RIP: Conrad Janis, Who Played Mindy’s Dad on Mork & Mindy, Dies at 94. “A son of the noted New York art collectors and gallerists Sidney and Harriet Janis, Janis, who along with his brother took over the family business, the Sidney Janis Gallery, later in life, was also a successful and lifelong jazz trombonist who even at the height of his Mork & Mindy success performed regularly with his group, the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band…On the film side, Janis appeared in Airport 1975 (1974), The Happy Hooker (1975), Oh God! Book II (1980), Billy Crystal’s Mr. Saturday Night (1992) and Ben Stiller’s cult favorite The Cable Guy (1996) starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick.” And alongside Gary Busey in 1978’s The Buddy Holly Story, where he played a fictional version of Holly’s record producer.
Author Archive: Ed Driscoll
March 9, 2022
BYRON YORK: Ron DeSantis and culture war in Florida.
One of the weirder scenes in our recent politics took place this week in the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee. Three Democratic state senators linked arms and did a sort of semi-dance down a hallway singing an impromptu song, “Gay, gay, gay! My daughter’s gay! Gay, gay, gay, gay, gay!” (They had apparently gotten the idea from a Saturday Night Live skit.)
Florida Senate Democrats were so proud of the moment that they posted a video on Twitter with the message: “We’ve got one thing to say to our GOP colleagues — GAY!”
What was that about? The video was another step in state Democrats’ (very successful) campaign to label a Republican-sponsored bill, H.B. 1557, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Democrats claim the bill, which passed the Senate on Monday, would ban the very mention of homosexuality in Florida schools. With “Don’t Say Gay,” they came up with a catchy phrase that many in the media picked up immediately.
For those more curious than some journalists, the first thing to ask is: Does the bill really do that? Does the bill include, perhaps in obscure legislative language, some version of “Don’t Say Gay?” The answer is no, it doesn’t. Here is the part of the bill that has caused so much controversy:
Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.
Notice that the bill prohibits “classroom instruction” on “sexual orientation or gender identity” by teachers or other adults in kindergarten through third grade. It also says that such instruction after third grade must be “age-appropriate” or “developmentally appropriate.” Another way of looking at it is that Florida law will allow classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity beginning in the fourth grade. And that suggests the popular conversation about the bill, from Saturday Night Live on, has been entirely wrong.
The Florida Dems shouting “Gay! Gay! Gay! Gay! Gay!” with a voice-over reminding viewers that Democrats want to groom kids age five through eight should be aired in every state.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG:
BREAKING: NYT reporter says there were ‘a ton of FBI informants’ among the people who attacked the Capitol https://t.co/Ta9Lg8iMqx
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 9, 2022
UPDATE: Video here: Pulitzer Prize Winning New York Times Reporter: January 6 Media Coverage ‘Overreaction,’ FBI Involved, Event Was Not Organized Despite Ongoing Narrative.
(Updated and bumped.)
WHAT IS INTERNET? This Today Show Segment on Gas-Saving Tips in a Ford Mustang Mach-E Is Painful. Might wanna double-check under the hood, folks:
Gas prices are high right now, if you haven’t noticed, and accompanying that extra pain at the pump are individuals and news organizations alike giving people tips on how to save fuel. Indeed, the Today Show came up with just a segment, embedded below, that’s been airing on television lately doing just that. However, there’s a small problem with it. The car they use to demonstrate these gasoline-saving tips doesn’t burn any gasoline because it’s an electric Ford Mustang Mach-E.
This wouldn’t be egregious if the particular portion of the segment was focused on something like your driving style, which has a lot to do with how much energy you use whether you’re burning fuel or discharging a battery. It didn’t, however. The part of the clip with the Mach-E was focused on fuel saved while idling. NBC’s Senior Consumer Investigative Correspondent Vicky Nguyen explained that “If you’re safely parked somewhere for more than ten seconds… consider turning your engine off. She then pressed the stop/start button on the Mach-E, which doesn’t have an engine. “Idling can cost you up to half a gallon of gas per hour!”
Nguyen went on to note some relevant tips that will save you money whether or not the vehicle is powered by an internal combustion engine, like removing excess cargo from the vehicle. That said, it’s unclear why an EV was selected to illustrate the idling point. I reached out to the Today Show in an attempt to clarify why a Mach-E was chosen to illustrate the point, but I’ve yet to hear back as of publishing.
To be fair, this isn’t the first time that an NBC News show has screwed the pooch when it comes to automobile coverage: Flashback: Exploding Chevy Pickups And NBC Coverup.
Classical reference in headline:
CRISES BY DESIGN: How Dems Helped Spike Gas Prices.
Despite reassurances from the White House that it is doing nothing to discourage oil companies from opening new drill sites, President Joe Biden’s allies in Congress just months ago pressured oil executives to decrease outputs because of climate change, raising questions about the Democratic Party’s strategy to lower prices for consumers.
In late October, for example, the House Oversight and Reform Committee called in the CEOs of Exxon, BP, Shell, and Chevron to explain what steps they are taking to produce less oil and gas, with Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga*.) alleging that “the world can’t wait” any longer. At the time, gas prices were hovering around a 10-year high.
* * * * * * * *
The average price for gasoline at the end of Biden’s first week of office was $2.39 a gallon. Prices have now hit above $4. Although defenders of the president say the rising prices are forces outside the administration’s control, as well as Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Republicans say Biden’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline and institute a moratorium on new gas leases is responsible.
Democrats scheduled a followup hearing with oil executives for Tuesday, March 8. That hearing was subsequently canceled last-minute, with no explanation given.
* Somehow the author mispelled “Guam” here.
I CAN’T IMAGINE WHY: Saudi, UAE leaders declined calls with Biden amid Ukraine conflict: report.
Leaders in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) declined calls with President Biden as the war in Ukraine intensified, Middle East and U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
“There was some expectation of a phone call, but it didn’t happen,” a U.S. official told the Journal regarding a call between Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “It was part of turning on the spigot [of Saudi oil].”
UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed also declined a call from Biden, according to the officials.
Officials told the outlet that U.S. relations with the two Gulf countries have been strained over the Biden administration’s lack of support in the war in Yemen and the revived negotiations concerning the Iran nuclear deal.
Earlier “Saudi Arabia isn’t having it. Because the left, in another Get Trump operation, attempted to make Saudi Arabia a ‘pariah’ over the claimed assassination of Qatar spy Jamal Khashoggi…Bin Salman isn’t making it easier on Biden to repair their relations. He appeared to go out of his way to aggravate the White House during an interview with the Atlantic published last week. ‘We don’t have the right to lecture you in America,’ he said. ‘The same goes the other way.’”
Related: Biden tormented by Republican guerrilla campaign and ‘I did it’ stickers.
Also: 100Pcs I Did That Biden Funny Car Stickers. #Resist #CommissionEarned
TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE! These Congressman Did Not Deserve What Joe Biden Said About Them During His Texas Visit.
President Joe Biden has arrived in North Texas as he plans to talk with veterans and their caregivers and push for more help for members of the military who face health problems after exposure to burn pits.
Biden and Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough will meet with veterans and caregivers at the Fort Worth VA Clinic.
[…]
Biden will call on Congress to send him a bill that protects veterans who face health consequences after burn pit exposure. The House last week passed a bill that would provide VA health care to millions of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who meet that criteria.
Yet, it’s what Biden said about Reps. Colin Allred (D-TX), Marc Veasey (D-TX), and Jake Ellzey (R-TX) is rather…problematic. Biden said that two of the congressmen, Veasey and Allred, look like they can play basketball; both men are black. He added that Congressman Ellzey looks like a dude who would bomb you. I’m not kidding.
Joe Biden: "The three congressman you have here, two of them look like they really could and did play ball and the other one looks like he can bomb you." pic.twitter.com/UtQXRng6wx
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 8, 2022
The line about Ellzey presumably refers to his service as a Navy fighter pilot in Afghanistan and Iraq. Allred did play in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans from 2006-2010. According to Wikipedia, Veasey “graduated from Texas Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts in mass communications.” In any case, as one wag tweeted today, “Thank you for playing today’s game of ‘What if Trump said it?’”
ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Oh, What Has Ilhan Omar Said Now? The Nets Don’t Care.
Related: Victor Davis Hanson: Russia’s Ukraine invasion a wake-up call to AOC and ‘Squad.’
If the United States is [energy independent] … then we don’t beg people in the Middle East or Russia to help us. If the oil price [is] moderate, the economies in the West thrive, and Vladimir Putin doesn’t have financial reserves that can subsidize as an invasion.
Just think of the lead-up to [the invasion]. In January, we had these hackers from Russia [going] … after the Colonial Pipeline in the United States. They took out a million barrels a day, and that was after we had been cutting back. … [Then] we had the Senate Democrats who [sic] wrote a veto to sanction the Nord Stream Pipeline. Energy is a subtext of all of the preliminaries up to this.
And I think in retrospect, we’re going to grow up. We’re going to look back at AOC’s insane efforts and people in the Squad in the hard left to shut down voluntarily almost 3 million barrels a day of oil production. … [T]hat results in … real deaths — people die when you do that, and they have to realize that — it’s crazy.
Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, left-leaning Axios noted: Squad politics backfire as Democrats struggle with party image.
As Glenn has joked, getting Omar, AOC and the rest of “the Squad” elected was Roger Stone’s last and greatest political dirty trick.
NOT THE BEE: Remember how New Zealand went full tyranny for 2 years to keep Covid from spreading? Yeaaaah… “New Zealand went absolutely bonkers over Covid. Sure, the average age of victims was almost (or over) 80, but instead of locking down the vulnerable and letting everyone else get natural immunity, they locked everything down for 2 years and then basically made it impossible to leave your home if you didn’t inject yourself with an experimental vax that would become ineffective in less than a year. New Zealand’s Prime Minister was a prime example of why Karens should never, ever be put in charge of a nation…now that they did all that, their Covid levels are through the roof, even though most of them are triple- or quadruple-vaxxed.”
DEPEND UPON IT, SIR; WHEN A MAN KNOWS THE MIDTERMS ARE IN NOVEMBER, IT CONCENTRATES HIS MIND WONDERFULLY: Texas Dems to Biden: Drill, baby, drill.
DO AMERICANS REALLY WANT A ‘NO-FLY ZONE’ IN UKRAINE? “If they called it an ‘American planes shoot down Russian planes and war breaks out’ zone Instead of a ‘no fly zone’ Sentiment on it would shift quite a bit.”
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Nation Wishes We Had Our Own Oil We Could Dig Up With Big Machines And Then Transport Around With Some Kind Of Pipeline.
JOHN O’SULLIVAN: Coming to Our Senses, Slowly.
Almost simultaneously with The Pipeline’s publication, the Epoch Times reporting from Capitol Hill on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, quoted its chairman, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, as saying that ““the recent action taken by Democratic commissioners [on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] served to elevate environmental considerations above American energy reliability, security, and independence.”
Manchin remarks were noteworthy on several grounds. He was attacking his own party’s appointees on the regulatory commission. He was challenging what has been until now the Green orthodoxy that grips both the Democrats and elite opinion generally. And since he is both the “swing vote” in a narrowly divided U.S. Senate and chairman of the committee wielding “oversight” authority of energy regulation, he has more practical power to change how that regulatory power is exercised than any other government official except the President of the United States—and perhaps more than him as well. To remove any doubt about the impact of the Russo-Ukraine war on his reasoning, Manchin went on:
To deny or put up barriers to natural gas projects and the benefits they provide, while Putin is actively and effectively using energy as an economic and political weapon against our allies, is just beyond the pale.
He wasn’t alone either. Another committee member, Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), said that FERC’s new policies would “make it next to impossible to build any new natural gas infrastructure or upgrade our existing facilities in the United States.” In fact, as sometimes happens when a lone voice challenges a sacred orthodoxy, the floodgates holding back skepticism open and a torrent of disbelief pours through them. Over the next few days, the following voices joined Manchin’s to swell a chorus of legislators and public notables singing such old favorites as “I got the Net-Zero Blues” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” Elon Musk tweeted out:
Hate to say it, but we need to increase oil and gas output immediately. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures.
And you can’t say that Musk, the poet of the electric car, is a mere tool of the fossil fuel lobby. In fact, he’s an example of what’s called the Cantuar Gambit: “If the Archbishop of Canterbury says that he believes in God, well he’s simply doing his job. But if he says he doesn’t believe in God, he must be onto something really big.” Elon’s clearly onto something big.
Yes, common sense can feel that way to its dissenters: Senate Dems fret: How do we keep from getting blamed for high gas prices? WSJ: Come on, man.
HOW IT STARTED: “Under my plan, energy costs will necessarily skyrocket…” And a few months later after then-presidential candidate Barack Obama muttered the above words, a similar phrase was said to journalists: Steven Chu, Obama’s then-incoming energy secretary, told the Wall Street Journal in the fall of 2008: “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”
How it’s going: Biden Set to Ban Russian Oil Imports under Bipartisan Pressure.
The Biden administration is expected to announce a ban of Russian oil imports as early as Tuesday, according to several reports.
The U.S. ban, which will cover liquefied natural gas and coal, would come without European participation, Bloomberg News reported. The decision was made in consultation with European allies, the report adds.
However, the U.K. is also expected to announce plans to ban the import of Russian oil on Tuesday afternoon, Politico reported. The U.K. ban will include a months-long lead-in time to allow the global market to adjust and to dissuade people from panic-buying gas, officials told the outlet.
President Biden’s daily schedule was updated on Tuesday to include remarks from the White House at 10:45 a.m. announcing “actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine.”
Biden faced bipartisan pressure to ban Russian oil and even stalled a bipartisan bill to do so, Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich reported. The House Ways and Means Committee worked all weekend in a bipartisan manner to develop a bill, she reported. The White House then asked Ways and Means Democrats not to move forward on the bill. Sources reportedly told Heinrich the White House did not want to seem as though it had been boxed in by Congress on the issue.
Bloomberg News confirmed that Congress forced the administration’s hand on the Russian oil ban. Biden officials believed that it would be a “bad look” and asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold off on the bill, according to the report.
But if only an ethical source of oil was available:
If only:
Who could have seen this coming?!
Trump in 2020: "If Biden got in, you'd be paying $7, $8, $9. Then they'd say 'get rid of your car!'"
Pete Buttigieg this week: If gas prices are too high, just buy an electric car! pic.twitter.com/6xGcptsKD3
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 8, 2022
Related: The ‘cabal’ that bragged of foisting Joe Biden on us must answer for his failed presidency.
K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: The GOP should … air this video in every state:’ Subversive Floridians say ‘gay’ in stunning and brave TikTok video. Why are Democrats in favor of grooming kindergarten through third grade students?
THE APPLIANCE WARS AND GOVERNMENT OVERREACH: “When a blue jurisdiction (state or local) obsesses about what kind of appliances you have, they have pretty much raised the white flag on their day job. They can’t or won’t address crime, education, homelessness etc., so they make decisions about whether you can have gas stoves or gas water heaters in your home — decisions that rightly belong to homebuyers, home builders and homeowners. Whether it is to distract, to satisfy their urge to make decisions for others or to virtue signal, it is an acknowledgment that they have failed. It brings us directly to the question of who should make decisions about your new house and what kinds of appliances are in it. What authority does the government have to restrict personal choice in this arena?”
DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: NY Times published an opinion piece on campus self-censorship and progressives are proving the author’s point.
TACOMA CHOSE POORLY: City of Tacoma to Accept Window Replacement Grant Applications March 7 – 28.
As part of efforts to alleviate ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic* on Tacoma’s small business community, Mayor Victoria Woodards recently announced the availability of $300,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, establishing a Window Replacement Grant Program to offset costs incurred replacing windows broken at their business location. Program details, informed by input from the City Council’s Economic Development Committee, were developed by the City of Tacoma’s Community and Economic Development Department.
Eligible small businesses based in Tacoma, with no more than 15 full-time equivalent employees, may submit an application starting March 7, 2022 at 8 AM for a Window Replacement Grant. The deadline for submitting a grant application is March 28, 2022 at 11:59 PM. Grant recipients will be selected via random lottery and notified on April 6, 2022.
Window Replacement Grant Program details are available now at makeittacoma.com. The online grant application will be available at makeittacoma.com starting March 7, 2022 at 8 AM in English, Khmer, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese. Language assistance is also available upon request. Questions, or requests to receive information in alternate formats, can be directed to or (253) 591-5208.
* I had no idea the virus can break windows as well! Or perhaps there might be other causes, as Seattle’s CBS affiliate, KIRO 7 reported on February 2nd: City leaders propose paying for smashed windows, increasing security at Tacoma businesses.
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards on Tuesday proposed three initiatives to help businesses impacted by crime across the city.
The proposals come less than a week after hundreds gathered at the LeMay – America’s Car Museum to raise the alarm on problems affecting their businesses, but Woodards said the city has been working on the initiatives for quite some time.
“The issues that are plaguing some of our businesses are an ongoing cost that makes it very difficult for them to sustain themselves during this difficult time,” Woodards said at a Tacoma City Council study session on Tuesday.
According to an end-of-year crime report from the Tacoma Police Department, the city saw an increase in both violent and property crimes in 2021 compared to 2020.
The first city initiative proposes allocating $250,000 for short-term private security enhancements in business districts.
Jeff Robinson, director of community and economic development for the city, said at Tuesday’s meeting that the city is looking into the funding being used for one- to two-person teams to provide security services. The details are still being worked out, like what the shift would look like, how long it would stay in place and which areas of the city would be prioritized.
As the Wall Street Journal noted in June of 2020: Liberal Cities, Radical Mayhem: Democratic mayors and governors seem unable to stop the destruction of their own cities.
The “broken-windows” school of policing says that you can help maintain public order by taking care of even small examples of disorder—such as fixing broken windows. Liberals scorned that policy in the last decade as somehow racist. Well, in recent days we’ve learned that America’s left does have a broken-windows policy: Let rioters break enough windows and loot enough stores and maybe their righteous anger will be satisfied.
That’s certainly how it looked when the June sun rose Tuesday over the broken glass, looted storefronts, burnt-out cars, and vandalized buildings in New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Madison and other American cities. Public officials let rioters exploiting the memory of George Floyd run wild in the streets. Even after nearly a week of violence, these and other liberal Democratic cities let lawless radicals harass and plunder almost at will.
* * * * * * * *
This isn’t merely about damage to property. It’s about destroying the order required for city life. Non-criminals are afraid to go into these cities to make a living. The police pull back from active policing, which creates more opportunity for criminals, especially in poor and minority neighborhoods. Businesses that are finally starting to emerge from government lockdowns have new costs to absorb and more reasons for customers not to return.
What all these cities have in common is that they are led by Democrats who seem to have bought into the belief that the police are a bigger problem than rampant disorder. They are either cowed by their party’s left, or they agree that America is systemically racist and rioting is a justified expression of anger against it. They offer pro forma disapproval of law breakers but refuse to act to stop them.
Jason Rantz of Seattle’s KTTH-AM wrote in October of last year: Police staffing crisis in Tacoma is nearly as bad as in Seattle, morale ‘decimated.’
To [Detective Henry Betts, the Local 6 union president for the Tacoma PD], there are simple reasons for the crime surge: Criminals are taking advantage of an underfunded and understaffed police department, while anti-police activists have impacted officer morale.
While the city did not defund the TPD by much last year, there were cuts. Now, a handful of councilmembers say they need to invest more as soon as possible. Beyond writing a public letter, however, officers don’t believe there will be any follow up. Add to the mix the overzealous statewide policing reforms, widely panned as driven by anti-police fervor from progressive politicians, and it has created a nightmare for the police.
You can see the effects the crime surge has had on the city when you drive around town.
“It’s about the community. You drive around the community, and it’s just different now,” Betts noted.
Betts says he and others have been vocal about their concerns, but he says the city response has been “crickets.”
As a result, another Broken Windows theory kicks in:
WHY DOESN’T BIDEN SUPPORT ETHICAL OIL? Canada Says Its Oil Could Replace U.S. Imports Of Russian Crude.
WINSTON SMITH, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Trudeau-appointed librarian ordered purge of online historical archive.
Canada’s top librarian personally directed her staff to wipe federal websites of content she deemed offensive.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, chief archivist Leslie Weir told employees at Library and Archives Canada to purge thousands of pages, including a biography of Canada’s first prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald.
“We need to discuss having a disclaimer on the website about having content that may offend people. I feel very strongly about that,” Weir said in an email on June 9, 2021.
“Much of the content on the Library and Archives Canada website reflects the time at which it was written. We understand much of this outdated historical content no longer reflects today’s context and may be offensive to many. This is an enormous undertaking with over 7,000 web pages.”
* * * * * * * *
“Leslie has asked for us to remove all ‘offensive’ content from the website. We are scrambling today to identify what that might be with a rough set of criteria to work with,” wrote Giesbrecht.
Weir’s criteria for offensive history included any page that erased Indigenous people, had “outdated terminology,” and anything that “lacked Indigenous perspectives and/or that ignores or dismisses the impact of colonialism.”
“The result will be that a lot of stuff from our website disappears rather quickly and nothing substantial will be up to replace it immediately,” wrote Giebrecht in a June 8, 2021 email.
I’m sure Private Ogilvy is always up to the task if replacements are needed: