Suddenly, It’s No Longer ‘Deeply Dangerous’ To Talk About Rigged Elections

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/01/26/suddenly-its-no-longer-deeply-dangerous-to-talk-about-rigged-elections/

It wasn’t long ago that we were told that President Donald Trump’s questioning the legitimacy of the election wasn’t just unfounded, but a serious threat to the future of the nation.

As one commentator put it, by fanning the specter of election fraud, Trump was “sowing doubt not just about the 2020 election, but whether America’s voting system – the foundation of American democracy – is sound … In a democracy, where governing power is rooted in the consent of the governed, this is deeply dangerous.”

Yet here is President Joe Biden, predicting that the next election can’t be trusted, based on far less evidence than Trump had. And the press is celebrating him for it.

“I think it would easily be illegitimate,” said Biden at his marathon press conference last week when asked about the midterm elections (that Republicans are expected to sweep). “The increase in the prospect of being illegitimate is in proportion to not being able to get these reforms passed.”

Biden was referring to a bill push by Democrats that would federalize state elections and make it easy for the left to manipulate vote totals. In the bizarro world of the Democratic-media complex, this is called a “voter rights” bill. And efforts by Republicans to enact prudent requirements such as voter ID, registration roll maintenance, vote harvesting bans, and the like, are described as voter suppression.

Melbourne University Circles the Green Drain Tony Thomas

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2022/01/melbourne-university-circles-the-green-drain/

About 6200 final-year secondary students from 700 schools have been invited to start at Melbourne University (UoM) this year, UoM being a world 30-40th top-ranked university. Good luck to the kids. They’ve suffered eleven school-years of climate doomism; the university will dish out more of it. Two professors in UoM publication Pursuit, for example, see the prospect of another 0.5degC warming by 2030 as a “shrieking emergency siren”.

UoM’s 2020 annual report (p88) says (emphasis added)

Planning for a suite of online modules for all commencing undergraduate students … commenced in 2020 … The Sustainable campuses and communities module, developed in 2020, explores the impact of humans on climate and the environment.

UoM is awash in “sustainability”, code for anti-conservative politics and zero-emission fantasies. A few months after the toothless 2015 Paris accord, the university adopted its “Sustainability Charter” , and then came the 2017-20 plan “Integrating action on sustainability across all areas of institutional activity for the first time”. UoM’s goal is to force Sustainability dogma across every campus, every faculty, every subject and every cafeteria (vegan synthetic steaks, anyone?).[i] Faculty who resist this politicising of their subjects – and the university admits such hold-outs exist (p2) – are being counselled on right-think.

Hollywood Wokeness Is Becoming a Parody of Itself Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2022/01/hollywood-wokeness-becoming-parody-itself-daniel-greenfield/

If only someone in the industry had the guts to actually give this garbage the ridicule it deserves.

Actor Peter Dinklage is questioning the upcoming live-action remake of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” saying it “makes no sense” why Disney is retelling the “backwards story.”

“No offense to anybody, I was a little taken aback when they were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White. You’re still telling the story of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there. It makes no sense to me,” said Dinklage.

“You’re progressive in one way and you’re still making that f—ing backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the f— are you doing man?” Dinklage added. “Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough.”

“All love and respect to the actress and the people who thought they were doing the right thing, but I’m just saying, what are you doing?” the actor added. “And if you tell the story of Snow White with the most f—— up, cool, progressive spin on it, let’s do it. All in. But I don’t know.”

Virginia Shuts Down Plans for Race-Based Math Curriculum By Eric Lendrum

https://amgreatness.com/2022/01/25/virginia-shuts-down-plans-for-race-based-math-curriculum/

On Monday, the Virginia Department of Education (DOE) canceled plans to roll out a new form of math curriculum that would focus heavily on race relations.

As reported by the Daily Caller, the DOE website no longer has a page for the planned Virginia Math Pathways Initiative (VMPI), which was previously set up by the administration of Governor Ralph Northam (D-Va.). All that remains on the page now is a message saying that “The Virginia Department of Education has ended the Virginia Math Pathways Initiative (VMPI) project. Please see the Mathematics Instruction page, if your browser does not refresh.”

The move was applauded by parents’ rights groups in the state of Virginia, including the watchdog group Parents Defending Education (PDE), which released a statement explaining how “ideologues of critical race theory, including Ibram X. Kendi, target advanced education, including math and advanced diploma programs, as emblematic of ‘systemic racism,’ and thus they are being targeted by activists around the country for elimination.”

“For the last year, local school boards and the media have insisted that critical race theory is not in our schools, dumbing our kids down,” said PDE’s Asra Nomani. “But it is in our schools, putting us in a race to the bottom, especially with math and sciences.”

“Thankfully, the Youngkin administration with Superintendent Jillian Balow and Assistant Superintendent Elizabeth Schultz have eliminated the Virginia Math Pathways Initiative, which was going to deny students advanced math in middle school,” Nomani continued. “This war on merit must end.”

THE PRESIDENT AND THE PRESS

Biden’s Pathetic Energy Theater By Mark Antonio Wright

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/bidens-pathetic-energy-theater/

The New York Times reports that President Biden has a plan to counteract Russia’s energy stranglehold on Europe:

The Biden Administration announced on Tuesday that it was working with gas and crude oil suppliers from the Middle East, North Africa and Asia to bolster supplies to Europe in coming weeks, in an effort to blunt the threat that Russia could cut off fuel shipments in the escalating conflict over Ukraine.

The EU currently imports about a third of its oil and gas from Russia. And, of course, the Germans have been busily making the situation worse by shuttering their nuclear-powered electric plants and pushing for the opening of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would bypass Ukraine and further entrench German dependence on Vladimir Putin’s petro power.

“We expect to be prepared to ensure alternative supplies covering a significant majority of the potential shortfall,’’ a Biden administration official told the Times.

And if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. . .

New York Judge Strikes Down Governor Hochul’s Mask Mandate By Brittany Bernstein

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/new-york-judge-strikes-down-governor-hochuls-mask-mandate/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=first

A New York State Supreme Court judge on Monday ruled that Governor Kathy Hochul’s mask mandate for schools and other public locations is unconstitutional.

Judge Thomas Rademaker found that the governor and the state health commissioner did not have the authority to enact a mask mandate without the state legislature, given that the governor no longer has emergency powers.

The mask mandate has been in place since mid-December, when the state saw a surge in the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

“There can be no question that every person in this State wishes, wants and prays that this era of COVID ends soon and they will surely do their part to see that is accomplished,” Rademaker wrote in his decision. “However, enacting any laws to this end is entrusted solely to the State Legislature. While the intentions of Commissioner Bassett and Governor Hochul appear to be well aimed squarely at doing what they believe is right to protect the citizens of New York State, they must take their case to the State Legislature.”

The ruling comes from a state Supreme Court based in Nassau County, which is a trial court. The New York Court of Appeals is akin to a more traditional “Supreme Court” in terms of authority, in that it is the state’s highest court.

 

The Bitter Fruit Of Pandemic Paranoia

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/01/25/the-bitter-fruit-of-pandemic-paranoia/

One media report says “the U.S. economy dropped down to a slower gear in January” due to the Omicron variant. But that’s being overly charitable. This is President Joe Biden’s economy. And his party’s. Leaving them in charge of federal policy beyond 2022 will lead to years if not decades of regret.

Surveys of senior business executives provide “the first clear indication of the damage done to the U.S. economy in the first month of the new year,” MarketWatch said Monday. “A ‘flash’ index of service-oriented companies tumbled to an 18-month low of 50.9 from 57.6 in the final month of 2021 … a similar gauge of manufacturers dropped to 55 from 57.7 in December – a 15-month low.”

The article goes on to say “Omicron clearly dented the economy in January,” as “millions” missed work “and the virus disrupted already strained supply chains.” The hardest punches connected on the jaws of “restaurants and other businesses that ‘serve’ customers directly.”

It didn’t have to be this way.

Biden swore he was going to shut down the virus but not the economy. The former was a promise no one could possibly keep. The latter, however, was easily reachable.

Ric Grenell to Newsmax: Ukraine ‘Disaster’ Has Only ‘Terrible and Bad Choices’By Sandy Fitzgerald

https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/ric-grenell-ukraine-russia-biden/2022/01/22/id/1053553/

The situation with Ukraine is a “disaster” with only “terrible and bad choices,” says former ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell, and foreign leaders “smell weakness” with President Joe Biden in charge.

“All the work we did, whether it’s the border, whether it’s the Middle East, and now what we’re seeing in Europe is frustrating,” Grenell, who served under former President Donald Trump and is now a senior national security analyst for Newsmax, said on “The Count.”

“We don’t have any good choices. But the reality is that the leaders of Russia and China and a whole bunch of other places smell weakness.”

And now, with the news that the United States is starting to evacuate nonessential personnel from Ukraine, that shows that there is no plan for what will happen if Russia invades Ukraine or what will happen if Americans are left behind enemy lines, like they were in Afghanistan.

“We don’t have a handle on the numbers,” said Grenell, adding that the U.S. does not have an ambassador in Ukraine, so lower-level individuals are left to coordinate with Washinton.

“I can tell you from experience,” he said. “I’d been at the State Department for 11 years. The individuals who are in charge of our embassy in Ukraine right now are not making decisions on their own. They’re going back and organizing with the assistant secretary of state for Europe, who is Karen Donfried, who used to work for the German Marshall fund where the Germans paid part of her salary. So this is a disaster situation all over.”

Illegal Immigrant Apprehensions Reach 20-Year High in Biden’s First Year By Ryan Mills

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents apprehended more than 2 million migrants at the southwest border during President Joe Biden’s first year in office, likely the highest number in over 20 years, according to a National Review analysis of CBP data.

According to the data, agents encountered 2,033,863 migrants at the border in 2021, with the vast majority – more than 1.9 million – being apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol officers. The rest were apprehended by Office of Field Operations agents at U.S. ports of entry.

The 2 million apprehensions in 2021 is more than double the 921,812 apprehensions in 2019, during a surge at the border under then-President Donald Trump’s administration. There were 341,519 Southwest border apprehensions in 2017, Trump’s first year in office.

(Ryan Mills)

The 2021 Border Patrol encounters are the most in over 20 years, and more than the 1.6 million Border Patrol apprehensions in 2000, the next highest on record, according to the data. Earlier CBP data reviewed by National Review doesn’t include Office of Field Operations data.

Since May, Border Patrol encounters at the Southwest border have broken all monthly records, said Andrew Arthur, resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies. The peak was in July, when CBP agents apprehended 213,593 migrants at the border. The number of monthly encounters dipped slightly through October, but have since ticked up again.
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“Apprehensions typically peak in May, and decline through January, when they pick up again in February. We haven’t seen that sort of pattern this year,” Arthur said. “This migration doesn’t look anything like that historical trend.”

Biden’s critics blamed the border surge on the president’s pro-immigrant rhetoric on the campaign trail, and executive orders and efforts to dismantle Trump-era immigration deterrents, like the “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers and a temporary deportation moratorium. In early 2021, the Biden administration and mainstream media outlets claimed the border surge was part of a regular seasonal pattern. The Washington Post reported in March that the surge was “actually a predictable pattern.” Biden said “it happens every single, solitary year.”

But the surge never really stopped, and by late spring the Biden administration was blaming Trump for the chaos at the southern border. The surge “began during and was exacerbated by the Trump administration,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in May. “After four years of an immigration system rooted in destructive and chaotic policies, President Biden is talking the challenge head on and is building a fair, orderly, and human immigration system.”

Arthur said there are leaders in the Biden administration who aren’t happy with the ramped-up border apprehension numbers, because they know they are “poison for Democrats.” But there are immigrant advocates in the administration who are less concerned, he said.

“This is the frog in the hot water,” Arthur said. “They just want you to kind of get used to the fact that you’re going to see huge numbers of people enter illegally.”

The surge has taken a toll on the Border Patrol, which has had longstanding struggles with morale.

Over the last few months, only about half of the migrants encountered at the southern border have been expelled. Arthur said that part of the problem is that a decade ago, the vast majority of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border were single men from Mexico. Now, family units and children make up about a third of the Border Patrol’s encounters. It takes about eight hours to process a single adult male, whereas it can take days to process a family, he said.

“The reason they’re letting so many people go is they just don’t have the resources, they don’t have the manpower to actually care for that many people,” Arthur said.

“The Biden administration has broken the border,” Arthur said. “It might have been Biden’s rhetoric at the beginning; it certainly was. But now there are just so many people, the border’s broken, and Border Patrol lacks the capacity, CBP lacks the capacity to deal with the huge numbers of people that they’re seeing. So they let them go, which just encourages more to come in.”