BOTTOM STORY OF THE DAY: Matthew Dowd Has Already Quit the Race for Texas Lieutenant Governor.
Jennifer Rubin, hardest hit: ‘Oh no!’ Jennifer Rubin reacts to the news of Matthew Dowd dropping out of Texas lieutenant governor race.
Archive for 2021
December 7, 2021
HAS IT BEEN TESTED AT THE WHITE HOUSE? Study: Self-administered test accurately predicts early dementia sooner.
SOHRAB AHMARI: Goodbye, Gotham.
Then there are the addicts and crazies. Please, liberals, don’t gaslight us. Don’t you dare say, “Welcome to New York—it’s always been like this.” No, it was not ever thus. It has gotten much worse, despite the nearly $1 billion City Hall spent on its ThriveNYC mental-health program, with much of the money wasted on fighting mental-health “stigma” and combating generalized depression and anxiety, rather than getting the severely mentally ill off the streets and into the involuntary inpatient programs they need.
Why do ordinary families have to be treated to the sight of a humongous crazy lady taking a dump on the corner? When will the self-talking, needle-jabbed, leaning-over-half-dead heroin addicts be cleared off Broadway and Penn Station? Where is the compassion in letting the crazy lady s**t on the open street? What humane end is served by not confronting the addicts and getting them the help they need, even if they’re too f***ed in the head to realize it?
Now layer the Covid biomedical security state on top of all this: the cruel and development-warping masking of kids, which won’t end anytime soon, if ever, though we have known for more than a year that they are at minuscule risk from the virus and transmit it at a much lower rate than do adults; the prolonged lockdowns that carved a swath of destruction through some of the most beloved small businesses in my little rectangle and many other neighborhoods, as well; the endless vax-mandate and booster-shot treadmill, just extended to children as young as 5; and, yes, the added informal enforcement of it all by sad, mostly childless middle-aged white women henpecking you in elevators and in department stores, even when and where mask mandates aren’t in effect.
You know what? Take the Big Apple dream and shove it—for now, at least.
I hope the Fresh Start States Initiative’s Welcome Wagon program is up to the task of reminding leftists fleeing their Blue State blues not to vote again for the initiatives that caused them to leave.
HE NEEDS MORE TIME TO INVENT THEM: Biden Misses Deadline to Provide Congress Afghanistan Withdrawal Details.
A DATE THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY: Pearl Harbor 80 years on.
…Pearl Harbor was more of a culmination than a surprise.
In the late summer of 1945, historians Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager reflected on the WWII’s origins. In a short article published in November 1945, they wrote, “The explanation (for WWII) was to be found in the breakdown in the system of collective security and the growth of international anarchy, moral and political, in the post-war years.” Post-war meant post-WWI, the war to end all wars.
Collective insecurity sounds so academic, and so I’ll translate: The more sober and more good failed to stand up to the fanatics.
Did Pearl Harbor start WWII? No. Let’s go to Mukden (Shenyang), China, Sept. 19, 1931, when Japanese soldiers attacked the Chinese Mukden garrison and invaded Manchuria.
There’s a very good case Mukden is the surprise attack that started WWII.
The Mukden attack was what current observers call “an emerging threat.” Emerging? It was a threat that Washington could ignore. So was the Nanking Massacre, commonly called the Rape of Nanking, an imperial Japanese mass atrocity committed against the Chinese in 1937.
Dead history? No, instructive history. In 2021 America and its allies — including a democratic Japan — face emerging threats that are, frankly, deadly threats thrust in our collective face.
Check it out.
81 MILLION VOTES: I&I/TIPP Poll Stunner: Just 22% Of Americans Want Joe Biden To Run For President Again. “Even Democrats seem less than enthused about Biden holding the top spot. Just 37% want him there. And only 16% give Harris the nod as presidential standard-bearer, alarming given that Vice President Harris is next in line to be president should Biden not complete his term in office.”
If Biden isn’t going to run again, he’ll have to announce within the next 12-18 months (18 would really be pushing it) to give Democrat contenders time enough to spin up their money machines and ground organizations.
The resulting scramble — against the backdrop of a failed-but-sitting Democrat president, no less — would be delicious.
UNEXPECTEDLY: White House quietly tries to reshape economic coverage.
The White House, not happy with the news media’s coverage of the supply chain and economy, has been working behind the scenes trying to reshape coverage in its favor. Senior White House and admin officials — including NEC Deputy Directors David Kamin and Bharat Ramamurti, along with Ports Envoy John Porcari — have been briefing major newsrooms over the past week, a source tells me.
The officials have been discussing with newsrooms trends pertaining to job creation, economic growth, supply chains, and more. The basic argument that has been made: That the country’s economy is in much better shape than it was last year. I’m told the conversations have been productive, with anchors and reporters and producers getting to talk with the officials…
And right on cue! Media Give Biden More Negative Coverage Than Trump: The Washington Post.
Nonetheless, Milbank speculated that the media, “pressured by Trump’s complaints about the press, pulled punches” in its coverage of President Trump during the months of civil unrest throughout the country and the 2020 election.
On the other hand during his first 60 days in office, President Biden received less negative coverage than any president on record, dating back to President Bill Clinton, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. Milbank described the media’s coverage of Biden’s first months in office “slightly positive.”
It’s true that the media criticized the Biden administration’s execution of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which left an unknown number of Americans stranded under Taliban rule. Yet the media soon defended his foreign policy actions, with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell opining that at least Biden’s abandonment of Kabul was not as bad as the fall of Saigon.
The study also ignores that much of the cable news networks’ critiques came from the Left, repeating progressives’ allegations that the president had been too harsh toward illegal immigrants and that he compromised too readily with congressional Republicans and centrist Democrats on the eye-watering cost of his “Build Back Better” bill.
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
Evergreen:
UPDATE: MSNBC rushes in to polish Ron Klain’s apple:
(Updated and bumped.)
ANALYSIS: TRUE. Hey Gen Z, Madonna has every right to be sexy on Instagram at age 63. “The snark hurled by Gen Z after Madonna got frisky on Instagram is rich coming from a generation so chaste, they’ve been called the ‘puriteens.’ Meanwhile, male celebrities at Madge’s age are routinely fawned over.”
To be fair, we older men are inherently sexier.
VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR WEEKLY INSANITY WRAP: Media Frenzy Over Fake ‘White Supremacy’ Protest Hyped by AI FaceBot (Really). “Apparently, a hundred or so members of the white supremacy group marched through Washington. More would have shown up, but due to supply chain disruptions, the Feds couldn’t buy enough new pairs of Dockers.”
Plus:
- San Francisco restaurant does an about-face, suddenly re-loves the police
- Joe Biden says he will rescue you from Ukraine, has already forgotten Kabul
- Trump on Milley: “That’s when I realized he was a f****** idiot.”
So much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.
IT’S TRUMP’S PARTY: Looks like the former Chief Executive is the key figure in the GOP in 2024 regardless if he seeks the presidential nomination for a third time (actually, it would be his fourth, but the 2012 bid ended in just five weeks).
Odds are, a Republican will succeed His Fraudulency and whatever the name, restoring Trump’s policies will be the first order of business. The Liz Cheney/Never-Trumper faction is all but irrelevant. But the social issues could be a big problem again.
JOANNE JACOBS: Districts use Covid $ to protect status quo. “A few districts are downsizing to match the fall in per-pupil revenue, but federal Covid aid is allowing districts to keep ‘under-enrolled schools open and fully staffed in the hopes that students come back.’ That’s a dangerous gamble.”
More likely it’s a cynical cash-grab.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON ON PEARL HARBOR: New video from Prager University.
Related: Taking a Second Look at WWII with Victor Davis Hanson’s ‘The Second World Wars.’
LIKE A DROWNING PERSON DESPERATELY CLINGING TO AN ANVIL: Vulnerable House Democrats Finally Decide to Focus on Policy over Trump.
Their policies aren’t popular.
BE PREPARED: The Ultimate Book of Everyday Knots. #CommissionEarned
HMM: SpaceX Begins Building Orbital Starship Launch Pad in Unexpected Location.
SpaceX aims to launch the first orbital test of a full-stack Starship as soon as January. But instead of the Texas “Starbase” facility where prototypes of Starship’s upper stage have been made and tested, the orbital flight will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, CEO Elon Musk said Friday.
“Construction of Starship orbital launch pad at the Cape has begun,” Musk tweeted. In later comments he confirmed that the launch pad is located at the historic Launch Complex 39A, the same pad used for SpaceX commercial crew flights to the International Space Station for NASA.
“39A is hallowed spaceflight ground—no place more deserving of a Starship launch pad!” Musk explained in a separate tweet. “Will have similar, but improved, ground systems and tower to Starbase.”
Well, it isn’t like SLS needs 39A anytime soon.
EPIC DAILY DEAL: DeskCycle 2 Under Desk Bike Pedal Exerciser. #CommissionEarned
CAUSE, MEET EFFECT: Liberals Bemoan ‘Random’ Violent Attacks in Places Where They Want Fewer Cops.
NOBODY CARES KID, SHUT UP: The campus left comes for TikTok’s ‘digital racism.’
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE JOE’S ABILITY TO F*** THINGS UP: Biden’s proposals spark phase 2 of supply chain crisis.
Our economic woes are not going away anytime soon, and President Biden seems to be doing his best to prolong them. New restrictions on travel to the United States, especially for the transit of cargo, coupled with a newly emerged strain of COVID, may cause the frail economy to spiral into 2022. The White House’s policy errors will further exacerbate the delicate national recovery from the pandemic and become the greatest contributing factor to a worsening of our supply chain crisis and inflation.
While information surrounding the omicron variant is still emerging, if officials respond with more spending and lockdowns in the name of “emergency measures” it could lead to further pain for American households and a worsening supply situation — at a time when our nation simply cannot afford it.
With the holidays around the corner, Americans are experiencing inflated prices, goods shortages, and long shipping times. Right now would be the perfect time to simplify the transport of needed goods from the United States’s No. 1 trading partner: Canada. More than $300 billion in truck freight came into the U.S. from Canada in 2020, and the loss of any significant portion of this will further hike prices and cause more empty shelves. Canadian and international goods arrive through our border crossings, and the White House is imposing a stiff travel restriction for all residents entering the country. Not only do tourists and visitors need to show proof of vaccination, but so do truck drivers. The new regulation, taking effect on Jan. 22, will further ensnare the arrival of both raw materials and finished goods into the country.
Considering that more than half of the freight entering the U.S. from Canada comes via truck, the effects will be immediate. Approximately 20 percent of Canada’s truckers are unvaxxed. Even worse, it comes a full year into the Biden administration and the general rollout of vaccines. The White House is consciously breaking its promise to shut down the virus and not the economy.
You might call it a crisis by design.
WHEN CURRENCIES ARE DEVALUED: The Unfolding Tragedy In Turkey Underscores Preeminence of Currency Policy.