06 February, 2021

He’s a Chamber of Commerce Republican, so that’s No Surprise

Karl Rove Backs Democrats' Amnesty for Foreign-Born 'Dreamers' (breitbart.com)

Rove, a GOP strategist and longtime adviser to former President George W. Bush, joined in the coalition’s launch Tuesday. He said he recognized that “there are a lot of people in my party who don’t share my views.” But he said a permanent solution is still the “right thing to do.”

“It would be a blot on our country’s soul if we were to take hundreds of thousands of people who’ve known no country but America and tell them to get lost,” he said, adding that it would be “politically smart for both parties” to secure permanent legal status for Dreamers.

This was why I left the GOP. They clearly are not interested in defending the rights of American citizens. They just want cheap labor.

Now, I will admit that I have modified my opinion on amnesty over the years. I now look at it this way: we have laws in the United States and we have penalties for breaking them.

So, you speed on the interstate and get caught. You pay a fine.

You walk into a school and shoot up the place and murder 100 people, you’re going to prison for the rest of your life. Which will hopefully be quite short.

Entering the country illegally and staying here is a crime. One that’s probably a lot closer on the crime scale to speeding than it is to murdering 100 people.

So, we’ll allow you to correct your illegal status, but you have to pay the penalty first. What’s the penalty? I don’t know, but we can make it fair and reasonable. You have to pay any back taxes you missed out on because of your illegal status. You have to pay a fine. You have to continue to pay a fine as long as you remain in the country illegally. You don’t commit any other major crimes or violent crimes while you’re here.

You do all those things, and you get a chance to make yourself right.

If we had an amnesty rule like that, I could probably get on board with it. Of course, we never will have a rule like that, because a rule like that might actually make sense. And I’m sure someone would complain that it puts an undue financial burden on the illegal alien. Well, first, we can structure it so it doesn’t have to, but if it does, so what? Remember, these people have committed a crime. There must be penalties for doing so. If you can’t afford the penalties, then you have to take the other options, which are imprisonment or deportation.

Democrats Once Again Vote in Favor of Infanticide

Senate Democrats Defeat Legislation Protecting Abortion Survivors (freebeacon.com)

Senate Democrats defeated legislation Wednesday that would have protected infants who survive abortions.

The Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act failed because nearly every Senate Democrat voted against the measure, which requires doctors to provide medical care for newborns who survive abortion attempts. The act received 52 votes, falling 8 short of the 60-vote threshold necessary to break the filibuster. Democratic senators Joe Manchin (W. Va.) and Bob Casey (Pa.) crossed the aisle to vote for the legislation.

There just aren’t words to describe how offensive and horrendous this is.

A few years ago, this position was so extreme that then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama (D) had to hide his support for it by voting “present”. It is now mainstream in the Democrat party.

I am physically ill.

80 million of you voted for this.

#IToldYouSo

97-3

That was the vote tally on keeping America’s Embassy to Israel in Jerusalem.

Voting against were Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Tom Carper (D-DE).

When President Donald Trump (R-USA) made the move 2017, we were told that this would be a disaster, that it would seriously inflame tensions in the Middle East.

Instead of a disaster, we got the Abraham Accords, and are closer to peace in the Middle East than at any point in my lifetime.

This is another example of how wrong the Democrats were about Trump. At least they admitted it this time.

I Really Miss Kayleigh McEnany

Well, now you see why she wanted the questions in advance. She’s not even prepared for easy ones like this. Say what you want about McEnany, she was always prepared. She had that binder with her and could quickly get to whatever she needed. And she was dealing with a much more hostile press.

185!

I’ve tried to avoid the self-congratulatory posts on this blog now that I’m blogging again.

Up until this year, my most prolific month ever was September, 2011. I made 77 posts that month. That included my 9/11 Remembrance posts. In January of this year, I posted 141 times. And my first post was on January 8th, or it would have been substantially higher.

But this is a milestone that can’t be ignored.

My most prolific year was also 2011. I posted 411 times that year. My second most prolific year (until now) was 2012, when I posted 184 times.

This is my 185th post this year. It’s still the first week in February, and I’ve exceed my totals for 2020 (8), 2019 (0), 2018 (2), 2017 (0), 2016 (0), 2015 (0), 2014 (0), 2013 (0), 2012 (184), 2010 (156), 2009 (84), and 2008 (157).

And remember, my first post was on January 8th, so I got to 185 in slightly less than a month.

I am looking forward to the rest of this year.

And Now You Can’t Even Make Coffee Great Again

Pro-Trump Covfefe Coffee Cancelled By Chase Bank (pjmedia.com)

Covfefe Coffee, founded in 2018, brands itself as “Coffee For Deplorables By Deplorables.” The company, which says their goal is to “provide proud to Americans access to world-class coffee without having to fund your political and cultural opponents,” was informed via email on Wednesday that they would no longer be able to use their payment processing service because payments were “for one or more of the activities prohibited by” their terms of service.

As far as I can tell, their only crime is being a conservative company.

It’s going to get worse, much worse, before it gets better.

February 6, 1952

“Eisenhower, Vaccine, England’s got a new queen” –Billy Joel, We Didn’t Start the Fire

Queen Elizabeth II succeeds King George VI to the British throne and proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms including Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Her coronation (pictured above) will take place on June 3.

05 February, 2021

This isn’t an Accident

Rabbis: Democrats Cheapened Anti-Semitism Endangering Jews (pjmedia.com)

“Had the House operated by a fair and neutral standard,” Rabbi Yaakov Menken, Managing Director of the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV) said in a statement, “Rep. Greene would not be the only Member of Congress losing her committee assignments. Let there be no mistake: the American Jewish community is at greater risk today, because partisans chose to ‘virtue signal’ instead of taking real action to fight Antisemitism and hatred.”

CJV sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), urging the House to adopt a “neutral standard” on anti-Semitism that would involve condemning statements from Democrats that came in the past few weeks as well as statements that Greene made two years ago.

The letter noted that Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Minn.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Marie Newman (D-Ill.), and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) falsely accused the Jewish State of Israel of refusing to vaccinate Palestinians when the Palestinian government has vociferously refused the Israeli vaccine and even repeatedly refused COVID-19 medical aid from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) because the UAE had been working toward normalization with Israel. Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan condemned Tlaib’s accusation as a “modern-day blood libel.”

The Left doesn’t care whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14) is anti-Semitic or not. In fact, they likely applaud that if anything, at least privately. But it’s something they can use to bludgeon her and the Republican party with. They’ve been attacking the Right as anti-Semitic for decades. But the truth, as the Rabbi notes above, is that it is far more prevalent on the Left. In fact, in some places on the left, anti-Semitism is a prerequisite for career advancement.

So, I applaud Rabbi Menken for sending this letter to the House Democrats, but he’s naïve if he thinks anything is going to change. Jews have always voted heavily Democratic, and I’ve been hoping that they would wake up to the hatred of them within their own party for quite a while. Maybe Rabbi Menken’s letter means it’s finally going to happen.

But I won’t hold my breath.

Kevin McCarthy on House Democrats Abuse of Power

McCarthy On Democrats Stripping Greene Of Committees: ‘You May Regret This A Lot Sooner Than You Think’ | The Daily Wire

There’s just so much in this speech worth quoting. As they say, read the whole thing.

But here are some key bits.

“Now, we’ve reviewed this with the parliamentarian,” McCarthy said. “Never before in the history of this House, has the majority abused its power in this way. Never in the entire history of this House have you ever abused the power in this way.”

It truly is an abuse of power. Frankly, it’s so abusive, I’m surprised that it’s even allowed under House rules. One party stripped committee assignments from a member of the other party.

If we start doing this, it will become difficult to actually fill committees with minority members.

Or, let’s forget the attacks on specific members for a moment and think about something else.

Let’s say you’re the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. You know that the Ranking Member on the opposing side is a real attack dog. You don’t want your President to have to go through years of merciless attacks, so you just have the attack dog removed.

Is that fair?

What about the Finance Committee? Remove people that are less likely to compromise on tax and funding bills.

This is a monstrous abuse of power by the majority. It should not stand. It cannot stand.

More from Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23):

“When another Democrat was compromised by a Chinese spy, that it was so serious that the FBI had to brief the congressional leaders, did Speaker Pelosi remove him from the House Intelligence or Homeland Security Committees after the briefing?” McCarthy went on. “I’m the only other person that had that same briefing. Just recently, I was in the room with the speaker. I heard what was said. I’ll be very clear, I would never have that member on either of those committees. Or did she reward him by making him the head of the subcommittee overseeing the CIA? I guess there’s different standards.”

The double standard here is disgusting.

And McCarthy mentions several other examples, just as egregious.

Finally, he concludes with this:

“When Democrats democrats attack Congresswoman Greene, they not only in ignore the infractions within their own party, they reward these members with prestige and influence,” McCarthy added.

McCarthy also fired a warning shot at Democrats by quoting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), saying, “‘You’ll regret this and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think.”

This has been a fault of the Democrats for most of this century. They keep changing the rules and never look to the future. They never think about how these precedents might come back to bite them.

February 5, 2020

Remember, this was after President Donald Trump (R-USA) had initiated a travel ban to China. It was after Trump had formed his task force to take on the China Virus.

Three weeks later, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12), would go to Chinatown to celebrate the Chinese New Year and encourage public gatherings there and elsewhere, deliberately creating the impression the impact of the China Virus is minimal.

But Trump is the one accused of moving slowly. If it weren’t for the fact that so many people believe it’s true, it’s so absurd to be laughable.

I will have more posts on this subject in the coming weeks as other anniversaries arrive.

 

 

February 5, 1937

FDR attempts to pack the Court.

With lifetime appointments, it’s not unusual for Supreme Court justices to serve well past the average U.S. retirement age of 63. (Ruth Bader Ginsberg died at age 87 while still serving on the court and Antonin Scalia died at age 79 while still a Supreme Court justice.)

But in the late 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to put restrictions on the court when it came to age. Largely seen as a political ploy to change the court for favorable rulings on New Deal legislation, the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, commonly referred to as the “court-packing plan,” was Roosevelt’s attempt to appoint up to six additional justices to the Supreme Court for every justice older than 70 years, 6 months, who had served 10 years or more.

Fortunately for us, even the Democrats of his time were upset with this idea. Actually, at that particular time they were upset with a lot of President Franklin Roosevelt’s (D-USA) ideas. So, FDR’s plan went nowhere.

If President Joe Biden (D-USA) suggested such a thing today? Who knows.

04 February, 2021

Voting Democrat is a Suicide Pact

Democratic Governors Have Devastated Their States | Power Line (powerlineblog.com)

Employment losses by state for 2020:

By my count, the bottom sixteen states on this list all voted for President Joe Biden (D-USA), and have Democrat governors.

Hmm. Interesting.

True Minimum Wage—Still $0

‘Hero Pay’: CA Cities Demand Pay Raise For Grocery Workers. Then Stores Close. | The Daily Wire

Kroger issued a statement: “As a result of the City of Long Beach’s decision to pass an ordinance mandating Extra Pay for grocery workers, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close long-struggling store locations in Long Beach. This misguided action by the Long Beach City Council oversteps the traditional bargaining process and applies to some, but not all, grocery workers in the city.” John Votava, the corporate affairs director for Ralphs, added, “These misguided mandates could put any struggling store in jeopardy of closure.”

That’s okay. The people put out of work will become more dependent on government handouts, and thus more likely to be Democrat voters.

Everything the Democrats do is about expanding their base. And their base is not working Americans.

The China Virus is an Economic Disaster

American Airlines to send staff furlough notices again with travel demand low (cnbc.com)

13,000? And they’ve already cut a bunch.

We have to open up the economy again. I’m not blind to the health issues.

But we have to get the economy back on its feet. This could turn into a decade long depression. Or worse.

I sure hope President Joe Biden (D-USA) or someone on his team has a good plan for this. What we need in the White House right now is a businessman. Someone who understands what it takes to get businesses moving.

Oh yeah. We had one of those.

#IToldYouSo

“You will Pay the Price. You won’t Know What Hit You”

Now that’s incitement. I’d even say it’s possibly worthy of impeachment. However, it wasn’t President Donald Trump (R-USA) who said it. It was Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). And he said it to two sitting Supreme Court Justices.

“Incitement,” then and now | Power Line (powerlineblog.com)

I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.

Remember, Trump is being impeached over telling his supporters “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore”. That’s typical political speak. Politicians tell their supporters to fight all the time. President Barack Obama (D-USA) told his supporters to “get up in their faces” and also who could forget (he’s from Chicago after all), “if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun”.

I don’t recall either of these Democrats being impeached.

Trump’s impeachment II is even more of a farce than the first one was.

Well, this was Predictable

Biden is Putting Migrant Kids in Cages And Now 'AOC' Doesn't Care. (thenationalpulse.com)

The Biden administration is opening an overflow facility for unaccompanied migrant children apprehended at the US-Mexico border, the federal agency tasked with the children’s care told CNN in a statement.

The Health and Human Services Department will reopen a facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, that can accommodate about 700 children and can be expanded if necessary.

The reopening of the facility comes amid an increase in apprehensions of unaccompanied children on the Southwest border, fueled in part by deteriorating conditions in Latin America and a perceived possible relaxation of enforcement, and reduced capacity limits at other facilities due to Covid-19. It also comes as President Joe Biden rolls out new immigration executive orders tackling migration to the US southern border.

You’d think this would be big news. I know for a fact if it had happened six months ago, it would have been the lead story for days.

I Told you that they were Going to Un-Person Ric Grinnell

State Department's 1st openly gay spokesperson sends signal to the world, advocates say - ABC News (go.com)

Well, 1st openly gay spokesperson other than former DNI Ric Grinnell (R).

And this is ABC News. Bad show ABC.

#FakeNews

‘You Can Whiz on my Leg, But Don’t Tell me it’s Raining’

Gotta love Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL). He’s taking on Big Tech and he’s not waiting around to do it.

DeSantis said legislation he’d support also would allow $100,000 daily fines to be levied against a company that removes a political candidate from its platform during an election campaign. Any favorable support a candidate receives from a media company in getting a campaign message out also should be reported as a political contribution, the governor said.

He also would allow people to sue social media firms if they’re de-platformed or otherwise punished, opt out of some online algorithms and authorize Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to sue companies under the state’s unfair and deceptive trade practices law for punishing individuals for content they post.

Wake me up When the Whining over Marjorie Taylor Greene is Over, Please

First there’s this:

WATCH: Tucker Carlson on the media obsession with Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene | The Post Millennial

And now this:

House committee advances resolution to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from committee assignments (fox5atlanta.com)

This wrong on multiple levels.

First, the Democrats should not have any say at all as to which Republicans can serve on committees. The entire concept is alarming. And the precedent it sets is very dangerous to our republican (small ‘r’) government.

Second, she shouldn’t lose her committee assignments, regardless. I’d be opposed to this even if it were coming from the Republicans. Yes, she seems to be a crackpot. Yes, she’s said many things that from my perspective would disqualify her from office.

But none of this is new. She didn’t say these things in the last week. These are almost all older statements that were well known prior to her being elected. Her constituency decided that she was the best person to represent them, and by an overwhelming majority. It is not the place of the Democrats to tell her voters to f**k off. It’s not the place of the Republican Party to say her voters made a mistake.

And this from Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT):  Romney Blasts Marjorie Taylor Greene - Says Republicans 'Should Have Nothing To Do With' Her (lifezette.com)

Sorry, Mitt. Not your call. Twice over. First, your a Senator. How the House of Representatives conducts their business is their business. Keep your nose out of it. Second, She’s the duly elected Republican representative of her district. You may not like her personally, but that’s something you have to deal with. The voters have spoken. It’s your duty to recognize the voice of the voters, not to tell them that they don’t know what they’re doing.

Our elected “leaders” are a disgrace.

Portland Used to be Such a Beautiful City

Nolte: Democrat-run Portland Collapses to Bottom of Desirable Cities (breitbart.com)

This is just sad. It used to be a wonderful place. I wouldn’t even want to visit there now.

In 2017, according to an Urban Land Institute report that surveys some 1,300 “lenders, investors, developers and other national real estate experts” about where the most desirable real estate markets are, out of 80 U.S. cities on the list, and in just a few years, Portland went from the third most desirable to 66th.

I’ve been to Portland. It was a lot of fun. Powell’s Books. Nike Town. McKinneman’s Brew Pubs. Fun night life. And really just beautiful.

And now?

Ugh.

Incredibly depressing. This is what liberals do.

And this is Why I Really Just Don’t Care About the Capitol Riot

A mob of left-wing radicals armed with hatchets and knives took over a Washington hotel on Sunday -- wait, the corporate media didn't tell you?? | Not the Bee

This really happened. A literal mob of dozens of Antifa neckbeards armed with hatchets, knives, and batons stormed the Red Lion Hotel in Olympia, Washington on Sunday, and forcibly took it over. With weapons. And threats of violence.

The media doesn’t care about this riot. Why should I care about another?

I’m just numb to media bias.

The RNC Learns a Lesson—Finally

RNC Chairwoman: Mainstream Media Out As Hosts Of 2024 RNC-Sponsored Debates | The Daily Wire

The Democrats learned this long ago. Why have your debates moderated by someone who is not friendly to your cause?

Speaking on Newsmax’s “Spicer & Co.,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel stated that the RNC would ensure in 2024 that the mainstream media outlets that have been hostile to the GOP while supporting the Democratic Party and its candidates would not host an RNC-sanctioned debate.

The next thing they need to do is to fix the Presidential Debate Commission (PDC). Right now it is six members, allegedly three from each party.

It should be three people from the individual campaigns. Any rules or rule changes should require two out of three from each campaign to agree. One of the many ridiculous things about the 2020 election was that the PDC made many changes mid-stream without even consulting the Trump campaign, and they were changes that the Trump campaign would have never agreed to. Clearly the “Republican” members of the PDC were not representing their party.

Cruz Nails it-Again

Sen. Cruz: Democrat Party has turned their back on working men and women | One America News Network (oann.com)

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said he can’t tell the difference between Big Tech and Democrats anymore. On a recent episode of his podcast “The Verdict With Ted Cruz,” he slammed the Democrat Party for what it is today.

Cruz explained he believes it’s now the party of the rich, elites, Wall Street, Big Tech, Hollywood and universities. He also claimed all of the people giving money to the Democrats have deep ties to China, which directly implicates the party.

He’s absolutely correct. In fact, I was thinking about this the other day. The “base” of the two major U.S. political parties has pretty much reversed in my lifetime, and this reversal accelerated during the Trump years.

Rightly or wrongly, the GOP was always referred to as the “party of the rich” and the Democratic Party was always “for the working man”. Today, the opposite is clearly true. The Democrats are doing everything they can to convince you that they are still the “for the working man”, and that’s one of the reasons they hated Trump’s populism. But it isn’t true.

I don’t know how many people yet truly grasp this basic fact. I suspect that when they do, we won’t be a 50/50 nation anymore. This is why the Democrats are doing everything they can to control the message & narrative. They can’t win unless they control the media and can shut down the voice of the opposition.

Well, this is What Happens When You Attempt to Rule by Fiat

Texas pushes back against Biden’s deportation halt – The New Neo

Attorney General Ken Paxton today commended the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas for granting a nationwide temporary restraining order halting implementation of the Biden Administration’s unlawful order to the Department of Homeland Security to freeze virtually all deportations of illegal aliens.

This is the same sort of court ruling that we consistently got during the Trump administration. There are some problems with it, but on the balance, a takedown of improper use of power by the President is a good thing.

Since President Barack Obama (D-USA) declared that he had “a pen and a phone”, Presidents have been much more likely to try to find a way to go around Congress and rule by Executive Order. This is a practice that must be curtailed, regardless of any short term benefits. We have an elected Congress for a reason. This is something that both Republicans and Democrats should be able to get behind.

If this is True, it’s a Good Thing, Not a Bad Thing

AOC Equates Republicans to Her Sexual Assault Abuser, Says She Thought She Would Die During Capitol Riots (lifezette.com)

I say this without any hostility directed to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), but if she felt frightened in any way during the riot in D.C. then I am glad. Honestly, I hope she was terrified out of her wits.

For months, she and other Democrats did nothing to prevent the riots going on all across America. In fact, many of the Democrats including Ms. Ocasio-Cortez were rather vocal in their support. Well, a lot of people all over America were frightened by these riots. Many lost their businesses, their homes, and even their lives.

But that didn’t matter to the Democrats. They were too busy trying to score political points.

Maybe now that she’s experienced this up close, she’ll understand how others feel and won’t be such a cheerleader for future riots.

I doubt it, but I can hope, can’t I?

Liz Cheney Survives Bid to Oust Her From Leadership

Well, I was going to blog on this yesterday:

How Republicans Prepare To Oust Liz Cheney From Leadership (thefederalist.com)

Never got around to it. And today it is out of date:

House Republicans Vote To Keep Liz Cheney In Leadership: Reports | The Daily Wire

Republicans overwhelmingly voted in favor of keeping GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) in her leadership position during a conference-wide vote Wednesday evening, according to multiple reports.

The leadership vote, which was reportedly 145-61, affirmed Cheney’s position as the number three Republican in the House, even though she was one of only ten Republican lawmakers to vote to impeach former President Donald Trump last month. The vote was conducted by secret ballot.

So, the vote amounts to a “slap on the wrist” type punishment. Or the GOP rank and file got strong-armed. They needed a majority of the caucus in favor, just to bring it to a vote. And yet, couldn’t get even one third to vote for it. This may have been deliberate. A warning shot, so to speak. I doubt it will be effective. But we shall see.

DeSantis vs. Cuomo

The DeSantis dissent | Power Line (powerlineblog.com)

It’s really no contest.

i know, the MSM keeps telling you how horrible Governor DeSantis (R-FL) is and how amazing Governor Cuomo (D-NY) is regarding their handling of the China Virus. But the facts don’t lead to such conclusions.

#FakeNews

February 4, 1945

The Yalta Conference.

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin meet to decide how to divide up Germany after the war.

The Yalta Conference, also known as the Crimea Conference and code-named Argonaut, held February 4–11, 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. The three states were represented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Premier Joseph Stalin, respectively. The conference was held near Yalta in Crimea, Soviet Union, within the Livadia, Yusupov, and Vorontsov Palaces.

03 February, 2021

February 3, 1959

The day the music died.

On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson.[1][2] The event later became known as "The Day the Music Died", after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his 1971 song "American Pie".

 

But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step

I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died

--Don McLean

I Can’t Imagine Why this isn’t Front Page News

Report: Armed Antifa Members Violently Took Over a Hotel by Katie Pavlich (townhall.com)

Seems like this should be a big deal. But at least they’re not wearing moose hats and stealing podiums.

Hydroxychloroquine Revisited

Wait, wasn’t it just a few days ago I was talking about hydroxychloroquine?

Why yes. Yes, it was.

Well, here we go again.

Oversight Board reverses Facebook removal of post touting hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 treatment | Just The News

The board found the social media giant's misinformation and imminent harm rule is too vague and recommended the platform consolidate and clarify its standards on health misinformation in one place.

Huh.

The Board also found Facebook's misinformation and imminent harm rule, which this post is said to have violated, to be inappropriately vague and inconsistent with international human rights standards," the panel said. "A patchwork of policies found on different parts of Facebook's website make it difficult for users to understand what content is prohibited. Changes to Facebook's COVID-19 policies announced in the company's Newsroom have not always been reflected in its Community Standards, while some of these changes even appear to contradict them.

Oh, I am sure the Standards are consistently applied. There are just two sets. One for the left. And one for the right.

UPDATE: More on HCQ here

Big Tech on the Attack--Again

This time it’s YouTube & The Epoch Times.

YouTube Demonetized Our Channel—Help Defend Independent News (theepochtimes.com)

Recently, YouTube demonetized The Epoch Times’ account without prior warning or a specific explanation as to why.

I know why. It’s because you don’t spew the official narrative, and that can not be permitted.

And instead of defending press freedom, other media organizations, such as The New York Times and NBC News, have spent considerable time and resources in an effort to attack The Epoch Times.

When the founders of The Epoch Times—Chinese Americans who had fled communist China—created our news organization more than 20 years ago, they never expected the widespread censorship we are currently witnessing.

For more than 20 years, the world’s largest regime, headed by the Chinese Communist Party, has done everything in its power to shut us down. It has arrested and imprisoned our reporters and editors in China, intimidated our staff in the United States, tried to block our advertising, and launched incessant cyber-attacks against us. In November 2019, masked intruders set fire to one of our printing presses in Hong Kong.

And soon it will be just as bad here. If we’re not there already.

Good thing all these folks saved us from that authoritarian President Trump (R-USA).

I’m Sure this is All Trump’s Fault—Not America’s Worst Governor

9 of Cuomo's top health officials leave amid COVID-19 vaccine rollout disagreements | Fox News

Nine of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's top health officials have left their posts or retired in the past several months as Cuomo takes heat for his coronavirus vaccine rollout plan that was designed with help from hospital executives, The New York Times reported on Monday.

That includes Elizabeth Dufort, medical director of the division of epidemiology, Jill Taylor, director of Wadsworth laboratory where scientists detect virus variants, the director of the state bureau of communicable disease control and the official in charge of health data, according to state records analyzed by The New York Times.

Huh. And here I thought things were just idyllic in the Empire State. That’s what I hear on CNN. Must be some of that misinformation I’m always hearing about.

02 February, 2021

What Vile, Revolting People

Democrats Reveal Their Ultimate Goal in Impeachment (pjmedia.com)

“There is no ‘January exception’ to the Constitution that allows a President to organize a coup or incite an armed insurrection in his final weeks in office,” the Democrats argued. “The Senate must convict President Trump, who has already been impeached by the House of Representatives, and disqualify him from ever holding federal office again.”

I could write a book on all the things wrong with just that one paragraph, but I will attempt to be brief.

I’ll give credit to the one correct bit of it. We shouldn’t have a “January exception”. Which also means that we shouldn’t fabricate charges out of thin air merely because it’s January and the calendar prevents a purposeful investigation and trial.

However, President Donald Trump (R-USA) did not “organize a coup or incite and armed insurrection”. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to back up that statement.

It is not incitement to question election results. If it were, then every Democrat on capitol hill has been guilty of it at several points in the last 20 years.

It is not incitement to continue to protest that the election has not been decided fairly for as long as you want. If it were, then we’d have to throw Hillary Clinton and Stacey Abrams in jail and throw away the key.

It is not incitement to encourage your supporters to protest. If it were, we’d have to throw every single Democrat in the House and Senate in jail for their statements and actions all last summer during the riots that occurred all over the country. Kamala Harris helped bail these people out of jail. Various other Democrats were emphatic in their support, including, once again, Vice President Kamala Harris (D-USA).

The Democrats want to have one rule for them and one rule for Trump. Not a “January exception”, but a “liberal exception”. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.

Finally, the last sentence presupposes a power that the Senate does not have. The Senate has no Constitutional authority whatsoever to prevent Trump from running for President again. I’m not even sure they have the authority to prevent him from running for Congressional office again. There’s certainly nothing in the Constitution that directly gives them that power.

But they certainly don’t have that power over another branch of the government.

The Senate could convict him on a unanimous vote and Trump would still be able to run in 2024, and win.

‘Singularly Responsible’

BREAKING: House Impeachment Managers File Brief Ahead Of Trial, Claim Trump ‘Singularly Responsible’ For Capitol Riot | The Daily Wire

Well, that’s fine. But who is singularly responsible for inflicting this farce of an impeachment trial upon the American public? Can I get all of them removed from office?

It would be perverse to suggest that our shared commitment to free speech requires the Senate to ignore the obvious: that President Trump is singularly responsible for the violence and destruction that unfolded in our seat of government on January 6.

But I am suggesting exactly that. I am going even farther and stating that directly, and stating directly that Trump is not at all responsible.

If you disagree with that, then I question your “shared commitment to free speech.”

You either agree with freedom of speech or you don’t.

If you agree to it, then you agree that everyone, including, and maybe especially, the President has that right.

I agree with freedom of speech. I am the closest thing to a free speech absolutist that you are likely to ever meet. I’m sure I have mentioned that before on this blog. I have mentioned it numerous times in public.

It is the most important right protected by the Bill of Rights. Without it, the other rights mean nothing. Without our freedom of speech, we do not have the right to protest against other rights being curtailed. We do not have the right to go to our elected leaders and let them know (loudly and emphatically if need be) when they’re out of line. We do not have the right to replace them. We do not have the right to defend ourselves when accused unjustly. We do not have the right to stand up for ourselves.

In short, without freedom of speech, we lose everything that makes America “the land of the free”. And if you claim you have a “shared commitment to free speech” then you better damn well show it.

I suggest that if you can’t agree with that, then maybe the United States of America is not the place for you.

February 2, 1877

Rise and shine, woodchuck chuckers!

It’s Groundhog Day!

The first Groundhog Day was observed in Punxatawney, Pennsylvania.

01 February, 2021

Biden’s Executive Order on Keystone XL in Jeopardy Because of…DACA?

Wouldn’t that drive the liberals bananas?

This Legal Hurdle Could Trip Up Biden’s Cancellation of Keystone Pipeline (dailysignal.com)

President Barack Obama’s executive action, which allowed illegal immigrants brought to the United States as minors to  stay legally under certain circumstances, created an expectation among people in the country. Thus, if the U.S. government wanted to scrap the DACA policy, it would have to go through an administrative procedure.

This created a “reliance interest” in the policy, the majority opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts said.

TC Energy and the Canadian government likely also would have a reliance interest, said Canaparo, who has been researching potential legal avenues for the pipeline case:

In DHS v. Regents, the court found that Trump couldn’t rescind DACA even though it was an executive action, because there was a reliance interest. That could be a stumbling block for Biden with regard to the Keystone pipeline. … The administration did not consider any reliance interest.

I might not be able to get to sleep tonight from giggling.

February 1, 1958

The integrated circuit!

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Invented on this day by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments.

Without the integrated circuit, you’d need two homes. One for your family, and one for your iPhone.

Seems Like this Would Have Been Newsworthy

MSNBC Did Not Ask Lincoln Project Founders About John Weaver Despite Booking Them 17 Times After The Story First Broke | The Daily Caller

MSNBC belongs on the dustbin of history. It is a propaganda machine posing as a news network.

  • John Weaver of the Lincoln Project has been accused by multiple men, including a minor, of sexual harassment.
  • Lincoln Project co-founders Steve Schmidt, Rick Wilson, and George Conway have appeared on MSNBC 17 times since the story first broke on January 11.
  • They were not asked about the allegations during any of their interviews.

Why? Because the only reason MSNBC has Lincoln Project members on their network is to bash President Donald Trump (R-USA) and other Republicans. Talking about the sins of their founders does not advance the narrative. It’s a distraction and must be swept under the rug.

Good sweeping, MSNBC.

My Dad Can Ride Amtrak—Thanks to Trump

I wonder if he knows?

Thanks to Trump DOJ, Amtrak no longer discriminates against the disabled | Power Line (powerlineblog.com)

It’s an article of faith among Democrats that the Trump administration did not enforce America’s civil rights laws. It’s also nonsense.

As I have demonstrated, under President Trump the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, led by Eric Dreiband, vigorously enforced federal civil rights laws on behalf of all groups protected by these laws. The evidence is here.

For example, the Obama administration wasn’t interested in taking action against Amtrak, even though that railroad failed to meet its obligation to provide proper access for the disabled to its stations. Under the law, Amtrak had until 2010 to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), which was passed in 1990. It failed to do so.

So in 2016 when a college student named Thomas Morgan, who uses a wheelchair, wanted to visit his family, he found that the Amtrak station in the town where he attended school was inaccessible. There was no wheelchair access. The only way to board the train was by stairs.

It was the Trump DOJ that finally acted to force Amtrak to comply with the ADA. Following an investigation, it filed suit against the company. As a result, Amtrak reached an agreement with the Justice Department to make stations accessible, as well as to provide training to staff on ADA requirements.

Thanks to that evil President Donald Trump (R-USA).

Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) Makes an Announcement

I’m on pins and needles.

Portman: Trump Supporters 'Have to Acknowledge that This Election Was Lost' (breitbart.com)

[W]e have to acknowledge that this election was lost and we have to move on.

In part, I agree with this. The election was definitely lost. I’ll even admit that there’s some likelihood that there was not a sufficient amount of fraud to change the results.

But, here’s the thing. I don’t like being told I have to do something. I never have. I’ll move on in my own good time, thank you.

How about I tell Portman that he has to has to give his entire life savings to the next person he meets on the street? He’d laugh.

I don’t have the right to tell Portman what he has to do.

And he doesn’t have the right to tell me either.

A Tsunami of Hate

A Tsunami of Hate | Power Line (powerlineblog.com)

I should copy-paste the whole piece. But as they say, read the whole thing. I’m just going to quote one part that stands out to me:

We are not suffering as a nation from healthy disagreement. We are suffering from a Tsunami of Hate emanating from the Democrat Party that seeks to demonize, criminalize and extinguish dissent from the 75 million supporters of Donald Trump. It is now official Washington dogma that to question an election result – something the congressional Democrats have done in the face of every Republican presidential victory since 2000 – is now “insurrection” and “domestic terrorism,” or the incitement thereto, and needs to be prosecuted and suppressed.

Well, good thing they don’t have any power.

Oh.

#IToldYouSo

2020’s Lie of the Year

How the Hydroxychloroquine Scandal Wrecked America and the World Along With It (theepochtimes.com)

Of all the lies (oh, excuse me, I guess I’m supposed to use the word ‘disinformation’ now—or can I? that’s only the stuff Trump says, not the stuff said about him. You know what? I’ll stick with lies) told about Trump this year, this one is the worst.

Well, maybe the second worst. The one about him being slow to respond to the China Virus is the worst, as there is not one single piece of actual evidence that backs that one up.

But this is the one that was the most damaging to the country and the world. The lie about hydroxychloroquine (HCQ).

HCQ works in treating the China Virus. Period. Full stop.

And it doesn’t take an even above average IQ to know that. HCQ is not a cure. It treats the symptoms of the disease. And it has been used for decades in treating these exact same symptoms in other illnesses. Don’t take my word for it:

And now the equally-esteemed American Journal of Medicine in its January 2021 edition has finally admitted the same thing. HCQ often worked. Immediate administration of the drug while the patient was still at home showed significant benefits, they said.

We were fed this lie for one reason and one reason only. Because President Donald Trump (R-USA) recommended it as a treatment. And Trump was not allowed to be right about anything related to the China Virus.

This lie almost certainly caused thousands of deaths in the United States alone. Perhaps tens of thousands. Perhaps more, and who knows how many outside the U.S.?

But hey, at least the lie got rid of Trump. Grandma’s dead, but I’m sure she feels the sacrifice was worth it.

After all, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Big Government

Report: Biden administration can't account for as many as 20 million vaccine doses that were sent to states – TheBlaze

According to a report from Politico, the Biden administration is struggling mightily to deliver on its promise to get a handle on the COVID-19 pandemic, and may have even lost track of as many as 20 million vaccine doses that were sent to the states.

Ok, I bring this up not to mock President Joe Biden’s (D-USA) administration, believe it or not. With such a big rollout, things like this were bound to happen.

No, I am reminding everyone that this is the kind of thing the Trump administration would have had to spend weeks explaining. And it’s barely newsworthy in 2021. I am reminding everyone that left mercilessly savaged Trump when anything like this occurred. This sort of thing was why we voted him out. Biden was going to make everything better.

Nope.

Finally, I want to remind everyone that this is the kind of thing you get with big government. And 80 million of you voted for more and bigger government.

#IToldYouSo

Ummm…Isn’t that a Desirable Feature?

Biden State Appointee Says White Diplomats Are Too 'Protective' of United States - Washington Free Beacon

Pretty sure I prefer it when U.S. diplomats are protective of the United States. Maybe it’s just me.

Desirée Cormier Smith, a newly minted senior adviser in the Bureau of International Organizations, said in a podcast interview that white diplomats often treated visa applicants with hostility because of their "ownership" over the visas during her experience as a foreign-service officer.

"It seemed like many of our white colleagues approached the visa applicants with so much ownership over these visas. They were so protective of the United States, and they didn't want anybody who could sully the image of the United States because it's this perfect shining city on a hill," she told the Black Diplomats podcast in October. "If you are a white foreign-service officer, coming from a very wealthy background, a two-parent household, never knew what it meant to struggle … you might automatically assume that there's no way [an applicant] would use this visa properly."

Such language may run afoul of previously implemented State Department guidelines. The State Department's discrimination and harassment policies place priorities on diversity and tolerance in the culture of the department, asking employees to work without bias toward skin color.

Hmm. No, that’s not at all racist.

This is what you voted for. #IToldYouSo

I’ll Just Say It—All the Democrats on Capitol Hill are Jerks

Every single one of them.

Unity Watch: Dems File Ethics Complaints Against Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz (pjmedia.com)

Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will have to appear in front of the Senate Ethics Committee due to a formal complaint filed by their Democratic colleagues. Their alleged breach of ethics? Objecting to the certification of the election on January 6th after the riot. Both senators had said publicly they would object before the vote and followed through with that course of action along with six other Senators and 139 Representatives. However, for some reason, only Cruz and Hawley are being singled out on the Senate side.

Hypocrites.

If they receive even a dime of taxpayer money for their jobs, then they’re overpaid.

Don’t Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out

Former Bush officials leave GOP over failure to disown Trump: report | TheHill

Dozens of members of former President George W. Bush's administration are reportedly planning to leave the Republican Party following the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, citing the party's ongoing embrace of former President Trump.

Sources told Reuters that as many as 60 former officials would leave the party in the coming days, with at least one also citing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) promotion of conspiracy theories as a reason for their exit.

Actually I don’t really care all that much if people leave the GOP. I left it years ago, myself. People like these are the reason I left, though. They had dragged the GOP much too far to the left.

If they’re kissing it goodbye, then maybe it’s time for me to consider joining the party again.

Trump's control over the party has been an issue of concern for many national Republicans eager to rid themselves of the former president following the events of Jan. 6, when his supporters rioted as members of Congress were meeting to certify President Biden's Electoral College win, despite the GOP's voting base largely remaining in his corner.

The riots were an excuse. They never liked Trump. He didn’t allow “business as usual” to continue in Washington, D.C. He didn’t follow Chamber of Commerce style “conservatism”, and actually worked for the individual, individual rights, and lower tax burdens for the middle class and not just Wall Street fat cats. And he was opposed to allowing more illegal aliens into the country providing a nice cheep underclass to abuse.

So, they hate him.

The feeling is mutual.

Trump Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

You probably don’t know why, because this was the most under-reported story of 2020. And I think we all know why. Because the story made President Donald Trump (R-USA) look good.

I’m referring, of course, to the Abraham Accords, which set the framework for peace in the Middle East, between Israel and several Muslim & Arab nations.

Trump Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize Over Israel-UAE Peace Deal (theepochtimes.com)

Former President Donald Trump was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on Monday morning by an Estonian member of the European Parliament, Jaak Madison.

In a post on social media, Madison said: “In the last 30 years, Donald Trump is the first president of the United States, who during his tenure, has not started a war. Additionally, he signed several peace agreements in the Middle East which have helped provide stability in the region and peace.”

Madison was referring to the Abraham Accords, a joint statement between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States–and later, with Bahrain and other Arab countries.

“We encourage efforts to promote interfaith and intercultural dialogue to advance a culture of peace among the three Abrahamic religions and all humanity,” according to a statement on the State Department’s website. “We believe that the best way to address challenges is through cooperation and dialogue and that developing friendly relations among States advances the interests of lasting peace in the Middle East and around the world.”

Even with the China Virus, this would have been one of the most important stories of the year, if it had happened with any other President. As it was, it was barely reported, and when it was reported, it was in disparaging terms.

But this is a very big deal. Probably the biggest peace deal in my lifetime, as long as President Joe Biden (D-USA) and the Democrats don’t manage to find a way to screw it up.

31 January, 2021

January 31, 1930

Scotch Tape.

scotch-tape-1930-e1359568617907

Scotch tape is first marketed by Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing (3-M).