Trump and China: A Love Story

Ann Coulter  "Liberals claim to be appalled that Trump didn’t issue his stay-at-home protocols for the Wuhan virus back in January or early February.

"What do you think the media’s reaction would have been if Trump had started babbling about a viral pandemic in the middle of his impeachment trial?
"Let’s see. On Jan. 28, Trump released his long-awaited “Middle East Peace Plan,” which was immediately denounced by everyone except Jared Kushner and Sheldon Adelson. Still, the last 1 million Middle East Peace Plans led to tons of think pieces, analyses and arguments.
"Here’s how Trump’s “Peace Plan” was reported:
' “Tonight, impeached and indicted. Seems like a good time for a distraction: Their plan for peace in the Middle East.” -- Becky Anderson, CNN, Jan. 28, 2020
“ 'The Trump administration has dubbed it the deal of the century. Critics see it as a PR stunt to distract from Trump's impeachment.” -- Michele Kelemen, NPR's "All Things Considered," Jan. 28, 2020
“ 'Many analysts and supporters of a two-state solution to the [Middle East] conflict have called the promised rollout of the plan this week a distraction from Mr. Trump's impeachment trial.” -- The New York Times, Jan. 25, 2020
"There are plenty of reasons to attack Trump for the virus sweeping our country, but the media are mad at him for not doing something that would have been absurd: shutting down the country when there wasn’t a single Wuhan flu death in the nation and the media had barely mentioned it.
"In fact, the first time most news consumers heard about the latest Chinese coronavirus was when liberals attacked Trump for shutting down travel from China at the end of January.
"The Times responded with an op-ed titled, “Who Says It’s Not Safe to Travel to China?” bemoaning “xenophobic rhetoric and the building of walls.”

"Sen. Bernie Sanders mocked the ban at a CNN town hall debate, saying, “I don't know you have to stop travel from China,” but Trump likes “to build walls ... to separate us from other people.”

"Politico cited “a growing chorus of public health experts” who warned that the China travel ban could “stigmatiz[e] people of Asian descent.”
"The Nation magazine reported that the risk to Americans from the Wuhan coronavirus was “low” and accused Trump of playing to “well-worn, racist tropes that depict Chinese people as dirty and disease-carrying.”
"So go screw yourselves, media." . . . More...

President Trump Releases Epic New ‘Nancy Antoinette’ Ad Mocking Pelosi For Infamous Ice Cream Debacle

The Political Insider   "The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the United States over the past month, causing 22 million Americans to lose their jobs and thousands to die, yet that did not stop House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) from showing off her ice cream collection to James Corden in a tone-deaf late-night interview. This has now come back to bite Pelosi, however, as President Donald Trump has turned her appearance into a hilarious campaign ad.

"During the late-night interview, which took place earlier this month, a carefree Pelosi showed off her refrigerators full of expensive gourmet ice cream.

“ 'Since you’ve been isolated in your house, how much of your regular diet do you think is ice cream and candy,” Corden asked.

“ 'Well, as much as possible. I enjoy it. I like it better than anything else,” Pelosi replied. “And I don’t know why, but it seems to agree with me. I have a lot of energy. And we just got it restocked — the ice cream — for Easter Sunday.”

"Pelosi even proudly tweeted out the interview on her official Twitter page, writing, “We all have found our ways to keep our spirits up during these trying times. Mine just happens to fill up my freezer.' ” . . .

"Backlash against Pelosi for the interview was swift, however, as many compared her to Marie Antoinette, the French queen who famously said “let them eat cake” as her people starved in the lead-up to the French Revolution.

"On Monday, Team Trump turned this debacle of an interview into a hilarious “Nancy Antoinette” campaign ad for the president. The effective commercial intersperses clips of the country struggling with clips from Pelosi’s ice cream interview, with on-screen declarations that highlight the juxtaposition including:

• “Americans Are Losing Their Jobs”
• “Not Everyone Has a $24,000.00 Stocked Fridge”
• “Pelosi Snacks on Ice Cream”
• “While Americans Lose Their Paychecks”
• “‘Let Them Eat Ice Cream’ — Nancy Antoinette”

Prisoners and illegal immigrants: ready to vote in November

Rich Terrell

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio *Shocked* That Inmates Freed Early Are Committing Crimes Again  . . . "Between this issue and the state’s bail reforms that went into effect at the first of the year, it’s like the state of New York and New York City proper just don’t have a clue how criminals work.

"During the presser, de Blasio noted that the releases were done in order to protect other inmates from an outbreak as well as the corrections officers and staff who work at the facilities. But not mentioned is the toll the Wuhan Coronavirus has had on the NYPD itself, which is now short staffed due to the number of officers who have become infected and in some cases, unfortunately, have died.

"I know this is an unprecedented situation but at the same time there had to have been a better way to address the potential of an outbreak of the disease within the prison system without releasing criminals back out into society, where some of them have already gone back to business as usual by victimizing others.

"I’m not the expert on this, but there needs " . . .

Beto O’Rourke Wants To Know Who’s Going To Clean Up After Our Meals If The President Suspends Immigration  "As Twitchy reported Friday, President Trump said he’d be signing an executive order temporarily halting immigration both in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to protect American jobs. This, of course, caused liberal heads to explode. As many pointed out, though, why invite more people into the country when the citizens are currently locked down in their homes and not allowed to walk their dogs after 9 p.m.

"You always know where a liberal’s mind goes when you mention immigration because they immediately associate immigrants with farm labor, meatpacking, landscaping, and maid work. Former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke broke out the F-bombs in response to Trump.

As with every statement by Robert Francis O'Rourke, language advisory:

Beto O'Rourke

✔@BetoORourke

Replying to @BetoORourke

Who the fuck do you think is working on the farms and feed lots, in the packing houses and processing plants at a time where we are struggling to feed ourselves? Who is in the kitchen? Who is picking, preparing, serving the food we eat and cleaning up afterwards?

‘You Guys Are Pravda’ — CNN stages Chris Cuomo Emerging From Quarantine, but He Previously Went Out

Legal Insurrection

When CNN’s critics say it isn’t a news network, they are not exaggerating. Chris Cuomo has been broadcasting from his basement for weeks while quarantining after he came down with Coronavirus.Yesterday, they made a huge show of Cuomo emerging from his basement after being cleared by health officials.

. . . "This is literally fake news.

"On April 14th, Kate Sheehy of the New York Post reported on an incident involving Cuomo and a man on a bicycle who was questioning why Cuomo was breaking quarantine:

‘I hate bullies’: Bicyclist verbally attacked by Chris Cuomo fires back

The Long Island resident blasted as a “jackass loser fat-tire biker” by Chris Cuomo in a radio rant told The Post on Tuesday that the CNN host is nothing but a bully — and he has even filed a complaint with cops against him.

“Sometimes he’s scary stupid,” the East Hampton man, who asked to only be identified by his first name, David, said of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s little brother.

Chris Cuomo launched into a tirade on his SiriusXM show Monday night about how he didn’t like what he did for a living anymore — and ranted about a confrontation he had with a bike rider outside his property Easter Sunday, when the coronavirus-infected TV star was hanging out with his family.  . . .

Thomas Lifson at American Thinker commented at length: ...CNN and Chris Cuomo stage an utterly fake event to dramatize a phony re-emergence from quarantine

. . . "CNN obviously thinks its audience is so stupid that the network can get away with this.  Only the idiotic, ignorant, or amnesiac among its audience (admittedly, a sizable portion) would be taken in, but it is so blatant that even lefty outfits like NBC ("Chris Cuomo 'Finally' Leaves His Basement, Reunites With Family After Coronavirus Quarantine") and New York Magazine ("Chris Cuomo Airs Moment He Could 'Finally Emerge' From Basement, a Week After Leaving Basement") raised skeptical eyebrows.

"Conservative media were less restrained.  Breitbart's John Nolte called it the "fake newsiest fake news in all of Fakenewsdom," and the New York Post's Maureen Callahan went biblical: "Not since Lazarus has the world heard of such an unbelievable rise."

"Chris Cuomo is the Rosie Ruiz of network anchors and ought to be known by that title from now on."  

Now Schiff, Nadler demand investigation of Attorney General William Barr!

WND

Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's lieutenants in the partisan impeachment of President Trump.

"Schiff also falsely claimed during Robert Mueller's special counsel probe that he had secret evidence that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians.

"Now, Schiff and Nadler are demanding an investigation of Attorney General William Barr.

"Their complaint is that Barr said in an interview he agreed with President Trump's decision to dismiss Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson.

"Atkinson processed the "whistleblower" complaint regarding Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that charged Trump engaged in a quid pro quo to benefit his 2020 campaign. Such complaints require first-hand information, but the still anonymous filer did not listen in on the call.

"In a letter to the DOJ, the two Democrats point out that Trump "was impeached" by Democrats for the conversation, but they neglected to note he was acquitted.

"Democrats claimed Atkinson's legal responsibility was to notify members of Congress about the complaint, but as the Federalist explains Atkinson "sidestepped" the DOJ and send the complaint to a "political hack," Schiff.

" 'Schiff also falsely called the complaint a whistleblower complaint and asserted the acting DNI was withholding it from the committee in violation of his 'express obligations under the law.' Schiff then implied the White House had somehow interfered to prevent [officials] from fulfilling their duties," the Federalist said." . . .   More...

Rx For Plunging Oil Prices? Take Economy Out Of Quarantine, ASAP

Tony Branco

Issues & Insights  "Global oil prices crash through the floor, imperiling a major industry and millions of jobs. Time for government action to fix the problem with a bundle of cash and handouts? Nope. We have a better idea. Restart the U.S. economy and put an end to the quarantine economy as soon as possible.
"Monday’s oil news that near-term oil contracts had fallen below zero was frightening. Essentially, the markets told those holding short-term oil contracts they would have to pay someone to take their oil. It’s not even worth transportation and storage costs.

It’s what oil traders call “contango.” That’s a fancy term for when a good’s near-term price is lower than the market price expected down the road.
"As of Tuesday, the May contract price for a barrel of oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange was $9.06, after briefly going negative on Monday. But the picture changes when flashing forward to look at monthly futures prices: investors expect the price to rise to $13.12 a barrel in June, $20.15 in July, $23.15 in August, and $24.87 in September.,
"Right now, contango is a serious problem. No oil company, with its enormous capital and labor costs, can make money with oil prices in the low double digits. Many small- and mid-sized firms will just go under.
"It’s tempting, given the current bailout environment, to add the oil industry to the list of those getting aid. But apart from extending help to oil workers who may lose jobs and hit hard times, it would be unwise and economically unsound to bail out big producers.
"No, we’re not anti-oil. Far from it. Oil producers, by creating the basic energy source for the industrial revolution to today’s information economy, and by heating our homes and fueling our cars, have given the West the greatest standard of living in history."  . . .

Speaker Pelosi, end government-by-secret-caucus

"Daily phone calls are held in secret with the Democratic caucus, and representatives press “star 3” to request a chance to speak. Some committees have similar one-party meetings, while others include Republicans — none of it in public. A single-caucus meeting in private was never meant to be the Congress of the United States."

The Hill  "Our Constitution set up three branches of government. And yet, in this crisis, only two branches are fully operational. In particular, the House of Representatives is no longer functioning as a legislative body at all but as an executive committee run by just one representative: the Speaker of the House. There are no open debates, no televised committee hearings, no minority rights. “The People’s House” is not open to the people. 
"Somehow, the executive branch managed to keep the White House open — from the Office of the President to the Situation Room, from the Department of Justice to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, they are all fully operational; some people even complain they see too much of the president with his coronavirus task force daily briefings for hours on end. There is no doubt, however, that the executive branch is open for business 24/7. It has put in place all the protocols and procedures to operate safely and to keep the country safe at the same time from others who would seek to take advantage of a vulnerable nation going through a pandemic.
"Over at the Supreme Court, the justices were faced with some tough choices, and they decided that they would continue to carry out their full responsibilities. Until further notice, oral arguments are being conducted by phone so that the cases before the court will continue to move forward. For the first time in history, the public will be able to listen to Supreme Court arguments live, without any delay. Despite the advanced age of some of the justices, they have figured out how to adapt and to stay open for business." . . .

Mark Penn is a managing partner of the Stagwell Group, a global organization of digital-first marketing companies, as well as chairman of the Harris Poll and author of “Microtrends Squared.” He also is CEO of MDC Partners, an advertising and marketing firm. He served as pollster and adviser to former President Clinton from 1995 to 2000, including during Clinton’s impeachment.

From a comment to this post: 

I suggest that the Dem reps meet in Nancy Antoinette's double-wide freezer. If we lock them in there, not only will that create some of the largest Tutti-Fruiti popsicles and fudgesicles ever, but would also save the country. 

Trump says he's instructed Navy to 'destroy' any Iranian gunboats harassing US ships

Fox News  Trump warns Iran against 'sneak attack' on US troops in Iraq: 'Don't do  "President Trump said Wednesday that he's instructed the U.S. Navy to "shoot down and destroy" any Iranian gunboats harassing American ships, in the wake of a tense encounter in the Persian Gulf. 
"I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea," Trump tweeted." . . .

CNN's Don Lemon: This is Who the Hell They Are

VeggieTales Reboot To Include Sanctimonious, Elitist Lemon Named Don

Lemonade from Parody. . . "One new character confirmed to appear in the show is a sanctimonious, elitest lemon named Don. A news anchor and cultured elite, Don the Lemon anchors a news show on Veggie News Network, popular in airports and hotel lobbies in the VeggieTales universe.
"Don the Lemon will lecture all the other vegetables on how they're not as cultured as he is on his show and laugh at them for being dumb, hick vegetables.
" 'Have you ever seen the Grape family?" he says, laughing, in one upcoming episode. "They're like the Beverly Hillbillies but they're grapes instead of humans!"

Mark Landsbaum  "God bless the media. Without it, I wouldn’t have known that CNN’s Don Lemon indignantly demands to know, “Who the hell do you think you are?!”

"Yours truly has only a vague sense of who Don Lemon is and has never in my memory seen his program on TV or him in the supermarket or anywhere else. But I can answer his question.

"Mr. Lemon reportedly directed his question to armed protesters who, despite the nation’s lockdown and stay-at-home orders, had gone public to demand their constitutional rights to assemble, to lodge their grievances with their government and to arm themselves. That would be the First and Second Amendments, respectively." . . .

. . . "That, Mr. Lemon, is who those protesters are. They are the people who have seen the government over-react and assume authority and power both unnecessary and highly questionable. They are the people who as a result are mad as hell and refuse to take it anymore.

Dimwit Politics

"When people reach that point with their government -- or with their media -- they exercise their constitutional rights to assemble, to express their grievances and to protect themselves from those who would deny them those rights.

"It would be good for Mr. Lemon to use his free time, confined to his home by government like the rest of us, to brush up on the Constitution, how it was arrived at and the price paid to provide it.

"Those rights, the Founders who put them in writing knew, aren’t permissions granted by governments or by rulers. Or even by nightly newscasters. They are rights of all people endowed by their Creator.

"Contrary to the current “progressive” understanding, the First Amendment wasn’t intended to protect obscenity. The right to speak and to protest government is the heart of the First Amendment. And, as the revolutionaries who gave us our Constitution intended, the Second Amendment wasn’t written to protect the right to shoot squirrels. It was written to protect the right to self-defense from tyrants who would deny the people’s rights.

"So, when Don Lemon asks, “Who the hell do you think you are?” there is an obvious and correct answer: they are Americans who know when their rights have been violated and “are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.”

No, Don Lemon, Who The Hell Do You Think YOU Are? . . . "Where do you get off telling them they somehow don’t have the right to protest with a firearm, especially in a time when they’re concerned–legitimately or not–that elected officials are becoming downright tyrannical. Those guns are a stark reminder that we will not stand for oppression and have the means to fight back.

"Again, they were complying with local gun laws. They weren’t carrying them in places where they were illegal.

"No, Don, your problem is that you just don’t like guns. You don’t understand them and you don’t understand those of us who support the right to keep and bear arms. That’s fine because we damn sure don’t understand you or how you managed to keep your job after speculating on air that a black hole swallowed a missing jetliner. I guess that makes us even."

De Blasio’s social distancing tip line flooded with penis photos, Hitler memes

Amy Noelle

NY Post

New Yorkers rag on the mayor  "Mayor Bill de Blasio’s critics let him know how they really felt about him ordering New Yorkers to  for violating social-distancing rules — by flooding his new tip line with crank complaints including “dick pics” and people flipping the bird, The Post has learned.

"Photos of extended middle fingers, the mayor dropping the Staten Island groundhog and news coverage of him going to the gym have all been texted to a special tip line that de Blasio announced Saturday, according to screenshots posted on Twitter.

"One user sent the message “We will fight this tyrannical overreach!” to the service and got an automated message that in part said, “Hello, and thank you for texting NYC311.” 

“F–k you!” replied @MorganLSchmidt1, along with a meme showing Adolf Hitler and the words “TO THOSE TURNING IN YOUR NEIGHBORS AND LOCAL BUSINESSES — YOU DID THE REICH THING.”
Target on the mayor's back

Washington State, is Governor Jay Inslee the best you have in your state?

National Review: Yes, But Where Did She Go to Law School?

From Slate:  Washington State Now Has the Most Diverse Supreme Court In History
"Donald Trump’s presidency has been a disaster for judicial diversity. His judges are overwhelmingly straight, white, and male. Many are wealthy corporate attorneys born into privileged American families whose connections guided them along a path to power. In other words, Trump judges do not look like the country they serve.
"While the federal bench grows more homogeneous by the day, Democratic governors are diversifying their state judiciaries to an unprecedented degree. On Monday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, elevated Grace Helen Whitener to the state Supreme Court. Whitener is a disabled black lesbian who immigrated from Trinidad. She joins Inslee’s two other appointees: Raquel Montoya-Lewis, a Jewish Native American who previously served on tribal courts, and Mary Yu, an Asian-American Latina lesbian who officiated the first same-sex marriages in the state." . . .

Washington Supreme Court Justices Mary Yu, Grace Helen Whitener,
and  Raquel Montoya-Lewis.

. . . "The Washington Supreme Court is notably liberal; in recent years, it has issued decisions abolishing capital punishment and juvenile life without parole while upholding LGBTQ non-discrimination laws and progressive public financing of elections. It represents a vision of a different kind of jurisprudence from a radically diverse bench—what the federal judiciary might look like if a Democratic president and Senate controlled the judicial confirmation process. Joe Biden has already pledged to name a black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court if elected, but he’ll have scores of lower court vacancies to fill, as well. He should look to states like Washington to learn how to reshape a judiciary to look more like the country it serves." . . .

Soccer star Megan Rapinoe will be secretary of state if Jay Inslee has any say

“My first act will be to ask Megan Rapinoe to be my secretary of state. I haven’t asked her yet so this could be a surprise to her,” Inslee said at the progressive Netroots Nation conference in Philadelphia. The governor explained that he wanted a secretary of state that leads with “love rather than hate.”

. . . “ 'I actually believe this, because what I think what she has said that has inspired us so much is such an antithesis of the president’s foreign policies,” said Inslee, who isn’t the first politician to throw Rapinoe’s jersey in the political ring. When Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) dropped out of the 2020 presidential race last week, he joked that Rapinoe would have his support if she chose to run for the White House. “I think she turns 35 next July,” Swalwell quipped." . . .

Some of that RapinoeLove:

•  “I’m not going to the f-ing White House,” Rapinoe told Eight by Eight." . . .
• “ 'New York City, you’re the motherf—ing best!” she yelled out to the crowd" . . .
• In addition, Rapinoe disrespected the presidency, saying that ignoring the anthem served as a “[expletive] you” to Trump, later saying she’s “not going to the [expletive] White House” if her team wins the Cup.

Gov Inslee's choice to represent our nation around the world. Including Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Power of Media Ignorance

Victor Davis Hanson  "Almost two weeks ago I offered at NRO a few synopses of various theories about why California — which, for a variety of reasons, had seemed so ripe for a New York–style epidemic — had nonetheless strangely been exempt at least for a while from the virus’s spread. I included the pedestrian possibility of some previously acquired “herd immunity,” given the state’s singular exposure from November to January 31 to direct flights from China, including those from Wuhan, and initial CDC and media reports last year of an unusually early and severe assumed flu hitting the state.
"Within a few days, I was hit by media inquiries and private calls asking about my ongoing “coronavirus antibody testing studies.”
"Despite ad nauseam corrections that I had never claimed in the NRO article or elsewhere to be a doctor, much less an epidemiologist or a conductor of any such study, and that the Hoover Institution is not a medical school, the fake news still spread.
"I got dozens more calls and emails from private citizens who thought they had the virus and wanted confirmation of that supposed fact, in order to venture out and help others with antibodies. Some said they wanted “in” immediately.

"Others called saying they were scared that they had an unknown illness and wanted confirmation of what it had been." . . .