"Criminal prosecution is the wrong idea. Use the 14th Amendment on Trump."

Ann Althouse

"Write Bruce Ackerman and Gerard Magliocca (in The Washington Post).

Legislation already proposed by Democratic Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.) and Jamie B. Raskin (Md.) would grant special jurisdiction to a three-judge federal court in the District of Columbia to determine, within three months, whether Trump’s involvement in the assault on Capitol Hill amounted to an “insurrection.” The panel’s decision would receive automatic Supreme Court review.

This is urgent business. If Congress does not move quickly to enact the Schultz-Raskin proposal, the issue of Trump’s political future will drag into 2024, when the next election will rev into high gear and courts will be inclined to let the voters decide.

"Yes, hurry up! Wouldn't want to leave it to the voters to decide. Democracy is at stake.

"You know, I wish Trump would go away. But these efforts to subvert the democratic process using the courts and the 14th amendment are not the way to make it happen. I know there's a tremendous fear that if allowed to run for President, Trump might win. But if you give into that fear and look for some way other than fighting him politically, you are blatantly displaying your mistrust of democracy."

Jim Clyburn backs Biden all the way: ‘he’s delivered for this country’

2022 Guardian News

South Carolina congressman says Biden delivered for the country and put it back on track, making him a powerful contender for 2024

"He was described as the most important politician of 2020. James Clyburn’s endorsement performed a political defibrillation on Joe Biden’s flatlining campaign, reversing his fortunes and sending him on his way to the White House.

"Midway through Biden’s first term, the South Carolina congressman has no regrets. On the contrary, as America’s first octogenarian president spends the holidays deciding whether to run for re-election in 2024, Clyburn is backing him all the way.

“ 'I’m supporting him and I hope he makes that decision too,” he tells the Guardian by phone. “He’s delivered for this country. He’s put this country back on track towards a more perfect union. If you look at the production of his administration in this Congress he’s had to work with, we’ve been the most productive since 1965.”

"Biden’s roll call of legislative achievements includes coronavirus relief, infrastructure investment, historic climate spending, a boost for computer chip manufacturing and scientific research and measures on gun safety and military veterans’ benefits. And like a unicycle juggler on a tightrope, he did it with tenuous majorities in the House and Senate.

"Clyburn adds: “Joe Biden has delivered exactly what the country needs and that’s why we were rewarded the way we were on [midterm] election day. There were people predicting there was going be this ‘red wave’ and Democrats were going to lose by 60.” "They lost only by nine, largely due to redistricting in California, Florida and New York.". . .  

Guardian is consistently referred to as a leftist paper and that is more than evident in the way Joe Biden's performance is described in this article. If you are aware of Biden's record as President, then you will readily recognize the above as blatant gaslighting. TD

Republicans Under McConnell Have Done Nothing To Stop What Biden Has Done To The Border

 Mollie Hemingway: Republicans Under McConnell Have Done Nothing To Stop What Biden Has Done To The Border | Video | RealClearPolitics   "Mollie Hemingway on Monday's edition of FOX News' 'Special Report' commented on the growing number of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border as the deadline on Title 42 nears.

" 'We have turned over our border willfully to control by the cartels who engage in human trafficking," Hemingway said. "There are all sorts of crimes committed against women and children because of the cartel's control over our borders. There is the drug crisis we have allowed to happen. And we have done it by willingly tearing down whatever things did work in the previous administration to control the border. It's a bipartisan problem because Republicans under Senator Mitch Mcconnell have done nothing to stop what the Biden administration has done."

"Hemingway on the $1.7 billion spending bill: "The Democrats were happy with it. The Republican establishment was happy with it. I think the vast majority of Americans, and particularly Republican voters, are livid. And hearing again from the Republican establishment that giving additional funding to Ukraine is more important than border security is just one of those things that really bothers Republican voters.". . .

California's Ban on Gas-Powered Cars Could Wreak Havoc on Its Energy Grid

 Reason Magazine

If all Californians bought E.V.s tomorrow, it would be a nightmare.

"In late August, California air regulators announced that the state would ban the sale of most gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035, a policy aimed at encouraging a shift to electric vehicles (E.V.s). A week later, amid a massive heat wave, California officials begged E.V. owners not to recharge their cars during peak evening hours so as not to overload the state's energy grid.

"The regulations that the California Air Resource Board (CARB) unveiled in August are aimed at meeting a target that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in 2020. Yet if all Californians bought E.V.s tomorrow, it would be a nightmare for the state's power grid.

"There are more than half a million E.V.s in California, the most of any state. Although that represents a tiny share of the 14 million or so vehicles on the road in California, E.V.s already pose a problem for the state's energy grid. Summer after summer, Californians are warned to minimize their energy use in the evenings, lest the state resort to rolling blackouts. E.V. owners typically recharge their cars overnight. Given that situation, the plan to dramatically increase the number of E.V.s seems impractical, to say the least.

"It's not just gasoline-powered cars that California wants to eliminate. In September, CARB unanimously approved a proposal to ban sales of new natural gas–powered furnaces and water heaters by 2030.

"California officials hope these mandates will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet nearly half of the state's electricity production comes from natural gas, according to the California Energy Commission. The same fuel the state wants to prohibit in private homes is largely responsible for the electricity that powers those homes and charges the E.V.s the state is trying to promote.

"Nuclear energy, which accounts for less than 10 percent of California's electricity, is one possible solution to the energy crisis and climate change concerns.". . .

 Related: "Why Did We Let Stupid People Run America??"  . . .

List Crowns 2022’s “Worst of The Woke” Companies…

Weasel Zippers

SNAPTIE® commented:  I've had work going on at Disney World for over 30 years. Had multiple contacts canceled in the past few months. Even jobs I started building for they are asking me to send everything I have made with all the leftover material to them. Then send my final bill. I've started doing that. One time not long ago I was able to keep 15-20 people busy. Now I'm down to 4 for maybe one more month. It's crappy they went over the edge. I really enjoyed working with the

imagineers. Came up with some unique things that I'm very proud of over the years.
Fu*k Disney for awhile, I guess.

How Hanukkah & Christmas Affirm the Jewish People’s Connection to the Land of Israel

 The December holiday season is in full swing, as Jews around the world celebrate Hanukkah and Christians gear up for Christmas festivities.

Although these holidays are observed by two separate religions, are celebrated according to two different calendars (Hanukkah is celebrated according to the Jewish calendar while Christmas is celebrated according to the Gregorian / Julian calendars), and commemorate two different religious events, both Hanukkah and Christmas have one thing in common: They highlight the Jewish people’s ancient connection to the Land of Israel.

Hanukkah & the Land of Israel  "In the week prior to the beginning of Hanukkah 2022, the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced that a recent dig in the Judean Desert had unearthed a trove of ancient coins dating back to the tumultuous period just prior to the Maccabean Revolt in 167 BCE.

"According to archaeology experts, this discovery is concrete evidence for the story told in the Book of Maccabees, of pious Jews fleeing to the desert to escape the persecution of the Seleucid Empire under Antiochus IV. 

"However, this cache of silver coins not only corroborates the Hanukkah story but, like the Hanukkah story itself, is further proof of the ancient ties of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel.

"The Hanukkah story is essentially a traveling map of the Land of Israel. The story opens as Mattathias and his sons begin their revolt against the Seleucids and their Hellenist allies in the town of Modi’in (located near the central Israeli city that bears the same name). 

"After the revolt was declared, the band of Jewish rebels (known as the Maccabees) fled to the Gofna hills (near the modern-day Jewish community of Beit El) in order to set up a paramilitary camp to be used as a base for their fight against the Seleucids. 

"From this camp, the Maccabees engaged in a number of battles from which they emerged victorious.". . .

Christmas & the Land of Israel  Just like the story of Hanukkah, the Christmas story also highlights the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel for thousands of years. 

"The story of the birth of Jesus, which Christmas celebrates, is based upon the words of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew and details the lives of a Jewish family in the Land of Israel at the turn of the first century CE.

"The narratives in both Luke and Matthew describe the birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph, a Jewish couple, in the Judean city of Bethlehem. At the time, Bethlehem was thought to be a major source of agriculture for the nearby metropolis of Jerusalem, especially for produce and livestock that were brought as offerings to the Holy Temple.

"Following the birth of Jesus, the narratives of Luke and Matthew diverge, with the Gospel of Matthew having Jesus’s family escape to Egypt before returning to the Land of Israel and migrating to the Galilean city of Nazareth, while the Gospel of Luke has Jesus’s family ascend to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem before venturing on to Nazareth.". . .  Keep reading...

Celebrity-Backed Bail Reform Group Shuts Down Las Vegas Chapter After Bailing Man Who Shot Waiter 11 Times

 Breitbart

"A left-wing bail reform organization discontinued its Las Vegas chapter after it was sued for helping bail out a repeat offender who shot a restaurant worker 11 times nearly a week later.

"The Bail Project — which has celebrities Danny Glover, John Legend, and Richard Branson sitting on its advisory board — ceased its Sin City operations in early December and is currently restructuring, CBS affiliate KLAS reported, citing the organization.

"The shuttering of the non-profit organization comes after it became the subject of a lawsuit after posting a $3,000 bond in December 2021 for serial criminal Rashawn Gaston-Anderson, who was suspected of burglary at the time.

"Six days after being released, Gaston-Anderson shot restaurant worker Chengyan Wang 11 times at the Shanghai Plaza mall located in Las Vegas Chinatown.

"Gaston-Anderson, 24, was sentenced earlier this month to seven to 18 years in prison after reaching a plea deal to be convicted on charges of attempted robbery and mayhem, both with deadly weapon enhancements, NBC affiliate KSNV reported.

"Although Wang survived his injuries, he suffered seven gunshot wounds, including a punctured lung and stomach.

"In September, Wang filed a lawsuit against The Bail Project, Gaston-Anderson, and Shanghai Plaza owner U.S. Hui De Real Estate Investment Corp. of Law Vegas.

"Wang accuses The Bail Group of failing to consider Gaston-Anderson’s criminal history before they bonded him out, including his pending and past cases of “burglary of a business, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, two counts of grand larceny and attempted grand larceny,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.". . .

Another Disturbing Video of 'Rachel' Levine Is Going Viral

PJ Mediia

"Earlier this month, an old video surfaced of Dr. Richard “Rachel” Levine, Joe Biden’s assistant secretary of health. The video, from the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C., went viral because Levine inadvertently admitted everything wrong and predatorial about the transgender movement. Levine was secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health at the time the video was made, but it was nevertheless a revealing video, exposing just how evil the movement is.

"On Monday, another video featuring Levine went viral, and it’s just as disturbing. It is not clear when the video was created, but it is a truly disturbing one that needs to be exposed.

"In the video, Levine discusses the need to censor what he believes to be “health misinformation,” and says that health professionals have “a critical role to play” in that effort.". . .

. . ."In the previous video that went viral featuring Levine, he acknowledges that had he “transitioned” as a young person it may have been quicker and easier, but that he would never have had the chance to have children. “I have no regrets because if I transitioned when I was young, then I wouldn’t have my children. I can’t imagine a life without my children,” he admitted.

"Levine clearly acknowledges that transitioning kids pushes them down a path to irreversible infertility. He wouldn’t trade his transitions later in life for his children, yet he’s not only advocating for young people to be mutilated and robbed of the joys of parenthood later in life, he’s also pushing for the censorship of voices who are speaking out against it—include us here a PJ Media.

"If Levine gets his way, our ability to speak out against the groomers targeting our children will be crushed.. . .*

Rachel Levine calls for big tech to censor “health misinformation” impacting “gender affirming care.” Says “gender affirming care” has a positive value for youth. pic.twitter.com/XdfyZknbuZ

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 26, 2022

MSNBC’s Melber: GOP Going After Hunter Biden Is a ‘Reach,’ ‘Not Classy’

 Breitbart  . . .Melber said, “When you look ahead and talk about Biden and the paradox that the midterms revealed late in the year is that Joe Biden is not super popular in any particularly measurable way, but he is a steady, trusted alternative to what you both have outlined here, which is the MAGA-fied Republican Party.”

He continued, “When you’re so MAGA-fied it’s hard to distinguish what you stand for and whether you are just MAGA-fied to the degree that people don’t want it. Again, I’m careful to point out that Biden’s not super popular and the Democrats, depending on how you ask the question, are not super popular. I say that by how far they have to reach to go after Biden, which is to go after one of his family members who is, A, not president, B, it’s not classy, and C, as we understand it, Hunter Biden has real problems, personal problems, documented drug addiction problems. I just don’t know how that plays with the rest of America who’s not a combatant and has these problems, and you make it about them. I want to show you a clip from the first press conference that was held after the Republican caucus won the House.”

During a press conference, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) said, “Numerous schemes involving the Biden family, reviewed Hunter Biden’s laptop, Hunter Biden’s business deals…Hunter Biden isn’t this innocent guy. We’re not trying to prove Hunter Biden is a bad actor. He is.”

"The sooner we get the FBI in order, the better. Now that’s a holiday gift I can certainly get behind."

 

Thanks to Elon, the FBI has a lot to answer for

. . ."But this goes much deeper than that. “The FBI... under the cover of saying they were pursuing foreign malign influence, had really exploded into activities that involved engaging with mainstream media and social media, and really impacting what is the normal debate of democracy. What’s really troubling here in my opinion is this is not based on intelligence.”

"I agree wholeheartedly. When you have a bureau that’s taking actions that could very well infringe the law that they’re sworn to uphold – for the sake of surveilling who they see as troublesome individuals -- it can’t be considered justice in the least. And with so many employees leaving and explaining the absolute hell they went through in their time there, I can’t help but wonder what director Christopher Wray and their team are really up to.". . .

What Will the FBI Not Do?   . . ."Comey, remember, memorialized a confidential conversation with President Trump on an FBI device and then used a third party to leak it to the New York Times. In his own words, the purpose was to force a special counsel appointment. The gambit worked, and his friend and predecessor Robert Mueller got the job. Twenty months and $40 million later, Mueller’s investigation tore the country apart but could find no evidence that Trump, as Steele alleged, colluded with the Russians to throw the 2016 election. 

"Comey also seems to have reassured the president that he was not the target of an ongoing FBI investigation, when in fact, Trump was.

"Comey was never indicted for either misleading or lying to a congressional committee or leaking a document variously considered either confidential or classified.". . . 

Why Did We Let Stupid People Run America?

"Thomas Sowell is an American intellectual treasure whose words need wider recognition" Comment to this post

What Will the FBI Not Do? Who watches the watchers?

What, if anything, should the people do about a once-respected law enforcement agency that repeatedly smears its critics, most recently as “conspiracy theorists”?

 

AF Branco 

Victor Davis Hanson  "The FBI on Wednesday finally broke its silence and responded to the revelations on Twitter of close ties between the bureau and the social media giant—ties that included efforts to suppress information and censor political speech. 

“The correspondence between the FBI and Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional, longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector engagements, which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries,” the bureau said in a statement. “As evidenced in the correspondence, the FBI provides critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to protect themselves and their customers. The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency.” 

"Almost all of the FBI communique is untrue, except the phrase about the bureau’s “engagements which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries.” 

"Future disclosures will no doubt reveal similar FBI subcontracting with other social media concerns of Silicon Valley to stifle free expression and news deemed problematic to the FBI’s agenda. 

"The FBI did not merely engage in “correspondence” with Twitter to protect the company and its “customers.” Instead, it effectively hired Twitter to suppress the free expression of some of its users, as well as news stories deemed unhelpful to the Biden campaign and administration—to the degree that the bureau’s requests sometimes even exceeded those of Twitter’s own left-wing censors.

"The FBI did not wish to help Twitter “to protect themselves [sic],” given the bureau’s Twitter liaisons were often surprised at the FBI’s bold requests to suppress the expression of those who had not violated Twitter’s own admittedly biased “terms of service” and “community standards.”. . .

FBI Confirms Payments To Twitter…