WELCOME BACK, CARTER: Inflation accelerates 7.5% in January, hitting a fresh 40-year high.
Archive for 2022
February 10, 2022
GOOD FOR THE POLITICAL/MANAGERIAL CLASS BUT NOT FOR AMERICA: Joel Kotkin: The Zaibatsu-ization of America.
Today we see the rise of a few companies, who have moved into virtually every aspect of our economy. The nerds of Silicon Valley are no longer just interested in gadgets to make life better but are seizing control of both the production and dissemination of information. Arguably the greatest beneficiaries of a pandemic that hooked people ever more on their products, the tech giants now have the capital to lead the drive into space and the forced march to electrical vehicles, while also looking into dominating more prosaic fields like healthcare and finance.
The zaibatu-ization of America’s economy presents an enormous problem of governance. Our constitutional structure is based on the notion of many competing players. When concentration became too evident, and politically potent, as during the early decades of the last century, measures were taken to slow, and even reverse, over-concentration. Yet in the past few decades, the largest emerging corporate interests—Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon—and a handful of large financial institutions gained unprecedented control over the economy. By last summer six tech firms, including Tesla, accounted for half the value of the NASQAQ 100. By 2020, the five largest tech companies had total revenue amounting to half of those of all state governments combined.
What’s more, much of that concentration is the result of government policy.
XI’S GOTTA HAVE IT! New Emails Corroborate Biden-China Love Affair.
New emails found on the infamous “laptop from hell” by N.Y. Post shows that in 2014 when Joe Biden was VP, his son Hunter was negotiating a huge oil deal involving a state-owned Chinese energy firm and the recently ousted Kazakhstan Prime Minister.
Drilling in the South China Sea, the oil company CNOOC is China’s largest offshore crude oil and natural gas producer. During President Trump’s last week in office, The state-owned energy company was sanctioned because China attempted to intimidate other country’s legitimate rights to drill for energy in the sea,
Hunter’s plot occurred six years before the Trump sanction, but Chins was already dominating the sea, and the Biden/China relationship produced more income since then.
Flashbacks: Did Hunter Biden Help Facilitate NBCUniversal’s Beijing Theme Park?
Portions of Hunter Biden’s hard drive have now been shared with TAC. On the drive is an email from president of Rosemont Seneca Eric Schwerin, a company co-founded by Hunter and John Kerry’s stepson, saying that Chinese state-owned enterprise CITIC was hoping they would make introductions with Universal employees and propose the Beijing theme park.
“They’d like an introduction to Universal (Comcast) as they’d like to open a Universal Studios China theme park outside of Beijing,” Schwerin writes. “As I said, that one should be easy via Melissa Mayfield/David Cohen [two Comcast executives].”
More:
● Biden Sold Out America To China While Working For Hollywood.
● China’s Long Tentacles Extend Deep Into American Media. “Comcast Corporation is not only the participator of the increasingly close cultural exchanges, but also the contributor and beneficiary of deeper economic exchanges between China and the US. The NBC and the Universal Studios Theme Park in Beijing are witnesses of the in-depth development of Sino-US economic and trade relations and increasingly close cultural exchanges.”
As Jim Geraghty wrote in October of 2019, when the CCP-NBA connection exposed for millions of Americans to see: We’re Not Exporting Our Values to China — We’re Importing Theirs.
AT NPR, TACKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS OF THE DAY: Which skin color emoji should you use? The answer can be more complex than you think.
ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: How do you attach a 45-foot rocket to an F-15?
Also: Why.
OFT EVIL WILL SHALL EVIL MAR: How a fight over transgender rights derailed environmentalists in Nevada.
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Jonah Goldberg Cruises Off to CNN. “I believe this is known as ‘shaking hands with Jeffrey Toobin.'”
TOP SELLER: The Complete Instant Pot Cookbook For Beginners: 600 Everyday Pressure Cooker Recipes For Affordable Homemade Meals. #CommissionEarned
I’VE SEEN THE LOCKDOWNS AND THE DAMAGE DONE: Number of Colorado restaurants that expect to close has doubled. “Some of the main reasons for the trepidation among restaurant owners are increasing operating costs from labor and supplies. Almost every survey respondent said their labor costs have risen since January 2021, with another 90% saying they raised their menu prices in response.”
At my favorite sports bar for lunch last week, I noticed all the prices on the menu had been Sharpie’d out. I also heard a random guy at the bar shout, “Let’s go Brandon!”
Coincidence?
JIM TREACHER: Stacey Abrams Drops the Mask.
This week, Stacey Abrams made history: For the first time ever, she actually contributed something useful to society.
Until now, Abrams’ main claim to fame was refusing to admit she lost the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race. She’s gotten a lot of mileage out of that from her fellow Democrats, who hold her up as a martyr and therefore a hero. Now she’s running for governor again, which in her mind is actually a reelection bid.
That was going fine until this happened:
With one indelible image, Stacey Abrams has encapsulated the frustrations of parents across the country. Here’s an obese 48-year-old woman sitting maskless while surrounded by masked children. Abrams is at much higher risk of COVID than those kids are, yet the rules don’t seem to apply to her. She wants to condemn these tykes to a future full of masked faces, even while her ego won’t allow her to cover her own.
Read the whole thing.
While the reduction of masking requirements is in part battlefield preparation for the midterms, it was also likely driven by the growing backlash from voters seeing politicians posing unmasked, particularly with masked kids.
QED: Neo on The Mother “Realignment,” responding to the article on Bari Weiss’s Substack we linked to earlier in the week.
The article features women who previously were mostly liberal Democrats and a NeverTrump Republican. They are mothers activated to new awareness. They haven’t made the transition to Republican (except for one who started out as one), and that doesn’t surprise me. I doubt they ever will, although it’s possible. But they say they’ll vote for whoever helps their kids:
These women don’t really care about The Big Lie or Russiagate or filibuster reform. They could not care less about Big Abstract Theories Of Government. They traffic in hashtags like #TeamReality, #RationalGround and #SmilesMatter. After so many years of endless yammering about conservatives, neoliberals, progressives, alt-righters, the woke, the anti-woke, the only thing they really care about is what works. What is actually happening in the real world. What is being done to their children. And they are willing to vote for whoever can actually bring a return to normal.
I would ask them whether they think all these things are separate. Why is Russiagate and the deceptions involved with it not related to the lies that kept their children at home all this time? Wasn’t one party mainly involved – the party that most of them used to support? The same party that’s trying to get more and more power over their lives by (among other things) ending the filibuster?
True, but baby steps — at least they’re pushing back against the mask obsessives, which apparently is quite an accomplishment for some leftists:
MAKE THEM PAY: San Jose State professor sues school after department called her ‘racist,’ blocked research.
A San Jose State University anthropology professor has filed a lawsuit against the school after her department publicly deemed her a “racist” and locked her out of its collection of human remains, of which she had previously been the curator.
Elizabeth Weiss, a tenured professor who has been at the public institution since 2004, seeks to overturn the alleged punitive actions toward her, including allowing her back into the human remains collection where she can continue her research.
“The first time I sought legal help was after the meeting where my department chair called me a ‘racist,’” Weiss told The College Fix in a phone interview. “I felt that was serious enough that I had to get legal help.”
Weiss’s lawsuit alleges the school has conducted a “poorly disguised campaign of retaliation” against her because of her views on issues relating to the repatriation of human remains. Weiss has argued that human remains should not be re-buried, as they still hold valuable information.
Why does the University hate science?
DON’T GET COCKY: Byron York: Are Democrats doomed?
5. The direction of the country. Another poll staple is the question of whether one believes the country is on the right track or whether it has gotten off course. Most of the time, most people believe the country is off course in some way or another. But the number has gotten quite high recently — about two-thirds believe the country is on the wrong track. That points toward change.
The bottom line is that all of these issues look bad for Democrats. And all involve, in one way or another, Joe Biden. “The midterms are about one thing and one thing only,” says a Republican strategist. “And that is a referendum on the incumbent president — end of story.” As long as Biden remains the key factor in the midterm elections, Democratic chances are not good, no matter the spin.
Of course, that’s a prediction for this November at the ballot box. Long term, though: No, the Revolution Isn’t Over. None of the fundamental drivers of “Wokeness” have relented.
I LOVE WOMEN WHO LOVE BEING WOMEN, TOO: Adele Enrages Leftists By Saying ‘I Love Being a Woman.’
FOLLOWING THE SCIENCE: South Dakota requires student athletes to compete based on their biological sex.
South Dakota is requiring K-12 and collegiate athletes to compete on teams according to their biological sex.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signed Senate Bill 46 on Thursday. The bill passed the state’s House of Representatives with overwhelming Republican support in a 50-17 vote.
No Democrat lawmakers supported the bill.
No Democrats, even in South Dakota.
THAT’S NOT A FLAW, THAT’S A FEATURE: State investigating possible flaw in new Tennessee license plates. “Are the new Tennessee license plates being sent to motorists across the state invisible to some license plate recognition cameras being used in some cities? That’s a question state officials and local law enforcement agencies are now asking.”
THE BEE IS SAVAGE: Biden Admin Issues New Masks With Holes In Them So You Can Smoke Your Free Government Crack Pipe.
Plus: Biden Announces New Program To Give White Suburban Women Free Wine Glasses.
But wait, there’s more: Hunter Biden Arrives At White House In Fake Mustache And Glasses To Receive Free Crack Pipe.
WELL, WHEN THEY’RE NOT ACTUALLY LYING THEY’RE USUALLY JUST WRONG: Why everyone should ‘doubt the information’ from Joe Biden’s government.
At a State Department briefing last week, Team Biden spokesman Ned Price chided an Associated Press reporter who wanted some evidence for his claims on Russia: “I’m sorry that you’re doubting the information that is in the possession of the US government.”
This epitomizes the administration’s attitude towards the press and the public. President Joe Biden and his appointees talk as if Americans are obliged to trust him solely because he won the November 2020 election.
In his inaugural address last year, Biden proclaimed, “Each of us has a duty and a responsibility as citizens, as Americans and especially as leaders . . . to defend the truth and defeat the lies.” In his April speech to Congress, Biden declared, “America is rising anew, choosing . . . truth over lies.” But the effusions of Biden’s speechwriters have zilch effect on his administration’s conduct.
On his first full day in office, Biden released his National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness. “Goal 1” was to “rebuild the trust of the American people” by promising transparency in federal health and scientific policy. That pledge was quickly discarded like a forgotten campaign promise.
Though a Biden memo promised to end “improper political interference in the work of federal scientists,” the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine experts resigned in protest last fall over White House pressure to rubber-stamp COVID booster shots for all adults. The FDA is seeking to delay fully disclosing Pfizer’s application for COVID vaccine approval for 75 years.
Nothing builds trust like keeping secrets until the turn of the next century.
REALCLEARPOLITICS: ABA Forcing Wokeness on Law Schools. “This race-focused educational mandate is being forced on law schools through the American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar (ABA). Much of ABA’s power stems from the federal government. Law students must attend schools whose accreditor is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to receive federal student loans. The ABA is the only federally recognized law school accreditor.”
The ABA, which has been hopelessly corrupted by politics, should play no role in law school accreditation.
TRANS POLITICS ARE A WAR ON BIOLOGICAL WOMEN: Adele slammed for telling gender-neutral award show she loves ‘being a woman.’ You’re only allowed to love being a woman now if you were born a man.
Of course the outrage, as usual, comes from a small number of neurotic people online. The actual audience applauded her.
PJ MEDIA VIP ROUNDUP: Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.
Matt Margolis: Democrats Now Trust the Politics, Not ‘The Science’ of COVID. “Between pandemic fatigue and the repeated hypocrisy of Democrats imposing COVID restrictions that they won’t follow themselves, we’re finally starting to see states you wouldn’t expect lifting mask mandates.”
STEPHEN KRUISER: Republican Fundraising Pitches Need to Move Into the 21st Century. “I’m not even a young man and they’re going after people who make me look as if I am about to pledge a fraternity.”
Yours Truly: Kill Switches, Self-Driving Cars, and the Future of Liberty. “I’m not usually the paranoid type, but as I mentioned recently in another column, these days ‘paranoid’ just means ‘three weeks ahead of the news cycle.'”
#JOURNALISM: How truck convoy supporters like Pierre Poilievre have weaponized ‘freedom.’
When the left does this, they tell us “this is what democracy looks like,” and the press cheers them on. Now we get scare quotes around freedom. My response to this running dog of the Establishment: No justice, no peace! The people, united, will never be defeated!
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Breaking: Annual inflation hit 7.5% in January, a 40-year high. “The consumer price index rose 7.5% in the 12 months ending January, not adjusted for seasonal swings, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. It was the steepest annual price increase since February 1982.”
IT’S THE FYRE FESTIVAL OLYMPICS: Olympic Athletes Reporting Squalid Conditions and Bad Food at Beijing’s Quarantine Hotel.