Author Archive: Ed Driscoll

August 28, 2024

KAMALA CHAMELEON: Kamala campaign flip-flops on EV mandates.

A campaign official for Kamala Harris said Tuesday that it is a “lie” that the vice president Kamala Harris supports implementing an electric vehicle mandate, even though she cosponsored legislation doing exactly that in 2019.

Harris’s director of rapid response, Ammar Moussa, wrote in a campaign email ahead of Trump running mate J.D. Vance’s remarks on the economy in Michigan that the Ohio senator would “undoubtedly lie, gaslight, and try to run away from the truth.” One such lie, he cautioned, is that “Vice President Harris wants to force every American to own an electric vehicle.”

“Vice President Harris does not support an electric vehicle mandate,” Moussa claimed, before citing several news stories that argued the Biden administration only incentivized, rather than mandated, electric vehicle production by car manufacturers. The administration spent billions to build just a handful of electric vehicle chargers and introduced tax credits for electric vehicle purchases. In addition, however, the Biden administration pushed through a new tailpipe emissions rule through the Environmental Protection Agency that would force car manufacturers to significantly scale back production of gas-powered cars. “The regulation would essentially require automakers to sell more electric vehicles and hybrids by gradually tightening limits on tailpipe pollution,” the New York Times reported in March.

Even more damningly, Harris also supported an electric vehicle mandate when she serves as the junior senator from California. In April 2019, months after announcing her bid to become the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, Harris cosponsored the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act of 2019. The bill, which was introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative Mike Levin, presented “bold plan for transitioning the United States to 100% zero-emission vehicles.”

Flashback to 2019: Kamala Climate Power Grab: Green New Deal, Suing Exxon, Banning Straws.

I’d go with what Tom Cotton told Jon Karl of the House of Stephanopoulos on Sunday, that until Harris herself publicly denounces her past positions, assume that they’re still her goals. But even if she did announce a change in her worldview, why would anyone believe her?

UPDATE:

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 28th, 2024

AFGHAN AFTERTHOUGHTS:

In Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary of State at War, Robert Gates wrote that [Obama’s National Security advisor Tom Donilon] characterized the United States military as “in revolt” and “insubordinate.” The attorney, who had never been in the military, “bridled” when Gen. McChrystal announced a counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan. As Gates explained, “troops risking their lives need to be told that their goal is to ‘defeat’ those trying to kill them. But such terms were viewed in the White House as borderline insubordinate political statements by generals.”

The composite character president formerly known as Barry Soetoro, whose Dreams from My Father was a novel, contends that “the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.” In a military conflict with the Taliban, a belch from the ninth century, America must not be seen as an outright victor*. This creed authorized Joe Biden to hand over billions in high-tech military gear, and an entire airbase, to the Taliban. The 13 American dead and Americans allies left behind were written off as collateral damage, and according to Biden the whole operation was an “extraordinary success.”

Additionally, as a Democrat who came to power during the Watergate era, Biden believes that the helicopters bugging out of Saigon in 1975 was a fitting end to the Vietnam War, and the Afghanistan debacle was Joe coming full circle with his imagined past self, bravely going to war — with that steely military tactician, Gerald Ford:

During a 2012 eulogy for George McGovern, Joe Biden recalled a confrontation he had with President Gerald Ford over pulling troops out of Vietnam. Ford had agreed to meet with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which included then-freshman Joe Biden, to discuss the administration’s military funding requests during the fall of South Vietnam on April 14, 1975.

According to Biden’s account: “I said, ‘Begging the president’s pardon, but I’m sure if the president were in my position, the president would ask the president the following question.’ I swear to God, it’s in the transcript. And Ford looked at me very graciously, and he said, ‘Yeah?’ I said, ‘With all due respect, Mr. President, you haven’t told us anything.’ They were talking about Sector 1, Sector 2, Sector 3, and with that the president turned and said, ‘Henry, tell them.’ And that was the first time it was decided that we were not going to try to sustain our presence [in Vietnam],” said Biden.

But Biden’s alleged statement, and the response from Ford, do not appear in the classified minutes of the meeting, which have been released by the Ford Library Museum. According to the transcript, Biden did speak up at the meeting to oppose military aid to help evacuate South Vietnamese allies alongside the U.S. troops. “I am not sure I can vote for an amount to put American troops in for one to six months to get the Vietnamese out. I will vote for any amount for getting the Americans out. I don’t want it mixed with getting the Vietnamese out,” said Biden, according to the transcript.

Found via Fred Bauer, who notes, “Biden has never made any secret of his tremendous admiration for McGovern, whom he views as a transformational and inspirational figure.” Which brings us to this month in 2021:

* See also: Obama effectively bugging out of Iraq for a second term talking point. As Glenn wrote in 2013, “Ideology required that the Iraq War be a failure, even if it needed a nunc pro tunc effort to make it so.”

Posted at 10:22 am by Ed Driscoll on Aug 28th, 2024

August 27, 2024

SOD OFF, SWAMPY: Hawaii wants to force an oil ban on the rest of the country.

Despite the Biden administration spending trillions to promote green energy, America and the rest of the world still overwhelmingly depend on oil and gas to power their cars, homes, and appliances. However, if the city of Honolulu gets its way in Sunoco v. City and County of Honolulu, a nationwide oil ban might soon go into effect.

Honolulu claims energy companies are the source of “injuries” for its residents because the “climate crisis” is caused by the “use of fossil fuel products.” Using Hawaii tort law, it seeks billions of dollars in restitution and a court order that these companies stop “producing and promoting the sale and use of fuel products.” The sale of any fuel product in any state would be deemed a trespass against the Aloha State.

That’s right. Despite acknowledging that “it is not possible to determine the source of any particular molecule of C02,” effectively admitting that it cannot prove the basic facts it asserts, this lawsuit seeks to compel companies to cease production and sale of oil and gas everywhere.

While the energy industry responded with a motion to dismiss the case, the Hawaii Supreme Court denied its motion, ruling that this case is a states’ rights issue.

Hawaii is free to ban the sale of oil and gas within its state boundaries anytime it wants, but it cannot force other states to do the same by state judicial fiat.

I’ll believe that Hawaii’s government is serious about their Gaia worship when they ban commercial jet airline travel to and from the state.

Posted at 9:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 27th, 2024

FIGHT NIGHT: Kamala Harris Folds, ABC News Debate Terms Agreed Upon.

All of the original rules that were part of the CNN debate will remain in place, with none of the rumored changes, including the use of notes and being seated, being adopted.

This puts a big dent in what was an obvious ploy by Harris to manufacture yet another “I’m speaking” moment for the cameras. She used that line during the 2020 vice presidential debate and has rehashed it several times during speeches over the years. With an open mic setup, she was no doubt salivating at the chance to use it again on Trump (even if he didn’t legitimately interrupt her). I’d bet she already had the shirts printed and ready to go.

How did we arrive here? That’s less certain. If ABC News held the line here and told the Harris campaign that the rules were already set and could not be changed, I’d have to give them credit for that. For now, though, we don’t know what transpired behind the scenes. What we do know is that all the bluster from the Harris campaign about an “uncensored” debate is null and void, and that’s a good thing. As much as political observers may like a food fight in theory, the muted mic setup is far more effective in informing voters about each nominee.

Although as America’s Newspaper of Record “reports:” Harris Team Asks If Her Mic Can Just Be Muted For The Whole Debate.

Posted at 8:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 27th, 2024

ACTUALLY, THERE ARE TWO: Kamala Harris Agrees to Sit for an Interview, but There’s a HUGE Catch.

After weeks of avoiding interviews and press conferences like the plague, Kamala Harris will finally sit for an interview. That such a thing is even newsworthy says a lot about Kamala’s pathetic campaign, but I’m sure you know there’s more to this story. There is a huge catch.

Naturally, you assumed that the interview would take place on a left-leaning network. Of course, you were right. CNN gets the honor of holding the first interview, and chief political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash will be the one to conduct it. Because of course.

But that’s not the catch.

Despite all the criticism Harris has received, even from her allies in the media, for not doing any sit-down interviews or press conferences, her first interview won’t be solo. Believe it or not, her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), will be her babysitter for the interview.

Also, the interview will be prerecorded, further protecting Harris from herself.

Posted at 8:13 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 27th, 2024

THEY’RE NOT DOING JOURNALISM, THEY’RE DOING CHEERLEADING: The liberal media’s gushing over Kamala Harris is an embarrassment to journalism.

Donald Trump and his allies are missing the point. Yes, of course liberal media outlets in the US are biased towards Kamala Harris. They’re always biased towards the Democrats’ candidate. Nothing new there.

What makes their behaviour right now so remarkable is not that they’re being partisan. It’s that they’re willing to be partisan even though the object of their adulation has been giving them absolutely nothing in return. They’re cheerleading for someone who won’t even speak to them.

But at least she isn’t publicly insulting them and locking them in closets, so Vice President Harris is certainly a step up in that regard from the (p)resident. What we’re seeing from the DNC-MSM is what they’ve been doing in election cycles since arguably 2004:

At least in 2008 and 2012 they had a candidate who had much better skills as a politician, and was unknown enough so that the rock star treatment could seem warranted to the uninitiated.

Exit quote:

Even if liberal US media outlets no longer care about journalistic scrutiny, surely they should, at bare minimum, be motivated by their own commercial interests. Interviews with the woman of the moment would cause clicks and sales to surge. So they might at least have demanded she offer them something in exchange for their gurgling sycophancy. Yet here they are, giving it away free of charge.

Still, I suppose they deserve some credit. Nowadays it’s fairly common for journalists to quit the media for PR. Yet some, impressively, have the energy to fill both jobs at once.

Oh they’re definitely doing PR. They just like having the J-word on their business cards, for legacy reasons.

UPDATE: Seven Theories of Press Complicity with the Harris Campaign.

By dumping their unpopular incumbent nominee midstream, a coup apparently masterminded by the aged former speaker of the House, and seamlessly substituting a new nominee and then unifying their party behind her and subduing the press into prostration, Democratic power brokers have indeed played the inside-the-Beltway game very well the past month. If your concept of political journalism is simply to cheer those who wield the knife well, that yields good coverage. But it’s not what a free press is for in a free and democratic republic.

I miss the idea of a “free press…in a free and democratic republic” — but that notion died 50 years ago during the Watergate hearings.

MORE: Kamala Harris’s media gambit is working. “[T]here is an extensive record, much of it on video, of Harris making her views clear on issues like taxes, healthcare, immigration, energy, and others. Since she has never renounced or changed those statements, don’t they remain her views, at least until she says otherwise? As far as many of the nation’s top journalists are concerned, though, there’s no need to hear it from the candidate herself. For Kamala Harris and her admirers in the media, saying nothing is enough.”

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 27th, 2024

August 26, 2024

OLD AND BUSTED: Trump Will Destroy Democracy!

The New Hotness? We’ll do the job ourselves: Human Rights Campaign president says we must “reimagine” democracy to be “more revolutionary” than the “little piece of paper“ our founders drafted.

Flashback: Kamala Harris Dismisses Kavanaugh’s Pocket Constitution: ‘That Book You Carry.’

Piers Morgan could not be reached for comment: Piers Morgan gets owned by Ben Shapiro, refers to Constitution as “your little book.”

Posted at 5:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 26th, 2024

TO BE FAIR, BUGOUTS ARE WHAT KAMALA AND JOE DO BEST:

Such moments are no laughing matter — unless you’re the vice president, alas:

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 26th, 2024

OLD AND BUSTED: “Queers for Palestine.”

The New Hotness? Islamists Are Reenacting the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, and the Green Crowd Couldn’t Care Less.

Do America’s environmentalists oppose the Houthis’ blowing up oil tankers because it results in massive spills and a “severe ecological disaster,” or quietly support them because they represent attacks on the fossil-fuel industry?

It’s easy to wonder about the latter, as life stateside is full of people who will give you grief about your Big Mac, your SUV, your gas stove, and now your air conditioning. Meanwhile, these kidnapping, humanitarian-aid-obstructing, cholera-exacerbating Islamists who carried out a “partial and limited reintroduction of slavery” are reenacting the Exxon Valdez spill, and you barely hear a peep from the green crowd. It’s easy to conclude their movement is primarily focused upon hassling you, not about protecting the Earth.

The current president of the United States — that’s Joe Biden if you’ve forgotten. I know it’s easy to forget when he only does one public event per week — has not made any substantive remarks about the threat from the Houthis since January. The Biden administration would probably prefer if you forgot that one of its first actions was to remove the Iranian-backed Houthis from the U.S. list of global terrorist organizations.

As with those who attack Christianity but steer very far away from attacking Islam, now we know the limits of the crowd that glues themselves to the floor and throws paint at priceless artwork.

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 26th, 2024

DISPATCHES FROM THE PARTY OF TOLERANCE FOR DIVERSITY: How a beloved comedy actress became liberal Hollywood’s public enemy number one.

Describing Kennedy Jr’s decision to run on the principle of “unity”, [RFK Jr’s wife Cheryl Hines] concluded that “It’s been my experience that the vast majority of all parties are truly good people who want the best for our country and for each other.”

Unfortunately for Hines, many of these “truly good” people are deeply opposed to her. The actor Bradley Whitford, who starred in The West Wing and is well-known for his liberal and progressive politics, tore into her publicly, writing “Hey, @CherylHines, way to stay silent while your lunatic husband throws his support behind the adjudicated rapist who brags about stripping women of their fundamental rights. Gutsy. Great example for the kids.” He sardonically referred to Kennedy Jr’s uncle JFK’s famous 1956 book about the courageous actors of American senators in his tweet, concluding “Profile in courage.”

And although most actors have remained silent about the matter, Hines has now become a public laughing-stock both because of her marriage to RFK Jr and her recent statement. One wit, mocking her use of the word ‘presidency’, wrote “I didn’t realize he was president. Or in your worm eaten brains, maybe he already was.”

Other social media users have been quick to pillory Hines. One complained that “You suck. I can’t even enjoy the episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm with you in them anymore”, while another, either deliberately blending fact and fiction or acting out of confusion, declared that “It’s no wonder Larry divorced you.” There have, admittedly, been many statements of support for Hines, but these have come almost exclusively from Trump supporters.

If only someone had warned that for a company town that allegedly hates blacklisting, it doesn’t take much at all to blacklist yourself there.

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 26th, 2024

August 25, 2024

WOEING:

Shot: NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, arrive in Florida for Boeing’s first human spaceflight.

Wilmore stressed this is a test flight meant to uncover anything amiss.

“Do we expect it to go perfectly? This is the first human flight of the spacecraft,” he told reporters. “I’m sure we’ll find things out. That’s why we do this.”

—AP, April 25th, 2024.

Chaser: Boeing Starliner astronauts will return home on a SpaceX Dragon in 2025, NASA confirms:

On Saturday (Aug. 24), NASA announced its final decision regarding the fates of the two astronauts aboard the International Space Station whose original eight-day space jaunt had turned into a nebulous multi-month excursion. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who launched to the ISS aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule on June 5, will return home no earlier than February of 2025.

Furthermore, NASA and Boeing jointly decided that Williams and Wilmore will not head back to Earth aboard the same Starliner capsule that brought them to the ISS. Rather, they will climb aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule for their descent to our planet, a vessel dedicated to the Crew-9 mission set to launch in September that will be modified to accommodate the Starliner astronauts. That capsule will only launch with two crewmembers in order to create space for Wilmore and Williams when the time comes to return to Earth, and it will also be reconfigured to carry more cargo, personal items and Dragon-specific spacesuits for the Starliner duo.

Meanwhile, NASA and Boeing are going to work on bringing the Starliner capsule back to Earth, crewless, to land in White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico, sometime in September.

—Space.com, yesterday.

Hangover: The lack of questions Vice President Harris will receive, despite:

The DTs: Vice President Kamala Harris Asks NASA if It Can Track Trees by Race for ‘Environmental Justice.’

Vice President Kamala Harris asked NASA if it could use its satellites to track trees “by race” in various neighborhoods as part of “environmental justice” during a recent display on climate change, leading many to ridicule the vice president online and even giving rise to a “Black Trees Matter” hashtag.

—Breitbart.com, November 7th, 2021.

Posted at 9:25 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 25th, 2024

MILE MARKERS ON THE ROAD TO DETROIT: San Francisco officials weigh in on departure of Elon Musk’s X headquarters: ‘Good riddance.’

How many more businesses whose departures will be met by San Fran officials responding with some variation of “good riddance” before voters decide enough is enough? Or as America’s Newspaper of Record reports: Robbers Announce They Will Have To Leave San Francisco Because Everything’s Been Robbed.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Swedish battery maker Northvolt lays off almost 200 in Bay Area as it shuts down subsidiary.

Posted at 5:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 25th, 2024

JUST THINK OF ABC’S JONATHAN KARL AS A DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVE WITH A BYLINE, AND HIS DEFENSE OF VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS MAKES PERFECT SENSE: Tom Cotton Demolishes Jonathan Karl After the ‘Journalist’ Gaslights About Kamala Harris.

Flashback: “Why would you trust a campaign?”

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 25th, 2024

August 24, 2024

IT’S GOOD TO BE THE NOMENKLATURA:

Flashback: “In a famous Soviet joke, then-leader Leonid Brezhnev shows his mother his luxury apartment, his limousine, his fancy country house and his helicopter only to have her object: ‘But what if the communists come back?’”

Posted at 1:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 24th, 2024

TOLERANCE FOR DIVERSITY REACHES TERMINATION POINT:

As Glenn noted in the very early days of Instapundit, “As the old saying has it, the left looks for heretics and the right looks for converts, and both find what they’re looking for. The effect is no doubt subliminal, but people who treat you like crap are, over time, less persuasive than people who don’t. If people on the Left are so unhappy about how many former allies are changing their views, perhaps they should examine how those allies are treated.”

Posted at 1:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Aug 24th, 2024
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