Archive for 2023

IS IT TIME TO CHANGE OUR HURRICANE RATING SYTEMS?”:  I thought we’d already switched over from a “wind speed” system to a “damage inflicted to GOP politician” system.  Under the latter system, Katrina was a super hurricane, Maria was a really big hurricane, and Ian was a dud.

OPEN THREAD: Party on.

KAROL MARKOWICZ: Trump’s insane lies on DeSantis trash successful conservative policies.

Trump has a clear lane in the primary.

He has a record of accomplishment as president; he led the country to prosperity that has since sharply declined; he exposes the politicization and corruption of our government agencies when he’s personally targeted by leftist activist district attorneys like Alvin Bragg and when he is the subject of a baseless search for documents at his home.

He remains absolutely beloved by a segment of the Republican base.

Boom, boom, boom.

Yet he, and the not-very-smart people around him, have decided that for him to win the primary he needs to not only destroy Florida’s extremely popular Gov. Ron DeSantis (who has not yet even announced a presidential run), but also to demolish all of DeSantis’ conservative policies and practices that have been so wildly successful in the sunshine state.

Compare Trump’s staffers leaking to Rolling Stone

…with DeSantis’ disciplined handling of the DNC-MSM: Not Good Enough, Andrea: ‘Was a Blatant Lie’: DeSantis Team Rejects Andrea Mitchell Saying She Was ‘Imprecise’ on Gov’s Education Views, Vow to Freeze Out NBC.

JOHN NOLTE: The Gloriously Inappropriate and Problematic Reversal of Fortune (1990).

Beware all frail and fascist woketards: Reversal of Fortune (1990) is 111 minutes of trigger-inducing emotional trauma.

The Trump-defending Alan Dershowitz is portrayed as a righteous hero fighting on behalf of a rich, heterosexual white guy.

The movie itself is determined to question our bigotry against this rich, heterosexual white guy.

Those of a certain age remember what was then (1980) called the Sunny von Bülow Case. The only thing our culture loves more than a beautiful socialite is a depressive and drug-addicted socialite. Now imagine a murder attempt thrown into the mix, and not just a murder attempt — a murder attempt in a palatial Newport estate at the hands of Sunny’s second husband.

Read the whole thing.

 

ROGER KIMBALL: The Garland, Blinken, and Morell Morass.

Doubtless your mother used to tell you to count your blessings. It was good advice. Your situation may be bad. In the case of the United States, things indisputably are bad, and worsening. You know that. But look on the bright side. Sure Merrick Garland, the first American Gothic attorney general of the United States, is a partisan horror show, withholding real protection from Supreme Court justices who are threatened by violent criminals even as he stigmatizes as “domestic terrorists” parents who criticize their local school boards and orders the FBI to conduct dawn raids on critics of the regime. He is a horrible man and a dangerous partisan hack, the very instantiation of the two-tier application of the law that has made such a mockery of justice during Biden’s tenure.

But again, look on the bright side. Garland will soon be gone. And remember, he almost made it to the Supreme Court. Obama nominated him in the waning days of his administration. But Donald Trump had other ideas and—let’s give credit where credit is due—Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made sure that Garland’s nomination got lost when Republicans held the majority. I am no fan of McConnell’s, but I try to remember to say a little prayer for him whenever I list my intentions. By scotching Garland’s ascension to the Court, McConnell did the country a huge favor.

I say Garland will “soon” be gone. Most of my readers will assume I mean on or about January 20, 2025, when the next Republican president assumes office.

It might take that long. But recent developments have me wondering whether he might make his congé even earlier.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Report: Merrick Garland Identified as Official Misleading Congress in Hunter Biden Tax Probe.

(Updated and bumped.)

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED: Suddenly, the Media Discover Hunter Biden’s Crimes. Why Now?

We’re told that the FBI really, really — honest! — intended to bring four charges against Hunter but alas were stymied by the Attorney General of the United States of America.

So why do the media tell the story now?

To serve Zee Pahty, it appears.

Joe Biden bumbled his way through another week of early lids, slurred words, desperate pronouncements, and hummana, hummana, hummanas from his “spokes” woman Karine Jean-Pierre and her binder.

He announced he will announce his run for the presidency on Tuesday.

Is this the Left’s last-ditch effort to take him off the board before the 2024 election? Sure looks like it.

The media are geared up for it. Let’s see if it works.

And they are:

It’s Happening! CBS Questions Dem Senator Coons on Hunter Biden Investigation.

Done With Biden? ABC Admits Most Uneasy With An 81 Year Old President.

WSJ editorial: Biden is “an octogenarian in obvious decline” and his reelection would be “an historic mistake.”

And from February at NBC: Politico reporter: Biden’s age prompts whispers from top Democrats ahead of 2024.

(Victoria Taft’s article is just for our VIP members; please use the discount code LOYALTY if you’ve been thinking of becoming a supporter.)

SOCIALIST STILL YEARNING TO GO NATIONAL: AOC Targets Tucker Carlson With Grossly Authoritarian Threat.

Democrats constantly talk about how much they want to protect “democracy.” It’s become parodic at this point, with every single thing the left doesn’t like being described as a threat to democratic governance. When you take a step back, though, it becomes obvious who the real threat is.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez illustrated that perfectly in an interview that aired Sunday. While on MSNBC, the New York congresswoman spoke to Jen Psaki, which just rounds out the absurdity of the entire scene. The former press secretary for Joe Biden, one of the biggest political hacks in existence, is now cosplaying as an unbiased journalist, but I digress.

(Also see: AOC Simped for TikTok, and Walked Right Into an Unbelievable Corruption Scandal)

The conversation moved to the supposed danger that Tucker Carlson poses to the general public, with Ocasio-Cortez accusing the top-rated host of “incitement to violence.” She also called for government regulations that would remove Carlson and others she disagrees with from the air.

Or as America’s Newspaper of Record notes: AOC: ‘The Government Must Shut Down Unapproved News Agencies To Defeat* Fascism.’

* Are you sure on this one? Because AOC had several dalliances with fascism during her early “new socialist ‘it’ girl” phase.

Related: The Authoritarian Left: Democrat Threatens Matt Taibbi with Jail.

 

MORE LAWSUITS, PLEASE!:  “NIH study recruiting 18-year-olds to learn ‘unknown’ side effects of testicle removal for gender dysphoria.”  Now they tell us:  Evidently, transgender women (i.e. men who have surgically “transitioned”) are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, and no one has figured out why yet.  It didn’t occur to these so-called doctors that chopping off some troubled teenager’s testicles might have undesirable health effects.

IT’S PROBABLY HAPPENING HERE, TOO: Chinese Censorship Is Quietly Rewriting the Covid-19 Story: Under government pressure, Chinese scientists have retracted studies and withheld or deleted data. The censorship has stymied efforts to understand the virus.

And it’s not just the Chinese virus. The Insta-Wife was commenting the other day that a lot of Justice Department crime stats that used to be easy to fine have now been scrubbed from the Internet, presumably because they don’t support the preferred narrative.

UNEXPECTEDLY! Just When Dem Debates Would Have Been Interesting, DNC Says There Will Be No Debates.

Add in Marianne Williamson, and the proceedings would get even more fun. The self-help guru and author of A Return to Love got some attention during her 2020 candidacy for her unforgettable quips, which include “You need not apologize for being brilliant, talented, gorgeous, rich, or smart” and “The reason we’re such fertile ground for the dark forces of such lies and social manipulation is that we’re dissociated from the genuine light of self-awareness.” There is a lot of truth to that, and a Biden-Kennedy-Williamson debate could be a marvelous show, featuring the garrulous old liar rattling on about how he got arrested for trying to visit Nelson Mandela in prison or about how his son Beau was killed in Iraq, Kennedy calling out state and corporate fascism, and Williamson waxing philosophical.

That’s precisely why the debates won’t happen. The Democratic National Committee knows that Williamson is nutty, and it thinks Kennedy is nutty, too, and it’s well aware that the less the public sees the dementia patient who pretends to be president, the better. They’re going with Biden for reelection, and they know that he can only hurt his own chances by standing toe-to-toe against a man who can actually articulate a coherent sentence and defend his positions, as well as against a woman who, however loopy she may be, looks like Madame Curie next to Old Joe.

And so despite the fact that RFK, who has never been a national figure, immediately jumped to 14%, there will be no real Democrat race. There will just be a coronation.

And there could very well be: ‘Years of liberal indoctrination:’ Scott Walker warns Republicans about assuming Biden losing is a ‘sure thing.’

AMAZING WHAT A PAYCHECK FROM THE GRAY LADY CAN DO:

Gun Idolatry Is Destroying the Case for Guns.

—David French, the New York Times, Today.

My Family Has Been Threatened by Racists. Why Should They Outgun Me? “The right to effective self-defense has never been more important.”

—David French, National Review, August 6th, 2019.

Flashback:

‘Repeal the Second Amendment.’  “I have never understood the conservative fetish for the Second Amendment.”

—Bret Stephens, the New York Times, October 5, 2017.

And yet, at one point, when Stephens was still employed by the Wall Street Journal, he at least professed to understanding it:

NEWS YOU CAN USE: