IT’S DIFFERENT NOW BECAUSE ORANGE MAN BAD: Chicago Mayor Lightfoot Begs Biden for Help After Turning Down Trump Offer for Assistance.

BE PREPARED: ReadyWise Emergency Food Supply, Freeze-Dried Survival-Food Disaster Kit. #CommissionEarned

HR 6225: Firearms Dealers Once Again In The Crosshairs Of The Anti-Gun Crowd. “None of this falderal would keep guns out of the hands of people who aren’t supposed to have them. But it would place more restrictions on FFL holders to the point of attempting to choke off their legal commerce and restrict ordinary gun owners from their 2nd amendment rights.”

WHY IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUCH A CESSPIT OF RACIST IDENTITY POLITICS?  Rep. Bowman: ‘White man’ Joe Manchin doesn’t care about Black people, immigrants, poor.

JUST IN TIME FOR THE COMING ICE AGE: TEST OF PLANET-COOLING SCHEME COULD START IN 2022: A controversial geoengineering plan aims to spray reflective particles into the stratosphere.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY DARK WINTER! Seen on the Interwebs:

HER STORY AFTER BEING DISAPPEARED FOR A WHILE: Chinese Tennis Star Now Says She Wasn’t Sexually Assaulted by Government Official.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: A mass of human brain cells in a petri dish has been taught to play Pong.

THE WAR ON PRIVATE TRANSPORTATION: Biden Administration Imposes New Fuel Efficiency Regulations, Aiming For ‘Zero-Emissions Future.’ “The new EPA regulations require all new cars and light-duty vehicles to achieve an average fuel efficiency standard of 40 miles per gallon. This is a slight increase from the 38 miles per gallon standard the EPA suggested in its original proposal and an increase of 8 miles per gallon from the rule imposed by former President Trump’s EPA in 2020.”

HEATHER MAC DONALD: Inside the Omicron Fear Factory.

In March 2020, a profile of the typical Covid victim emerged from Italy. The average decedent was eighty years old, with approximately three comorbidities such as heart disease, obesity or diabetes. The young had little to worry about; the survival rate for the vast majority of the population was well over 99 percent.

That portrait never significantly changed. The early assessments of Covid out of Italy have remained valid through today. And so it will prove with the Omicron variant.

The data out of South Africa, after five weeks of Omicron spread, suggest that Omicron should be a cause for celebration, not fear. Its symptoms are mild to non-existent in the majority of the infected, especially the vaccinated; hospitalization rates are over nine times lower than for previous Covid strains; deaths are negligible. That assessment will only be confirmed as the US and other western countries gather their own data on Omicron.

Yet the public health establishment and the media are working overtime to gin up Omicron hysteria. The official response to the Omicron variant provides a case study in the deliberate manufacture of fear. The following strategies are key:

Read the whole thing. The Omicron Fear Factory flies in the face of logic, particularly given this statistic: Fentanyl overdoses become No. 1 cause of death among US adults, ages 18-45: ‘A national emergency.’ More adults between 18 and 45 died of fentanyl overdoses in 2020 than COVID-19, motor vehicle accidents, cancer and suicide.

TOO BAD THEY BLOCKED THAT POWER LINE FROM CANADIAN HYDRO PLANTS: Experts: Polar vortex may expose electric grid vulnerabilities in Maine.

WORDS ARE VIOLENCE, BUT ACTUAL VIOLENCE IS MERELY PEACEFUL PROTEST: Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) says disagreeing with her is ‘policy violence.’

“Today, over 43 million people in the U.S. are crushed under more than $1.7 trillion in student loan debt,” the congresswoman wrote in an explosive Twitter thread. “The student debt crisis is multiracial & multigenerational… it is a racial, gender & economic justice issue. [President Joe Biden] can & must #CancelStudentDebt.”

Here’s where it gets wild.

“Let’s make it plain: student debt is policy violence,” Pressley concludes.

That’s right: The Massachusetts congresswoman has coined a seemingly new term, “policy violence,” and is attempting to smear her opponents with it. That includes me.

I oppose student debt “cancellation” because it is actually a regressive policy that forces working-class taxpayers to pay the bills of a wealthier subset of society: the college-educated. I also believe that it’s an (insanely expensive) Band-Aid on a bullet hole. It fails to address the failed federal policies that have made college so absurdly expensive in the first place.

I’m hardly alone in this view. A February 2021 Yahoo Finance survey found that 54% of voters oppose the cancellation of all student debt. Apparently, Pressley believes those of us who hold the radical view that people can pay their own bills are committing an act of violence!

I’m happy to debate my fellow citizens who, in good faith, fall down on the opposite side of this issue from me. But Pressley is not one of them. By absurdly labeling disagreement on a complex policy issue as “violence,” the congresswoman is attempting to delegitimatize views other than her own. Labeling speech as “violence” — even though words do not and never can constitute an act of violence by definition — is a precursor to the outright suppression of dissent.

After all, if speech is violence, then the government is justified in quashing it. If speech is violence, then violence is justified in response to that violent speech. By Pressley’s disturbing logic, student debt cancellation advocates would have the right to assault their ideological opponents physically as a matter of self-defense!

But assaulting her ideological opponents is something Pressley appeared to have called for in August of last year: Pressley Calls for ‘Unrest In the Streets.’

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.) said Saturday the rioting caused by anti-police protests should continue in major cities across the country “as long as there’s unrest in our lives.”

“There needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there’s unrest in our lives, and unfortunately, there’s plenty to go around,” Pressley said on MSNBC’s AM Joy with Tiffany Cross.

Pressley said the lasting “public outcry” holds Trump-backing Republican lawmakers accountable for ignoring the needs of American families.

“I’m looking to the public,” Pressley said. “You know, this is as much about public outcry and organizing and mobilizing and applying pressure so that this GOP-led Senate and that these governors that continue to carry water for this administration, putting the American people in harm’s way, turning a deaf ear to the needs of our families and our communities. Hold them accountable.”

The congresswoman’s comments follow a summer of heated demonstrations over racial justice and police brutality, which have in some cities led to riots and mass destruction. In Portland, protesters repeatedly attacked a federal courthouse with fireworks and other explosives. Last weekend, rioters in Chicago broke into and looted stores along the city’s Magnificent Mile and damaged the exterior of a local charity.

As Glenn has joked, getting Pressley and the rest of “the Squad” elected was Roger Stone’s last and greatest political dirty trick.

JUST SAY NO: The Mark of the Beast? Implanted Microchips Storing Vaccine Status Are Already a Reality.

TOP SELLER: Home Hero 17 Pieces Kitchen Knife Set. #CommissionEarned

THE VACCINES SEEM TO BE UNDERPERFORMING: Study: Moderna, Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines less effective in seniors with chronic health woes.

RAV ARORA: The Record-Breaking Homicide Wave in Philadelphia. “Though progressive politicians dismiss growing crime concerns as right-wing ‘hysteria,’ the homicide toll is nearly impossible to exaggerate. More people have died by homicide in Philadelphia in 2021 than in 2014 (248) and 2015 (280) combined. Moreover, the racial inequality in homicide victimization is striking: though black Americans comprise only 41.5% of Philadelphia’s population, they account for 85% of the city’s homicide victims.”

That right there is your systemic racism, courtesy of “progressive” Democrats like Philly DA Larry Krasner.

JOE MANCHIN DARES DEMOCRATS TO PUSH HIM OUT OF PARTY:

Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) on Monday dared Democrats to push him out of the party if they are unhappy with his views, one day after he announced he will not support President Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda, effectively killing the bill.

Asked on Hoppy Kercheval’s West Virginia radio show if he believes there is still a place for him in the Democratic party, Manchin replied: “I would like to hope that Democrats feel like I do. I’m fiscally responsible and socially compassionate.”

“Now if there are no Democrats like that, they ought to push me where they want me,” he added.

During the interview, Manchin said he had gotten “to the wit’s end” with the negotiation efforts, saying the White House knows “the real reason” things fell apart.

White House staff “drove some things and they put some things out that were absolutely inexcusable. They know what it is,” he said.

Chuck Schumer played a role in Manchin’s disillusionment with his fellow Democrats:

Dems could have used the reconciliation process to raise the debt ceiling and keep the government funded. They didn’t need a single Republican vote to do it, but that process would’ve been lengthy and difficult, and they might have had their own party members (looking at you, AOC) with stupid, last-minute items that would’ve embarrassed the party by revealing the truly radical nature of their power base.

So, McConnell gave in and did Schumer a favor.

Remember how Schumer thanked him? By laying into him with a diatribe on the floor of the Senate.

Remember how Manchin reacted? Watch:

[Click over for video — Ed]

“This is crazy,” you can see Manchin mouth to an unseen colleague. He then buries his head in his hands in frustration and despair before he gets up and storms out of the chamber while Schumer continues his rant.

You want a picture of incivility? That’s the freaking Mona Lisa right there. And it pretty much set the table for Manchin from that day forward, culminating in his proclamation to Brett Baier on Sunday. Manchin knows that there’s no way forward with these people. And the old, trusted allies he fooled himself into thinking he had (Schumer and Biden) are long gone.

That speech from Schumer may have made the New York Democrat feel great. Must’ve been real cathartic for him. And the lefties on Twitter absolutely loved it as well. “Slay Queen!” they tweeted in all CAPS!

Good for Chuck!

He owned the cons for a night and alienated the one guy he needed to accommodate, thus ensuring his status as a failed Senate leader.

He also solidified the death knell for his president’s last chance to get anything done before Republicans take over the House and the Senate in eleven months.

This could mean that the Biden presidency, in terms of any real legislative achievements that would matter to a Democrat, is over. And Chuck Schumer ended it.

Meanwhile, Hollywood drops the mask, and lets Manchin, and in one actress’s case, West Virginia have it with both barrels (figuratively speaking, not Alec Baldwin-style): ‘This is how the elite feel about normal Americans’: Bette Midler, 76, draws the ire of conservatives and liberals after branding people in West Virginia ‘poor, illiterate and strung out’ during attack on Manchin:

Bette Midler has come under fire from both conservatives and liberals after she tweeted that Senator Joe Manchin ‘wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia…poor, illiterate, and strung out.’

The First Wives Club actress infuriated thousands with her snobbish missive, which said: ‘What #JoeManchin, who represents a population smaller than Brooklyn, has done to the rest of America, who wants to move forward, not backward, like his state, is horrible.

‘He sold us out.

‘He wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia.

‘Poor, illiterate and strung out.’

Criticism for Midler’s high-handed comments quickly poured in from both conservatives and liberals.

Mike Schlossberg, a Democratic state legislator from Pennsylvania, criticized Midler, tweeting: ‘Respectfully: This isn’t helping. “I AM SMARTER THAN YOU SO AGREE WITH ME” has never convinced anyone. Ever.’

Another Twitter user wrote to Midler: ‘You suck as a person.’

Rob Reiner, Jennifer Rubin, Bill de Blasio and Unitarian pastor and author John Pavlovitz joined in the Twitter scrum, though they at least had the sense to attack Manchin himself, and not the people who elected him.

THIS WEEK IN STRAY VOLTAGE: White House shakeup: Biden to get new German shepherd and cat as current dog gets rehomed.

The first family is revamping its pet lineup, bringing in a new dog and cat while President Biden’s current dog is set to be rehomed.

The Bidens received a pure-bred German shepherd Monday as a birthday gift from the president’s brother James Biden and sister-in-law Sara Biden, according to first lady Jill Biden’s office. The dog, which was born on Sept. 1, will go by the name Commander.

The Bidens’ current German shepherd, Major, will be rehomed with family friends. The Bidens made the decision to move Major after consulting with dog trainers, animal behaviorists and veterinarians, who said the dog would benefit from a quieter environment.

Major has been a source of controversy for the White House after being involved in several biting incidents since Biden took office in January, including a string of eight days in a row in which Major bit a Secret Service agent. At least one White House visitor was also bitten by Major, in March, with White House press secretary Jen Psaki saying the dog “was surprised by an unfamiliar person and reacted in a way that resulted in a minor injury to the individual.”

Hey, that’s one way to get the DNC-MSM to temporarily focus on another topic after Joe Manchin torpedoed Build Back Brandon, and “stray voltage” is a classic tactic for a group of Obama administration retreads. This one is at least much more benign that accusing the Border Patrol of whipping illegal immigrants.

Still though:

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR WEEKLY INSANITY WRAP: Everybody’s Got Omicron Fever! “There are two kinds of omicron victims: People who have caught omicron but won’t die from it, and people who are deathly afraid of it.”

Plus:

• Caught on video: When Teachers Attack (In the Lamest Way Possible)
• How to turn an imaginative child into a hate-crime hoaxter
• Everybody is getting coal for Christmas

So much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.

PUSHING GRANDPA OFF THE CLIFF: Democrats Prepare To Dump Joe Biden Now That He’s Served His Purpose.

The truth is that establishment Democrats wanted Joe, and they selected him, despite his age and numerous warning signs regarding his mental acuity. He was the blank canvas on which anything could be written, and he could be sold as a “moderate.”

As Bernie Sanders surged in the polls in early 2020 with 45 delegates after the first three primaries and Joe languished in a distant third place with 15, the party took control. Rep. Jim Clyburn stepped in and delivered an influential endorsement in South Carolina that pushed African-American support to Biden’s campaign, propelling him to victory. Stories immediately appeared claiming Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, and Pete Buttigieg had “no realistic path to the nomination.”

Despite trailing early in fundraising behind the well-organized Sanders fundraising machine, the Democrat establishment pivoted to push donations to Biden. As the NYT admitted in an article at the time, “The elite world of billionaires and multimillionaires has remained a critical cog in the Biden money machine.” Bernie’s small-dollar donors were no match for the large bundles of corporate and PAC cash.

With a lot of help from a sycophantic media, Biden was elected president of the United States, without serious inquiry regarding his physical and mental abilities. Now, suddenly, it’s time to plan Joe’s exit before the new Oval Office carpet has fully settled in place?

Biden might not be all he used to be (and he never was much) but he knows how Washington works — and I can’t imagine him going without a fight.

Corn, popped.

MARK JUDGE ON LICORICE PIZZA: The Grown-Up Kids of the 70s. “The 1970s was an era when parents were often absent and kids were treated like small adults.”

BRANDON SPEAKS: The Real Brandon Speaks: ‘I’m No Longer Going to Be Silent About Why Millions of Americans Are Chanting My Name.’ “I understand that millions of people are struggling right now and are frustrated. Struggling to get by and struggling to build a solid life for themselves and their families, and wondering why their government only seems to make it worse. People have a right to frustration—even anger.”

TOP SELLER IN PAIN MANAGEMENT: Built from Broken: A Science-Based Guide to Healing Painful Joints, Preventing Injuries, and Rebuilding Your Body. #CommissionEarned

WHITE HOUSE FIRES AT MANCHIN, HITS OWN FOOT: Manchin Fires Back At The White House After Gloves-Off Statement Criticizes His Opposition To BBB.

In an interview with West Virginia’s Hoppy Kercheval, Manchin said that while he “figured they would come back strong,” they knew that Manchin could not support the bill they were backing.

“You know me, always willing to work and listen and try. I just got to the wit’s end and they know the real reason” things fell apart, Manchin said, referring to the White House.

“[The staff] put some things out that were absolutely inexcusable,” Manchin added. “They know what it is and that’s it.”

Stand fast, Senator.

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Teacher fired after call for ‘shooting’ anti-vaxxers.

A Pennsylvania teacher lost her job after suggesting on Facebook that Americans who refuse COVID-19 vaccinations for religious reasons should be shot.

The General McLane School District in Erie County confirmed Monday that Mollie Paige Mumau has not been teaching at McLane High School or permitted in school district buildings since Dec. 8, a few days after she suggested in the Facebook post that the Republican Party “take those guns they profess to love so much and just start shooting all of their constituents who think this way.”

Does Mumau also want to see these crazed Maga hat wearing rubes shot as well? Why Only 28 Percent of Young Black New Yorkers Are Vaccinated.