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Ruth King

Senate that ‘sucks’ gets a dose of reality from Biden

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/16/democrats-agenda-social-spending-bill-525103

Senate Democrats ended a frustrating day in a frustrating week with President Joe Biden acknowledging that his sweeping social spending bill will wait until next year — a setback that comes as the party also spins its wheels on election reform.

Biden released a statement on Thursday night vowing to work with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to put his $1.7 trillion social safety net and climate plan “on the floor as early as possible” while alluding to unfinished work ahead, both in negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and clearing procedural obstacles. One of those obstacles came roaring back into view Thursday night as the upper chamber’s rules referee struck Democrats’ latest attempt at immigration reform from their party-line bill.

Before Biden’s statement, Senate Democrats met for one of their last party meetings of the year, which became an “intense” discussion, in the words of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Schumer did not pull the plug for the year then on either elections and voting legislation or the spending bill, according to attendees at the lunch.

Instead, Democrats braced for Biden to acknowledge the political realities that the party is not yet close to a deal with Manchin on the social spending bill.

Biden’s “perspective and voice is absolutely critical,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

“A two-week cooling off would not be the worst thing,” said one Democratic senator on condition of anonymity.

Democrats Promised an Insurrection But All They Got Was a Lousy Obstruction Case Liz Cheney just set the stage for the latest letdown. Donald Trump won’t be charged with insurrection, treason, or sedition. But obstruction may be on the table.  By Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2021/12/16/democrats-promised-an-insurrection-but-all-they-got-was-a-lousy-obstruction-case/

History, it appears, is repeating itself—at least when it comes to the latest crusade to destroy Donald Trump and everyone around him.

For nearly three years, the American people were warned that Donald Trump had been in cahoots with the Kremlin to rig the 2016 presidential election. Trump-Russia election collusion, the original “stop the steal” campaign—that is, until questioning the outcome of American elections was designated a criminal conspiracy after November 2020—dominated the attention of the ruling class and the entirety of the national news media.

Every instrument of power—the FBI, a secret surveillance court, congressional committees, a special counsel—was leveraged to uncover the “truth” about the Trump campaign’s alleged dirty dealings with Mother Russia.

Hyperbolic accusations about the president, his family, and close associates were similar to accusations now levied against those associated with the so-called “insurrection” said to have been incited by Trump: Russia collusion, like the four-hour disturbance at the Capitol on January 6, rendered Trump a traitor, a threat to democracy, a wannabe dictator, a psychotic cult leader, and a menace to global security—to name just a handful of the more outlandish claims.

Democrats sang Christmas carols and lit candles in honor of Special Counsel Robert Mueller; it only was a matter of time before Mueller’s posse of partisan attorneys dragged Trump out of the Oval Office in handcuffs and arrested him for conspiring with Vladimir Putin to defeat Hillary Clinton, they believed.

Then, disaster. Forced by William Barr, Trump’s new attorney general, to conclude his two-year fishing expedition, Mueller finally issued his long-awaited report in April 2019: “[The] investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

Mueller never was going to find proof of Trump-Russia election collusion and everyone in Washington knew it. The final confession came as a shock only to the millions of brain-dead Americans deceived by professional liars such as Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). To soften the blow, Mueller’s team instead pivoted to suggestions that Trump likely obstructed justice on numerous occasions, all in situations related to the president’s attempts to stop the destructive witch hunt against both him and his advisors, including former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

America’s Real Authoritarians

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/12/17/americas-real-authoritarians/

A particular line from our Thursday editorial reminded us of something we’ve been seeing for some time now: claims by the media that Republicans in general and Donald Trump in specific are authoritarians. It’s a truly malignant form of psychological projection.

The comment referenced in our observation that dissent is no longer the highest form of patriotism that struck us is from Northeastern University journalism professor and public radio panelist Dan Kennedy. He said, with zero supporting evidence, that the Republican Party “has embraced authoritarianism and voter suppression.”

The only “proof” he offers is a report from a European think tank that says in 2020 “the United States, the bastion of global democracy, fell victim to authoritarian tendencies itself, and was knocked down a significant number of steps on the democratic scale.”

Well, let’s see what happened in the U.S. in 2020. A pandemic arrived and policymakers all across the country quickly began violating rights by shutting down businesses; outlawing the people’s right to freely assemble (unless they were rioting for the right reasons, that is reasons approved by Democrats and the media); trapping people in their homes; arresting those who dared to move about without government permission; requiring masks in public and private settings; forcing kids to muzzle themselves for entire school days; and in some cases demanding proof of immunization to carry on as normal.

In the beginning officials from both parties were guilty of the excesses. But in 2021, it’s the Republican red states that have returned lost liberties while Democrat blue states, and Democrats in Washington, continue to violate freedom with the cheerleading of the press.

But the report doesn’t say the panicked and irrational pandemic response was the fuel driving the U.S. toward authoritarianism. It blames Trump’s questioning of “the legitimacy of the 2020 election results,” as well as “baseless allegations of electoral fraud and related disinformation,” which “undermined fundamental trust in the electoral process.”

Looks Like Dissent Is No Longer The Highest Form Of Patriotism

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/12/16/looks-like-dissent-is-no-longer-the-highest-form-of-patriotism/

Remember how, when Donald Trump was president, writing bogus attack pieces and talking endlessly about how he stole the 2016 election were all good for the country. Because, you know, dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

Now, reporting undisputed facts that happen to be unflattering to the current president poses a grave threat to the survival of the nation. That’s what journalists are saying.

As President Joe Biden’s approval numbers continue to collapse, and polls – including the latest I&I/TIPP poll – find that Trump is more popular than Biden these days, some of the “truth to power” crowd are using their platforms to attack their fellow scribes for being “too negative” on Biden.

The argument is that hurting Biden increases the chances that Trump, if he runs, could reclaim the White House in 2024, and that will be the end of democracy as we know it.

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, for example, makes the (ludicrous and thoroughly debunked) claim that the media coverage of Biden has been more negative than it was in Trump’s last year in office, and then delivers this message:

“My colleagues in the media are serving as accessories to the murder of democracy.”

Yikes! Milbank works for the paper, by the way, that adopted the motto “Democracy Dies in Darkness” in 2017 as a thumb in the eye of Trump.

Milbank’s anti-journalist diatribe didn’t raise a peep of protest from his colleagues. It did, however, warm hearts in the Biden administration. Biden’s chief of staff, Ron Klain, promoted the column on Twitter, with the caption “submitted for your consideration.” Other White House officials also touted the piece.

Dan Kennedy makes the same argument on WGBH.org: “Large swaths of the media simply cannot or will not move beyond both-sides journalism, equating the frustratingly hapless Democrats with a Republican Party that has embraced authoritarianism and voter suppression.”

The climate change conformists It’s always easier to feel certain about that which is uncertain. Just ask Joe Biden Peter Wood

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/the-climate-change-conformists/

Herman Melville spent several weeks as an involuntary guest of the Typee, Marquesan Islanders known for their fierce cannibalistic ways and their exquisite tattoos. It was 1842 and Melville was a rebellious twenty-two-year-old hand who had jumped ship from a whaling vessel. Several years later, in his first novel, Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, Melville recounted his deep fear that his hosts would tattoo his face.

Facial tattoos were common among the islanders. Some Westerners got facially tattooed as well, but those were men who had relinquished their homes and become the original beachcombers, white men who belonged neither here nor there. Tattooing in general was hardly a respectable thing. Well into the middle of the twentieth century, tattoos were the distinguishing marks of sailors, ex-cons, prostitutes, and carnies. Then the markings began to creep over the shoulders, scapulars, and forearms of young people who just wanted to take a walk on the wild side.

By now, of course, tattoos are everywhere, and though far less common on the face, they’ve invaded that portion of the dermis too. We are told, to be sure, “face tattoos are for bold men,” and I’d say even bolder women.

Why did Melville find them abhorrent while today they are merely “bold”? Fashions change, of course, but this touches something deeper. We have as a culture undergone some profound shifts in our sense of bodily integrity and personal autonomy. “Transgressive” has gone from a term of condemnation to a way of praising those who defy the stultifying conformity of society.

Democrats whistle past a crime wave They’d rather deny it exists or blame it on Covid than take action By Grace Curley

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/democrats-whistle-past-crime-wave/

This past weekend, twenty CEOs from big box retailers sent a letter to Congress, asking for help in combatting the rampant theft that is plaguing their stores.

While it’s refreshing to finally see these companies speaking up, it’s hard to ignore the irony of their circumstances. After all, a little over a year ago many of these retailers were sending out emails to their customers that echoed the far-left rallying cries of progressives. No one asked for Best Buy or Ulta to weigh in on social issues, but they were more than happy to virtue-signal anyway.

Plenty of the stores that signed on to this letter have openly supported the Black Lives Matter movement. To understand what that means, you have to understand the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. One of the founders of BLM described the group’s creators as “trained Marxists.” In June 2020, Alicia Garza, one of the three founders, excused the violence and destruction caused by the riots. 

“We don’t have time to finger-wag at protesters about property,” Garza said. “That can be rebuilt. Target will reopen. The stores will reopen.” 

The socially aware CEOs didn’t let the red flags stop them. Instead, they appeased the alligator with empty woke statements. Now that the “undocumented shopping” is affecting these companies’ bottom lines, they are fed up. So they are asking the same people who fanned the flames to help them put out the fire.

Unfortunately for these companies, many Democratic politicians aren’t concerned about crime. Instead, prominent voices on the left are still promoting asinine ideas like defunding the police and bail reform.

In San Francisco, thanks to Proposition 47, thefts under $950 are labeled misdemeanors rather than felonies. In November, after a Louis Vuitton in Union Square was ransacked, Mayor London Breed offered her solution: “We’re going to be making some changes to Union Square and how cars are able to access. There will be limited access in terms of when you come to this area.” Why focus on prosecuting criminals when you can focus on parking? 

While some leaders offer pathetic band-aid solutions, others prefer to deny, deny, deny.

SPEAKING WITH RON DESANTIS The Florida governor unveils an ambitious anti-CRT agenda. Chris Rufo

http://christopherrufo.com

Yesterday, I accompanied Florida governor Ron DeSantis on an early-morning flight from Tallahassee to The Villages retirement community, where he was scheduled to deliver a policy address on critical race theory. During the flight, DeSantis reviewed talking points for his speech, edited communications materials, and, after the plane touched down, selected a red-and-blue sign that would hang on the podium: “STOP WOKE ACT.”

DeSantis warmed up the crowd of approximately 100 people at Ezell Regional Recreation Center and outlined the “Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act,” which would ban critical-race-theory indoctrination in public schools, prohibit racially abusive training programs in the workplace, and provide parents and workers the right to sue institutions that violate these prohibitions.

The governor framed the rise of critical race theory as a mortal threat to the United States. “I think what you see now with the rise of this woke ideology is an attempt to really delegitimize our history and to delegitimize our institutions,” he said. “And they basically want to replace it with a very militant form of leftism that would absolutely destroy this country.”

As illustrations of critical race theory in American institutions, DeSantis cited seven of my reports for City Journal: Arizona claiming that babies are racist; Santa Clara County denouncing the United States as a “parasitic system”; Philadelphia teaching students  to celebrate “Black communism”; San Diego telling teachers “you are racist”; Bank of America teaching that the United States is a “system of white supremacy”; Verizon teaching that America is fundamentally racist; and Google teaching that all Americans are “raised to be racist.”

What’s in it for the US in its “foreign aid” to Israel? Yoram Ettinger

https://bit.ly/3GNyAWQ

1.  The return on the annual US investment in Israel

*On October 2021 and January 2020, Israel’s intelligence alerted the US of Iranian drone and missile attacks on US military installations in Southern Syria and Iraq. 200 US soldiers (in Syria) and 1,500 US soldiers (in Iraq) took effective shelter.

*The scope of Israeli intelligence shared with the US exceeds the intelligence provided by all NATO countries combined. It includes data on Iran’s global terrorism and nuclear and ballistic programs; Islamic terrorism targeting the US and pro-US Arab regimes; battle tactics and military systems of US rivals and enemies; Israeli-developed technologies and battle tactics neutralizing hostile capabilities; Soviet nuclear-equipped intercontinental ballistic missiles; etc.

*According to General George Keegan, former Head of Air Force Intelligence: “I could not have procured the intelligence [received from Israel] with five CIAs.” The annual budget of one CIA is around $15BN.

*Israel is the most cost-effective, battle-tested laboratory of the US defense industries, employing (with much gratitude!) hundreds of US military systems, sharing with the US manufacturers lessons (operation, maintenance, repairs), which are integrated as upgrades. These upgrades enhance US global competitiveness, spare the US billions of dollars and many years of research and development, increase US exports and expand US employment. According to Lockheed-Martin (formerly GD), Israel’s use of the F-16 has yielded over 700 upgrades, netting a mega-billion-dollar bonanza to the manufacturer. A similar bonanza is enjoyed by McDonnell-Douglas, the manufacturer of the F-15. The benefits to the US derived by the more sophisticated and expensive F-35 are substantially higher.

*According to the late Admiral Elmo Zumwalt and General Alexander Haig, “Israel is the largest US aircraft carrier, which does not require American soldiers on board, cannot be sunk, and is deployed in a most critical region, economically and militarily, sparing the US the need to manufacture, deploy and maintain more real aircraft carriers and additional ground divisions, which would cost the US some $15bn annually.”

*The formulation of US battle tactics is largely based on Israel’s battle experience. For instance, Special Operations units (on their way to Iraq and previously to Afghanistan) and urban warfare specialists are trained in Israel. The US Air Force benefits greatly from joint maneuvers with Israel’s Air Force, which possesses much more battle experience, shedding light on the far-reaching capabilities of US-made combat aircraft.

YES, PRIME MINISTER: RUTHIE BLUM

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/yes-prime-minister-opinion-688986

Yes, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, you were right to tweet about the “settlers in Judea and Samaria [who] have been suffering from violence and terrorism, daily, for decades.”

It was appropriate for you to have called them the “protective wall of us, all [whom] we must strengthen and support in word and deed.”

It was wise of you to stress that though certain kinds of fringe phenomena exist everywhere, “we cannot make a broad generalization about an entire sector.”

Yes, prime minister, it was apt of you to criticize Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev for his outrageous discussion with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, during their meeting this week at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem. Too bad you didn’t actually mention his name or tag him in your post. But then, he’s a key member of your cabinet, and you have to be strategically prudent.

Even without your spelling it out, everyone understood that you were referring to Bar Lev, who had boasted on social media about his get-together with Nuland, claiming that she “was interested, among other things, in settler violence and how to reduce tensions in the region and strengthen the Palestinian Authority.”

Your longtime sidekick — or possibly former one, now that you turn to Shimrit Meir for foreign policy and other advice — was more direct. Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked attached her comments to Bar Lev’s tweet, accusing him of being “confused.”

The settlers, she wrote, “are the salt of the earth, descendants of the pioneers from the valley and the mountain.”

She pointed out what is obvious: “The violence that should be causing shock is that of the dozens of cases of throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at Jews every day — only because they’re Jews — all with the encouragement and support of the PA. I recommend that you talk about that violence with Ms. Nuland.”

HOLIDAY WISHES FROM RUTHFULLY YOURS

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS AND ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE,

NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING NOT EVEN A MOUSE.

AT THE WHITE HOUSE A GENT FOUND REFUGE IN SLUMBER,

FROM FAILURES AND CRITICS GROWING IN NUMBER.

 

I TRIED TO SLEEP WITH NO SUCCESS,

WITH WORRY ABOUT OUR NATIONAL MESS.

 

INFLATION, CRIME, AND A MILITARY GONE WOKE,

A VICE PRESIDENT WHO’S BECOME A NATIONAL JOKE.

 

NON-CITIZENS WILL VOTE WITH NO BORDER CONTROL,

A DEMOGRAPHIC CALAMITY THAT WILL TAKE ITS TOLL.

 

PRE-K SCHOOLS TEACHERS SHUN EDUCATIONAL TOYS,

PUSHING GENDER CONFUSION ABOUT GIRLS AND BOYS.

 

 IGNORANT FACULTY PROMOTE THE FALSE GLAMOR

AND INFINITE LIES OF THE SICKLE AND HAMMER.

 

CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOMS ARE MANDATED AWAY,

WITH FOREIGN POLICY IN COMPLETE DISARRAY.

 

I MUSED AND WORRIED WHEN I HEARD A JOYFUL CLATTER.

I RUSHED TO THE WINDOW TO SEE WHAT WAS THE MATTER.

 

MAINSTREAM REPORTERS FELL ON THEIR HEAD,

SLIPPING AND SLIDING ON THE B.S. THEY SPREAD.

DURHAM GALLOPED IN ON A BUCKING STEER

WITH THE STEELE DOSSIER IMPALED ON A SPEAR.

 

SUPERIOR COURTS GAVE BIDEN A SLAP ON THE WRIST

HE REMAINED IMPERVIOUS, IF YOU GET MY GIST.

 

PARENTS AND TEACHERS WERE ON A SPREE

TO STOP INDOCRINATION AND C.R.T.

 

ECO-ELECTRIC CARS WERE STALLED IN THE MIRE

WITH KERRY, CLIMATEERS, AND FAUCI THE LIAR.

 

 

BIPARTISAN DEMOCRATS DESERVE HONORABLE MENTION

GOV. POLIS AND SENATORS TESTER, SINEMA AND MANCHIN.

 

THE OTHERS SLUMPED WITH FEAR OF ELECTION LOSS,

AWARE THAT VOX POPULI IS THEIR ULTIMATE BOSS.

SANTA FAILED TO APPEAR AT THE MERRY CELEBRATION

NEITHER HE NOR THE REINDEER HAD PROOF OF VACCINATION

 

SO, IN A STAB AT PENTAMETER WITH RHYMES AND CHEER.

I WISH YOU ALL JOYFUL HOLIDAYS, GOOD HEALTH, AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

R.S.K.