Five Quick Things: Boy, How About That Press Conference, Huh?

 

Five Quick Things: Boy, How About That Press Conference, Huh? - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics

Our denier-in-chief would have us believe that no, he’s not losing it, the Ukraine situation is fine, and there’s nothing to see here in his dismal poll numbers.

"Thursday, on Hugh Hewitt’s show, Sen. Rand Paul summed up the Joe Biden one-year anniversary press gaggle accurately.

"Paul said that putting Biden out in public is now dangerous. It signals weakness to our enemies and it’s provocative.

"He’s right, you know. That press conference was awful in ways that shouldn’t be possible for the elected leader of the world’s indispensable nation.

"How bad was it? Well …" 

Point #2 was, to me, the most significant as Democrats lay the groundwork to challenge any Republican victory predicted this coming year:

2. Pre-slandering the 2022 election   "

Remember when the legacy media repeatedly erupted in paroxysms of contempt back in 2020 and in 2016 when Donald Trump would openly complain about rigged elections? That was unacceptable, they said, even though much of Trump’s motivation for trashing the sanctity of our balloting was trolling the Democrats about their own refusal to accept losing (as in 2000 and 2004, for example).

"It turns out that Joe Biden is as bad as they accused Trump of being. In one of the lowlights of the speech, Biden attacked the legitimacy of the 2022 midterms in which his party is due to suffer a legendary rout. The latest Trafalgar poll has the generic congressional ballot in uncharted territory — 55.7 percent R, 42.2 percent D.

"Amid this, Biden says that if the Senate won’t kill the filibuster and give him his Banana Republic Vote Fraud Bill, then the 2022 midterm elections are bogus: . ."

Perception vs Reality: Leftist Journos See What They Want to See – RedState

"Yesterday, Joe Biden spent two hours speaking. At least it resembled speaking. Kinda. It was mostly gibberish and nonsense that reporters, journalists, Jen Psaki, and Americans were left to interpret. It was, objectively, a flame-out for ‘ol Joe Biden — from his creepy-scary, clown-in-a-sewer whisper to flat-out lies, from his uncomfortable pauses when his brain had to reset like Windows 95, to “Old man yelling at clouds.”

"But objective facts are not in style with our betters. PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor couldn’t wait for Joe’s corpse to cool; she resurrected and pretended to reanimate Joe, like Weekend at Bernie’s. She alerted her followers that Biden had won the night, and won her heart. In a stunningly Bagdad Bob-like tweet, she lavished praise on Biden.

"If you wonder what level of leg-humping it was, Biden’s Chief of Staff Ron Klain retweeted it. My colleague, Sister Toldjah covered and critiqued in full the absurdity of Alcindor’s adulation here, but suffice to say, Alcindor was looking through rose-colored glasses. She didn’t see what the rest of America saw.

"Alcindor and other leftist journos might see Superman, but the rest of America sees a doddering old man.". . .

Yes, the Tunnel Wall has been scathingly anti-Democrat just as our left-wing media has been anti-Trump and will be anti-any-Republican who comes next. TW sees America in great danger as the world sees us as a silly nation with our wokeness and ridiculous choices for national leadership. Our silliness may soon manifest itself in a Shift From U.S. Dollar As World Reserve Currency Underway - What Will This Mean for America? I see it as beginning with Obama and accelerating under left-ruled Joe Biden. TD

CNN Reporter: Ukrainian Officials “Shocked” That Biden Gave Putin A Green Light To Invade Ukraine…

 Weasel Zippers

Hoo boy: There's no such thing as a "minor incursion," tweets Ukrainian president – HotAir  "Pity this poor bastard, who must have assumed that his worst experience with a U.S. president would be the former guy trying to trade him military aid in exchange for dirt on his election opponent.

"Little did he know that Trump’s successor would all but dare Putin to invade Ukraine at a press conference, even hinting that there’d be few repercussions so long as the incursion was “minor.”

"The competition for “dumbest thing Biden’s said as president” is stiff but that’s a strong contender. Possibly second only to the president suggesting five minutes earlier, at the same press conference, that the midterm elections won’t be legitimate if state election reform laws aren’t overridden by Congress.

"Biden officials are in overdrive today trying to clean up the “minor incursion” comment, but the damage is done:

We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the President of a great power. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

The Onion gave an elbow to Biden over this:

‘You Know, If I Were You, I’d Go After Finland,’ Says Biden Trying To Dissuade Putin From Invading Ukraine https://t.co/5pWAwglrCq pic.twitter.com/UIdx0nm1ST

— The Onion (@TheOnion) January 19, 2022

A Goodbye Kiss for Family Programming

 Intellectual Takeout

"One wonders whether it is still possible to enjoy family entertainment that is not doomed to be turned into leftist agitprop. Perhaps a sad farewell and a kiss goodbye is all that’s left for us to give those who were once in the business of romantic, family friendly television such as Hallmark and GAC Family."

"Recently, Joseph Cotto and I discussed on our regular podcast the fate of the Hallmark Channel, which I have viewed periodically while moving with my remote button toward Turner Classic Movies. (On Turner I find old movies, popular during my youth, that have not yet been canceled.) What drew me, however briefly, to the Hallmark Channel were its two-hour romance stories starring photogenic young couples who radiate good will. After the predictable vicissitudes, these beaming young couples emotionally kiss during the last 30 seconds of each story and then express their desire to wed.

"Of course, I have never been able to watch the full unfolding of any of these budding romances, because in their sweetness they start to cloy after about 10 minutes. But it is nice to see normal young people on TV who hail mostly from small towns and possess courteous, kindly parents. Yet even these sickly sweet shows are not safe from diversity’s alleged fairy dust, and Hallmark’s move in this direction should cause those who support traditional values to stand up and protest, rather than to watch one last kiss cross the television—the kiss of death.

"Hallmark appears to pander to diversity in two different ways: racial and sexual. The first is evidenced by the increasing insertion of minority actors into these two-hour romance stories whether or not they fit the plots. Despite the incongruity of racial minorities filling hamlets that look as if they had been settled by Scandinavians, it is apparent that such moves are evidence of the harmless diversity the producers are trying to offer in a world hypersensitive to race.

"But it is the Hallmark Channel’s pandering to sexual diversity that is the real problem. In December of 2019, things began to change aggressively when the channel, under the guidance of its holding company Crown Media and its CEO Bill Abbott, decided to feature a lesbian couple in advertisements for Zola, a wedding-planning website. The ads showed the two women kissing and exchanging vows. This experiment in wokeness caused complaints to pour in, and the ads were pulled." . . .

When Joe Biden speaks, sane people are horrified

Exactly to whom was this speech meant to appeal?  Those who embrace the racist aims of Black Lives Matter perhaps were cheering him on, but most black Americans were likely to be as horrified as everyone else who heard it. 

 Patricia McCarthy   "If there was any doubt that Joe Biden is unfit for the office of president of the United States, yesterday's marathon press conference put such qualms to rest.  But the signs have been there all along, while his decline into incoherent totalitarian irascibility is accelerating. 

"His painfully overlong press conference on Wednesday, only his second of this long and miserable year of drastic inflation, lunatic COVID restrictions, vaccine mandates, etc., confirms the decline.  It did not put anyone's fear about Biden's competency to rest.  Faux reporters like Yamiche Alcindor and Jennifer Rubin swore that Biden performed brilliantly, but every rational person watching knew that it was a "slow-motion train wreck.". . .

. . ."The Wednesday press conference only proved again that this president and his staff are incompetent, that Biden himself is not mentally fit, that the Democrat party is officially a Marxist party that cares not one whit about the American people or the Constitution.  These are dangerous times.  The midterm elections cannot come soon enough."

Defiant, Unapologetic: Biden's Marathon Presser | RealClearPolitics

. . .There was bravado. Biden insisted his accomplishments were “bigger than any president has ever gotten in the first year.” Unabashed audacity too: “I make no apologies for what I did,” he said about how the war in Afghanistan was ended."... 

. . . The clarification didn’t sit well in Kiev. After the press conference wrapped up, CNN quoted an unnamed Ukrainian government official who warned that “this remark potentially gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure. Putin senses weakness.”. . .

Family of US Marine killed in Afghanistan files $25 million lawsuit against Alec Baldwin, claiming the actor accused them of being insurrectionists on Instagram

Insider.com  "The family of a US Marine who was killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan over the summer has filed a $25 million defamation lawsuit against Alec Baldwin, saying the actor accused them on Instagram of being insurrectionists after he learned the Marine's sister was in Washington, DC, during the riot on January 6, 2021.

"Relatives of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, who was 20, said in the lawsuit that Baldwin's comments about the family on the social-media platform "were false, outrageous, defamatory, irresponsible, vindictive, and caused — and continue to cause — Plaintiffs severe emotional distress." 

"McCollum was among the 13 US service members killed in the attack at the Kabul airport on August 26 as troops withdrew from Afghanistan. 

"The lawsuit, filed on Monday in the US District Court for the District of Wyoming by McCollum's two sisters, Roice and Cheyenne McCollum, and his widow, Jiennah McCollum, alleged Baldwin defamed the family to his 2.4 million Instagram followers. 

"Baldwin donated $5,000 to the Marine's widow and her newborn daughter "as a tribute to a fallen soldier" after Rylee McCollum's death, the court papers said.

"But on January 3, Baldwin posted about Roice McCollum after she shared a "throwback" photo of a crowd of pro-Trump protesters in front of the Washington Monument on January 6, 2021, "in anticipation" of the anniversary of the Capitol riot, the suit said. " . . .

California Democrats propose measure that would double our taxes to pay for “free” healthcare, but even they aren’t serious about it.

The American Spectator   "Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced that he’s fulfilling his promise to provide universal healthcare to all Californians (and non-Californians, regardless of immigration status) with a $2.7-billion budget proposal to expand state-provided coverage to low-income adults. Progressives, however, believe the boast is a sellout of his campaign promises.

“ 'I campaigned on universal healthcare; we’re delivering on that,” he said during a speech in the Central Valley. Currently, MediCal provides coverage only to people under 26 and older than 50, so Newsom is arguing that expanding that program not only lives up to a top campaign theme, but — and let’s all say this in unison — is yet another bold step that should be a model for the rest of the nation.

"There’s plenty to criticize in the plan. Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Antelope Valley, told ABC10 News that the official price tag won’t even be close to the final tab, which is a self-obvious critique. Furthermore, “it’s not even close to realistically covering what they’re indicating it’s going to cover.” No doubt about that, either, although most of the criticism is coming from the Left.

"As CalMatters’ Dan Walters noted, union officials see the proposal as an inadequate flip-flop given that Newsom said he supports “single payer.” Newsom’s universal plan “includes a wide variety of public and private health insurance plans … while the latter would provide unlimited benefits free of out-of-pocket costs, much like Great Britain’s National Health Service,” Walters added.

"We should all be thankful that Newsom merely is ramping up government spending and expanding a largely incompetent government agency — given the latest alternatives from the Legislature. Democratic legislators recently introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 11, which would “impose an excise tax, payroll taxes and a State Personal Income CalCare Tax … to fund comprehensive universal single-payer healthcare coverage.' ”. . .

The Message in the Polls: Trump's Done

Give voters a populist conservative who's not a conman and a liar and they'll be "Republicans" again. No wonder Trump hates DeSantis.

Ann Coulter  "Our media are obsessed with Donald Trump, but Trump's obsessed with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. For months now, Trump's been playing the aging silent film star Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard" to DeSantis' younger, prettier Betty Schaefer.

" Amid the hourly, annoying group emails to Trump's list -- "YOU are one of my TOP supporters!" -- there was one from Roger Stone on Nov. 2, 2021, denouncing DeSantis.

" The insults sounded a lot like what Trump used to say about Stone: "Ron's own piss-poor campaign ...," "without really delivering on his Trump-like rhetoric ...," "Governor DeSantis has failed ..." and so on. 

"The title of this diatribe was: "WILL RON DESANTIS TAKE THE PLEDGE?" Can you guess what "the pledge" is? That is correct: not to challenge Trump for president in 2024. 

"Only because it was "from" Stone, a smart guy who sadly prostrated himself on the altar of Trump, did I open it. Then, I shook my head and deleted it. 

"Evidently, others on the Trump email list responded with more rancor. 

"One week later, Stone sent out a follow-up email frantically backpedaling, noting that "many" recipients of his recent email were "surprised" by his attacks on DeSantis. The crow-eating letter ended by pleading with Stone's critics to "Please take a moment to read what I have actually said ..." 

"That must've been some blowback! 

"No one wants Trump. He's fading faster than Sarah Palin did -- and she was second place on a losing presidential ticket. In case you don't remember, for three years following that loss, Palin was packing stadiums with tens of thousands of Trump-like fans

Larry Elder blasts LA prosecutor following murder in Maxine Waters' neighborhood

 

Gascon

Fox News  

With the murder of Brianna Kupfer, the left's soft-on-crime policies affect politicians' own neighborhoods, Elder says

"Los Angeles County Democratic District Attorney George Gascon's soft-on-crime policies led to the apparently random murder of a young furniture store employee Tuesday, former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder told Fox News.

"Elder noted on "Hannity" that the murder of Brianna Kupfer occurred in the same neighborhood where Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., resides.

" 'Regarding this young lady from UCLA, this graduate student, and these [Union-Pacific freight] train robberies, they're all connected," Elder said. 

" 'They can be traced right back to our soft-on-crime DA, George Gascon, [whom] Gavin Newsom supported and George Soros supported.' " . . .

California Weighs Doubling Taxes to Pay For Single-Payer Health Care System That Would Cover All Illegal Aliens

Democrats; every morning we wake up and wonder what they will do to us next. TD

                                                                          Square Grouper

Def-Con News  "California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) last Monday proposed a budget that would give all illegal aliens health coverage.

"In 2021, California began covering illegals over the age of 55.

"Now Newsom wants ALL illegals in California to have health coverage, and Californians may see a tax increase of roughly $12,250 per household.

"Fox Business reported:

California lawmakers unveiled a new bill at the beginning of the year that would establish a single-payer health care system – an ambitious plan that would be funded by nearly doubling the state’s already-high taxes.

"A new analysis from the Tax Foundation, a non-partisan group that generally advocates for lower taxes, found that the proposed constitutional amendment would increase taxes by roughly $12,250 per household in order to fund the first-of-its-kind health care system. In all, the tax increases are designed to raise an additional $163 billion per year, which is more than California raised in total tax revenue any year before the pandemic.

"Under the bill, the top marginal rate on wage income would soar to 18.05% – well above the median top marginal rate of 5.3% and the state’s existing rate of 12.3%. There would be an 18-bracket system, with higher taxes kicking in for individuals earning more than $149,509.The highest rate would apply to those who earn more than $2,484,121.

"California would also expand the payroll tax paid by employees who earn more than $49,990 in annual income if they work for a company that has more than 50 workers. Walczak noted the plan could deter small businesses from expanding by inadvertently creating a tax cliff. For instance, if a company that had 49 workers earning $80,000 each hired one additional employee, they would suddenly create a tax bill of more than $90,000.

"Finally, the state would also adopt a new 2.3% gross receipts tax (GRT) on qualified businesses minus the first $2 million in annual gross receipts, at a rate more than three times that of the country’s current highest GRT.

"Is this not insane? At what point will Californians say, ‘Enough is enough,’ and revolt?" . . . 

No, Jeffrey Toobin, Biden Is Not Putting Harris On The Supreme Court

 Mollie Hemingway

The real reason Kamala Harris won’t be nominated to the Supreme Court is that she simply isn’t up for the job.

. . ."The media and other Democrat Party activists are re-upping the campaign they ran last Supreme Court term to bully Breyer into retiring. Because the Democrat Party’s policy failures at home and abroad have become so disastrous that not even the corrupt corporate media can cover them up anymore, the Republican Party has a chance to re-take control not just of the U.S. House, but also the U.S. Senate, which handles all presidential judicial nominations. As a result, getting Breyer to retire so Biden and Senate Democrats can select Breyer’s replacement has become something of an existential necessity for the left.

"Toobin offers the conventional wisdom with his first two suggestions. Jackson and Kruger are both established judicial activists so political that radical group Demand Justice has them on their list of suggested Supreme Court nominees.

"But Toobin’s “longshot” suggestion is silly.

"Harris is simply not a serious pick. Remember that anyone Biden nominates would have to get through the Senate. Currently the Senate is tied with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Harris, as the president of the Senate, is tasked with breaking tie votes." . . .

Federalism 101: A state’s authority over its citizens

 American Thinker

. . ."Thus, the United States was created not by “the people” but by the states. The United States is a federation, a federal state. Its powers are those that the states delegated to it in the text of the Constitution. The entire federal government is one of the “enumerated” powers.

"This is the fundamental element of the structure of American federalism which Sotomayor apparently slept through in law school. The federal government possesses only those powers granted it by the federal Constitution, whereas the states possess all powers not granted to the federal government nor forbidden by the state constitutions. Hence the state of Colorado, for example, is a sovereign state just like France or Germany, except to the extent that some of its sovereign power has been forbidden by its own constitution and some of it delegated to the United States federal government by the United States Constitution.

Wokeness Hits the Upper Echelons of the Air Force

Quite simply, regardless of the outcome, it is important to stand up for reality, even if it means sacrifice.

 Mark Jarrett  . . . "In 2018, a female Special Tactics Officer entered Special Tactics training, where she quit in the first week of dive training.  She was then not selected for continued
training.  In 2019, she returned and retook the course and did not pass again, but higher leadership dictated her selection for Special Tactics officer training.  She then went through more training while continuing to quit.  She quit in dive training, but the leadership had her retake a more relaxed version of the course.  She then quit in the solo land navigation portion of her tactical training.

"She encountered the physical differences between highly athletic men and women being tested to their limits.  In one event, "she just physically couldn't flip the tire," the instructor said.  "The team handed her a kettlebell and she just kind of walked behind the team for the rest of the iteration."  The officer herself reportedly wrote, "I believe the change in standards invalidated me with a majority of my team ... the cadre [instructors] 'rioted' when they found out the PT test was changing back to lesser standards."  Despite her repeated desire to quit — Air Force Special Operations leadership would not allow her to find a different career path.  Instead, she began working directly for the commander of Air Force Special Operations Command — where she wrote a report and an Equal Opportunity Complaint resulting in investigation of everyone who interacted with her.

"Now, according to the memo, she will return again to retake the Special Operations Course, with instructions from above, that she will graduate, whether or not she meets standards.  As of now, an investigation into this matter is being conducted by the Air Force inspector general.

"What I want to elucidate is how this episode is representative of how wokeness often works and how it was resisted." . . .