GOD HELP US IF THIS IS TYPICAL OF TODAY’S LAW SCHOOLS: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo) tangled with Berkeley Law Professor Khiara Bridges on the issue of whether men can become pregnant. If you question the Left, you are inciting violence. The next step, and judging by the present Attorney General it may be closer than we think, will be prosecution. The exchange with Bridges is the first 1:45 of the video.
Archive for 2022
July 12, 2022
UPGRADE YOUR EARBUDS: Apple AirPods Pro Wireless Earbuds. #CommissionEarned
SOME THINGS ARE GOING VERY WELL INDEED: U.S. Gun Production Has Tripled Since 2000.
TEAM BIDEN REVEALS ITS CYNICISM BY PUNISHING BORDER PATROL AGENTS:
When the story broke, President Joe Biden—a man known to pay careful attention to detail—quickly said the illegal immigrants from Haiti had been “strapped” by Border Patrol agents on horseback.
“I promise you, those people will pay,” Biden told reporters.
However, as the photos were examined and evidence came in, it became clear that no whipping had taken place and that partisans had grossly distorted the actions of the Border Patrol agents.
The story should have died there. But no, there had to be a lengthy official investigation.
After a ridiculous 10 months, the Biden administration found its verdict.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility last week released a report on the Border Patrol incident, finding that the mounted agents hadn’t strapped anyone, but were guilty anyway and subject to punishment.
Promises made, promises kept, I guess.
The Biden administration’s 500-page report essentially admits that Border Patrol agents didn’t whip the Haitian migrants, which had been quite clear to anyone who earnestly examined the photos and video.
But the administration still threw four agents under the bus, saying that they acted in an “unprofessional” manner and engaged in “dangerous” behavior.
Oh, and they used “vulgar” language.
Wait, doesn’t that make Biden unfit to be president? Different standards, I guess.
It’s clear from the report that the Border Patrol agents were just doing their jobs under difficult and chaotic conditions. Were they supposed to do nothing?
Probably, at least if the Biden administration had its way.
It doesn’t take 500 pages to conclude that the Biden administration found the Border Patrol agents guilty before this ridiculously lengthy “investigation” took place.
This is what happens when your administration takes its cues from the Twitter mob.
Related: How Journalists and Democrats Whipped Up Border Patrol Disinformation.
I’M LESS WORRIED ABOUT THAT THAN I WAS, AS DEMS’ SUPPORT CRATERS: Kurt Schlichter: Are We Looking At Another Civil War?
DISPATCHES FROM WEIMAR AMERICA:
Hawley: Why are you using the term “person with a capacity for pregnancy” instead of “woman?”
Bridges: “Your line of questioning is transphobic and opens trans people to violence.”
Hawley: “You’re saying I’m opening up people to violence by saying women can have pregnancies?”
They have supplanted reality with their mental delusions https://t.co/XqoRhB6G9o
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) July 12, 2022
SO IS GETTING BOOSTED SELFISH BECAUSE IT INCREASES THE RISK TO OTHERS? New study: COVID booster significantly delays end of infection. “A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has demonstrated that people who are triple-vaccinated (boosted) against COVID recover significantly more slowly from COVID infection and remain contagious for longer than people who are not vaccinated at all . . . At five days post-infection, less than 25 percent of unvaccinated people were still contagious, whereas around 70 percent of boosted people were still carrying viable virus particles. For those partially vaccinated, around 50 percent were still contagious at this point. Even more strikingly, at ten days post-infection, one-third of boosted people (31 percent) were found to still be carrying live, culturable virus. By contrast, just six percent of unvaccinated people were still contagious at day 10.”
Here’s the actual report from the New England Journal of Medicine, which looks a bit less dramatic than the report above.
#JOURNALISM: Jonathan Chait Writes the Same Ron DeSantis Column Again, Is Still Wrong.
His latest column warns darkly that “Ron DeSantis Would Kill Democracy Slowly and Methodically.” Both the motive and the rhetorical trick at work here are fairly transparent. The motive is the same one that led Chait, back in 2016, to argue that liberals should prefer Donald Trump to Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz. It is the same one that leads panicked progressives such as Charles Pierce of Esquire to rise up in alarm against a DeSantis presidential campaign: “Dear America, Do Not Walk Away From Ron DeSantis—Run.” Chait, Pierce, and others on this beat recognize that Trump would be more likely to lose in 2024 than DeSantis, and that DeSantis (if elected) would be more effective in advancing conservative policy. So, they prefer another Trump nomination, and if pressed, they prefer Trump in power again to DeSantis in power. That’s what this is all about.
The rhetorical trick is to convince readers that the loudest alarms about Trump — that he’s a threat to democracy who won’t abide by the results of elections, as evidenced by his “stop the steal” campaign and January 6 — can be seamlessly transferred to DeSantis. There is, however, a problem in making that leap, and we can illustrate it with what never appears in any of Chait’s many columns on this same topic: the Democrats. Is it bad and dangerous to peddle stolen-election conspiracy theories, attack the legitimacy of election results, try to get them thrown out in court, object to certifying electors in Congress, and generally treat the winners of elections as if they have no right to exercise the powers of office? If that is your standard, there are a lot of Democrats who are threats to democracy, including Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Stacey Abrams, John Lewis, former DNC chairs Terry McAuliffe, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Howard Dean, January 6 committee chair Bennie Thompson, and — of course — Jonathan Chait himself. I have documented this in depth here, here, here, here, here, and here, as well as several other places linked in those items. Heck, the current president, Joe Biden, has preemptively attempted to delegitimize the upcoming midterm elections, while the current Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, described American elections as a “rigged game.” Chait appears to have no problem with any of this, having participated in some of it himself. Chait complains of a “belief that Democratic election victories are inherently illegitimate” but freely participates in a movement to treat Republican election victories as inherently illegitimate.
Once you realize that it’s all bullshit, you’ll understand that it’s all bullshit.
UPDATE: Sorry for the double post. Leaving both up to preserve the comments in both.
MORE: Link was incorrect for this post; should be working now.
#JOURNALISM: Jonathan Chait Writes the Same Ron DeSantis Column Again, Is Still Wrong.
His latest column warns darkly that “Ron DeSantis Would Kill Democracy Slowly and Methodically.” Both the motive and the rhetorical trick at work here are fairly transparent. The motive is the same one that led Chait, back in 2016, to argue that liberals should prefer Donald Trump to Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz. It is the same one that leads panicked progressives such as Charles Pierce of Esquire to rise up in alarm against a DeSantis presidential campaign: “Dear America, Do Not Walk Away From Ron DeSantis—Run.” Chait, Pierce, and others on this beat recognize that Trump would be more likely to lose in 2024 than DeSantis, and that DeSantis (if elected) would be more effective in advancing conservative policy. So, they prefer another Trump nomination, and if pressed, they prefer Trump in power again to DeSantis in power. That’s what this is all about.
The rhetorical trick is to convince readers that the loudest alarms about Trump — that he’s a threat to democracy who won’t abide by the results of elections, as evidenced by his “stop the steal” campaign and January 6 — can be seamlessly transferred to DeSantis. There is, however, a problem in making that leap, and we can illustrate it with what never appears in any of Chait’s many columns on this same topic: the Democrats. Is it bad and dangerous to peddle stolen-election conspiracy theories, attack the legitimacy of election results, try to get them thrown out in court, object to certifying electors in Congress, and generally treat the winners of elections as if they have no right to exercise the powers of office? If that is your standard, there are a lot of Democrats who are threats to democracy, including Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Stacey Abrams, John Lewis, former DNC chairs Terry McAuliffe, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Howard Dean, January 6 committee chair Bennie Thompson, and — of course — Jonathan Chait himself. I have documented this in depth here, here, here, here, here, and here, as well as several other places linked in those items. Heck, the current president, Joe Biden, has preemptively attempted to delegitimize the upcoming midterm elections, while the current Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, described American elections as a “rigged game.” Chait appears to have no problem with any of this, having participated in some of it himself. Chait complains of a “belief that Democratic election victories are inherently illegitimate” but freely participates in a movement to treat Republican election victories as inherently illegitimate.
Once you realize that it’s all bullshit, you’ll understand that it’s all bullshit.
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Germany Plans ‘Warm Up Spaces’ in Response to Gas Shortages.
K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Build a Charter School, Get Sued by the Teachers Union.
If you’re looking for proof that teachers unions don’t care about the interests of schoolchildren, you can find it in the impoverished Bronx neighborhood of Soundview. A school building on Beach Avenue has been shuttered for almost a decade, and the United Federation of Teachers is suing to keep it closed.
On Aug. 22, a new charter high school, Vertex Academies, will begin classes here. In the local school district, only 7% of students who enter ninth grade are ready for college four years later. For black students, the figure is 4%. The new school promises to deliver “a high-quality education to 150 minority students from low-income backgrounds” in its first year, says founding principal Joyanet Mangual.
Vertex will use the premises of the defunct Blessed Sacrament School, where Sonia Sotomayor was valedictorian in 1968. When the school shut down in 2013, the justice declared herself “heartbroken.” Her mother had scrimped and saved to send her there: “She watched what happened to my cousins in public school, and worried if we went there, we might not get out,” Justice Sotomayor told the New York Times. . . .
That’s where the UFT comes in. Mr. Rowe explains that Vertex is a “charter management organization.” The State University of New York gave the four feeder schools the authority to run a high school: “They could choose to run it themselves, but they’re hiring Vertex to run it on their behalf.” The union alleges that Vertex isn’t an extension of an existing charter but a new school masquerading as an extension. New charters are prohibited in New York City because of a cap imposed by state legislators at the union’s behest.
Mr. Rowe is undaunted by the legal challenge. “There is no chance at all that we cannot open on Aug. 22,” he says.
Win, and exact come costs to deter future such efforts.
PRIME DAY DEAL: LifeStraw Personal Water Filter for Hiking, Camping, Travel. #CommissionEarned
SHOCKING NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF MEDICINE: Choosing the right treatment is key to relieving back pain.
NOT EXACTLY HOT & FRESH: Meet the Members of Congress Who Have Been Around Longer Than Chocolate Chip Cookies.
GREAT MOMENTS IN OUTSOURCING: Jill Biden Has Her Press Secretary Apologize for Her Over Comparing Latinos to Tacos.
A few odd things. For one, it lacks the “x” the left loves to attach to the Latino community in order to make the term more “inclusive.” It’s a term the majority of the Latino community expressly rejects, so I can’t help but wonder if the lack of the “x” this time is the left’s way of doing a small bit of damage control.
Secondly, why didn’t the First Lady say this herself?
I feel like this was a message she could have delivered herself to a nearby reporter, yet she relegates this apology to a throwaway tweet by one of her underlings? That doesn’t actually convey regret, it conveys annoyance or cowardice. Either way, it’s not much of an apology.
This is a perfect opportunity to play the “what if it was a Republican” game. If someone outside of the Democrat Party had said something like this then you can damn well bet this would have been a blatant sign of racism according to the left. If a Republican had compared the Latino community to tacos you can bet they’d be blasting the term “racism and xenophobia” out of every working speaker.
Evergreen:
PRIORITIES: San Fran schools used over $500K marked for improvements to fight mural legal battle. “District lawyer Danielle Houck claimed the money was spent legitimately as bond funds ‘allow for remediation of health and safety risks’ and the mural ‘is a part of a school building [which] caused psychological harm to students.'”
SPEAKING OF JILL BIDEN, SEN. MARCO RUBIO HAS A NEW PROFILE PICTURE: Check it out here. Anybody remember President Gerald Ford’s similar gaffe in San Antonio?
UPDATE: Appears the new profile shot has been taken down. Here’s what it looked like: 
PRIME DAY DEAL: Samsonite Aspire DLX Softside Expandable Luggage. #CommissionEarned
ABOUT THOSE INCREDIBLE WEBB TELESCOPE IMAGES: If God can create this, then doing this is no big deal. Just a thought for this momentous day, my friends. Whether you agree with me on this or not, do NOT miss the first images from one of the most amazing inventions ever of man.
THIS SEEMS LIKE IT SHOULD BE A BIGGER STORY: Protests Rage As Chinese Banks Won’t Let People Withdraw Their Funds.