Last week, our intrepid news media were falling all over themselves trying to find Donald Trump’s medical records, to verify that he’d almost been shot in the head.
If it happened in Belarus, Burundi, or Myanmar, Joe Biden’s blitzkrieg withdrawal from the presidential race would have inspired eye rolls. We jettisoned an incumbent president’s re-election campaign with all the pomp of an NFL practice squad transaction, announcing the move via a blip of a social media post. Only in America is anyone tempted to take such head-scratching events at face value.
You think you hate the media – but it’s still not enough.
Kamala was in on it. She covered up Joe's obvious mental decline. Kamala knew Joe couldn't do the job, so she did it. Look what she got done: a border invasion, runaway inflation, the American Dream dead. pic.twitter.com/H3Oyew0ug9
My humble opinion – there’s no need to react to any of them differently, at least as individuals. they all different faces of the same machine; the same back-room figures who animated our current occupant in terms of policy will be pulling the levers and wires behind Harris, Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer.
There was, and may remain, about of speculation that Tim Walz could wind up on one of the potential VP short lists.
My fearless predication: if Walz oozes onto a ticket, it’ll be terrible news for Democrats, not merely because Walz is a chameleon who turns into whatever he needs to turn into for expediency’s sake – that’s no different than Harris, Newsom, Whitmer of any of them.
But there are two reasons to pick a Veep candidate:
Shore up a key state, region or constituency: That’s why Mike Pence, George HW Bush, not to mention Biden and Harris themselves, got their nods; to shore up the POTUS candidates support respectively among evangelicals, moderates, moderates and progressives.
To serve as the President’s political enforcer/”Bad Cop”: That was the purpose LBJ served for Kennedy, in terms of legislative support. I think it’s why Trump picked Vance.
HarrisNewsomWhitmer need the former; current polling shows them weak in all sorts of important states. Governors Josh Sharpiro (PA) and Andy Bashear (KY) could buoy a Democrat campaign’s chances in some key swing states.
What does Walz bring?
Minnesota.
A state the Democrats consider theirs as a birthright.
If the pick Governor Walz for Veep, that’s a sign the DNC is “breaking the glass”.
No surprise that Joe Biden has ended his campaign. He’s been a fugitive from Madame Tussauds for a long time now and even when he was at the height of his powers, he was at best a 10-watt bulb. He has been a horrible buffoon and genuine menace to the body politic for a half century and his departure from the field is long overdue. I have long thought Bill Clinton was the most despicable person to occupy the Oval Office, but Biden provides strong competition for the title.
Kamala Harris is, at this point, the frontrunner for the Donks, but it remains to be seen if the powers that be on the port side are willing to let her be the nominee. Not sure they are. My guess is they would rather have a fresh face without the associated baggage to take on the Bad Orange Man. Who would that be? I can think of a few possibilities, in order of plausibility:
Josh Shapiro, Governor of Pennsylvania
Roy Cooper, Governor of North Carolina
Andy Beshear, Governor of Kentucky
Gretchen Whitmer, Governor of Michigan
Of that group, Whitmer likely has the highest profile, which is what makes her the least likely possibility. She’s got a definite air of Nurse Ratched about her and the only demographic that finds her appealing is human resources managers. Given his overall greasiness and demonstrably dismal performance, I don’t think Gavin Newsom is the one, nor do I see Pritzker of Illinois having a shot either. There are some delusional types (Betty McCollum, for example) who are touting Tim Jong Walz as a possible dark horse, but he’s a sputtering moron who would have no chance unless the entire Washington press corps morphs into Esme Murphy. And you can forget Skeletor Evers next door as well, as he has the charisma of lint.
I don’t doubt there will be any number of other adventures before we get to November; I would not be surprised if another assassination attempt is forthcoming, nor would I be surprised if the corrupt judge in the New York trial that saddled Trump with a bunch of “felonies” tries to put Trump in Rikers in the general population. Any other guesses? Place yer bets.
British climate protesters who blocked the London beltway get seriously slammed in court:
Obstructing a highway is not simple political expression, and it is far from “peaceful protest.” It involves the physical obstruction of others’ freedom of movement. It is also disruptive and potentially tortious conduct that can have severe consequences. In this case, those seeking to “just stop oil” have done little to advance their cause (traffic congestion results in worse fuel economy and increases emissions), but and managed to cause significant harm to others. From the BBC report:
The action resulted in chaos on the M25 over four successive days, causing nearly 51,000 hours of driver delays, the court heard. The protests closed parts of the motorway in Kent, Surrey, Essex and Hertfordshire.
People missed flights, medical appointments and exams. Two lorries collided, and a police motorcyclist came off his bike during one of the protests on 9 November 2022 while trying to bring traffic to a halt in a “rolling road block”.
Prosecutors alleged the protests led to an economic cost of at least £765,000, while the cost to the Metropolitan Police was put at more than £1.1m.
The activsits and their allies also sought to disrupt the trial, but to no avail.
The party that thinks women dressing in the ketchup bottle costumes from Handmaid’s Tale is utterly profoundly meaningful and not a little bit mawkish or cloying or hyperdramatic…
…has suddenly developed scruples about costume accessories?
Is it just me, or is Joe Biden throwing everything he can find at the wall to see what buys votes?
First, its “national rent control”:
President Joe Biden is ready to propose a 5% cap on annual rent increases for tenants of major landlords as he tries to show he’s doing something about the high cost of housing, according to a person familiar with the plan.
The proposal, to be announced while the president visits Nevada on Tuesday, is being championed by Biden in the middle of a tense presidential campaign and a time when housing costs have been a major driver of overall inflation.
Because that did so much good for “affordable housing” in New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis and Saint Paul..
But that’s just retail Democrat pettifoggery. Next, he goes big:
President Biden is reportedly planning to endorse major changes to the U.S. Supreme Court, including proposals for legislation to establish term limits for the justices and an enforceable ethics code. https://t.co/VD474v8YPx
This is a play for the “ignorant low-information emotion-driven” voter bloc, which elections since 2000 show is between 48-52% of the electorate.
The “rent control”, like his “student loan forgiveness”, is a violation of the Takings clause. Expanding the court without a very solid congressional majority, merely a delusion.
To: Rep. McCollum From: Mitch Berg, Obstreporous peasant Re: Civil RIghts
Your Highness,
Yesterday, you criticized the federal appeals court ruling that said Minnesota could not deny carry permits to qualfied adults between ages 18 and 20.
Just days after a 20-year-old shot a former U.S. president, this ruling puts Minnesotans at greater risk by putting guns ahead of protecting lives. It overrules the will of the people seeking to make our communities safer from epidemic of gun violence.https://t.co/G3bH3NxFeE
— Rep. Betty McCollum (@BettyMcCollum04) July 16, 2024
Please list the other civil rights from which adults ages 18-20 should be excluded.
Chaya Raichik, of the account “Libs of TikTok”, and her seven-digit collection of followers, have gone scorched earth on social media accounts that cheered last weekend’s assassination attempt on former president Trump:
I get the urge. Perhaps more than most. I’ve had at least one job get tanked because some (very “progressive”) management found out about my alter ego life (which I have never, not once in 20 years, mentoined in a workplace. I don’t talk about politics at work – and yet I know of one contract job that didn’t get extended, notwithstanding the fact that I saved the project I was working on (long story for another time) because someone googled up some portion of my shadowy talk-radio existence and complained.
And that’s just the once I know about. I have suspicions about other jobs.
It was fine as far as it went – I found better jobs. But I’m not going to say I was never angry about it.
I never had the time, bandwidth or following to act on it like Raichik even if I had. And Raichik has certainly endured plenty of harassment herself. And the two of us aren’t alone.
Of course, on the right the “cultural memory” of the left’s social oppression is pretty hot and current; “cancellation”, including losing jobs, having professional license challenged, and other active harassment over quesitoning and refusing the Covid vaccine; losing jobs over photos in MAGA caps, having kids harassed because their parents were open conservatives.
And it is a little disturbing to see some people – doctors, nurses, teachers – not only cheering on the assassination, but actively wishing the same on half the population. It’d be great to help them recognize how stupid and evil they are being.
This is pretty much the definition of “punching down”.
I’ve had a policy on this blog from the beginning; I don’t go after peoples (non-elective) day jobs – and I am absolutely hands-off their families.
Does that make me a better person than those that don’t have those scruples?
Yes. Absolutely.
Has it deterred people going after me, my job and family? Well, not all of them. I don’t have the means to scorched-earth them all. WIth some, its irrelevant. With others? Karma’s a bitch. But I’m the one that has to live with myself.
SCENE: Mitch BERG is trimming weeds while listening to “Office Ladies” on headphones. He doesn’t notice Avery LIBRELLE has come up the sidewalk, looking for evidence of herbicide use.
LIBRELLE: Merg!
BERG: (Oblivious)
LIBRELLE: The so-called “assassination attempt” was pretty much a fake.
BERG: (No response, as he continues to listen to his podcast)
LIBRELLE: It looks like his ear was cut by a piece of glass! What a drama queen!
BERG: (Nothin’)
GUY RIDING PAST ON BIKE: So what do you think it was that accelerated this supposed piece of glass to a speed capable of taking a chunk out of the President’s ear?
WOMAN WAITING AT BUS STOP ACROSS THE STREET: Yeah! Perhaps magic?
GUY TRIMMING HEDGES DOWN THE BLOCK: Maybe the kids from Slytherin playing around with their wands again?
LADY IN KITCHEN, LISTENING THROUGH WINDOW: Maybe it was Umbrella Man?
BUS DRIVER (Picking up the woman across the street): Couldn’t have possibly been a bullet aimed at the candidate’s head, could it?
Apologists for the government of the City of Minneapolis have pivoted to talking about crime dropping, we are told, from the three year average.
There’s a reason for that, naturally:
Here’s the city crime dashboard as of today:
The three year average is indeed high – it includes the tail end of the Walz/Covid crime wave of 2021.
But over the past year, to date?
Murder is up.
Robbery is up – sharply.
You’ll note that Minneapolis is now at 32 non-negligent homicides for the year so far. That’s up from 30 homicides in 2016. For the whole year.
It’s a shame the city doesn’t include a ten-year average space. It’d be interesting to see how the DSA/DFL coalition that runs the city would spin that.
President Biden, in his remarkably dilatory and perfunctory statement about the murder of a Trump supporter and the attempt to murder his rival, called for “Unity”.
It was a chanting point that a lot of Democrats took a break for claiming Republicans were “threats to democracy” to gravely intone.
Let’s talk about it.
Back before they called online talk shows “podcasts”, I appeared on one. There was a panel of guests talking politics. There were online “phone callers”. It was sort of like a talk show, only without the radio.
The host introduced a caller. He identified himself as from Detroit. He had a very African-American accent; I say this to describe the sound, not to caricature the person.
He said “What this country needs is unity“.
Eventually, I asked the caller “So, let’s talk about this ‘unity’. True unity has to be consensual. That means everyone is going to compromise a little bit to achieve this ‘unity’. So tell me – what Republican principles are you willing to accept to achieve the ‘unity’ you’re talking about?”
“Oh”, he responded. “Republicans are BUUUUUL-shit”.
Democrat calls for “unity” seem about as perfunctory as someone who’s said the Lord’s Prayer so many times they’ve disconnected their brain from the act. Unity good. Disunity bad.
It’s empty. There is no effort behind it. It has no meaning.
Until they give on something, it’s all just words.
And they don’t have to give on much. Like, “all that yapping about ‘threats to democracy’ and ‘literally Hitler’ and ‘this could be our last election’ was a little overheated. We’re all on the same team. Let’s have a solid American-style election, here”.
You’d be crazy to hold your breath, of course. Dennis Prager says “being a leftist means never needing to apologize”. It’ll never occur to them.
Saturday’s murder of a Trump supporter and father of several, the serious wounding of at least two more, and the miraculously slight injury to candidate Trump, was shocking.
But it was far from unexpected.
First things first: Thomas Crooks was the one who pulled the trigger, killed Corey Comperatore, and tried his damnedest to kill former President Trump. On him alone lies the immediate responsibility.
But creating the atmosphere in which a 20 year old would consider blazing away at a crowd that included a Presidential candidate?
That’s been a team effort.
The left has spent 8 years telling the entire world this man is Orange Hitler, merely because they want government power. What's surprising is that this hasn't happened sooner. pic.twitter.com/EUHRpkf4cb
Of DNA And Psychiatry: This is what America does to dictators.
This is what we did to Nazis.
We’ve brought a lot of them down in our time:
Our cultural memory involves a lot of fighting against actual tyranny – indeed, it’s an inextricable part of our country’s DNA:
And so last Monday, a week ago, whenthe once-presigious New Republic ran this as their cover…:
…and supported it with this…:
We chose the cover image, based on a well-known 1932 Hitler campaign poster, for a precise reason: that anyone transported back to 1932 Germany could very, very easily have explained away Herr Hitler’s excesses and been persuaded that his critics were going overboard. After all, he spent 1932 campaigning, negotiating, doing interviews—being a mostly normal politician. But he and his people vowed all along that they would use the tools of democracy to destroy it, and it was only after he was given power that Germany saw his movement’s full face.
Today, we at The New Republic think we can spend this election year in one of two ways. We can spend it debating whether Trump meets the nine or 17 points that define fascism. Or we can spend it saying, “He’s damn close enough, and we’d better fight.” We unreservedly choose the latter course.
I’m not saying the New Republic intended to inflame some nutbar to take a literal shot a Trump (and, let’s not forget, a crowd of his supporters, murdering one and leaving two more in the hospital). But if they were, it’d be hard to know what they’d do differently.
It’s nothing new:
Untermensch: Of course, it’s not just Trump – although he’s been the focus of most of Big Left’s efforts over the past 8-9 years.
The left’s noise machine has moved someone to put literal crosshairs on Republicans – but the rhetorical iron sights were in play long ago.
POTATUS? As recently as the day before the assassination attempt, this was the President (or at least his loathsome social media tweep):
It’s been a running theme of his entire presidency; here’s his entire “Independence Hall” speech in which, surrounded by fascist re-framings of totems of American democracy, he said that half the population – “MAGA Republicans” – wanted to “end democracy”.
I’m loathe to use phrases like “declaration of (fill in adjective) war” lightly. But it’s too corrosive a narrative to just call “collctive slander”. The President actively tried to stoke irrational fear in half ot the population, of the other half of the population, for purposes of inflaming passions to turn people out for a mid-term election the Democrats expected to lose.
But it’s about way, way more than just elections.
Bad History: Big Left – the collective institutions that support the larger leftist drive for power, the media, academia, big leftybusiness, the non-profit/industrial complex, the public employee unions – have been actively working to demonize, marginalize and dehumanize their opposition as a matter of “etermal campaign” policy for a solid decade and a half.
Locally? Let’s not forget the fact that Major Jacob “Humiliiating Mompants” Frey told the Minneapolis Police not to worry to hard about protecting people coming to see Donald Trump at Target Center in 2016 – and didn’t bother intervening in a wave of assaults on the street.
Also, the March 4 2017 attack by “Anti”-Fa on a group of Republicans in the rotunda the the State Capitol, injuring several in the immediate aftermath of the Trump inauguration.
In the latter two episodes, official actions can be seen as positive incentives to commit violence against Trump, his supporters and conservative dissenter is general.
The surprise is that it took this long to bubble up to Trump.
The counter-gaslighting has already begun:
“It was fake! They sounded like blanks!” (Tell it to the dead man)
“It was just a piece of glass from the teleprompter!” (That’s very unconfirmed – and irrelevant, since any “piece of glass” would have been propelled by f*cking bullet aimed at Trump’s head)
“The shooter was a registered Republican! (in an open primary state, who also donated to ActBlue. This one is in the process of falling apart).
But to me, for purposes of this piece, the worst is this:
Biden has never incited violence against Mr. Trump or any political opponent. Please stop with these unfounded accusations which have the potential to inflame more violence. That’s the last thing our country needs right now.
This is the culmination (so far) of a fifteen year long arc of stoking hatred for political gain. Caling it otherwise is delusion at best, evil at worst.
For Want Of An Inch: But Trump survived.
And the imaging is much more redolent of Churchill…
…whom, let’s be honest, Big Left hates just as badly.
ENTIRE LGBT COMMUNITY: “Don’t you dare use tired stereotypes of “Groomers” and “Chicken Hawks” to refer to our community! We do not target children!”
ALSO THE LGBT COMMUNITY: (referring to a proposal in the California Assembly that would make soliciting a minor for prostitution a felony):
SB1414 would turn the LGBTQ community into literal felons in California. It would disproportionately affect People of Color, and be used to jail more of our Black and Brown brothers! As Democrats, we must stand against the soft bigotry of low expectations. pic.twitter.com/cDKCWhs4Iz
I’ve also urged prayers for what seemed like insurmountable health problems – 13 years ago.
He’s passed away at age 70:
I got a call at 8 a.m. this morning I’d been dreading. Pioneer Press columnist Ruben Rosario, a titan of journalism, dies at 70. A worthy obituary written by @MaryEDivine. https://t.co/r34fvjYvdn
— Frederick Melo, Reporter/Axolotl (@FrederickMelo) July 11, 2024
Condolences and prayers for his family and friends.
In Murthy v. Missouri, the Biden administration was accused of unconstitutional infringement of free speech by pressuring social media to suppress stories unfavorable to the administration. A lower court found it was the most blatant act of censorship in American history.
The Supreme Court sidestepped the issue in cowardly fashion and reversed. The court did not say the government’s action was constitutional, it said citizens have no standing to challenge the unconstitutional action.
There’s no such thing as “standing” in the Constitution, it is strictly a made-up rule that courts use to get rid of nuisance cases they don’t want to hear. It’s a convenient way to avoid making hard decisions. Minnesota courts have used it to rule that ordinary citizens have no standing to challenge the governor’s Covid lock down order, even though it cost them their livelihood or landed them in jail. There is simply no legal remedy for those acts.
Imagine that Biden stays in the race so Democrats have to steal the election to keep the Bad Orange Man out of power. Imagine that the courts act for this instance as they did in 2020 denying that individual citizens have standing to challenge the result and refusing to hear the merits of the election fraud case. What’s the remedy?
If the court is correct citizens have no peaceful remedy within the constitutional system for unconstitutional government action, then the only remedy available is the one the founders exercised: insurrection leading to revolution.
Plenty of rope in the hinterlands and plenty of lamp poles in Washington. No wonder the elites are terrified.
Ask not “why is Hollywood endlessly rebooting old movies ideas” . That one’s obvious; Big Hollywood has almost not good new ideas, and comic books are reaching a state of diminishing returns.
The real question is, how will modern morés bastardize their victims – in this case, Fistful of Dollars?
Instead of a revolver, she’ll practice some anachronistic martial art. Or maybe use a longbow.
The villains – Mexicans in the original – will be white males.
The townspeople will be plucky single mothers whose white male husbands ran off with saloon floozies (but for a few Latino families and at least one anachronistic black one).
…the best joke and metaphor about the Biden years has come to us.
Really, for all of progressive “liberalism”. The pier was built as a campaign gimmick to appeal to low information voters with little critical thinking skills and much emotional self-righteousness, ignoring the fact that Israel was already sending more food to Gaza than before October 7, and it was all being stolen.
