SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: What the Twelfth Amendment Did and Did Not Do.
Archive for 2022
January 18, 2022
BATTLESWARM BLOG: Winter of Discontent II: Biden Boogaloo. “In late 1978 and early 1979, the combination of inflation, harsh winter weather, Labour government dysfunction and trade union strikes brought the UK economy to its knees and ordinary citizens to a boiling point. Rail and lorry strikes led to spot shortages, and a haulers strike left mounds of garbage littering London strikes. The end result was an upheaval that would bring Margaret Thatcher to power as prime minister, and the new Tory government would swiftly move to crush the power of the unions to disrupt public order, and Labour would not regain power for nearly 18 years.”
Lots of good stuff at the link.
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY FOR THE BIDEN/HARRIS ADMINISTRATION: Flip: More adults identify as Republicans, giving biggest edge in 25 years.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Democrats Have Long Perverted MLK’s Legacy. “Joe Biden — who purports to be the president of this great land — decided back in 2020 to use the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter riots to provide one of the worst hot takes ever.”
IT’S COME TO THIS: Scientists Studying Privilege, Inequality in Animal Kingdom.
It all began as a conversation among behavioral ecologists at UCLA: “They saw how COVID-19 was highlighting health disparities and other inequalities around the world,” the Times reports. “The scientists began to wonder if they could learn more about inequality by studying it in animals.”
The experts began searching for examples in the animal kingdom of human concepts such as privilege, inequality, and intergenerational wealth. “When we started looking for it, we found lots and lots of examples,” Dr. Jennifer Smith told the Times. “To see this across so many different species was quite surprising. And we’re just touching the surface.”
In other words, a bunch of woke nerds discovered the survival instinct and natural selection. Their findings include examples of “species that share resources such as territory, tools, and shelter between generations.” For instance, baby red grouse who aren’t abandoned by their fathers “are more likely to succeed in establishing their own territories.” Baby squirrels whose mothers hoard food for winter “are much more likely to survive until the spring.” No shit.
“Those young, pine-cone-rich squirrels, the scientists say, are children of privilege,” the Times reports.
Sort of like the trust-funded prep-schoolers on the NYT staff.
BABBIT WAS TRYING TO STOP THE VIOLENCE WHEN SHE WAS KILLED: New January 6 video footage analyzed by The Epoch Times shows Air Force veteran Ashli Babbit pleading with demonstrators to stop breaking windows and vandalizing property in the moments immediately prior to being shot dead.
“Video shot by John Sullivan, also known as Jayden X, shows that Babbitt tried to stop the violence against the Speaker’s Lobby at least four times before she climbed into a broken window and was shot by U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd. At one point, she was so distressed at the violence, she was jumping up and down in frustration,” Epoch’s Joseph Hanneman reports.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Reminder: Cop Who Killed Ashli Babbitt Was Cleared of Criminal Wrongdoing Without Interview.
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Gallup: “Dramatic shift” in electorate in 2021 — away from Dems.
ON THIS DAY IN 1911: NAVAL HISTORY IS MADE: Eugene Burton Ely loved fast cars. One of his first jobs was as a chauffeur for a Catholic priest, who is said to have been enough of a kindred spirit to enjoy Ely’s bat-out-of-hell driving. But as much as Ely loved cars, he loved airplanes even more. When he got his first opportunity to fly one, he leapt at the chance, figuring that flying was a lot like driving. Naturally, he crashed. But to his credit, he took responsibility for the crash, purchased the wrecked plane from its owner, and got it flightworthy again. From there, he began a career as a daredevil aviator.
Ely is credited with the first shipboard take off—on November 14, 1910, from the U.S.S. Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia. It wasn’t quite the success the Navy had been hoping for. Part of aircraft dipped briefly into the water before rising into the air. Ely’s goggles got covered with ocean spray, and he opted to land the damaged plane on the beach, rather than follow the plan to circle the harbor and land triumphantly at Norfolk Navy Yard.
Two months later, on January 18, 1911, he performed the opposite trick—the first successful shipboard landing—by flying from the racetrack at San Bruno onto the U.S.S. Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay. (And yes, a tailhook was employed.)
Ely told a reporter, “It was easy enough. I think the trick could be successfully turned nine times out of ten.” That was good enough for the Navy. The first naval aircraft was requisitioned roughly four months later. The rest is naval history.
Meanwhile, Ely was asked by the Des Moines Register whether he would ever retire from his high-risk career. “I guess I will be like the rest of them,” he said, “keep at it until I am killed.” That turned out to be soon. On October 19, 1911—two days shy of his 25th birthday—he lost his life in a crash at an exhibition in Macon, Georgia.
In 1933, Congress posthumously awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross.
MARTIN LUTHER KING ON RESISTING STATE AUTHORITY: Martin Luther King on the Ethics of Resistance to State Authority. “I think King was right about this, and that, for many unjust laws, we have no obligation to obey.”
My sense is that a law or regulation is at best an opening bid. Is it binding, legally or morally? Maybe, but the presumption should be neutral at best, or, realistically, highly skeptical. After all, laws and regulations are the products of legislators and bureaucrats, who are presumptively corrupt and dishonest. And everybody knows that, really.
PJ MEDIA VIP ROUNDUP: Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.
Matt Margolis: Joe Biden Doomed His Party Big Time. “Party preferences tend to be linked to the president’s approval. Joe Biden’s approval ratings, as you know, are in the toilet, and he seems to be taking his party down the drain with him.”
Kevin Downey Jr: Here’s What Happened When I Caught COVID (Sorry, Joe, I Didn’t Die). “Much like herpes, the Chinese Sneeze has this funky habit of making you think it’s gone, then WHAM! Lie down and try again later. Or tomorrow.”
Yours Truly: James Carville to Dems: Stop Being So ‘Whiny.’ “‘Quit being a whiny party’ is Democrat consultant James Carville’s advice to his own people, just before telling Meet the Press host Chuck Todd on Sunday that tigers should change their stripes and that VodkaPundit can quit drinking any time he wants to.”
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: White House scientific integrity panel draws its own scrutiny. “The Biden administration’s push to bolster scientific integrity policies across federal agencies yielded its first report this week, but a co-chair of the report’s panel is facing her own questions from the scientific community about a recent research integrity ethics breach. . . . A co-chair of the White House’s Scientific Integrity Task Force, noted marine scientist Jane Lubchenco, is facing criticism for her role in a research paper retracted last year. . . . The paper on marine protected areas was retracted from the journal in October 2021 because the data underlying the analysis was not the most up to date and for violating conflict of interest policies. Lubchenco has a personal relationship with one of the authors (her brother-in-law) and collaborated with the authors on related research, ‘both of which are disallowed’ by the journal’s editorial policies, PNAS stated in its retraction statement.”
Well, I guess I nailed it with last week’s column: Team Biden’s plan to ‘ensure scientific integrity’ should start with itself.
WELL, THAT’S THE FIGHT THEY WANT SO OF COURSE THEY’RE TRYING TO STIR IT UP: THE NEW YORK TIMES DOES TRUMP VS. DESANTIS. Don’t believe their reporting, and support either if he’s the nominee.
January 17, 2022
MALFEASANCE: Cracking the case of the “woke” prosecutor.
FAILED PRESIDENCY: AP: After Biden’s first year, the virus and disunity rage on. “But the world also witnessed Biden’s debacle in Afghanistan, a chaotic withdrawal that brought more than 124,000 to safety but stranded thousands of desperate Afghans who had been loyal to the United States and hundreds of U.S. citizens and green card holders. Discounting warnings from military and diplomatic advisers, Biden misjudged the Taliban’s tenacity and the staying power of Afghan security forces that had seen crucial U.S. military support vanish. He then blamed Afghans for all that went wrong. Millions of Afghans face the threat of famine in the first winter following the Taliban takeover.”
And that’s just the beginning of the catastrophic failures of this disastrous administration.
And you know, the election fraud claims will gain strength as people want to avoid responsibility for putting these disastrous clowns in power.
OPEN THREAD: We’re comin’ to your town.
DON’T TRUST CHINA, CHINA IS ASSHOLE:
If you click through to play the video, it’s quite clear and loud. I like these replies:
HE’S RIGHT TO ASK THIS QUESTION:
THE ESTABLISHMENT HAS GONE FERAL: WEAPONIZED BANKS ATTEMPT TO SMOTHER MY PILLOW AND DEFUND MIKE LINDELL.