RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://thefederalist.com/2021/12/16/12-times-joe-biden-completely-made-up-stories-lied-or-said-something-crazy/

President Joe Biden has a long list of slip-ups in his political history, and his first year in the White House was no exception. In addition to bumbling through national addresses and mixing up the titles of world leaders, Biden infamously misremembered his past, lied, and even made up several stories to score points with his audience. Here are just a few of such incidents.

1. Joe Biden’s Made-Up Amtrak Story

At a 50th-anniversary event for Amtrak in Philadelphia, Biden said that when he was vice president, a train conductor congratulated him for traveling 1.5 million miles on Amtrak. A Fox News report out on May 5, however, pokes holes in the president’s account.

“When I became vice president, one of the Capitol Hill newspapers estimated that I had taken more than 7,000 round trips on Amtrak over my career,” Biden said. “I think that’s an exaggeration. I’m going to rely on those two conductors. … One of them was a guy named Angelo Negri.”

Biden continued, telling the audience Negri estimated Biden had traveled 1.5 million miles on Amtrak trains around his fourth or fifth year as vice president, which would have been in 2013 or 2014.

“My mom was sick, and I used to try to come home almost every weekend as vice president to see her,” Biden said. “I got on the train and Angelo Negri came up and he goes, ‘Joey, baby,’ and he grabbed my cheek like he always did. … He said, ‘Joey, what’s the big deal? One-point-three million miles on Air Force Two? Do you know how many miles you traveled on Amtrak?’ I said, ‘No, Angie, I don’t know.’ He gave me the calculation and he said ‘You traveled 1.5 million miles on Amtrak.;”

As Fox News pointed out, however, an obituary for Negri says the conductor retired in 1993, decades before Biden’s supposed story took place, while he was still a senator from Delaware. Biden’s mother died in 2010.

https://thefederalist.com/2021/12/14/forcing-people-into-covid-vaccines-ignores-important-scientific-information/

The attacks on free speech and science are unrelenting. Academic publisher Elsevier’s suppression of an article documenting the myocarditis risk of the COVID-19 vaccines, with no excuse or pretext offered, is incredible enough. Viewed alongside Twitter’s censorship of the American Heart Association, YouTube’s suppression of a panel discussion of vaccine mandates on Capitol Hill, and the Orwellian call by National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins for critics of the government’s COVID-19 policies to be “brought to justice,” the trend is positively chilling.

Now more than ever, we need substantive debate about decisions that affect the health of hundreds of millions of people, including views counter to official positions. Instead, we have National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci’s absurd claim “I represent science” as proof of how one-dimensional our COVID-19 policymaking has become.

These are just a few examples of the wave of censorship that has accompanied COVID-19, uniting government bureaucracies with obedient news media, academia, scientific publishing, and powerful Big Tech companies. Above all, this concerted campaign suppresses all disagreement about topics including potential early treatments, the natural immunity of recovered individuals, and the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. Differing viewpoints on these topics are swiftly labeled “disinformation,” but in fact represent principled dissent based on a large and growing body of scientific evidence.

Universal Vaccination Based on False Premise

https://johnkassnews.com/glenn-loury-chicago-born-on-woke-policy-driving-violent-crime-and-crushing-black-america/

By John Kass

The rise of violent crime in urban America, nurtured by the policies of liberal defund-the-police Democratic mayors and the woke prosecutors protected by woke newsrooms, is now completely out of control.

And the other day when a CTA bus driver was mercilessly beaten by a mob on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago—just part of a larger spree of weekend violence–those Chicago politicians whose policies helped fuel the chaos were silent. Paul Vallas, a possible mayoral candidate, posted the horrific video.

I was angry and retweeted, calling out Chicago politicians who didn’t respond.

But Professor Glenn Loury responded. He was born here. If you don’t know about him, you should.

Loury is a well-known professor of economics at Brown University, writer, thought leader, a champion for academic freedom. He makes speeches, writes essays and books, and runs a YouTube podcast called “The Glenn Show,” often with John McWhorter of Columbia University.

https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-unseen-side-of-cancel-culture

In the wake of the controversy surrounding his latest Netflix special The Closer, Dave Chappelle received an Emmy nomination for his 2020 special 8:46. Many have gleefully declared that the nod proves that cancel culture does not exist. “Only one grammy nom[ination] each for Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, and Louis CK!! Cancel culture strikes again!!” snarked Buzzfeed reporter David Mack.

But such reactions show that this phenomenon is widely misunderstood. I don’t like the term “cancel culture” because it confuses as much as it clarifies, and that’s partly why its most pernicious side is so easy to miss. Dustups involving big stars attract lots of attention—but we shouldn’t judge cancel culture simply by what happens to a celebrity in the crosshairs. Instead, the greatest impact often falls on those far removed from the original scene of the outrage. Cancel culture’s impact is best measured not by grand explosions of controversy, but by what remains unseen and unsaid. Here are some examples.

In 2015 I directed a feature documentary, Can We Take a Joke?, which explores the clash between comedy and outrage culture (“cancel culture” had yet to emerge as a widely-used term). Among the figures featured is Karith Foster, a comedian-turned-diversity trainer who brings humor and a “common humanity” approach (which emphasizes what all people have in common) to the fraught world of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The film introduced Foster’s ideas to a wider audience. But a new development may stymie her ascent: After getting booked to speak at a well-known California college, she was disinvited. A supportive administrator warned Foster that she had been placed on a watchlist for essentially eschewing what is sometimes called the “common enemy” approach favored by DEI trainers (in which people are defined as “oppressor” or “oppressed” based on race, sex, and other characteristics).

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/12/the_sovietstyle_conditions_in_which_january_6_arrestees_molder.html

Every totalitarian regime has foul prisons in which they confine people who dared to oppose the regime. Sadly, in the Age of Biden, it turns out that America is no different. George Parry has written about the conditions at the D.C. jail in which those arrested for the January 6 riots are confined, and what he writes should horrify every person who believes in the Constitution and Due Process of Law.

To fully appreciate what’s happening in D.C., here’s a quick reminder about the rights Americans have before, during, and after being arrested:

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18043/the-power-of-persistence

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On!’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” – President Calvin Coolidge, “The Power of Persistence.”

As we welcome the holidays, we are compelled to reflect on the past year and then set our vision on the future. Against multiple challenges, whether they are personal, professional, or concerns about the threats facing our great nation, one can find guidance and comfort in the powerful words of personal inspiration from a past President of the United States.

Calvin Coolidge became the 30th President in 1923. Catapulted into power when Warren Harding suddenly died in office, Coolidge was a no-nonsense New Englander. He brought integrity and hard work to the Oval Office. A self-effacing, modest man during the height of the Roaring 20’s, he was known for being a man who chose his few words carefully while seeking an America where hard work was its own reward. Given the opportunity to run for a second full term, historians note he declined what would have surely been an Election Night victory with a simple sentence; “I do not chose to run.”

In his retirement he would write newspaper columns and magazine articles. Among his contributions was a singular observation that carries as much weight in the 21st Century as it did one hundred years ago. Entitled “The Power of Persistence,” he wrote, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On!’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/12/liz_cheneys_jan_6_committee_what_kind_of_mendacious_operation_is_this.html

Ever-determined to play the apocryphal role of Salieri to Donald Trump’s Mozart, Liz Cheney is making a name for herself on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Jan. 6 investigative committee.

One problem: The committee is proving itself amazingly dishonest in its ambitions to Get Trump. Now it’s becoming a pattern.

Here’s the latest out of that dishonest bunch from The Federalist:

Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney went after former President Donald Trump in her prime-time performance on Monday claiming that private messages of the president’s staff revealed an apathetic leader complicit in the riot at the Capitol as the attack unfolded.

“The violence was evident to all — it was covered in real time by almost every news channel,” said Cheney, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s hand-picked vice chair of the Select Committee on January 6. “But, for 187 minutes, President Trump refused to act when action by our president was required, indeed essential, and compelled by his oath to our Constitution.”

According to a detailed timeline of the turmoil by The New York Times, the first building was not breached until about 2:13 p.m. The timeline was corroborated by The Washington Post, which stamped the first break-in at 2:15 p.m. Trump’s first tweet addressing the upheaval shortly followed at 2:38 p.m., when the president made a plea for peace, writing, “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/12/the-public-health-mafia/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=second

Led by boss Anthony Fauci, they have exploited the Covid pandemic to orchestrate a campaign of fear and intimidation to consolidate their power.

 T he public-health community is behaving like the Mafia. They come offering protection. They control the politicians. And they threaten businesses that don’t accede to their demands.

Led by boss Anthony Fauci, and comprising many federal, state, and local officials, they have exploited the Covid pandemic to orchestrate a campaign of fear and intimidation to consolidate their power, and they have no plans to give any of it up.

The protection racket is based on the conceit that if we simply do as they command, we will vanquish Covid. It started with the now-infamous “15 days to slow the spread” and the effort to “flatten the curve” to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed. This quickly turned into six weeks and then months of rolling lockdowns and, in some areas, more than a year of closed schools.

Vaccines, they assured us, were to be the end point of the pandemic. But a year after they became available, and eight months after they have been widely available, the medical Cosa Nostra still insist that people who are fully vaccinated — and boosted — need to wear masks in public (even though they initially convinced people that masks were ineffective).

When the policies that they propose do not produce the promised results, and as one variant after another surfaces, the response is to argue that we have shown insufficient respect to them and that we need to make amends by being more loyal to their guidance.

It is not only the public to whom the public-health mafia offers protection but also politicians. Any politician who defies the orders of the public-health community can expect blistering media coverage whenever there is a surge in cases, as has been the case with Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Politicians who follow public-health guidance might not be protecting their constituents from the virus, but they are protecting themselves from getting blamed, as with New York governor Kathy Hochul, by operating with the imprimatur of the family. Recall how it was common to blame Donald Trump for the hundreds of thousands of Covid deaths on his watch. But President Biden, who has deferred to health officials, is spared any blame, despite the fact that more people have died of Covid under Biden.

“His two big promises were to get Covid behind us and to get rid of Donald Trump,” NBC’s Chuck Todd said on Sunday. “Covid’s not behind us, and Donald Trump’s still lurking. It’s not his fault, but is that why we’re in this no-man’s land here for him?”

And herein lies the essence of the control over political leaders. The current Covid surge, while openly reported on, isn’t being framed as Biden’s fault, because he has agreed to defer to the experts. He is granted protection, and any blame for the persistence of Covid is targeted at those who are challenging his mandates.

To be clear, it is perfectly appropriate for public-health officials to present the best and most up-to-date evidence to decision-makers and advise them on what they believe to be the best course of action to fight the spread of infectious diseases. But it is the role of elected leaders to weigh any such advice against other priorities.

https://www.city-journal.org/florida-v-critical-race-theory

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.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/eric-adams-mayor-new-york-impossible-to-save-crime-policing-bail-reform-rikers-stop-frisk-11639772226?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

Optimism is running high in the wake of Eric Adams’s election as mayor. As a former cop who grew up in the city, Mr. Adams appears to understand the corrosive effects of disorder. Keechant Sewell, his pick for commissioner of the New York City Police Department, has 25 years of policing experience. Together they will try to bring sanity back to a city that has lost its way.

But there are serious reasons for concern about the capacity of Mr. Adams—or any mayor, for that matter—to confront effectively the wave of violent crime overtaking the city. Over the past decade, changes in the law, shifts in prosecutorial focus, and the imposition of federal oversight have limited crime-fighting options. In important ways, the city’s toolbox of resources to restore order has been rendered unusable.

However one feels about the use—or supposed overuse—of “stop, question and frisk” during the Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg years, there is no dispute that the policing tactic was instrumental in driving down the rate of violent crime in New York. Any serious effort to remove guns from the street—either through seizure or by persuading criminals to leave them at home—will depend to a large extent on empowering cops to stop and frisk people they reasonably suspect of carrying weapons.

But that avenue is now largely closed to the NYPD. Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped the city’s appeal of a federal ruling that its use of stop and frisk was unconstitutional. The NYPD’s patrol policies and practices remain under the supervision of a federal monitor, whose office minutely oversees the department’s compliance with its guidelines. Any effort to expand stop-and-frisk will run up against this oversight.