Why is the steering wheel on the right?

Gateway Pundit: "Liberal Woman Posts Selfie Video of Hysterical Meltdown Over Death of Justice Ginsburg."  When politics is your religion.  

RBG's activism engendered the current mood

Bookworm Room has a detailed review on Ruth Bader Ginsberg and I could not agree more with point #7:

7. Ginsburg’s politicizing the Court is part of why we’re at the situation we are today, where a Justice’s death can throw an upcoming election into an uproar. When judges legislate, as she and her fellow leftists on the Court have been doing, the Court takes on oversized importance. For decades, leftists who couldn’t get their fellow citizens to vote on their policies were able to use the Court as a super-legislative body. This is not what the Constitution intended, and it means that we Americans are being ruled by a cabal of 9 people who hold their positions for life. They are, in essence, a form of non-democratic absolute monarchy.

To this I would point to her dissent in the 7-2 decision for Masterpiece Cakeshop, a.k.a. the "bake me a cake, hater" case (joined by the worst justice on the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor).  As Bookworm notes, Ginsberg was always portrayed as a "fighter" which means she was a politician and not a jurist sworn to uphold the Constitution.  I'll go a step further: I think RBG got caught up in the hagiography around her and simply tailored legal decisions to burnish her leftist bona fides.  The result was judicial activism that led to decisions away from freedom and towards compulsion.  This is why everybody is up in arms about the Supreme Court and now the election is going to be super-mega-insane.

For contrast, look at the legal reasoning of the late Antonin Scalia who leaned towards individual rights ("go ahead and burn that flag!") and often wondered why the Supreme Court was ruling on issues that should be decided by the people:

The States may, if they wish, permit abortion on demand, but the Constitution does not require them to do so. The permissibility of abortion, and the limitations upon it, are to be resolved like most important questions in our democracy: by citizens trying to persuade one another and then voting.

People voting?  Like in a democracy?  Scalia and Ginsberg were friends, it's said, but I wonder what Nino would have thought about his good friend forcing a baker to create a cake at the barrel of a gun.

RBG has died

Huge news tonight: "Ruth Bader Ginsberg has died." 

Sleepy Joe on CNN

Joe Biden did a town hall with Anderson Cooper on CNN tonight.  Here's his answer to every question:

"I'm not Trump who is bad."

And, man, he lied a lot, including the anonymous Atlantic lie, the fracking flip-flop, and the Charlottesville lie.  I'm sure our brave Candy Crowley firefighters will set the record straight.

To paraphrase Obama: "Yes he does"

Don't Walk, Run! - "Does Joe Biden use a Teleprompter to answer questions?"

You gotta be cruel to be kind

Reason: "Federal Regulations Have Made Western Wildfires Worse - Controlled, prescribed burns can stop wildfires from spreading. Too bad they are effectively prohibited by rules like the Clean Air Act."  If you guessed that the environmental whackos in California are making a bad situation much worse, you're correct:

"What you'll often find," Wood says, "is that there are projects which have been extremely well-vetted, which have been years in the work, there will be a 5,000-page document, which no one could conceivably ever read because it's so long and complicated, but then the project will still get put on hold for an indefinite period of time, because some special interest group filed a lawsuit." So much time is spent considering the ramifications of an action; little is spent considering the impact of doing nothing.

From 1999 to 2017, an average of 13,000 acres of California were subjected to controlled burns each year. In February 2020, Nature Sustainability published a report arguing that California needs to burn 20 million acres of forest in order to restore forest health.

But the owls! 

That was two or three hoaxes ago

Red State: "That ‘Bombshell’ Russian Bounty Story Was Just Officially Shown to Be Garbage." 

Nice country. Be a shame if something happened to it.

Federalist: "The Left Is Setting The Stage For A Coup If Trump Wins = Under the guise of planning for right-wing violence if Trump loses, Democrats are gaming out how to steal the election if Trump wins."

Looks like a kid

Fox News: "Compton 'ambush' leaves 2 LA County sheriff's deputies 'fighting for their lives'."

Update: Defund NPR. 

If there's another explanation, I'd love to hear it

Twitchy: "Did Joe Biden get busted by Michael Moore using a teleprompter for his appearance with James Corden?"

Yes, this "Interview" was scripted. Note different colors for teleprompter text. They are two sides to the "conversation". I've worked with TV teleprompters before. This is what they are.

This was staged. It's all a show.

Why does Biden need a script? pic.twitter.com/zEwyR5E94u

— Eye of Orwell (@OrwellOf) September 12, 2020

Prediction: Sleepy Joe won't debate

That's the opinion of this guy who flatly predicts: "Look for Biden to bow out of the debates within the next two weeks."  From the American Spectator: "Why Biden Will Withdraw From the Debates - It’s the only way for Joe’s handlers to save him from himself."

While Biden has said “he can hardly wait” to take on Trump in the debates, I don’t think his team or his proxies will let him. Even before Kenosha, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Lockhart, and others were publicly urging their candidate to pull out of the debates, ostensibly because of Trump’s alleged incorrigible dishonesty. I expect that the drumbeat to withdraw will increase steadily over the next two weeks. The usual anti-Trump “bombshells” by the media (like those in the Atlantic and in Bob Woodward’s latest book) will provide the Democrats some cover, though dodging the debates will hurt them in some circles.

If Biden defies my prediction and proceeds with the debates — whether out of misplaced confidence or desperation — they are far more likely to be a disaster for him than a success. Although he and Trump are roughly the same age, right now they are worlds apart in terms of their mental and physical abilities. Moreover, Biden’s former, more moderate positions on law and order, patriotism, religious liberties, business, even pro-life issues — are at loggerheads with the progressive stances he’s been forced to adopt in the new Democratic Party.

The other day, Biden emerged from his basement and sat down for an rare interview with Jake Tapper of CNN.  On full display was the confusion cloud that surrounds Sleepy Joe whenever he doesn't have a teleprompter to give him the answers, culminating in obliquely calling Michigan voters racist.  

I believe Biden will debate because his ego tells him he can beat Trump.  But Trump is going to give him the pushback that Biden rarely experiences from the mainstream media and only exploded into view a handful of times on the campaign trail, you dog-faced lying pony soldier.

The paper of record

Babylon Bee: "Nobel Peace Prize Committee Informs Trump He Has Not Launched Enough Drone Strikes To Qualify."  

Show me on this doll where Trump hurt you, Atlantic

Fox News: "The Atlantic calls to 'end the Nobel Peace Prize' following Trump nominations."

Because of course they did.

Extra - Red State: "The TDS at this point is pretty darn hilarious. They’re literally crossing out Nobel because Trump has the possibility of getting it. But when Obama won it, The Atlantic saw it as leading to a new global society with possibly Obama leading it. How delusional is their illness?" 

Ready for some football? America: "Meh"

 Ace: "Gallup Poll: Public Favorability Towards Corporate Spectator Sports Falls THIRTY POINTS, from +20 to -10, in a Single Year."  

Well done, fellas. You were becoming millionaires just by playing children's games.

Good luck moonlighting at Foot Locker.

Let's look back to the 1994 MLB baseball strike when players said "up yours" to the fans:

"I never felt the same way about baseball again after that,'' Dave Stewart, a four-time 20-game winner and then pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays, tells USA TODAY Sports. "Even today, after all of my years in baseball, the passion I have for the game has never been the same. All because of that strike."

It took a full decade to get back to baseline attendance:

In 1994, the average attendance was a then-record 31,256. It was not until 2004 — the first year in which players could be suspended for testing positive for steroids, after almost a decade of a drug-fueled home run derby — that the average attendance again topped 30,000.

Americans have had six months to find new interests that don't include $10 beers and preachy millionaires.

Here in the cuckoo Pioneer Valley

Western Massachusetts update: "Massachusetts women's college describes itself as "a women’s college that is gender diverse"

Words - how do they work?

Good question

McClatchy: "Will Joe Biden ever face tough questions during this campaign?"

Finally, Biden was asked about a new diplomatic development. “President Trump has just announced an economic normalization deal between Serbia and Kosovo. And part of that deal is Kosovo and Israel having diplomatic normalization.” Biden said he knew nothing about it. Imagine if Trump made such a public admission.

The questions didn’t focus on Biden’s claims, qualifications or proposals. Those were all simply assumed to be good with no need for checking or verification.

The main takeaway from the “news event” was a real stunner, that Joe Biden is not Donald Trump. That just happens to fit the professed motivation of almost two-thirds of Biden supporters who say they’re voting against this president, not for the next one.

The event’s subliminal takeaway, however, was that these members of the Fourth Estate, these self-appointed guardians of America’s presidential election process, are just fine with that. But should voters be?

Is there any wonder that Republicans are clamoring for the debates?  It's the first time to stick a crowbar between the Biden campaign and the cheerleader media.

The Atlantic: covering itself with glory

Twitchy: "‘There’s even video of it!’ Sean Davis blasts Atlantic reporter in receipt-filled thread for yet ANOTHER ridiculous lie defending Biden."

They can't help it: TDS comes for even the most august of publications.

Extra - Red State: "In more normal times, the media would be supremely concerned about the lack of access to a presidential candidate. But in these less than normal times, which center wholly on the orange man being bad, they are more than happy to shill for a politician who thumbs his nose at them." 

Another un-anonymous witness goes on the record

Breitbart: "Zach Fuentes, top aide to John Kelly, denies Atlantic story about Trump."

Former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Zach Fuentes denied to Breitbart News The Atlantic’s account of President Donald Trump’s comments about troops in Europe.

Fuentes unequivocally denied The Atlantic’s report last week, a huge blow to the establishment media narrative. Fuentes personally briefed President Trump on the weather situation that led to the trip being canceled. He is also a close personal confidante of former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

One reporter in Wisconsin finds that 100% of the people she meets DGAF about this bogus story.

Extra - Federalist: "Atlantic Editor Concedes Central Claim Of Trump Hit Piece Could Be Wrong."  Big concession, considering contemporaneous records and a dozen eyewitnesses say it's fiction.

Desperation time

Confirmed: the media is garbage

Glenn Greenwald: "Journalism’s New Propaganda Tool: Using “Confirmed” to Mean its Opposite."

But journalism is not supposed to be grounded in whether something is “believable” or “seems like it could be true.” Its core purpose, the only thing that really makes it matter or have worth, is reporting what is true, or at least what evidence reveals. And that function is completely subverted when news outlets claim that they “confirmed” a previous report when they did nothing more than just talked to the same people who anonymously whispered the same things to them as were whispered to the original outlet.

Quite aside from this specific story about whether Trump loves The Troops, conflating the crucial journalistic concept of “confirmation” with “hearing the same idle gossip” or “unproven assertions” is a huge disservice. It is an instrument of propaganda, not reporting. And its use has repeatedly deceived rather than informed the public. Anyone who doubts that should review how it is that MSNBC and CBS both claimed to have “confirmed” a CNN report which turned out to be ludicrously and laughably false. Clearly, the term “confirmation” has lost its meaning in journalism.

These reporters all "heard it from a guy" and then pass the rumor through the Trump-hate filter to determine if it's true.