2008: Biden and the Tale of Aldrich Ames

Seven of these "nine years" came after Biden had deliberately ignored Thurmond's warning about the importance of the Security and Terrorism Subcommittee. By the time Ames was doing serious damage to U.S. national security -- in addition to causing the murder of the ten sources cited by Clinton, Ames betrayed at least 100 American intelligence operations -- Biden had long since shut down precisely the tool Thurmond intended to discover spies like Ames.

Jeffrey Lord   "Can we talk judgment?

"In spite of a warning from his Republican predecessor, one of Senator Joseph Biden's first acts as the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1987 was to abolish the Committee's Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism. Biden's action came just as one of the most famous spies in American history had begun leaking secrets to the Soviet Union. The spy -- Soviet CIA mole Aldrich Ames -- went undiscovered for nine years, almost the entire period of Biden's chairmanship of the Committee. Biden relinquished his post after Republicans re-captured the Senate in 1994. Ames was finally arrested that year.

"The Subcommittee had been established by the GOP's South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond within a month of the Republican takeover of the Senate in the 1980 Reagan landslide. The election brought 12 new Republicans to the upper chamber, handing control of the Senate to the GOP for the first time in 26 years.

"On December 14, 1980, the New York Times featured Thurmond in an article spotlighting his new role as the incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Saying that Thurmond was "ready to take the offensive" after the GOP's decades in the minority, the very first major change the Times cited was Thurmond's decision to move on national security issues. "Just created," wrote concerned Timesman Tom Wicker, "is a subcommittee on 'Security and Terrorism' which has the obvious possibility of reincarnating the old Communist-hunting Internal Security subcommittee. Chairing it will be the ex-admiral, ex-POW and new Senator from Alabama Jeremiah Denton…"

"In a statement Thurmond brushed aside liberal concerns that the subcommittee would somehow bring Joe McCarthy back to life, warning "that if we don't know who the enemies of this country are then we're in real trouble." An aide to Denton, the ex-POW who had been held captive in North Vietnam along with John McCain, said that Denton "wants to get a better handle on the matter. He wants to talk to the FBI about what it sees as security dangers." As an added insult to liberals, Thurmond abolished a liberal favorite, or as Wicker described it, the "important Subcommittee on Anti-Trust and Monopoly." This jewel had been headed by Ohio's liberal Democrat Howard Metzenbaum and was scheduled to be run by a GOP liberal, Maryland's Charles Mathias. Thurmond, exercising his new power, simply abolished the subcommittee targeted at capitalists and replaced it with the new Security and Terrorism Subcommittee that would investigate Communists. This meant that the staff, research and investigative resources of the Senate Judiciary Committee could now be directed at various perceived threats to U.S. national security -- such as Soviet penetration of U.S. intelligence agencies." . . . More

Anti-Trump Republican mega-donor buys stake in Twitter and seeks to oust Jack Dorsey – report

UK Guardian  "A major Republican donor has purchased a stake in Twitter and is reportedly seeking to oust its chief executive, Jack Dorsey.

Bloomberg News first reported that Elliott Management has taken a “sizable stake” and “and plans to push for changes at the social media company, including replacing Dorsey”.

Paul Singer, the billionaire founder of Elliott Management, is a Republican mega-donor who opposed Donald Trump during the real-estate magnate’s run for the presidential nomination but has since come onside.

After a White House visit in February 2017, Trump said Singer “was very much involved with the anti-Trump or, as they say, ‘Never Trump’, and Paul just left, and he’s given us his total support and it’s all about unification”.

Trump famously communicates with the public largely through Twitter, at the expense of traditional media strategy.

Twitter made headlines in October when it announced a ban on political advertising. Its use and potential manipulation by politicians of all stripes, from Trump to Democratic candidate Mike Bloomberg, remains a source of fierce contention." . . .

The truth behind Bernie’s shtick that he just wants to make America like Denmark

Bookworm Room

Aside from the fact that Bernie’s lying when he says Denmark is his goal, the reality is that Denmark is not an exceptionally happy or well-run country.

"Now that Bernie’s the frontrunner, Bernie and his supporters are assuring us that he’s not a real socialist. He just wants us to be like Denmark. First of all, Bernie is lying when he says Denmark is his goal. His entire political goal, for his entire career, has been to bring true communism to America. Second — and this is the topic I cover in the post — not only are Bernie & the Bros wrong that we can be like Denmark, the important point is that we wouldn’t want to be like Denmark in any event.

Amazon*

"At the Nevada debate, when Bloomberg, in one of his few good moments, called out communism as a failure, Bernie sidestepped the accusation (a perfectly accurate one) by raising Denmark:

Let’s talk about democratic socialism. Not communism, Mr. Bloomberg. That’s a cheap shot. Let’s talk about — let’s talk about what goes on in countries like Denmark, where Pete correctly pointed out they have a much higher quality of life in many respects than we do.

"Both Buttigieg and Bernie are wrong. First, According to Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s former prime minister, Denmark’s not socialist:

I know that some people in the US associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism. Therefore I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy,” Rasmussen said.

. . .
*The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
"Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than ten years, and he has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely book he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success, and, most intriguing of all, what they think of one another.
"Why are the Danes so happy, despite having the highest taxes? Do the Finns really have the best education system? Are the Icelanders as feral as they sometimes appear? How are the Norwegians spending their fantastic oil wealth? And why do all of them hate the Swedes? In The Almost Nearly Perfect People Michael Booth explains who the Scandinavians are, how they differ and why, and what their quirks and foibles are, and he explores why these societies have become so successful and models for the world. Along the way a more nuanced, often darker picture emerges of a region plagued by taboos, characterized by suffocating parochialism, and populated by extremists of various shades. They may very well be almost nearly perfect, but it isn't easy being Scandinavian."

The leftist press purges and cancels

If you watched "Law & Order" in the nineties and 2000s, you saw many promotions given to MSNBC. This show, among many yokefellows, were leftist and anti-conservative. There may be a ray of sunshine poking through the clouds of leftism. however.TD

Left purging Comrade Matthews "The Left is purging Comrade Chris Matthews at MSNBC for being a counter-revolutionary and having impure thoughts.
"His crime was saying Democrats could not stop Breadline Bernie after the Nevada caucuses." . . .
MSNBC's Chris Matthews Suggests Four More Years of Trump Might Be Better for Democratic Party Than Sanders Winning White House

Thomas Lifson: Has Chris Matthews been purged from MSNBC?

Leftists are turning on each other as their ineffective rage against Trump fails to score any victories. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit calls these circular firing squads “Annals of Leftist autophagy.” I think he has another item for his list.

"Last night, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was nowhere to be seen on that network’s South Carolina primary coverage, lending substance to Don Surber’s contention that he is being “purged” for “being a counter-revolutionary and having impure thoughts.”

"Matthews, a former aide to Speaker Tip O’Neill, triggered a cascade of denunciations from the Left after using an analogy to the Fall of France while commenting on Bernie Sanders’s Nevada caucuses victory. Via Don Surber:

Matthews said on the air, "I'm reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940. And the general calls up Churchill and says, ‘It’s over,’ and Churchill says, ‘How can it be? You got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?’ He said, ‘It's over.'"

"I think it is pretty clear that he was referring to a sudden and unexpected victory leading to the unpleasant realization that an enemy was stronger than realized, and an ally was weaker. Surber notes that analogies to France under the Nazis have been rather prominent on the Left of late:

The network -- which has promoted a French Resistance against American President Donald John Trump for more than 3 years -- made Matthews beg forgiveness on television for a very remote reference to the Wehrmacht. 

. . .

Trump’s Chances for Reelection Are Looking Better and Better

Victor Davis Hanson
Trump’s greatest advantage in 2020 may be his most likely opponent, the unapologetic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders.

Donald Trump has at least five strong historical arguments for his reelection.
One, he is an incumbent. Incumbent presidents have won 14 of 19 reelection bids since 1900.  
"The few who lost did not enjoy positive approval ratings. In a Gallup poll from earlier this month, Trump enjoyed his highest approval rating since his inauguration, squeezing out a 49 percent favorable rating vs. 50 percent unfavorable.
"Two, the public perception of the economy usually determines any presidential election — as incumbents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Herbert Hoover learned the hard way. Currently, the U.S. is enjoying low inflation, low interest rates, positive economic growth, near-record low unemployment, rising workers’ wages, and record gas and oil production.
"Three, unpopular optional wars derail incumbent presidencies.
"The quagmire in Vietnam convinced Lyndon Johnson not to run for reelection in 1968. 
"Jimmy Carter was tarnished by the seemingly never-ending Iranian hostage crisis of 1979–1981. The Iraq War drove down George W. Bush’s second-term approval ratings and helped derail his would-be Republican successor, John McCain." 
"Four, scandals also can destroy a presidency, as when Watergate forced the resignation of Richard Nixon.
"Five, the opponent matters. Barry Goldwater was caricatured as an out-of-touch extremist and made incumbent Lyndon Johnson’s election a sure thing in 1964. George McGovern’s radicalism ensured that Richard Nixon would be reelected in 1972. Ronald Reagan was assured of a second term by Walter Mondale’s anemic candidacy.
"How does Trump stack up on all such criteria?" . . .

But I can't forget this from election 2016:
HILLARY CLINTON PULLS PLUG ON ELECTION NIGHT FIREWORKS

Here's the Brutal Anti-Biden Ad Obama's Trying To Get Taken Off the Air in South Carolina

It involves Obama talking about how Democratic politicians treated the black community — and, as it plays, captions describe exactly how Biden’s treated the black community in the same disingenuous way Obama was describing.

Western Journalism  "Joe Biden and his former boss have apparently never heard of the Streisand effect. If they have, it’s one of the many things they appear to have forgotten along the way to the 2020 campaign trail.
"If you’re unfamiliar, let me elucidate. Many years ago, in the early days of the internet, Barbra Streisand was annoyed that a photo of her beachfront house had appeared on the internet as part of a study of California coastal erosion. She sued for $50 million to have it removed. Before the suit, not even 10 people had viewed the image online. After the 2003 suit, that number quickly grew to 420,000. Seventeen years later, that number has to be in the millions.
"The object lesson was clear: Don’t draw attention to stuff people weren’t likely to pay much attention to on their own.
"This isn’t a lesson the former president and vice president have taken to heart." . . .

Fool and his money: Good riddance, Tom Steyer

"Only the poor, after all, see their quality of life fall when they are told to pay for their own plastic bags, or foot exorbitant electricity bills, see their long commutes get costlier with gas hikes, and lose their straws, all so that guys like Steyer and his set can feel virtuous."

Monica Showalter   "A couple of years and $250 million later, Tom Steyer's presidential run has left him exactly where he started in the presidential race, at zero.

"The poor wretched monomaniac of greenie virtue now goes the way of Jay Inslee*, the qualified, but leftist, governor of Washington state who, like Steyer, was also global warming bore and washed out because of it. You'd think maybe Steyer would have noticed how unimportant this 'sky is falling' greenie cause was with voters by that point, but nope, Steyer continued to sell that snake oil to voters, thinking a barrage of television ads would make them catch on. He never had a clue.

"Now he has his clue, $250 million dollars later, no delegates, a pathetic third place finish in South Carolina, prompting him to finally cut his losses, and exit the race.

"Actually, he probably had some clues, given that he changed his tune to South Carolina's voters from global warming to 'racial justice,' something he claimed "not enough people" cared about but, trust him, he did, in what was an obvious pander for the black vote in South Carolina. Turns out another old white guy, Joe Biden, got there first, succeeding in that machine pol way of his, through endorsements from old-line black politicians such as Rep. James Clyburn -- gaffes, exaggerations, and all." . . .

Another fool that departed: *Jay Inslee: I'll Ask Megan Rapinoe To Be My Secretary of State Some called the US women's soccer team "ugly Americans" because of their abrasive behavior during the World Cup last year, including dragging the American flag on the ground.

. . . "Rapinoe urged Americans to treat each other with respect after a parade for the women’s national team in New York earlier this month.

Megan's love

“We have to be better,” she said. “We have to love more, hate less. We got to listen more and talk less. We got to know that this is everybody’s responsibility. Every single person here, every single person who’s not here, every single person who doesn’t want to be here. Every single person who agrees and doesn’t agree. It’s our responsibility to make this world a better place,” she said.

President Trump and Rapinoe feuded during the Women's World Cup after the soccer star said she was not going “the f---ing White House” if her team won."  . . .
What has happened to my father's Democrat Party? 

                            "It's a pleasure to represent the US  here in Saudi Arabia"

Joe Biden wins thumping victory in South Carolina as he finally beats Bernie into second place - and Donald Trump predicts that it spells the end of 'mini' Mike Bloomberg's campaign

UK Daily Mail

"Joe Biden, long considered the Democrats' frontrunner, finally won a state, as South Carolina was called for the former vice president the minute polls closed. 

"At Biden's headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina supporters screamed at the early call as MSNBC played on the jumbotron at University of South Carolina's volleyball center. Directly after, Jazzy Trinity, the band playing the event, started performing 'I Gotta Feeling' by the Black Eyes Peas. 

"Biden's win was called with 0 per cent reporting because exit polls had signaled such good news for the former vice president.   

"More than half of those who cast ballots were black, a stronghold for President Obama's vice president. Nearly half say that Rep. James Clyburn's endorsement - which was for Biden - was an important factor in their vote, according to the Washington Post. 

"And about half said they wanted the next president to return to Obama's policies, rather than dramatically shaking up the country, which is in line with what Biden's has proposed. " . . . 

Chris Wallace 'horrified' by CNN's Acosta's conduct: 'It's not our job to one-up presidents'

What does it take for CNN to fire a reporter?

The Hill  "Chris Wallace ripped Jim Acosta over a heated exchange the CNN chief White House correspondent had with President Trump during a press conference in India on Tuesday, saying Acosta made a "huge mistake" that "adds to the people questioning the credibility of the media."
" 'I was horrified by [Acosta]," Wallace said at a Columbia University event in New York City hosted by the Common Ground Committee on Tuesday night. "It’s not our job to get in fights with presidents. It’s not our job to one-up presidents. It’s our job to report on presidents."
"But to the degree we have responded to his attacks on us with attacks or advocacy in kind, there’s a huge mistake, and I think adds to people questioning the credibility of the media," the "Fox News Sunday" host said.
"Acosta told Trump during a press conference in New Delhi that CNN's "record on delivering the truth is a lot better" than his "sometimes" after the president broached the topic of a recent report on Russia's election interference that CNN later walked back.

"I worry that the president’s attacks have given too many straight news reporters — not talking about the opinion page or prime time — an excuse or license to cross the line themselves and become players on the field, and I think that is a huge mistake," Wallace said. "It’s not our role. Our role is to be observers, umpires, fact-checkers, investigators — it’s not to be advocates. It’s not to be opponents."
"Wallace was appearing with New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, also a CNN contributor, who said she agreed with Wallace on the media's role." . . .

Conservatives Mock Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez For Citing HS Science Fair Among Her Credentials

Daily Caller  "Conservatives mocked Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after she cited her high school science fair in a Twitter spat with Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

"Ocasio-Cortez kicked off the exchange by criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to name Vice President Mike Pence as the head of the Coronavirus task force, saying that he did not believe in science.". . . 

Ted Cruz Asked Ocasio-Cortez, ‘What’s A Y Chromosome?’ She Went Ballistic

"Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz sparred with New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over several unanswered science questions.

"The spat began Thursday when Ocasio-Cortez criticized President Donald Trump for putting Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the task force responding to Coronavirus.

"Cruz responded by asking Ocasio-Cortez, “As you are speaking as the oracle of science, tell us, what exactly is a Y chromosome?”. . .

Ted Cruz

✔@tedcruz

We see evolution every day: the Dem party is rapidly evolving into an angry, anti-science socialist ideology. You insulted Pence & I asked you 3 real Qs re science. You ignored all 3 & responded w/ your resume & ad hominem attacks. Instead of insults, address the substance. https://twitter.com/aoc/status/1233409167085449216 …

Brutal Cartoon Shows How Come Many Democrats Are in Panic Mode Right Now

Brutal Cartoon Shows How Come Many Democrats Are in Panic Mode Right Now
. . . "Their 2020 field of potential presidential candidates is a clown car filled with half wits and do nothings, none of who could compete with President Trump head to head.

"They say that a picture can be worth a thousand words, so here in one brutal cartoon is exactly why so many Democrats are in panic mode right about now:" . . .

. . . "While most Demo are socialists in their heart they’re very concerned that being open about it, like Bernie Sanders is, will mean disaster for them at the polls.
"And their concern is not off base. Most Americans reject socialism and socialists.
"Democrats know this and some are in full-on panic mode and doing what they can to stop Bernie, by any means necessary." . . .
Cartoonist Gary Varvel isn't the only cartoonist see Bernie for what he is:

A campus favorite?

Cruz Scorches Sotomayor over Trump Critique

Sotomayor's Hypocrisy on Trump Friendly Judges Brutally Exposed by a Single Cartoon

Daniel John Sobieski  "Before Sonia Sotomayor,  the “wise Latina” as she once referred to herself, was nominated by President Barack Hussein Obama in May 2009 and confirmed as Supreme Court justice that August, her legal expertise and judgment were being questioned by those noting her high reversal rate by the court she was being elevated to:" . . .

Sen. Ted Cruz used Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on universal injunctions to criticize Justice Sonia Sotomayor for her dissent, accusing a “handful of judges” as acting as part of the “resistance movement” against the Trump administration in blocking its policies.He compared her opinion, which he noted no other justices signed onto, to “an arsonist complaining about the noise from the fire trucks.”Sotomayor last week chided the Trump administration for repeatedly coming to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking stays on district court injunctions.“It is hard to say what is more troubling: that the government would seek this extraordinary relief seemingly as a matter of course, or that the court would grant it,” she wrote.

. . .
"With a Senate cowered by political considerations and the passions of the moment, we got Anthony Kennedy’s America, a land of weather-vane SCOTUS decisions and coat-hangers continuing to be beaten into scalpels.  Thanks to President Trump, who realized the Supreme Court was and still is a political arena, at least for those who confirm SCOTUS picks,  the appointments of Gorsuch and Kavanaugh have shifted SCOTUS back in an originalist direction. Are they “Trump” justices per se? Perhaps not, but they share his views on the role and limitations of the Supreme Court.

"It took Cruz just two minutes during the hearing to reduce Sotomayor’s protest to a pile of politically motivated babble:" . . .

. . . “ 'In the eight years of the George W. Bush administration, district courts issued a total of 12 universal injunctions against the Bush administration,” he said. "In the eight years of the Obama administration, district courts issued 19 universal injunctions against the Obama administration. In just three years of the Trump administration, we have already had 55 national universal injunctions issued against the federal government.' " . . .