Category: The Racket
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Bagman’s Groove
Value propositions: The Ukrainian energy company that was paying President Biden’s son Hunter $1 million a year cut his monthly compensation in half two months after his father ceased to be vice president. From May 2014, Burisma Holdings Ltd. was paying Hunter $83,333 a month to sit on its board, invoices on his abandoned laptop…
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Pork-Barrel. Almost Literally
The DFL put this out on social media over the weekend: “In partnership with the USDA?” Isn’t there some kind of rule against using taxpayer money (or things bought with taxpayer money) to directly benefit a political party? I mean, they put this event at their headquarters – down an obscure little side road along…
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Of Dictators And Religions
It was interesting, a few years back, watching the retrospectives of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Here’s a sjhort one: It’s as fun to watch now as it was otherworldly and unbelievable back then: after decades of complete control, a government official’s inadvertent slip causes and uproar; another official’s resigned ad-libbed decision opens a…
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Try Some, Buy Some
Every desktop should have a link to The Devil’s Dictionary, the masterwork of Ambrose Bierce, who had his primary success in the late 1800s and into the early 1900s. Bierce’s cynical lexicography still rings true, a full century after he wandered into Mexico to meet his Maker circa 1914. To use one example, Bierce defines…
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This Is What Screwed Looks Like
Governor Walz yesterday morning, as he got ready to head into the studio for his ritual toenail-painting with Esme Murphy: Ever notice how the press never cares about civil rights being trashed until its their civil rights being trashed? He’s wrong, of course. A press that holds power accountable is “foundational to democracy”. So we’re…
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Just A Quick Note
A few regular-ish Democratic commenters have taken umbrage at my occasional statments along the lines of “Democrat voters have no critical thinking skills”. Let me explain. I say it because…’ …well, it’s true. Universally. Without exception. Case in point: “Shots in arms” – thanks to Trump. Billions for schools – that, with the DFL calling…
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#Unexpected
President Biden admits the nation is powerless to change the trajectory of the virus. He did not specifically concede President Trump was right all along, did everything he could, and nobody could have done anything better. But giving up the fight two days after taking office means President Biden has no plan to defeat the virus…
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Government By Platitude
Governor Walz released… …well, he called it his “education plan”, earlier this week. Those of us who work in business – which significantly, has never included anyone in our executive branch – can identify what this…thing, is. It’s a two page list of platitudes. One and a half when you leave out the header. None…
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A Day In The Biden Administration
“Know what’d be better for halting Covid than wearing a mask? Wearing two masks. Let’s all do it. But wait – you know what’d be better than wearing two masks? Three masks! Let’s get on board… Hang on – you know what’d be better than wearing three masks? Four masks! That’s like four times the…
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All In This Together
Remember – it’s not what you know. It’s who you know that has the power and media acquiescence to flout the rules any damn way they want to.
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House (Of Representatives) Poor
Ilhan Omar has been paying her husband’s firm $2.7 million in campaign donations. Under most of your community property laws, that means she’s been paying herself a whole lot of money. And yet while prospering mightily from Omar’s campaign (they grossed $4 million in the 2020 cycle, a nearly 25-fold increase on the firm’s 2018…
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The Non-Profit/Industrial Complex
Joe Biden’s “Cancer Charity” appears to be about as legitimate as the Clinton Foundation. President-elect Joe Biden‘s cancer charity spent the majority of its money on staff payroll and gave none to research, it has been revealed. First reported by The New York Post, tax filings viewed by DailyMail.com showed that The Biden Cancer Initiative amassed $4,809,619…
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Forget What We Said…
It’s been my thesis for some time that Democrats know they can say anything they want, because they know their audience are, shall we say, not critical thinkers, and that the media and education systems will do nothing to fix that. To wit: Democrats who called for defunding the police now say that they never…
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Not The <I>Babylon Bee</I>
Talking about Hunter Biden’s addiction is mean to addicts. Do you know what’s really mean to addicts? Enabling them Giving a separate justice system to the powerful. (Notice how NPR “fact checked” the assertion that Biden was kicked out of the Navy? he got an “administrative discharge” – as if he’d have gotten that had…
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Some Memorials Are More Equal Than Others
My brother died one month ago today. No funeral – they were illegal. Covid. It was SCIENCE! Then the Covid rules changed: we could have a 10-people funeral. That wasn’t enough for both our side and the widow’s side of the family to attend. No funeral. SCIENCE! Then the Covid rules changed again: we could…
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While The Cat’s Aw…Isolated
“States of Emergency” are like catnip for government. Transparency rules get “relaxed” in “everyone’s best interest”, so government can “get things done”. Of course, it’s not all “Emergency” stuff getting done. The Saint Paul City Council is jamming down an exquisitely expensive rework of Ayd Mill Road – a road that rides like an Andean…
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Get The Pitchforks
Is “ICU bed” a technological term, a medical definition, or a billing code? I’m beginning to wonder if it’s not something like: “In order to receive reimbursement at ICU rate, the facility must pass a Level Three inspection and be certified as having X equipment and Y level of dedicated staff holding Z certificates, and…
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Sycophants
On Friday, when Minnesota had 14 cases of the virus, Governor Walz announced schools would remain open because health care workers needed daycare so they could go to work and fight the virus. On Sunday, when Minnesota had 35 cases of the virus, Governor Walz closed the schools except for children of health care workers who need daycare…
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Remember…
…When the Democrats we’re concerned about the chilling effect President Trump’s criticism of a foreign service bureaucrat would have? Not withstanding that the ambassador served at his pleasure? Either do they. Speaking to a crowd on the Supreme Court steps, the leading Senate Democrat declared: “I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell…
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“Good Faith”
Even if the FBI had a good faith basis to open the inquiry, it did not have one to continue the inquiry. And what about all those unmaskings? FBI wiretaps Trump campaign, gives information to Susan Rice in the White House, and it ended there? Nothing got forwarded to the Hillary campaign? Do we believe that?Joe…
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Choose Your Story
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Santa Clause: “Thanks for coming, Larry. I understand you’re not happy being an ordinary elf, making toys and wiggling your ears and saying “hee hee” and “ho ho” and stuff like that. Is it true?”Larry the Elf: “Oh, no, Santa. I love making toys and singing in the elf…
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The Minnesota Medical Association Jumps The…
…I was going to say “shark”, but it’s really just a 50-something ninny with ELCA Hair and a shark fin taped to their collar who identifies as a shark. Minnesotans’ main concerns about healthcare – about which the MMA is putatively supposed to be concerned, itself – are affordability and access. Naturally, they’ve made gun…
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The Bureaucrat’s Burden
Without government, who would “inspect” the retro-pinup girls before they visit vets at the VA? Pin Ups for Vets received an email from the San Diego Veterans Hospital on Monday banning the calendar and telling them the outfits of their volunteers must be scrutinized in advance. Additionally, the costumed volunteers will not be allowed to…
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Eurasia Has Never Been At War With Eastasia, Winston
2015: “There is no deep state, paranoid conservative”. 2019: “Of course, there’s a deep state. And it’s a wonderful thing”. Of course, it’s only Michelle Cottle, who is a one-woman argument in favor of a gender pay gap.