Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Voters want Biden to take on China but fear he is compromised by family business ties

 Voters want Biden to take on China but fear he is compromised by family business ties | Just The News  "A survey released Friday shows 57.6% of U.S. voters think for the U.S. to address tensions with China the Biden administration should be more aggressive in leading a global coalition to contain the communist-run country – though voters also appeared concerned about whether President Biden has limited power in the situation because of a conflict of interest.

"The survey by the Convention of States, in partnership with Trafalgar Group, found 17.1% of voters believe the administration should continue to do exactly what it's already doing in response to tensions with China, escalated by the Chinese spy ballon over the U.S. last month. Nearly 9% surveyed said the administration should try to de-escalate tensions with China to appease the country, and 16.5% were unsure.

"However, the poll also found 57.2% of voters think Biden has a conflict of interest while responding to China's aggressive actions against the U.S. – as a result of the Biden family’s business relationships with China.

"This poll shows that Americans are rightly concerned about China’s aggressive actions towards the U.S. and want to see leadership from President Biden," said Mark Meckler, president of Convention of States. "But we are at an alarming and dangerous place when the majority of Americans believe Biden’s hesitations to address the threat from Communist China is the result of jeopardizing his family’s business dealings." 

"The survey was conducted Feb. 22-26 among 1,000 likely general election voters. The poll's margin of error is 2.9%"

J6 defendant who walked into Capitol through an open door, spent less than a minute inside, and left when asked by a Capitol cop faces prison

 American Thinker

"By any standard, the treatment of January 6 defendants has been a disgrace to the Department of Justice, the D.C. federal bench, and the Constitution.  Scores of people have been held in inhumane conditions in the D.C. Gulag, denied their constitutional right to speedy trial, and denied access to exculpatory evidence.  The blanket media coverage excoriating them as "violent insurrectionists" has prevented these constitutional outrages from becoming a national scandal.

"But there is a chance, a small chance, that the release of CCTV Capitol video by Speaker McCarthy may change the national consensus (other than in conservative media) that there is nothing to see here, they are getting what they deserve.  One such instance powered by the video release is the case of Daniel Goodwyn, who faces federal prison via DOJ prosecutors.  Goodwyn's crime was simply walking through an open door into the Capitol, spending less than a minute inside, and immediately leaving when asked to do so by a Capitol policeman.". . . Tucker Carlson commented:

They just kind of wandered through the Capitol Building. That's true of Jacob Chansley, the so-called QAnon shaman who people in the media told you should be killed. But he's hardly the only one. This is video of a man called Daniel Goodwyn walking through the Capitol through an open door on January 6, 2021 at exactly 3:32 P.M. That is long after the doors were breached. Now, we got this video, the one you're watching now, from the speaker of the House's office earlier this month. Mr. Goodwyn's attorney tells us that the legal team was also provided this video. In it you can clearly see that Goodwyn was inside for less than a minute. When he was asked to leave, he left. So, there's no dispute about any of that. It's all on tape. But the DoJ is still trying to send Daniel Goodwyn to prison.. . . 

 Jacob Chansley saved us all - American Thinker   "What the Democrats had planned on J6 — January 6, 2021, the day the votes were made official at the Capitol, never happened.

"Just consider the crackdown that did occur subsequent to J6. Consider then what would have happened had there in fact been an Antifa/Democrat-style riot at the Capitol.

"They would have come down on everything on the “Right.”

Everything would have been shut down. Every non-Woke website and news service (this one for sure).

"They would have initiated a brazen campaign of censorship — for our “safety” of course. It was still at the time somewhat behind-the-scenes and deniable. It would have been out front and vicious.

"Any better-known people on the Right, and even many Average Joes, would have been canceled and interned.

"Scorched earth.". . .

President Biden's Monday morning attempt to assuage concerns went over like a lead balloon.

 


'Rapid Deterioration': Major Rating Service Downgrades U.S. Banking System (townhall.com)   . . .Moody's — one of three major rating entities — downgraded its outlook for the U.S. banking system from "stable" to "negative" on Tuesday morning "to reflect the rapid deterioration in the operating environment following deposit runs at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Silvergate Bank, and Signature Bank (SNY) and the failures of SVB and SNY," Moody's explained. 

In addition to downgrading the entire banking system, Moody's also issued warnings for several individual banks "with substantial unrealized securities losses and with non-retail and uninsured US depositors" that "may still be more sensitive to depositor competition or ultimate flight" and end up "with adverse effects on funding, liquidity, earnings and capital."

"The unrealized losses, specifically, have become substantial: . . ."

What We’re Reading: Bank Crash, Biden Family Corruption, Crazy In Cali . . . And More – Issues & Insights (issuesinsights.com)   . . ."The specific institutions being monitored by Moody's for "potential downgrades" include INTRUST Financial, Western Alliance, Comerica, Zions Bancorp, and First Republic."

Obama 'vented his concerns about Biden and said "don’t underestimate Joe's ability to f*** things up"' | The US Sun (the-sun.com)

He then reportedly added: “And you know who really doesn’t have it? Joe Biden.”

Former senior aides to Obama - including former chief strategist David Axelrod and the now-hosts of hit podcast Pod Save America - similarly disparaged Biden's chances at points throughout the campaign.

 'Rewarding bad behavior': Vivek Ramaswamy rips bailout of imprudent SVB tech clientele | Just The News   "Would Biden have bailed out the uninsured depositors of a no-name oil-&-gas bank in Oklahoma?" wrote the entrepreneur and GOP presidential hopeful. "Absolutely not. This is Silicon Valley tech cronyism in its ugliest form.". . .

And here we are. 

The Price of Eliminating Consequences

The “broken windows” theory of policing in the 1990s and 2000s showed how the failure to punish even minor infractions soon leads to escalation to more violent crimes.   

 Victor Davis Hanson; American Greatness  "Recently there were some remarkable online videos of a Portland, Oregon good Samaritan confronting shoplifters and forcing them to dump loads of their pilfered goods.

"More stunning, however, was the sheer outrage—of the thieves! 

"They pouted. They screamed. They resisted. How dare anyone stop them from stealing anything they wished. 

"The criminals entertained no fear of any consequences for walking out with bags of things that were not theirs. They had no care that mainstreaming their habits would undermine the entire fabric of society.

"What is common to the pandemic of smash-and-grab, carjacking, fighting on airliners while in flight, and deadly Saturday night shoot-outs is this same apparent assurance there will be no consequences. 

"That expectation of exemption is why the Antifa thugs in Atlanta were so bold in their latest violent attacks on the police. ". . .

Could the FBI and the CIA recover their tarnished reputations if their directors knew in advance they would go to jail for lying under federal oath? Sometimes the problem is not just the absence of sure punishment for criminal behavior, but the asymmetry of penalties.

Why are some violent criminals released from custody the very day they punch, club, or shoot innocents, while others committing lesser offenses are not? 

Graphic Video: Rioters Brutally Beat Man in Portland, Kick Him So Hard Teeth Are Left on the Road (townhall.com)




Tuesday, March 14, 2023

‘Spare America The Faux Outrage’: Pence’s Team Fires Back At White House Demanding Apology

  The Daily Wire


"Former Vice President Mike Pence and the Biden White House are engaging in a war of words after Pence made a joke about Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Pence initiated the sequence of events with his comments at the annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington for journalists and politicians. He pointed out the incongruity of Buttigieg taking leave of his post after the birth of his adopted twins while Americans were struggling with air travel.

“ 'He took two months ‘maternity’ leave whereupon thousands of travelers were stranded in airports, the air traffic system shut down, and airplanes nearly collided on our runways. Pete is the only person in human history to have a child and everyone else gets postpartum depression,” Pence quipped about Buttigieg, who is gay.

"The White House furiously demanded an apology. “The former vice president’s homophobic joke about Secretary Buttigieg was offensive and inappropriate, all the more so because he treated women suffering from postpartum depression as a punchline,” White House Press Secretary Karine-Jean Pierre snapped. “He should apologize to women and LGBTQ people, who are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.”

"Buttigieg’s husband Chasten tweeted, “An honest question for you, @Mike_Pence, after your attempted joke this weekend. If your grandchild was born prematurely and placed on a ventilator at two months old – their tiny fingers wrapped around yours as the monitors beep in the background – where would you be?”

"But Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, fired back, “The Biden administration should spare America the faux outrage. The hypocrisy is especially rich considering their own Secretary of State Antony Blinken joked that he yearned for ‘the old days’ when ‘Jews did all the work.’”. . .

Don Surber: Biden killed SVB. We're next.

 Biden killed SVB. We're next.

Citizens are helpless as the kleptocratic presidency begins to wildly spend money we don’t have. Millions, billions, what comes after trillions?


"The blame game over SVB’s collapse is a diversion. The media have rounded up the usual suspects: Trump, greed, bad law, blah, blah, blah. When Captain Renault did that in Casablanca, he knew who the real culprits were. The media is not that bright.

"James Hickman is. He is the founder of Sovereign Research. He looked at the numbers and he found the culprit.

"Biden. He made government bonds worth less which has banks dropping like cockroaches in a Raid commercial.

"Using the pen name Simon Black, Hickman wrote, “Silicon Valley Bank was no Lehman Brothers. Whereas Lehman bet almost all of its balance sheet on risky mortgage bonds, SVB actually had a surprisingly conservative balance sheet.

" 'According to the bank’s annual financial statements from December 31 of last year, SVB had $173 billion in customer deposits, yet only $74 billion in loans.”

"So where did the money go?

"Hickman said, “SVB failed because they parked the majority of their depositors’ money ($119.9 billion) in U.S. government bonds.

" 'This is the really extraordinary part of this drama. U.S. government bonds are supposed to be the safest, most risk free asset in the world. But that’s totally untrue, because even government bonds can lose value. And that’s exactly what happened.”

"SVB lost money on government bonds by the billion and that brought the bank down. That is like water catching fire.". . .

Comer: Biden Family Made Millions from Chinese Company After 2016 (breitbart.com) Adam Schiff may seek impeachment.

The Biden family business received a $3 million wire transfer from a Chinese energy company and subsequent payments after President Joe Biden left the vice presidency in 2017, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) announced upon receiving suspicious activity reports from the Treasury this week.

Rep. Steube’s Bill To Protect Women’s Sports Picks Up Steam

 Rep. Steube’s Bill To Protect Women’s Sports Picks Up Steam (tampafp.com)

Steube’s bill has 78 co-sponsors, all Republicans.

Rep. Greg Steube 

"Rep. Greg Steube’s bill to protect women’s sports from transgender ideology is making its way to a final vote.

"The Sarasota Republican announced on Sunday that his bill, known as the The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, had recently passed the House Education and Workforce Committee with a 25-20 vote. All Republicans on the committee voted in favor.

"According to Congress.gov, that was the only committee assigned to consider the bill. It’s unclear when it may come up for a vote by the full House, which Republicans narrowly control.

"As The Free Press reported last month when Steube re-introduced the measure, his legislation ensures that biological females only compete against other biological females in women’s sports operated, sponsored, or facilitated by a recipient of federal funding.

"Steube has said that one of his motivating factors was the treatment of Emma Weyant of Sarasota.

"Last year Weyant, a U.S. Olympic swimmer, finished second in the NCAA championship for the 500-meter freestyle event behind the University of Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas, a biological man who became a transgender woman. Thomas set numerous records after competing against biological women.". . .

Some Walls Might Be Closing in on the Biden Crime Family

 Some Walls Might Be Closing in on the Biden Crime Family – PJ Media

. . ."We here on the right have long known that the Biden family has business ties all over the place that are rather unsavory. Honestly, most people on the left do, too; they just don’t care. That’s why various forms of leftmedia were scrambling before the 2020 election to pretend Hunter Biden’s laptop was a nothingburger story. Their overreaction was the only reaction we needed to know we were correct.

"There is no bombshell news, but it looks like some progress has been made in exposing the depths of the Biden business depravity, especially when it comes to the commies in the country with which we will soon be fighting a war.". . .

. . ."Of course, that’s been the problem thus far. Papa B has been using the full power of the federal government that’s under his control to block any inquiries into what his ne’er-do-well son has been doing as a side hustle to support his art career.

"My friend Stephen Green is fond of saying that “Joe Biden is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party.” Obviously, the ChiComs got a package deal and Hunter was thrown in.". . .

'You Should Not Be Able to Lie in Congress': Rep. Greg Murphy Rips Adam Schiff, Calls for Ethics Probe

 RedState


. . ."In all my years of covering politics, I’ve never seen a politician who lies more often with less conscience than Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) While Joe Biden and late Senate Democrat Party Leader Harry Reid might grab the next two slots, Schiff’s serial-lying prowess is second to none — smugly and arrogantly so.

"On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria,” Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) told Maria Bartiromo that the Republican-controlled House “needs to do an ethics investigation” of Schiff and his lies — at least. “You should not be able to lie in Congress,” Murphy declared.

"Murphy began by stating the obvious: Elon Musk’s release of internal Twitter Files dramatically turned the tables on Schiff and other lying Democrats.

Elon Musk has exploded the amount of information that has been withheld from us by our own government. And you know, I’ve not been ever a conspiracy theorist … but if you look now, there are some real, major problems at the top of the FBI and the DOJ that are absolutely anti-American … but now we’re finding out the truth.

Adam Schiff wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped him in the face. And the same thing with the other folks — they wanted to push a president [Trump] out and they were willing to use any means — lying, deception, you name it — to push that narrative. And the truth has come out, now, and I hope we hold these guys accountable.

"Bartiromo followed up by asking Murphy for specifics on how the new Congress will hold Schiff & Co. responsible, to which he replied:. . ."

Must-see TV: Mark Levin exposes 'the scandal no one is talking about'; The left and Islam: A match made in hell

Mark asked: "Is there a reason Joe Biden didn't condemn this?" and "Is there a reason why the Washington press corps blows this off?"

  American Thinker  "My hat is off to Mark Levin for his opening statement in Sunday's edition of Life, Liberty and Levin.  While Mark's show is always worth watching, this particular segment is clearly in the must-see category for anyone concerned about the totalitarian turn Democrat party (the world's oldest political party) has taken.

"Mark exposed, with video excerpts, the appalling Jew-hatred visible in Louis Farrakhan's February 26 "Savior's Day" rally in Chicago.  The media have almost completely ignored the rally, which is itself a scandal.  This is a rally that Ticketmaster had no scruples, no second thoughts, about enabling (and profiting off of) by selling tickets for it online.". . .



"In the rally, the phrase "the synagogue of Satan" was repeatedly invoked to characterize the entire Jewish community.  The usual charges of Jews buying political influence and short-circuiting democracy were of course made.  But the rhetoric also turned eliminationist, in a chilling way, as if Farrakhan is preparing the way for genocide (again).

"Farrakhan's rhetoric went beyond hate in the direction of incitement.  As Mark put it, he "seems to be predicting another Holocaust as far as I can tell."  I would add that he seems to be justifying it.  You must see the excerpts to believe them.

"But Mark went beyond decrying the hate to document the shameful sucking up of the Democrats to Farrakhan.  He featured the 2005 Congressional Black Caucus luncheon Farrakhan attended, where he met Barack Obama, then just beginning his political career.  Obama had no compunction about being photographed with Farrakhan, and the media obediently covered up the photo for many years:". . .

Monica Showalter adds: And this Democrat penchant for Farrakhan is far from deeds done in the distant past.  In 2018, the Democrat establishment, including ex-president Bill Clinton, stood shoulder to shoulder with Farrakhan at Aretha Franklin's funeral.  Their media lackeys tried to crop Farrakhan out of the picture in order to fool the public.  Then, in 2019, when Rep. Ilhan Omar was caught spewing anti-Semitic tropes in her tweets, Farrakhan urged her to not apologize — and drew no criticism from Omar or any other Democrat.  Mark Levin has collected numerous other examples in the video above, and in this Fox News write-up, here.

The left and Islam: A match made in hell - American Thinker   

What's worse: physical evil from an open enemy or clandestine evil from a supposed friend? One need look no farther than to Islam and the so-called "left" — in this case, the U.S. Department of Education — to appreciate the distinction.

Monday, March 13, 2023

S&P 500 Edges Lower as Investors Rethink Fed’s Rate Path

 S&P 500 Edges Lower as Investors Rethink Fed’s Rate Path - WSJ   Major U.S. stock indexes held relatively steady Monday while investors attempted to assess what newfound stress in the banking system would mean for Federal Reserve policy.

Regional bank stocks plunged, and investors piled into government bonds to seek safety after regulators took extraordinary measures over the weekend to limit the impact of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank

The Treasury Department, the Fed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. guaranteed the deposits of SVB, which collapsed after an attempt to raise capital led to a bank run. Regulators also said they had taken control of Signature Bank, which serves many cryptocurrency companies.

Yet stock investors found a possible silver lining in the tumult: The rescue plan appeared to shift—at least temporarily—the calculus on the path of the Fed’s interest-rate increases.

The S&P 500 closed down 5.83 points, or 0.2%, at 3855.76, for its third straight day of losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 90.50 points, or 0.3%, to 31819.14. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 49.96 points, or 0.4%, to 11188.84. 

Investors in interest-rate futures markets now see a greater than one-in-three chance that the Fed will hold rates steady at its meeting next week, according to CME Group. Last week, they were positioning for the central bank to either raise rates by a quarter-percentage point, as it did last month, or by a half-point, as it did in December. 

Some investors are even again hoping the Fed will cut interest rates this year, a sharp shift in policy that would likely propel a rally in stocks. Technology shares, which are typically most sensitive to higher interest rates, advanced Monday.

Former Goldman Sachs Group Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein said on Twitter that he sees a potential slowdown in Fed increases as a tailwind for markets.. . .

Employers Shouldn't Have to Hire 'Nonbinary' People

 Employers Shouldn't Have to Hire 'Nonbinary' People - Intellectual Takeout

If people are suffering from gender confusion, then we should pray for them. And as far as I’m concerned, whom a business hires isn’t the government’s concern. Businesses shouldn’t be forced to hire someone confused about their gender, especially given business owners’ concerns about the potential drama these individuals bring.

"Unless you live under a rock, odds are you’ve heard the left claim that nonbinary people—that is, those who neither identify as male or female—face discrimination in employment. A newly published study sought to determine the accuracy of this claim. And as a consequence, it shows how a more radical application of civil rights law to the private sector is bound to create more problems than it solves.

"The three-phase study, published last month by business.com, sought to examine “bias against nonbinary people, both in the workplace and during the job search process.” It found evidence of both.

"In the first part of the study, researchers polled 409 U.S. nonbinary adults. 83 percent of respondents felt that identifying as nonbinary would negatively affect their job search.

"Interestingly, some respondents believed that by being upfront with their nonbinary identities, they would be able to more quickly find employers with whom their views align. “I am currently a student on a very accepting campus, so my on-campus jobs have not been affected by my gender identity,” said a 20-year-old student. “After I graduate, I think I should include my pronouns as early as possible so that I can see how potential employers react.”. . .