“And speaking of drowning, another false claim out there is that Abbott’s buoys are responsible for the death of a migrant child.
Democrat strategist Sawyer Hackett, whose Twitter profile lists him as a senior advisor to failed 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro (brother of Joaquin), posted this to his Twitter account Friday, alleging that Abbott’s “razor wire buoys” caused a child to die:”
Greg Abbott is already responsible for a child dying in his razor wire buoy stunt. Now another child has died in his stunt to abduct and ship migrants out of state.
He has blood on his hands. He shouldn’t be sued, he should be prosecuted. https://t.co/EVPHcPhaJI
“Secondly, Hackett was Community Noted on Twitter, with it being pointed out that not only have the buoys reportedly not caused any deaths, but that the two bodies recovered by Mexican authorities last week including one near the barrier were not minors:
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department reported Wednesday that a body had been found along the floating barrier. The Coahuila state prosecutor’s office later told local media outlets that the two bodies were recovered and that the process of identification was underway.
Mexico’s migration agency on Thursday confirmed one victim was from Honduras and the other was Mexican. Neither victim was a minor, the agency said.
Further, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the body found near the barrier likely floated there from another location:
Mexican officials condemned the barrier’s installment in two separate notes reporting that bodies were found in the Rio Grande. But Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said preliminary information indicates that the first person found dead had “drowned upstream from the marine barrier and floated into the buoys.”
“There are personnel posted at the marine barrier at all times in case any migrants try to cross,” McCraw said in a statement by the public safety department obtained by CBS News.
Lt. Chris Olivarez, a spokesperson for Texas DPS, said in the same statement that the department “received a report of a possible drowning victim floating upstream from the marine barrier” on Wednesday and notified U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Mexican consulate.”
—
“I should also note that an infant child was found dead in the Rio Grande last month, but it was over July 4th weekend, which was before the buoys were installed. Strangely, Hackett had nothing to say about that:
Authorities in Texas recovered four bodies, including an infant girl, from a river along the U.S.-Mexico border over just 48 hours, officials said Monday.
Lt. Chris Olivarez, a spokesperson with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said two of the bodies were pulled from the Rio Grande on Saturday, one on Sunday and another on Monday.
Fox News border correspondent Bill Melugin, who has probably spent more time at the southern border over the last three years than Sawyer Hackett will in his entire lifetime, also reminded folks that Hackett has a troubling history when it comes to claims about incidents that supposedly have occurred at the border, most notably the media-/Biden administration-driven CBP migrant “whipping” hoax:
.@SawyerHackett has never waited for the facts before trying to push a narrative at the border. He was the original source of the false claim that Border Patrol agents were “whipping” Haitian migrants. Now he claims a child died in TX razor wire (false) and is also claiming Gov. Abbott should be prosecuted for death of a migrant child on a TX bus when an autopsy hasn’t even been done and there’s no cause of death yet. Never misses an opportunity to push a narrative.”
“Here’s what the Texas Division of Emergency Management had to say about the child’s death:”
New: A child died on a bus of migrants Gov. Abbott sent to Chicago.
TDEM says the child was with their parents and received medical care after the bus pulled over. Each passenger was checked for medical conditions before departure.
“The death of a child is always a tragedy. It’s just too bad that the only time Democrats seem to care is when they think they can blame it on a Republican governor or president.”
“DC: Rampant Shoplifting May Lead To Grocery Store Closures, Areas Becoming Food Deserts
How’s that Justice Reform Working Out? Spending $300 million for security “did not derail the people from stealing. In fact, the regional manager told us that people will have stuff in their carts walking straight through the door–straight through the door!”
“I’m old enough to remember when Democrats were very upset about food deserts and complained that there weren’t enough grocery stores in underprivileged areas, that minorities were unable to access healthy, affordable food. But that’s so last decade.
Now Democrats are all about “criminal justice reform,” and this seems to mean letting criminals run wild, committing their crimes with impunity. For some reason known only to themselves, Democrats are fine with the results of their going all-in on lawlessness and rampant crime, including the seemingly intentional creation of “food deserts.””
There are only 4 grocery stores east of Anacostia in Washington DC. Now one might close because of shoplifting. Giant loses $500k–20% of sales–to thieves monthly. Spends $300k more on security. Trying to reduce shoplifting by closing early. From @7NewsDChttps://t.co/qxgZrLPFmm
“Here’s what I dream of Donald Trump saying when he stands trial on bogus charges proffered by his political opponents: “I do not recognize this court’s right to try me … I do not recognize my action as a crime.”
Those are the fighting words of industrialist Hank Rearden when he was put on trial for ignoring an unjust law in Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged.” Although the circumstances of the cases differ, Rearden is a perfect avatar of Donald Trump, as both larger-than-life men are persecuted by the justice system for seeking to pursue their own self-interest and for refusing to surrender to government oppression.
Self-interest is central to the Objectivist philosophy of Rand, who grew up in Russia and witnessed first-hand the oppression of free thought and free enterprise following the 1917 Communist revolution. Her masterpiece, “Atlas Shrugged,” is the ultimate roadmap to how American democracy can be subverted by leftist bureaucrats and a corrupt media to destroy some individuals and intimidate the rest.
In the novel, Rearden has created a unique metallic alloy that carries his own name. Rearden Metal is far superior to steel and was in high demand by contractors, but tyrannical government regulations prohibited Rearden from selling to customers of his own choice. He ignored the government’s warnings and sold to one of the few honest businessmen left in the country. That meant he had broken the law, and because of his stature and reputation for excellence, the government prosecuted him as a warning to others that they dare not pursue their own self-interest, too.
Rearden epitomizes the essence of individualism, striving to achieve his goals despite societal pressure. As an industrialist, he prioritizes his innovation and accomplishments, unapologetically pursuing personal success. His trial underscores the struggle between individual rights and the perceived interests of society, reflecting Rand’s championing of individualism.
Similarly, Trump’s refusal to accept the election results turns on his deep sense of individualistic ambition, his willingness to challenge societal norms, and his determination not to surrender his principles, even at the expense of public ridicule, political persecution, and now potentially years in prison. But you can’t view the 2020 election in a vacuum. Trump was no different than Rearden in fighting what he knows is a rigged system. For the preceding five years, Trump had been the victim of a series of vicious attacks by the Deep State and the media who never really accepted him as president. So Trump had no reason to accept the election results parroted by the same actors who had already tried to destroy him multiple times.
And now, two and a half years after the 2020 election, as Trump has a fighting chance of returning to the White House in the greatest political comeback in history, his enemies have come for him again, with three separate indictments and soon to be a fourth.
The four-count indictment most recently brought against Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith is intended to make a victory in 2024 nearly impossible. The Deep State in this case represents the entrenched bureaucracy of the federal government as well as the individual states’ election officials. This is the same Deep State that gathered up 51 national security officials to sign a statement prior to the 2020 election that falsely claimed that Hunter Biden’s laptop “has all the classic earmarks of Russian disinformation.” It had none of them. No wonder Trump was disinclined to accept their conclusions that the election was secure and fair. Trump sought to prove his concerns about the legitimacy of the 2020 election by pursuing a vigorous legal strategy as was guaranteed to him under the First Amendment’s right “to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Biden’s weaponized Department of Justice is determined to deny that right to Donald Trump, and by extension to the rest of us. You either agree with the government’s interpretation of election results or else you risk going to jail. The indictment brought against Trump acknowledges that everyone has a First Amendment right to speak their minds and even to “formally challenge the results of the election through lawful and appropriate means,” but it then avers that Trump’s right to believe he won the election is abrogated by a string of court losses and equally pessimistic assessments from so-called experts.
Here’s where it gets interesting, and where the Department of Justice has overstepped. The four counts in the indictment are based on what prosecutor Jack Smith calls three conspiracies: “A conspiracy to defraud the United States” by seeking to stop the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021; “a conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the Jan. 6 congressional proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are counted and certified; and “a conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.”
All of these alleged conspiracies and the resulting four charges are directly related to the joint congressional session on Jan. 6, when the Electoral College votes were opened and debated to determine whether they should be counted. Moreover, when Jack Smith announced the indictment, he suggested that Trump was responsible for the riot that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on that day, yet none of the charges hold Trump responsible for the violence. Every charge in this dubious indictment could have been brought even if the protesters had marched “peacefully and patriotically” to the Capitol as Trump had requested. The charges in the indictment have nothing to do with the violence; they only relate to Trump’s insistence that he won the election, and that he would do whatever it takes to prove it.
In other words, these are not real crimes like insurrection or sedition; they are thought crimes. Smith’s “conspiracy” charges simply reflect that Trump consulted his lawyers to develop a legal strategy on how to right the wrong that he perceived. In its substance, from paragraphs 8 to 123, the indictment merely alleges over and over again that Trump refused to accept the conclusions of others that the election of Biden was legitimate, and that he had help from like-minded attorneys. How infuriating that must be to prosecutor Smith, who believes with all his heart that no one could doubt the veracity of what government officials (like him!) tell us.”
“While the entire United States was under authoritarian mandates, top so-called Covid-19 “experts” were making hundreds of millions of dollars on the pandemic that caused lifelong hurdles for many Americans.
According to records, the former NIH Director, Dr. Francis Collins, and former NIAID Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, made huge profits from royalty checks during the Chinese virus-fueled pandemic. At the same time, thousands of people struggled to put food on the table.
OpenTheBooks, a transparency organization, recently released over 1,500 unredacted records revealing the leaders of the country’s National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases profited off the virus that killed thousands of people.
On top of that, Fauci funded the Wuhan Institute of Virology to research the Coronavirus.
The records show Collins and Fauci got 58 royalty payments for allowing companies to use their COVID-19 vaccines, which in return was developed with funding from U.S. taxpayers by private pharmaceutical firms.
So, in other words, the Covid pandemic was one big ploy for the government to get massively wealthy.
Through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 56,000 transactions were recorded, totaling over $325 million banked by the “experts.”
“The NIH continues to refuse to voluntarily divulge the names of scientists who receive royalties and from which companies over the period of time from 2010 to 2016, 27,000 royalty payments were paid to 1800 NIH employees,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said. “We know that. Not because you told us, but because we forced you to tell us through the Freedom of Information Act.”
Top Covid Experts Raked in 58 Royalty Payments During Pandemic While Americans Suffered
Dr. Francis Collins, former NIH Director, and Dr. Tony Fauci, former NIAID Director, cashed in big time during the Covid pandemic. The two most influential Covid experts raked in 58 royalty… pic.twitter.com/uzocss1b2W
“Records also show that Fauci, the highest-paid federal worker with a 2022 salary of $480,000, failed to donate his royalties to charity as promised. “
“The United States continues to set records under the Biden administration, but few if any of them are anything you’d want to brag about. We’ve broken records in terms of illegal immigration and gas prices. But an even more depressing statistic emerged this week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more Americans died by suicide in 2022 than at any previous time in the nation’s history. Just short of 50,000 people took their own lives. And in a notable change of pace, the Associated Press didn’t blame the spike in suicides on either racism or climate change. They did, however, blame it on guns. Because of course they did.
About 49,500 people took their own lives last year in the U.S., the highest number ever, according to new government data posted Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which posted the numbers, has not yet calculated a suicide rate for the year, but available data suggests suicides are more common in the U.S. than at any time since the dawn of World War II.
“There’s something wrong. The number should not be going up,” said Christina Wilbur, a 45-year-old Florida woman whose son shot himself to death last year.
Specifically, the AP places most of the blame on “the growing availability of guns.” To be fair, they also point to higher rates of depression and a lack of mental health care resources. Of course, it’s still more difficult to take one’s own life in America than it is in Canada, where you only need to suggest that you might be depressed and the government will send someone over to your house right away to take care of the job for you.
These numbers are simply too high, growing to the point where it might fairly be called an epidemic, but it’s unclear what can be done about it. Blaming “the availability of guns” is no answer because someone who is truly determined to end it all will find a way even if they don’t have access to a firearm. A gun is among the most common method of suicide chosen by men, along with hanging and carbon monoxide poisoning. But for women, poison is the top choice, followed by exsanguination.
If we are to make any progress in getting these numbers down, we need to stop fretting over how people are taking their lives and focus on why they would choose to do that. It’s no secret that a growing number of Americans are dealing with anxiety and even depression. But not all depression is clinical in nature. People have been given plenty of external reasons to feel depressed.
We’ve already seen reports that a record number of people claim they feel lonely. This was driven largely by the shutdowns during the pandemic and then exacerbated by growing trends toward working from home. Both marriage and birth rates continue to drop, leaving more people alone. And our communal addiction to devices and screens over actual conversations with other human beings certainly isn’t helping.
And then there are the ongoing crises and unpleasant conditions surrounding so many of us. Crime is rising across the board, making more people feel unsafe and unsure of their future. Inflation is impacting the lives of many, lowering their quality of living. Confidence in the government and most of our major institutions is at an all-time low, further eroding people’s sense of security. And a surging number of Americans now say that they don’t believe they’ll ever be able to retire, so the American dream is going up in smoke before their eyes.
Are you noticing a common theme or trend here? Almost all of the things I mentioned (aside from the marriage and birth rates) are being driven by government policies either directly or indirectly. Washington has created an environment where people are increasingly anxious and/or depressed. So of course that’s going to drive up the suicide numbers. If you want to make this situation better, rebuild a country where people are generally happier. Happy people are less likely to take their own lives.”
From Michael Coren, the man who badgered me about being a victim of child sexual abuse then outed me as one on national television despite knowing I didn’t want to talk about it. https://t.co/0pa8mGJwgi
~ If your faith has not pulled you away from your political party in multiple ways, your politics might be shaping your faith more than your faith is shaping your politics. ~ Erick Erickson on Twitter
Oh the Abbott narrative still has some legs. Even a Texas State trooper mentioned the barrier forces people to cross at more dangerous locations. His orders to push people into the river and into barriers are still on record. His orders to refuse water is still on record. The fact he repealed city ordinances about mandatory water breaks at certain temperatures is still there. A man who denies Texans water breaks has no problem denying migrants anything. Finally he’s still committing an illegal and unconstitutional act — the Rio Grande is an international water way and federal jurisdiction.
The Trump story is amusing – quoting Atlas Shrugged won’t get you far; it is after all fiction. Not much different than a “sovereign citizen” claim he doesn’t need a driver’s license or respect speed limits. And every man did what was right in his own eyes. Pretty sure self-interest is a poor basis for society.
Food theft is a crime of poverty. People don’t steal household items from a dollar store unless they are broke (or teens). Most grocery chains work into food loss into their profit margins. Petty theft of this guy is on the upswing. The psychology behind it is not only poverty but knowledge of incredibly wealthy people who’ve done little to deserve billions. When society seems incredibly unfair – why respect social norms. To create society cohesion, there must be a sense of togetherness and that no longer exists.
Deaths of despair (suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc that is behaviours resulting from mental illness) for white American males without a college degree have been on the increase since 1992. The underlying cause isn’t political but economic. The implementation of neocon/neoliberal economics starting in the 80s created a culture of despair for small industrial and mining centres. It was no longer possible for a working class male to give his family a middle class lifestyle.
There’s a book called “Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism” that I’m waiting for from the library. Hopefully worth a read.
Michael Coren is an interesting person. Born a secular Jew, he converted to Catholicism and then to evangelicalism (over abusive priests) then back to Catholicism and is now an Anglican priest. Politically he was a well known conservative commentator in both print and television. He had his own current affairs show on a Christian network. He now describes himself as a Christian socialist. Historically there’s a long tradition of Christian socialists preachers in Canada.
Reading his article its quite clear he’s singling out the outlandish claims as opposed to prosecution of paedophilia. In particular he cites “Adrenochrome, zealots claim, can only be obtained from adrenal glands in a living human body, thus the need to abduct children. ” This in turn rumors such as Pizzagate. From his background he sees this similar to the blood libel accusations against Jews in medieval Europe.
He also notes the if you don’t support us you’re a “groomer” mentality of the right wing’s crusade. As a school teacher who’s tried to dispel some myths regarding health education, I’ve noticed an uptick in groomer accusations which makes me glad I’m retiring in June 2024.
In short Coren has a point (I don’t even like the guy). The right wing’s fascination with paedophilia is dangerous.
“Donald Trump was at the heart of another controversy on Saturday, after the RedState conservative activist Erick Erickson banned him from his event in Atlanta over a comment about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.
Erickson himself, however, has a long history of making disparaging remarks about women, including calling first lady Michelle Obama a “marxist harpy” and Texas politician Wendy Davis “abortion Barbie”.”
—-
“Things Erickson has suggested include the notion that “Obama’s marxist harpy wife would go Lorena Bobbitt on him” – Bobbitt was a Virginia woman who in 1993 cut off her husband’s penis – should he even think about it”.
It, in this instance, was “shagging hookers behind the media’s back”.
Erickson has also suggested that there was nothing wrong with calling Davis, who in 2013 mounted a 13-hour filibuster against a Texas abortion law, “abortion Barbie”.”
—
“Erickson has regularly taken aim at feminists in general. In 2010, referring to an anti-abortion ad that ran during the Super Bowl, he tweeted: “that’s it?!?! That’s what the feminazis were enraged over? Seriously?!? Wow. That’s what being too ugly to get a date does to your brain.””
________
Next up…
“Conservative Gatekeeper Erick Erickson Calls for Pro-Trump Protestors to be Shot”
“You idiots have spent a year peddling the fiction the 2020 election was stolen because you were so busy humping Trump’s leg that you never really even tried to convince persuadable voters to vote. Now you’re all ‘oh the Dems are too smart to steal anything other than the one election that requires figuring out the electoral college landscape and voter distribution across multiple swing states where just a popular vote doesn’t matter.'”
““At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator’s house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?”
— Erick Erickson
Source : “At What Point Do People Revolt?” by Erick Erickson, http://www.redstate.com. March 31, 2009. ”
—–
And even with all this, he still converted to being a Trump supporter, because even he isn’t stupid enough to miss what Democrats are doing to this country.
“• The 18-story building, which houses various federal agencies and former House speaker Pelosi’s office, sits adjacent to the city’s Tenderloin district, a notorious haven for drug-addled vagrants and other violent criminals.
• Pelosi reportedly raised concerns about the safety of the building’s tenants, including members of her staff, in a recent meeting with the U.S. attorney’s office.
What they’re saying: “In light of the [disgusting and unsafe] conditions at the [Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building] we recommend employees … maximize the use of telework for the foreseeable future,” wrote Cheryl Campbell, the Health and Human Services assistant secretary for administration, in an August 4 memo.
• The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the building named after Pelosi “has long been a locus of some of the city’s most intractable problems.”
• “Dozens of dealers routinely plant themselves on, next to, or across the street from the property, operating in shifts as users smoke, snort, or shoot up their recent purchases,” the Chronicle reported. “The property’s concrete benches are an especially popular site for users to get high, socialize, or pass out.”
• “The safety of workers in our federal buildings has always been a priority for Speaker Emerita Pelosi, whether in the building or on their commutes,” Pelosi spokesman Aaron Bennett said in a statement. “Federal, state, and local law enforcement—in coordination with public health officials and stakeholders—are working hard to address the acute crises of fentanyl trafficking and related violence in certain areas of the city.”
Crucial context: The same day Campbell’s memo went out, President Joe Biden called on federal agencies to “aggressively execute” plans to return employees to the office after years of working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building, which cost taxpayers $144 million to construct, is absolutely hideous.”
“I have been to the Walker a few times, and I have to say that each time I have I walked away disliking the museum more than the last. It is a Modern Art museum, featuring every sort of lousy art you can imagine is found in so-called “Modern Art.” It is a tremendous contrast to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, which is always a pleasure to visit.
I am not one to think in terms of angels and demons, despite their playing a prominent role in some Catholic theology. I just don’t think in such categories. On the other hand, there is nothing benign about the concept of demons, and summoning demons is not generally something anybody would suggest is a desirable activity–certainly not if you are inclined to think of them as something more than metaphorical.
Unless, that is, you are a thoroughly modern person whose sense of the desirable is warped beyond recognition.
The Walker Art Center held a pagan ritual geared toward families last weekend, with a performance called “Lilit the Empathic Demon.”
“Demons have a bad reputation, but maybe we’re just not very good at getting to know them,” an event description reads.
The event, which took place at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, was part of the Walker’s Free First Saturdays program and featured artist Tamar Ettun who creates “demon traps.”
“Families are invited to create a vessel to trap the demon that knows them best — perhaps the ‘demon of overthinking’ — and then participate in a playful ceremony to summon and befriend their demon,” the website explains.
The event was designed for families, and finished with a “playful demon summoning session.”
Lest you think I am seeing this through an excessively Christian lens–assuming that the use of the term “demon” is more associated with evil than was intended, it is pretty clear that the artist herself associates the concept “demon” with violence and what you and I would associate with evil and capriciously violent connotations.
Ettun previously had her artwork, “How to Trap a Demon,” on display in New York at the Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery.
“The exhibition parts with the historical gender binarism that associates Lilith’s archetype with unchecked violence and manipulation; here, Lilit mediates the inner demons and renegade instincts that are deliberately silenced,” the exhibition details read. One image shows Ettun washing what appears to be a placenta with a watering can.
In short, getting in touch with demons, inner or otherwise, is meant to get one in touch with the forces that in civilized societies we seek to suppress.”
“There is a bizarre genre of articles that has emerged of late: the “fitness is fascism” thinkpiece.
It’s an interesting take. When Michele Obama took up the cause of improving the nutrition and fitness of America’s children I am pretty sure there weren’t a ton of articles in Left-wing publications about her secret fascist leanings.
The “fitness is fascism” meme at least temporally arose with the rise of Trump, or at least during his presidency. Given Trump’s fitness level and the frequency with which he is labeled America’s leader of fascism, I don’t quite see how the Left got from there to here, but the correlation exists.”
This might be the nuttiest article I've read post covid. It argues that opposing lockdowns and masking, and getting interested in natural health, is QAnon and leads to…wait for it…fascism. https://t.co/Dz0nI13O05
“The Guardian–Great Britain’s voice of the mainstream Left–has taken up the theme, tying fitness, wellness, free-thinking, and hesitancy to trust authority (which is somehow fascist!) together into a toxic brew threatening to take down democracy itself by leading people to reject the idea that they should unhesitatingly indulge their appetites while doing exactly what they are told.
I do admit that more people I know are doing yoga, and most people running around in my social circle are politically conservative. On the other hand, most people I socialize with are about as fit as I am, which is to say not at all. Granted, we all wish we were more fit, but as people nearing our 60s that is no different than wishing we had saved more in our 20s and 30s. We would all be better off if we had.
The obsession with disparaging fitness–and it has arisen to that level among some Leftists, who not only attack going to the gym but insist that we can be “healthy at any size,” just like Lizzo–strikes me as connected to an overall project to normalize the indulgence of all appetites.
“Who are you to disdain anything or anyone?” is a common refrain, and the idea of healthy implies its opposite. Think of all the things we consider virtues–self-discipline, precision, studying, showing up on time…–are now labeled “White supremacy.”
There is, of course, nothing “White” about these behaviors, except the historical fact that they became highly valued in Western culture with the dawn of modernity. Modern science and industrial society depend upon these virtues, and there is plenty of evidence that non-White people are no less capable of succeeding in industrial societies when these virtues are elevated.”
“If you have any doubt that The Washington Post pretty much prints what it is told to print, just look to its two editorials separated by two months regarding the Hunter Biden plea deal.
Back in June, it was all for the deal, taking aim at the conservative critics who saw it as a sweetheart deal that was transparently designed to let Hunter off the hook while sweeping all the evidence of Biden’s corruption under the rug.
Conservatives thought that because, well, the plea bargain was a sweetheart deal that was transparently designed to let Hunter off the hook while sweeping all the evidence of Biden’s corruption under the rug. Any claim to the contrary was pure gaslighting, but the Post was up to the task.
The Post’s editorial–editorials define the institutional opinion of the newspaper itself, which is why they are unsigned–was basically a cut-and-paste job that cobbled together the talking points that had been put out by the Left. They amounted to “This is all perfectly normal and there is nothing to see here at all.”
With the collapse of the deal–it took only the most cursory examination of it to show that it was literally unprecedented in its terms–a new narrative had to be cobbled together. And over the past several weeks the Left has found a way to thread the needle. There are no longer any claims that Hunter was a naif who did nothing wrong but get addicted to drugs, or even that Joe’s influence wasn’t the product that Hunter was selling to his overseas business partners. The new line is that Hunter was committing fraud upon those business partners, selling an “illusion of influence” to unsuspecting purchasers.
In other words, Hunter is guilty of some dastardly deeds, but despite the obvious connection to his father and his father’s participation in the scheme, it was Hunter alone who did things that were criminal. Joe was simply discussing the weather, not knowing that he was a product being sold.
Yeah, right. Whatever.
So now the MSM, Democrat congressmen, and fellow travelers are doing the “limited hangout,” which in this case means throwing Hunter to the wolves (at least rhetorically) in order to protect his father, whom they need at the moment.
Dutifully the Post has updated its guidance to the Democrat Hoi Polloi, informing them that new talking points have been distributed.
The talking points themselves literally make no sense if you take them at face value, but they have been judged sufficient unto the task.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Friday his appointment of U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware as special counsel in the ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son. This was the right move. It should encourage Americans that the process will be independent and transparent and, therefore, that it is more likely to be fair.
Such assurances might not have been necessary at the beginning of the Justice Department’s Hunter Biden probe, but they became important after a plea agreement between Mr. Weiss and Mr. Biden’s attorneys fell apart under judicial scrutiny. Initially appearing reasonable, the deal turned out to include peculiar details suggesting critics might have been justified to suspect that Mr. Biden was being given special treatment.
Consider the argument for a moment and behold the power you have once you abandon the need for logic:
Appointing Weiss special counsel was a good move because it will assure people that the process will be independent and transparent.
No special counsel should have been necessary because everybody should have just trusted that Biden’s DOJ would treat Hunter just like everybody else.
Unfortunately, it looks like Biden’s DOJ didn’t treat Hunter like everybody else. (Well, duh!)
So appointing the same guy who gave Hunter a sweetheart deal as an “independent” special counsel will now make the investigation somehow fairer
Huh? We should have trusted the DOJ to be impartial (no we shouldn’t have!), and yet it failed to be impartial. So the DOJ throws us a bone and appoints the SAME PROSECUTOR WHO TREATED HUNTER AS SPECIAL to be an “independent” and “transparent” special counsel, so we can trust the same people to now do the right thing?
Newsflash: nothing changed here but the title of the prosecutor. Nothing. The same people are doing the same thing as before.
But changing things was never the point; keeping things the same was the point. They have only changed the rhetoric because they couldn’t maintain their prior story”
There’s a difference between the wellness industry and staying fit. The wellness industry attracts anti-vaxxers, alternative medicine, chem trials fanatics, fluoride, etc. Its not to hard to see these views interacting with conspiracy theories on both the right and left – there’s RFK on the left and then Glen Beck calling Sandy Hook a false flag while selling supplements, not to mention whatever Alex Jones is selling.
Modern Art can be really good and really bad. I like my daughter’s stuff yet I’ve seen some total garbage in the same exhibits as hers. Even she will call it crap – the theory, politics, and explanation behind the “art” triumphs the actual content. My daughter’s stuff on the other hand is merely a personal interpretation of the world she lives in. Not edgy or political enough for some. On the other hand, she has a show lined up in Berlin for September. The last show saw her sell three paintings and make about 3000 euros. In between she takes care of plants for the Berlin film industry.
~ We’re enmeshed in some sort of emotional, relational, and spiritual crisis and it undergirds our political dysfunction and the general crisis of our democracy. What’s going on? ~
I think Keller hits on one response that is worthy to pursue for all believers when we feel agitated and irritated:
It is hard to stay angry at someone if you are praying for them. It is also hard to stay angry unless you feel superior, and it is hard to feel superior if you are praying for them, since in prayer you approach God as a forgiven sinner.
I wouldn’t be surprised if businesses close down everywhere due to open crime. It is happening in this area because they know they can get away with it.. no one stops them..there will be no arrests. Third world country….
Even as I agree with the EE quote I think he had to be quoting someone else because he seems not to have taken it to heart himself
Wandering Views 
Sorry HRW, your latest narrative about Gov. Abbott is dead. My condolences.
“Democrat Hoax: No, a Migrant Child Did Not Die in Greg Abbott’s Rio Grande ‘Razor Wire Buoys’
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/08/democrat-hoax-no-a-migrant-child-did-not-die-in-greg-abbotts-rio-grande-razor-wire-buoys/
“And speaking of drowning, another false claim out there is that Abbott’s buoys are responsible for the death of a migrant child.
Democrat strategist Sawyer Hackett, whose Twitter profile lists him as a senior advisor to failed 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro (brother of Joaquin), posted this to his Twitter account Friday, alleging that Abbott’s “razor wire buoys” caused a child to die:”
—
“Secondly, Hackett was Community Noted on Twitter, with it being pointed out that not only have the buoys reportedly not caused any deaths, but that the two bodies recovered by Mexican authorities last week including one near the barrier were not minors:
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department reported Wednesday that a body had been found along the floating barrier. The Coahuila state prosecutor’s office later told local media outlets that the two bodies were recovered and that the process of identification was underway.
Mexico’s migration agency on Thursday confirmed one victim was from Honduras and the other was Mexican. Neither victim was a minor, the agency said.
Further, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the body found near the barrier likely floated there from another location:
Mexican officials condemned the barrier’s installment in two separate notes reporting that bodies were found in the Rio Grande. But Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said preliminary information indicates that the first person found dead had “drowned upstream from the marine barrier and floated into the buoys.”
“There are personnel posted at the marine barrier at all times in case any migrants try to cross,” McCraw said in a statement by the public safety department obtained by CBS News.
Lt. Chris Olivarez, a spokesperson for Texas DPS, said in the same statement that the department “received a report of a possible drowning victim floating upstream from the marine barrier” on Wednesday and notified U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Mexican consulate.”
—
“I should also note that an infant child was found dead in the Rio Grande last month, but it was over July 4th weekend, which was before the buoys were installed. Strangely, Hackett had nothing to say about that:
Authorities in Texas recovered four bodies, including an infant girl, from a river along the U.S.-Mexico border over just 48 hours, officials said Monday.
Lt. Chris Olivarez, a spokesperson with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said two of the bodies were pulled from the Rio Grande on Saturday, one on Sunday and another on Monday.
Fox News border correspondent Bill Melugin, who has probably spent more time at the southern border over the last three years than Sawyer Hackett will in his entire lifetime, also reminded folks that Hackett has a troubling history when it comes to claims about incidents that supposedly have occurred at the border, most notably the media-/Biden administration-driven CBP migrant “whipping” hoax:
.@SawyerHackett has never waited for the facts before trying to push a narrative at the border. He was the original source of the false claim that Border Patrol agents were “whipping” Haitian migrants. Now he claims a child died in TX razor wire (false) and is also claiming Gov. Abbott should be prosecuted for death of a migrant child on a TX bus when an autopsy hasn’t even been done and there’s no cause of death yet. Never misses an opportunity to push a narrative.”
“Here’s what the Texas Division of Emergency Management had to say about the child’s death:”
“The death of a child is always a tragedy. It’s just too bad that the only time Democrats seem to care is when they think they can blame it on a Republican governor or president.”
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Thank Democrats. They built this.
“DC: Rampant Shoplifting May Lead To Grocery Store Closures, Areas Becoming Food Deserts
How’s that Justice Reform Working Out? Spending $300 million for security “did not derail the people from stealing. In fact, the regional manager told us that people will have stuff in their carts walking straight through the door–straight through the door!”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/08/dc-rampant-shoplifting-may-lead-to-grocery-store-closures-areas-becoming-food-deserts/
“I’m old enough to remember when Democrats were very upset about food deserts and complained that there weren’t enough grocery stores in underprivileged areas, that minorities were unable to access healthy, affordable food. But that’s so last decade.
Now Democrats are all about “criminal justice reform,” and this seems to mean letting criminals run wild, committing their crimes with impunity. For some reason known only to themselves, Democrats are fine with the results of their going all-in on lawlessness and rampant crime, including the seemingly intentional creation of “food deserts.””
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“Justice Shrugged: The Persecution of Donald Trump”
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/08/14/justice_shrugged_the_persecution_of_donald_trump_149619.html
“Here’s what I dream of Donald Trump saying when he stands trial on bogus charges proffered by his political opponents: “I do not recognize this court’s right to try me … I do not recognize my action as a crime.”
Those are the fighting words of industrialist Hank Rearden when he was put on trial for ignoring an unjust law in Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged.” Although the circumstances of the cases differ, Rearden is a perfect avatar of Donald Trump, as both larger-than-life men are persecuted by the justice system for seeking to pursue their own self-interest and for refusing to surrender to government oppression.
Self-interest is central to the Objectivist philosophy of Rand, who grew up in Russia and witnessed first-hand the oppression of free thought and free enterprise following the 1917 Communist revolution. Her masterpiece, “Atlas Shrugged,” is the ultimate roadmap to how American democracy can be subverted by leftist bureaucrats and a corrupt media to destroy some individuals and intimidate the rest.
In the novel, Rearden has created a unique metallic alloy that carries his own name. Rearden Metal is far superior to steel and was in high demand by contractors, but tyrannical government regulations prohibited Rearden from selling to customers of his own choice. He ignored the government’s warnings and sold to one of the few honest businessmen left in the country. That meant he had broken the law, and because of his stature and reputation for excellence, the government prosecuted him as a warning to others that they dare not pursue their own self-interest, too.
Rearden epitomizes the essence of individualism, striving to achieve his goals despite societal pressure. As an industrialist, he prioritizes his innovation and accomplishments, unapologetically pursuing personal success. His trial underscores the struggle between individual rights and the perceived interests of society, reflecting Rand’s championing of individualism.
Similarly, Trump’s refusal to accept the election results turns on his deep sense of individualistic ambition, his willingness to challenge societal norms, and his determination not to surrender his principles, even at the expense of public ridicule, political persecution, and now potentially years in prison. But you can’t view the 2020 election in a vacuum. Trump was no different than Rearden in fighting what he knows is a rigged system. For the preceding five years, Trump had been the victim of a series of vicious attacks by the Deep State and the media who never really accepted him as president. So Trump had no reason to accept the election results parroted by the same actors who had already tried to destroy him multiple times.
And now, two and a half years after the 2020 election, as Trump has a fighting chance of returning to the White House in the greatest political comeback in history, his enemies have come for him again, with three separate indictments and soon to be a fourth.
The four-count indictment most recently brought against Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith is intended to make a victory in 2024 nearly impossible. The Deep State in this case represents the entrenched bureaucracy of the federal government as well as the individual states’ election officials. This is the same Deep State that gathered up 51 national security officials to sign a statement prior to the 2020 election that falsely claimed that Hunter Biden’s laptop “has all the classic earmarks of Russian disinformation.” It had none of them. No wonder Trump was disinclined to accept their conclusions that the election was secure and fair. Trump sought to prove his concerns about the legitimacy of the 2020 election by pursuing a vigorous legal strategy as was guaranteed to him under the First Amendment’s right “to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Biden’s weaponized Department of Justice is determined to deny that right to Donald Trump, and by extension to the rest of us. You either agree with the government’s interpretation of election results or else you risk going to jail. The indictment brought against Trump acknowledges that everyone has a First Amendment right to speak their minds and even to “formally challenge the results of the election through lawful and appropriate means,” but it then avers that Trump’s right to believe he won the election is abrogated by a string of court losses and equally pessimistic assessments from so-called experts.
Here’s where it gets interesting, and where the Department of Justice has overstepped. The four counts in the indictment are based on what prosecutor Jack Smith calls three conspiracies: “A conspiracy to defraud the United States” by seeking to stop the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021; “a conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the Jan. 6 congressional proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are counted and certified; and “a conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.”
All of these alleged conspiracies and the resulting four charges are directly related to the joint congressional session on Jan. 6, when the Electoral College votes were opened and debated to determine whether they should be counted. Moreover, when Jack Smith announced the indictment, he suggested that Trump was responsible for the riot that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on that day, yet none of the charges hold Trump responsible for the violence. Every charge in this dubious indictment could have been brought even if the protesters had marched “peacefully and patriotically” to the Capitol as Trump had requested. The charges in the indictment have nothing to do with the violence; they only relate to Trump’s insistence that he won the election, and that he would do whatever it takes to prove it.
In other words, these are not real crimes like insurrection or sedition; they are thought crimes. Smith’s “conspiracy” charges simply reflect that Trump consulted his lawyers to develop a legal strategy on how to right the wrong that he perceived. In its substance, from paragraphs 8 to 123, the indictment merely alleges over and over again that Trump refused to accept the conclusions of others that the election of Biden was legitimate, and that he had help from like-minded attorneys. How infuriating that must be to prosecutor Smith, who believes with all his heart that no one could doubt the veracity of what government officials (like him!) tell us.”
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Fraud can be a very lucrative endeavor….
“Records Reveal Fauci Made Over $300 Million From the Covid Pandemic While Americans Suffered”
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2023/08/13/records-reveal-fauci-made-over-300-million-from-the-covid-pandemic-n2626948
“While the entire United States was under authoritarian mandates, top so-called Covid-19 “experts” were making hundreds of millions of dollars on the pandemic that caused lifelong hurdles for many Americans.
According to records, the former NIH Director, Dr. Francis Collins, and former NIAID Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, made huge profits from royalty checks during the Chinese virus-fueled pandemic. At the same time, thousands of people struggled to put food on the table.
OpenTheBooks, a transparency organization, recently released over 1,500 unredacted records revealing the leaders of the country’s National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases profited off the virus that killed thousands of people.
On top of that, Fauci funded the Wuhan Institute of Virology to research the Coronavirus.
The records show Collins and Fauci got 58 royalty payments for allowing companies to use their COVID-19 vaccines, which in return was developed with funding from U.S. taxpayers by private pharmaceutical firms.
So, in other words, the Covid pandemic was one big ploy for the government to get massively wealthy.
Through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 56,000 transactions were recorded, totaling over $325 million banked by the “experts.”
“The NIH continues to refuse to voluntarily divulge the names of scientists who receive royalties and from which companies over the period of time from 2010 to 2016, 27,000 royalty payments were paid to 1800 NIH employees,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said. “We know that. Not because you told us, but because we forced you to tell us through the Freedom of Information Act.”
—-
“Records also show that Fauci, the highest-paid federal worker with a 2022 salary of $480,000, failed to donate his royalties to charity as promised. “
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“The suicide epidemic”
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2023/08/12/the-suicide-epidemic-n570739
“The United States continues to set records under the Biden administration, but few if any of them are anything you’d want to brag about. We’ve broken records in terms of illegal immigration and gas prices. But an even more depressing statistic emerged this week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more Americans died by suicide in 2022 than at any previous time in the nation’s history. Just short of 50,000 people took their own lives. And in a notable change of pace, the Associated Press didn’t blame the spike in suicides on either racism or climate change. They did, however, blame it on guns. Because of course they did.
About 49,500 people took their own lives last year in the U.S., the highest number ever, according to new government data posted Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which posted the numbers, has not yet calculated a suicide rate for the year, but available data suggests suicides are more common in the U.S. than at any time since the dawn of World War II.
“There’s something wrong. The number should not be going up,” said Christina Wilbur, a 45-year-old Florida woman whose son shot himself to death last year.
Specifically, the AP places most of the blame on “the growing availability of guns.” To be fair, they also point to higher rates of depression and a lack of mental health care resources. Of course, it’s still more difficult to take one’s own life in America than it is in Canada, where you only need to suggest that you might be depressed and the government will send someone over to your house right away to take care of the job for you.
These numbers are simply too high, growing to the point where it might fairly be called an epidemic, but it’s unclear what can be done about it. Blaming “the availability of guns” is no answer because someone who is truly determined to end it all will find a way even if they don’t have access to a firearm. A gun is among the most common method of suicide chosen by men, along with hanging and carbon monoxide poisoning. But for women, poison is the top choice, followed by exsanguination.
If we are to make any progress in getting these numbers down, we need to stop fretting over how people are taking their lives and focus on why they would choose to do that. It’s no secret that a growing number of Americans are dealing with anxiety and even depression. But not all depression is clinical in nature. People have been given plenty of external reasons to feel depressed.
We’ve already seen reports that a record number of people claim they feel lonely. This was driven largely by the shutdowns during the pandemic and then exacerbated by growing trends toward working from home. Both marriage and birth rates continue to drop, leaving more people alone. And our communal addiction to devices and screens over actual conversations with other human beings certainly isn’t helping.
And then there are the ongoing crises and unpleasant conditions surrounding so many of us. Crime is rising across the board, making more people feel unsafe and unsure of their future. Inflation is impacting the lives of many, lowering their quality of living. Confidence in the government and most of our major institutions is at an all-time low, further eroding people’s sense of security. And a surging number of Americans now say that they don’t believe they’ll ever be able to retire, so the American dream is going up in smoke before their eyes.
Are you noticing a common theme or trend here? Almost all of the things I mentioned (aside from the marriage and birth rates) are being driven by government policies either directly or indirectly. Washington has created an environment where people are increasingly anxious and/or depressed. So of course that’s going to drive up the suicide numbers. If you want to make this situation better, rebuild a country where people are generally happier. Happy people are less likely to take their own lives.”
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Yep.
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Well, someone has to call it out, and it’s obvious the dems and the media won’t…..
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~ If your faith has not pulled you away from your political party in multiple ways, your politics might be shaping your faith more than your faith is shaping your politics. ~ Erick Erickson on Twitter
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Oh the Abbott narrative still has some legs. Even a Texas State trooper mentioned the barrier forces people to cross at more dangerous locations. His orders to push people into the river and into barriers are still on record. His orders to refuse water is still on record. The fact he repealed city ordinances about mandatory water breaks at certain temperatures is still there. A man who denies Texans water breaks has no problem denying migrants anything. Finally he’s still committing an illegal and unconstitutional act — the Rio Grande is an international water way and federal jurisdiction.
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The Trump story is amusing – quoting Atlas Shrugged won’t get you far; it is after all fiction. Not much different than a “sovereign citizen” claim he doesn’t need a driver’s license or respect speed limits. And every man did what was right in his own eyes. Pretty sure self-interest is a poor basis for society.
Food theft is a crime of poverty. People don’t steal household items from a dollar store unless they are broke (or teens). Most grocery chains work into food loss into their profit margins. Petty theft of this guy is on the upswing. The psychology behind it is not only poverty but knowledge of incredibly wealthy people who’ve done little to deserve billions. When society seems incredibly unfair – why respect social norms. To create society cohesion, there must be a sense of togetherness and that no longer exists.
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Deaths of despair (suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc that is behaviours resulting from mental illness) for white American males without a college degree have been on the increase since 1992. The underlying cause isn’t political but economic. The implementation of neocon/neoliberal economics starting in the 80s created a culture of despair for small industrial and mining centres. It was no longer possible for a working class male to give his family a middle class lifestyle.
There’s a book called “Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism” that I’m waiting for from the library. Hopefully worth a read.
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Michael Coren is an interesting person. Born a secular Jew, he converted to Catholicism and then to evangelicalism (over abusive priests) then back to Catholicism and is now an Anglican priest. Politically he was a well known conservative commentator in both print and television. He had his own current affairs show on a Christian network. He now describes himself as a Christian socialist. Historically there’s a long tradition of Christian socialists preachers in Canada.
Reading his article its quite clear he’s singling out the outlandish claims as opposed to prosecution of paedophilia. In particular he cites “Adrenochrome, zealots claim, can only be obtained from adrenal glands in a living human body, thus the need to abduct children. ” This in turn rumors such as Pizzagate. From his background he sees this similar to the blood libel accusations against Jews in medieval Europe.
He also notes the if you don’t support us you’re a “groomer” mentality of the right wing’s crusade. As a school teacher who’s tried to dispel some myths regarding health education, I’ve noticed an uptick in groomer accusations which makes me glad I’m retiring in June 2024.
In short Coren has a point (I don’t even like the guy). The right wing’s fascination with paedophilia is dangerous.
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This reads like an ad for Bidenomics
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-economy-economic-losers-fba30b53?st=vdxj6tvd1iqjeys&fbclid=IwAR11L75Yn8wOwTclp5ZVlxG1zMYT-pAgNHhrUAPIob35uVSKn1yNUHuoKuM
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Quoting NTer turned pro-Trumper isn’t going to change minds.
Let’s look at some of his others quotes, shall we?
Then we’ll decide if he’s who you should be taking spiritual advice from.
Let’s begin….
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/08/redstate-hypocrisy-donald-trump-critic-erick-erickson
“Donald Trump was at the heart of another controversy on Saturday, after the RedState conservative activist Erick Erickson banned him from his event in Atlanta over a comment about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.
Erickson himself, however, has a long history of making disparaging remarks about women, including calling first lady Michelle Obama a “marxist harpy” and Texas politician Wendy Davis “abortion Barbie”.”
—-
“Things Erickson has suggested include the notion that “Obama’s marxist harpy wife would go Lorena Bobbitt on him” – Bobbitt was a Virginia woman who in 1993 cut off her husband’s penis – should he even think about it”.
It, in this instance, was “shagging hookers behind the media’s back”.
Erickson has also suggested that there was nothing wrong with calling Davis, who in 2013 mounted a 13-hour filibuster against a Texas abortion law, “abortion Barbie”.”
—
“Erickson has regularly taken aim at feminists in general. In 2010, referring to an anti-abortion ad that ran during the Super Bowl, he tweeted: “that’s it?!?! That’s what the feminazis were enraged over? Seriously?!? Wow. That’s what being too ugly to get a date does to your brain.””
________
Next up…
“Conservative Gatekeeper Erick Erickson Calls for Pro-Trump Protestors to be Shot”
https://bigleaguepolitics.com/conservative-gatekeeper-erick-erickson-calls-for-pro-trump-protestors-to-be-shot/
________
He seems nice.
“Erickson said:
“You idiots have spent a year peddling the fiction the 2020 election was stolen because you were so busy humping Trump’s leg that you never really even tried to convince persuadable voters to vote. Now you’re all ‘oh the Dems are too smart to steal anything other than the one election that requires figuring out the electoral college landscape and voter distribution across multiple swing states where just a popular vote doesn’t matter.'”
https://secondnexus.com/erick-erickson-trump-election-fraud
________
Some good Christian stuff here….
““At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator’s house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?”
— Erick Erickson
Source : “At What Point Do People Revolt?” by Erick Erickson, http://www.redstate.com. March 31, 2009. ”
—–
And even with all this, he still converted to being a Trump supporter, because even he isn’t stupid enough to miss what Democrats are doing to this country.
https://www.npr.org/2019/02/21/696532375/vocal-critic-explains-why-he-now-supports-president-trump
https://www.mediaite.com/online/erick-erickson-mocked-for-endorsing-trump-in-2020-completes-his-180-on-nevertrump/
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/11/erick-erickson-ditches-never-trump-for-2020-dems-i/
Now he’s probably gonna convert back, because he’s a fence sitting poser.
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The next farce up….
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I see farces….
Where….?
Everywhere…..
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https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2024/president/us/2024_republican_presidential_nomination-7548.html
“RCP Average Trump +39.7″
—-
2024 Republican Presidential Nomination I&I/TIPP
Trump 57, DeSantis 12, Ramaswamy 8, Pence 5, Haley 4, Scott 2, Christie 1, Hutchinson 0, Burgum 0, Suarez, Hurd Trump +45”
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Yeah….. this is so much better than when Trump was in charge.
Enjoy!
“Not a Parody: Gov’t Employees Told To Work From Home Due to Rampant Crime Outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in SF
‘For the foreseeable future’: Bureaucrats urged to stay away from hideous structure in notorious drug haven”
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/nancy-pelosi-crime-scandal-san-francisco/
“• The 18-story building, which houses various federal agencies and former House speaker Pelosi’s office, sits adjacent to the city’s Tenderloin district, a notorious haven for drug-addled vagrants and other violent criminals.
• Pelosi reportedly raised concerns about the safety of the building’s tenants, including members of her staff, in a recent meeting with the U.S. attorney’s office.
What they’re saying: “In light of the [disgusting and unsafe] conditions at the [Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building] we recommend employees … maximize the use of telework for the foreseeable future,” wrote Cheryl Campbell, the Health and Human Services assistant secretary for administration, in an August 4 memo.
• The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the building named after Pelosi “has long been a locus of some of the city’s most intractable problems.”
• “Dozens of dealers routinely plant themselves on, next to, or across the street from the property, operating in shifts as users smoke, snort, or shoot up their recent purchases,” the Chronicle reported. “The property’s concrete benches are an especially popular site for users to get high, socialize, or pass out.”
• “The safety of workers in our federal buildings has always been a priority for Speaker Emerita Pelosi, whether in the building or on their commutes,” Pelosi spokesman Aaron Bennett said in a statement. “Federal, state, and local law enforcement—in coordination with public health officials and stakeholders—are working hard to address the acute crises of fentanyl trafficking and related violence in certain areas of the city.”
Crucial context: The same day Campbell’s memo went out, President Joe Biden called on federal agencies to “aggressively execute” plans to return employees to the office after years of working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building, which cost taxpayers $144 million to construct, is absolutely hideous.”
—-
Yay Democrat rule!
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Your tax dollars at work.
But hey, no mean tweets! That’s what’s important….
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/08/14/minneapolis-museum-holds-family-friendly-demon-summoning-n570806
“Nothing says “family-friendly” like summoning a demon.
That, at least, is the judgment of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis’ museum for modern art.”
“I have been to the Walker a few times, and I have to say that each time I have I walked away disliking the museum more than the last. It is a Modern Art museum, featuring every sort of lousy art you can imagine is found in so-called “Modern Art.” It is a tremendous contrast to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, which is always a pleasure to visit.
I am not one to think in terms of angels and demons, despite their playing a prominent role in some Catholic theology. I just don’t think in such categories. On the other hand, there is nothing benign about the concept of demons, and summoning demons is not generally something anybody would suggest is a desirable activity–certainly not if you are inclined to think of them as something more than metaphorical.
Unless, that is, you are a thoroughly modern person whose sense of the desirable is warped beyond recognition.
The Walker Art Center held a pagan ritual geared toward families last weekend, with a performance called “Lilit the Empathic Demon.”
“Demons have a bad reputation, but maybe we’re just not very good at getting to know them,” an event description reads.
The event, which took place at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, was part of the Walker’s Free First Saturdays program and featured artist Tamar Ettun who creates “demon traps.”
“Families are invited to create a vessel to trap the demon that knows them best — perhaps the ‘demon of overthinking’ — and then participate in a playful ceremony to summon and befriend their demon,” the website explains.
The event was designed for families, and finished with a “playful demon summoning session.”
Lest you think I am seeing this through an excessively Christian lens–assuming that the use of the term “demon” is more associated with evil than was intended, it is pretty clear that the artist herself associates the concept “demon” with violence and what you and I would associate with evil and capriciously violent connotations.
Ettun previously had her artwork, “How to Trap a Demon,” on display in New York at the Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery.
“The exhibition parts with the historical gender binarism that associates Lilith’s archetype with unchecked violence and manipulation; here, Lilit mediates the inner demons and renegade instincts that are deliberately silenced,” the exhibition details read. One image shows Ettun washing what appears to be a placenta with a watering can.
In short, getting in touch with demons, inner or otherwise, is meant to get one in touch with the forces that in civilized societies we seek to suppress.”
—-
Elections have consequences.
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So stupid….
“The “wellness to fascism pipeline””
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/08/14/the-wellness-to-fascism-pipeline-n570793
“There is a bizarre genre of articles that has emerged of late: the “fitness is fascism” thinkpiece.
It’s an interesting take. When Michele Obama took up the cause of improving the nutrition and fitness of America’s children I am pretty sure there weren’t a ton of articles in Left-wing publications about her secret fascist leanings.
The “fitness is fascism” meme at least temporally arose with the rise of Trump, or at least during his presidency. Given Trump’s fitness level and the frequency with which he is labeled America’s leader of fascism, I don’t quite see how the Left got from there to here, but the correlation exists.”
“The Guardian–Great Britain’s voice of the mainstream Left–has taken up the theme, tying fitness, wellness, free-thinking, and hesitancy to trust authority (which is somehow fascist!) together into a toxic brew threatening to take down democracy itself by leading people to reject the idea that they should unhesitatingly indulge their appetites while doing exactly what they are told.
I do admit that more people I know are doing yoga, and most people running around in my social circle are politically conservative. On the other hand, most people I socialize with are about as fit as I am, which is to say not at all. Granted, we all wish we were more fit, but as people nearing our 60s that is no different than wishing we had saved more in our 20s and 30s. We would all be better off if we had.
The obsession with disparaging fitness–and it has arisen to that level among some Leftists, who not only attack going to the gym but insist that we can be “healthy at any size,” just like Lizzo–strikes me as connected to an overall project to normalize the indulgence of all appetites.
“Who are you to disdain anything or anyone?” is a common refrain, and the idea of healthy implies its opposite. Think of all the things we consider virtues–self-discipline, precision, studying, showing up on time…–are now labeled “White supremacy.”
There is, of course, nothing “White” about these behaviors, except the historical fact that they became highly valued in Western culture with the dawn of modernity. Modern science and industrial society depend upon these virtues, and there is plenty of evidence that non-White people are no less capable of succeeding in industrial societies when these virtues are elevated.”
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Yeah this is so much better than The Epoch Times….
Not. This is lap dog trash.
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“Regime media strikes again”
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/08/14/regime-media-strikes-again-3-n571093
“If you have any doubt that The Washington Post pretty much prints what it is told to print, just look to its two editorials separated by two months regarding the Hunter Biden plea deal.
Back in June, it was all for the deal, taking aim at the conservative critics who saw it as a sweetheart deal that was transparently designed to let Hunter off the hook while sweeping all the evidence of Biden’s corruption under the rug.
Conservatives thought that because, well, the plea bargain was a sweetheart deal that was transparently designed to let Hunter off the hook while sweeping all the evidence of Biden’s corruption under the rug. Any claim to the contrary was pure gaslighting, but the Post was up to the task.
The Post’s editorial–editorials define the institutional opinion of the newspaper itself, which is why they are unsigned–was basically a cut-and-paste job that cobbled together the talking points that had been put out by the Left. They amounted to “This is all perfectly normal and there is nothing to see here at all.”
With the collapse of the deal–it took only the most cursory examination of it to show that it was literally unprecedented in its terms–a new narrative had to be cobbled together. And over the past several weeks the Left has found a way to thread the needle. There are no longer any claims that Hunter was a naif who did nothing wrong but get addicted to drugs, or even that Joe’s influence wasn’t the product that Hunter was selling to his overseas business partners. The new line is that Hunter was committing fraud upon those business partners, selling an “illusion of influence” to unsuspecting purchasers.
In other words, Hunter is guilty of some dastardly deeds, but despite the obvious connection to his father and his father’s participation in the scheme, it was Hunter alone who did things that were criminal. Joe was simply discussing the weather, not knowing that he was a product being sold.
Yeah, right. Whatever.
So now the MSM, Democrat congressmen, and fellow travelers are doing the “limited hangout,” which in this case means throwing Hunter to the wolves (at least rhetorically) in order to protect his father, whom they need at the moment.
Dutifully the Post has updated its guidance to the Democrat Hoi Polloi, informing them that new talking points have been distributed.
The talking points themselves literally make no sense if you take them at face value, but they have been judged sufficient unto the task.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Friday his appointment of U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware as special counsel in the ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son. This was the right move. It should encourage Americans that the process will be independent and transparent and, therefore, that it is more likely to be fair.
Such assurances might not have been necessary at the beginning of the Justice Department’s Hunter Biden probe, but they became important after a plea agreement between Mr. Weiss and Mr. Biden’s attorneys fell apart under judicial scrutiny. Initially appearing reasonable, the deal turned out to include peculiar details suggesting critics might have been justified to suspect that Mr. Biden was being given special treatment.
Consider the argument for a moment and behold the power you have once you abandon the need for logic:
Appointing Weiss special counsel was a good move because it will assure people that the process will be independent and transparent.
No special counsel should have been necessary because everybody should have just trusted that Biden’s DOJ would treat Hunter just like everybody else.
Unfortunately, it looks like Biden’s DOJ didn’t treat Hunter like everybody else. (Well, duh!)
So appointing the same guy who gave Hunter a sweetheart deal as an “independent” special counsel will now make the investigation somehow fairer
Huh? We should have trusted the DOJ to be impartial (no we shouldn’t have!), and yet it failed to be impartial. So the DOJ throws us a bone and appoints the SAME PROSECUTOR WHO TREATED HUNTER AS SPECIAL to be an “independent” and “transparent” special counsel, so we can trust the same people to now do the right thing?
Newsflash: nothing changed here but the title of the prosecutor. Nothing. The same people are doing the same thing as before.
But changing things was never the point; keeping things the same was the point. They have only changed the rhetoric because they couldn’t maintain their prior story”
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There’s a difference between the wellness industry and staying fit. The wellness industry attracts anti-vaxxers, alternative medicine, chem trials fanatics, fluoride, etc. Its not to hard to see these views interacting with conspiracy theories on both the right and left – there’s RFK on the left and then Glen Beck calling Sandy Hook a false flag while selling supplements, not to mention whatever Alex Jones is selling.
Modern Art can be really good and really bad. I like my daughter’s stuff yet I’ve seen some total garbage in the same exhibits as hers. Even she will call it crap – the theory, politics, and explanation behind the “art” triumphs the actual content. My daughter’s stuff on the other hand is merely a personal interpretation of the world she lives in. Not edgy or political enough for some. On the other hand, she has a show lined up in Berlin for September. The last show saw her sell three paintings and make about 3000 euros. In between she takes care of plants for the Berlin film industry.
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Atlantic piece (but I don’t have a subscription):
~ HOW AMERICA GOT MEAN
In a culture devoid of moral education, generations are growing up in a morally inarticulate, self-referential world. ~
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from what little bit of the piece I could read:
~ We’re enmeshed in some sort of emotional, relational, and spiritual crisis and it undergirds our political dysfunction and the general crisis of our democracy. What’s going on? ~
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I think Keller hits on one response that is worthy to pursue for all believers when we feel agitated and irritated:
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I wouldn’t be surprised if businesses close down everywhere due to open crime. It is happening in this area because they know they can get away with it.. no one stops them..there will be no arrests. Third world country….
Even as I agree with the EE quote I think he had to be quoting someone else because he seems not to have taken it to heart himself
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