Free speech descends to new lows in Vermont

 American Thinker  "In another twist in the twisted tale of a Vermont girls' volleyball team ejected from their own locker room due to conflicts with a trans-identifying student who allegedly ogled them, the father of the girl who blew the changing room whistle was dismissed as soccer coach when he refused to publicly apologize for calling the trans student a "boy."  Aside from issues of privacy or gender identification, this raises important questions about government infringement of fundamental free speech rights under the United States and Vermont Constitutions.

"The father's sentiment was not that extreme.  In response to a comment by the mother of the trans student on social media, Travis Allen wrote:

"I am the father of the girl you claim 'made up a story for attention,'" Travis Allen wrote in a Facebook reply to Sivvy. "The truth is your son watched my daughter and multiple other girls change in the locker room. While he got a free show, they got violated."

The father added: "You think this is fine and dandy. I wonder how you would feel if I watched you undress?"

"Free speech is undoubtedly an important liberty.  The Vermont State Constitution recognizes this in Article 13:

That the people have a right to freedom of speech, and of writing and publishing their sentiments, concerning the transactions of government, and therefore the freedom of the press ought not to be restrained.. . .

Kari Lake May Be the Greatest Thing to Happen to Republicans This Year

PJ Media

Kari Lake has been a bright ray of sunshine here in this already sunny state. In the short period of time that she’s been the nominee she’s proven that, should she win, she’ll be an asset not only for Arizona but for the national GOP as well.

. . ."Kari Lake — the Republican candidate for governor here in my native Arizona — has been the biggest surprise for me in this most important of election years.

"I was skeptical of Lake during the primary, as were many of my conservative friends. She seemed rather new to conservatism. After a conversation with my good friend and colleague Kevin Downey Jr., I was reminded that not everybody comes out of the womb a conservative as I did.

"My skepticism quickly disappeared as soon as Lake won the primary and hit the campaign trail. Her career behind enemy lines in the mainstream media gives her an advantage that even veteran Republican politicians don’t enjoy. Lake knows how to handle them because she was them.

"In the past six years, only two prominent Republicans have known how to handle hit jobs from the enemy of the people media: Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. Trump does it with his natural combativeness, DeSantis honed his craft under relentless assault beginning in the early days of the pandemic.

"Kari Lake showed up armed with insider information that she uses to lay traps that idiot reporters keep walking into.

"Recently, a faux journo type hit Lake with the “ELECTION DENIER” talking point, obviously hoping for a “Gotcha!” moment. He no doubt ended up regretting that.

Matt has the story:

During a campaign stop on Monday, Lake was asked her thoughts about her name being linked to denying election results, and she really let the reporter have it.

“I’m actually shocked you asked that question,” she said before she called upon a young campaign staffer named Anthony to present 150 examples of Democrats denying election results. She took the stack of paper from him and went to town. “Is that an election denier?”

She then cited Hillary Clinton calling Trump an “illegitimate president” and a Los Angeles Times op-ed titled, “Was the 2016 election legitimate? It’s now definitely worth asking the question.”

“So it’s okay for Democrats to question elections, but it’s not okay for Republicans. It’s a crock of B.S. Every one of you knows that,” Lake continued. “We have our freedom of speech and we’re not going to relinquish it to a bunch of fake news.”. . .

 Trump-Backed Kari Lake confronts CNN’s Dana Bash

One such instance came when Lake, confronted with the usual “election denier” comments, blasted Bash for not labeling Georgia’s Stacey Abrams an “election denier” despite Abrams’ past claims about her 2018 loss to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.. . .

Weaponized Governmental Failure: A Primer

The American Spectator

Democrats rule over a ruin, but they rule.

This is why the leftists keep insisting that the Electoral College needs to be scrapped and a national popular vote would be better. They want the handful of largest cities - dysfunctional under Democrat mismanagement - to decide for the nation.- From a reader's comment to this article 

"The simple definition of Weaponized Governmental Failure is this: it’s the deliberate refusal to perform the basic tasks of urban governance for a specific political purpose.

"The crime and the graft and the potholes and the bad drainage, not to mention the spotty trash collection or nonexistent snow shoveling, aren’t incompetence. In fact, none of what you see in the American public sector is incompetence. The people responsible for it are quite highly educated and well-trained in their craft. You just need to understand what their craft is.

"It’s a choice to do a poor job with the more mundane tasks of running a city, and an educated and purposeful choice at that. If you do those things effectively, after all, what you will get is middle-class voters moving in. Middle-class voters tend to choose to live in places where they can expect to get actual value out of their tax dollars — good roads, safe streets, functional drainage, decent schools, a friendly business climate, and a growing economy, among other things — and those things are hard to produce when you govern the way the Left does.

"Put a different way, middle-class voters are a pain in the ass.

"They want lots of things that make for unrewarding grunt work for a mayor, and a Democrat blowhard like a Mitch Landrieu or Ted Wheeler of Portland would rather spend his time on vacuous cultural aggressions like “social change” and offering wealth redistribution and excuses for the bad personal habits that cause so many people to be poor.

"Not to mention tilting at bronze statues of better men long dead and nearly forgotten as a means of “making a difference.”

"For a Landrieu, or a Kwame Kilpatrick, Marion Barry, Bill de Blasio, or Lori Lightfoot, it is no great loss if those middle-class voters declare themselves fed up and decamp to the suburbs. Their exodus simply makes for an electorate that is a lot less demanding and easier to control.

"That “white flight” is a feature. It’s not a bug. And it isn’t all that white either. Those suburbs the folks are leaving for? Their minority population share usually increases as their population does. Why do you think that is? Simple: the black middle class has no more use for these woke urban Democrats than the white middle class does.

"And it’s quite a mutual sentiment, to be sure.". . .

Biden is Still a Political Albatross

 

What Does Albatross Around One’s Neck Mean? - Writing Explained   "Definition: A heavy burden one carries, especially one that accompanies significant guilt.  The idiom albatross around one’s neck refers to a heavy burden someone carries, especially a burden that torments someone incessantly. This idiom comes from the 19th-century poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

Opinion | Biden is Still a Political Albatross - POLITICO  . . ."The reality is that he is persistently unpopular and an enormous drag on his party, with little obvious upside potential. And despite his protestations, he may end up declaring that he’s not running for reelection a year or so from now.

"Credit to him for snagging his party’s nomination in 2020 amid widespread skepticism he could still connect with primary voters. But ultimately he won the presidency by default, as the one major-party presidential candidate not named Donald Trump, and he could prove a parentheses in political history between Trump presidential terms or the brief, forgettable bridge to much-younger, more contemporary Democrats like Kamala Harris or Pete Buttigieg.

"Usually, a president needs to be above 50 percent approval to significantly reduce midterm losses and in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, he’s below 40, at 39 percent. He’s higher in other polls, but a spate of recent surveys have him at 40 or 41. He is getting crushed on the issue every poll shows is most important to Americans, the economy. The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll has him at 35-61 percent approval on his handling of the economy, and the ABC/Washington Post survey shows people trust Republicans more on the issue by 16 points. Democrats’ slim lead in the generic ballot is now coming despite their feelings for Biden, not because of him.". . .

Americans Might Just Vote Every Dem out After Nancy Pelosi's Latest Remarks

 RedState

Pelosi further stepped in it, claiming part of what caused inflation was Biden created millions of jobs. This would be laughable, if this ignorance/lie/spin wasn’t so wrong on every level. No, Biden didn’t create any jobs; people went back to work after the pandemic — that’s not creating jobs

"I’ve reported on a lot of polls now about what the most important things are to the American people in this election. The answers are always the same: inflation, the economy, and crime. Poll after poll says it. Everyone that gets interviewed on the question says the same thing.". . .

. . .This benefits the Republicans because that’s what they are focused on.

"Yet, what are the Democrats focused on?

"According to a recent Harvard-Harris poll, voters think the Democrats are focused on Jan. 6, women’s rights, and climate change — none of which even crack the top numbers on concerns for Americans in this election. In the face of all the economic problems, that’s what the Democrats are focusing their time on, in addition to being divisive and demonizing Republicans. They’re more focused on climate change than solving our energy problems–which, ironically, they created because of their focus on climate change.

"Andrea Mitchell had House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on MSNBC, and after basically kissing her feet, saying that she, Pelosi, and Joe Biden had done so much for the American people, she asked about the voters’ concerns about inflation and rising crime.". . .

.@SpeakerPelosi: "I don't agree" w/ polls showing Americans care about soaring crime & inflation pic.twitter.com/IMyHx4dNHd

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 18, 2022

. . . Imagine this privileged take from Pelosi. Likely the inflation is not hitting her very hard, and she has no problem getting her designer ice cream. But not everyone has been able to get rich off the government teet as she has for the billion years that she’s been in office.

Democrats show how empty their hand truly is by playing the race card over and over again.

Donkey Hotey; Karine Jean-Pierre 

 The American Spectator  "On Monday I had a post at RVIVR, which is my other site, noting that as the polls begin to harmonize around the idea that yes, contrary to all the frenetic legacy corporate Democrat-shill media narratives, there will in fact be a red wave in November, Democrats are becoming desperate.

"And they’re throwing everything they can find into the mix in a desperate attempt to stave off that red wave. That’s why you’ve got the “Inflation Reduction Act” which doesn’t reduce inflation, it’s why Team Biden now touts a half-trillion-dollar student loan bailout bacchanal which nobody thinks is good policy, it’s why the president just pardoned all the dope dealers in America who pled down to possession charges from the federal prisons, it’s why he dumped 10 million barrels of oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after the unmitigated failure to stop OPEC from kicking sand in his face, and it’s why Joe Biden is running his senile old mouth about nuclear Armageddon.

"None of these things are about prudent governance. They’re actually not even about smart politics. In every case, they’re actions that will likely alienate more voters than they’ll attract. But when you’re in desperation/salvage mode you do things to activate your base, and Team Biden, which is really akin to a fuzzy toilet seat cover over what is really Team Obama, is trying to save as many Democrats as possible by ginning up soft blue voters who can’t quite delude themselves into the idea that things are going well.

"That isn’t to say what they’re doing is effective. In fact, the truest thing you can say about Team Biden/Team Obama is that they suck at promoting and implementing their sucktastic agenda. Nevertheless, there is a purpose behind the suck, and it’s to get all the Usual Suspects out to vote in November.

"Which is why you see idiocy like this:

Absolutely. He has completely changed my view of how things get done in Washington. https://t.co/4wPntpiTWF

— David Hogg ☮️ (@davidhogg111) October 7, 2022

Undercover Video Backfire: Conservatives Go Crazy for GOP Congressman's Call to Break Up the FBI

 PJ Media  "If you’re going to post an undercover video with hopes that it goes viral, it’s important to understand your audience.

"This is a lesson Democrat bigshot Scott Dworkin might take to heart after his massive public Twitter fail on Monday afternoon.

"Dworkin “You Can’t Spell Dworkin Without ‘Dork’!” breathlessly released undercover video of Rep. Dave Schweikert (R-Ariz.) “talking about breaking up the FBI and impeaching members of the Biden Administration if GOP wins House.”

"Here’s the clip:"  

GOP Rep. Dave Schweikert was caught on undercover video talking about breaking up the FBI and impeaching members of the Biden Administration if GOP wins House. Let’s make this viral.
pic.twitter.com/xLHtZtEW3J

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) October 17, 2022

Media Go To Increasingly Absurd Lengths To Protect Biden

It took 21 months under Biden for the economy to regain 10 million of those jobs — an average of 476,000 a month. But in Trump’s last nine months in office, 12.5 million got their jobs back — an average of 1.4 million a month.

  Issues & Insights  "Just how far will the leftist media go to protect President Joe Biden? If the past couple of weeks are any indication, there is no limit.

"Take the incident in late September where Biden repeatedly called out for a dead congresswoman to come forward. It happened when he was speaking at a White House conference on nutrition and health and started thanking lawmakers who’d worked on the issue.

“ 'Representative Jackie — are you here? Where’s Jackie? — I think she was going to be here,” Biden said.

"Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., had died in a car wreck in August. Biden even issued a statement at the time, saying “Jill and I are shocked and saddened by the death of Congresswoman Jackie Walorski of Indiana along with two members of her staff in a car accident today in Indiana.” Yet there he was, searching her out in the audience.

"Most cognizant Americans saw this for what it was: Another worrisome sign that Biden’s mental acuity is rapidly declining. For the press, however, it was an opportunity to praise the 79-year-old.

"Jill Lawrence, a former commentary editor at USA Today, wrote that “there’s another way to look at this.” Namely, she said, it shows “how generous and professional Biden is.”

"He was just trying to be nice to a lawmaker, and a Republican one to boot, she wrote. What a guy! And how refreshingly different from that evil Trump! “Some things,” she concludes, “are more important than age and a perfect memory.” How touching.

"Then, within a matter of days, both the New York Times and the Washington Post each published stories defending Biden against his habit of, well, lying about just about everything, especially about himself.

"The Times headlined its article: “Biden, Storyteller in Chief, Spins Yarns That Often Unravel.' ”. . .

OUT OF TOUCH Joe Biden Causes Twitter Explosion After Claiming Gas Prices Have Always Been High

   Joe Biden said the other day that “it’s always been the case” that gas in LA is $7 per gallon. The average gas price in LA has never been $7 and was $3.15 when Trump left office.

Joe Biden chomps ice cream, tells fawning media economy is 'strong as hell'  Yes, the economy's "hell" all right, and Joe's cooling off with expensive ice cream while you and I and all the other Americans are taking the heat from it.

What a vile picture of a president so out of touch he has no idea how bad he looks. He's flaunting his ice cream before us, as we contemplate the latest monster inflation figures and 401(k) losses, taking a lick, and telling us we have a "strong as hell" economy.

Pete Buttigieg’s delusional boast about Democrats’ failing campaigns

The Mayor learned from watching Biden that it is easy to look Americans in the eye, lie about the obvious, and be fully supported by much of the electorate. TD

Andrea Widburg

When Buttigieg entered the Democrat presidential primary in 2019, the only real ability he demonstrated was that he could leverage himself into positions for which he seemed to have no useful qualifications. Briefly, he was a good student, whose hard-left focus showed him perfectly suited for a life in academia but did not train him in any of the skills required for being president. 

. . ." And then, there Buttigieg was, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, the 310th largest city in America but recently ranked as the 10th most dangerous city in America. During his mayoralty, Buttigieg had virtually no significant accomplishments and never received more than 11% of the vote. 

"Heading into the Democrat party primaries, where he placed very well, Buttigieg had only two things going for him: First, he made a big deal out of being gay, as if that is a useful accomplishment that qualifies one to be a nation’s chief executive. Second, he has a truly beautiful voice, one that is deep and mellifluous, making any nonsense he spouts sound weirdly reasonable. 

"Those minimal qualifications catapulted Buttigieg onto Biden's cabinet as Transportation Secretary and, today, allow him to spin a complete fantasy for the Democrats’ poor polling leading up to the midterms. According to him, Biden’s policies have been so darn good it is impossible for Democrat candidates properly to explain all the benefits to voters:"

"Remember, we have our challenges right now but when the president took office, we were facing an economy that was at risk of going into freefall. The American Rescue Plan stopped that," Transportation Sec. Buttigieg tells @GStephanopoulos. https://t.co/SYNTcCdm7c pic.twitter.com/rGpvBCzcYq

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 16, 2022

Does America still follow California?

 

https://www.terrellaftermath.com/

California Wants 100% Electric Vehicles By 2035. Will Its Energy Grid Be Ready? (forbes.com)

California Is Facing An Electricity Crisis. But It Has Also Mandated A Switchover To Electric Vehicles (forbes.com)

California EV Mandate Could "Lead To Disaster" For State's Already Fragile Electric Grid - Activist Post

. . ."Without doubt, the switchover to electric vehicles (EVs) is important for decarbonization because the transportation sector accounts for 27% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But for policy change to have political support, the switching costs should be low. This is especially true for cars on which the modern society is dependent. Gasoline car owners drive up to gas stations anytime to fuel up. EV owners would probably expect the same: charge their cars at their convenience.

"But can they? Apparently not.

"California’s EV announcement came at an unfortunate time because the state soon thereafter experienced a heatwave. This led to a surge in electricity demand, creating the possibility of widespread rolling blackouts.". . .

WOW: Journos Attempt to Take EV Truck on Roadtrip, Find Out the Hard Way It Takes 5 DAYS to Charge!  Ready to do some hi-tek math?

Biden faces his subjects

It turns out Biden also took the opportunity to become the human embodiment of an ice cream meme. According to the Know Your Meme website, versions of the ‘Joe Biden eating ice cream meme have been circulating the internet since 2020. Biden’s ice cream antics today reminded Twitter users of this particular version of the meme, which has been around for at least 6 months.

 Video: Biden Attempts A Sniffing At A Baskin Robbins In Oregon But This Girl Reveals How To Escape His Signature “Predator” Move   Well, guess again because after sniffing a girl yesterday and making her obviously uncomfortable he attempted the same stuff today.

His predator move however wasn’t as successful as yesterday as this girl pulled her hand away from him.

"While he was eating his ice cream Biden turned his focus on a girl who was sitting in the store and went over to shake her hand. It’s hard to tell what he said and he held her hand longer than is required to shake it. But it isn’t hard to see how fast the little girl pulled her hand away from him.

"Biden also bent in, sniffing the head of the woman next to the little girl. He also appeared to kiss the top of her head."

Elsewhere....

Video: Biden Motorcade Gets Ambushed By Based Man With Gigantic “Trump 2024” Flag Pole – The Crowds’ Reaction Says It All  . . .Sure, he saw all the Trump flags and whatnot, but what he probably didn’t expect to see was “FLAG MAN” running down the street as fast as lightening, right next to Joe’s car, waving a “Trump 2024” flag.

"Seriously, how great was that guy? He was definitely not giving up until he was as close to Joe as humanly possible, and he did it.

"There are still so many amazing patriots in California and the crowds’ reaction says it all!

"Would you to Los Angeles on vacation or any other liberal-run city right now? You’d probably be safer walking around the streets of Kabul. No joke. I am actually not being sarcastic. That’s how bad things have gotten, thanks to Dems and their hate for police, love of criminals, and soft-on-crime DAs.

"Imagine how these patriots feel every day!"

The language heard is most regrettable. TD

Restaurant Owner Posts a Photo With Mike Lindell; Is Now Receiving Threats and Harassment

After an outpouring of criticism from people who indicated they had never eaten at the restaurant, staff added an update about Lindell’s visit. They lamented the hateful comments directed at them and described how Lindell and his family treated the restaurant’s Hispanic staff respectfully and were very nice people. 

Resist the Mainstream  "California cancel culture crusaders censured a restaurant owner for allowing staff to post photos with a conservative personality they dislike.

"A Mexican restaurant in Humboldt County, Tres Chiles Picosos , posted photos of staff alongside MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell on Facebook.

"Restaurant owner Michelle Hill said a waitress and a bartender recognized Lindell because they have purchased MyPillow products, according to an SFGate report. Hill added the staff of her North California restaurant were unfamiliar with Lindell’s galvanizing participation in national politics. The owner said she permitted a manager to post the photo on the restaurant’s Facebook page because staff were excited by having a quasi-celebrity like Lindell eat at their restaurant.

"The Facebook post was not intended as any kind of political statement, Hill declared.

“I don’t get into politics,” she said. “We knew nothing about him apart from that he’s the MyPillow guy.”

" 'My staff buys his pillows, his sheets, his socks,” HIll said, adding, “they were just excited to see someone famous.”

"Lindell is being sued and investigated for his claims that electronic voting machines helped Democrats steal a 2020 general election from former President Donald Trump. The MyPillow CEO is a vocal supporter of the former president and his policies, which have made him persona non grata to liberals and progressives.". . .

Posts were supportive of Lindell, such as this one: 

Albert Garcia: Mike Lindell is an American patriot and I would eat with him anytime before eating with brainwashed liberal hate filled fools!