Sunday, December 3, 2023

Governor DeSantis v. Gav the Gov; how was it?

 Thursday’s DeSantis-Newsom TV Debate was a Ratings Winner for FOX News - American Thinker   . . ."Critics of FOX News on the conservative right—many of whom predicted the demise of the 26-year-old channel after it parted ways with its most popular host, Tucker Carlson, last April—may be surprised to learn that FOX News has continued to maintain its long time #1 position among the competition and that it boasts 18 of the top 20 programs on all three of the cable news channels, as well.". . .

Newsom's Quixotic Renewable Energy Quest | City Journal (city-journal.org)

Californians need energy to sustain their massive economy, but the state’s leaders scorn abundance for green “idealism.”

. . ."In short, it takes an enormous measure of crude oil to keep the California economy running—and that’s before automobiles enter the picture. The commitment to erase oil and gas from the state’s energy portfolio appears to know no bounds. Newsom and other public officials seem unlikely to reverse course or even slow their pace. Proponents call this dedication to the green agenda idealistic, but consigning 39 million people to a future of blackouts seems worthy of a less flattering term." . . .

Governor or Showman? ‘Red State vs. Blue State Debate’ Exposes Newsom. - The American Spectator  "When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom met to debate on Fox News on Thursday, Newsom was in a precarious position. At the start of November, the University of California, Berkeley, released a poll showing that the California governor’s approval rating had fallen to its lowest level on record, registering an 11-percentage-point decline from when the same poll was conducted in February 2023. Newsom’s approval rating, 44 percent, was even lower than his ratings following the French Laundry scandal, when the recall movement against him was booming.

  "The reason for Newsom’s all-time-low poll numbers? The governor has been dallying around on the national stage while paying little heed to the numerous crises afflicting California. These crises include the state’s exodus of residents, shoplifting epidemic, rapidly rising energy prices, homeless population of 171,500, poor educational outcomes, exorbitantly high rents, open-air drug use, and mass departure of corporations. That’s not to mention the fact that California has one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates and the highest cost-adjusted poverty rate in the country.

"When the damning poll was released in early November, Mark DiCamillo, director of the poll, pointed to Newsom’s efforts to raise his profile on a national level. “He’s kind of taking on a new persona,” DiCamillo told the Los Angeles Times. “He’s no longer just the governor of California. He’s a spokesperson for the national party and basically voters are being asked to react to that.”

"The poll speaks for itself. Californians are not happy with Newsom’s subordination of the state’s numerous issues to his own self-aggrandizement. . . ."  More here...

Convoluted, Condescending, Contradictory: Biden Defaces The Nation

This silly President talks down to a man much better than him and a people that show so much more determination than our Antifa generation. TD 

Bing

Issues & Insights  . . ."Next, you’ll learn he has a “much higher IQ than you.” Or at least than the Israeli leadership he ostensibly traveled to encourage but managed instead to talk down to:

“President Netanyahu and I discussed again … the critical need for Israel to operate by the laws of war … protecting civilians in combat as best as they can.”

"You mean the prime minister (not president) whose government – after his people were slaughtered, tortured, raped, abducted, and subjected to a rain of thousands of missiles in brazen violation of “the laws of war” – seeks to minimize civilian casualties by warning an entire country to get out of harm’s way rather than be used as human shields?

" 'As I said in Israel, as hard as it is, we cannot give up on peace. We cannot give up on a two-state solution.”

"Oh. You mean the “two-state solution” that, with your predecessor’s support, Israel and several Arab states shuffled off to the side while entering into true peace accords – now possibly shattered thanks to your encouragement and financing of terrorist organizations and their sponsors? 

" 'Israel and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety, dignity and peace.”

"You mean the Palestinians who voted in Hamas and have maintained majority support for them in polls, including for past attacks on Israel? Who have been dancing in streets worldwide celebrating the beheading and burning of babies in their cribs, while attempting to burn down America’s embassy in Beirut over a lie?

“ 'When I was in Israel yesterday, I said that when America experienced the hell of 9/11, we felt enraged as well … So I caution the government of Israel not to be blinded by rage.”

"Better than being blinded by pure idiocy and complete lack of tact toward a nation still in shock and surrounded on all sides by people who want to kill them." . . .

Profiles in Cowardice - by Diann Russell (substack.com)  "Fear of pissing off the virulent anti-Semites is forcing Team Biden to deny reality"  

"The Biden administration isn’t covering itself in glory lately, is it?

"The White House is in such a panic over losing support among Muslim voters and far-Left Jew-haters that rather than simply stand up to the virulent bullies calling for the destruction of Israel and celebrating the massacre of Jews, these idiots are twisting themselves into pretzels to pretend Islamophobia and not antisemitism, is the single biggest threat facing the country.

"I mentioned last week that press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brazenly claimed that Muslims “have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks” in the United States.

"This, of course, is a lie." . . .

Can we not say goodbye to the insufferable Greta and her handlers?

 Time for a climate exit - American Thinker

They want us locked into 15-minute cities with our movements tracked and restricted to walking, bicycles, and small communal electric cars.  They plan to abolish the freedom of cash so they can track our consumption.  They want to see us restricted to green smoothies, oat-milk coffee, minced crickets, and fake meat burgers while they jet off to a new well fed tourist destination every year.

. . ."There is no global warming crisis.  And politicians cannot control the climate.

"However, King What’s-’is-Name, John Kerry (the U.S. presidential envoy for controlling climate), and Blackouts Bowen (Australia's minister for climate panics and zero energy) are determined to create an electricity crisis.  Power grid failure will be followed quickly by failure of food and water supplies to cities.

"Marc Morano (contact), the vice president of Clexit, is attending.  Watch him here.

"Further Reading:

Get Ready for another Pointless UN Conference

Even Greta [has been told to tell] us: “We have had decades of bla-bla-bla”

Climate Exit? Long Overdue

Heading for the Wind Drought Rocks

The No-Dams Movement

(1) Facebook


Kamala Harris' No Good, Very Bad, Morally Bankrupt Dubai Press Conference

 How can our nation command respect anywhere in this world with silly "leaders" doing silly things? We have certainly not led this world to a moral choice regarding Hamas. TD

RedState  "REPORTER: "Israel killed 200 Palestinians, according to the [Hamas-controlled] Gaza Health Ministry ... Is that acceptable?"

 REPORTER: "Israel killed 200 Palestinians, according to the [Hamas-controlled] Gaza Health Ministry ... Is that acceptable?"

That would be these "Palestinians" who did so much of this in a peaceful village in Israel:


 " 'The Emir" is the leader of Qatar, the country that is currently harboring and supporting the leadership of Hamas. That's who Harris is concerned with while Israel is trying to destroy Hamas. To continue to push for a "pause" at this point is morally bankrupt. Israel gave Hamas a pause. What they got was a trickling out of hostages and a terrorist attack that mowed down civilians at a bus stop. 

"Harris is awful. She's awful in terms of style and competency, but she's also awful in terms of ideology. Essentially siding with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas while overseas is unacceptable. This woman can never be allowed to be president."

Friday, December 1, 2023

Joe Biden's dull-witted campaign, plagiarized from Obama

 

Monica Showalter - American Thinker  "Anybody smell the aroma of stale campaign narratives, dating from the Obama years? Look at these talking points coming out from Team Biden's stepped-up presidential campaign on Twitter:

. . .

. . ."They sound so old -- just like Joe Biden, which in itself is a reminder to young voters that this guy is old.

"It sounds like the consultants and political operatives crafting the Biden campaign can't think of a thing good to say about the Biden administration, so they resort to the old Obama-era tropes, plagiarizing them in the Biden way. Tax the rich and all will be fixed. Women make 59 cents on the dollar compared to what men make. Trump wants to take away your health care.

"I can hear the Rick-roll music, see the Britney Spears snake videos, feel the Members-Only jacket tag label. These arguments for Biden are old, tired, and clearly borrowed as talking points from the old Obama and Clinton campaigns of 10, 20, 30 years ago. 

"Tax the rich? How many times has that been tried before -- to absolutely no results, other than the proliferation of tax shelters and capital flight? Obama was big on that one. Communists were big on that in the 1990s.

"And the women-men salary thing? How hoary is that? That 59 cents argument has been around since Ann Richards won Texas. And who the heck has been ruling the U.S. as a one-party state all these years that this happens? Not one Democrat fixed this? There are no labor laws? Well then maybe it's not the problem they say it is -- or else the problem is Democrats.

"And of course, there's Obamacare. We're supposed to be concerned about Obamacare being taken away and granny being pushed off a cliff. How old is that? The problem with Obamacare, as even Elizabeth Warren has admitted, is that it sucks -- too expensive, too little health care, and the world's worst bureaucracy. Biden should be campaigning on reforming that rather than scaremongering about a truly execrable program that everyone hates enough to want to get rid of. 

"Is this all Biden has to offer? Old arguments that are no longer valid, on old issues nobody cares about, and pay no attention to that Bidenflation looming everywhere one goes.

"Biden is such an incompetent even his inflation arguments make him a figure of fun." 

Isn't this the Antifa generation, and what evil has possessed them?

What moral inability has left this Antifa generation incapable of grasping these most obvious of murderous deeds? TD  

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant played a video to his counterparts at NATO's Brussels headquarters that he said showed horrific scenes from the surprise Hamas attack.

"Children were tied up and shot. Yes, I repeat, children, tied up and shot," he told fellow ministers by video link according to a text of his address sent to Reuters.

"In a message on the social media site 'X', Netanyahu's office released what it said were "horrifying photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters".

"It added: "Hamas is inhuman. Hamas is ISIS," comparing the Palestinian group to the Islamic State, which was notorious for its brutality and gory execution videos.


Rep. Adam Smith's residence vandalized by protesters calling for Hamas-Israel ceasefire  "Rep. Adam Smith's (D-WA) home in Washington state was vandalized by protesters calling for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

"Smith said in a press release on Friday that the vandalism of his residence in Bellevue is "sadly reflective" of the political discourse in the United States and is "completely unwarranted, unnecessary, and harmful to our political system."

“Throughout the course of my career, my staff and I have continually met with groups from all parts of the political spectrum, including Pro-Palestinian and left-wing activists, and I remain open to meeting with these groups and discussing our differences and where we can come together in a productive and peaceful way," Smith said in a statement. "We must engage with politics in this way and reject the rise in political violence that we have witnessed over the past several years." . . .

HAMAS-FRIENDLY PROTEST GROUPS BANKROLLED BY DEMOCRATIC DARK MONEY JUGGERNAUT TIDES

Uproar Mounts Over UN Women’s Failure To Single Out Hamas for Its Sexual Crimes Against Israeli Civilians | The New York Sun   "The United Nations body dedicated to “gender equality,” UN Women, appears to be faltering in its role as the “global champion for gender equality” for failing to specifically condemn Hamas for sexual crimes against Israeli civilians, critics say.

"More than 80 House lawmakers are accusing this arm of the world’s governing body of refusing to stand up for the Israeli women who were victims of Hamas on October 7.". . .

'Horrifying Photos' Of Israeli Babies Killed By Hamas: CNN   . . ."CBS News confirmed on Tuesday that babies had been decapitated by Palestinian gunmen during their Saturday attack on various kibbutzim in the south of the country. An I24 News report from Israel’s Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which quoted IDF soldiers as saying some 40 babies had been murdered sparked a fierce debate online as many critics doubted the report’s accuracy and the Israeli military did not immediately confirm the details of the report." . . .

Israel releases images of slain children to rally support | Reuters  . . ."Blinken, who flew into Tel Aviv earlier on Thursday, told reporters he was shown photographs and videos of a baby riddled with bullets, soldiers beheaded and young people burned alive in their cars or hideaways.

""It's simply depravity in the worst imaginable way," Blinken told a news briefing. "Images are worth a thousand words. These images may be worth a million."

"Netanyahu has vowed to annihilate Hamas following its deadly assault on unsuspecting Israeli communities on Saturday, which killed more than 1,300 people, the deadliest attack by Palestinian militants since Israel was founded in 1948.". . .

"It's simply depravity in the worst imaginable way," Blinken told a news briefing. "Images are worth a thousand words. These images may be worth a million."

"Netanyahu has vowed to annihilate Hamas following its deadly assault on unsuspecting Israeli communities on Saturday, which killed more than 1,300 people, the deadliest attack by Palestinian militants since Israel was founded in 1948." . . .

News That Matters

Adam Smith's Invisible Hand

  Adam Smith Works

This was Mayer’s assessment of how the Invisible Hand works: “Just as rats rushing to leave a sinking ship re-establish its buoyancy, so in the individual pursuit of our own self interest we collectively confer benefits on those who lie on the other side of the market.”


"The Invisible Hand is perhaps the most important—and most controversial—metaphor in economics. For fans of markets, it is synonymous with free individuals having their commercial interactions informed and guided by the feedback mechanism of the price system. Market critics, by contrast, refute the notion that even good results—let alone the best—could come from myriad disjointed individual decisions guided by some mystical-sounding metaphor. They claim that the Hand is tainted by greed and exploitation, leads to inequity and dangerous corporate power, and threatens not merely resource depletion but planetary disaster.
 The Great Insight
"The concept—properly understood—is central to Smith’s insights, although he uses the phrase only once in The Theory of Moral Sentiments and once in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsIn Moral Sentiments, he suggests that “The rich … are led by an Invisible Hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants.” In other words, they “share the wealth” despite themselves. 
"In Wealth of Nations, Smith uses the term to refer to a merchant naturally preferring and supporting his domestic economy. “By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an Invisible Hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.”
"This could be taken to suggest that Smith was promoting local investment over the foreign variety. In fact, he was referring to people’s natural—and wise—tendency to stick to markets that they know. The context of this passage was Smith’s opposition to the artificial promotion of the export trade, but he is also clearly pointing to the more extensive benefits of self-interested commercial behaviour.
"Smith’s most important indirect reference lies in his example of how the market provides for even the most humble labourer. To accommodate the labourer’s simple needs, Smith observed, required an amount of cooperation that “exceeds all computation.” Smith took as his prime example the labourer’s plain woollen coat, which, “as coarse and rough as it may appear, is the produce of the joint labour of a great multitude of workmen.” Smith enumerated all the parts of the wool industry, all the merchants and carriers, all the elaborate machinery—from ships and mills to looms and furnaces—that would have been involved. Producing the rest of the workman’s attire, and his tools, home, furniture and utensils, similarly required vast interconnected industries. “Without the assistance and co-operation of many thousands,” wrote Smith, “the very meanest person in a civilized country could not be provided, even according to what we very falsely imagine, the easy and simple manner in which he is commonly accommodated.”
"Here is the Invisible Hand in all its productive but taken-for-granted glory." . . .
In recent filings, Disney appears to acknowledge that Smith’s invisible hand is giving the “House of Mouse” the middle finger. In a new corporate disclosure, Disney acknowledges that its controversial political and social agenda is costing the company and shareholders. 

Thursday, November 30, 2023

Oakland City Council's Bootlicking for Hamas: This Is Your Brain on Woke Progressivism

 Opinion (msn.com)


"Oakland has TikTok brain and it shows. A video went viral this week showing Oakland residents expressing strong support for Hamas during a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Hamas's war with Israel. After Jewish Councilmember Dan Kalb sought permission from the resolution's author, Councilmember Carroll Fife, to include a single-word condemnation of Hamas, the chamber erupted with disapproval from pro-Hamas activists. Kalb, a veteran progressive councilmember, was branded as an "old white racist" for his proposed amendment." . . .



. . .“The notion that this was a massacre of Jews is fabricated narrative,” one public attendee said of the attacks inside Israel. Other public speakers offered unconditional backing to Hamas. “I support the right of the Palestinian people to resist occupation, including through Hamas, the armed wing of the unified Palestinian resistance,” one woman said.

"Several speakers said that to condemn Hamas was racist or a form of white supremacy. “Calling Hamas a terrorist organization is ridiculous, racist and plays into genocidal propaganda,” said another." . . .

Oakland City Council surrenders to Hamas apologists – Orange County Register (ocregister.com)  Behind a paywall.

Ron DeSantis holds up map of feces in San Francisco during Gavin Newsom debate

 Ron DeSantis holds up map of feces in San Francisco during Gavin Newsom debate (msn.com)   "As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Cal. Gov. Gavin Newsom debated Thursday night on Fox News, the subject of homelessness in America was brought up.

“ 'We’ve gotten 68,000 people off the streets, close to 6000 encampments, we’ve got off the streets. We’ve also invested in unprecedented resources in reforming our behavioral health system,” Newsom said.

“ 'Ron has literally the worst mental health system in America, forgive me outside of Mississippi, and Texas.”

DeSantis then pulled out what he said was a map ”where they plot the human feces that are found on the streets of San Francisco.”

“This is a map of San Francisco. There’s a lot of plots on that,” DeSantis said.

“ 'You may be asking ‘what is that plotting?’ This is an app where they plot the human feces that are found on the streets of San Francisco. That is what has happened in one of the previous greatest cities this country has ever had.' ”

DeSantis Brings San Francisco ‘Poop Map’ to Debate with Newsom (msn.com)


. . ."DeSantis described the data as coming from "an app where they plot the human feces that are found on the streets of San Francisco, and you see how almost the whole thing is covered because that is what has happened in one of the previous greatest cities this country's ever had."

"He added: "And feces is now a fact of life."

"The data from DeSantis' map came from the app "Poop Map," which allows users to "log all the places you've pooped." A report from Curbed San Francisco showed that local authorities "believe that dogs are responsible for many of the incidents.' ” . . .

Chuck Schumer's Moment of Truth

 Seth Mandel, Commentary Magazine    "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gave a fine speech on anti-Semitism today, expanding on a New York Times op-ed calling attention to the “normalization and intensifying of this rise in hate.” Many of the Americans calling for the destruction of the Jewish state “aren’t neo-Nazis or card-carrying Klan members or Islamist extremists,” Schumer said on the Senate floor this morning. “They’re in many cases people that most liberal Jewish Americans felt previously were their ideological fellow travelers.”

"Schumer’s speech contained the very important point that “from the river to the sea” is the most famous eliminationist slogan from Hamas’s charter. That can and should be seen as a rebuttal to Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who has echoed this call for genocide and then tried to lie about its meaning. Schumer also talked about the way anti-Semites call attention to Jewish success in society and then use that very success to turn others against the Jews. He did not shy away from Holocaust comparisons.

"He told a meaningful story about taking a radio with him to class in 1967 so he could listen to news updates during the Six-Day War, a time when he didn’t know if Israel would survive. And he correctly stated that holding Israel to a double standard is one definition of anti-Semitism—and that the world’s condemnation of the IDF for civilian casualties that are actually caused by Hamas is one such manifestation of that double standard.

"The words are powerful, and Schumer should be congratulated for them." . . .

Tlaib
Chuck Schumer's Moment of Truth  "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gave a fine speech on anti-Semitism today, expanding on a New York Times op-ed calling attention to the “normalization and intensifying of this rise in hate.” Many of the Americans calling for the destruction of the Jewish state “aren’t neo-Nazis or card-carrying Klan members or Islamist extremists,” Schumer said on the Senate floor this morning. “They’re in many cases people that most liberal Jewish Americans felt previously were their ideological fellow travelers.”

"Schumer’s speech contained the very important point that “from the river to the sea” is the most famous eliminationist slogan from Hamas’s charter. That can and should be seen as a rebuttal to Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who has echoed this call for genocide and then tried to lie about its meaning. Schumer also talked about the way anti-Semites call attention to Jewish success in society and then use that very success to turn others against the Jews. He did not shy away from Holocaust comparisons." . . .

How do they plan on assessing Israel’s compliance given Hamas’s proven tactic of inflating casualties and conflating soldiers and civilians?

Also Not The Bee: ‘Joe Biden is a good man’ essay makes it to publication

"He says that Biden is a good man, and may even be a great man, yet he gives no examples. Do great men hunt down their daughters in the shower? Do great men refuse to acknowledge their own grandchildren? Do great men raise crack-addicted tax cheats who can’t stop buying prostitutes? I didn’t think so." 

Mike Harris Artwork

 Jack Hellner - American Thinker  "Repeating something over and over again does not make it true, and Brad Bannon’s “Joe Biden is a good man” essay at The Messenger is just plain embarrassing. As Bannon suggests in the title, “Democrats Have Much To Be Thankful For This Year” thanks to a “level-headed leader” at the helm. Yes, Bannon is being completely serious.

"Below are a few excerpts from Bannon’s campaign ad—oops—I mean, honest press piece, for Biden.

Excerpt 1:

Only history will determine whether the steps that Biden has taken to revitalize our economy and guarantee America’s prosperity in the future make him a great man — but in my view, he is unquestionably a good man. I see Trump as neither great nor good — ranking as our second worst president behind James Buchanan, according to U.S. News polling. Some of his own relatives have called him ‘vindictive, selfish and dangerous.’

"He says that Biden is a good man, and may even be a great man, yet he gives no examples. Do great men hunt down their daughters in the shower? Do great men refuse to acknowledge their own grandchildren? Do great men raise crack-addicted tax cheats who can’t stop buying prostitutes? I didn’t think so." . . .

I could go on and on, but the narrative holds true: most journalists are more than willing to prostitute themselves to keep Democrats in power, consequences be darned.

 Full article

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

When The Dean Tore Down Posters Of Kidnapped Israelis

 Rafael Medoff - The Lid (lidblog.com)

. . ."An incident of this nature occurred in Boston many years ago, but it sounds like something from today’s headlines–and its lessons are as relevant as ever.

"During the 1930s, several prominent American universities cultivated friendly ties with Nazi Germany. Prof. Stephen Norwood described in his book The Third Reich in the Ivory Tower how those schools invited Nazi representatives to speak on their campuses, participated in student exchange programs with Nazi-controlled universities, and sent delegates to Germany to take part in celebratory events at those institutions.

"The fact that German universities had purged their Jewish faculty members and hosted book burnings did not deter friendly overtures from schools such as Harvard, Columbia, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.)." . . .

"M.I.T. students were among the first to cheer the Hamas pogrom. On October 8—while 1,400 dead bodies still lay strewn throughout towns in southern Israel—the “M.I.T. Coalition Against Apartheid” declared that it “hold[s] the Israeli regime responsible for all unfolding violence.” The statement endorsed the right of the pogromists “to resist oppression,” that is, to slaughter the Jewish infants who, apparently, were oppressing them.

"Soon afterward, hundreds of M.I.T. students staged a pro-Hamas rally on campus. Among other slogans, they shouted “One solution: Intifada Revolution,” an apparent endorsement of Palestinian Arab terrorism against Israeli Jews.

"M.I.T. President Sally Kornbluth responded with an “even-handed” statement. Sure, the Hamas killings were “brutal,” she said, but “many innocent Palestinians” would also die. Yes, Jewish students say “they feel unsafe on our campus,” but “Palestinian students also fear being targeted.” And, of course, antisemitism is “corrosive,” but so is “anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hatred.”

Moskowitz Says Hamas 'Wants More Palestinians to Die' for Anti-Israel Propaganda · The Floridian (floridianpress.com)   . . . "Hamas did not just take Israelis hostage, but they are holding Palestinians hostage by using them as human shields in order to sell that propaganda around the world. They want more Palestinians to die, unfortunately, so they can feed that over social media," said Rep. Moskowitz, adding that placing priority on getting the hostages out "is definitely the path forward."

"At the same time, he stated, "We are going to either run out of hostages or it is clear Hamas does not know where they are. And we are going to back to how this started because Gaza cannot continue with Hamas in control."

"Host Joe Scarborough pointed out that President Biden has "privately" warned Israel to "not give Hamas what it wants, which is scenes of civilians being killed by Israeli bombs," asking Rep. Moskowitz if he felt the same way." . . .