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December 2020

America’s Forlorn Hope of a Quiet Life John O’Sullivan

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2020/12/americas-forlorn-hope-of-a-quiet-life/

Almost the oddest feature of the US election result—which as I write is a Joe Biden victory with a very small question mark attached—is the complacency with which centrist opinion, the media, Wall Street, moderate Democrats and establishment Republicans have greeted it. One might have expected that the election of an undistinguished seventy-seven-year-old hack politician of the Left, whose vice-president is a leftist of a more radical temper, would have made the possessing classes at least a little apprehensive, especially in conditions of civil disorder, pandemic and economic anxiety.

Instead, when the media jumped the gun by certifying Biden’s election as president-elect while the votes of five states were still being counted, there were street carnivals of rejoicing in New York and other hubs of urban America but also quiet satisfaction in the suites of America too. Wall Streeters joined Republican consultants in congratulating America on achieving an almost perfect political compromise: a radical Democrat president restrained from doing anything by a Senate in safe Republican hands. And an almost mystically united coalition of the media, corporate America, Big Tech, journals of opinion and independent commentators welcomed the result, called for all sides but especially Republicans to set aside things said in anger, and prayed for the new president.

God must have been pleased, if only because he was hearing from some of those in the congregation for the first time ever.

But this “era of good feelings” proved to be very short as eras go. That wasn’t because President Trump refused to concede until the courts had pronounced on the disputed vote counts in key swing states. Trump was denounced on this score (essentially for not being a good sport), but he was perfectly entitled to defend his legal right to a fair election.

DOJ Suspended Hunter Biden Investigation During Election: Now Back On Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2020/12/doj-suspended-hunter-biden-investigation-during-daniel-greenfield/

We already knew Hunter Biden was under investigation.

Remember that laptop story the media buried? The laptop was taken by the FBI. The case number suggested money laundering.  But, according to Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller, the investigation may actually go back to 2018. 

According to a Hunter Biden statement released by the Biden-Harris campaign, he only learned about this for the first time yesterday. That seems wildly implausible.

But if you parse the statement, that’s not what he’s really saying.

“I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs.:

Read that like a lawyer and it actually says that Hunter Biden learned for the first time that the office told his lawyers yesterday that they were investigating his taxes.

Which is to say, he learned for the first time yesterday the message that was passed on yesterday. In short, it’s meaningless, but meant to sound like it’s coming as a surprise to him.

Former VP Joe Biden’s statement says that he’s proud of his son. Unclear which part he’s proud of more, the drugs, the foreign dealings, or having a baby with a stripper.

Or an official investigation.

There is an interesting tidbit from CNN though, two actually…

After pausing in the months before the election, federal authorities are now actively investigating the business dealings of Hunter Biden, a person with knowledge of the probe said…

That would mean the probe was shut down during the election.

Jim Jordan: Trump Shouldn’t Concede, Everyone ‘Instinctively’ Knows Election Has Problems By Jack Phillips

https://www.theepochtimes.com/jim-jordan-trump-shouldnt-concede-everyone-in

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) called on President Donald Trump not to concede the Nov. 3 election.

In response to a statement on Newsmax about whether he should, Jordan said, “No, of course not, and you remember this is a president [who] gets things done.”

“This is a president who does what he told the American people he was going to do, accomplishes what he was elected to do and this is just one more example of him getting something done that’s valuable and important to the country,” Jordan said.

Going further, Jordan said that “instinctively, everyone knows there are problems with this election.”

Since Nov. 3, Trump said that the election was stolen from him and has mounted a legal campaign to overturn the results in several states. Meanwhile, his lawyers have lobbied the state legislatures and governors to either not certify the results of the election or for state lawmakers to reclaim their constitutional authority to call electors.

The Epoch Times has not called the election for either Trump or Democrat Joe Biden.

Jordan, the ranking Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee, suggested that Trump performed too well in other places and among certain demographics to lose.

In Facebook Rants, MI Dem Rep. Cynthia Johnson Calls on ‘Soldiers’ to ‘Rise Up’ and Make ‘Trumpers’ Pay By Debra Heine

https://amgreatness.com/2020/12/09/in-facebook-rants-mi-dem-rep-cynthia-johnson-calls-on-soldiers-to-rise-up-and-make-trumpers-pay/

A Michigan Democrat State Representative seemed to threaten President Trump’s supporters on video Tuesday, by saying “we ain’t playing with you,” and calling on “soldiers” to “make them pay.”

In a three minute long Facebook live video, the far-left State Rep. Cynthia Johnson said “Trumpers” had better “be careful,” and “walk lightly.”

In a subsequent rant, Johnson suggested that was calling on “soldiers of Christ,” and soldiers for black and brown people” to “rise up” and make Trumpers pay.

Johnson, who made a name for herself by trying to intimidate election fraud whistleblowers during the hearings in Michigan earlier this month, took office on January 1, 2019.

Addressing her Facebook friends on Dec. 8, she said: “I wish I could be talking to y’all in a private room, because, uh, I just wish I could, but we’re public so …”

She told them, “you don’t have curse anybody out, you don’t have to call people names … hit their asses in the pocketbook.”

17 States File Brief at the Supreme Court in Support of Texas Lawsuit Challenging 2020 Election By Debra Heine

https://amgreatness.com/2020/12/09/17-states-file-brief-at-the-supreme-court-in-support-of-texas-lawsuit-challenging-2020-election/

Seventeen U.S. states filed a brief at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday supporting the Texas lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results.

“In the context of a Presidential election, state actions implicate a uniquely important national interest, because the impact of the votes cast in each State is affected by the votes cast for the various candidates in other States,” the brief states. “For the President and the Vice President of the United States are the only elected officials who represent all the voters in the Nation.”

The filing concludes:

The allegations in the Bill of Complaint raise important constitutional issues under the Electors Clause of Article II, § 1. They also raise serious concerns relating to election integrity and public confidence in elections. These are questions of great public importance that warrant this Court’s attention. The Court should grant the Plaintiff’s Motion for
Leave to File Bill of Complaint.

https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1336777382410194946?s=20

As American Greatness’ Julie Kelly reported on Tuesday, the Texas lawsuit “accuses four states currently ‘won’ by Joe Biden of using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to violate the Electors Clause and the 14th Amendment.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin for usurping the sole authority of state legislatures to create election law and charges that millions of absentee ballots were unlawfully processed by local election officials.

The state of Texas is asking the court to extend the December 14, 2020 deadline to certify each state’s electoral slate.

The suit also asks the court to declare that the four states—Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin—“administered the 2020 presidential election in violation of the Electors Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment” and to block the Electoral College votes of those states.

How to Steal an Entire Country Donald Finley

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/12/how_to_steal_an_entire_country.html

Donald N. Finley is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel.

It’s been over a month since the election, and all is not well in Mudville.  The home team fights round the clock to prove that the challenger cheated, and the challenger makes no effort to calm fears or address concerns — just continues naming cronies and planning not just to take over the ballpark, but to change the rules for the entire sport.

For those who care, the internet still exists, and there are more sites than Twitter, Facebook and news services out there where the truth actually matters.  So why does anyone have to search for the truth?  Investigations and impeachments have been blasted forcefully into our faces for years, thanks to the author of the MSM’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Joseph Goebbels, of Third Reich fame, who said, “The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly — it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. … A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.”  It appears he also wrote the SOPs for Facebook, one of which is clearly “propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will.”

Now, all across the MSM, Biden’s “victory” consequences are given the fait accompli treatment.  We should all just behave and accept reality.  It sounds and reads like this: “Trump is baselessly contesting the results.”  “Trump campaign court cases have been thrown out due to baseless claims.”  All the “doing” is from the Trump side, and it’s wasting everyone’s time.  The Democrats haven’t done a thing, obviously.  They are the innocent victims, once again, of Trump’s craziness.  “Meanwhile, President-Elect Biden saw his shadow again today.”

Will Biden give in to the Hydroxy Effect? Victor Davis Hanson

https://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2020/12/09/victor-davis-hanson-will-biden-give-in-to-the-hydroxy-effect-n2581263

There is as yet no known, easily accessible cure for COVID-19.

Over the past year, lots of old and new drugs and supplements — Ivermectin, azithromycin, Remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc, aspirin, Pepcid and others — have shown at least some anecdotal value in ameliorating the effects of early-stage COVID-19. Clinical physicians treating patients in hospitals often disagree with the research scientists conducting trials on the efficacy of all these treatments.

Yet only hydroxychloroquine has prompted furious partisan debate over its possible usefulness. Why?

Probably because Donald Trump endorsed its usage months ago. Almost immediately, the media, the university and government medical community, and the progressive political opposition declared hydroxychloroquine useless and dangerous. A recent media study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that positive news stories about the research and development of COVID-19 vaccines barely outnumbered negative stories about Trump and hydroxychloroquine.

Trump’s presidential endorsement was apparent proof of rank quackery. Yet a few recent second-look studies, especially abroad, suggest that hydroxychloroquine, a dirt-cheap, time-tested anti-malarial drug, can in fact offer help in treating some cases of COVID-19.

This Hydroxy Effect — hysterical disavowal of anything Trump has endorsed — is dangerous to the country at large.

3 Reasons You Should Stream This Top-Rated Classic BBC Miniseries Right Now By Cheryl Magness

https://thefederalist.com/2020/12/09/3-reasons-you-should-stream-this-top-rated-classic-bbc-miniseries-right-now/

Now available to stream on YouTube, it’s time to discover why ‘Talking to a Stranger’ is considered one of the best television programs in British history.

In 1966, BBC-2 premiered the television drama “Talking to a Stranger.” Shown in four roughly 90-minute weekly installments in October of that year, the program was part of the BBC’s “Theatre 625” series, which aired from 1964 to 1968 and featured titles such as “1984,” “She Stoops to Conquer,” and “All’s Well That Ends Well.”

Many of the “Theatre 625” recordings have been lost, but “Talking to a Stranger” — which placed 78th in a 2000 British Film Institute ranking of the 100 greatest television programs in British history — is available for streaming on YouTube as well as in a boxed Judi Dench collection. Dench, who won the 1967 British Television Academy Best Actress Award for her role as the main character, Terry, is reason alone to watch “Talking to a Stranger,” but here are a few more.

As Relevant Today as in 1966

You might think a 55-year-old black-and-white British television show set in London, about an aging, middle-class married couple and their two adult children, would have nothing to say to contemporary Americans dealing with 21st-century problems. You would be wrong.

Indeed, “Talking to a Stranger” is about the things humans across the centuries have grappled with: dysfunctional relationships, mental health issues, poor life decisions, and the consequences of those decisions. The main characters struggle with fear, anger, resentment, guilt, and regret. There isn’t a clear-cut hero or villain.

And, much as we do in our own lives, the players in “Talking to a Stranger” each take turns at being both the victim and the perpetrator of hurt. At times, it’s almost painful to watch. Why? Because it’s all too real.

6 Things To Know About Texas’s Supreme Court Petition Over 2020’s Messed-Up Election By Margot Cleveland

https://thefederalist.com/2020/12/09/6-things-to-know-about-texass-supreme-court-petition-over-2020s-messed-up-election/

Texas argues that the case ‘presents constitutional questions of immense national consequences,’ namely that the 2020 election suffered from serious constitutional irregularities.

On Monday, Texas filed a motion for leave to file a “Bill of Complaint” with the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge the constitutionality of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin’s administration of the 2020 presidential election. The combined filings, which also include a request for an expedited review and a preliminary injunction, spanned more than 150 pages. Here’s what you need to know about this latest election case.

1. This Is Not Bush v. Gore

Texas’s lawsuit is a procedural creature differing greatly from the Bush v. Gore case about the 2000 election. Unlike Bush v. Gore, which traveled to the Supreme Court on appeal, Texas’s lawsuit relies on the Supreme Court’s “original jurisdiction,” or power to hear a case initially.

The Constitution establishes several types of cases that fall within the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction, but other than cases involving disputes between two states, Congress has created “concurrent jurisdiction” with lower federal courts. This means those other types of disputes may be heard by federal district courts.

Not so in the case of a state suing a state. The U.S. Supreme Court has “exclusive jurisdiction” over such cases, meaning that such disputes can only be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Paradoxically, however, the Supreme Court does not have to hear a dispute between the states. Rather, controlling precedent holds that whether to hear such a dispute is within the Supreme Court’s discretion. That is why Texas filed a “Motion for Leave to File a Bill of Complaint—because it needs the court’s permission to file the complaint.

In its memorandum in support of its motion, Texas argues that the case “presents constitutional questions of immense national consequences,” namely that the 2020 election suffered from serious constitutional irregularities, including violations by the defendant states of the Electors Clause and the Due Process Clause of the Constitution. The brief also argues that a ruling would help “preserve the Constitution and help prevent irregularities in future elections.”

Why aren’t we celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Plymouth colony? Respect for the past has become a talking point for the Trumpian right Peter Wood

https://spectator.us/arent-celebrating-400th-anniversary-plymouth-colony/

On Saturday November 11, 1620, an ill-fitted cargo ship anchored off the coast of Cape Cod. On board were 102 quarrelsome and hungry passengers. Some 37 were religious dissidents, some servants, and a good many were would-be settlers contracted by the London Merchant Adventurers. Those ‘adventurers’, whom the Protestant dissenters called ‘strangers’ were none too happy about the voyage. They were supposed to be in ‘northern Virginia’, which may have meant Manhattan. But bad weather had driven their ship, the Mayflower, to an unsettled and uncertain place. They considered their contract with the London Merchant Adventurers null and void and were prepared, on landing, to strike out for themselves.

Cooler heads prevailed. Later that day, perhaps with the help of some strong-arm tactics, the leaders of the Leiden, Holland Congregation — the people we call Pilgrims — gained the signatures of most of the men on an agreement to stick together and govern themselves as a ‘civil body politic’. That modest document was the Mayflower Compact, and it carries outsized historical weight. It was the beginning of true self-government in the English colonization of North America. And it gave voice, or at least it whispered, some new ideas. The signatories agreed to elect their government, frame their own laws, respect their differences and discard many of the Old World ideas of hierarchy. The new settlement breathed the fresh air of equality. Masters and servants both signed the compact.

You would think this event would be anchored in American history with the solidity of, say, Plymouth Rock. And you would, in a curious way, be right. In the era of de-plinthed statues of American founders and heroes, Plymouth Rock itself was defaced earlier this year. It was spray-painted with various squiggles and the motto ‘508, MOF’, the meaning of which remains unknown, except that 508 is Plymouth’s area code. We can take it, if nothing else, as a gesture of symbolic destruction. Four hundred years later, the strangers have wreaked their revenge for having been drafted into the Mayflower Compact. Or perhaps it was one of those contingents of Native Americans tagging a boulder that Massasoit too easily ceded to the invaders.

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