Filibuster follow-up

The Week: "Why the talking filibuster won't work." - "The talking filibuster worked for Jimmy Stewart, but it probably won't work for Democrats."

I forget where I saw it but somebody said that, in addition to dragging out the legislative session, the talking filibuster means that - at any time - a Senator can note a quorum is not present.  So if Ted Cruz is filibustering at two in the morning and asks for a quorum call, either the Democrats need to get 51 Senators on the floor or the Senate adjourns.  

So the filibuster ain't goin' anywhere.

Filibuster

Federalist: "Democrats Plot To Kill Filibuster Because They Only Care About Power."

Friends of the conservative persuasion keep sending me panicked emails and texts about the Democrats eliminating the legislative filibuster in the Senate.

I just don't see it happening.

Getting rid of the filibuster would be a "crossing the Rubicon" moment in American history.  The Democrats already triggered the "nuclear option" on judicial nominees and it blew back on them spectacularly with Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett.  At this moment, the Democrats hold a 50-50 "majority" in the Senate with the midterms coming up in 2022, where the President's party typically loses several seats in Congress.  Do the Democrats really want to kneecap minority rights in the Senate right before they lose it?  Who knows, man, those cats are wild.

Aside from Joe Manchin and Kristin Sinema, I suspect there are other established Democrats who understand the consequences of eliminating the filibuster and, silence aside, will not vote to cut their own throats.

Florida man

Ace: "Leftwing Media Admits The Man They Defamed for Months as "DeathSantis" Might Have Been Completely Right In His Covid Response."

Twitchy: ‘The media needs an intervention’: CNN is utterly aghast that GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has the nerve to ‘[take] credit’ for Florida’s success."

Hard to believe, but sometimes people take credit for their own actions, unlike Joe Biden who spreads the blame around.

Endgame time for Cuomo

ABC News: "Cuomo should resign if allegations confirmed: Biden in exclusive ABC News interview."

Cuomo is now in the position where he's going to have to contend that seven women are making it up.  Unlike the charge against Brett Kavanaugh, there's actual evidence that Cuomo and these women have met.

Let's not forget about all the dead grandparents, too.

Extra - Politico: "Biden: If allegations confirmed, Cuomo should resign and could face prosecution."

Journalism dies in dumbness

Fox News: "Washington Post panned for massive correction to Trump-Georgia election story: 'So, they made up quotes'." 

As Instapundit notes, all the other useless media mouthpieces claimed they independently confirmed this bogus story.  

Packing them into the "soft-sided facilities"

Associated Press: "Children packed into Border Patrol tent for days on end."

Despite concerns about the coronavirus, the children are kept so closely together that they can touch the person next to them, the lawyers said. Some have to wait five days or more to shower, and there isn’t always soap available, just shampoo, according to the lawyers.

Maybe somebody can ask Joe Biden about this at his next press conference.

Extra - Red State: "Report: Biden CBP Facilities Are a Horror Show With Kids Sleeping on the Floor and Going Hungry, and It Gets Worse."  

Glorious leader is beneficent to all!

Today's must-read is from Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi: "The Sovietization of the American Press" - "The transformation from phony "objectivity" to open one-party orthodoxy hasn't been an improvement."

Reality in Soviet news was 100% binary, with all people either heroes or villains, and the villains all in league with one another (an SR was no better than a fascist or a “Right-Trotskyite Bandit,” a kind of proto-horseshoe theory). Other ideas were not represented, except to be attacked and deconstructed. Also, since anything good was all good, politicians were not described as people at all but paragons of limitless virtue — 95% of most issues of Pravda or Izvestia were just names of party leaders surrounded by lists of applause-words, like “glittering,” “full-hearted,” “wise,” “mighty,” “courageous,” “in complete moral-political union with the people,” etc.

Some of the headlines in the U.S. press lately sound suspiciously like this kind of work:

— Biden stimulus showers money on Americans, sharply cutting poverty

— Champion of the middle class comes to the aid of the poor

— Biden's historic victory for America

Of note in this essay is the compare and contrast in the New York Times' coverage of the exact same executive decision on America's posture towards Saudi Arabia after the Jamal Khashoggi murder.  Revulsion turned to statesmanship just. like. that.

We can't say we didn't see this coming.

The North Korean media is cringing at the obsequiousness of this. https://t.co/wyV2eRJj88

— Howard Wall 💰📈📝 (@HJWallEcon) March 12, 2021

The dam is breaking

Earlier today, I had a conversation with an old friend from Long Island who opined that Andrew Cuomo would ride out his sexual harassment/killing Grandma scandal.  I replied that: I dunno but these things tend to take on a momentum of their own.

Tonight: "New York Sens. Schumer, Gillibrand call for Gov. Cuomo's resignation."  So, along with AOC and Gerry "Gerry Gerry Gerry!" Nadler, the most prominent Democrat politicians from New York have all joined together to throw Cuomo overboard.

You and me both, brother

Jim Treacher: "I Am Really Freaking Sick of Anthony Fauci":

This isn’t science. This is religion. Fauci has styled himself as the Pope of COVID, and his enablers in the media have been more than happy to confer him with papal infallibility. He’s established himself as the only true mediator between the unwashed masses and God Science. And whenever he says something that doesn’t make sense or he contradicts himself, well, don’t you fret your little head about it. You just need to have faith. Pope Anthony the First would never lie to you.

This guy was supposed to be the face of Science in this time of uncertainty and he just engendered more uncertainty by contradicting himself at every turn. 

She's very bad at her job

Hot Air: "Psaki Dodges When Asked About Surge Of Migrants At Border: That’s Not Our Program, That’s DHS’s Program."

Jen is going to circle back after she checks to see if DHS is an Executive branch responsibility.  It's probably run by some guy over in that outfit over there.

Extra - From Twitchy.  

Ladies and gentlemen, the New York Times

Federalist: "The New York Times Is Having An Embarrassing Meltdown Over Josh Hawley’s Existence."

As silly as the whole thing is, the Times’ Elaina Plott and Danny Hakim debased themselves further by — and I’m in no way joking here — asking Hawley’s high school prom date for her thoughts. His prom date. HIS PROM DATE.

Twitchy: "Pulitzer watch: NY Times blows lid off what Sen. Josh Hawley’s prom date & middle school principal think of his job performance."  

Jury selection starts (or not) in George Floyd case

This is a really excellent review of the legal challenges in the case against Derek Chauvin from Andrew McCarthy: "The George Floyd Murder Trial: A Charging Nightmare."

In short, McCarthy breaks down the legal distinctions between manslaughter and murder.

Update - Fox News: "Derek Chauvin trial jury selection delayed amid wrangling over 3rd-degree murder charge."  McCarthy explained how third-degree murder is reserved for depraved indifference like shooting into a crowd. 

Blogging is killing the mainstream media? Good.

Here's former conservative Jonah Goldberg mouthing off about blogging (safe link):

Conservatives were complaining about liberal media bias decades before Spiro Agnew was decrying “pusillanimous pussyfooters” and “nattering nabobs of negativism.” But in the blogging age, the complaints metastasized into cancerous obsessions. Yes, part of the story is the way in which the mainstream media often strived to earn much of the contempt conservatives have for it (a development that also has a lot to do with the influence of blogging). But part of it was simply structural. Blogging encouraged writers to focus less on the news than on the way it was presented and those who presented it. Commenting intelligently and quickly on actual news is pretty hard. Finding fault in others is much easier—and more fun.

Goldberg is now a favorite on NPR since every appearance is him bemoaning the state of the Republican party.  But there's two reasons why bashing the media has become so much easier: 1) the bias is real and 2) the Internet allows for quick cross-referencing on how stories are covered.  To take a very recent example, here's "WaPo Puts Out Full-On Biden Propaganda Tweet That Just Might Blow Your Mind."  Compare and contrast how the Washington Post headlined covid relief packages:

the democracy defenders have logged on. pic.twitter.com/wk6xitYio8

— Logan Hall (@loganclarkhall) March 7, 2021

When Trump was President, the border "crisis" was a 24/7 affair with kids in cages and false claims of migrants drinking water out of toilets.   This past weekend, it was announced that due to a huge influx of new migrants, the Biden administration was suspending their covid protocols and filling up facilities to 100% capacity.  This morning I did a search on CNN and any mention of this story was buried as the last highlighted story in the "Politics" section.

Don't even get me started on the hagiography of Andrew Cuomo, prolific killer of grandmas.

After Trump's surprise election in 2016, there was about a week where the mainstream media was questioning their own bias as they wondered how they could have missed the revolt so badly.  But they soon fell back on their own ways culminating in the full-on coverup of any stories that might reflect badly on Candidate Not Trump.

Media criticism is easy, Jonah?  It sure is...it sure is.  

Nick Sandmann says "hi". 

The details

The Senate just passed the latest covid relief bill and the Associated Press has the rundown.  

"Kids in cages" is hereby banished

Ace: "With Border Crisis Growing, Biden Seeks to Rename Detention Centers as "Reception Centers"."

Watch how the compliant media will pick up on this new terminology.  

Call the social workers!

Hot Air: "San Francisco Reporter Went To Cover Car Break-Ins And Was Robbed At Gunpoint." 

This is totally normal

Breitbart: "Joe Biden has not held a solo press conference in 42 days, setting 100-year record."

Fox News: "Biden won't deliver speech to Congress until after vote on coronavirus bill, Psaki says."

Gateway Pundit: "White House Cuts Feed of Virtual Event After Joe Biden Says, “I’m Happy to Take Questions if That’s What I’m Supposed to Do"  

Who could have seen this excuse coming?

Ace: "The Bulwark's Molly-Jong Fast: I Have an Excuse Why I Gave My Mouth to Andrew Cuomo Last Year.

Trump Made Me Do It." 

This was a tough quiz!

Babylon Bee: "Can You Find All 17 Instances Of Racism On This Page From A Dr. Seuss Book?"

I missed the tiny Hitler in the tuba.

That escalated quickly

Wow, this whole Andrew Cuomo scandal is blowing up and his support is drying up.  Today's news: "NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo accused by third woman of unwanted sexual advances."

Hot Air: "De Blasio Knifes Cuomo Repeatedly: Sure, I Can Believe That He Sexually Harassed His Staffers, And If He Did He Should Resign."

Reason: "Cuomo Asks America To Hold Off on Believing Women This Time."

Frankly, I thought Cuomo would ride it out but suddenly the long knives are out.