The Logic in All the Madness › Victor Davis Hanson

  American Greatness (amgreatness.com)   The Biden administration's agendas may have fundamentally changed the country for decades, if not longer—and will require tough remedies that may be almost as unpopular as the wreckage they wrought.

Biden, after all, inherited a recovering economy, flush with post-COVID-19 lockdown stimulatory dollars, pent-up consumer demand, and ossified supply chains. And then he stupidly poured gasoline on the explosive mix by dousing the country with even more federal spending. Now we have the worst of both worlds: high interest rates and nearly $36 trillion to service.

"Most Americans believe it is unhinged to deliberately destroy the border and allow 10 million illegal aliens to enter the country without background audits, means of support, any claims to legal residency, and definable skills. And worse still, why would federal authorities be ordered to release repeat violent felons who have gone on to commit horrendous crimes against American citizens?

Equally perplexing to most Americans is borrowing $1 trillion every 90 days and paying 5-5.5% interest on the near $36 trillion in ballooning national debt. Serving that debt at current interest exceeds the size of the annual defense budget and may soon top $1 trillion in interest costs, or more than 13% of the budget.

"Why would the United States suspend military aid to Israel as it tries to destroy the Hamas architects of the October 7 massacres? Why would it lift sanctions on a terrorist Iran? Why would it suppress Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack on the Jewish homeland? Why would it prevent Israel from stockpiling key munitions as it prepares to deal with the existential threats posed by Hezbollah?

"Why would the Biden administration cancel key pipeline projects and put vast swaths of federal lands rich in oil and gas off limits to production, even as it further drains the strategic petroleum reserve? Why not pump rather than drain our own oil from strategic stockpiles?

"Why would the Biden White House’s counsel’s office meet with Nathan Wade, the former paramour chief prosecutor in the Fani Willis Fulton County prosecution of Donald Trump? Why would the third-ranking prosecutor in the Biden Justice Department step down to lead Alvin Bragg’s Manhattan prosecution of Donald Trump? Why would the Biden Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland select Jack Smith as a special prosecutor of Donald Trump—given his past failures as a special counsel and known political biases?

"Nihilism only explains so much. A better explanation is that the Biden administration and its handlers knew that there was a good chance that most of their policies would prove unpopular and might even jeopardize Biden’s reelection." . . .

Tony Branco

Which Joe Biden Will Show Up To Debate Trump?

So Biden is now mentally decrepit, but never forget that long before this he was known as one of the dimmest bulbs in the Congressional chandelier. TD

 The Federalist (thefederalist.com)

The Biden that will be most problematic for Democrats is the real Biden — the gibberish-speaking, confused-looking old man that he is. 

. . ." But what kind of Joe Biden will viewers with a presidential debate fetish see on stage tonight against former President Donald Trump, the soon-to-be three-time GOP presidential nominee that Biden’s Justice Department is trying hard to imprison? 

"Will it be rise-to-the-occasion Joe, the guy who astounds Dem-friendly political commentators with his clarity of message and unusual burst of vigor — manufactured as it may be? Expectations for this guy have long been lower than the bunker he hid out in during the 2020 election. Or will it be Hollywood gliteratti fundraiser Joe, the petrified piece of human wood that freezes up for seconds on stage in his best Cocaine Mitch impersonation? (If so, will his former boss, President Barack Hussein Obama, be there to grab the old fellow’s wrist and lead him off stage?) 

"Conservative political junkies believe Biden will get a little help from his friends at CNN, host of the first debate. It is, after all, the same Trump-hating network whose former contributor, Donna Brazile, former acting chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, tipped off Hillary Clinton’s campaign to question topics in advance of a 2016 town hall event. As my Federalist colleague Brianna Lyman noted in a piece this week, Thursday’s debate moderator, Jake Tapper, has likened Trump to Adolf Hitler. Co-moderator Dana Bash’s ex-husband, an operative for the CIA, signed the 2020 letter that shrugged off Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation weeks before the election. CNN, by the way, went along with the lie until it finally decided the lie was no longer tenable. So not a reassuring resume for an unbiased debate. 

"Democrat strategists say Biden will “bait” Trump into being overly confrontational or focusing on the rigged 2020 election, according to corporate media players. They insist, too, that Trump allies have urged the former president to be a kinder, gentler Donald, not a “Raging -sshole,” as ethically bereft Rolling Stone put it in a headline Wednesday. “Don’t take the bait,” a “Republican who has recently advised Trump on the 2024 debate prep” reportedly told the leftist publication. 

"Does the same go for Biden? He has routinely come across as a belligerent and confused dementia patient when asked basic questions at rare press conferences and on the campaign trail. Will the incumbent get caught up in Trump’s likely attacks on Biden’s handling of the economy, the border, national security, and the cloud of corruption that hangs over the Biden family? How about when he mentions Biden’s 54-year-old boy, Hunter, the degenerate with a penchant for raking in cash on the family name — and crack? You might just see a Will Smith Oscar’s slap moment from the geezer-in-chief, as he screams at Trump, “Keep my son’s name out of your (expletive deleted) mouth!” There’s definitely peril for Biden on the agitation front. Perhaps much depends on the med cocktail mix." . . .

GOP Rep Unveils ‘No Juicing Joe’ Bill, Forcing Biden to Disclose if He Takes a ‘Mind-Altering Stimulant’ – IJR   . . ."After years of raising questions about Biden’s mental fitness and energy level, The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman told CNN last week that Trump’s campaign has realized they set the expectations too low for Biden ahead of the 2020 debates.

"Now, the Trump team is leaning into the suggestion Biden will be “jacked up” on some kind of drug ahead of the debate, and will be lively.

Despite those claims, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told CNN, “No one expects that Joe Biden will be on cocaine. But they do ask questions… will he be on some sort of energy drinks or something, OK?”

Tapper/ Clapper EXPOSED: CNN’s Debate Moderators Were In Bed With Deep State’s Fake Anti-Trump Campaign

  The Daily Caller 

 I was just made aware that CNN’s Dana Bash, who is moderating the first debate, was married to a CIA official who was one of the 51 intelligence agents that signed the fake letter calling Hunter Biden’s laptop “Russian disinformation” days before the last election… Geiger Capital

"Both of CNN’s moderators for Thursday’s presidential debate have deep ties to intelligence officials who peddled now-debunked conspiracy theories about former President Donald Trump.

"Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are both intimately connected to former deep-state officials who pushed the now-discredited Steele Dossier and the hoax that reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop was a product of Russian election meddling. The duo will preside over the first presidential debate Thursday between Trump and President Joe Biden.

"Tapper published a story based on a leak from James Clapper, former President Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, indicating that Russia had hacked DNC emails on behalf of Trump and that the Trump campaign had coordinated with Russian officials, according to RealClearInvestigations. Neither Tapper nor Clapper initially disclosed that this false reporting relied heavily on the now-discredited Steele Dossier.

"Bash was married to Jeremy Bash, a former CIA chief of staff in the Obama administration, from 1998-2007. Both Jeremy Bash and Clapper were signatories to a 2020 letter from dozens of former intelligence officials falsely attesting that the Hunter Biden laptop story broken by the New York Post had “all the classic earmarks” of a Russian disinformation operation.

"The laptop contents were later verified as authentic by various news outlets, including the Daily Caller News Foundation. The contents were deemed so reliable, in fact, that federal prosecutors working for Biden’s Department of Justice used them to prosecute Hunter Biden on gun charges for which he was found guilty this summer. (RELATED: Department Of Justice Acknowledges Hunter Biden Laptop Content Is Legitimate For First Time) . . .

5 Questions Biden Should Be Asked If The Debate Is Fair

 

If I were the moderator at tonight's CNN debate, here's what I'd ask Biden ... Jack Hellner- American Thinker

. . ."Why have you continually lied that you inherited high inflation when it was below 2% when you took office?

"Why did you lie to the American people that Hunter's laptop was Russian disinformation?  Should you be charged with a crime for hiding the truth from the American people since that is essentially what Trump was convicted of?

"Why have you continually lied to the American people that you had nothing to do with Hunter's business dealings when you took him around the world in a government jet collecting kickbacks and sat in on his phone calls?

"Sadly, most of the media, and especially CNN haven't cared about facts for a long time so they won't ask good questions. Instead they will spend their time seeking to destroy Trump and working their hardest to prop up the corrupt, incompetent, dishonest Biden."

Hillary Doesn't Want Voters Watching The First Debate (thefederalist.com)   

. . ."After patting herself on the back at length for allegedly co-producing a musical about women voting — gag — Hillary Clinton finally got to the real reason she was once again disturbing America’s inner peace: She wanted to tell everyone how they don’t really need to watch the debate Thursday between President Biden and the man she lost to eight years ago.

"In a wince-inducing op-ed for The New York Times this week, Clinton declared herself singularly knowledgeable about how the face-off between Biden and former President Trump should go. “I am the only person to have debated both men (Mr. Trump in 2016 and, in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary race, Mr. Biden),” she wrote. “I know the excruciating pressure of walking onto that stage and that it is nearly impossible to focus on substance when Mr. Trump is involved.”

"She went on to inadvertently humiliate herself, writing of Trump, “It’s nearly impossible to identify what his arguments even are;” “He starts with nonsense and then digresses into blather;” and, “[e]xpectations for him are so low that if he doesn’t literally light himself on fire on Thursday evening, some will say he was downright presidential.” Again, this is the person Clinton lost to, against all odds, with all of the media, all of Hollywood, and all of Washington at her back. If Trump is really so incoherent, the op-ed should have been headlined, “He is the stupidest person on earth and he kicked my a–.”

5 Questions Biden Should Be Asked If The Debate Is Fair (thefederalist.com)  "CNN’s Jake Tapper compared former President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler, and Dana Bash’s ex-husband signed onto the infamous letter that dismissed Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation ahead of the 2020 election. Yet both of these so-called journalists are supposed to moderate a fair presidential debate this Thursday.

"CNN’s long history of anti-Trump bias will undoubtedly permeate the moderators’ line of questioning in favor of President Joe Biden, but here are five questions the moderators would ask Biden if they wanted to host a truly fair debate.

1) “When you took office, inflation was 1.4 percent. Under your leadership, inflation hit 9 percent. Why do you blame Trump for that?” . . .

WATCH: Tucker Carlson Delivers an Absolute Masterclass in How to Deal With a Dishonest Reporter

  Bonchie – RedState  

The entire thing was a masterclass in how to handle a dishonest reporter. Don't accept their faulty premises, and make them explain their own logical inconsistencies. If you do that, that's usually enough to leave their heads spinning. If they then get angry and start to lash out, as this reporter did, then all the better to further embarrass them. 

"Tucker Carlson is holding a speaking tour in Australia, and the events there are already producing viral moments.

"In one especially tense exchange, Carlson was challenged about so-called "replacement theory," with the reporter suggesting the political commentator felt "white people" were being replaced by illegal immigrants. 

"It only took a few seconds before Carlson turned the tables.

"REPORTER: So you talked a little bit about immigration, and in the past, you've talked about how white Australians, Americans, and Europeans, are being replaced by non-white immigrants in what is often referred to as the great replacement theory.

" CARLSON: Have I said whites have been replaced? 

"REPORTER: Well... 

"CARLSON: I don't think I've said that. 

"REPORTER: Well, it's been mentioned on your show 4,000 times, and... 

"CARLSON: Really, when did I say that? I've said whites are being replaced? 

"REPORTER: You have said that before. Yeah. 

"CARLSON: Really? I would challenge you to cite that because I'm pretty sure I haven't said that. I said native-born Americans are being replaced, including blacks. 

"REPORTER: Native-born Americans? 

"CARLSON: Native-born Americans, Americans like black Americans, African Americans have been in the United States, in many cases, their families for over 400 years, and their concerns are every bit as real and valid and alive to me as the concerns of white people whose families have been there 400 years. I've never said whites are being replaced, not one time, and you can't cite it so.. 

"REPORTER: I believe that's untrue... 

"CARLSON: We've just met, but when our relationship starts with a lie, it makes it tough to be friends. 

"REPORTER: Well, you've been lying about (inaudible)... 

"CARLSON: You actually can't cite it because I didn't say it. Advertisement What you just witnessed is my favorite tactic for dealing with dishonest journalists. To put it simply, never accept their premises. Remember, we are often talking about pampered trust-fund kids when it comes to modern reporters. They don't like to work, and they see their job as making headlines, not news. In other words, they are lazy, and they will very often make an allegation based on something they've read on social media without ever verifying it themselves." . . .

Lance-Corporal Hitler - WW1 Trench Runner

 What did Hitler do in WW1?

Adolf Hitler and World War I: 1913–1919 | Holocaust Encyclopedia (ushmm.org)

"Hitler moved to Munich, Germany, in May 1913. He did so to avoid arrest for evading his military service obligation to Habsburg Austria. He financed this move with the last installment of an inheritance from his father. In Munich, he supported himself with his watercolors and sketches until World War I gave his life direction and a cause to which he could commit himself totally. By all surviving accounts, Hitler was a brave soldier: he was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal, was wounded twice (in 1916 and 1918), and was awarded several medals.

"Though reportedly not given to lengthy political discourses at this time, Hitler appeared to have been carried along by the increasingly vicious political antisemitism of the radical right. This political antisemitism seeped into the military hierarchy during the last two years of the war.

"In October 1918, Hitler was partially blinded in a mustard gas attack near Ypres in Belgium. He was sent to a military hospital. News of the November 11, 1918, armistice reached him as he was convalescing. The end of the war brought the threat of demobilization from the only community in which he had ever felt at home, and possible return to a civilian life where he had no direction or career prospects.

"World War I propaganda influenced the young Hitler, who was a frontline soldier from 1914 to 1918. Like many, Hitler believed Germany lost the war because of enemy propaganda, not defeat on the battlefield." . . . 

Too Dumb for Harvard? Lemon’s Too Dumb for Twitter

Ann Coulter (townhall.com)  

"So there’s loads of “evidence” that affirmative action kills, despite the best efforts of our universities, medical system and media to hide it. Of course, if you mention the evidence, you’ll be called a “white supremacist.”  See? No evidence."                         

"Interviewing Elon Musk this week, former CNN host Don Lemon demonstrated the real-life consequences of affirmative action. 

"Interestingly enough, Lemon himself is an affirmative action beneficiary who miraculously hung on at CNN despite committing one moronic gaffe after another (maybe he’s just got television magic!). The only CNN on-air personality to handle himself worse was Jeffrey Toobin.

"Lemon was baffled by Musk’s claim that “if we lower standards for what it takes to become a board-certified surgeon … then more people will die than if we don’t lower the standards, therefore we should not lower the standards.”

"This was apparently Lemon’s first encounter with the logical sequence known as a “syllogism.”

"Lemon’s response: “Do you understand how by saying just that standards are being lowered that you’re implying that they’re being lowered because people are less skilled and less intelligent, and you’re talking about people of color?”

"What on Earth do liberals think “affirmative action” is? (And when I say “liberals think,” of course, I’m speaking figuratively.)

"Does Lemon understand that when universities fight like wildcats to hide their black students’ SAT scores, they are also kind of implying blacks are less skilled and less intelligent?

"Last year, during the part of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit known as “discovery,” Harvard University finally coughed up the data. If — you’ll pardon the expression — “newsman” Lemon had followed the news, he would know precisely how much standards had been lowered for black students.

"Applicants in the top “academic decile” (GPA plus standardized test scores) were accepted in the following percentages: Asians: 13%; Whites: 15%; Blacks: 56%. Perhaps more jaw-dropping, in the fifth academic decile — not quite Harvard material — the percentages were: Asians: 2% (musicians); Whites: 3% (football players and Jared Kushner); Blacks: 22%.

"People who’ve been paying attention were shocked. Good lord, who are the 44% of blacks in the top academic decile who DON’T get into Harvard? What kind of horrendous character defect do they have? Do they all submit “C-I-L-L My Landlord” as their personal essay? How can it not be 100%?

"Nonetheless, Lemon asked Musk, “Why do you think they’re lowering the standards for minority doctors?” To his credit, at no point did Lemon cry out, “I thought we agreed there’d be no math during this interview!”

"The Manhattan Institute’s Heather Mac Donald has been documenting the total abandonment of standards at medical schools for years. Before choosing your heart surgeon, you might want to review the statistics she’s laid out most recently in her book, “When Race Trumps Merit.” . . . 

HAMAS murders nephew of Israeli doctor who saved life of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar 20 years ago

  (barenakedislam.com)

"After Israeli Dr. Yuval Bitton saved Yahya Sinwar’s life in 2004, Sinwar promised to repay the debt upon his release from an Israeli prison, only to plot the murder of Bitton’s nephew, Tamir Adar, and countless other Israelis 19 years later."

JPost  "Dr. Yuval Bitton treated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a prison clinic in 2004, saving his life with a brain tumor diagnosis and facilitating an immediate transfer to the hospital. Nineteen years later, Bitton’s nephew was killed by terrorists on October 7 in an attack orchestrated by the now-Hamas leader, he told CNN.

"Bitton was employed as a dentist at Nafha Prison when he met Sinwar, who was serving four life sentences for the abduction and murder of two IDF soldiers. The terror leader never completed his sentences, having been freed as part of a 2011 prisoner-hostage exchange that saw some 1,000 terrorists released in exchange for Gilad Shalit." . . .

Garter Snake Mitt speaks

 Don Surber (substack.com)

"Romney said at the time, “Donald Trump has shown an extraordinary ability to understand how our economy works. It means a great deal to me to have the endorsement of Mr. Trump.' ”

"Mitt Romney trashed Donald Trump again, which gave the media another opportunity to pretend Republicans are abandoning President Trump. Romney never supported President Trump.

"WMMS reported, “Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said he won’t support former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election due to ‘a matter of personal character.’

“ 'Romney, 77, was among several politicians within the party to condemn Trump during his presidency and said the presumptive GOP candidate's recent meeting with Republicans on Capitol Hill last week did nothing to change his perspective.”

"I chose to quote WMMS over other outlets because it is the Home of the Buzzard. The Buzzard refers to the bankers who were circling the city of Cleveland during its Great Default to see what parts of the city they could consume. Legend has it that a buzzard inspired a song by Kansas when the bird answered his kid’s question about what was for dinner: “Carrion, my wayward son.”

"No one should take Romney seriously.

"It has been a dozen years since he blew a presidential election that should have been a gimme. I did not realize it at the time but when it comes to character, few are as ignorant as he is." . . .

Jon Huntsman Calls Mitt Romney 'A Well-Lubricated Weather Vane' | Observer

Sky News host Rita Panahi has slammed MSNBC host Joy Reid calling her the “looniest of lefties”.

"Ms Panahi reacted to footage of Ms Ried “discovering that summer is hot”.

"The MSNBC host discussed on air the “climate crisis” and heatwaves affecting millions of Americans. "* '“It’s literally summer tomorrow in America, 90 degrees Fahrenheit that’s 32 degrees Celsius for everyone else in the world,” Ms Panahi said. "“That’s delightful weather I don’t know how that’s deadly or an inconvenience, get a grip joy,” she said."

Some people just cannot handle the Babylon Bee

 PolitiFact Ridiculously Calls Babylon Bee Satire Piece About Transportation Secretary Buttigieg 'False' – RedState

NYT Siccing an Astonishing 29 Fact Checkers on Trump-Biden Debate—but Make It Clear Who They're After – RedState

"The New York Times has assigned over 60 “journalists” to cover the Joe Biden-Donald Trump debate Thursday night, including an absurd 29 fact-checkers. In the opening paragraph of their article preening about their upcoming coverage, they made it very clear that they weren’t doing this to be fair-minded arbiters of facts—there’s one candidate on the stage who they really, really don’t like.

"Their snarly opening paragraph didn’t even mention Biden:

How do you cover a historic presidential debate that includes a candidate convicted of 34 felonies in what he has called, without evidence, a “rigged trial,” and that will air on TV absent an audience? With a few dozen reporters and fact-checkers. [Emphasis mine.]

" 'Without evidence?" There is in fact a plethora of evidence that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s manufactured business fraud case against Trump ran afoul of previous legal norms and was presided over by an obviously biased Judge Juan Merchan. Commentators on both sides of the political aisle were shocked at the perversion of justice, but the Times could care less—they got what they wanted, namely, the opening to write “convicted felon Donald Trump” over and over. 

"Fired CNN commentator and DNC waterboy Chris Cillizza seemed to feel a thrill running up his leg:" . . .

Ever heard the term, "brown-nosing"? You do it to CNN Big Guys like Jake Tapper and Dana Bash

Trump Campaign's Karoline Leavitt: It's 'Shocking' How 'Triggering the Truth Is to CNN' (breitbart.com)

  Fake News CNN cuts off @kleavittnh after she calls out Jake Tapper's anti-Trump history. CNN is afraid of people knowing the truth. pic.twitter.com/Tku7Ew754v

— MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) June 24, 2024

Mainly known to Kasie Hunt as "My Colleagues".

CNN Issues Unconvincing Official Statement After Booting Trump Spokeswoman from the Air (msn.com)

 "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

"Human nature has not changed since the early 17th century, when William Shakespeare put those iconic words into the mouth of Prince Hamlet's mother, Gertrude.

"In modern English, of course, they mean something like this: The more overwrought your denial of guilt, the more self-serving you appear and the more you raise suspicions about your truthfulness and motives.

"In this sense, Gertrude might help us understand CNN's response to criticism of both Kasie Hunt, host of "CNN This Morning," and Jake Tapper, the longtime establishment shill scheduled to serve as one of two moderators at Thursday's first presidential debate in Atlanta, hosted by CNN.

"The Shakespearean drama began Monday, when Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, appeared on "This Morning."

"When Leavitt pointed to Tapper's lengthy history of anti-Trump behavior, Hunt feigned outrage and then ended the interview by cutting off Leavitt's microphone." . . .