War on Christmas? Biden’s Ag Sec Once Tried to Tax Christmas Trees

"Washington Free Beacon  "President-elect Joe Biden's pick to lead the Department of Agriculture tried to put a tax on Christmas trees the last time he was in charge of the agency.

"Tom Vilsack (D.[of course]), a former Iowa governor who was agriculture secretary when Biden was vice president, implemented a 15-cent tax on each live Christmas tree in the United States in 2011. His attempt ultimately fell short: Facing widespread criticism, the Obama administration paused the tax just one day after it went into effect and abandoned it altogether the following week.

"Vilsack's agency said the Christmas-tree tax was intended to subsidize a $2 million advertising campaign to counter market trends that it claimed increasingly favored plastic Christmas trees over their live counterparts. It was also intended to fund research into growing trees that shed fewer needles.

"Critics scoffed at the idea that a tax was needed to promote Christmas. Then-senator Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) called Vilsack's move "the stupidest tax of all time" and questioned the need for a government-backed advertising scheme for one of America's favorite Christmas symbols.

"Does anyone in America—anyone?—believe that Christmas trees have a bad image that needs taxpayer-subsidized improvement?" DeMint asked.

"Rep. Steve Scalise (R., La.) said the tax was a "smack in the face" to all who celebrate Christmas.

" 'It is shocking that President Obama tried to sneak through this new tax on Christmas trees. He might have thought nobody would realize what he did, but I will fight to prevent President Obama from becoming the Grinch who taxed Christmas," Scalise said. "This new tax is a smack in the face to each and every American who celebrates Christmas."

Black farmers, civil rights advocates seething over Vilsack pick

"Progressives and groups representing farmers of color are extremely disappointed that Biden didn’t opt for new leadership at the sprawling department."

. . . “ 'Vilsack is not good for the agriculture industry, period,” said Michael Stovall, founder of Independent Black Farmers, a coalition of Black growers and producers from key Southern states working to raise awareness on issues faced by Black farmers. “When it comes to civil rights, the rights of people, he's not for that. It's very disappointing they even want to consider him coming back after what he has done to limited resource farmers and what he continues to do to destroy lives.' " . . .

Mike Pence is being held out as the potential savior of a fair election

Does not seem likely to me, sadly.

 Andrea Widburg

Ivan Raiklin, a constitutional lawyer, claims that the Constitution grants Mike Pence the power to overturn a manifestly fraudulent election.

. . .  A few observations:

1. I'm not a constitutional scholar, so I don't know if this idea is valid.

2. Trump's retweeting it does not make it valid.  He may just have been charmed by the idea.

3. Trump's retweeting it does suggest, however, that Trump still believes he has some tricks up his sleeve regarding the election.

4. Raiklin's tweet, which went out on Tuesday, asked Pence to send out his letters on Wednesday, something that did not happen.  This video indicates that Wednesday may or may not have been a drop-dead deadline:

 5. This idea puts enormous pressure on Pence.  He has proven to be a rock of stability and competence.  He's also a man of deep faith and patriotism, both of which contribute to courage.  And courage is what Pence would need to act on this legal advice.

America was built on the courage of extraordinary men.  When the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, each man knew he might, at that moment, have signed his death certificate, for each signature was a hanging offense.  Likewise, when the American patriots took up their arms, they risked not only dying in battle; they too risked hanging for treason.

"If Raiklin is right about the law, and the publicly and privately available information about election fraud make it patently clear that Trump won the 2020 election, will Vice President Pence have the courage to act?"

Obamas spending Christmas in Hawaii and generate the best picture ever of the former first couple

 Thomas Lifson  "It’s no surprise anymore when our ruling class travels for Christmas or any other reason that strikes their fancy, while the rest of us are told to give up family reunions, and even church services. So seeing Barack and Michelle Obama in Hawaii, able to jet around wherever their fancy takes them, enjoying their scores of millions of dollars earned from Netflix, books and other post-presidential activities is no surprise. Obviously, Barack has not reached the point he mentioned in 2010, when he said, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.”

"I am actually grateful they took the opportunity to go kayaking and generate the picture in the tweet below, which is to my eyes the best, most revealing view of the couple ever taken." . . .

The Obamas traveled to Hawaii for a Christmas vacation as they told Americans to stay home. The Obamas are staying in their ‘winter White House’ in Hawaii for a ... https://t.co/AmlNhlIlKZ

— Conservative News Daily (@ConservNewsDly) December 24, 2020

Reporters Act Stupidly, Clutch Pearls After Fox News' Kennedy Calls Brian Stelter 'Tater' During Broadcast

Sister Toldjah

"Did you hear the news? Fox News’ Kennedy called Brian Stelter “Tater” on Tuesday and we should all be outraged about it, because unlike CNN and MSNBC, pretty much everyone else in America should show reverence and respect to the same guy who equates conservatives to nutjobs and terrorists on an almost-daily basis.

"Mediaite was one of several news sites that did write-ups about the horrific moment when the Fox Business Network anchor “lobbed personal insults” by saying “Tater’s gonna tater” on Tuesday’s “Outnumbered” broadcast:

On Tuesday, the Fox talk show held a segment on personal attacks the media aims at conservatives. The grievances included a Washington Post cartoon that depicted President Donald Trump’s backers in his attempt to overturn the election as rats. The segment also took issue with Stelter’s Reliable Sources monologue arguing that right wing media is furthering “radicalization” of the country.

Lawrence Jones called the commentary “disgusting”, and Emily Compagno argued that Joe Biden’s calls for national reconciliation are hollow words from the president-elect. Kennedy added that free speech must be protected no matter how “abhorrent, simplistic, overly busy, unreadable,” or “unpopular” it might be …

"She then committed the grave sin of insulting Stelter in response to his comparison of Republicans to ISIS terrorists. “I’m going to steal a line from [right wing commentator] Stephen Miller,” she said. “Tater’s gonna tater. He might be the most unsophisticated analyst in the history of media analysis. He’s not just ham-fisted, he’s ham-headed.' ”   . . .

Thanks, Dems, for stealing Christmas

Image by Ghenghis Gary.

Fauci: I’ve Been Lying To You About Herd Immunity  "I can’t remember the last time I heard a public official, especially a highly influential public official, admit to deceiving the public.

"No, wait. Now that I think about it, I do remember.

"It was … Anthony Fauci, back in June, admitting that Americans were deliberately given bum advice about masks early on in order to preserve the extant supply for medical professionals.

So, why weren’t we told to wear masks in the beginning?

“Well, the reason for that is that we were concerned the public health community, and many people were saying this, were concerned that it was at a time when personal protective equipment, including the N95 masks and the surgical masks, were in very short supply. And we wanted to make sure that the people namely, the health care workers, who were brave enough to put themselves in a harm way, to take care of people who you know were infected with the coronavirus and the danger of them getting infected.”

. . . "That’s why we all freak out when the likes of Gavin Newsom is caught dining out in defiance of his own COVID hygiene protocols. It’s not just that it makes him look like a hypocritical choad, it’s that people are destined to conclude from his behavior that gathering is less risky than it actually is.

"Trust is essential. At least twice now, Fauci has given Americans good reason not to trust him by misleading them and then copping to it.

"Reading the passage above, I thought back to his clashes with Rand Paul during Senate testimony this year. Paul warned Fauci that he may be an expert but his word isn’t law; elected officials write the rules for their constituents, not scientific bureaucrats. That’s correct, said Fauci. I’m a scientist, so my job is simply to give you the hard scientific truth and let you take it from there." . . .

DC Mayor Declares Christmas Eve-Day To Be “Anthony Fauci Day”

Mayor Muriel Bowser

@MayorBowser

·

21h

In honor of Dr. Fauci's 80th birthday tomorrow, I proclaim Thursday, December 24, 2020, “Dr. Anthony S. Fauci Day” in Washington, DC.

 Muriel Bowser Declares Christmas Eve 'Anthony Fauci Day,' Tucker Has a Field Day With It

Pixabay public domain

How Progressives Are Dismantling America's Foundation

 

William DiPuccio   "Undergirding the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution is a set of philosophical principles that are under assault by Progressives.  These founding principles, derived mostly from the Federalist Papers, provide the lens through which we read and understand the Constitution.  Without this lens, the meaning of the Constitution and American law becomes putty in the hands of every special interest group.

"Progressivism seeks to replace the founding principles with a new set of doctrines based on the tenets of social justice — a system which elevate the rights of "protected classes" (non-whites, LGBTQ, women, etc.) by subordinating  the rest of society.  This so-called "just society" is not the kinder, gentler America that Progressives promise, but a dystopia where the rights of the many are trampled, dissenters are punished, and government has nearly unlimited power and scope.  The examples that follow are selected from my recent eBook, The War on America's Founding Principles: How Progressives Are Dismantling America One Plank at a Time." . . .   More...

The Sovietization of California...

...and the cartoonization of Gavin Newsom:

meyertoons.com

 Dennis Prager  "I am writing this column upon returning home to California after five days in Florida. For the first time since my first trip to Los Angeles in 1974 and moving there two years later, I dreaded going to California.

"That first trip, as a 25-year-old New Yorker, I experienced the palpable excitement looking at the American Airlines flight board at JFK airport and seeing “Los Angeles.” For most Americans, the very name “California” elicited excitement, wonder, even envy of Californians, and most of all … freedom. While America always represented freedom, within America, California exemplified freedom most of all.

"Yet, here I am, sitting in a state where corruption reigns (one of the leading Democrats of the last half-century told me years ago that politicians in California are window dressing; the real power in California is wielded by unions) and where, for nine months, normal life has been shut down, schools have been closed and small businesses have been destroyed in unprecedented numbers.

"During these last five days in Florida, a state governed by the pro-freedom party, I went anywhere I wanted. First and foremost, I could eat both inside and outside restaurants. At one of them, when I stood up to take photos of people dining, a patron who recognized me walked over and said, “I assume you’re just taking pictures of people eating in a restaurant.” That’s exactly what I was doing. I even took my two grandchildren to a bowling alley, which was filled with people enjoying themselves playing myriad arcade games as well as bowling.

Newsom

"None of that is allowed almost anywhere in California. It is becoming a police state, rooted in deception and irrationality.

"Restaurants have been shut down (except for takeout orders), even for outdoor dining, for no scientific reason. After ordering Los Angeles county restaurants closed, the health authorities of Los Angeles county acknowledged in court that they had no evidence that outdoor dining was dangerous; they ordered restaurants closed, even to outdoor dining, solely in order to keep people home.

"The left’s claim to “follow the science” is a lie. The left does not follow science; it follows scientists it agrees with and dismisses all other scientists as “anti-science.”

"Science does not say that eating inside a restaurant at least six feet from other diners, let alone outside a restaurant, is potentially fatal, but eating inside an airplane inches from strangers is safe.

"Science does not say mass protests during a pandemic (when people are constantly told to social distance) are a health benefit, but left-wing scientists say they are — when directed against racism. In June, Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, tweeted: “In this moment the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus.” She cited the former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tom Frieden: “The threat to Covid control from protesting outside is tiny compared to the threat to Covid control created when governments act in ways that lose community trust. People can protest peacefully AND work together to stop Covid. Violence harms public health.” . . . More

The Hardest Time of Year; Grieving Pain and Loss at Christmas

Vaneetha Rendall Risner  "The Christmas season carries heavy expectations. Expectations that often more closely resemble Hallmark images than the quiet expectancy of celebrating Christ’s birth. We picture festive gatherings with family and friends, brightly wrapped gifts under decorated trees, and delicious meals around tables with loved ones.

"Yet for those who have experienced loss, the holidays often bring a sense of dread. I remember the cloud that hung over me as I approached the first Christmas after my son’s death. " . . .

. . . Receiving Immanuel in the Valley    Full article here.

"How do we enter this Christmas season, when loss feels ever present, without giving in to despair? How do we find joy when little is as it used to be, and our lives feel thin and empty? How do we celebrate the birth of Christ when nothing around us feels celebratory?"

Vaneetha Rendall Risner is the author of Walking Through Fire: A Memoir of Loss and Redemption. Vaneetha and her husband Joel live in Raleigh, NC, where she writes at her website, encouraging readers to turn to Christ in their pain.

Stunning and Brave: 'Journalist' Writes Letter Patting Colleagues on Back, and It Backfires Big Time

Sister Toldjah   "If I had a dime for every time I’d seen a journalist on social media, television, or elsewhere talk about how stunning and brave it was to be a reporter under a Republican administration — especially the Trump administration — I could retire, hire some cabana boys to do my bidding, and buy a private island in the Pacific where I would plot a takeover of America first, and then the world." . . .

. . . "Fusilli Spock’s second to the last tweet was especially on point. Considering how the MSM pushed fake news story after fake news story this year about President Trump and other Republicans, effectively became front men and women for the Biden campaign by downplaying or suppressing much of the news that made him look bad (the Tara Reade allegations and Hunter Biden story come to mind), and deliberately undermined Trump’s touting of the vaccine in the run-up to the election, I don’t see where much if any congratulating and back-patting are in order for the media here.

"If anything, what 2020 reaffirmed for us about the media is that they’ve gotten worse in their nakedly partisan behavior, with recent examples demonstrating in no uncertain terms that state-run TV will be alive and well — and celebrated in the usual elite journalism circles — in 2021 under a Biden-Harris administration.

"While there have been some diamonds in the rough this year, this is nevertheless not the time for media figures to be high-fiving each other. It’s a time for them to be reflecting on what went wrong, why so many continue not to trust them, and how they can do better in the new year. Most won’t, however, because as history has shown us time and time again, these people simply never learn from their mistakes — probably because they don’t think they’ve done anything wrong in the first place." ....

UPDATE: Why an Editor's Open Letter to Journalists Got Totally Wrecked in a Single Twitter Thread

...In the words of Livia Soprano, “oh, poor you.” What is this? Journalists were rightfully mocked for the last four years for being outright terrible at their jobs. the bias was always there. During the Trump administration, it reached absurd new heights. There wasn’t even a half-assed attempt at hiding it. Journalists should get a pat on the back for doing their job. What job? Burying the shoddy and reportedly corrupt dealings of the Biden family, how Hunter Biden got rich off his daddy’s name because he’s a perpetual screw-up, how he didn’t report $400,000 from an unethical arrangement in Ukraine, and how he’s under investigation for tax fraud. Oh, and Joe is involved too. Some of these deals, like the one in China, were being hashed out when Joe was still VP under Obama. It’s enough of a story that 17 percent of Biden voters said they wouldn’t have voted for Corrupt Joe in the 2020 election if they had known about this pile of dirty laundry.  ... 

Is There a Vaccine Against Pandering?

. . . First, it was racist not to put black Americans at the head of the line for the vaccine. Once again, black people have to go to the back of the bus! Then the CDC decided minorities would get it first, before the elderly. True, those over 70 make up the lion’s share of COVID deaths, but they’re mostly white, so screw them. Oh wait — black people are getting the vaccine first? You see! They’re using us as guinea pigs! . . .

 Ann Coulter  "It now appears that the greatest threat to black Americans isn’t COVID, it’s being pandered to death.

"As the distribution of vaccines got underway last week, the Centers for Disease Control was trying to ensure that black people would get the vaccine before the elderly (too white!), while the media were focused on rationalizing black people’s opposition to taking the vaccine at all.

"— NPR “Weekend Edition”:

"Scott Simon: “Help us understand why many black Americans may be skeptical of a vaccine.”

"Liz Walker: “Well, Scott, you know, black people have been traumatized by a betrayal of the system forever for generations. … We have all now talked about the experiment that used people with syphilis in Tuskegee. We all know about Henrietta Lacks.”

"— ABC’s “Good Morning America”:

"Zachary Kiesch (voiceover): “From the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, where scientists deliberately infected men and withheld treatments, to Henrietta Lacks, a young black mother of five who, in 1951, unknowingly had cells taken from her that biomedical research led to breakthrough cancer treatment.”

"— MSNBC “The Reidout”:

"Joy Reid: “And then the other piece is, when it comes, particularly in our community, black people, they might be like, I don’t trust science, the science. We — Tuskegee experiments, etc. There’s just not a lot of trust. And it was developed during the Trump era.”

"Yes, because black people have a long track record of trusting the government …

"A New York Times/WCBS-TV poll found that 70% of African Americans believed that “the government deliberately makes sure that drugs are easily available in poor black neighborhoods to harm black people.”

"A CNN/Essence poll found that 88% of African Americans think the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. was part of a “larger plot.”

"A survey of more than 1,000 black church members by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference showed that 35% believed that AIDS was a form of genocide, and another 30% were unsure." . . .

Donald Trump Pardons Fifteen Americans Including George Papadopoulos

 Breitbart  . . . "Trump also pardoned Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard, four military veterans who were serving as military contractors for Blackwater in Iraq who were prosecuted for the deaths of Iraqi civilians. The pardon was supported by Fox News host Pete Hegseth and many other Republicans in Congress.

"President Trump also pardoned Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were charged and convicted of assault after shooting an illegal immigrant whom they believed was armed and resisted arrest. President George W. Bush previously issued commutations for both men during his final days in office, but Trump extended a full pardon." . . .

Trump pardons Steve Stockman  "President Trump has ended a terrible injustice by fully pardoning Former Representative Steve Stockman. Steve was one of 20 people who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted yesterday.  Naturally, the Trump-hating mainstream media are enraged. Consider the snide New York Times story:" . . .

Yes, It Was a Stolen Election; You’d have to be blind not to see it.

John Perazzo

"As Americans continue to watch the 2020 election controversy unfold, the very same publications that spent years lying about President Trump’s “Russia collusion” are once again telling us what we are dutifully supposed to believe. The Los Angeles Times, for instance, assures us that Trump’s “baseless” and “dangerous” claim “that the election was rigged to benefit Joe Biden” has been thoroughly “debunked.”[1] The New York Times proclaims that “Trump’s false election fraud claims” are founded upon nothing more than a “torrent of falsehoods.”[2] Sneering at “how Trump drove the lie that the election was stolen,” The Washington Post mocks Republicans who “are still pretending that there was election fraud.”[3] And CNN.com warns that “Trump's obsession with overturning the election” has now begun to spiral “out of control.”[4]

"But so much for what the comic books have to say. What follows is a compilation of vital facts that will demonstrate, to anyone interested in following the truth wherever it may lead, that the 2020 presidential election was indeed rife with fraud, and that Joe Biden, if he should in fact be sworn into office next month, will be an illegitimate president from the very start.

"Before the Election: How We Got Here" . . .

While President Trump was granting interviews on a daily basis to friendly and hostile media outlets alike, and was holding campaign rallies that drew tens of thousands of passionate supporters, Joe Biden, for the most part, remained locked away inside his basement, rarely even agreeing to give brief video interviews. On the few occasions when Biden did take part in interviews, he was typically disoriented, incoherent, and seemingly exhausted. And when he held “rallies,” they were invariably awkward, uninspired events mired in pessimistic rhetoric and attended only by tiny handfuls of people.[10] Common sense tells us that no candidate so pathetically inept and so deeply unappealing, could possibly have inspired 15.4 million more people to vote for him, than had voted for Democrat icon Barack Obama in 2012.[11] . . .

 This photo literally captured the horror of the Biden campaign on caregiver Jill's face...   This photo tells me that the real “campaign pressure” is on Jill.

"She’s the one trying to hold this whole “dog and pony show” together.  She, better than anyone, knows how bad-off her husband is, and yet, she’s still out there trying to portray him like a “strong leader.”  It has to be emotionally draining and absolutely terrifying of her. Lying is not easy, is it?

"One wrong move and her entire house of cards will come tumbling down.

"And then there’s Joe – just lost – completely unaware of all that’s going on around him, stumbling around like a bull in a china shop knocking over Jill’s house of cards without even realizing what he’s doing." . . .