KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Hey, Thom Tillis — the GOP Doesn’t Need a Lisa Murkowski Lite. “So, Tillis wants to rekindle the Democrats’ un-American witch hunt and let them resurrect an issue that greatly contributed to their defeat last year. How is this guy a Republican?”
Author Archive: Stephen Green
May 8, 2025
FIGHTING THE OLIGARCHY LOOKS A LITTLE… OLIGARCHIC:
A multi millionaire who's too good to wait in line at the airport like the rest of us peasants and is instead flying around on private jets is "fighting oligarchy" and climate change?
— Pro America Politics (@Pro__Trading) May 8, 2025
“Or carry my own bags, like a peasant?”
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Albany sneaks in budget language that would put NY taxpayers on the hook for Tish James’ legal bills if she’s probed by Trump admin.
New York’s operations budget bill includes specific language that indicates certain state officials could tap into a $10 million fund to cover “any reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses incurred” as part of a Trump administration-led probe tied to their state-based employment.
Multiple sources told The Post that the language in the bill, which will be made public later Wednesday, would apply to James’ looming legal fight.
It would also cover other state employees whom the Trump administration considers going after, the sources added.
While the bill language shared with The Post doesn’t mention James by name, the relevant section indicates state employees could be covered if the “legally compulsive process” was initiated by the US government after Jan. 1, 2025.
Say what you will about the Dems, but they look after their own — and they’re willing to spend as much of other people’s money as it takes.
PEOPLE WITH SOMETHING TO HIDE TEND TO TRY AND HIDE THINGS: Foreign Aid Official Resisted DOGE Having a Look at His Foundation’s Books. Now We Know Why.
YEARS LATE AND SO MANY WASTED TAX DOLLARS SHORT: Reason Magazine tugs back on Gov. Jared Polis’ ‘libertarian’ card.
Amidst ongoing battles within his own party, and despite recently vetoing a pair of bills that concentrated more authority in Colorado state government, Jared Polis’ carefully scripted reputation as a libertarian-leaning governor appears to be fading.
Even Reason Magazine, the national media outlet that has for years has hung its hat on the idea that Polis is more liberty-minded than progressive, is now questioning whether Polis’ moderate temperament is real, with editor-at-large Nick Gillepsie tugging back on Polis’ libertarian card in an April 14 article asking if the “small government Democrat is beefing up state power.”
Reason has long been considered the standard-bearer for libertarian thought and ideas, complete with the tagline of “Free Minds and Free Markets.”
Gillespie notes in the very first sentence that it’s Polis himself who identifies as a “libertarian Democrat.” However, it was also Gillespie — who recently said he was “an admirer” of Polis’ on a Facebook post pitching his latest story — who penned that Polis “might be the most libertarian governor in America,” in a profile story he wrote in 2022.
…
“Through the years, Gov. Jared Polis appears to have welcomed the libertarian label — affixed to him by the news media, political commentators and even some other politicians. It’s almost as if he wants to create a buzz about it,” Goodman writes. “However, a closer examination of what he has done to our state reveals a stark contrast between that label and his actions.”Goodman goes on to note that while that while Polis supports marijuana legalization and school choice — two important Libertarian Party principles, he fails in the area of reducing government size, civil liberties, and taxation. “Polis, while campaigning as an advocate for lower income taxes, consistently passes and advocates for legislation which increases the tax burden upon Coloradans.”
Goodman also says Polis’ stance on the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) is a big red flag.
The results speak for themselves.
May 7, 2025
BEAUTY IS NOT ALWAYS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER:
Put aside race, and whether it’s Letitia, this is the type of art that is designed to destroy souls.
An overweight, grumpy lady giving side eye to tourists from all over the world as they wander Times Square.
How inspiring… https://t.co/4AFxtpXvPP
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) May 7, 2025
More from Dana Loesch: “As part of a likely-partially taxpayer-funded temporary art installation, a giant bronze statute was erected in Times Square. The promo materials call it a ‘nod to Michelangelo’s David.'”
The bronze heifer in the square isn’t even remotely comparable. There is not devotion to such anatomical accuracy. Nothing to convey feeling, either for the viewer or on behalf of the subject. The attempt is nothing more than cheap sentiment on size masquerading as some vague, body positivity motif. We’ve had centuries of celebrating what society today would consider “plus-sized women,” in fact, it was a defining feature of Renaissance art as such women were considered more healthy, wealthy, and powerful. Pretending that such a celebration of the female form is new is historical illiteracy and an excuse for bad art. Pretending that obesity means the subject is undeserving of the dignity of definition is laziness.
The woman in the square has no defining features beyond her hair. Her body’s position suggests nothing, there are no defining details on her pants, presumably denim, nor on her arms. Her face is plain, expression, dead. She looks frumpy, dumpy, and made of marzipan.
No Renaissance master would dare render an object of reverence in such an offensive manner.
Read the whole thing.
And don’t forget how we got here:
In the 30s, Moscow ordered the CPUSA to promote ugly civic art in order to demoralize Americans and make them more susceptible to Communist propaganda.
He mentioned for no reason.
No reason at all.
I’M TOLD THEY TASTE BETTER THAN PENNED ATOMS: Physicists Capture First-Ever Images of Free-Range Atoms.
THE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT BIDEN GOT HIS PHOTO-OP:
One of the biggest Biden embarrassments – the half baked Gaza Aid Pier. $230 million. 20 days in use. And now we find out it injured 60+ US soldiers. One soldier died! All to placate terrorists & their sympathizers in the Democratic Party. Insane scandal. @reuters 👇 pic.twitter.com/nPlZnVmMmt
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) May 7, 2025
I’D WAGER “NO” ON IT HAVING ANY DRAG-QUEEN GREETERS: Disney to open theme park in the Middle East.
SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE JUST HAD ITS DOOR KNOCKED DOWN: Majority of Swatting Attacks Target Conservatives.
CHRISTIAN TOTO: Celebrities: Trump Will Destroy the World!
The 2024 election saw a galaxy of stars support Vice President Kamala Harris. For every Trump-backing Zachary Levi or Hulk Hogan there were dozens of A-listers backing a leader who feared talking to Joe Rogan.
The word salad spinner lost, badly, to President Donald Trump all the same. Even left-leaning news outlets suggested how little celebrity endorsements matter in the Age of Trump.
Now, some of the most notable names in entertainment warn President Trump will destroy the country, if not the planet.
Is anyone listening? Or caring?
Good question, but for most people, the answer seems to be No.
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: ‘F’ Is for Democrat: Colorado’s Collapse Under One-Party Rule. “Colorado’s economic report card is in and my beloved home state — formerly a solid A and B student — just flunked every subject.”
ONE SOLUTION MIGHT BE THE RETURN OF IN-CLASS ESSAYS:
For higher education, “AI’s takeover [is] a full-blown existential crisis.”
“College is just how well I can use ChatGPT at this point.”
“I think we are years — or months, probably — away from a world where nobody thinks using AI for homework is considered cheating.”
“It isn’t… pic.twitter.com/Jlkdng6VRK
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) May 7, 2025
The full story is behind a paywall but these excerpts tell most of it:
For higher education, “AI’s takeover [is] a full-blown existential crisis.”
“College is just how well I can use ChatGPT at this point.”
“I think we are years — or months, probably — away from a world where nobody thinks using AI for homework is considered cheating.”
“It isn’t as if cheating is new. But now, as one student put it, ‘the ceiling has been blown off.’ Who could resist a tool that makes every assignment easier with seemingly no consequences?”
“Massive numbers of students are going to emerge from university with degrees, and into the workforce, who are essentially illiterate.”
“The humanities, and writing in particular, are quickly becoming an anachronistic art elective like basket-weaving.”
“Many teachers now seem to be in a state of despair.”
“Every time I talk to a colleague about this, the same thing comes up: retirement. When can I retire? When can I get out of this? That’s what we’re all thinking now.”
Sad.
SCHADENFREUDELICIOUS: ‘Difficult Times’ for the Mainstream Media? Cry Me a River.
OUCH: Another Navy jet falls into sea, marking fourth major mishap in months. “The F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet, worth about $67 million, went overboard after an unsuccessful attempt to slow it down upon landing on the USS Harry S. Truman, the Navy said in a statement. Both aviators aboard the jet safely ejected and were rescued at sea by helicopter with minor injuries, and no one aboard the warship’s flight deck was harmed, the service said.”
The report doesn’t say what caused the “unsuccessful attempt to slow it down.” Did the tailhook fail to catch the arresting wire? Did the arresting wire suffer some kind of failure? Something else?
HOPEFULLY SANITY WILL BREAK OUT BEFORE FULL-SCALE WAR DOES: The Precipice of Armageddon? Nuclear Powers India and Pakistan Inch Closer to All-Out War.
BOTTOM STORY OF THE DAY: Duh! Study shows ‘defund the police’ resulted in more killings.
Our new study of 15 major cities including New York City, Chicago, Austin, Portland and Minneapolis found that murders spiked in the wake of the summer 2020 unrest as police pulled back – making fewer stops and arrests.
When policing rebounded in these cities, murders declined dramatically.
Across the 15 cities with a combined population of 27 million and a disproportion share of violent crime, police stops and arrests dropped 40% after May 2020, but have since risen –up 37% from their recent lows in 2021 and 2022.
“Defund the police” is better understood as “More crime against minorities.”
SADLY, THIS LOOKS LIKE THE FIRST OF A LONG SERIES: Dispatches From Self-Occupied Britain. “Britain’s big secret is out and, frankly, it was never really a secret.”
XI’S GOTTA HAVE IT: How Bad Is China’s Economy? The Data Needed to Answer Is Vanishing.
Not long ago, anyone could comb through a wide range of official data from China. Then it started to disappear.
Land sales measures, foreign investment data and unemployment indicators have gone dark in recent years. Data on cremations and a business confidence index have been cut off. Even official soy sauce production reports are gone.
In all, Chinese officials have stopped publishing hundreds of data points once used by researchers and investors, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.
In most cases, Chinese authorities haven’t given any reason for ending or withholding data. But the missing numbers have come as the world’s second biggest economy has stumbled under the weight of excessive debt, a crumbling real-estate market and other troubles—spurring heavy-handed efforts by authorities to control the narrative.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics stopped publishing some numbers related to unemployment in urban areas in recent years. After an anonymous user on the bureau’s website asked why one of those data points had disappeared, the bureau said only that the ministry that provided it stopped sharing the data.
The disappearing data have made it harder for people to know what’s going on in China at a pivotal time.
China’s economic stats were almost certainly no good even when they did publish them. So my takeaways are that the fake figures needed to cover for the country’s actual performance became too ridiculous to be believed, and that Xi needs trade negotiations to succeed.
MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: DoJ Opens Investigation Into Minnesota DA Who Refused to Charge Tesla Vandal With Felonies.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that the U.S. is in the midst of negotiations with 17 of the country’s largest trading partners, and previewed a timeline for concluding those pending trade deals.
Bessent said in his testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government that the timing of trade deals “will be path dependent on our trade partners.”
“There are 18 very important trading relationships. We are currently negotiating with 17 of those trading partners. China – we have not engaged in negotiations with as of yet,” he said.
Previously: Despite their denials, China is losing the tariffs war and retreating as fast as it can.
We’ll see — this has a long way to play out.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Somehow, Michelle Obama Has Become Even More Tedious. “What is most stunning here is that Mrs. Obama has proven herself even more narcissistic than her husband. She’s much less interesting than he is though. It’s Hillary Clinton all over again, where we are being subjected to the coattails ride of a bitter spouse. If all of this publicity is, as many people think, paving the way for a presidential run, Mrs. Obama seems to be gunning for the disgruntled housewife demographic.”