Political Elite Plays Its Last Card

Conrad Black

Joe Biden is just a muddled amalgam of 40 years at the public trough, an arthritic wheelhorse in a machine that has broken down.

"Every day, the battle lines are drawn more clearly for what promises to be a memorable election. The Democrats infamously lumbered the president with an investigation into his relations with Russia that they knew to be unfounded. Then they attempted a completely spurious impeachment proceeding (with no believable evidence that he had committed the alleged offenses which, in any case, were not impeachable).

"And now, in response to a fortuitous virus pandemic, they purport to require President Trump to commit political suicide by shutting down the economy for so long that the soon-to-be 30 million unemployed will turn him out on election day.

"It is another phantasmagorical expedition of a desperate political elite playing its last card, but it is an engrossing spectacle.

"The Democrats’ war plan is emerging. It is the last stand of a party that has fought the most tenacious tooth-and-nail extension of a tight election in American political history.

"It seemed darkest after the Russian investigation and impeachment had floundered to their pitiful ends, and their chosen candidate stumbled badly while they were in danger of nominating a raving, though democratic, Marxist. Michael Bloomberg could only buy five delegates in American Samoa in a five-month, $937 million campaign extravaganza. Yet, somehow, the Democratic Party elders resurrected their lost leader, former Vice President Joe Biden, and carried him to the finish line in an impressive display of professional organization and party discipline.

Whatever Sticks

"Then the coronavirus epidemic miraculously appeared, just when all hope seemed lost . . ."

The Democrats will be left hoping for a flare-up of the disease and advocating policies certain to prolong economic misery. They have been outmaneuvered, though that is not obvious because of the indignity of the president’s bear-baiting sessions with his media enemies.

Schiff and the Dems Hit a New Low

Trending Politics  "While the president and his administration are working tirelessly to get critical medical supplies and life-saving equipment to doctors, nurses, hospitals and patients amidst a global pandemic, guess what Democrats are doing?  

"Its leadership is drafting bills to assemble yet another Congressional committee, on taxpayers dime, to investigate the president and his response to the national crisis. You read that right. Instead of working shoulder to shoulder with our commander in chief to save lives and resuscitate our shut down economy, serial liar and conspiracy theorist Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and others on the left are plotting against the leader of the free world and members of Donald Trump's administration tasked with responding to the complex crisis.  

"As if investigating the president nonstop for the past 3 1/2 years and subjecting the nation to an extremely divisive 22-month special counsel probe and subsequent impeachment scam -- based on hearsay by partisan bureaucrats -- weren't enough. Apparently not, as the chief architect behind the debunked Russia collusion conspiracy and impeachment stunt, Schiff, has been sowing more lies, accusing the president of being slow to address the pandemic, with "catastrophic consequences."  

" After Pearl Harbor and 9/11, we looked at what went wrong to learn from our mistakes," the House Intelligence Committee chairman tweeted recently. "Once we've recovered, we need a nonpartisan commission to review our response and how we can better prepare for the next pandemic."

"Translation: Democrats are exploiting the deadly pandemic by using it as a weapon to bludgeon the president during an election year in an underhanded attempt to derail his administration -- once again.  

"A new low -- even for hateful Democrats still suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.  " . . . More...   Here's one Republican vote for Schiff and the Democrats

"Lawless Adam Schiff Rocked With Lawsuit" . . . "Judicial Watch: (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced it today filed a lawsuit against Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and the House Intelligence Committee for the controversial subpoenas issued for phone records, including those of Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s lawyer. The phone records led to the publication of the private phone records of Giuliani, Congressman Devon Nunes, journalist John Solomon, Trump attorney Jay Sekulow, attorney Victoria Toensing, and other American citizens."Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit under the public’s common-law right of public access to examine government records after it received no response to a December 6, 2019, records request (Judicial Watch v Adam Schiff and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (No. 1:19-cv-03790)):

Media Smears Against Trump BACKFIRE As President Is Proven Right AGAIN, Leftists Look INSANE

Whatfinger

"Media Smears Against Trump BACKFIRE As President Is Proven Right AGAIN, Leftists Look INSANE. Democrats and the media have consistently tried to make Trump look bad during the crisis but it just keeps backfiring. Trump recently tweeted that NYC never needed the ventilators they demanded nor the hospital beds, and he was right. Yet the media and the left had slammed Trump heavily over NYC not getting the ventilators they requested. When it turned out that Andrew Cuomo was stockpiling ventilators media ran as fast as they could to cover for him claiming that the claims were false or by changing the context to accuse Trump of lying. None of these work, instead the left ends up looking like lairs as they tweet unhinged claims and demands of second impeachment. It needs to stop but of course, it won't Its an election year."

Trump’s Biggest Mistake During the Coronavirus Pandemic Was Claiming ‘Total Authority’ Over States Reopening

PJ Media   "No response to a pandemic can go perfectly, but overall, President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has gone quite well, despite the media’s attempt to persuade you otherwise. Despite the regulatory conundrum that slowed down testing early on, the federal government’s response to the outbreak has been unprecedented. Before there had even been a confirmed coronavirus death in the United States, President Trump had set up a task force, instituted screening at airports, and banned travel with China. Before the coronavirus was even a main topic of discussion for the public, the NIH was already working on developing a vaccine. Rather than waiting months to declare a national emergency (like Barack Obama did with H1N1) Trump made his national emergency declaration two days after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic.
"But Trump did make a rather bad misstep this week when he claimed to have "total" authority over the country reopening.
 'When somebody is president of the United States, your authority is total," he said.
"President Trump has certain powers during a national emergency declaration and he has the power to let the emergency declaration expire. He can ease federal government recommendations for social distancing, but the various shutdowns were implemented by each state and local government, and the states and local governments have to lift them." . . .

Do governors have the right to decide which activities are essential?

Andrew P. Napolitano   "During the past month, as Americans have been terrified of the coronavirus, another demon has been lurking ready to pounce. It is a demon of our own creation. It is the now amply manifested inability of elected officials to resist the temptation of totalitarianism. And it is slowly bringing about the death of personal liberty in our once free society.
"It is one thing for public officials to use a bully pulpit to educate and even intimidate the populace into a prudent awareness of basic sanitary behaviors — even those which go against our nature — to impede the spread of COVID-19. It is quite another to contend that their suggestions and intimidations and guidelines somehow have the force of the law behind them.
"They don’t.
"The government in America — at both the federal and state levels — is divided into three branches: Legislative, executive and judicial.  his separation of powers was crafted at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 after heated debate. The essence of the debate was this: How to establish a government strong enough to protect individual liberty but not so strong as to enable the government to destroy it. James Madison and his colleagues devised the separation of powers to keep power from accumulating in one branch.

"The legislative branch writes the laws, and the executive enforces them, and the judiciary interprets them and articulates what they mean. The president cannot write laws. The courts cannot enforce them. And Congress cannot interpret them. When Congress has gotten lazy or presidents have gotten ambitious and we’ve seen presidential lawmaking, the courts have struck it down. Stated differently, the separation of powers is core to our freedoms and the courts have consistently ruled that core functions assigned by the U.S. Constitution to each branch cannot be ceded away to another branch.

"The same is the case for the states, as each state’s constitution mimics the U.S. Constitution and mandates separation. The separation is not mandated to protect the prerogatives of each branch. It is mandated to protect individual liberty by preventing any branch from accumulating power assigned to the others.

"This has been Madison’s genius. It has become Madison’s sorrow." . . .

Pelosi Is Finally Asked Why Dems Are Blocking Refunding Program to Aid Suffering Americans, Her Answer Is Just Awful

RedState

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has left Americans trying to save their small businesses and the jobs of millions of employees high and dry.

"She beat it out of town to San Francisco and the House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said they wouldn’t be back in session until May 4, “absent an emergency.”

"But they left town after blocking the refunding of the Paycheck Protection Program which is helping tide over small businesses to keep their employees in the face of the governmental shutdowns.

"Pelosi actually bragged about Democrats blocking it from her home in California.

"Now the program has just ran out of money on Wednesday and isn’t taking any more applications because the Democrats have refused to pass more funding for it." . . .

Civil disobedience can end the coronavirus stupidity

http://www.terrellaftermath.com/

The Washington Times   "The happiest news to emerge in recent coronavirus weeks come courtesy of videos from online news sources showing the good citizens of Michigan, fed up with their tyrannical governor, taking to the streets in mass — and maskless! — to demand an end to the tyranny.

"The saddest news? The realization that it took so long for these types of protests to occur.

"And for reason for that, we can turn to the Declaration of Independence.

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed,” the opening lines state.

"Most Americans, when first informed of the coronavirus, wanted to simply do the right thing and help their neighbors, help their communities and families, help their country. They willingly stayed home; out of love for neighbor — or at least, concern for neighbor — abided by the government’s recommendations and mandates to protect against the spread of the virus. Business owners shelved their dreams of entrepreneurial freedom for the good of the country. School administrators closed their buildings; government service officers shut their doors. Church pastors, even, sent their congregations online.

"Then things got stupid. Really stupid.

"Then government ran amok.

"The Americans saw tyrannical types, up close and personal, up close and in their own communities, seize powers the Constitution doesn’t grant and run roughshod over the rights of individuals and business owners. And Americans saw how these tyrannies were taking place in the face of failed computer modeling that showed wildly inaccurate coronavirus numbers. 

“ 'Michigan cracks down on seed purchases and tiny gatherings,” The Post Millennial reported, of Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s ridiculous executive-issued prohibitions against the purchase of plant seeds and grains in the state — and against neighbors from visiting their next-door neighbors.

Are We Witnessing a Targeted Hit Against Trump Voters?

Joe's pandemic plan

American Greatness

"If you tried to design an attack against the president’s supporters, you couldn’t do better than what the experts have done in the name of public health"

"It’s phony because “the economy” isn’t shut down. Far from it. Walmart is still open. Dollar General is open. Amazon is open. Alibaba is open.
"It just so happens that the big-box mass merchandisers and online retailers responsible for flooding our country with crap from Communist China are open.
"Meanwhile, other, very specific parts of the country are shut down.
Family-owned shops and workshops, the backbone of America, are closed. Fast-food franchises remain open—drive-through windows are operating at full tilt—but independently owned restaurants are shuttered or trying to survive at diminished capacity doing takeout only.
"Conveniently, if not coincidentally, small-business owners make up an important segment of Trump’s base. Like the president, they have signed the front of a paycheck, experienced the brunt of the well-meaning administrative state, and endured the predations of giant corporations and subsidized Chinese competition. That’s why they love President Trump–he understands what they go through.
"While these largely family-owned, small and medium-sized enterprises are laying off workers by the millions, Amazon and Walmart are hiring.
"In the energy industry, the big guys can weather the storm while small, independent producers are getting crushed as oil prices fall off the cliff along with demand." . . .

Outrage of the day

Don Surber

"What could be more outrageous than abortion mills remaining open in the COVID-19 lockdown?
"Birth tourism remaining open. For women from Red China. Rich women at that.
"The city of Orange, California, have yet to shut down JR Motel, which caters to rich women who give birth in the USA to bestow American citizenship on their progeny. The Orange County Register reported the city may get around to closing the operation down by the end of the month.
"Any other business in America would be shut down immediately, but for some reason, JR Motel is exempt.
"Did I mention its customers are rich?
"On December 17, the Register reported, "The JR Motel in Orange has no sign, takes no reservations and hasn’t paid any city hotel taxes.
" 'The motel openly caters to Chinese nationals as a maternity facility, a practice known as birth tourism. But that’s not the use permitted for the site, at 428 E. Lincoln Avenue. City officials in Orange are looking to revoke the motel’s permit, something the motel’s owner says is driven by discrimination." . . . More

Trump Reposts Damning Video Nancy Pelosi Deleted From Her Twitter Feed

Small business loan program runs out of money, no longer accepting applications
. . . "Last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asked Congress to allocate $250 billion more for the program. But a GOP attempt to approve it was rejected by Senate Democrats, who maintained that additional cash should include emergency funding for hospitals and states, as well as some changes to the small business aid program. Republican aides have said conservatives will reject any spending beyond the PPP." . . .

Nancy Pelosi Asked To Explain To Small Business Owners Why Dems Are Blocking Emergency Funding  "In February as Wuhan coronavirus raged around the world and was spreading in American communities, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a visit to San Francisco's Chinatown to berate President Trump for his travel ban to-and-from China. 
"According to the White House, Pelosi deleted video of the event from her Twitter feed. President Trump is reminding everyone about what she said."

Crazy Nancy Pelosi deleted this from her Twitter account. She wanted everyone to pack into Chinatown long after I closed the BORDER TO CHINA. Based on her statement, she is responsible for many deaths. She’s an incompetent, third-rate politician! Video 

The White House

✔@WhiteHouse

Nancy Pelosi's response when President @realDonaldTrump announced that all travel from Europe would be suspended: "We'll see whether it's worth the trouble."

Read it all here

Jason Howerton

✔@jason_howerton

Nancy Pelosi bragging about eating a wide array of ice cream flavors from her $11k fridge while Americans suffer as she blocks relief for small businesses is the most Nancy Pelosi thing ever. https://twitter.com/rubinreport/status/1250654773646245888 …

Dave Rubin

✔@RubinReport

Name something worse than this.
You can’t.

‘Unreal’: Nancy Pelosi was asked to explain to small business owners why Dems are blocking emergency funding, ‘near speechless’ spin ensued

"Nancy Pelosi struggles, near speechless when asked to “explain to those small businesses” why she is blocking more funding for the #PaycheckProtectionProgram

Listen

Barack Obama’s endorsement of Joe Biden is comedy gold

Spectator

A masterly performance, delivered with a straight face

"Anyone who doubts that Barack Obama has a sense of humor should take a look of his endorsement of Joe Biden to be president of the United States. Really, it’s a masterly performance, and delivered, mirabile dictu, with a straight face. Try it yourself. Grab a mirror. Assume your best ‘I’m-being-serious-and-sincere’ expression. Then say out loud that Joe Biden would bring ‘leadership guided by knowledge and experience, honesty and humility, empathy and grace’ to the Capital.

. . . 

"Last May in this space, I wrote an article called ‘Why Joe Biden can’t win’. Back then, many of Joe Biden’s signal liabilities were already obvious: his fogginess and ‘gaffes’, his astonishing corruption. The main thing he had going was his aura of normality, brittle but well-rehearsed. In comparison with fruitcakes like Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren, he seemed like a reassuring guy from headquarters. Since then, however, his verbal tics have degenerated into unmistakeable signs of mental deterioration. I’ve several times remarked that letting Joe Biden continue with his campaign was really a form of elder abuse. Barack Obama’s better-late-than-never endorsement cannot save the campaign of this doddering political relic." . . .

The New York Times Is Extremely Skeptical of Tara Reade's Sexual Assault Accusation Against Joe Biden. Imagine That.

Reason

"We found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Biden, beyond hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable."

. . . "It's an excruciatingly matter-of-fact article, bereft of the emotion and rhetorical flourishes that have often characterized the Times' past reporting on #MeToo stories. The Times' investigative piece on Deborah Ramirez, Brett Kavanaugh's Yale accuser, was headlined, "Brett Kavanaugh Fit in With the Privileged Kids. She Did Not." The paper also ran ostensibly objective pieces with headlines like "For Christine Blasey Ford, a Drastic Turn From a Quiet Life in Academia" and "With Caffeine and Determination, Christine Blasey Ford Relives Her Trauma." These were news articles, but it was not hard to detect an agenda: portray the accuser as so likable and sympathetic that readers would want to believe her."
   . . . 
"While the Times' dismissal of the existence of a pattern has attracted most of the derision, an earlier point is more obviously flawed. As Current Affairs editor Nathan Robinson points out, it is false to say that none of Biden's staff corroborated any part of her allegation. Reade has alleged that after she complained about sexual harassment, Biden's people punished her by taking away most of her duties, which included supervising the interns. The New York Times' story confirmed with two former interns that Reade "abruptly stopped supervising them in April, before the end of their internships." . . .