GENTLEMEN AND LADIES OF THE DHS: DHS issues heightened terror threat citing ‘mis- dis- and mal-information’ on election fraud and COVID-19.
I am a libertarian. Sowing distrust in the government is what I do. It is, as you’d say, my ecological niche. You’d not want to mess with the environment, would you?
WELL, OF COURSE THEY DID: They Did It Again, White House Jen Psaki Proactively Frames Media for Tomorrow Inflation Data.
If you still believe anything out of these derriere chapeaux clowns mouths you might be incapable of learning.
I WANT TO POINT OUT I HAVE NEVER SLEPT WITH MURICAN WIMMINS: Damn Immigrants.
And you can’t make me.
On the other hand, I definitely think that the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should by rights be a convenience store.
REALLY? ARE THEY COMPLETELY INSANE? Canadian Liberals Deeply Worried They Might Lose COVID and Be Forced to Return to Normal.
Also they should not worry. They couldn’t find “normal” with two hands, a seeing eye dog and sonar.
IT’S NOT JUST MOTHERS: The mother “realignment”.
The left’s mask is off, and what a hideous face it reveals.
WAIT, CHICAGO HAS REMOTE CLASSES ON CARJACKING? Chicago Mayor Lightfoot Blames Carjackings on Remote Learning.
Is that an elective, or core work?
THE ESTABLISHMENT IS LOSING ITS MIND ALL OVER: Ottawa Police Use Physical Force to Arrest Great-Grandfather, 78, for Honking in Support of Freedom Convoy.
LOOK, I JUST WANT THE EU TO STOP WITH THE VACCINE PASSPORTS, OKAY? Sweden, Some German States Lift Most COVID Restrictions.
I have elderly family I need to see. Though I tell you, right now I’m afraid of leaving the country, because even if things go sour here, I belong here. I don’t want to be stranded overseas. It would be a nightmare.
WELL, THIS IS TRUE: You Simply Cannot Parody The Biden Administration.
The dirty truth is that the so called “Biden administration” is a multi-year grant-funded experiment run by a cabal of night club comedians.
BEIJING: THE FYRE FESTIVAL OLYMPICS. China’s Third-World Accommodations for Olympics Can’t Be Hidden by Censorship. “It’s not just the terrible food, the dirty rooms, the lack of reliable internet, or other inconveniences that may — or may not — be deliberate in order to give Chinese athletes a leg up in the competition. Even in the ordinary accommodations for athletes, the Olympics are proving to be an ordeal rather than a celebration of athletic excellence. China is supposed to be a great big grown-up country possessing nuclear weapons — technologically advanced, and supposedly an upstanding member of the community of nations. If this is how they treat guests, remind me never to visit there.”
ANNALS OF FAKE HISTORY:
Always remember what her goals are. pic.twitter.com/MznptgygRW
— David Frank Writes (@David_N_Frank) February 9, 2022
BOB MCMANUS: Hamburglar shows truth of mass shoplifting — it’s not about poor, it’s about money-making thieves. “If shoplifting is a crime of poverty, now an article of progressive faith, how come shoplifters tend to hit the high-end shelves? . . . And why is it that the craft beer is carted off, but rarely the low-end brews? Easy. Because the bodegas that are fencing the goods aren’t interested in canned meat, off-brand ice cream or skunky beer. They want the good stuff. And now things have gotten so bad that even Al Sharpton is torqued.”
OPEN THREAD: God bless all you pretty womens.
DISPATCHES FROM THOSE CRAZY TRUMP-SUPPORTING RED STATE NUTS IN, ERR, SWEDEN: ‘It’s over:’ Sweden lifts Covid restrictions and ends mass testing.
GREAT MOMENTS IN COOLLY OBJECTIVE JOURNALISM: CNN anchor admits she’s ‘officially out of ideas’ for ‘what to do about Joe Rogan.’
“Well, I’ll admit, I’m out of ideas for what to do about Joe Rogan,” CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota said on Wednesday. “I’m officially out of ideas.”
“I’m confused by both ‘it’s always been out there, but this is a political hit job.’ ‘It feels good that it’s out, but then also I really need to address this,'” co-anchor Victor Blackwell said, summarizing Rogan’s remarks about the controversies. “I mean, it seems like there are at least three different narratives that are coming here.”
“Listen, I think that he’s saying out loud things that we want people who are caught doing horrible things to say, which is, ‘I’m going to do better, I feel ashamed of this, I’m sorry about this.’ And so I think that all of that is great,” Camerota said. “I think that where there’s the misalignment is that, basically he just said, ‘How dumb are you if you’re taking medical advice from me,’ okay? I posed that same question about Joe Rogan. The people who were taking medical advice from him, how dumb are they? But he has this huge platform that does influence, you know, millions of people. So there’s a misalignment between this sort of personal responsibility and the size of his platform.”
Does CNN do anything other than act as hall monitors for shows with much larger audiences?
FRONTIERS OF FLIGHT: Mars helicopter Ingenuity aces 19th flight after historic Red Planet weather delay.
THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT MISCONDUCT, AND THOSE GUILTY NEED TO PAY A PRICE: Brandon Straka reveals harrowing story of ‘egregious amount of harassment from the federal government.’
JOHN SEXTON: Down the Rabbit Hole: Paul Krugman’s role in the Sarah Palin libel trial (and mine).
I’m not sure what Douthat was reading in 2017 but the “rabbit hole” about the other, similar maps probably traces back to me and that 2010 blog post above. The specific map he’s referring to is the DCCC map above.
In any case, Douthat was correct that the main takeaway here is that there never was a connection between Palin and the shooting. Krugman’s efforts to create one were nevertheless “vivid” for a lot of people on the left. One of those people, it seems, was James Bennet who must have had some memory of Krugman, or someone echoing him, pointing to the map as an incitement before the facts showed otherwise. Somehow, Bennet, and his colleagues who reviewed his draft, never got the message that Krugman was wrong.
Read the whole thing.
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Psaki Says Everyone Will Have To Show Proof Of Vaccination Before Receiving Free Crack Pipe.
GOV. PRITZKER UNVEILS PLAN TO LIFT ILLINOIS MASK MANDATE FOR MANY BY FEB. 28. The lifting of the mandate will not apply to schools, however, Pritzker said.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker revealed plans Wednesday to lift Illinois’ indoor mask mandate, with the exception of in schools, by Feb. 28 if state COVID metrics continue to decline.
Noting that the state is “seeing the fastest rate of decline in our COVID-19 hospitalization metrics since the pandemic began,” Pritzker said if trends continue as expected, “then on Monday, Feb. 28, we will lift the indoor mask requirement for the State of Illinois.”
He noted, however, one important caveat.
“I want to be clear: Many local jurisdictions, businesses and organizations have their own mask requirements and other mitigations that must be respected,” he said. “Having stricter mitigations than the state requirements is something that must be adhered to. Doing what’s right in your private business or for your local communities is encouraged. Whether you’re a business, a township, a venue, a place of worship or a city – to name just a few examples – protecting your patrons and visitors is no doubt a high priority. Masks continue to be a very effective way to keep your establishment from experiencing an outbreak or spreading the disease.”
Yet another Blue State governor who’s getting a “good news” headline simply by pushing mask mandates down to the local level, and still requiring kids to wear them.
Related: 70% of the Country Thinks It’s Time to Throw Off the Tyranny of the Karens. But The Party of Karens, Get This, Disagrees.
BECAUSE THEY WANT TO BE? Why Are Liberals So Miserable?
Replacing former President Donald Trump with President Joe Biden was supposed to bring joy to the land from sea to sea. We were going to be a united people at last. Every problem known to man would get solved by cradle-to-grave government. Biden was even going to save us from the rise of the oceans.
But just the opposite: A survey by the University of Chicago found that record percentages of people in 2021 described themselves as “unhappy.”
For most of the past 50 years, about 1 in 10 people have described themselves as unhappy. In 2021, 1 in 4 say they are unhappy. Typically, almost 1 in 3 say they are “very happy,” and now less than 1 in 5 do. The happiness index is falling like a stone. People are depressed.
Gee, I wonder why the public is so glum all of a sudden.
Let me count the ways. First, there is isolation and loneliness from lockdowns, stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions. Then there is out-of-control crime and a significant rise in business failures (from lockdowns), both clearly associated with depression. People are still worried about their health two years into the pandemic that Biden promised to shut down. The border is out of control.
Then there is the financial stress on families from everything being more expensive. Children are depressed because schools are still doing remote learning or they are stuck wearing masks for eight hours a day. The “woke” movement has people feeling like they are tied inside a social straitjacket. Nothing is funny anymore. Don’t you dare say an off-color joke or you will be banished.
People are afraid to laugh at anything for fear of offending someone somewhere. When was the last time you saw a funny movie?
But here’s what’s most interesting about the results of the happiness survey. The people with the most significant happiness deficiencies are Democratic voters. Liberals are miserable. Only 1 in 6 Democratic voters say they are “very happy.” Almost twice as many Republicans say they are “very happy.”
Why is that? I have several admittedly unproven hypotheses. I will toss them out, and readers can decide for themselves if they agree or disagree.
First, liberals are much less religious, patriotic and interested in getting married and having children than conservatives. It’s a Grand Canyon-sized division between liberals and conservatives. I’d venture to say that the love of country, God and family make people happy.
If you don’t believe in these things, you will likely believe in false idols, such as big government, as your savior. That’s hardly a path to happiness.
And yet they pursue it remorselessly.
AT LEGAL INSURRECTION: Project Launch: Unmasking National Association of Independent Schools. “You’ve probably never heard of NAIS, but you need to know about it. NAIS is the driving force behind the radical racial and gender programming that has captured most K-12 private schools, particularly the elite schools. In coming weeks I will roll out videos and documents shining a light on NAIS’ mischief.”
PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS: Beto Backtracks on AR-15 Confiscation: ‘I’m not Interested in Taking Anything From Anyone.’
Hell no, Beto O’Rourke does not want to take your AR-15. At least, not anymore.
The Texas Democrat currently running for governor said he does not want to force Texans to turn in their guns.
“I’m not interested in taking anything from anyone,” O’Rourke told supporters during a campaign stop in Tyler, Texas on Tuesday. “What I want to make sure that we do is defend the Second Amendment.”
That’s literally the opposite of what he told a national audience during a presidential primary debate in 2020.
“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” he said in September 2019. “We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.”
O’Rourke doubled down on the pledge throughout his 2019 campaign. He even promised those who did not participate in his mandatory buyback scheme would face severe punishment.
“If someone does not turn in an AR-15, or an AK-47, one of these weapons of war, or brings it out in public and brandishes it in an attempt to intimidate—as we saw in Kent State recently—then that weapon will be taken from them,” Beto told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “If they persist, there will be other consequences from law enforcement.”
Police were unenthused by the idea, though.
Flashback: Beto Suggests Anyone Who Votes for Trump Is a Racist.
That’s some niche campaign Robert O’Rourke is running in Texas.
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