Here's Who's Sitting with Jill Biden at the State of the Union... And Who's Not

Townhall  . . ."If, as the White House says, Jill Biden's guests are to represent President Biden's agenda, there are a few individuals (and inanimate objects) that would be better representatives for the first 13 months of the Biden administration, such as: 

A frontline healthcare worker fired because they chose not to get vaccinated 

Families of the 13 U.S. service members killed by ISIS-K during Biden's surrender 

American citizens and Afghan allies left behind in Afghanistan by Biden

 Shipping containers stuck off the U.S. coast due to a broken supply chain 

Major Biden, the First Family's excommunicated dog

 Hunter Biden or his lady friends

 Taxpayer-bought and HHS-distributed crack pipes

 Illegal immigrants who crossed Biden's open border

 Corn Pop (the bad dude)

 The border agents sidelined by Biden's whip-gate hoax

 Biden's Build Back Better budget that Pelosi and Schumer still can't pass

 The Senate's legislative filibuster that has outlived multiple Biden bills 

Biden's OSHA vaccine mandate that was struck down by the Supreme Court

Sorry Democrats, Your Problem Isn’t Messaging

 The voters know the difference between specious talking points and effective policies.

1.The Democrats have been counting on the electorate being ignorant and/or outright idiotic since 1932. So far so good. 2. One has to be an idiot if one believes democrat policies work. From Carter, to Obama, to Biden (Clinton was smarter than all three, in that he did not try to remake America overnight, and left it intact.), they've tried, but are they expecting a better outcome? I don't believe so. Power, and not the welfare of the country, is their goal. 3. What successes? (Comment to this post)

The American Spectator  . . . "The chances that President Biden will heed this sensible advice are slim indeed if his delusional claims about Afghanistan and the pandemic are any guide. He will use his State of the Union address to exaggerate his meager successes, take credit for positive developments unrelated to his ill-conceived policies, and offer gimmicky proposals like a gas tax moratorium instead of serious initiatives. None of this will dispel fast growing doubts that Biden and his congressional accomplices have any serious ideas concerning how to improve the day-to-day lives of ordinary Americans. It is this conspicuous absence of useful ideas that has all but doomed Democratic chances of retaining their majorities in the House and Senate.

"The Democratic emphasis on better messaging rather than better policies is not merely a bad campaign strategy, it’s an insult to the collective intelligence of the electorate. It assumes voters can’t remember what Biden and the Democratic leadership promised them during the 2020 election, that parents can’t tell when politicians are putting the interests of their big donors before the wellbeing of their children, that consumers can’t calculate how much more they are paying for food and fuel than they were paying a year ago. It assumes that most Americans are idiots. This attitude has become the defining characteristic of the Democratic Party. Thus, the voters are about to send them … well … an unmistakable message."

Why So Many Families Are Uprooting and Fleeing to Freer States

 Intellectual Takeout  "Emily Burns had every intention of staying in Massachusetts. A longtime Boston resident, she, her husband, and three children left the city to settle in the upscale suburb of Newton in January 2020. 

"What followed were two years of ongoing disruption and frustration. Prolonged school closures and continued coronavirus policies such as mask mandates angered Burns. Initially, this mom chose fight over flight.

"She announced a conservative run for U.S. Congress, representing Massachusetts's 4th district, a long-shot attempt in a staunchly Democratic area. Her primary issue was pushing back against COVID policies, particularly those that impacted school children. Her message resonated and Burns collected more than $100,000 in donations for her campaign in just one quarter. She was an outspoken advocate for children and families and called out the Massachusetts politicians who continue to double-down on coronavirus mandates even as elected officials elsewhere eliminate them. 

"Burns was recently featured in a popular article, “Revenge of the Covid Moms” on Bari Weiss’s Substack, that spotlighted mothers who are fed up with endless virus restrictions and are taking action to end them.

"Ultimately, Burns had enough of fighting. This week, she terminated her political campaign and explained that she and her family are fleeing to Texas where her husband has an opportunity to open a new company office. 

“My leaving is entirely predicated on what is best for my family,” Burns wrote. “My trust in the political and cultural leadership of this state is totally broken. The past two years have shown me that I cannot protect my children from the ill effects of that leadership. Given the chance to escape those malign forces, I had to take it.”

"Fight or flight is a choice that more Americans are facing, especially those who live in parts of the country with continued coronavirus restrictions and the constant threat that, even if ended, those restrictions could re-emerge at any time by political decree.". . .

 Kerry McDonald is a Senior Contributor for Intellectual Takeout. She has a B.A. in economics from Bowdoin College and a Master’s degree in education policy from Harvard University. Follow her on Twitter.

Ukraine’s finest hour; About the Holodomor: A look at the Ukrainians anger toward Russia

 The Aspen beat

. . ."Ukraine is not Britain. Ukraine lies not as a naturally protected island of civilization, but at the crossroads of cultures – the juncture of two continents, Europe and Asia. It’s a precarious place.

"Ukraine is largely Slavic in an anthropological sense, as is, to varying extents, Western Russia along with Romania, Serbia, Hungary, Poland, Croatia, Slovakia and, to a lesser extent, the Baltic republics . But that doesn’t mean Ukraine is Russian. Russia is a nationality; Slav is an ethnicity.

"Russia’s claim to Ukraine is approximately the same as Britain’s claim to the United States or Ukraine’s claim to Poland. Which is to say, Russia’s claim is no claim at all.

"And so, to my friends who say that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rightly seeks to “reunite Russia,” I say you’re full of it. You know just enough about anthropology and history to be dangerous, and just enough about morality to be impenetrably amoral.

"Ukrainians know this. They know who they are, and they know they’re not Russian. They struggled under the yoke of totalitarian Russian rule for the better part of a century. They finally broke free along with the rest of eastern Europe upon the inevitable but long-awaited fall of the Soviet Union. They have no desire, and do not deserve, to become a vassal state of backward, tyrannical Russia again.

"The Ukrainians want freedom, and they’re earning it every hour. They’ve risked everything in defying one of the mightiest armies the world has seen. They’ve driven them out of Kyiv, they’ve denied them Kharkiv.. . ."

Ukrainians hated Russia and welcomed German invaders at first   Then the Nazis blew it all by murdering Ukrainians wholesale.

The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 is remembered as Hitler’s most catastrophic military mistake. But in 1941 it didn’t seem to be a mistake at all. “Everyone thought at the beginning that the war will result in the complete defeat of the Soviet Union,” said Aleksey Bris, who was an 18-year-old Ukrainian student in 1941.". . .

. . ."But then, after a moment’s reflection, I realized that this could never have happened. The whole nature of Nazism meant that after the initial euphoria of their “liberation” from Soviet rule wore off, Ukrainians were destined to experience the Nazis as some of the cruelest conquerors in history.". . .

Not even the Communist Holodomor surpassed Hitler's genocide!

A Brief History of Ukraine-Russia Relations    

Seven million Ukrainians died during the Holodomor. Some scholars say Stalin did this to crush the Ukrainian independence movement, and the Holodomor was verboten ‌until the waning years of the USSR.  Then, in World War 2 (WW2), Ukraine’s location between the great powers turned it into a meat grinder. Having to endure both the Wehrmacht and the Red Army, many millions of Ukrainians died, millions more became homeless, and the conflict destroyed the country’s wealth.  The Holodomor translates roughly to “death by hunger” in Ukrainian. 

Holodomor Memorial, Kyiv. Holodomor means, “death by starvation

26 Horrifying Photos Of Holodomor, The Ukrainian Famine That Killed Millions (allthatsinteresting.com)

All the above to say that Ukrainians do not have a pleasant history with the Russians.

Will CNN finally stop talking about Trump?

 Silvio Canto, Jr.    "There is a new kid in town.  We are talking about Chris Licht, the apparent new boss over at CNN, the ratings-challenged network that obsessed itself into irrelevancy by talking about Trump 24/7.

"This is the story at Axios:    

Under new chief Chris Licht, CNN will dial down the prime-time partisanship and double down on the network's news-gathering muscle, top sources tell me.

Why it matters: Ratings are secondary to credibility, in the view of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who's taking over CNN.

Jeff Zucker's successor at the CNN helm will be Licht -- showrunner of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and a popular, pioneering producer who knows his way around America's top control rooms.

"We wish Mr. Licht well.  At the same time, let's hope that the new leadership understands just how bad things are between CNN and viewers.

"First, the ratings are terrible.  Forbes reports that Prime Time Down Nearly 70% In Key Demo.  I am no expert on TV or "demo" but down 70% is pretty bad.

"Second, and this is critical, the hosts are just preaching to the choir and the choir is losing members.  So they should replace the lineup and find some news readers who avoid controversy or opinions.  They should bring back the "Headline News" format from the 1980s or the 30-minute newscast around the clock.

"Finally, they should consider a name change. CNN is toxic. I don't know what the new name should be but anything but CNN has to be an improvement.

"It's amazing they set out to destroy to destroy Trump and ended up destroying themselves. There is a lesson there for all of us."

So silly, CNN makes for good parody:

9 Signs You're Watching Too Much CNN | The Babylon Bee  . . .2. You still think one of these investigations is going to “get” Trump. The walls are closing in. Any day now.

The Babylon Bee Presents: Top CNN Moments Of 2021 | The Babylon Bee

. . .November: CNN Reports On 'Deadly Boat Accident' At Pearl Harbor

The Babylon Bee | Fake News You Can Trust

Ukraine conflict: Israel helps evacuate Lebanese, Syrians, Egyptians

 Ukraine Conflict: Israel Helps Evacuate Lebanese, Syrians, Egyptians - I24NEWS

" 'We’ll help anyone who we can help to get to the border,' Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman says

"Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed on Sunday that diplomats assisted Lebanese, Syrian and Egyptian nationals in evacuating from war-torn Ukraine, Haaretz reported.

"A ministry spokesperson said that citizens of several countries in the region, including those officially in a state of war with the Jewish state, boarded a bus on the Polish side of the border organized by Israeli diplomats.". . .

“The American dream won!” Virginia Anti-Asian School Admission Scheme Halted By Federal Judge

 Legal Insurrection

"We have covered numerous schemes by admissions offices to lower Asian enrollment through various subterfuges centered on deemphasizing or eliminating the weight given to standardized testing. The schemes never come right out and admit what they are doing, they usually couch it in vague soft factors and gibberish about “equity”.

"We’ve seen in in higher education with the Harvard case accepted for review by the Supreme Court, and in K-12 with the Boston “Zip Code Quota Plan” that so far has survived court challenge, and is on appeal.

"We also covered the Lawsuit Alleging Anti-Asian Discrimination In Admissions Change At Top-Ranked Virginia High School,  Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (“TJ”) .". . . Video

Ukraine Says it Has Now Been Invaded by a Second Country

 Western Journal

. . ."Latvian Defence Minister Artis Pabriks said Belarusian troops had crossed the border into Ukraine, the U.K.’s Mirror reported on Tuesday.

“ 'I am very much concerned that Russian troops, following orders from the top, will go into the mode similar to that President Assad was using against his population,” Pabriks said, referring to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.“This basically means we have two aggressives at this moment officially,” he said.

"Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in a statement his nation had not invaded Ukraine, according to Fox News.

However, he said Tuesday that Belarus was deploying more troops on its border with Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing the state news agency Belta.

“Those are well trained rapid deployment groups which are ready to stop any provocation and any military action against Belarus,” Lukashenko said.

Advance Peek at the man who will bring the State of the Union Address –

 The American Catholic

Remember Biden lies flagrantly!

Biden Smears Republicans, Says They’re Trying To “Keep The Black Vote From Even Counting”   Voter ID will be one of Joe's topics tonight, you can be sure.

Flashback: Biden Says “Imagine What Can Happen In Ukraine” If Trump Is Reelected…

The State of the Union is: Dumb - American Thinker   "I was reading a Breitbart piece about the State of the Union, all about President Biden "plunging both America and the world into chaos.' "

What To Do With the Left After Their Coming Spanking › American Greatness

 Beware hopes too high; anything short of expectations can be taken as a triumph for the left. TD

Conrad Black

The day is now not far off when wokeness, American self-hate, foreign appeasement, and the indulgence of criminal and corrupt organizations like Black Lives Matter will end. 

"Even as the giant Potemkin village of Democratic Trump-hating self-righteousness crumbles week by week, the last gasp is audible: the grotesquely overstaffed January 6 committee investigating the events at the Capitol on that day last year is full of belligerent former prosecutors who, in interviews with the New York Times and others, acknowledge that they are pursuing their task as if they were after prominent alleged gangsters. The Congress has no power to indict and all it can do is claim to unearth facts that would justify an indictment from  Attorney General Merrick Garland. Garland claims to believe that parents concerned about critical race theory and other subjects taught to their children are a principal threat to public order in the United States. Though he is in lock-step with the far-Left policy agenda of the administration, even he might not be prepared to indict a former president on such a weak set of facts as this case presents.

"The FBI director, Christopher Wray, reported shortly after January 6, 2021 that there was no evidence connecting those who had trespassed and vandalized the Capitol with the Trump campaign. They’ve detained hundreds of alleged Capitol trespassers without trial for many months, presumably subjecting them to the customary American prosecutor’s interrogations designed to extort useful evidence with threats of indictments or release and immunity from perjury charges, (with reckless disregard for accuracy). 

"The entire impetus to attack Trump is inspired by the desperate partisanship of a failed Democratic administration and Congress awaiting a severe electoral rebuke in November, and facing an array of apparently well-founded investigations themselves. The Trump-haters have been trying desperately to create the necessary ambiance of righteous unction; reputable commentators like George Will and Peggy Noonan refer to the incident at the Capitol as “1/6” to confer upon it the infamy of 9/11 and to confirm the George Will view that he and his staff were in physical danger on that particular January 6, even  though they were miles away from the Capitol. The even more lapidary Thomas Friedman at the New York Times is of the opinion that January 6, 2021 ranks with Pearl Harbor and 9/11, as well, of course, as the imaginary Russian influence on the 2016 presidential election that he endlessly touted.". . .

Slow Joe digs in against opening up US energy production to checkmate Russia

Is John Kerry behind all this?

 Monica Showalter   "It's the easiest thing in the world: cut off Russia's oil earnings and watch its war against Ukraine collapse.

"A U.S. oil embargo on Russia would destroy its cash stream which is financing 30% of its government, including its attack on Ukraine.

"In a war, at least one you want to win, you cut off supply lines.  Grant and Sherman understood this.  But General Biden is a little different.  He wants to keep Putin getting that money until Bad America reforms to a green energy system to his liking.  He has a live war in front of him; he has the solution on the table; and instead of taking that solution, he sticks to his green energy "priority."

"Here's how bad it's gotten:

Jen Psaki says Biden wants to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by using green energy, not by expanding U.S. energy production pic.twitter.com/NqCKmzkCBN

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 27, 2022

"Transferring the entire economy to unreliable green energy, number one, is never going to happen.  Scott Johnson at Power Line explained that clearly in 2020: it won't happen because there aren't enough rare earth minerals out there to create all the batteries and greenie retrofits, even if China would gladly sell to us, to get the job done.   

"The Bidenites, though, are sticking to their pie-in-the-sky green energy dream even if it means continuing to bankroll Putin's war.  Psaki even called the whole idea of opening up America's domestic energy production to make our country energy-independent a "misdiagnosis."

"Other Democrats yakked about opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which Joe has done before.  How'd that work out for him?". . .

Biden Handed over Intelligence to China on Ukraine, China Gave It to Russia

 Neon Nettle

"After one diplomatic exchange in December, U.S. officials got intelligence showing Beijing had shared the information with Moscow, telling the Russians that the United States was trying to sow discord — and that China would not try to impede Russian plans and actions," the report adds.

"Democrat Joe Biden has reportedly been handing U.S. intelligence to China regarding Russia's plans to invade Ukraine, which the Chinese Communist Party has been giving straight to Vladimir Putin, according to reports.

"Biden’s administration has been turning over intel on Ukraine to Communist China for months, The New York Times is reporting.

"Admin officials hoped to attempt to get China to convince Russia to not invade, according to the Times.

"However, the plan backfired after it emerged the Chinese regime has been funneling the intel to Russia to aid with their invasion". . .

Those people are deadly serious and more than capable; standing against a Liberal-led country that stands for mere silliness in all its dealings. TD