with you on such and such a thing.  But if I vote for it, they’ll primary and I’ll lose my seat.”

Sure thing.  That happened.

What it’s about is that — you know, the Republicans say that, well, the things we did with the Recov- — with the legislation we passed is causing inflation.  

It wasn't just Republicans who said that.  Larry Summers famously said it a year ago.  He was right.

Well guess what?  The first year in office, we’ve reduced the deficit by $350 billion.  In fact — $350 billion — reduced the deficit. 

And it should have been a lot more.

(Cellphone rings.)

I know that’s Trump calling.  He always does this when I talk.  (Laughter.)

Living rent free in Joe's vacuous head.

We have to remember that we’re talking about a relatively small number of people who are the MAGA Republicans.  We may be talking about as much as one third of the electorate.

This is Biden's "deplorables" moment.

And what they say is — it’s really quite basic.  They’re making the point that what happens is that what they’re going to be — we’re going to increase taxes on 90 percent of the American public, people making a — excuse me, 70 percent of the American public — people making under $100,000 a year are going to have tax, because the notion is everybody should pay something. 

Another lie, debunked multiple times, and handed Three Pinocchios.

So, folks, we got a lot of work to do.  We got a lot of work.  I think we can pick up three Senate seats.  And I think we can increase our majority in the House...

Sure thing, Joe.

Think about it: where we are today, what we’re fighting over.  There are more restrictive efforts to restrict the right to vote today than there’d been in my whole political career.

Jim Crow 2.0 down in Georgia is so restrictive that early voting is only up 160%.

We’re making progress, but there’s going to be a way to go.  Our inflation rate is lower than almost any other nation — industrial nation in the world.

This is the first time Biden mentions inflation in his rambling speech and, true to form, it's another lie:

This man cannot remain in power.  He's too far gone.

And here's that inflation report

The media assures us the great news is that inflation is very slightly slowing its growth.

Ace: "April Inflation Continues at Torrid 8.3% Pace, Still the Highest in 40 Years, Which Leftwing Propaganda Media Spin as "Moderate"." 

Getting ahead of tomorrow's inflation report

The Corner: "Joe Biden’s Preemptive Inflation Spin." - "The monthly Consumer Price Index update release day is going to be a bad one for the administration, every month from now until the midterms — and probably some time after that, too. The only thing Joe Biden can do is get in front of it and insist that it’s everyone’s fault except his." 

Eighty-five percent

Reason: "Biden Brags About Falling Deficits, but the Federal Fiscal Situation Is Still 'Unsustainable'." - Under current policies, Social Security and Medicare will consume 85 percent of all federal tax revenue by 2050." 

The Disinformation Board is going to be busy

Charles Lipson: "Biden's Disinformation Board is a Gift to Republicans."

If you did all these things, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has, you would be committing political malpractice. You would be mocking the Constitution's fundamental protection of free speech, encoded in the First Amendment. Although a few ideologues might applaud you, you would hear only groans from moderate Democrats running for reelection. This ill-conceived board would lash them, at their peril, to a high-profile effort to monitor private speech, conducted by a very unpopular administration. That's dangerous constitutionally and incompetent politically.

The Ministry of Truth is going to have to deal with Biden's debunked and repeated lies. 

Here in the People's Republic of MA

Jeff Jacoby: "Boston's ignominious record of disrespecting free speech." - "For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the phrase "banned in Boston" evoked the right-wing Puritanism of the city's political leadership. Today Boston and Massachusetts are left-wing bastions, yet the willingness to stifle unpopular expression persists." 

But enough about the Biden administration

Politico's National Security Daily: "'It’s stupid, it’s unnecessary'." - “It’s stupid, it’s unnecessary. There’s no upside, only downside,” a European official told us. “It looks like the Americans are trying to take credit for what the Ukrainians are doing.” 

Oh that's (D)ifferent

Shot: "Psaki Dodges Question Asking If White House Condemns SCOTUS Leak"

Chaser: "Report: Biden "livid" at leaks about U.S. intel assistance to Ukraine." 

Homina homina homina

Hot Air: "The View guest host to Warren: I paid off my student loans. Where's my reimbursement?"

Twitchy: "View guest Elizabeth Warren short-circuits when Lindsey Granger asks her about reimbursement for people who paid off their student loans."

She pulled the same deflection to every question on CNN also and they let her get away with it.  Just once, I'd like to see a journalist say: "Answer my question."

Again this is a party governed by the opinions of 30% of Twitter. They tweet out catchy slogans and then when questioned about it, they just melt. https://t.co/Url3WP4zNd

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 6, 2022

So, World War 3 it is

Hot Air: "Great: Yes, of course we helped sink Russia's Black Sea flagship, U.S. officials admit."

“Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.” - Sun Tzu

"For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power." - Joe Biden, expressing his personal opinion

Kneeling for that black gold

Hot Air: "Desperation II, Saudi Boogaloo: Biden sends CIA chief to make nice with MBS."

This, however, reeks of desperation. Biden desperately needs more oil production in order to get prices lower in the US for the political survival of his party. He’s still hostage to the hardline progressives in his party, who erupted in outrage when Biden attempted to slightly loosen restrictions on production and exploration he hastily imposed at the start of his term. Biden tried to call on MBS to get Saudi Arabia to increase production at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, only to get very publicly snubbed by one of our key strategic partners in the Middle East.

Let's see: we have the SPR release, the E15 ploy, and now the Saudi supplication.  Anything - anything at all - except boosting domestic production of oil.

Liz on the warpath

Red State: "Elizabeth Warren Has Hysterical Breakdown Over Roe v. Wade Leak."

It’s hard to believe at this point, but there was a time when Sen. Elizabeth Warren wasn’t absolutely insane.

Liz resorts to these overwrought hysterics for the cameras, putting on the matinee show for the suckers.  But Liz has no plan.  She has nothing to offer except her quavering voice and cheap theatrics.

Believe me, I've seen this show before.

"This cheesy ploy is not working anymore"

 Townhall: "Liberal Corporations Are Confused and Scared Because Conservatives Now Fight Back."

The Left is on tilt, as they say in poker.  Nothing is working for them.

I question the timing

National Review: "Tulsi Gabbard Suggests Obama Devised Biden’s ‘Ministry of Truth’ Disinformation Board."

Former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard implied that former President Barack Obama devised the formation of President Biden’s recently announced Disinformation Governance Board, which critics have likened to the “Ministry of Truth” from George Orwell’s 1984. 

“Biden is just a front man,” Gabbard tweeted Sunday. “Obama, April 21: social media censors ‘don’t go far enough,’ so the government needs to step in to do the job. Six days later, Homeland Security rolls out the ‘Ministry of Truth’ (aka Disinformation Governance Board).”

In other news, we've always been at war with East Asia.