BIDEN’S PARTING GIFTS: Biden Issues Thousands More Commutations in New Clemency Blitz. “It should be noted that the White House did not release the names of those receiving commutations. Something tells me that quite a few of them are indeed violent criminals.”
Archive for 2025
January 17, 2025
WAGES OF OVERREGULATION: AT&T kills home Internet service in NY over law requiring $15 or $20 plans.
NARRATOR: THE MARCHES WERE NEVER ABOUT A CEASEFIRE AND WERE ALWAYS ABOUT INTIMIDATING JEWS.
We were told these marches were to bring about a cease-fire, not intimidate the Jewish community. We now have a cease-fire. The marches are carrying on regardless. https://t.co/wSxNK265ts
— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) January 17, 2025
UNEXPECTEDLY: National Archives rebuffs Biden’s attempt to add Equal Rights Amendment to Constitution.
The National Archives poured cold water Friday on President Biden’s declaration that the Equal Rights Amendment is now part of the Constitution, saying courts and Mr. Biden’s own Justice Department have rejected that notion.
Mr. Biden issued a statement saying he believed that 38 states have ratified the ERA, which would be enough to make it the 28th Amendment.
But the National Archives and Records Administration, the official keeper of the Constitution as a document, said it stands by its decision — announced last month — that the ratifications didn’t happen before the deadline.
“Court decisions at both the district and circuit levels have affirmed that the ratification deadlines established by Congress for the ERA are valid. Therefore, the Archivist of the United States cannot legally publish the Equal Rights Amendment,” the agency’s leaders said at the time.
The Archives said Friday that has been “a long-standing position” and Mr. Biden’s announcement doesn’t change “the underlying legal and procedural issues.”
The key point is whether the ERA, which was passed by Congress in 1972 and was sent to the states for ratification, has amassed the 38 states needed.
Just 35 had ratified the amendment by 1979, which was the deadline set by Congress. Capitol Hill then approved a three-year extension of the deadline, but that came and went with no new ratifications.
In 2017, Nevada belatedly voted for approval, followed by Illinois in 2018 and Virginia in 2020. ERA backers said that was enough to cross the finish line.
But that argument was rejected by federal courts that ruled the deadline had passed.
Mr. Biden’s Justice Department has also ruled that the deadlines are valid and the post-deadline ratifications cannot be counted.
Charles Cooke tweets, “I’m trying to get inside the head of anyone—Biden included, if he’s aware of it—who thought that it would be a good idea for the president of the United States to tweet out that he was unilaterally declaring that the Constitution had been amended. It’s so deliciously humiliating,” adding, “And not just humiliating for Biden and his team. Humiliating for all those people who said Biden was a decent guy who respects the law and America’s institutions and were rewarded with the student-loan grab, eviction moratorium, pardon of Hunter, and now this. It’s hilarious.”
Ed Morrissey writes: More Biden: I Hereby Commute ERA’s 1982 Deadline Too.
Presidents don’t get to overrule the courts, nor do they get to declare what is and is not in the Constitution. What makes this so outrageous is that Biden just warned against executive abuse of authority less than two days ago in his farewell address to the nation, proclaiming himself the hero of checks and balances:
After 50 years at the center of all of this, I know that believing in the idea of America means respecting the institutions that govern a free society: the presidency, the Congress, the courts, a free and independent press. Institutions that are rooted not — they just — not to reflect the timeless words, but they re- — they — they echo the words of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” Rooted in the timeless words of the Constitution, “We the People.”
Our system of separation of powers, checks and balances, it may not be perfect, but it’s maintained our democracy for nearly 250 years — longer than any other nation in history that’s ever tried such a bold experiment.
And in fact, Biden used this to demand that the states amend the Constitution to limit presidential power even further:
We need to amend the Constitution to make clear that no president — no president — is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office. The president’s power is limit- — it’s not absolute, and it shouldn’t be.
It’s not and it isn’t, not even under Trump v US, which only recognized that official presidential acts are checked by Congress and not local DAs trying to conduct political lawfare. But Biden sure seems to think that his own power is unlimited when it comes to not only interpreting the Constitution but determining its contents, too.
Who is writing the material that appear under Biden’s name in his last days? The old Russian joke, “If only the Czar knew,” takes on new meaning as Brandon shuffles the halls in his last days in office.
I BLAME GLOBAL WARMING: Extremely cold weather will force Trump’s inauguration inside for first time in 40 years.
RAYMOND IBRAHIM: Putting So-Called ‘Christian’ Terrorists to the Duck Test.
Another excellent podcast from Raymond.
GOOD NEWS FOR THE WATER FILTER INDUSTRY: Unregulated, harmful contaminants found in vast amount of U.S. drinking water.
COLD WAR II: Chinese hackers accessed Yellen’s computer in US Treasury breach. “The hack, what the Treasury called a “major incident”, happened in December when Chinese state-sponsored hackers breached the department’s computer security guardrails by compromising third-party cybersecurity service provider BeyondTrust, according to Treasury officials.”
LIFE MOVES PRETTY FAST:
CNN yesterday vs CNN today: pic.twitter.com/lpFPMICzAg
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) January 17, 2025
Related?
Jim Acosta, one day after he gave a cringe monologue about how important he is to preserving democracy, has now been booted to the midnight-2AM block on CNN.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) January 17, 2025
DEVELOPING: CNN found liable for $5 million in defamation trial against US Navy veteran over Afghanistan report. The jury awarded Zachary Young $5 million in compensatory damages and found that the security contractor should also receive punitive damages for his pain and suffering.
ROBBY SOAVE: Biden’s Farewell F-You to Elon Musk.
President Joe Biden bid a not-so-fond farewell to Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and other members of the tech “oligarchy” he suddenly believes is threatening American freedoms.
“I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern,” he said in his farewell address on Wednesday night. “And that’s the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultrawealthy people and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked. Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. We see the consequences all across America.”
Biden went on to compare these tech oligarchs to 19th century robber barons, who were eventually brought to heel by federal legislators.
“More than a century ago, the American people stood up to the robber barons back then and busted the trusts,” he said. “We’ve got to do that again.”
As long as we can take some time off to give them the Presidential Medal of Freedom: Here’s Why Joe Biden Gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Soros.
Oh, and speaking of “Robber Barons:” The Robber Barons: Neither Robbers Nor Barons.
One of the most prevalent myths about economic freedom is that it inevitably leads to monopolies. Ask people why they believe that, and the odds are high that they will point to the “trusts” of the late 19th century that gained large market shares in their particular industries. These trusts are Exhibit A for most people who hold this view. Ask them for specific names of the villains who ran these trusts, and they are likely to point to such people as Cornelius Vanderbilt and John D. Rockefeller. They even have a label for Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, and others: robber barons.
But a careful reading of the economic research on the “robber barons” leads to a diametrically opposite conclusion: the so-called robber barons were neither robbers nor barons. They didn’t rob. Instead, they got their money the old-fashioned way: they earned it. Nor were they barons. The word “baron” is a title of nobility, one typically granted by a king or established by force. But Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, and many of the others referred to as robber barons started their businesses from scratch and were granted no special privileges. Moreover, not only did they earn their money and not only were they not granted privileges, but they also helped consumers and, in one famous case, destroyed a monopoly.
Musk’s X has restored some sense of free speech after the previous Twitter regime were happy to be in bed with the FBI and CIA. And his spacecraft are making Boeing look like even more of a joke: Return of NASA astronauts from space station further delayed until late March. No wonder Biden hates him almost as much as he hates his own party’s journalists.
Related: So now Biden’s worried about the tech oligarchy?
UPDATE: “Joe Biden shuffles off the stage,” Byron York writes:
Soros, who is 94 years old, did not attend the White House ceremony. But his son Alexander Soros, who has taken over the family’s political influence operation, did. If you’ve never seen it, you should look at Alexander Soros’s Instagram page. It’s a diary of the extraordinary access he, as the son of a politically active billionaire, enjoys with leaders around the world. Just from the recent U.S. presidential campaign, the younger Soros has posted photos of himself with Biden, Harris, Tim Walz, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Josh Shapiro, Hakeem Jeffries, Mark Kelly, Gretchen Whitmer, Charles Schumer, Amy Klobuchar, Raphael Warnock, John Kerry, and more. There is no one in the Democratic Party who is unavailable to George and Alexander Soros.
So, Biden refined his allegation. It is tech billionaires — people who have built big things, as opposed to currency speculators such as George Soros — who pose the real danger to American democracy. “Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power,” Biden said. “The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit. We must hold the social platforms accountable to protect our children, our families, and our very democracy from the abuse of power.”
We know that Democrats are unhappy with the policies of X since it was purchased by Elon Musk, head of Tesla and SpaceX. We know they are unhappy with Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that he is changing the content moderation policies of Facebook and other platforms to make them less biased. And we know that they are unhappy with Amazon chief Jeff Bezos’s management of the Washington Post, particularly his decision not to endorse a candidate — as opposed to its traditional endorsement of the Democratic nominee — in the recent presidential election.
We also know that those three — Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos, the three richest men in the world — have been quite open, and in the case of Musk, wildly supportive, of the return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House. It seems odd that Biden would use the final address of a 50-year career in politics to denounce them, but that is what he did. National Review’s Rich Lowry got the sense of it when he posted: “Washington’s Farewell Address — avoid entangling alliances. Biden’s Farewell Address — I don’t like Meta’s new moderation policy.”
And Team Biden can’t be thrilled with this last minute sop to the far left being Community Noted into oblivion at Twitter/X: Breaking: Lame Duck Biden Attempts to Declare That the Equal Rights Amendment Is Ratified.
NRO’s Jeff Blehar wonders when Biden became the dictator of San Marcos with a Bananas callback:
But will the official language of Rehoboth Beach now be Swedish?
MANDATES ARE DUMB: And Suddenly, Gavin Newsom’s Electric Car Mandate Looks Pretty Dumb to LA Fire Victims “No mocking these poor folks, America, because this Caltastrophe may have bought more time for the rest of the country to shout down the climate cultists in state houses across the country. California’s proof of concept showed that climate nirvana doesn’t protect the environment for humans.”
I’m OK with more mocking.
“WHEN YOU LOCK THINGS UP, YOU DON’T SELL AS MANY OF THEM.” Walgreens CEO says locking up products hurt sales.
READER FAVORITE: Legendary Whitetails Men’s Buck Camp Flannel. #CommissionEarned
MATTHEW CONTINETTI: Apex Trump – Donald Trump’s power arrives before the presidency.
When Trump first took office, he was the least experienced president in history. Eight years later, he may be the most seasoned. This isn’t the D.C. experience Biden brought to the White House. As Mark Halperin points out on Wide World of News, it’s four years on the job, with another four years off spent plotting the sequel.
We are in unexplored territory. The last nonconsecutive term came in 1893, when the presidency hardly mattered to most Americans. Trump returns less like a reelected second-term president than a recently elected first-term president.
He may be grateful for the mulligan. The record of second terms is not encouraging. They tend to be consumed by either scandal or hubris. Reagan faced Iran-Contra, and Clinton lied about Monica Lewinsky. Bush overreached on Social Security and immigration and became bogged down in Iraq. Obama made the nuclear deal with Iran and went left on immigration, race, terrorism, and same-sex marriage and transgender rights.
Trump’s challenge isn’t winning power. It’s wielding it. If Trump wants to succeed and enable his successor to carry on his legacy into the 2030s, he will have to avoid the fate of his predecessors.
How? Don’t overreach. Use power wisely. Focus on numbers—market indexes, jobs, inflation, income, border crossings, crime rates. Throw America an unforgettable 250th birthday party in 2026 and help Los Angeles recover for the Olympics in 2028. These are the tests of a successful second term. Donald Trump has four years to pass them.
Really two, before the prospect of a divided or a unified Democrat House and Senate going full Watergate on him once again: The 2026 midterm elections are just around the corner. “History strongly suggests Democratic gains are likely in 2026. The sitting president’s party has lost House seats in 17 of the last 19 midterm elections going back to 1950, with the two outliers, 1998 and 2002, largely explained by the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”
BIDEN’S SOCIAL MEDIA INTERNS DECLARE SOMETHING:
Today I'm affirming what I have long believed and what three-fourths of the states have ratified:
The 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex. pic.twitter.com/oZtS6Q89zG
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 17, 2025
Even if America had a functioning, mentally competent President — which we clearly do not — this is not within the President’s power. But imagine the howls if Trump used it to ban all special treatment for women?…
CHRISTIAN TOTO: Dueling Bills: Maher Slams Dems While Burr Blasts Conservatives.
Burr, once quite funny, is turning into a big disappointment — and at the end of the Woke social contagion, when it’s sure to lose him many more fans than it gains him.
PLANETS, AURORAE, AND ELON PUTS ON A SHOW: Spectacular Sky Candy [VIP]
And don’t forget, there’s a sale on for VIP celebrating Inauguration Day. Its’ 74 percent off. Promo code is POTUS47 if you need it.
HOW IT STARTED: Bezos faces a Washington Post revolt after he reportedly blocked the paper from endorsing Harris.
How it’s going: ‘Deeply alarmed’: Washington Post staff request meeting with Jeff Bezos.
Over 400 staff members at the Washington Post have sent a letter to Jeff Bezos asking for a meeting with him during a time of widespread concern about the future of the newspaper.
The letter, signed by top journalists and correspondents and sent on Tuesday evening, pleads for Bezos, who is known to rarely visit the Post’s office in Washington, to meet in person with leaders at the office.
“We are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent,” the letter reads. NPR first reported the letter.
“This is about retaining our competitive edge, restoring trust that has been lost, and re-establishing a relationship with leadership based on open communication,” it continues.
The letter claims these concerns are unrelated to Bezos’ recent decision to end its endorsement of US presidential candidates, which the letter writers acknowledge as “the owner’s prerogative”.
You don’t say.
Still, it would take a heart of stone not to laugh at the WaPo staffers who are both responsible for blowing the paper’s reputation and resistant to changing their ways.
NEW VIDEO FROM AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:
It’s only a matter of time before the LAFD goes full Harrison Bergeron and makes this a reality. Speaking of which, believe it or not, this actually isn’t satire — at least not intentionally:
This clip has done irreparable damage to the DEI cause. It is breaking through to normies.
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 15, 2025
GEORGIA JOINS STATES SHUTTING DOWN CAMPUS DEI PROGRAMS. I share the concerns many have that they are just moving the efforts to places where they can be hidden more easily. I am sure a lot of that will happen. At the same time, I think many will be surprised just how much the most destructive parts of DEI relied on being the established religion in our institutions.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Our Long National Nightmare Is Almost Over. “We’re going to have plenty of time to celebrate on Monday, but let’s take time today to reflect on the fact that our nightmare of the Biden administration is almost over.”