Archive for 2021
October 14, 2021
MEN’S NOVELTY T-SHIRT: Let’s Go Brandon American Flag Impeach Biden T-Shirt. #CommissionEarned
DO YOU OWN STOCK IN LOWE’S?: Do you want to stop Lowe’s from discriminating against small business owners on the basis of race? Please help the American Civil Rights Project. Our organization is having success in reminding “woke” corporations that anti-discrimination laws protect all of us, not just some. But we need actual shareholders to make this work. If you own Lowe’s stock (or even if you’re just curious), please click.
MAN, MEAT OR MIND? Seems like a rather stark choice, but neurosurgeon Michael Egnor explains why it really isn’t. And what that tells us about the case for Intelligent Design.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: The Woke Social Media Minority Can’t Bully the Sane Majority Forever. “There are millions of people in this great land who aren’t quivering basket cases in constant search of a reason to be offended. Nobody is going to get canceled from them. They like being entertained. Kevin and I are putting together a little tour that will bring us to them. No cancel worries anywhere on the horizon if one of them doesn’t like a joke.”
WATCH OUT! HERE COMES PAUL TAYLOR!: For twenty years, Paul worked as a Republican counsel on Capitol Hill, mostly for the House Committee on the Judiciary, where he specialized in civil rights, civil liberties and constitutional issues. On a couple of occasions, I had the pleasure of working with him. Now that he’s off the Hill, he will be speaking his mind on Substack. His first post is a 50-minute video debunking in detail the false narratives promulgated by some of the most popular “critical race theory” books. It’s been a hit with many of the heroic parents who have been challenging corrupt school boards about the efforts to indoctrinate their children into a radical ideology religion. (Yes I’m talking about the parents that the National School Boards Association compared to domestic terrorists.) You can sign up there for his Substack if you feel so inclined, including for the free version. Paul also has a series of essays on the same topic.
SOD OFF, SWAMPY: Steaks Could Soon Become Champagne-Like Luxury.
IT’S COME TO THIS: Rep. Michelle Steel calls for ban on ships anchoring off Orange County.
Under pressure to react to the recent oil spill off her House district’s shore line, Rep. Michelle Steel on Tuesday proposed a temporary ban on ships idling along the coast, citing initial reports that an anchor may have dislodged the failed pipeline.
“This crisis could have been prevented and it’s important that we protect our waters and coastline,” said Steel, R-Seal Beach, whose 48th District includes much of coastal Orange County.
Maritime experts say Steel’s proposal could lead to increased costs and delays for shipping companies, more air pollution and a greater risk of offshore accidents.
Steel’s Stopping Hazardous Incidents in the Pacific Act of 2021, or SHIP Act, would ban cargo idling or anchoring within 24 nautical miles from the Orange County coast. The ban would take effect immediately and last “up to 180 days,” or until President Joe Biden declares an end to a port backlog that’s stemmed from the coronavirus pandemic and caused a spike in ships waiting offshore.
* * * * * * * *
Stewart, with Steel’s office, said the ban on idling ships is an “immediate response to a problem that is happening in real time.” She said more pipelines could be damaged as ships remain stuck off the coast.
After a dramatic drop in cargo coming into the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach at the start of the pandemic, a report from the Pacific Maritime Association noted an unprecedented spike in volume in April 2020. Such swings have continued for months, with the Port of Los Angeles setting a new record for volume in June.
Combine that surging but uneven demand with what the Pacific Maritime Association identified as “equipment shortages, capacity limits and logistical choke points throughout the entire supply chain.” And it’s all led to a massive backup of container ships waiting off Southern California shores to unload their cargo, which is causing supply chain issues throughout the country.
As the Atlantic noted, “America is Running Out of Everything.” And banning ships doesn’t sound like the best way to improve that.
BIDEN, INC. REMAINS A PARTLY-OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF THE CCP: From China With Love: Biden Bought Chinese Drones Over Pentagon Objections.
KERRY INVESTED IN CHINESE FIRM: Alana Goodman of The Washington Free Beacon details climate czar John Kerry’s investment of at least $1 million in a firm “that is a major funder of China’s artificial intelligence sector—including a tech company blacklisted by the United States for human rights abuses against the Uyghurs.”
HISTORY OF THE AMERICANS: Sidebar: Considering Columbus Counterfactuals!
October 13, 2021
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY:
@fishred52 #unitedstates #unitedwestand #dividedwefall #biden2020 #blankstare #mentalhealth #weareintrouble #bidenbloopers #sad
OPEN THREAD: Aren’t you glad they ain’t all California girls? The Insta-Wife was actually born in Berkeley, but she got to Tennessee as fast as she could.
NEW CIVILITY WATCH: Bernie Bros vow to make Sen. Sinema’s life ‘unpleasant’ starting today.
Our Revolution was founded by Sanders in 2016 to continue pressing for more radical, socialist change. As you may recall, the so-called Bernie Bros have a reputation for being a bit unhinged and viscous [sic—Ed]. Last January the NY Times reported some Democrats had hired private security because of them.
Some progressive activists who declined to back Mr. Sanders have begun traveling with private security after incurring online harassment. Several well-known feminist writers said they had received death threats. A state party chairwoman changed her phone number. A Portland lawyer saw her business rating tumble on an online review site after tussling with Sanders supporters on Twitter…
“Politics is a contact sport,” said Bakari Sellers, a former South Carolina State legislator who supported Ms. Harris in the Democratic primary. “But you have to be very cognizant when you say anything critical of Bernie online. You might have to put your phone down. There’s going to be a blowback, and it could be sexist, racist and vile.”
Sexist, racist and vile is a hell of a reputation for a group of far left activists. Things got so heated that last February, Sen. Warren called out the Bernie Bros and said she was particularly troubled by their treatment of “women in leadership.”
To be fair, that’s nowhere near as heated as an interaction with a Bernie Bro can get.
LET’S GO BRANDON! Heating bills will jump as much as 54% this winter compared to last year, federal forecast says.
Fortunately though, the John Gill Biden administration is on it: Biden admin reportedly wants help from oil and gas companies (‘You can’t make this stuff up’). “The WH is threatening more regulation, shuts down their pipelines/projects… and now begs for their help.”
ROGER SIMON: Even in Red Tennessee Election Integrity an Uphill Battle.
Until we have elections trusted by the populace, we don’t have a country. And as of now, according to the polls, the people don’t.
In any case, the Tennessee Voters for Election Integrity did rather exhaustive research over their eleven months and presented the commission with a spiral-bound print-out plus Power Point not quite the size of your average Democratic Party infrastructure bill, but substantial. It includes considerable documentation. (Incidentally, they should put this online. All states could profit.)
A large number of complaints garnered from Tennessee citizens will not astonish readers at this point (i. e. Mail-in ballots are virtually impossible to police). They are a similar to those in John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky’s forthcoming (Nov. 2) “Our Broken Elections: How the Left Changed the Way You Vote” that I am half-way through in the advanced reader’s copy. No doubt much of it is also in Mollie Hemingway’s just published “Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections,” next on my list.
Nevertheless, the Tennesse group had some principal findings. Their voters want to “minimize the proliferation of technology” and for the state to decertify DREs (Direct Recording Devices) and BMDs (Ballot Marking Devices) because both are too easily subject to hacking and manipulation of various sorts. They prefer optical scanners for “self-adjudication and tabulation of the vote.”
That would mean, of course, preservable paper ballots for all elections. They would want those watermarked as well and passed a sample to the commissioners and audience.
Paper ballots? That’s definitely a time-tested, Instapundit-approved idea.
SUPPLY CHAIN: Will Ron DeSantis Save Christmas?
The media has been very busy issuing warnings to American consumers of late. CNN told us to get ready for emptier shelves. News outlets suggested shopping early for Christmas to avoid shortages. Pictures of dozens of container ships off the West Coast that are not allowed to dock have gone viral.
What can a concerned consumer do? Head to Florida.
Last week, the Florida Ports Council put out a press release telling shippers that the state’s ports are open, staffed, and ready for business. “Florida is where your success comes in, and our seaports are the solution to ensure the cargo shipping logjam doesn’t become the grinch that stole Christmas,” said Florida Ports Council President and CEO Michael Rubin. He added, “With inflation growing, shipping and manufacturing industries can save time and money by calling on Florida ports. Why pay to moor off the coast of California, when Florida shipping lanes are open and serving as the gateway for getting goods to America’s market?”
More than 60 ships holding thousands of shipping containers were moored off the California coast when the council sent the letter. Rubin asserted, “Florida is open for business, and we are the solution to help resolve the global supply chain crisis. Instead of waiting off the coast of California, cargo vessels can offload and move their product to Florida and other discretionary markets in the same time it takes to find space in an increasingly congested California.” . . .
Hopefully, shippers will reward Florida’s proactive attitude so that all of the sneakers, toilet paper, toys, and Christmas trees can come ashore sooner than anticipated. According to the Washington Post, the port crisis is also causing rail yards to back up and logjams for truckers. California passed AB 5, which eliminated owner-operators. Another law put restrictions on the age of trucks that could legally operate in the state. These restrictions further impede getting products out of the ports and in and out of the rail yards. Florida doesn’t have any of these restrictive rules.
Hurray for Florida.
OUT ON A LIMB: The Supply Chain and Shipping Mess Is Partly the Administration’s Fault.
Pent-up consumer demand is increasing rapidly, and suppliers are struggling to keep up. Chinese ports are closing because of COVID-19, and they’re also dealing with rolling power outages, and they’re dealing with typhoons on top of that. Vietnamese ports and factories are dealing with COVID-19-driven shutdowns and slowdowns as well. (It would also help if cargo ship captains stopped trying to parallel park in the middle of the Suez Canal.)
There’s a lot that the Biden administration cannot control. There is no button in the White House that can make a lot more unionized heavy crane operators appear, or make Chinese ports open, or make shipping containers appear where they’re needed.
But the administration is far from blameless. Shutting down pipeline projects and barring fracking does not help reduce energy costs. The vaccine mandate undoubtedly is creating staffing issues at some companies, even if they are minor ones. The administration emphasizes that all of their policies are supposed to help with job creation, but employers keep declaring they can’t find workers, a shortage that “stumps” the Secretary of Labor.
And perhaps most importantly… a worsening backlog of cargo and freight at American ports is the kind of problem the federal government is supposed to detect early on, isn’t it? Pete Buttigieg didn’t cause the worsening backlog of cargo at our ports, but…isn’t that the sort of thing a Secretary of Transportation is supposed to keep an eye on? What’s he been doing all this time?
Up until this week, getting a ton of glowing identity news articles based on what’s to be found by searching his name in Google News:
● Buttigieg on parenthood: ‘Most demanding thing’ I’ve ever done.
—NBC News, October 7th.
● Pete Buttigieg Dishes on His Future As a Presidential Candidate.
—Business Insider, October 1st.
● Pete Buttigieg documentary ‘Mayor Pete’ to open LGBTQ Film Festival NewFest.
—NBC News, September 16th.
● Twice As Nice: Pete Buttigieg And His Husband Announce The Arrival Of Two Children.
—NPR, September 4th.
All that fawning coverage may not last, though: Amateur hour: Pete Buttigieg’s inexperience exposed as supply chain breaks down.
—Joe Concha, The Hill, today.
Earlier: America is Running Out of Everything.
YOU COULDN’T MAKE THIS UP IF YOU TRIED: A slight denouement on Ed Driscoll’s post about how President Biden might have more to answer for. Have a look-see at The Daily Mail’s story and the hellaciously ironic note on the video graphics…
Heh, “corrupted file.”