Liberal Free Chat Zone (NOLIB)

[SkeBallLarry]

https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174328158

[ksquared]

CNN: Most Voters Say ‘No Chance’ They’ll Support Biden
Is this the most underreported story in politics?
By James Freeman April 29, 2024 4:20 pm ET

Large media organizations have been telling Americans for nearly a decade about “Never Trump” voters, and surely there are a lot of them. But perhaps such voters are not quite as numerous as the “Never Biden” folks, who have received comparatively little attention.

Perhaps this is starting to change. “Among all voters, Biden remains at a bit of a disadvantage relative to Trump in terms of the share of voters who have ruled out voting for him: 52% say there’s no chance they would support him, while 47% say there’s no chance they would back Trump,” Jennifer Agiesta reports for CNN.

To this point, standard courtesy among establishment media is to acknowledge Mr. Biden’s unacceptability to a broad swath of voters only in the context of a story that also notes Mr. Trump’s unpopularity and concludes that voters are just unhappy with their options. And certainly they are. But Mr. Trump is frequently permitted to appear in stories entirely devoted to his shortcomings.

Regardless of the quality of coverage, it is the accuracy of polling that is probably top of mind at the White House. If the CNN results are accurate, how can Democrats craft a strategy for winning an election in which most voters have ruled out the idea of voting for Mr. Biden?...

The rest is here:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cnn-most-voters-say-no-chance-theyll-support-biden-21b8a3a9?mod=hp_opin_pos_4#cxrecs_s

[Bull_Dolphin]

Kunstler:

CLUSTERFUCK NATION – BLOGApril 29, 2024

Pep Talk on a Dark Day
“We live in an age of full spectrum deception.” — Edward Dowd

You realize, don’t you, that what’s going on in our country is the collapse not just of an empire, or an economy, but a comprehensive paradigm of human progress. The hallmark of post-war life in Western Civ was supposed to be a return to sanity after the mid-twentieth century fugue of mass psychotic violence. The wish for just and rational order was not entirely pretense. But that was then. Now that we are going medieval on ourselves, the not-so-ironic result will be our literally going medieval, sinking back into a pre-modern existence of darkness, superstition, and penury, grubbing for a mere subsistence in the shadow of scuffling hobgoblins, our achievements lost and forgotten.

What’s most appalling is that our governing apparatus is visibly willing that to happen. When Barack Obama warned America to not underestimate Joe Biden’s ability to fuck things up, was that some kind of joke? After all, it was Mr. Obama and his fellow blobsters — the cabal of Intel spooks, covert Marxist bureaucrats, lawfare ninjas, globalist megalomaniacs, post-liberal think tankers, weapons grifters, degenerate billionaires, and assorted mentally-ill camp followers — who inflicted Joe Biden on the body politic. And then ran him on the country like some demon algorithm designed to wreck the USA as fast as possible.

The source of anguish in all that is the struggle to understand why they would want that to happen. What debauched sense of history would drive anyone to such lunatic desperation? It’s a cliché now to say that the Democratic Party has turned its traditional moral scaffold upside down and inside out. It acts against the kitchen table interests of the working and middle classes. It’s against civil liberties. It demands mental obedience to patently insane policy. It’s avid for war, no matter how cruelly pointless. It’s deliberately stirring up racial hatred. It despises personal privacy. It feeds a rogue bureaucracy that has become a veritable Moloch, an all-devouring malevolent deity. And now, rather suddenly, it aligns itself with a faction that seeks to exterminate the Jews.

And how did the opposition to that epic divergence into bad faith turn so flabby? How did the Republican Party roll over and wheeze so feebly while the FBI ran amok swatting grandmothers in dawn raids, and the US attorney general made justice a whore, and a Republican Congress allowed the Frankenstein agency of Homeland Security to flood the country with its enemies and give them gobs of operational cash? If Mr. Trump was unappetizing to them as a leader, why were they unable to produce an alternative figure of standing and stature at least equally resolute? They look like traitors and cowards.

For the moment, the country lies mired, inert, and demoralized in the face of those terrible mysteries. But events are still tending and the hidden hand of emergence still operates backstage, preparing surprises for us. You are necessarily aware that the center did not hold. It’s even hard to locate where the center used to be with the action so heavy on the far-out margins. You’re watching drag queens importune young children to shove all the Jews into the sea. And the kids are sitting next to their mommies. What happened to the mommies’ brains that permits them to think this spectacle is okay? How will the mommies ever get their minds right?

In some quarters, a great rage is building. Not a few resent the overthrow of common sense, common law, and common decency. You better believe they will be aiming to do something about it. They will stand up for their dignity, their culture, their history. Virtue isn’t dead; it’s just broke down on a lonely highway waiting to hitch a ride back to where the lights are still on. Don’t forget that this really is the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Meanwhile, prepare for action. It’s obvious that the enemies of the people don’t intend to rest. They are going to try to play out this string to the last move because otherwise a lot of them will be going to jail, or might even hang for their wickedness. Once they turned criminal, there was no turning back. They have dishonored themselves and they’re trying to dishonor their country.

It’s true nonetheless that we’re moving into a new disposition of the human project. It’s going to be smaller and leaner, and not nearly as complex as the tottering Rube Goldberg apparatus we’re currently trapped in. We don’t know yet what the shape and texture of that America is going to be. As the sage Yogi Berra observed, our whole future is ahead of us. If you’re not among the insane, have faith. We’ll get there and everything is going to be all right.

https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/pep-talk-on-a-dark-day/

[Flobewan]

LMAO

[Gmenfan]

To Avoid Falling, Biden To Traverse Lawn In Giant Hamster Ball



WASHINGTON, DC - In an ongoing effort to keep the President from running into stationary objects, Whitehouse staff placed Biden in a giant hamster ball this week for his own safety.

The President was seen traversing the lawn in the giant plastic ball, which observers say is an effective way to keep him from running into trees, hedges, and other dangerous object

"This is a great solution for when he needs to get from Point A to Point B without harming himself or others," Whitehouse staffer Mel Baker told the press. "We're thinking of making one for him to use on Airforce One and another one for the campaign trail too."

Staffers helped the President into the ball after a series of videos emerged of his most recent falls and stumbles. "It's safer this way…for all of us," one aid told reporters.

Sources close to Biden say the President was happy with the giant hamster ball and thought it resembled a big scoop of ice cream.

"Presidents throughout history have used similar devices for mobility," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told the press. "Towards the end of his life, William Haward Taft was often placed in a giant dog stroller and wheeled through the halls of Congress. Totally factual."

As of publishing time, Secret Service agents were seen frantically searching for the President after Biden bounced down a set of stairs near the Oval Office.

https://babylonbee.com/news/to-avoid-falling-biden-to-traverse-lawn-in-giant-hamster-ball

[Gmenfan]

Newsom Asks Public To Help Design New California Coin, Instantly Regrets It



When he’s not making ignorantly silly commercials about access to abortion in Alabama, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s favorite hobby is getting ratioed online. Seriously, I’m not sure there’s anyone less self-aware than Newsom, or anyone who’s more of a glutton for punishment.

So on Thursday Newsom was again roasted online when he announced that California is getting its own $1 coin to honor innovation in the state and asked the internet for submissions. He was already going to invite some choice responses from that simple invitation, then he made it worse by beginning his tweet with, “Calling all members of the Tortured Coin Designers Department,” a reference to Taylor Swift’s new album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”



Apparently, Newsom (or the intern who wrote the tweet) didn’t understand that the title is surmised to be a slam at Swift’s ex-boyfriend, British actor Joe Alwyn. Vogue reports that Alwyn “once stated in an interview that he had a texting group chat with fellow actors Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott called the ‘Tortured Man Club,’ which many fans instantly drew parallels to with Swift’s album name.”

The Golden State has a long history of positive innovation, but the only thing it’s innovating during Newsom’s tenure is new ways to waste every natural gift God can bestow upon a land and leave its citizens in poverty. Oh, and new methods by which the government can repress the civil rights of people.

And so many submissions centered on themes of homeless encampments, dumpster fires, and endless COVID masking rules.

This is weird, even for Gavin Newsom. In an apparent play on Taylor Swift’s new album title “Tortured Poets Department” he’s asking for suggestions for “Tortured Coin Designers Department” to design a $1 “Innovation Coin.” Is this a desperate move to reduce rhetoric $73 deficit?… https://t.co/sjYv98lhoT pic.twitter.com/vEBOolYLFw

— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@houmanhemmati) April 25, 2024

A few submissions were throwbacks, like this reminder of street artist Sabo’s depiction of Newsom as “Lizard King.”

Is posing like royalty an innovation?

pic.twitter.com/GekixxjZvw

— Lex Jurgen (@Lex_Jurgen) April 26, 2024

A poo map for the streets of San Francisco is definitely a California innovation.



Assembly Republicans Press Secretary Jim Stanley formally submitted his ideas to Newsom, along with a letter that was published by our friends at the California Globe and which we’ve reprinted below.

Dear Gov. Newsom,

I would like to humbly submit the entries below for the California Innovation Coin Contest.

Under your bold leadership, California has developed a truly unrivaled method of incinerating money. While most people would think it impossible to spend $24 billion on homelessness only to see the problem grow rapidly, you have proved the naysayers wrong. Like a perpetual motion machine operating in reverse, you have seemingly broken the laws of physics to pour an unlimited amount of energy and resources into homelessness programs while producing no results.

To commemorate your momentous innovation, it would only be appropriate to select one of the designs below that recognize the condition of California’s streets, parks and sidewalks that have resulted from your leadership:



I look forward to seeing one of these designs in production.

Best regards,

Jim Stanley

Press Secretary

Assembly Republicans

P.S. I don’t think minting a bunch of $1 coins will put much of a dent in the $73 billion deficit you’ve presided over, but you certainly get points for creativity.

You know, on second thought, Newsom’s reference to Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” album is perfectly on-brand.

https://truthpress.com/news/newsom-asks-public-to-help-design-new-california-coin-instantly-regrets-it/

[Gmenfan]

No, the government is not to be trusted

By Richard Berkowitz


No, if you're here from the government, you are not here to help me. Lamentably, you are not to be trusted. You can be terribly harmful and often are.




I listen to an untold number of videos relating to Congressional and Senate hearings, Investigations of witnesses, etc.

In each instance, and maybe more in the ones taking place in the Senate, I find them to be a lot of blowhard but overly courteous discussions where nothing truly is accomplished.

Sometimes, I am sure, legislation results from the information gleaned but it seems to me, that while the world is burning, they are more engaged in drinking water than hosing out fires.

Frankly, the British are, in my opinion, far more eloquent and humorous, though Sen. John Kennedy, from Louisiana, (who incidentally was educated at Oxford where British parliamentarians learn their skills) is a hoot. He is our equivalent of the great humorist from Oklahoma, Will Rogers.

The second thing I notice is when agency heads are called upon to tell why information requests are constantly ignored, withheld, or blacklined, the answer usually given is due to an ongoing investigation we cannot comment on. FBI Director Christopher Wray is particularly evasive in these ways.

The consequences are mostly dispiriting and continue to validate the comment 'you don't want to see how sausage and laws are made.'

The critical issue is how do we get trustworthy candidates for Congress; people who care deeply about the nation, who put the nation's interest first, and who are willing to take the slings and arrows public service subjects one to in today's highly politicized environment?

It takes a great deal of money to campaign and the last thing we need or want is to be governed by elite oligarchs like Mark Zuckerberg, or Bill Gates or those who engage in public life for the purpose of self-enrichment, such as Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Bob Menendez, or, worse still, those who crave power to bring about our nation's transformation like Obama or those of their ilk.

Politics historically attracts some interesting and equally dangerous characters.

I have always believed anyone running for a significant political position should be given a Rorschach Test and/or undergo a mental evaluation that is publicly disclosed.

The public needs to be informed, particularly since we no longer can rely upon the mass media's objectivity.

As for limited terms, time and again I know how popular it is, but unless the bureaucracy can be fired or their own service limited, they present the highest of all risks.

Christopher Rufo's book: "America's Cultural Revolution," devotes a significant amount of discussion to how those who work in government, at all levels, " ... fortify power and privilege while waging grievous harm which eventually becomes the pretext for domination."

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Sen. Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren shoved down America's throat, expanded its demands and power far beyond the benign intent upon its claimed initial language. It went from a legislative squeak to an omnipotent roar,

And what of the IRS, the FBI, the Department of Education, etc? I could go on and on as every one of these benign well-intended agencies have morphed into abusive ones, which at times, have threatened our freedoms and even our Bill of Rights.

If you do not believe me, ask FISA judges how they were exploited by the FBI.

No, if you're here from the government, you are not here to help me. Lamentably, you are not to be trusted. You can be terribly harmful and often are.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/04/no_the_government_is_not_to_be_trusted.html

[pos_stock_hoarder]

These turds truly are the standard of stupid farts!

[Gmenfan]

Women Forced to Compete Against Men? Just Say No!

And the Pussy Hats remain silent!

By Brian C. Joondeph, M.D.

During the Reagan presidency years, one of first lady Nancy Reagan’s initiatives was the “Just Say No” approach to drug abuse.

Whether illicit drug use declined due to this slogan is controversial, but the premise is simple. When confronted by an unacceptable premise or option, saying 'no' is the simplest way to slap it down.

Drug use is still rampant and far worse than it was in the 1980s with drug overdose deaths now over 100,000 annually, according to the CDC. Obviously, too many Americans are saying 'yes' to drugs, rather than no.

Another social pathology, not much of an issue in the 1980s, is transgenderism. LGBTQIA2S+ and whatever additional letters are needed to make the letter salad current and incoherent, wasn’t a buzzword during Reagan’s years.

In the 1980s, no person of rational mind believed men could become pregnant or breastfeed, that men should use women’s bathrooms or locker rooms, or that men could fairly compete against women in sports. But here we are in 2024, when these concepts are in many quarters, as seemingly normal as sunrise and sunset.

This Overton Window shift began with a University of Pennsylvania swimmer named Will Thomas, an unremarkable member of the men’s swim team whose life and swimming career went on hiatus due to COVID. During his year off, Will became Lia, joining the Penn women’s swim team. While a mediocre men’s swimmer, Lea is anything but as a women’s swimmer. “UPenn trans swimmer, 22, sparks outrage by smashing women’s competition records after competing as a man for three seasons.”

Lia went from Will, a back-bencher, to Lia, an all-star, winning ivy league championships, setting ivy league records, and winning an NCAA swimming championship. How is that fair to the women Lia beat, women who have been training in their sports for years only to be denied championships or records by having to compete against a guy?

If playing on such an uneven playing field, why don’t these women athletes follow the lead of Nancy Reagan and “Just Say 'No'”? Particularly in situations where the biologic male has a clear advantage and likelihood of winning, the female athletes could simply refuse to compete.

Imagine a large swimming or track event where the trans-athlete is the only one on the starting blocks, the remaining female competitors standing behind the blocks and refusing to compete. The woke sportscasters will be tongue-tied in how to respond and narrate the event.

Perhaps a clever sports commentator will create a new meme, as when NASCAR fans were loudly chanting “F*** Joe Biden” which the quick thinking NBC sports reporter claimed was actually, “Let’s Go Brandon,” making the phrase an encapsulation of the Biden presidency.

A group of West Virginia middle school students just said 'no' to a biologic male attempting to compete against the girls in the shot put:

A West Virginia transgender athlete won her shot put competition in her first sporting event following an appeals court ruling that allowed her to participate - as other contestants refused to play against her.

Becky Pepper-Jackson, 13, competed in the Harris County Middle School Track and Field Championship on Thursday, two days after a court ruled West Virginia’s transgender sports ban violates the teen's right under Title IX.

Pepper-Jackson took home first place in the shot put competition with her 32-foot effort, three feet further than second place, and she placed second in discus.

Despite being legally allowed to compete, some athletes protested Pepper-Jackson's participation by refusing to play against her.

Five girls from Lincoln Middle School stepped up to the circle for their turn, then refused to throw the ball.

One could argue that the transgender girl was only 13 years old, where gender differences are minimal or nonexistent. As an example, 5- and 7-year-old boys and girls compete together in soccer and T-ball as this is pre-puberty, before the effects of testosterone kick in.

Trans women's sports.


But that argument doesn’t hold. The Cleveland Clinic recognizes, “Boys begin puberty sometime between the ages of 9 and 14.” Meaning the 13-year-old shot putter is well into puberty.

Puberty is the issue here. The science, according to the International Olympic Committee is simple: “A number of scientific papers have recently shown people who have undergone male puberty retain significant advantages in power and strength even after taking medication to suppress their testosterone levels.”

Puberty is when boys differentiate from girls through muscle and bone mass, strength, and power. Once the athletic engine is built, adult testosterone levels matter little.

Even a 13-year-old is well on his way to building a male athletic engine, despite identifying as a girl.

If not, then why don’t men and women shot putters compete against each other in the Olympics?

Men start by putting a heavier shot, 16 pounds for men, 8.8 pounds for women, almost a two-fold difference. Even with that difference, men out-put the women.

In the 2020 Olympics, the gold medal put distance was 23.3 meters for the man and 20.6 meters for the woman, despite the huge difference in shot weight.

Title IX is also an empty argument. The title states:

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

What is sex? The simple way of determining sex is to pull down your pants and look in a mirror. For almost every human, it’s a binary choice -- boy/girl, guy/gal, man/woman.

Or ask Yale University School of Medicine, “The term sex should be used as a classification, generally as male or female, according to the reproductive organs and functions that derive from the chromosomal complement (generally XX for female and XY for male).”

Title IX is about biology, not identification, preferences, or what the school counselor suggests. Transgender athletes, specifically biologic men competing against biologic women, violates Title IX by discriminating on the basis of sex.

Perhaps the DOJ, when not prosecuting Donald Trump and his supporters, should take a look at this. Fat chance of that.

In the meantime, female athletes should “just say no” and refuse to compete on an uneven playing field. Congratulation to 5 West Virginia middle school girls for putting their foot (and shot) down. Perhaps high school, college, and professional women could do the same and start putting an end to this new “war on women”

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/04/women_forced_to_compete_against_men_just_say_no.html

[Gmenfan]

Will Celebrity Endorsements Impact the 2024 Election?

Hollywood elites might not be the kingmakers they think they are.

by Kelli Ballard | Apr 29, 2024

During the contentious election of 2016, a swath of Hollywood elites announced that if Trump won, they would be hightailing it from the USA and seeking to make their lives in more progressive climes. The La La Land exodus failed to materialize, and life continued much as before – albeit with somewhat more online TDS on display.




Stephen Colbert, host of The Late Show, has decided to take it on the road for the first time – and the media is all abuzz. The big deal isn’t that the comedian will be leaving the comforts of his studio; it’s that he’ll be performing live in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention this August. He won’t be doing the same for the Republican National Convention, of course. Celebrity endorsements are nothing new, and since Hollywood traditionally leans to the left, it’s not surprising Colbert and others are stepping up to promote President Joe Biden. But will it make a difference come November?

The Power of Celebrity Endorsements

CBS announced that Colbert will broadcast his show from the Auditorium Theatre from August 19 to 22, and some conservative media outlets are crying foul. But will he – or any other celebrity, for that matter – sway the election with his endorsement? When Taylor Swift performed at the Super Bowl, there was a lot of talk about how she would influence the election, especially if she endorsed Biden. Monmouth University released a survey in February that found that 18% of Americans “think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists.” Former President Donald Trump even got into the discussion, urging the celebrity not to endorse the incumbent, saying, “Joe Biden didn’t do anything for Taylor, and never will.”

But just how much sway do celebrity endorsements have? Some experts suggest Hollywood has very little influence and that voters will make up their own minds without heeding the advice of the stars. Daron Shaw, a professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas, conducted research on the topic. “These endorsements haven’t made a ton of difference, certainly not in partisan contests between Republicans and Democrats,” he observed. Shaw suggested that being supported by certain entertainment figures could even be a detriment. “There is a little bit of tango between controversial figures and the campaign, which is not just the vote that you’re interested in when it comes to a presidential campaign. You’re interested in driving media, in driving volunteers, and you’re interested in driving contributions.”

Still, political figures court support from celebrities, and not just because they have deep pockets. Swift, for example, endorsed Biden for 2020, which, according to Vote.org, brought in more than 35,000 voter registrations. Biden likely hopes to benefit from her popularity and influence again as the 2024 election approaches.

How have celebrity endorsements helped in presidential elections in the past? In 2008, there was “The Oprah Factor,” which some claim was a deciding element in electing former President Barack Obama. Oprah Winfrey had a lot of fans and received nearly ten million viewers a day for her talk show, not to mention subscribers to her magazine, O. A September 2008 Pew survey found that 60% of respondents believed Oprah’s endorsement would help Obama’s campaign.



Throughout history, celebrity endorsements have seemed to have an impact on presidential elections. In 1920, singer Al Jolson threw his support behind Republican candidate Warren G. Harding with a song titled “Hardy, You’re the Man for Us.” Some of the lyrics included, “It’s Harding, lead the GOP, Harding, onto victory.” Since Calvin Coolidge was Harding’s running mate, the song also included him with lyrics such as, “We know we’ll always find you with Coolidge right behind you, and Coolidge never fails, you must agree.” Harding won the presidency with almost 75% of the Electoral College and nearly 65% of the popular vote.

So which Hollywood elites are supporting Biden and Trump? Here’s a brief breakdown:

Celebrity Supporters Abound

Batting for the incumbent president is Jeffrey Katzenberg, former chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1994. He is also the national co-chair for Biden’s 2024 campaign. There’s also Lady Gaga, who endorsed Biden in 2020 and even performed at his inauguration. She hasn’t confirmed who she’ll vote for this election, but in April 2023, she was appointed co-chair of the President’s Committee on the Arts, effectively making her an adviser to the president. Other notables include Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane, Tom Hanks, Eva Longoria, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, Ellen DeGeneres, LeBron James, and Meryl Streep.

Giving their support to the former president are singer Kid Rock, Frasier star Kelsey Grammar, actors Jon Voight, Roseanne Barr, Dennis Quaid, James Wood, Kevin Sorbo, and football star Brett Favre.

The Cost of Doing Business

As each side continues to rack up celebrity endorsements, the stars also have to take into consideration their personal capital. During the contentious election of 2016, a swath of Hollywood elites announced that if Trump won, they would be hightailing it from the USA and seeking to make their lives in more progressive climes. The La La Land exodus failed to materialize, and life continued much as before – albeit with somewhat more online TDS on display.

Celebrities hitching their wagons to politicians can come with great cost to credibility, and after the last few years of political vitriol, one wonders just how much of their hard-earned reputations these stars are willing to either commit or squander.

https://www.libertynation.com/will-celebrity-endorsements-impact-the-2024-election/

[Gmenfan]

Regime Media Is No Myth When Government Pays the Salaries

The real disinformation is any big-box media claim to objectivity.

by Joe Schaeffer | Apr 29, 2024


It’s difficult to dismiss the term “state-affiliated media” as a smear when journalists are being paid directly by the government. The ongoing evolution of credentialed news outlets into quasi-official agencies of the progressive ruling establishment has grown so bold that lines of professional ethics aren’t just blurred; they’re being obliterated.

“New York state is poised to hand out millions in taxpayer dollars to local media outlets to help pay for journalists’ salaries,” The Daily Caller reported on April 23. “The state will dole out $30 million over a three-year period to local media outlets in the form of tax credits, giving publishers the ability to offset up to 50% of the first $50,000 in journalists’ salaries, according to a release issued [April 22] by New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. Heastie emphasized that the funds will go toward protecting local news outlets for ‘many years to come.’”

The conflict of interest here is so glaring that one shouldn’t have to point it out. Local “news” reporters who claim impartiality will become dependent on government funding as they inform the general public about the policies of that same government.

Here’s one example of how that could work in real-time. Reporters will be covering candidates for office who may support or oppose increases in, or cuts to, government spending – an issue that will directly impact their financial standing. It is no coincidence that Heastie mentioned electoral coverage first in his defense of the new policy. “Local journalism plays an essential role in our communities,” Heastie asserted. “Not only does it provide critical coverage of local elections, but it also joins communities together through a shared knowledge of high school sports teams, new businesses coming to the area and issues impacting readers’ everyday lives.”

‘Government’s Role in Policing Lies’

Alas, this is not the only current move by progressives to control information in a manner fundamentally antithetical to traditional American norms. Joe Biden’s Disinformation Czar of 2022 is back, and the lead sentence of The New York Times’ account of Nina Jankowicz’s return speaks volumes about big-brand media desires to restrict Americans’ access to information.


“Two years ago, Nina Jankowicz briefly led an agency at the Department of Homeland Security created to fight disinformation – the establishment of which provoked a political and legal battle over the government’s role in policing lies and other harmful content online that continues to reverberate,” the paper wrote.

How’s that for loaded phrasing? The judgment on the content has already been made by your credentialed overseers. You don’t get to decide for yourself what constitutes “lies” or “harmful content.” They make that ruling. This appears to be the default mindset in prominent media circles today.

Jankowicz’s new organization is called The American Sunlight Project. But don’t expect any of those beams to shine upon her. ASP is refusing to publicly reveal its donors.

Democrat Message to Media Chums

The annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was held on April 27. The event has long served as an insufferable stroke of DC reporter egos. In recent years, it has transformed into something no less unbecoming but at least more honest: a Democrat lovefest.

All pretense of objectivity has been so discarded that the party openly considers it to be just another Donald Trump-bashing affair.

“We hope everyone has a good time this weekend, because if Donald Trump wins in November, this Saturday could also be known as the last White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” Democratic National Committee Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd declared in a message to his media friends. “Fun and jokes aside this weekend, Saturday is also a reminder of what’s at stake with an angry, vengeful Trump on the ballot. He may be a punchline, but he is also a sad, vindictive wannabe authoritarian who shows no respect for the First Amendment – or the Fourth Estate,” Floyd continued.



Why wouldn’t Democrats feel perfectly at ease addressing the media this way? As Liberty Nation noted last year, the big-box reporters who supposedly provide tough coverage of administration officials spent the run-up to the 2023 Correspondents’ Dinner furiously clamoring to be seated with or alongside Biden bigwigs.

“Landing a table at the front of the room – near where President Joe Biden, [White House Correspondents’ Association President Tamara] Keith and other WHCA board members will sit – has become a symbol of importance among the DC media world,” Politico reported at the time. “Many people are going to be sitting at tables that they don’t think correctly acknowledge their importance and stature,” Keith added, “and that’s really tough.”

This is the state of brand media in Washington, DC, today: teenagers jockeying for position at the high school dance. Given such an abject lack of concern for professionalism, is it any wonder the ruling progressive apparatus is ready to take the next step and put them on the government payroll?

https://www.libertynation.com/regime-media-is-no-myth-when-government-pays-the-salaries/

[Gmenfan]

[Gmenfan]

[Gmenfan]

No .. This is not from Babylon Bee:

Monday's Energy Absurdity: Cornell Launches 'Respiration Chamber' to Measure Cow Burps and Farts

University officials assure us it is the 'gold standard' of fart chambers
David Blackmon
Apr 29, 2024


Like manna from heaven, today’s Energy Absurdity dropped right into my lap this morning as I conducted my early morning news gathering. Life is just like that sometimes if you follow the rules.


New York local TV station WBNG Channel 12 News reports that researchers at Cornell University have built the nation’s first and only “animal respiration stall,” an enclosed housing for cows that will enable them to accurately measure the exact amount of methane they belch and fart into the environment. In other words, they have built a hermitically sealed fart chamber.

Naturally, the researchers assure us that it is a world class fart chamber, or as they describe it, the “gold standard” of fart chambers.

“The respiration chambers are considered to be the gold standard to monitor methane emissions from cows,” said Associate Professor of Dairy Cattle Biology Joseph McFadden. “There are a lot of untested methane mitigation and monitoring technologies out there. But the only way you can provide absolute quantification of gas emissions is by using a respiration chamber system.”

You all know what’s coming next, don’t you? Within a few years, either in a Biden second term or the first term of some other Democrat president, the EPA will issue regulations requiring farmers to measure emissions from their cattle herds and force them to use “gold standard” respiration chambers like this one as “the best available technology” to accomplish the task.

Many of you are no doubt scoffing at that as just a “conspiracy theory,” the kind of which I have posed and been proven 100% right about many times over the last 20 years or so. For all of you, I urge you to bookmark this piece and refer back to it when, in just a few years, the EPA publishes this exact regulation in the Federal Register.

Because that is what is coming. Remember: A conspiracy is not a ‘theory’ when it is standing in front of you slapping your stupid face.

That is all.

https://blackmon.substack.com/p/mondays-energy-absurdity-cornell?publication_id=712558&post_id=144123536&isFreemail=false&r=rd9j8&triedRedirect=true

[Gmenfan]

The D.C. Court’s fiendish plan if the Supremes overrule J6ers’ 1512(c)(2) convictions

By Andrea Widburg

The Supreme Court is deciding Fischer v. United States, a case challenging how the DOJ and the D.C. court have been using 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) against January 6 defendants. Because it’s obvious that they’ve violated the most basic precepts of statutory interpretation, it’s likely that the Supreme Court will reverse the conviction. However, the D.C. court just issued an order establishing that defendants other than Joseph Fischer who use the decision to appeal their convictions will suffer an even worse fate. This is a reminder that the “law” in Democrat enclaves is unconcerned with justice. Instead, it exists to further the Democrat party’s power.

Section 1512(c)(2) contains a seemingly magical phrase that the DOJ and D.C. court have used to send hundreds of law-abiding citizens to jail or otherwise destroy their lives: “Whoever corruptly...obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding...shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.” According to the DOJ and the D.C. court, when Americans showed up to protest what they believed was an improper election certification based upon a corrupt election, they were obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding.


However, if one examines the statute, it’s obvious, from the title on down (“Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant”), that § 1512 addresses the crime of destroying or corrupting evidence in a criminal proceeding or investigation. It has nothing to do with exercising free speech in the legislative context. Taking language out of its statutory context to achieve an end the legislature never intended is a big judicial no-no. (See here for a somewhat more in-depth analysis.)

The DOJ and D.C. court know that their interpretation of § 1512(c)(2) is likely to be reversed. Even the most ideologically corrupt Supreme Court justice will have a very difficult time pretending that the statute can be extended beyond its manifest purpose of protecting evidence.

Any reversal will apply only to Joseph Fischer, the J6 defendant whose case is before the Supreme Court. However, once the Court overturns his conviction, the way is clear for every other J6 defendant convicted using § 1512(c)(2) to challenge the conviction. This has the DOJ and the D.C. court in a panic, but they’ve come up with a plan.

For those few J6 defendants convicted only under § 1512(c)(2), there’s nothing the DOJ and D.C. court can do to stop them from tasting freedom and having their records wiped clean. However, most of the J6 defendants were charged and convicted on myriad grounds. (One of the things prosecutors do is stack as many charges as possible in an indictment. This gives them huge leverage in negotiating plea bargains and means a probable win on something—anything—if the matter goes to trial.)

With an eye to the charge stacking common in criminal prosecutions, the D.C. court has just issued an order in the case of Larry Brock telling him that, if he dares challenge his § 1512(c)(2) conviction, the court has something much worse in store for him: It will change its initial order so that the various penalties originally imposed upon him will no longer be served concurrently but, instead, will be served consecutively.

Here's what that means. Under the “concurrent” standard, if a defendant was sentenced to two years for Crime A and two years for Crime B, both those sentences will be fulfilled by the same two years in prison. After two years, he’s a free man. However, if they’re switched to a “consecutive” system, the defendant will serve two years for Crime A. Once those two years are completed, the term for Crime B immediately begins. Thus, it will take four years for the prisoner to be freed:

I really hope SCOTUS is paying attention to how DC judges are scheming to keep J6ers in prison on 1512c2 convictions if SCOTUS reverses that charge in J6 cases.

This order is not just a warning to the defendant involved—Larry Brock, a decorated military veteran with no criminal… pic.twitter.com/f9CncQUz8W
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) April 26, 2024

You may have noticed that what you’re seeing is an order, meaning it comes from the judges. However, the D.C. judges haven’t impressed anyone as a particularly intelligent bunch. They are ideologues. That’s all. That’s why I keep throwing in the DOJ when I discuss this issue. I’d bet good money that the bright minds in the Democrat party, both in the DOJ and among the Democrat cadre of lawyers who lurk behind the scene, are the ones who came up with this idea.

I practiced law in the San Francisco Bay Area. What became obvious very early was that Democrat party judges held themselves to a very special standard. They saw themselves as above the justice-based principles of due process, the facts of the case, and the applicable law.

Instead, almost all of them believed that their black robes put them in direct contact with the higher power of social justice, allowing them to determine entirely upon ideological rather than constitutional and legal grounds. The only surprise for me now is that Democrat judges have become so open in their corruption and so blatantly partisan in their desired outcomes. This is evil and will stop only if they are held to account for their criminal trespasses. It’s to be hoped that when Trump returns to the White House, reforming our broken judicial system is one of his first acts.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/04/the_d_c_court_s_fiendish_plan_if_the_supremes_overrule_j6ers_1512_c_2_convictions.html

[pos_stock_hoarder]

[pos_stock_hoarder]

Here you go, NJ's own. Ugh.

[Gmenfan]

Who runs the American agitprop machine?

By James Lewis

“First, conquer the organs of propaganda,” wrote Karl Marx, who was a genius mob agitator and nothing else. Mob agitators were already a kind of specialty in Prussia, Poland, Russia, and Eastern Europe, but Marx wrote the instruction manual, just as Saul Alinsky did in his Rules for Radicals, which became Barack Obama’s manual for political agitators.

Fast-forward half a century, and the U.S. media, which used to have a sane liberal and a sane conservative wing, collapsed into a Uniparty propaganda machine, just like Pravda (Truth) and Izvestiya (News) in Moscow, of which the Russians used to joke, “There is no truth in Pravda and there is no news in Izvestiya,” because they both came from the Kremlin.

Today we wonder why Hamas child-killers always sound far from sanity, and why the North Koreans seem to live in an even more different universe. The answer is simple: if you enforce total uniformity on any group, it turns into a cult. They listen to only one voice. That’s how you make mob cults, exactly how the Columbia faculty created a new Hitlerjugend screaming slogans with no consequences, because all the authorities have surrendered.

Make everybody march to the beat of the same drum, and you’ve got a mass cult. That's why they all yell the same words from the same book at the same mass demonstrations in the same locations. Normal people don't march in lockstep, but today's hateful mobs do, because they have one group mind. You don’t need A.I. to turn people into robots.

Those kids at Columbia have been cultified using Soros millions, and they honestly can’t figure out why anybody could disagree with their internalized lies.

This happens over and over again in history, and it’s how you change normal teenagers into mobsters.

How did the American media, which used to be run by normal people, turn into a Stalinist machine? Forty years after the Soviet Union collapsed?

It’s not as if anybody in 1989 was rationally convinced that race or sex Marxism was the wave of the future. Talk to Poles or even Russians today, and you don’t find many Hamas fans. They’ve been there and done that, and they don’t even like George Soros.

So what happened?

Some good historian (if there are any left) has to look into this twist of history. When Nazi Germany fell after WWII, the world did not decide to follow the Hitler model.

And yet, two generations after the Cold War, a new racist, genderist, and sex-obsessed faith has spread through the West, with women acting oppressed, gays and lesbians also becoming victims, and even children, the most vulnerable among us, getting recruited into the new faith of sexualized victimhoood for all, no matter how young or clueless.

About ten years ago, Tucker Carlson helped to expose a radical propaganda internet list called JournoList, a secret Google group of media influencers who made up the headlines for the next day’s news, in places like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the U.K. Guardian.

Wikipedia tells us,

JournoList (sometimes referred to as the J-List) was a private Google Groups forum for discussing politics and the news media with 400 left-leaning journalists, academics and others. Ezra Klein created the online forum in February 2007 while blogging at The American Prospect and shut it down on June 25, 2010 amid wider public exposure. Journalists later pointed out various off-color statements made by members of the list denigrating conservatives.

That was an actual conspiracy to centralize the U.S. media. Chances are that it is still living in some secret Google group today, because the “mainstream” media are still singing from the same hymnal.

But how does the Biden Gang control the propaganda gang?

Our friends at The Conservative Treehouse propose an answer. TCT reports that Biden has a small cult called “the beach group” running lawfare campaigns around the country to undermine everything Americans believe in. Maybe ordinary Americans can pull a little lawfare on these thugs?

If Trump wins, I want him to start revengefare — the opposite of lawfare, and well deserved.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/04/who_runs_the_american_agitprop_machine.html

[Gmenfan]

Was it all that Baby Proofing?

By Clarice Feldman

Helicopter parents who shield kids from the consequences of their actions have raised a generation of reckless, entitled, ill-educated brats.



Watching the idiocy on college campuses this week and seeing all the explanations for protests in favor of murderous Hamas, two tweets seem particularly on point. There’s the great David Burge (Iowahawk), who calls these outbursts “Hamas slumber parties,” and says, “This is like staging a pro-Nazi lunch counter sit-in and getting mad that people won’t treat you like you’re a modern-day Rosa Parks.” He attributes protests for the Intifada and slogans reading “from the River to the Sea” by numbskulls who have admittedly no idea what they are protesting as the result of baby-proofing houses. “There is,” he says, “no better educational experience for a child than finding out what happens when you stick a butter knife into an electrical outlet.”

I think he’s right. Helicopter parents who shield kids from the consequences of their actions have raised a generation of reckless, entitled, ill-educated brats. (I’d add to his admonition the habit of so many parents to spend evenings “helping” their kids with their homework. My view is they either do it or don’t and, if they don’t, they can learn the consequences.)

Elon Musk, another of those whose sage observations I endorse, says:

“The axiomatic error undermining much of Western Civilization is “weak makes right”. If someone accepts, explicitly or implicitly, that the oppressed are always the good guys, then the natural conclusion is that the strong are the bad guys.”

So Hamas engaged in the most brutal attack on a much stronger neighbor, and even before Israel's perfectly predictable response in defense of its own people, Hamas became worthy of sympathy and protection. The Israeli counterattack is falsely described as “genocide,” self-rule in Gaza is misnamed “occupation;” indigenous Jews are labeled “colonialists” and “occupiers,” while Arabs are mischaracterized as native to Gaza.

Add to the mix of explanations for what otherwise is inexplicable immoral conduct the mind-boggling ignorance of the protestors. Everywhere we see signs that "Gazan liberation is queer liberation." It’s a topsy-turvy world on American campuses. Homosexuality is illegal in Syria, Egypt, Gaza, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Kuwait, and the West Bank. It’s not illegal in Israel, and homosexual Gazans have sought and received refuge there.

@hahussain

‘Queer are shamed and thrown out of the majority of Palestinian families. In a Palestinian state, they’d likely be thrown from the top of buildings. Even the most Westernized of Arab countries, Lebanon, saw its majority bash 10 lawmakers for presenting a legislation decriminalizing homosexuality (only decriminalizing, not even giving them any rights). U.S. college students have no idea what they’re talking about.”

Just as absurd are the feminists and transgenders for Hamas.

The protests and encampments have spread to a number of colleges, but the worst is Columbia University, and a close examination shows that it is a result of a horrible choice of president and a history of ignoring Jew hatred, of which the latest demonstration is a perfectly predictable outcome.

There’s no reason except the anti-merit DEI impetus for Nemat Shafik to have been named president of Columbia: Shafik “only has 1 well-cited publication in her life, in Oxford Econ Papers 1994. This paper is lifted almost entirely from a 1992 report coauthored with a consultant not credited in the publication. This is wholesale intellectual theft, not subtle plagiarism.”

Khymani Jones, one leader of the Columbia encampment who was extensively quoted as saying, “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and talked about killing Jews, was finally banned from campus, although it remains unclear whether he was expelled or suspended. But in a disciplinary hearing in January, the university was aware of these statements and did not act. Before he was shown the door, Ilhan Omar went to the Columbia campus and shook hands with him; her daughter hugged him. The only reason he was finally kicked out was because his threats became more widely publicized. When he was finally at least suspended, he claimed it was because he is black and queer.

Don’t blame the police -- Columbia has prevented them from removing the encampment. The NYPD Chief of Patrol responded:

The pure hate, antisemitism, and overall vile language I have witnessed recently is simply disgusting. I could not begin to even know how this makes a person feel, a family or a friend. Hate has no place in our society from anyone! It should be condemned by all immediately. The NYPD is committed to protecting everyone from hate, especially our Jewish brothers and sisters. Trust me, if we could throw handcuffs on anyone who peddled in this -- we would do this all day every day. End of story! We understand the frustration, we stand with you and the NYPD is always ready. We demonstrated this last week when our Mayor and PC ordered swift action for the removal of school protesters. Unfortunately there are certain things we can’t control, thus it’s incumbent for the effected institutions to take a stand and enforce their rules! Actions have consequences! No more suspensions let’s try expulsion of these entitled hateful students. Pack your belongings and get out! Let’s remove faculty and staff who have replaced their educational licenses for a license of hate -- Your fired! Your frustration and despair should not be directed toward the City of New York. We did not shut down your identification and deny your entry. We don’t govern private property nor school rules while being bound by free speech. The Mayor, Police Commissioner and the NYPD will never relent in the pursuit of public safety and, here and now, protecting our Jewish community….

By contrast, in Washington D.C., George Washington University asked the local police to remove the protestors. They were prepared to do so, but Mayor Muriel Bowser, a huge fan of BLM and believer in the George Floyd fable, ordered the force to stand down.

Are these protests organic and spontaneous? Of course not -- they are being funded by George Soros and a variety of foundations and various NGOs which in a lawful world would have long ago lost their tax breaks. The occupation of college campuses across the U.S. is a well-organized and funded operation led by Soros-backed groups, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR). The Soros-backed NGOs pay outside agitators $7800 and campus activists $3600 each, according to a report. Half of the violent protestors who have been arrested nationally are not students but NGO-affiliated agitators. Hamas is an internationally recognized terror group, and with the help of these NGOs, it is recruiting and radicalizing thousands of students across the country.

The current students -- drawn from organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Within Our Lifetime (WOL), and others -- have been filmed calling for not only the killing of Israelis and Jews but also the dissolution of the US government and acts of terror on American soil.

These organizations have maintained both influential and radical friends, NGO Monitor explained in its new report released on Thursday, noting that JVP -- a fringe anti-Israel group that has often joined forces to coordinate events with SJP -- has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Other donors to JVP include the Open Society Policy Center and the Kaphan Foundation, among others.

As for SJP, one of its founders, Hatem Bazian, is also a co-founder of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), an advocacy group that, according to a landmark report last year by the National Association of Scholars (NAS), “retains ties to terrorist groups operating in the Palestinian Territories.” AMP is a growing power player in the US Democratic Party and has led several legislative initiatives aimed at eroding Democratic support for Israel.

NGO Monitor also named in its report Within Our Lifetime, a New York City-based group headed by a former City University of New York (CUNY) student who once threatened to set a Jewish student’s Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sweater on fire while he wore it. Since Oct. 7, WOL has openly cheered Hamas’ atrocities as the “right to resist zionist [sic] settle violence” and “Resistance in all its forms. By any means necessary” — an apparent endorsement of Hamas’ abductions and sexual violence against Israeli women…

Another group named in the new report, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), supports a network of allied groups, including AMP, JVP, and WESPAC. USCPR has received immense financial support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which has awarded it at least $355,000 since 2018…

According to NAS’s findings, JVP as of last year had received $480,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund… and the Tides Research Fund, a sponsor of Black Lives Matter, has given the group at least $75,000 since 2019... Additionally, Palestine Legal, a lawfare group founded in 2012 to support campus BDS groups like SJP, is the beneficiary of generous funding from Tides Foundation…

There’s anecdotal evidence that, aside from the reputational costs to institutions that have abetted or tolerated this behavior, they are losing donors and applicants. (Not only are applications for new students down, but Brandeis and Yeshiva University have extended the deadline for transfer applications for students who wish to leave these cesspools.) Hedge Fund CEO Bill Ackman predicts substantial litigation and financial loss for schools that indulge in this behavior by faculties and students:

Recent events at @Harvard, @MIT, @Columbia et al couldn’t provide more prima facie supporting evidence for the various Title VI and class action lawsuits against the universities. The complaints just need to be updated to include the new facts. The plaintiffs are going to have a field day in court. The universities’ unwillingness to follow their own stated rules has emboldened the protesters to amplify their anti-Israel, antisemitic, and anti-American messaging and actions. It’s remarkable that even the likely severe economic costs of the litigation doesn’t motivate the administrations and governing boards to address the situation. That’s likely because there are no shareholders and it is therefore other people’s money. Yet another failure of the non-profit model. I am surprised the state attorneys general have not gotten involved as they are supposed to be important ‘regulators’ of non-profits. While it doesn’t happen often, board members of nonprofits can be held personally liable for their failures as fiduciaries. I would not be surprised to see that happen here.

In a better world, the White House, Department of Justice, and FBI wouldn’t leave it to private litigants to redress actions targeting students and faculties for their religious beliefs and endorsing anti-American mayhem. In the interim, we can ridicule the hypocrisy of institutions that just recently punished students for misgendering others or for wearing sombreros to Halloween parties.


https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/04/was_it_all_that_baby_proofing.html

[Gmenfan]

Thanks for sharing this Larry.

[pos_stock_hoarder]

Did you see all that white privilege!?

[ksquared]

Funny, I didn't see even one fat person.

The Great Depression... they didn't have the money splurge on food.
Unlike today, money coupled with fast & junk food plus grocery stores and sedentary lifestyles = Big Fatsos..
Watching "The Food that Built America" series on the History Channel as I type.
"Built" this country into one of the fattest in the world.

Gluttony... one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
The result is everywhere you look these days.

Morning, Bull. Keep working and stay fit.
Here's to your health and longevity.

[Bull_Dolphin]

Thanks Larry, awesome photos.
Funny, I didn't see even one fat person.

[Gmenfan]

The EV ‘Bloodbath’ Arrives Early

EVs are becoming the red shirts of the automotive world
David Blackmon
Apr 27, 2024



Ever since March 16, when US presidential candidate Donald Trump created a controversy by predicting Joe Biden’s efforts to force Americans to convert their lives to electric vehicle (EV) lifestyles would end in a “bloodbath” for the US auto industry, the industry’s own disastrous results have consistently proven him accurate.


The latest example came this week when Ford Motor Company reported that it had somehow managed to lose $132,000 per unit sold during Q1 2024 in its Model e EV division. The disastrous first quarter results follow the equally disastrous results for 2023, when the company said it lost $4.7 billion in Model e for the full 12-month period.

While the company has remained profitable overall thanks to strong demand for its legacy internal combustion SUV, pickup, and heavy vehicle models, the string of major losses in its EV line led the company to announce a shift in strategic vision in early April. Ford CEO Jim Farley said then that the company would delay the introduction of additional planned all-electric models and scale back production of current models like the F-150 Lightning pickup while refocusing efforts on introducing new hybrid models across its business line.

GM reported it had good overall Q1 results, but they were based on strong sales of its gas-powered SUV and truck models, not its EVs. GM is so gun-shy about reporting EV-specific results that it doesn’t break them out in its quarterly reports, so there is no way of knowing what the real bottom line amounts to from that part of the business. This is possibly a practice Ford should consider adopting.

After reporting its own disappointing Q1 results in which adjusted earnings collapsed by 48% and deliveries dropped by 20% from the previous quarter, Tesla announced it is laying off 10 percent of its global workforce, including 2,700 employees at its Austin plant, where its vaunted Cybertruck is manufactured. Since its introduction in November, the Cybertruck has been beset by buyer complaints ranging from breakdowns within minutes after taking delivery, to its $3,000 camping tent feature failing to deploy, to an incident in which one buyer complained his vehicle shut down for 5 hours after he failed to put the truck in “carwash mode” before running it through a local car wash.

Meanwhile, international auto rental company Hertz is now fire selling its own fleet of Teslas and other EV models in its efforts to salvage a little final value from what is turning out to be a disastrous EV gamble. In a giant fit of green virtue-signaling, the company invested whole hog into the Biden subsidy program in 2021 with a mass purchase of as many as 100,000 Teslas and 50,000 Polestar models, only to find that customer demand for renting electric cars was as tepid as demand to buy them outright. For its troubles, Hertz reported it had lost $392 million during Q1, attributing $195 million of the loss to its EV struggles. Hertz’s share price plummeted by about 20% on April 25, and was down by 55% for the year.

If all this financial carnage does not yet constitute a “bloodbath” for the US EV sector, it is difficult to imagine what would. But wait: It really isn’t all that hard to imagine at all, is it? When he used that term back in March, Mr. Trump was referring not just to the ruinous Biden subsidy program, but also to plans by China to establish an EV-manufacturing beachhead in Mexico, from which it would be able to flood the US market with its cheap but high-quality electric models. That would definitely cause an already disastrous domestic EV market to get even worse, wouldn’t it?

The bottom line here is that it is becoming obvious even to ardent EV fans that US consumer demand for EVs has reached a peak long before the industry and government expected it would. It’s a bit of a perfect storm, one that rent-seeking company executives and obliging policymakers brought upon themselves. Given that this outcome was highly predictable, with so many warning it was in fact inevitable, a reckoning from investors and corporate boards and voters will soon come due. It could become a bloodbath of its own, and perhaps it should.

https://blackmon.substack.com/p/the-ev-bloodbath-arrives-early?publication_id=712558&post_id=144077332&isFreemail=false&r=rd9j8&triedRedirect=true

[Gmenfan]

And nothing will happen as is most often the case when the perp is aligned with liberal narrative.

[SkeBallLarry]

Now in Color ~ The Great Depression >

[Flobewan]

Yup, just for that, LOL

[pos_stock_hoarder]

Tomorrow she'll need sunscreen!

[Flobewan]

Come mow this white stuff off the ground, LOL

[pos_stock_hoarder]

Steppenwolf - America (OK, we need some new lyrics but the question remains: America, Where are you Now?)

[Gmenfan]

[Bull_Dolphin]

Here's the next segment:

J6 Political Prisoner Ryan Samsel Exposes James Ray Epps Breaking Federal Law In Leaked FBI Call: ‘We Were Listening To The, Uh, Speech’ [Part 2]
By Alicia Powe Apr. 26, 2024 8:00 am

Alleged government plant James Ray Epps repeatedly claimed during his leaked interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigations that he stopped on the Ellipse in Washington DC at the Stop the Steal rally on January 6, 2021, to listen to former President Donald Trump’s speech.

“I mean this is what I tried to do. I mean I tried to calm them down,” Epps is heard telling an FBI agent a series of lies on a Jan. 8 2021 recorded phone call obtained by The Gateway Pundit.

“And the next morning we went down to the Capitol, — oh, not the Capitol,” he continued, “the, the, uh, the place where the president was going to speak. And we listened.”

In reality, as Trump delivered the momentous speech on the Ellipse, Epps was on a strange expedition, imploring every person he encountered to go into the Capitol building, where many would later be shot by police, bombed by cops with flash grenades, tear-gassed by law enforcement officials, murdered, entrapped with stacks of federal criminal charges and entrapped by the FBI for trespassing.

“As soon as President Trump is finished speaking, we are going to the Capitol! It’s going in that direction. That’s where our true problems lie,” he yelled at every bystander he encountered on the streets of the nation’s capital during Trump’s speech.

How could Epps have stopped to listen to the president’s speech when he was fixated on a bizarre expedition to direct demonstrators to, “Go to the Capitol!” and relentlessly cajoling the massive crowd to “Go.. in…to the building!”

As exhibited in J6 A True Timeline, the banned documentary showcasing the timeline of the events of January 6, President Trump took the microphone at 12:01 PM. Trump spoke at the Elipse for 40 minutes while Ray Epps, the entire time, was filmed on the streets directing the crowd to the Capitol building.

Epp’s demonstrably false claim about stopping to listen to Trump’s speech is among numerous falsehoods the only “insurrectionist” heralded by the corporate press told the bureau, in clear violation of federal law.

Lying to corporate press and state-run mainstream media primetime on 60-minute or and all access interviews with the New York Times, is one thing.

Flagrantly lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigations is a federal violation governed by 18 U.S.C. § 1001, punishable by up to five years in prison.

The penalty could be extended to a maximum of eight years if the misstatement relates to any act of international or domestic terrorism. The statements do not have to be made under oath to get charged under this federal statute.

Making false statements that violate federal law are related to the crimes of obstruction of justice and perjury, which are penalized under 18 U.S.C. § 1621 and 18 U.S.C. § 1505.

One of the most common ways for someone to face a federal false statement charge involves lying to FBI agents during an interview. Federal prosecutors frequently use the False Statement Accountability Act to indict or threaten to indict someone they believe is not cooperating with a criminal investigation.



Federal prosecutors sought to incarcerate former National Security Advisor Gen. Michael Flynn for violating 18 U.S.C. § 1001. Flynn pled guilty to making false statements to the FBI surrounding the bogus Russia probe then withdrew his plea prior to sentencing and was pardoned by Trump. Trump advisor Roger Stone was dragged out of his home by the FBI in a predawn raid for allegedly providing false statements to the FBI and pardoned by the former president.

But Ray Epps is above the law.

As TGP reported, on Jan. 8, 2021, hours after Epps discovered his photo was published on the Most Wanted List for his role in the Capitol riot, the 62-year-old former Oath Keeper called the FBI and asked a federal agent to remove his picture from the bureau’s website and provided numerous false statements about his actions on January 5 and 6, 2021.

He devoted most of the call to persuading the bureau to target J6 political prisoner Ryan Samsel, whom Epps whispered to and stalked during the riot, and criminally implicating other demonstrators he implored to, “Go into the building!”

TGP allowed Samsel to review the exculpatory evidence prosecutors withheld during his trial in violation of Brady v. Maryland.

“This is all scripted,” Samsel told TGP in an exclusive interview. “[Epps] is a paid agitator and we are going to get to the bottom of it.”

Epps insisted on the call with the FBI that he “kind of put his arm around” Samsel to “try to calm him down. If true, it would have been a sudden deviation from the mission he had been on for hours, walking the streets of DC inciting people to break the law.

“Ray Epps never whispered in my ear to ‘calm down,’” Samsel shot back. “What he said was, ‘Don’t pull you’ve got to push. I got people, or wait until more people. That’s exactly what he said. I’ve challenged the government to this, and I said, ‘Well, why don’t you have me take a polygraph test and have Ray Epps take a polygraph test.’

“They don’t want him to take a polygraph test because he’s lying. He’s lying about so, so much.”

***Please support political prisoner Ryan Samsel’s legal defense here. ***
The former Marine at the center of the Capitol attack’s most persistent conspiracy theories and his wife Robyn conspicuously insisted he went to DC to “calm them down” a combined nearly 20 times on the unredacted 27-minute call.

The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment provides that “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right … to be confronted with the witnesses against him” at trial. Generally, the right is to have a face-to-face confrontation with witnesses who are offering testimonial evidence against the accused in the form of cross-examination during a trial.

But US district federal judges have trashed the US Constitution under the installed Biden regime. Ryan Samsel has never had the opportunity to face his accuser.

Revolver News’ Darrin Beattie called attention to Epp’s J6 alibi.

“He just, ‘Went to D.C. to defend Trump and to attend the speech on a last-minute thing with his son,’ to attend Trump’s speech on election fraud. The only thing is, Epps didn’t attend the speech,” Beattie noted on Tucker Carlson’s former Fox News broadcast before Carlson was fired from the network allegedly for exposing the fedsurrection.

“Epps travels all the way from Arizona to DC, this ‘big Trump supporter,’ and he doesn’t even attend the speech,” Beattie continued. “Instead, he fixates on this bizarre mission to get everyone to go into the Capitol.”

As police sprayed the crowd with deadly CS gas and flash grenades, Epps boasted to his nephew in a 2:12 pm text message on Jan. 6 that he, “Orchestrated it.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/04/ray-epps-unmasked-j6-political-prisoner-ryan-samsel/

[Gmenfan]

Women turning against women. Where oh where are the pussy hats???

Megan Rapinoe Demands Trans Athletes Be Allowed to Compete Against Women – Remember When Her Team Faced Teenage Boys?

By Connor Cavanaugh, The Western Journal Apr. 27, 2024 11:20 am
Former soccer star Megan Rapinoe appears to not have learned her lesson whatsoever, advocating for transgender athletes to compete in women’s sporting events even though she lost to a team of teenage boys a few years ago.

On Tuesday, Rapinoe signed a letter along with numerous other athletes that called for the NCAA to ensure men claiming to be women would be able to compete against women.

“We, the undersigned, call upon the NCAA, a governing body meant to serve athletes and our wellbeing, to ensure that the lifesaving power of sport is accessible to all athletes who compete in championship and emerging sports at and for NCAA-member institutions – including transgender athletes,” the letter’s opening paragraph reads.

It goes on to say banning men from women’s sports would “severely [limit] the capacity of your member institutions to protect and support their athletes.”

The letter largely relies on emotional appeal while making broad, bogus claims such as that “studies used to justify the exclusion of transgender athletes are methodologically flawed and misinterpreted to further discrimination.”

“We call on you to be on the right side of history and affirm that sport is truly for us all. Do not ban transgender women from NCAA women’s sports,” the letter concludes.

Taking part in such an act is nothing new for Rapinoe, a lesbian LGBT activist who has generated headlines with her left-wing political posturing.

In March, she called out Christian U.S. soccer player Korbin Albert for sharing social media posts that said homosexuality and “feeling transgender” were immoral.

But as always, while Rapinoe and her fellow leftists wish to create a world where everyone is equal and nothing is set in stone, the reality is far from that.

In 2017, while she was still on the U.S. Women’s National Team, they faced the FC Dallas under-15 boys team to prepare for a friendly match against Russia, as CBS Sports reported at the time.

They lost.

While it was far from a shutout, losing 5-2 to a team of boys who can’t even drive a car yet shows just how big of a difference sex plays in physical ability.

Imagine the score if these boys were men. That’s a reality that could come about as more and more male athletes claiming to be women are allowed into women’s sports.

It will only ruin the ability of women to compete.

It’s shameful that as Rapinoe leaves the sport, she advocates for changes that will make it harder for other women to succeed.

As swimmer and women’s sports activist Riley Gaines wrote on X, “Megan Rapinoe, in typical virtue-signaling fashion, is pulling up the ladder behind her.”

“No one would know who Megan Rapinoe is [if] it weren’t for women’s sports lol,” she said.

Megan Rapinoe, in typical virtue-signaling fashion, is pulling up the ladder behind her.

No one would know who Megan Rapinoe is it weren’t for women’s sports lol https://t.co/SuNsTENbwr

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) April 25, 2024

Perhaps more women in sports — and the organizations that govern them — should reject Rapinoe and her woke nonsense.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/04/megan-rapinoe-demands-trans-athletes-allowed-compete-women/

[Gmenfan]

Federal Agents Drag J6 Political Prisoner Ryan Samsel To The Hole and Isolation Immediately After The Gateway Pundit Releases Ray Epps’ FBI Call to the American Public

Earlier today, Alicia Powe at The Gateway Pundit exposed J6 insurrection leader James Ray Epps lying to the FBI in a leaked interview obtained by The Gateway Pundit.

After the release of this audio incriminating Epps, federal agents raided J6 political prisoner Ryan Samsel’s jail cell and dragged him to solitary confinement in the hole of the Metropolitan Detention Center Brooklyn on Thursday night.

Epps repeatedly lied to authorities saying he was listening to President Trump’s speech at the Ellipse when there is numerous video clips proving Epps was not being truthful.

Ray Epps was directing Trump supporters to the US Capitol for hours before the protests on Capitol Hill. Epps later was one of the leading protesters who broke through the first and second set of barriers going to the US Capitol.



Hours after TGP published the leaked audio of Epps' phone call to the feds, Samsel was removed from his jail cell.

He is now being held in solitary confinement in one of the most notoriously dangerous jail systems in the country.

Samsel suspected he would face government retaliation for exposing the truth. He was right.

“I challenge the government. Even if they may retaliate and assault me for exposing the truth like they usually do — you can’t fear, folks. I’m curious as to why I am being treated like this, and guys like Ray Epps are free?" Samsel told TGP while reviewing the uncovered audio.

“Epps is a free man with his family at home when I’ve been constantly moved to dozens of different jails – I’ve been in New York; I've been in Philly, I’ve been in Virginia, moved everywhere --and each place I’ve gone I’ve been extremely mistreated. Still to this day, I haven’t gotten any medical treatment.

"I put God first. If they want to take my life, all they can do is destroy my body. I want to take care of it as best I can, but if they want to kill it, you can have it. Come get it. The soul — you can’t destroy my soul.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/04/breaking-federal-agents-drag-j6-political-prisoner-ryan/

[pos_stock_hoarder]

I remember 2 or 3 days to CA was STANDARD time for first class mail. What a disgrace they are now. Like the rest of our government.

[pos_stock_hoarder]

I didn't feel it either.

I don't think God is punishing us. I think that the devil has the upper hand nowadays.

[Bull_Dolphin]

It probably went over to PA for a while, like the truckload of ballots.
You're lucky you got it!

Rest well, kk.

[ksquared]

NJ had another earthquake. This was in Gladstone... of Peapack-Gladstone.
That was part of my daily commute.
https://nypost.com/2024/04/27/us-news/earthquake-rocks-nyc-region-weeks-after-4-8-magnitude-quake/

It happened between 10:00 & 11:00 this morning. I was on the phone with my sister who is in Bridgewater.
She felt it and asked if I did. Nope. Missed this one.
Crazy. Is nj being punished for the sin of voting demorrhoid???

[ksquared]

Yep. The Post Awful strikes again.
However... my license finally arrived today.
April 16th to April 27th to go from Trenton to the Northwest corner of the state.
Sheesh. They must be routing the mail through Timbuktu.

Back yard lawn is mowed.
I am bushed. < g >

[pos_stock_hoarder]

Front page news. Well, page 2. Framing Trump stays on page 1!

[pos_stock_hoarder]

That's the (quasi) governmental agency solution to everything. Raise prices. All else stays the same.

[pos_stock_hoarder]

Same old play. MSM will, of course, ignore it.

[pos_stock_hoarder]

I got that! And agree.

[ksquared]

Exclusive: Rep. Keith Self Warns U.S. Constitutional Republic Can’t Survive ‘Fourth Obama Term’
JOSHUA KLEIN 27 Apr 2024 3:31
(Truer words have rarely been spoken.)

U.S. global influence is declining under President Joe Biden, whose presidency is a continuation of former President Barack Obama’s policies, according to Republican Congressman Keith Self, who warned that America could not survive a “fourth Obama term.”

He also blasted Biden’s weakening alliance with the Jewish State and the rise of anti-Israel protests on college campuses, which he attributed to socialist ideology fueled by “woke” academia, while advising that children be prepped with conservative values before entering higher education institutions.

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on the sidelines of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Hungary 2024 on Friday, Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) lamented the “decline in the influence of the United States around the world” under Biden.

“It started with the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Soon after that, people started testing us and Putin started moving troops into Ukraine within two months of the withdrawal,” he said. “And, frankly, that’s lightning speed when you talk about a nation making a decision to start moving troops toward combat.”

He then asserted that Biden’s term mirrors Obama’s while warning of the risks such policies pose to the country.

President Joe Biden (L) and former U.S. President Barack Obama (R) embrace on stage during a rally for Pennsylvania Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro at the Liacouras Center on November 5, 2022, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Mark Makela/Getty).

“This is the third Obama administration; let’s just admit it,” he said. “Every one of the Obama policies is being exacerbated, encouraged, and executed by the Biden administration.”

“So I don’t believe that our constitutional republic can survive a fourth Obama term,” he added:

There is a global movement of 'splinters under the fingernails' of the Axis of #Wokism," Kieth @SelfForCongress tells #CPACHungary.
(Well, we ARE that movement, if we may say so!)
Because #WesternCivilization stands at the crossroads of our real #values and the spiritual… pic.twitter.com/YzSAlRFb6n

— The Center (@alapjogokert) April 26, 2024

He also described the current status of the long-held alliance between America and the Jewish State as being at a “pretty low point,” attributing it to Biden “doing everything he can to make Israel unsuccessful in their mission to destroy the Hamas infrastructure.”

“We’ve got to remember that Israel’s mission in Gaza is to destroy the infrastructure of Hamas,” he told Breitbart News.

Pointing to Hamas’s remaining battalions in southern Gaza, Self, who serves as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, insisted that Israel intends to “clean it out and finish the job.”

However, he noted, Biden is “throwing every obstacle he can in the way of that.”

“At the end of the day, I think Israel will probably do what they can to meet their objectives in spite of the Biden administration,” he stated.

Self then addressed the ongoing anti-Israel protests on college campuses throughout the U.S., describing them as the result of socialist propaganda.

“These [demonstrations] are the consequences of the incubator of socialism that our universities have become for decades now,” he said. “They are basically socialist in their belief, in their teaching, and in their policies, and we’re seeing the results of it now in the antisemitic, pro-Palestinian protests.”

According to Self, the matter should be “no surprise to us because we know that our universities have been woke for decades.”

As a result, he suggested preparing children with conservative values before they enter universities.

“If you’re going to send your child to a university, you need to make sure that they are well grounded in conservative principles and freedom,” he concluded.

Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [e-mail]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/04/27/rep-keith-self-warns-us-constitutional-republic-cant-survive-fourth-obama-term/

[Gmenfan]

At 2,000 illegal crossings a day, San Diego becomes new ground zero for Joe Biden's open border

By Monica Showalter

Texas has made it clear that it will do all it can to halt illegal border crossings.

That makes San Diego the new destination of choice for illegal aliens taking advantage of Joe Biden's open borders, given the hostile desert climate of Arizona, New Mexico and California's Imperial County. And sure enough, they are coming.

According to The Hill:

A San Diego official on Thursday dubbed his city the “new epicenter” for the border crisis and criticized California for “inflicting this upon ourselves.”

“San Diego is the new epicenter for migrants and illegal immigration,” San Diego District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond posted on the social media platform X. “The surge in illegal crossings has propelled San Diego to the unfortunate position of leading all nine southern border sectors in April, a trend unseen since the 1990’s.”

Desmond said Wednesday that in just one day, Border Patrol agents apprehended 2,000 people who were illegally crossing the border, “including 206 Chinese nationals.” Since October, there have been nearly 215,000 apprehensions from 75 different countries, his post said.

“People are just walking across the border. Border Patrol agents are not empowered to stop them,” Desmond said in an interview with NewsNation. “All they’re doing is processing them once they … walk across the border.”

Desmond, who's a rare and lonely conservative, one of the Reagan Country originals, couldn't be more correct about the disaster unfolding in this county.

Crime, for one, looks like this:

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The man who was arrested for breaking into a Linda Vista home and sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl appeared in court for the first time Wednesday afternoon.

Alejandro Confessor, 22, faces charges of sex crimes, burglary and trespassing. He pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations in court.

“These parents, these kids experienced something no one should have to,” Deputy District Attorney Eric Bodnar said after the arraignment Wednesday. “It truly is a parents’ worst nightmare.”

Confessor faces 25 years to life behind bars if convicted on all charges.

On Thursday, the suspect entered a residence located on Wellington St. through an open door, where he then assaulted the five-year-old while she was sleeping. He then fled the scene on foot.

Just a few days after the first incident, on Sunday, surveillance footage appeared to capture the same man again at the property on Wellington St. around 3:30 a.m. However, authorities said he did not enter into the home and no one was harmed.

Because he went back to the same residence, prosecutors argued in court that he should not be offered the $1 million bail that was previously set. The judge agreed.

And sure enough, reports are getting out that he's here illegally:



High-ranking officials are telling me that the person who raped a 5-year-old in Linda Vista is a known gotaway who illegally entered the country. The public must know if this is true.https://t.co/N5A0lDzk7g
— Bill Wells (@MayorBillWells) April 26, 2024



Wellington Street, where the sick crime happened, is quite close to where I live. It's no border badlands outpost, nor is it a broken-window slum where all kinds of bad things happen. It's either at or next to an enclave of middle-class Navy housing, which is kept spic-and-span, if featureless, in its midcentury modern array, its lawns gleaming.

It doesn't surprise me that a door was left open at one of the homes for the monster to enter, because nothing ever happens in such a place -- that is, until Biden opened the border, which is 24.4 miles south.

Of course the crime is shocking, and that the dirtbag returned to the scene of his previous crime of invading an innocent five-year-old's bedroom and molesting that child is even creepier. Someone like that never should have been allowed into the country. But sure enough, he was.

But it doesn't stop at just pervert crime.

Wells, another rare conservative in this county, also notes that illegals get cold out there at the crossing points and they build fires:



Fire danger is the latest unintended consequence of an open border. The cartels are pushing people out east into fire country, and of course, it’s cold, so they are lighting fires. I remember the horrors of the Ceder fire. Many don’t even have fire insurance anymore because most… https://t.co/ylwpmigIuG
— Bill Wells (@MayorBillWells) April 26, 2024



Lots of fires. And this surge video from a guy with a car on his dashcam at night must be seen to be believed:



Hey @CALFIRESANDIEGO these are all illegal foreigners violating important fire laws on our side of the border AS SOON AS THEY GET INTO OUR COUNTRY in Boulevard, San Diego, CA.

If an American citizen were to do this, what would the penalty be?

Video from @CoryGoat pic.twitter.com/ZxV1yqLX4k
— rooted.wings (@BrittRooted) April 24, 2024



Little update: It's all fire country out here, the 2003 Cedar fire came within a couple miles of my home, as far as Clairemont, I remember how firefighters heroically stopped it before it could reach a string of gas stations.

The abundant canyonlands around here, even in the heart of the urban part of San Diego where I am all get dry as dust in summer but offer convenient refuge to illegals and homeless encampments, given the hostile terrain. Think any of them might now camp out in these parts and start a campfire among the tinder to rise upwards and take out a few canyonside homes?

It's more than likely it will happen.

Meanwhile, out on the surfer side of things, the illegal immigrant boats that surfers must dodge are now coming in two to three a day according to reports.

And of course, the cartels have been busy, stewmaking their rivals and taking their killing act as far north as La Jolla.

There's lots of Navy activity for incoming Chinese nationals to spy on and lots of state and NGO cash for those seeking free housing, free medical care, free food, free transport, free college and all the other things that migrants reportedly are coming for. What could go wrong?

It's interesting stuff because this is the first time we have seen the open borders migrant surge hitting a large, mostly blue, city in a direct hit, and it can't be anything other than Biden's open borders policy doing it. That's because San Diego is much further away from the parts of Mexico that migrants reach first on their cross-country journey up the belly of Mexico, which is Texas. You have to travel something like an extra 1,000 miles to get to the San Diego County borderline, but that's what they are doing, because obviously, Texas is making it much harder to enter in that state.

It sounds like these 2,000 migrants a day are just the start of a big wave of them, given the sharp acceleration in their numbers. Desmond says they're coming as it's the "path to least resistance." The crimes and mayhem now coming in with them are just the beginning of a long stream of events that will render San Diego as damaged and distressed as Texas's border communities.

Maybe the blue voters here will wise up, but don't bank on it. Most are fine letting the place turn into an unliveable county.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/04/at_2_000_illegal_crossings_a_day_san_diego_becomes_new_ground_zero_for_joe_biden_s_open_border.html

[Gmenfan]

Did Biden’s big mouth just commit him to debate Donald Trump?

By Andrea Widburg

If Biden is unable to weasel out of the debate he’s now effectively promised, it should be the greatest debate in American political history, if for no other reason than comedic value.

Sometimes, it’s nice to walk away from the insanely depressing news about America’s college campuses, the economy, immigration, and all the other stuff in Biden’s America and just to focus on Joe Biden himself. That’s because this addled old man is the source of endless comic material. He lies, misspeaks, misreads, and, most recently, may have committed himself to a debate or two against Donald Trump, something that he’s manifestly incapable of handling.

I’m sure all of you caught Biden’s Ron Burgundy moment, but I’ll share it with you again, nevertheless. If you’re not familiar with Ron Burgundy, this will help you catch up (language warning):

And here, for your enjoyment, is Joe “Burgundy” Biden:

“The real President is whoever controls the teleprompter.” — Elon Musk

“Four more years. Pause.” — Biden reading the teleprompter pic.twitter.com/cC6MKSJOyg
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 24, 2024

But that’s par for the course when it comes to Biden. What happened today, though, was new and exciting because someone let Biden off the leash, and he called into Howard Stern’s show. During the telephone call, Biden told some amazing whoppers, one of which is that he’s chomping at the bit to debate Donald Trump. His handlers must have had a heart attack because that sounded like a commitment. They’re going to have an almost impossible time backing off of it now.

So, here are the whoppers Biden told during the phone call to Stern.

Whopper No. One: Biden claimed that he got arrested during the Civil Rights movement for standing with a black family on their porch. There is no evidence that this ever happened.

Biden claims he "got arrested standing on the porch with a Black family" during the civil rights movement.

That never happened. pic.twitter.com/HxHIiCZStZ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 26, 2024

Whopper No. Two: Biden claims he saved half a dozen people’s lives during his time as a lifeguard (presumably when he wasn’t off defending against Corn Pop). It’s unlikely this is true.

"You ever save anyone's life when you were a lifeguard?"

BIDEN: "Yeah, half a dozen times"

🤔 pic.twitter.com/dMtWECUS3I
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 26, 2024

Whopper No. Three: In the 1970s, women constantly sent him salacious pictures, which he passed on to the Secret Service. (Moment of truth: Senators have no Secret Service protection.)

Biden claims "women would send very salacious pictures" to him when he was a senator in the 1970s: "I'd just give them to the Secret Service."

(Senators do not have Secret Service protection) pic.twitter.com/8znDMFHZcp
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 26, 2024

Whopper No. Four: Biden again claimed that he was a football star, which is an out-and-out, provable lie:

Biden claims he was the "runner-up in state scoring" for football, but he really finished fifth in the 1960 "conference scoring race" pic.twitter.com/3XLnl4jv2S

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 26, 2024

Whopper No. Five: Biden said Trump makes fun of him, and he’d really like to fight Trump. Actually, this isn’t a whopper. Trump does make fun of Biden, and Biden probably really does want to fight Trump. The delusional part is Biden’s implication that he could win.

BIDEN (angry and confused): "Trump makes fun of me! He's the kind of guy in the neighborhood you wish you could've got in the neighborhood and meet head-to-head..." pic.twitter.com/cUCUPmjgPx
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 26, 2024

Were that fight to occur, Joe Biden could be any one of the three men in this video. Trump, I suspect, would come off looking quite good.

No matter how old you get, beef is beef 🤣 pic.twitter.com/73VpZyv3Wr
— STREET FIGHT 🔞🥊 2M?🤩(FOLLOW FOR NOTHING MISSED) (@streetfighthard) December 11, 2023

Whopper No. Six: This is the biggest whopper of all. Biden essentially said that he’s chomping at the bit to debate Trump—something that must have come as a surprise to his handlers, who have been doing their best to avoid a debate:

🚨 Crooked Joe Biden says he's "happy to debate" President Trump.

His handlers must be furious! pic.twitter.com/eOS9zm0G0U
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 26, 2024

Hallelujah! I can’t think of anything more damaging to Joe Biden than to appear at a debate against Donald Trump.

In 2012, Joe Biden, with his rictus grin, was at the top of his game...as a bully. Paul Ryan could have won on the merits, but he completely collapsed before Biden’s verbal onslaught. That was a win for Biden.

In 2020, Biden was still functional, and he lied like crazy (e.g., denying his son’s laptop). The debate moderators, especially the malevolent Chris Wallace, propped him up when necessary. Trump didn’t handle Biden well, either, coming out too strong in the first debate and too diffident in the second one. The debates ended up not harming Biden, so they could be viewed as a win or a draw.

In 2024, though, it will be different. Trump, who has a remarkable ability to learn despite his age, won’t make any mistakes dealing with Biden. He’ll have plans for how to handle Biden if the guy is just a demented muppet, and he’ll have plans for dealing with Biden if the guy is so hopped up on amphetamines that he rivals the old FedEx commercials.

If Biden is unable to weasel out of the debate he’s now effectively promised, it should be the greatest debate in American political history, if for no other reason than comedic value.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/04/did_biden_s_big_mouth_just_commit_him_to_debate_donald_trump.html

[Gmenfan]

Another unexpected Friday

By Silvio Canto, Jr.


All you have to do is buy gasoline or go out to eat and you will get a class on Inflation 101. Everything is more expensive



That fellow Mister Unexpected won't go away. He showed up again in the latest economic data. Let's look at the story:

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, grew by 1.6% on an annualized basis in the three-month period from January through March, the Commerce Department said in its first reading of the data on Thursday.

That is much lower than the 2.4% increase forecast by LSEG economists and marks a sharp slowdown from the 3.4% pace seen during the fourth quarter. It is the slowest pace of growth in two years.

"This was a worst of both worlds report -- slower than expected growth, higher than expected inflation," said David Donabedian, chief investment officer of CIBC Private Wealth US. "The biggest setback is the acceleration in core inflation, and in particular, the services sector rising above a 5% annual rate."

Well, that's a double, one between your eyes and in your stomach.

With all due respect to the experts, and we sure have enough of them, it's hard to see how all this stuff is so unexpected.

All you have to do is buy gasoline or go out to eat and you will get a class on Inflation 101. Everything is more expensive and we are not dining in upscale restaurants. My last visit to a well-known fast food place cost me $18.

As for the economy in general, we hear more and more from business owners about the cost of inventory and difficulty of finding workers. Anyway, I am not talking to anyone who tells me that things are going great.

So another Friday and everybody is having coffee with Mr. Unexpected, and paying more for the coffee.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/04/another_unexpected_friday.html

[Gmenfan]

Ensuring a Republican Victory

By Joe Fried

Trump probably won in 2020, so he should have little difficulty winning in 2024. However, will he be certified, or will the honor go to Joe, Michelle, or Pretty Boy? The problem here is the massive ballot harvesting schemes used by Democrats.

Let me be clear: Most Democrats do not believe they are cheating: They are simply “empowering.” In their minds, helping people to vote is a public service, even if it requires obtaining, completing, correcting, and transporting the ballots on the voter’s behalf. Democrats did that openly in Wisconsin during the 2020 election.

In no fewer than 206 Madison City parks, Democrats held “Democracy in the Park” events, advertised by Joe himself. Hundreds of special ballot drop boxes were strategically placed, and a couple hundred election “inspectors” helped thousands of fellow Democrats decipher the complexities of voting. Make a mistake? No worry, the inspector will fix it. Need a witness for your signature? The inspector can do that too. No ID? Just say you are afraid of COVID. In a hurry? Hand your ballot to the inspector. She will make sure the ballot is cast -- and for the right candidate!

Basically, Wisconsin election officials operated a massive ballot harvesting operation in plain sight, and strictly in Democrat areas. The Trump team went to court, but in a partisan, 4 to 3 ruling, the Wisconsin Supreme Court dismissed the case on the basis of “laches” (filed too late). It was a ridiculous ruling, but don’t take my word -- I am just an accountant. Instead, consider the angry words of the three dissenting justices:

Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler:

“LACHES DOES NOT AND SHOULD NOT BAR THIS CASE... Once again, the majority imposes its definition of laches, which is tailored to its judicial preferences rather than based on well-established legal principles...The respondents cannot demonstrate that laches bars a single one of these claims...” [emphasis as written].

Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley:

“How astonishing that four justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court must be reminded that it is THE LAW that constitutes ‘the rule book’ for any election...” [emphasis as written].

Justice Patience Drake Roggensack:

“Once again, four justices on this court cannot be bothered with addressing what the statutes require...”

In other swing states the ballot harvesting was just as real, but much less obvious. Experienced harvesters plied their craft with skill and stealth. A great example of harvesting prowess was reported by Jon Levine in the New York Post. The reporter interviewed a harvester who operated a team of workers for 20 years in three states: New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Levine did not reveal the identity of the man (or woman), but he knows who it is, and Levine said it is a recognizable name in the world of politics.

The harvester told Levine that getting ballots “is easier than you think.” He and his associates would say they were from the county, and were picking up ballots as a public service. (I don’t think that would work in a Republican neighborhood, but there are places where people are accustomed to having the government do everything for them.) After the harvesters collected the ballots, they would steam them open, make sure the right candidates were selected, and distribute the ballots among several mail boxes.

There is only one way for Republicans to fight and win against this, and it’s called “canvassing.”

When the Cyber Ninjas started their audit of Maricopa County’s election, they planned to select a sample of voters, knock on doors, and ask a few basic questions: “Sir, the county voter rolls show that you were sent a mail-in ballot. Is that true?” That is called “canvassing,” and it would have effectively uncovered any harvesting operation.

Unfortunately, the canvassing never happened because of strong threats made by powerful Democrats, including Merrick Garland, Jaime Raskin, and Carolyn Maloney. They would not allow the Cyber Ninjas to talk with voters because it could -- somehow -- suppress the vote, even though the election had taken place months earlier. If you don’t understand how that works, watch the movie, Back to the Future.

It didn’t end there, however. A very good and large-scale canvassing operation was conducted by a private group of volunteers, led by a civic-minded resident of Maricopa County. I won’t reveal her name because she might not welcome the resultant “summer of love.”

Although the private canvassing was completed too late to be of use in the 2020 election, we can learn from the methodology employed, and the results that were obtained. Here are the steps followed by the Maricopa resident and her volunteers:

The voter database was obtained from the county. It is a list of all registered voters, and it shows who did and did not cast a mail-in ballot.
A large sample of addresses was selected from the population of people shown to have voted by mail.
Volunteers were recruited and trained in the procedures to use and the questions to ask.
Canvassing locations were assigned.
When a resident responded at the door the volunteers identified themselves as private citizens who were conducting voluntary election integrity research.
All residents received the same opening pitch: “We'd like to quickly go through each registered voter living at this address” and identify all potential voters living here.
Then, six questions were asked:
What method did you use to vote?
How many ballots did you receive in the mail for yourself?
How many ballots did you receive for person(s) who do not live here?
What did you do with any extra ballots received?
How many registered voters are there supposed to be at this address?
How many registered voters are there who voted in the November 2020 election?

When all data were received, the results were compiled and analyzed.

The Maricopa volunteers knocked on 11,708 doors and received responses from 4570 people. By any standards that is a massive survey. The results? Of those who had voted according to Maricopa, 5.7% said they did not vote. That number, which is just for Maricopa, is eight times Joe’s winning margin for the entire state. The canvass report stated that the accuracy was plus or minus 1.5% with 95% confidence.

To be useful, the results must qualify as lawsuit evidence:

Even though this sort of survey activity is legal in most areas, Democrats will furiously try to block any canvass activities, so lawyers must be assembled, ready, and familiar with election and solicitation laws for each community.
The survey must be completed within days after the election. Memories fade quickly, and people get confused if too much time elapses.
For each major county within a swing state, a bipartisan group of leaders should be selected. If possible, these leaders should be retired judges, lawyers, doctors, engineers, and accountants, and they should have unblemished credentials. They will select and supervise the volunteers.
The help of a professional statistician must be used, and he must select a sample large enough to achieve high confidence with a small margin of error. For most counties the required sample might range from 500 to 1,000.
Accurate records of all responses must be kept. If discrepancies are found, sworn affidavits should be obtained, if possible.

When done properly, the findings will be solid evidence that can be used in an election lawsuit. It won’t prove that a particular candidate won, but it can show that a new election must be held.

If you live in a swing state, please consider forwarding this article to any of your elected representatives who believe in election integrity.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/04/assuring_a_republican_victory.html

[Gmenfan]

Republicans Wage War on Basic Income Schemes

Handing out free money is a sweet vote-getter.

by Andrew Moran | Apr 27, 2024


Millions of Americans enjoyed a taste of basic income during the coronavirus pandemic. The federal government, achieving bipartisan support at the time, handed out billions of dollars in “free money” for just sitting at home, and taxpayers are now stuck footing the bill for these reckless inflationary schemes. Because the cost of living is so high, vote-hungry politicians believe they could appeal to more of the electorate by proposing a guaranteed income program. But if the public thinks inflation is high now, wait until the government starts handing out piles of cash.

GOP Pans Basic Income

Several states and cities are considering introducing basic income initiatives. Years ago, Stockton, CA, launched a $500-a-month no-strings-attached scheme. Others are joining Stockton, including Nashville, TN; Louisville, KY; and Birmingham, AL. Minnesota could soon become the country’s first state to launch a something-for-nothing initiative, and Washington may not be far behind.

Republicans are starting to push back. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently filed a lawsuit against Harris County to block a pilot program that offers $500 per month to nearly 2,000 low-income individuals in Houston. But Democrats aren’t going quietly. In Arizona and Wisconsin, for instance, Democrat governors vetoed GOP-led bills that ban universal basic income (UBI).

Republican leaders, like South Dakota state Sen. John Wilk, say these proposals are designed to create a new generation of voters addicted to free money: “What did Ronald Reagan say, ‘The closest thing to eternal life on this planet is a government program’? So, if you get people addicted to just getting a check from the government, it’s going to be really hard to take that away.”

But the genie is out of the bottle, and there is a demand for this so-called anti-poverty measure. According to a February Lake Research Partners study, nearly two-thirds of voters support monthly cash payments of up to $1,000. Additionally, the poll revealed that most voters would be more likely to vote for a candidate supporting a basic income. Evidently, the writing is on the wall.

Economics of UBI

When the basic income idea was first introduced decades ago, advocates championed abolishing the welfare state and solely imposing monthly cash payments for everyone. In recent years, though, the concept has evolved into a complement rather than a substitute. If a basic income of $1,000 for every person in the United States were implemented, estimates suggest the gross cost would be approximately $4 trillion.

Funding a basic income would be a challenge. The US government spends roughly $7 trillion a year, and lawmakers are finding it a Herculean feat to pay its bills. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan budget watchdog, projects that trillion-dollar-plus federal deficits are the new normal in Washington. As the national debt targets $35 trillion and interest payments become the third-largest budgetary item, how would the nation fund another entitlement program? Why, inflation, of course!

The US government is able to keep the lights on, hand out generous subsidies to domestic and foreign corporations, and fund foreign conflicts through inflationary practices. The Treasury is currently engaged in issuing trillions of dollars in new debt to global capital markets, while the Federal Reserve is thinking about slowing its balance-sheet reduction campaign. Put simply, the federal government sells bonds, the central bank purchases these securities, the printing press is turned on, and the public receives diluted currency and higher prices.



In addition, rampant price inflation happens when too much money chases the same level or diminished volume of goods and services. This was observed throughout the pandemic. Four years later, cumulative inflation is around 20%, and the consumer price index is struggling to slide below 3%. Policymakers then believe the panacea to this mess is even more inflationary pressures, be it a higher minimum wage or a guaranteed income. In other words, politicians started the fire, and they think dumping kerosene on it will help people cope.

Like Social Security, the UBI would become ensconced into Americans’ daily living standards. It would need to be adjusted for inflation. If it is means-tested, and not everyone has their fingers on the no-strings-attached cash, more voters would demand their share of the loot. Any recommendation to trim UBI benefits would be met with pitchforks and rage, like the famous Spencer Tracy jailhouse scene from Fury.

https://www.libertynation.com/republicans-waging-war-on-basic-income-schemes/

[Gmenfan]

Blinken Meets Chinese Leaders in Shanghai and Beijing

US meets China, and the outcome is predictable.

by Dave Patterson | Apr 27, 2024


Diplomatic visits to China have not been fruitful for the Biden administration thus far. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave it the old college try again – but little has changed. Secretary Blinken visited Shanghai, China’s financial center, and Beijing, the nation’s capital, from April 24 to 26. There was no shortage of topics crucial to successful US foreign policy and national security. The relationship between the US and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been on shaky ground since the Biden administration took office. Meetings began in Shanghai and concluded in Beijing. But was any progress made?

Blinken Searches for Progress

Blinken’s trip was promoted at the State Department as an opportunity to build on the progress made to improve the atmosphere between the two nations during China’s President Xi Jinping’s trip to San Francisco in November of last year. One positive outcome of the San Francisco meeting between Xi and President Biden was re-establishing US-PRC military-to-military meetings. Those meetings were discontinued following China’s sending a spy balloon over the Continental US.

During the stopover in Shanghai, the US chief diplomat met with Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining. According to the meeting readout issued by State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller, the conversation was a “Constructive and candid exchange” centering on the US concerns about “PRC trade policies and non-market economic practices.” Blinken pointed out that the US “seeks a healthy economic competition with the PRC,” but there must be “a level playing field for US workers and firms operating in China.”

The PRC foreign ministry’s take on the issue of China’s maintaining a fair and level playing field for trade between the two nations is, of course, self-serving and predictable. “China carries out trade and economic cooperation in accordance with market principles, firmly supports the multilateral trade regime, and fully abides by WTO [World Trade Organization] rules,” the Chinese Communist Party’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters. “We hope the US will respect the principle of fair competition, observe WTO rules too,” Wang said. When listening to the Chinese talk about such concepts as “economic cooperation” and “market principles,” understand what those words mean to them. Simply put, China establishes a trade environment where they win, you lose. If you want to do business in the PRC, your intellectual property is their intellectual property.

In Beijing, Blinken met with China’s President Xi Jinping, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong. The discussion picked up on themes similar to those covered in Shanghai. However, as the State Department Readout described:

“The Secretary pressed for continued progress in implementing the leaders’ Woodside Summit commitments on key issues, including advancing counternarcotics cooperation to disrupt the global flow of synthetic drugs – including fentanyl and their precursor chemicals – into the United States, enhancing military-to-military communication to avoid miscalculation and conflict, and launching talks on managing the risk and safety challenges posed by advanced forms of artificial intelligence.”

What was missing from the conversation was persuading Xi to stop the flood of military-age Chinese illegal aliens streaming across the US southern border – over 24,000 in the first seven months of FY2024 – more than all of FY2023. To his credit, Blinken did not shy away from asserting the US’s firm position that China was responsible for “maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.” He also reaffirmed the US one-China policy. Blinken expressed US concerns about the PRC’s aggressive naval engagements in the South China Sea and stressed the necessity of maintaining freedom of navigation in the region. The meetings closed with the standard rhetoric about the importance of keeping “open lines of communication at all times,” and the need to continue “high-level diplomacy and interaction.”

PRC Viewed the Meeting Different

The PRC readout on the meeting between Blinken and Xi had all the trappings of a charm offensive, but below the nuanced surface was the same old Chinese Communist Party (CCP) double-speak. Xi reiterated much of the boilerplate narrative he’s said before. Comments like “We live in an interdependent world and rise and fall together” give the impression the US and PRC are bosom buddies. When China catches a cold, the US sneezes.



Xi dipped into his book of wise Chinese sayings and came up with “Passengers in the same boat should help each other,” and “No progress means regress.” Who is he trying to kid? The US isn’t going to help the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) subjugate the islands belonging to the Philippines or Vietnam in the South China Sea. Nor is the US going to assist the PLAN in harassing Taiwan. “China is committed to non-alliance, and the US should not create small blocs,” Xi cautioned. In other words, the US should stop participating in NATO and dissolve multilateral relationships in the Indo-Pacific.

Those relationships keep the PRC in check. It’s never a bad thing for the US to engage enemies in dialogue, keeping in mind they are America’s top threat. China will not be persuaded to change its aggressive behavior if it perceives the US as weak or indecisive. Whether Secretary Blinken’s messages were persuasive, however, is debatable.

https://www.libertynation.com/blinken-meets-chinese-leaders-in-shanghai-and-beijing/