MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: My Fondless Farewell to the Worst Human Being to Serve as President.

Fox News’ Chris Wallace summed it up best: “The word that everybody is using to describe tonight is bittersweet. It’s just bitter.”

Well, good.

Biden’s economic record includes the worst bout of inflation in almost 50 years, a seemingly permanent jobs recession, and an explosion of spending, debt, and regulation meant to hobble this country for generations. His foreign policy of coddling authoritarians and dictators while running roughshod over our allies has unleashed war from Eastern Europe through the Middle East to the Red Sea — and the Pacific isn’t looking too great, either.

There’s more but I don’t want to talk about his awful record. I want to talk about the awful human being.

Much more at the link.

DISPATCHES FROM AL-BRITANNIA:

“Operation Orwell” more like it https://t.co/JQWpEtn37v

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 19, 2024

EASY CALL: THIS WILL DO NOTHING TO STEM THE CHURCH’S LONGTERM DECLINE: The Church of England No Longer Identifies as a Church.

WELL, BYE: Behind the Curtain: Biden’s bitter, sweet exit.

President Biden hasn’t had much to smile about lately. But we hear he got a huge laugh on a recent call when he was told about this encounter at Fenway Park in Boston:

A former top White House official under President Obama ran into Mike Barnicle — the “Morning Joe” regular, and close friend and ardent defender of Biden — and said: “Isn’t it great that f–king guy finally figured out he had to quit?”

Barnicle was tired, and wasn’t having it. “What guy?!” he replied.
“Joe Biden!” the West Wing alumnus replied.

“You know something? F–k you!” Barnicle replied. “And f–k all your friends with their anonymous quotes in the papers. Put your name on it next time!” And kept walking.

A source familiar with Biden’s reaction to the story told us: “He might still be laughing.”

Why it matters: Biden’s friends tell us that as the president heads to his Democratic National Convention sendoff in Chicago tonight, he’s somewhat relieved and pretty nostalgic — but also still stunned and pissed about the way he was pushed out of his re-election race.

And yet it’s still a kinder political end than he deserved.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: The Final Ride of Adderall Joe. “Nothing says, ‘We still love this guy and there was no coup,’ like making the President of the United States loll about in the green room while a parade of party lessers comes close to turning his Monday speech into a Tuesday speech.”

CHANGE (IT BACK): Normalcy advocate Robby Starbuck makes Harley-Davidson do a U-turn on woke policies. “Starbuck has now successfully targeted Tractor Supply, John Deere, and Harley-Davidson for their race-obsessive policies, embrace of gender ideology, and other alienating leftist commitments, which appear to be at odds with the conservatives amongst these companies’ clientele.”

Plus:

"Normalcy advocate" might be my favorite new description of me from a media outlet. 🔥😂 https://t.co/EYZux08IPR

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 19, 2024

It’s a great title.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Muslim Migrant With Journals Vowing ‘Jihad’ Admits to Stealing New Jersey School Bus.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Massive looming Canadian rail shutdown could have economic ripple effects throughout America.

Failing last-minute deals, both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City plan to lock out workers from the early hours of Thursday.

It marks the first time that the country has faced a simultaneous labor stoppage at the railroad firms as they normally negotiate their labor agreements in alternate years.

The stoppages could cripple the shipment of food grains, beans, potash, coal and timber which form a large part of Canada’s exports, while also impacting shipments ranging from petroleum products to chemicals and cars.

In addition to billions of dollars of economic damage, the stoppages could disrupt rail trade across the North American continent.

“Unless there is an immediate and definite resolution to the labor conflict, CN will have no choice but to continue the phased and progressive shutdown of its network which would culminate in a lockout,” CN said in a statement.

“Despite negotiations over the weekend, no meaningful progress has occurred, and the parties remain very far apart,” it said.

Plus: “The two Canadian rail operators’ networks connect with several key U.S. rail and shipping hubs such as Chicago, New Orleans, Minneapolis and Memphis.”

SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE GRIFT: The Final Insult: Biden Pushed Out of Primetime.

CORN, POPPED:

NEW: The security perimeter at the DNC is an absolute joke. I've been waved through without showing ID, badge, pass, wristband, or anything.

Walked from the inner perimeter to the outer gate without so much as a glance.

This is just silly. pic.twitter.com/EXrmpHgrjU

— Tony Kinnett (@TheTonus) August 19, 2024

Plus: “At least their border policies are somewhat consistent.“

WELL, HE SHOULD: John Fetterman Has No Regrets.

In the months following October 7, Fetterman has become the bête noire of progressive activists who have booed him outside the Capitol; descended on his home in Braddock, Pennsylvania; and who have demonstrated outside his Philadelphia office every Friday for months chanting, “Let Gaza live,” and “Cease-fire now.” Online they call him “Genocide John.”

In his conversation with Peter, Fetterman insisted none of this bothered him. But apparently they bother a member of his staff.

After his interview with the senator, Peter’s phone rang. It was Fetterman’s communications director, Carrie Adams, who wanted to make clear that she doesn’t agree with her boss on Israel and Gaza.

“I have a sense that his international views are a lot less nuanced than my generation, because when he was growing up, it was might makes right, and for my generation and younger who, of course, are the ones protesting this, they have a much more nuanced view of the region,” said the 30-something Adams of the 55-year-old senator.

It was an astonishing moment. As Peter writes, “I’ve been a reporter since the summer of 1998, when I covered Bill Clinton’s trip to Martha’s Vineyard for the Vineyard Gazette. This was the first time I’d ever encountered anyone—on Capitol Hill or anywhere else, on the record, off the record, on background, whatever—criticizing ‘the principal.’”

Fetterman should regret hiring Adams and express it by firing her.

CORN, POPPED: Cops Are Calling in Sick: Will DNC Violence Be Worse Than 1968?

YOU DON’T SAY: Majority of antisemitic incidents committed by leftists, not Islamists or neo-Nazis, research finds. “The weekly Global Antisemitism Report published by the Combat Antisemitism Movement analyzed 113 incidents that targeted Jewish victims worldwide and found that 57.5% of the perpetrators were identified as far leftists, 22.1% of them were Islamists, 11.5% were unknown and 8.9% were done by far-right extremists.”

STRATEGIC DISDAIN: Kursk Is Ukraine’s Middle Finger to Biden.

IRELAND:

Media silence after Islamist terrorist stabs Catholic priest in Ireland

Last Thursday, a 16-y-old boy stabbed Fr Paul Murphy multiple times at Renmore Barracks in Galway, where he serves as an army chaplain

Severly wounded, he was saved by soldiers who overpowered the attacker pic.twitter.com/a1eH0PQ6ve

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 19, 2024

It’s the Irish that the Irish authorities are worried will get stirred up.

THERE’S A REASON HER 2020 CAMPAIGN RAN OUT OF GAS BEFORE IOWA: Kamala Reboots Biden’s Gas Station Visit, And It Was Bad.

THAT DOESN’T SOUND VERY NORDIC BUT THE ARTICLE FINALLY USES THE WORD “IMMIGRATION” IN THE 13TH GRAF: Norway increasingly concerned by Swedish gangs.

YOU GOTTA LOVE THE TIMING: House Committees Release Bombshell Impeachment Inquiry Report

DEMOCRATS SHORT-SHEETED THEIR OWN BED, NOW LET THEM TRY AND LAY IN IT:

BREAKING: Pro-Palestine Democrat protestors are now putting up images all over street signs in Downtown Chicago, calling to "STOP KILLER KAMALA" and to "SHUTDOWN THE DNC"

Kamala Harris radicalized them in 2020 and now she's getting a taste of her own creatures. I don't feel bad… pic.twitter.com/wQa576mxk5

— George (@BehizyTweets) August 18, 2024

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED: If Harris Is Doing So Great, Why Did She Go Full Commie?

AS I’VE WRITTEN AGAIN AND AGAIN, WE’VE BEEN IN A JOBS RECESSION DURING THE ENTIRE “RECOVERY”:

On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will downward revise jobs for the April 2023-March 2024 period by up to 1 million. This means that all "beats" recorded in the past year will have been misses and the US job market is in far worse shape than the admin would admit.

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 18, 2024

HEH: Don Lemon Gets Trumped Hardcore Interviewing Voters in Atlantic City!

UPDATE (From Ed): Lemon surprised by results in New Jersey, huh? New Jersey/New York Tops National Inflation Rankings, New Study Reveals.

HMM: ‘Black Swan’ hedge funder warns a recession is coming this year—and the biggest market bubble in history will soon pop.

But for Mark Spitznagel, founder and CIO of the private hedge fund Universa Investments, all of these ideas are merely attempts to find a story to explain how “it’s different this time,” when the reality is that history tends to repeat itself, or at least rhyme.

“It’s not different this time, and anybody who says it is really isn’t paying attention,” Spitznagel said in an interview with Fortune, adding “the only difference is the magnitude of this bubble that’s popping is bigger than we’ve ever seen.”

Spitznagel has claimed for years now that the Federal Reserve helped blow up the “greatest credit bubble in human history” with years of loose monetary policy—and he’s warned that all bubbles eventually pop, giving him a reputation as a perma-bear that he’s tried hard to shake.

Even now, with most Wall Street experts turning bullish this year, the veteran hedge funder is worried about the economy. He believes the negative impacts of the Fed’s monetary tightening in a period with elevated levels of corporate, consumer, and government debt have simply been delayed.

Government spending and debt are on an unsustainable course but the market bubble might be less than it appears.

The DJIA closed at about 40,660 on Friday — up almost a third from the last day of trading in 2020, when it was 30,606. But inflation has depreciated the dollar by about 20% since the end of 2020, which makes Friday’s DJIA 32,528 in constant dollars.

A 6% return after more than 3.5 years is nothing to brag about but you can bet Harris-Walz will be doing just that.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Grab the Pepto — It’s DNC Alternative Reality Week. “After spending most of this election limping along in disarray, the Democrats have finally found some unity and solace in their favorite activity: circumventing the will of the voters. They’re positively thrilled that they are about to nominate a woman who continues to fail upward without receiving any primary votes.”

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Russia’s launch rate has plummeted.

A Progress cargo supply spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early on Thursday, local time. The mission was successful, and Russia has launched hundreds of these spacecraft before. So it wasn’t all that big of a deal, except for one small detail: This was just Russia’s ninth orbital launch of the year, Ars reports. At this pace, it appears that the country’s space program is on pace for the fewest number of Russian or Soviet space launches in a year since 1961. That was when Yuri Gagarin went to space at the dawn of the human spaceflight era.

Thanks, Putin … There are myriad reasons for this, including a decision by Western space powers to distance themselves from the Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, after the invasion of Ukraine. This has had disastrous effects on the Russian space program, but only recently have we gotten any insight into how deep those impacts have cut. In a recent interview with Russian state-owned media, Andrei Yelchaninov, the first deputy director of Roscosmos, said the contract cancellations by “unfriendly contacts”—a presumed reference to former US and European customers—has cost Russia’s space program 180 billion rubles, or about $2.1 billion.

SpaceX has launched more rockets in the last three weeks than Russia has this year.