No Hot Chicks

Liberals really don't like beautiful girls:

The story begins, as these things always seem to do, with Sydney Sweeney's breasts. "Sweeney appears to have kicked off the latest wave of conservative hot girls," McFall wrote, "at a time when conventional beauty standards have been adopted as a purported antidote to 'wokeness.'" Bournemouth University's Amy Tatum added, "This focus on 'hot girls' is a way for the right in the U.S. to fight back against perceptions of 'wokeness,' holding up women in a sexualized fashion could be a tactic to reinforce gender stereotypes around women's appearances." Only the progressive left could take a biological imperative and turn it into a cudgel for beating their political enemies. Full Disclosure: Stephen Kruiser and I adopted Sydney Sweeney as the unofficial mascot of Five O'Clock Somewhere. What that means is that her name will randomly come up once every several weeks, we acknowledge her status as our unofficial mascot, and then we go back to what we were originally talking about. The author of that piece, Amy Hamm, wrote that Sweeney knows she's admired and owns "her sex appeal with zero apologies," arguing that "today's diversity, equity, and inclusion" advocates have discouraged admiration of beauty due to its exclusivity, implying that exclusion equates to hate. "We aren't supposed to admire Sweeney's beauty; but we've done it anyways," she added. What the actual hell? What are we supposed to do with beauty if not admire it? Ignore it? Hide it away? Stuff it full of Cheetos and Pepsi until it resembles the Michelin Man, and then shave off half its hair before dyeing it blue? Yes, apparently. Because in addition to Sydney, McFall's targets of opportunity include RNC national spokeswoman Elizabeth Pipko, Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, and Haliey "Hawk-Tuah Girl" Welch. This next bit from the article, however, gave the game away: The conservative hot girl "isn't a particularly new phenomenon," Victoria Cann, an associate professor at the University of East Anglia in the U.K., told Newsweek. "Women have been positioned through the lens of the masculinist imagery in conservative, populist politics for a very long time." For that matter, neither is the progressive hot girl. They've just become more difficult to spot in the wild, due to the Left's growing insistence that conventional beauty ought to be mocked or at least hidden away.

Ugliness is a liberal virtue...

Rio Racket

Pay up, they said:

The demand comes roughly one month after de Moraes, an “anti-fake news” crusader, banned access to the X platform in Brazil after it initially refused to comply with censorship orders against a group of users as well as appoint a new legal representative in the country. After initially loudly condemning the Brazilian government’s demands, X announced that it would comply with Brazilian court-mandated censorship and reinstated Rachel de Oliveira Villa as its legal representative in Brazil. Twitter reportedly submitted a formal request to de Moraes to allow for its reinstatement in Brazil following compliance with the censorship orders and other court-mandated requirements. De Moraes, in a ruling issued on Friday, confirmed that X has complied with all the censorship orders issued by the court and appointed a legal representative in the country as requested by the Brazilian top court. He, nonetheless, conditioned the reinstatement of the platform in the country to the payment of the new $1.8 million fine. The fine, according to the ruling, was imposed in response to the platform’s “failure to comply, for two days” with the ban in mid-September. On that date, users were reportedly able to access the X platform from within Brazilian territory. X described the incident as “inadvertent and temporary” and attributed it to a switch in network providers in Latin America.

Extortion is expensive...

Lurch Loses It

John Kerry really don't like your free speech:

No Laughing Allowed

No satire in California:

According to a report from The Daily Wire, the complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and notes that Newsom tweeted that a parody video of Kamala Harris should be “illegal.” “The legislature heard the call and passed two laws that forbid political expression under the label of ‘materially deceptive content,’” the lawsuit asserts. According to the complaint, one of California’s new laws will require social media platforms to notify the state with “reports about user posts with ‘materially deceptive content’ and then remove or label them.” Newsom argued that the state’s laws focus on AI-generated content that could “undermine the public’s trust through disinformation.” However, the new law also requires satire and parody content to be clearly labeled or removed completely. Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon said during a news podcast “Morning Wire” that the law targets satirists and their writers “by requiring them to put disclaimers to let you know that this is a parody that you’re reading right now – which completely stifles and kills the joke.” “If we’re unable to publish satire without putting disclaimers all over it, and we’re going to face potential penalties if we don’t do that, then that’s a very serious issue too,” Dillon said. “So we’re fighting back in every way that we can against laws that clamp down on speech.”

Satire isn't easy...

Right Generation

The kids are turning right:

Men 18-24 were five points more conservative than those aged 25-29, while women aged 18-24 were about three points more conservative. “This poll reveals a significant shift in the overall vibe and preferences of young Americans as the campaign heads into the final stretch,” John Della Volpe, the Harvard Institute of Politics Polling director, said. “Vice President Harris has strengthened the Democratic position among young voters, leading Trump on key issues and personal qualities. Gen Z and young millennials‘ heightened enthusiasm signals a potentially decisive role for the youth vote in 2024.” Volpe told Axios that the younger generation was hit harder by COVID-19 and ignored by the establishment. Those feelings have contributed to a slight rightward shift. “They think of Trump as an anti-hero and not a villain. … I think it’s less about policy and much more about personality,” the pollster said.

The left seems to be having a personality crisis of its own...

Tax Cut Country

The people like tax cuts:

The survey, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies on behalf of Stand Together, shows that 76% of voters, an overwhelming majority, say now is a bad time to increase taxes, and only 5% say it is a good time. The other 18% said it was neither a good time nor a bad time. The Tax Foundation has estimated that if the TCJA expires next year, a single parent with one child making $30,000 per year will pay more than $1,000 more in taxes annually. A family of four making $75,000 is estimated to face a tax increase of more than $1,500. Former President Donald Trump signed the TCJA, often called the Trump tax cuts, into law in 2017, and it is set to expire at the end of 2025. During the debate between the Republican nominee and Kamala Harris, the vice president claimed they were "tax cuts for billionaires." To date, Harris has not answered the question if she would let them expire. The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted nationally Sept. 5-9 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.53 percentage points in 95 out of 100 cases. This sentiment on tax increases was broad and bipartisan, with 89% of Republicans, 74% of independents, and 65% of Democrats all saying that now is a bad time to raise taxes.

Unfortunately it's not shared by the powers that be...

Blue Brainwashing

The Blue kids aren't all right:

While Republican-leaning kids (10-11 year-olds) expressed that the political views of another kid didn't matter that much to them, the opposite was true for kids who have grown up in a left-leaning environment. It's not even close and is a great indicator of how well the brainwashing works. And that is clearly what it is if you think about it. Kids who grow up around Republicans are pretty laissez-faire about others' political attitudes, while kids exposed mainly to Democrats see the people who think differently from themselves as evil.

Propaganda starts when they're young...

Court Procedures

Democats try another attempt at court packing:

Washington Post: The bill’s most significant measure would increase the number of justices from nine to 15 over the course of 12 years. The staggered format over two or three administrations is aimed at diminishing the chance that one political party would pack the courts with its nominees. During the rollout, each president would approve justices in the first and third year of their terms. More problematic, the bill would require a two-thirds majority of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals to overturn a law by Congress. This virtually destroys the Supreme Court's function as a brake on excesses by Congress. Another power grab in Wyden's bill would be the addition of two federal circuit courts, adding more than 100 district court judges and 60 appellate judges. Leftist judges would be falling all over each other, looking for ways to get around the Constitution.

More disorder for the Court...

Big Payoff

The fox guards the henhouse:

The amount of improper payments made by the administration in 2024 won’t be disclosed until after November’s election. Biden’s administration, however, has made well over $200 billion in erroneous payments each year since it has been in power, according to Open The Books. The Biden-Harris administration will cross the $1 trillion threshold “barring something unprecedented,” according to the watchdog. “President Biden and his successors must take more action to address the proliferation of improper payments, beyond mere rhetoric,” Open The Books director of communications Christopher Neefus told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The sheer magnitude of misspent taxpayer dollars is tough to comprehend. Put into perspective, the most recent Pentagon funding bill cost $883 billion; that means the Biden administration will have misspent more than it takes to fund our national defense for a whole year.”

All that waste has to go somewhere...

Slave State

Gavin Newsom apoligizes for something that California didn't have:

Assembly Bill 3089, which Newsom signed, mandated that the state offer a formal apology along with memorializing the apology in a plaque on the state Capitol, the Los Angeles Times reported. Slavery was never legal in California after it became a state in 1850, but some argue that the state’s laws allowed slave owners to keep slaves even after the practice was outlawed in California’s 1849 Constitution. “The State of California accepts responsibility for the role we played in promoting, facilitating, and permitting the institution of slavery, as well as its enduring legacy of persistent racial disparities,” Newsom said in a statement. “Building on decades of work, California is now taking another important step forward in recognizing the grave injustices of the past — and making amends for the harms caused.” Democrat Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer added, “Healing can only begin with an apology. The State of California acknowledges its past actions and is taking this bold step to correct them, recognizing its role in hindering the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness for Black individuals through racially motivated punitive laws.”

Gotta keep the racket going...

No Reparations Here

No payments for now:

The bill would have created a process for families to file a claim with the state if they believe the government seized their property through eminent domain due to discriminatory motives and without providing fair compensation... “I thank the author for his commitment to redressing past racial injustices,” Newsom said in a statement. “However, this bill tasks a nonexistent state agency to carry out its various provisions and requirements, making it impossible to implement.”

Having been a free state doesn't help...

DA MIA

The prosecutor who wasn't there:

There are records of her appearing in the courtroom, though not always for the better. Actor Jamal Trulove, who was wrongly convicted of murder in San Francisco when Harris was the district attorney, has said that she appeared in court when the verdict was read, and “bust out laughing.” He said he was only dimly aware of her during the trial. Clark has been researching through legal databases online, and has solicited help from the public on social media. He said that while there is some evidence that she made appearances during some cases, there are no trial transcripts that yet show Harris led the prosecution in any particular case, or that she argued cases at the appellate level.

No experience necessary...

Euro Trashed

Europe is too European, or someething:

The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) has published a report warning of the danger that “whiteness” and “Europeanness” pose to the European Union. Titled Welcome to Barbieland: European sentiment in the year of wars and elections, the September 25 report discussed how many people have become “visibly disillusioned with the European project” in a way that has surprised those supportive of the bloc. Rather than citing economic or energy issues faced by the EU, the report blamed, among other things, how “white” the MEPs elected by EU citizens are following the 2024 European Parliament elections in June.

Time to take out the leftist Eurotrash...

Green Dream Disaster

A real expert takes on the green agenda:

“The climate agenda is ending the American dream,” Roberts told Gelles. The Left’s war on affordable, reliable energy sources is an attack on the American Dream—the very foundation that lets hardworking people get ahead and build a future for their families. The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now The American dream is the envy of the world. Emerging economies cannot have their own dreams if they are forced—or bribed—by the West to abandon a fossil fuel economy and use renewables. The world faces a growing energy crisis with severe economic, humanitarian, and security consequences. That’s the direct result of climate policies aimed at dismantling U.S. fossil fuel production while claiming to “save” the climate. .... The U.S. emits just one-seventh of the world’s CO2. America’s eliminating all fossil fuels “would have an almost nonmeasurable impact” on global temperatures, as Roberts explained, because Western emissions are a small share of the total. Americans were promised that if fossil fuels were phased out, they would be seamlessly replaced by less expensive wind and solar. But that hasn’t happened. America added just 4 gigawatts of utility-scale battery storage last year, while a serious net-zero transition would need at least 200 gigawatts. Instead, electricity prices are rising in states with renewable-portfolio standards. “We have taken this idea of an energy transition and accelerated it so artificially that it is harming people,” Roberts said.

The things that are supposed to be good for us are doing the most harm...

Online Insanity

It's not his fault, he says:

In a recent interview with the Verge, Mark Zuckerberg addressed the ongoing debate surrounding the impact of Meta’s Facebook and Instagram social media platforms on the mental well-being of adolescents. Zuckerberg asserted that there is no direct causal connection between social media use and poor mental health outcomes in teens, citing the majority of high-quality research on the subject. This statement echoes Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress in January, where he argued that existing research has not definitively established a causal link between social media and negative mental health effects in young users. However, proving such causal relationships is inherently challenging, and current research suggests that social media can have both positive and negative impacts on the mental health of adolescents. Zuckerberg acknowledged the complex nature of the issue, stating, “The academic research shows something that I think, to me, fits more with what I’ve seen of how the platforms operate. But it’s counter to what a lot of people think, and I think that’s going to be a reckoning that we’ll have to have.” He emphasized the importance of providing parents with the necessary tools to monitor and limit their children’s social media use, rather than placing the onus solely on the platforms themselves.

Sometimes a crazy kid is just a crazy kid...

Feline Follies

Don't mention the cat stealing:

In his speech to the U.N., Leblanc extended a salute to all Haitian migrants around the world, assuring them that, wherever they are, the council he leads is “thinking of them until the conditions are right for them to return to the fold.” Speaking on behalf of the Haitian people, Leblanc also extended “fraternal greetings to all the friends of Haiti” that have shown solidarity with its migrants, making special mention of Springfield, Ohio. “The long history of friendship and mutual solidarity between our two nations, since our participation in the Battle of Savannah in 1779, allows us to say with confidence that the American people reject any incitement to hatred against our community,” Leblanc said. “The active participation of Haitian immigrants at various levels of American life is tangible and significant.” “In this respect, the passions that naturally emerge during an election campaign should never be used as a pretext for xenophobia or racism in a country like the United States, a nation forged by immigrants of all origins and which has set itself up as a model of democracy on a global scale,” he continued.

But they aren't accused of eating cats...

Censorship 101

How to censor people:

According to records made public by the conservative nonprofit America First Legal (AFL), Facebook opened up an “end-to-end workflow” allowing federal bureaucrats to flag posts for censorship. “The new portal dramatically increased the efficiency of the censorship machine by allowing up to twenty links at a time to be referred for censoring,” AFL reported. “Each censorship request automatically generated a ticket number so that the government could track if Facebook complied with its censorship demands.” AFL exposed the records that detail the public-private censorship campaign with the litigation it brought against the CDC because of the agency’s First Amendment violations of free speech. According to slides from a May 19, 2021, onboarding presentation by Facebook for employees at the CDC, workers for the tech platform introduced officials to a “Government Reporting System.” In this system, “if the ‘Government requests,’ then ‘Facebook processes.’”

Just trust their process, they said...

Tip Trap

Michigan wants snitches:

The final $1 million in the bill–ostensibly a part of the school safety aspect of the bill–will create a “tip line” number which children could call in order to anonymously tell on their parents for engaging in alleged improper firearm storage practices. “This amendment was inserted into the conference committee report of the Michigan School Aid bill (HB 5503 CR-1) today,’ the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners tweeted. “The conference committee report is expected to be voted on immediately in the House and Senate with no testimony allowed.” The tweet continued: “This amendment would allow ISDs to establish a tip hotline for students to anonymously report parents who improperly store a firearm. While we all support responsible firearms storage, this is the type of thing we’d expect to see from a totalitarian police state.”

How to inform on your parents...

Quitting The Green

Geermany's Greens call it quits:

Announcing their early resignation, Green leaders Omid Nouripour and Ricarda Lang said that the party is in “the deepest crisis in a decade”. Their decision to cede control of the party comes after yet another embarrassing defeat at the ballot box, with the Greens only managing to win 4.1 per cent of the vote in the Brandenburg elections over the weekend, falling below the five per cent threshold to be represented in the state’s parliament. This was a repeat of similarly dismal performances in Thuringia, where the party also fell short of the threshold, and in Saxony, where the leftist party barely met the requirement, with 5.1 per cent of the vote. Ricarda Lang admitted in comments reported by Welt: “New faces are needed to lead the party out of the crisis.” The Greens, which currently make up one third of the “traffic light” coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have suffered a severe decline in popularity as the public’s attitude towards issues like mass migration and the green agenda have soured.

The traffic light appears to be broken...

California Censorship

California's war on speech continues:

Shortly after Gov. Newsom banned election memes, Attorney General Rob Bonta, one of Kamala’s successors and a likely member of her cabinet if she gets one, boasted of a “first-of-its-kind lawsuit” which like all such things announced by prosecutors means an “unprecedented-abuse-of-power”. The issue is the agenda of a number of environmentalist groups which seek to not only ban oil and gas (or at least price it out of affordability for anyone but their elite donor class) alongside cars, stoves, meat and human survival, but to ban anyone from disagreeing with them. Along the way they came up with the idea of intimidating industires into not arguing with them. The California AG lawsuit charges ExxonMobil with “deceiving Californians for half a century through misleading public statements and slick marketing promising that recycling would address the ever-increasing amount of plastic waste.” This comes at the same time as the Democrat one-party regime banned plastic bags and is well on the way to banning plastics for ordinary people. (Amazon and major corporations don’t have to worry.) What AG Rob Bonta is suing over is speech. ExxonMobil had the right to take out ads.

Until now, that is...

New World Order

The New Order is upon us:

World leaders today adopted a Pact for the Future that includes a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations. This Pact is the culmination of an inclusive, years-long process to adapt international cooperation to the realities of today and the challenges of tomorrow. The most wide-ranging international agreement in many years, covering entirely new areas as well as issues on which agreement has not been possible in decades, the Pact aims above all to ensure that international institutions can deliver in the face of a world that has changed dramatically since they were created. As the Secretary-General has said, “we cannot create a future fit for our grandchildren with a system built by our grandparents.” .... “The Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact, and the Declaration on Future Generations open the door to new opportunities and untapped possibilities,” said the Secretary-General during his remarks at the opening of the Summit of the Future. The President of the General Assembly noted that the Pact would “lay the foundations for a sustainable, just, and peaceful global order – for all peoples and nations.”

Whether they want to or not...

Blowhards

Big Wind continues to go bust:

The energy company GE Vernova said on Friday that it would pare back its troubled offshore wind business, which has been hit with financial losses and accidents. The changes, which are aimed at coping with a difficult environment for the wind industry, could result in around 900 job losses. The company’s struggles are a blow to the offshore wind industry, which is a major source of electric power in northern Europe and is thought to have potential to supply large volumes of green energy to the East Coast of the United States. A substantial downsizing of GE Vernova would leave just two main western players, Siemens Gamesa of Germany and Vestas Wind Systems of Demark — a situation that could leave the industry short of construction capacity and could push equipment prices higher, raising consumers’ bills. .... ...The offshore-wind industry has grappled with inflation and supply chain disruptions, which have prompted project delays and cancellations. Multiple companies have taken billions of dollars in combined writedowns on US projects in the past year, and the prospect of Donald Trump, an avowed critic of wind power, winning the presidency has cast a shadow over the industry.

It's their own shadow they should be scared of...

Don't Speak

Don't speak out loud:

Most Americans, 58%, said they cannot express their private opinions publicly, and 61% admit to “self-silencing” their political views, according to the survey. At the same time, Americans publicly claim to have higher trust in our institutions than they do in private. Only 36% of Democrats publicly said that they trust the government to tell the truth, but only 5% agreed with the statement in private, according to the survey. Similarly, 42% of Democrats publicly report that they trust the media to tell the truth, while just 9% reiterated this belief in private. Skepticism is even more apparent among Republicans, with 14% publicly saying they trust the government to tell the truth while just 2% hold this belief privately, according to the study. At the same time, just 16% of Republicans publicly trust the media to tell the truth, while just 3% agreed with the statement in private. Just 37% of Americans publicly believe that we live in a mostly fair society, while just 7% privately agree with the sentiment, according to the survey.

Silence isn't always golden...

Radio, Radio

George Soros wants more radio stations:

On Wednesday, the FCC reportedly adopted an order to approve the purchase, meaning that in a matter of days, Soros will likely take control of communications to over 165 million Americans with the help of unvetted foreign investors whom Democrats have spared from the FCC's customary national security review process. National syndicated radio host and Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck asked Trump-appointed FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr Tuesday about the Democratic FCC commissioners' apparent willingness to cosign Soros' latest play for narrative dominance. Carr made clear that "it's an unprecedented decision for the commission" that would not have alternatively been accepted were Soros a partisan of another stripe — a decision that comes amid a broader "weaponization of government power ... against free speech."

Don't listen to the radio...

Lost Connections

No one got connected:

President Joe Biden previously tasked Harris with leading the administration’s $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program in 2021. However, the program has yet to connect a single person to the internet. In a letter to the Vice President, nine GOP Senators criticized the Democrat’s presidential nominee, labeling her the “broadband czar” which, akin to her performance on the border, has been “marked by poor management and a lack of effectiveness.” “Instead of focusing on delivering broadband services to unserved areas, your administration has used the BEAD program to add partisan, extralegal requirements that were never envisioned by Congress and have obstructed broadband deployment,” wrote the senators. “By imposing burdensome climate change mandates on infrastructure projects, prioritizing government-owned networks over private investment, mandating the use of unionized labor in states, and seeking to regulate broadband rates, your administration has caused unnecessary delays leaving millions of Americans unconnected.”

Maybe they just needed more joy...

Climate Class

Welcome to class:

The party’s education platform mentions the importance of “climate literacy” for American K-12 students several times, emphasizing the purported need for students to be able to understand and interpret information relating to climate change. Meanwhile, the average reading score for both fourth and eighth grade students in 2022 had fallen by three points relative to 2019, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). “We will equip students with the knowledge and skills to understand complex scientific issues, counter the rising tide of denialism by promoting environmental and climate literacy, and reverse the Trump Administration’s cuts to the National Environmental Education Act,” the platform states. (RELATED: Even Democrats Aren’t Sold On Pushing Gender Ideology In Schools, Polls Show) Student Test Scores Continue To Plummet Despite Hundreds Of Billions In Pandemic Aid For Educationhttps://t.co/ouLox3xLDN — Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 24, 2024 Less than 50% of all fourth grade students were able to read at or above the standard for proficiency in 2022, with only 17% of black students and 21% of Latino pupils meeting the mark, according to the NAEP.

At least they're already ignorant...

History Lesson

How the Deep State came to be:

The censorship mechanisms we now see on a daily basis in our Google searches, wildly one-sided "news" coverage, and the consolidation of speech codes into full-fledged and sometimes violent censorship on campuses across the nation are the outgrowth of U.S. State Department censorship programs enacted in 2016 after a new bubble of worldwide populism erupted. It marked the point when all of the mechanisms the U.S. employed against our enemies were turned on the American people. Benz told podcaster Shawn Ryan (see video below) that the domestic censorship campaign was constructed when the government censorship crowd decided that free people had chosen poorly with their votes.

The advent of populism really started in 2016 with the events of the Philippines election, the events of Brexit, the events of Donald Trump's election, followed in short succession by [Jair] Bolsonaro in Brazil, [Matteo] Salvini in Italy, Marine Le Pen's rise in France, Vox Party's rise in Spain, AFDs rise in Germany.

Suddenly the people had to be stopped and wrong-think had to be corrected -- and the U.S. State Department, CIA, and other alphabet agencies specializing in disinformation were put into the service of changing the minds of the American and other western people. Benz has been boldly telling the story about this censorship campaign at his Foundation for Freedom. He's been featured on many right-leaning programs, mainly because the right is currently the victim of the these far-reaching speech attacks. It's similar to the efforts the FBI made with its COINTELPRO spying and worse on America's far left in the 1970s.

The left was against censorship before they were for it.

Expert Check

The "experts" all seem to have one thing in common:

Published by Harvard’s Misinformation Review, the report highlights how political affiliation impacts the analysis of a misinformation expert. 83% of the 150 experts polled lean left-of-center, while only 15 identified as centrist. No participants identified themselves as “fairly or very right.” As part of the survey, the experts were divided into subgroups. Psychologists, for example, were more likely to view misinformation as a key factor in the 2016 U.S. election, while political scientists, often more moderate, were skeptical of its impact. The findings come amid a heightened focus on “misinformation” – a term often used instead of “fake news” by the left. Concerns over Kamala Harris’ faltering campaign has prompted some media outlets to join the attack on Donald Trump surrounded by an army of “fact-checkers” and experts with left-wing viewpoints.

They need to protect their phony baloney jobs...

Crime Stories

The media covers up crime:

Since 2020, total serious violent crime (rape, robbery, and aggravated assault), the categories that correspond to the FBI’s measure of violent crime, has soared. Total violent crime was 55.4% higher in 2023 than when the Biden-Harris administration took office. Rapes were up by 42%, robbery by 63%, and aggravated assault by 55%. The increases during the Biden-Harris administration are by far the largest percentage increases over any three-year period on record, more than doubling the previous record. Even after several days, the media has failed to mention these huge increases. The Associated Press ran a “fact-check” on Sept. 13 after President Trump held a press conference in California. Relying on a statement from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ acting director that while the rate of violent victimizations in 2023 was higher than it was in 2020 and 2021, it was not statistically different from the pre-COVID rate in 2019, when Trump was president. Note the AP doesn’t mention whether the rate is statistically different than in 2020 or 2021. Nor does it mention how large the increases are. Trump’s point was that violent crime had increased during the Biden-Harris administration. The rate in 2022 was statistically significantly higher than in either of those previous years. The violent crime rate in 2022 and 2023 was also significantly higher.

Crime isn't news when it doesn't fit the narrative...

Queen Jill

Jill takes over:

On Friday, the White House wasn’t hiding it. At a rare Cabinet meeting, the president handed over the leadership to the first lady, sitting at the head of the table, her prepared notes in front of her. According to the New York Post, Jill Biden “read from a binder about maternal health initiatives for four-and-a-half minutes after her husband spoke for just two minutes off the top of the meeting.” Said President Joe Biden in introducing his wife, “It’s all yours, kid.” Later, she also hosted a Rose Garden event without her husband, who has faded into the background since being pushed out of his reelection campaign by Democratic Party elites who preferred Vice President Kamala Harris in the race.

The Queen is here...

Real Change

Why the green approach to the environment doesn't work:

Author Bjorn Lomborg said, “One of the things that we have been trying to do for the last 20 years in climate policy is basically tell people to be poorer, be less well off, be uncomfortable, would you mind being a little hotter in the summer and a little colder in the winter?” Maher responded, “Right.” Lomborg continued, “That’s just not going to work. What is going to work is innovation. Remember, Los Angeles in the 1950s…it was terribly polluted. And the sort of standard climate way of tackling that would be to tell [people], would you mind walking instead of driving around?” Maher also agreed with that assessment.

You shouldn't have to suffer for someone else's agenda...

Fun Tax

Fun costs money:

According to a January Bridge Detroit report, efforts to tax fun were led by Detroit City Councilperson Angela Whitfield-Calloway, who partnered with Sen. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit, and Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, to push the bill in Lansing. For her part, Santana introduced an amusement tax bill, SB 235, in 2019. That bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee, and never moved forward. Whitfield-Calloway appealed to the Lansing lawmakers because amusement taxes – that is, taxes on commercial entertainment, sports games, and movie tickets –could not be implemented in the City of Detroit without an alteration to state law. She told Bridge in January that, with Detroit’s allegedly thriving tourist scene, it was time for the city to start cashing in. “With all the things happening in our city, people are coming in from all over the world,” she said. “We want to make sure everyone who supports our venues are safe, we’re able to clean up after everything is over,” she added, suggesting that state laws protecting citizens should be changed so that Detroit can provide a high “level of service.”

Fun isn't free...

Workers' Choice

Union workers want trump more than their bosses do:

Busy Queen

She's too busy, or something:

Better Days

Ouch:

MS Nuke

Microsoft wants to go nuclear:

The $1.6 billion investment by Constellation Energy aims to revive one of the two reactors at the Three Mile Island site, which has been dormant since 2019 due to its inability to compete economically. The other reactor at the plant was permanently closed nearly half a century ago following the worst nuclear accident in US history. Microsoft’s decision to partner with Constellation Energy highlights the growing demand for clean energy sources as the tech industry grapples with the power-intensive nature of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications. Data centers, which form the backbone of these technologies, require vast amounts of electricity to operate, and companies are increasingly looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint while meeting these energy needs. The agreement between Microsoft and Constellation Energy is a significant step towards achieving this goal, as nuclear power provides a stable, carbon-free energy source that can operate around the clock. By securing the entire output of the revived Three Mile Island reactor, Microsoft aims to ensure a consistent supply of clean energy for its data centers, reducing its reliance on fossil fuels and contributing to its overall sustainability efforts.

Microsoft enters its own atomic age...

State Department Secrets

When in doubt, blame the Russians:

State's guidance to its press officers claimed the journalists violated the correct procedures for interviews, Taibbi's Twitter Files thread was internally contradictory, and that Musk publicly misstated what Taibbi found. State itself confirmed to CNN, however, that GEC pointed Twitter to nearly 250,000 supposed Chinese propaganda accounts. The department faulted Banks by falsely implying he talked to Russian state media about GEC, when it was actually paraphrasing Kaminsky's report that quoted Banks supporting "legislation to ban federal funding of anti-free speech groups." GEC referred Just the News queries for its response to the committee report to the department itself. "The GEC does not engage in censorship, and it is focused on countering foreign disinformation overseas, not on the domestic information environment," a State spokesperson only identified as Jennifer wrote in an email.

It's just disinformation...

Job Tax

No jobs undeer her taxes:

Harris' tax plan, which contains a variety of tax increases, cuts and credits, is based largely on President Biden's budget — though the vice president has offered her own policy ideas since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. Overall, the Tax Foundation analysis finds a loss of 786,000 full-time equivalent jobs over the long run under Harris' plan when compared to baseline projections, as well as 2% decline in long-run GDP and a 1.2% dip in long-run wages, while bringing in nearly $1.7 trillion in additional tax revenue over the next decade. "Similar to the president's proposals, we find that it would reduce the long-term growth of the economy, it would reduce American incomes relative to where they would otherwise be, and it would lose, rounding up, close to 800,000 jobs in the long-run," Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst and modeling manager at the Tax Foundation, told FOX Business in an interview.

If you like your job, you won't be able to keep your job...

Poor Greens

Going green is bad for poor people:

European and American consumers felt the burden of higher energy costs when oil prices spiked two years ago during the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine and inflation reached levels not seen since the 1970s. Inflation remains a top issue for American and European voters, as incumbent parties across Europe face difficult election prospects because of populist backlash. “It is quite telling that a [former] member of the European Central Bank Governing Council who believes all of the fictitious asserted benefits of reducing carbon dioxide emissions feels compelled to warn just how expensive and devastating to consumers — and especially lower income consumers — carbon dioxide reductions will be,” said James Taylor, president of the Heartland Institute, a free-market think-tank. “There is no hiding the fact that the climate agenda will substantially raise energy costs and have a devastating impact on household income,” Taylor said.

What's good for their agenda isnt't good for your wallet...

Blue Votes Matter

Blues literally counted more:

After the 2020 census, the Census Bureau’s 2020 Post-Enumeration Survey, or PES, released the following year identified significant errors in the counts. The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now Such miscounts did not occur in the 2010 census, Comer noted in his letter to Santos. “Significantly, these errors likely led to an erroneous apportionment of representatives among the states,” Comer wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Daily Signal. “Even relatively small differences in population count can affect congressional representation, as a single congressional seat cannot be divided among multiple states.” “Undercounts or overcounts can be the deciding factor between a state gaining or losing an additional representative in its delegation,” the Kentucky Republican wrote.

Some votes matter more than others...

The Invisible Candidate

CNN finally notices that Harris won't answer questions:

The network, which is famously left-leaning, recognized the fact that Harris has so far refused to engage in any meaningful interviews, with only one unscripted interview having taken place so far. At a glance: Vice President Kamala Harris faced criticism for offering vague responses on critical policy issues during her interview with the NABJ. CNN contributor Kara Swisher noted that Harris faces the difficult task of “being specific while being vague” during the campaign. Many voters, described as “Kamala-curious,” are seeking clarity on how Harris’s policies will differ from President Joe Biden’s. Phillip opened the segment by pointing out that Harris “lacked specifics” in her responses to questions on issues such as gun control and the war in Gaza. She added that the vice president might need to offer more detailed answers to address voter concerns about her policies. The conversation then shifted to a comment made by former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who defended Harris by stating that she has already outlined policies on her campaign website. Clinton argued that Harris does not need to release more details. However, Phillip countered that Clinton herself had struggled with similar issues during her own campaigns, noting that despite having detailed policies, she wasn’t credited for them by the public.

Don't ask, don't answer...

No Vote

The Teamsters have not decided:

The National Pulse reported that Trump had a productive meeting with the union in January of this year, resulting in its president, Sean O’Brien, addressing the Republican National Convention for the first time in July. O’Brien has also heaped praise on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH).Before the union’s decision, the Teamsters released polling results among its rank-and-file members showing they break for former President Trump by nearly 60 percent over the Democratic Party nominee, Kamala Harris.Teamster members polled electronically say they support Trump by 59.6 percent to Harris’s 34 percent. An additional 6.4 percent say they’re supporting another candidate. Among those surveyed over the telephone, 58 percent support Trump, while just 31 percent support Harris. Meanwhile, five percent say they support another candidate.

The union bosses apparently don't feel the same as their workers...

Blue Force

Leftists are increasingly violent:

the poll found that 26 million Americans believe “the use of force” is justified to keep Trump from regaining the presidency. As discussed in my book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” we have seen an increasing level of rage rhetoric in our political system. For some, violent language can become violent action. There is a normalization that can occur as extreme actions become more acceptable to more and more citizens: “We are living in an age of rage. It permeates every aspect of our society and politics. Rage is liberating, even addictive. It allows us to say and do things that we would ordinarily avoid, even denounce in others. Rage is often found at the farthest extreme of reason. For those who agree with the underlying message, it is righteous and passionate. For those who disagree, it is dangerous and destabilizing.” With the unrelenting claims of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and others that democracy is about to die in America, some now feel a license to commit criminal acts in the name of “saving democracy.”

They have to destroy democracy in order to save it...

The Queen's Decree

Hillary isn't a fan of free speech:

Voter Motivator

Pharrell' not impressed with celebrity lectures:

Pharrell didn’t hold back when a journalist for The Hollywood Reporter attempted to pressure him into talking about the election. “I don’t do politics,” he shot back at the outlet. “In fact, I get annoyed sometimes when I see celebrities trying to tell you [who to vote for]. There are celebrities that I respect that have an opinion, but not all of them. I’m one of them people [who says], ‘What the heck? Shut up. Nobody asked you.'” He continued: “When people get out there and get self-righteous and they roll up their sleeves and s***t, and they are out there walking around with a placard: ‘Shut up!’ So, no, I would rather stay out of the way, and obviously, I’m going to vote how I’m going to vote.”

To quote Tim Walz, mind your own business...

High Lies

Harris admits:

Harris faces a conundrum: She cannot campaign on policies to fix crime, inflation, and border security without undermining the Biden-Harris administration’s policies, but she must tout the administration’s policies to validate her record and candidacy. “Is the price of groceries still too high?” Harris rhetorically asked during a gathering at the National Association of Black Journalists. “Yes,” she replied. “Do we have more work to do?” she rhetorically asked again. “Yes.” Prices soared about 20 percent across the board on average since the Biden-Harris administration took power in 2021.

The prices are still too high...

Green Proof

the world isn't doomed after all:

At the start of this century, the polar bear was the emblem of climate apocalypse. Protesters dressed as polar bears, while Al Gore’s hit 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth showed us a sad, animated polar bear floating away to its death. The Washington Post warned that polar bears faced extinction, and the World Wildlife Fund’s Chief Scientist even claimed some polar bear populations would be unable to reproduce by 2012. And then in the 2010s, campaigners just stopped talking about polar bears. Why? Because after years of misrepresentation, it finally became impossible for them to ignore a mountain of evidence showing that the global polar bear population has increased substantially from around 12,000 in the 1960s to around 26,000 in the present day. (The main reason? People are hunting a lot less polar bears.) The same thing has happened with depictions of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. For decades, campaigners shouted that the reef was being killed off by rising sea temperatures. After extensive damage from a hurricane in 2009, official Australian estimates of coral cover reached a low in 2012. The media were flooded with claims of the “Great Reef Catastrophe” and scientists predicted the reef would be decimated by 2022. The Guardian even published an obituary. The latest official statistics show a completely different picture. For the past three years, the Great Barrier Reef has had more coral cover than at any point since records began in 1985, with 2024 setting a new record. The good news gets a fraction of the coverage that the scare stories did. An often-recurrent climate story has been the alleged drowning of small Pacific islands due to sea level rise. … This summer, the New York Times finally shared what it called “surprising” climate news: almost all atoll islands are increasing in size. In fact, the scientific literature has documented this trend for more than a decade. While rising sea levels do erode land, additional sand from old coral is washed up on low-lying shores. Extensive studies have long shown this accretion is stronger than climate-caused erosion, meaning the land area of Tuvalu is increasing.

Green rebels without a cause...

Food Frenzy

No junk food for them:

A British Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson told Fox News Digital via email that the effort is to help prevent childhood obesity. "By acting now, we can cut pressures on the NHS (National Health Services) and give kids a healthy, happy start to life," the spokesperson said. "As we promised in our manifesto, we are banning junk food advertisements targeted at children. A promise made and a promise kept," said the spokesperson.

You can't have your junk food until you've eaten your meat...

Women's Workers

How to help liberal women find happiness:

For example, conservatives can help liberals open jars — which they (desperately) need help with because they tend to be vegans with poor upper-body strength. And if you need any yardwork or have car trouble, if you don’t have a conservative on speed dial, you’re out of luck. And liberals can help conservatives, too: Have you ever seen a liberal woman switch to “Karen mode” when the restaurant is taking a wee bit too long to find you a table? Good Lord! In life, sometimes things don’t move until they’re pushed — and nobody’s pushier than a liberal woman. (Especially if she’s hungry. A hungry liberal woman turns into the Hulk.) Besides, being in a relationship with someone who’s exactly like you isn’t ideal either. When two people are identical, it means that one of them is redundant. (This is true in personal relationships, and it’s VERY true in business.) Instead, you should seek someone who’ll complement your strengths and offset your weaknesses, not someone who’s your carbon copy. The world already has one of you — and that’s plenty. BTW, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but some of those liberal women are really cute. (And plenty of ‘em seem to have low standards, horrible self-esteem, and significant mental disorders, which usually works to our benefit.) Conservative women, however, have ethics, morality, and are less likely to frequent orgies, visit strip clubs, and get smashed at raves with a loser like you. So my advice to conservative men: You gotta stick your fishing poles in the water with the most fish! That’s how you play the game!

The game awaits, ladies...

Censoring The Censors

Free speech wins again:

Breton, who truly deserves a spot on this long-dormant blog, quit in an open letter where he accused European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of plotting against him. “You asked France to withdraw my name – for personal reasons that in no instance you have discussed directly with me – and offered, as a political trade-off, an allegedly more influential portfolio for France in the future College,” he wrote. According to Deadline, Breton has been "at odds with von der Leyen [since] August when he sent a letter to Musk, urging him to ensure that X adhered to EU regulations and moderated content."

In response, Musk told Breton to back-off with an expletive-laden meme on X, taken from the satirical action thriller Tropic Thunder. The European Commission would not comment on the insult, but a spokesperson stated that “the timing and wording” of Breton’s letter to Musk had not been coordinated with von der Leyen or other commissioners, in a response that was seen as a rebuke to the commissioner.

Translation: Breton embarrassed Brussels and had to be sidelined. Had Musk caved, Breton would still be hard at work, determining what is "safe" for people to be allowed to read in Europe — and even in this country.

Now he's safe from himself...

Crazy Blue

The latest Trump shooter has a long blue record:

According to Federal Election Commission records, during the 2020 election cycle, Routh of Hawaii made 19 donations to Democrats through their fundraising platform, ActBlue. Routh’s 19 donations totaled $144.40, including $25 to Beto for America, a political action committee supporting Beto O’Rourke’s ill-fated presidential run. Other Democrat candidates benefiting from those donations included: Elizabeth Warren Andrew Yang Tulsi Gabbard Tom Steyer Routh’s donations were a clear indication of his motivations behind the shooting. According to other reports, social media accounts belonging to Routh have already been scrubbed by the likes of Meta.

He was just trying to help out his fellow Democrats...

Swamp Mist

The Everglades are vanishing, or something:

The apocalyptic report by Lakeisha Ethans for The Travel, lays out “7 places in America that might not exist soon,” if climate change continues unabated. The disappearance of “the majestic glaciers of Glacier National Park,” for instance, is a “looming threat due to the relentless march of climate change,” Ms. Ethans cautions. In subdued and dispassionate tones, the article asserts that rising sea levels are “swallowing coastal cities,” extreme weather events are “wreaking havoc,” and once-abundant wildlife is “facing extinction.” New Orleans, Louisiana, is “on the frontlines of climate change” Ethans writes, and is threatened by “the relentless rise of sea levels and the sinking of its landmass.” Because of this, the city of New Orleans “could be partially underwater by 2050 due to the increasing threat of sea level rise,” she adds.

There's just one problem:

Earlier this summer, the New York Times acknowledged that island nations are not, in fact, in danger of sinking under the seas due to climate change, despite what alarmists have predicted. In a June 26 article titled “The Vanishing Islands that Failed to Vanish,” New York Times climate reporter Raymond Zhong chronicled the surprising find that atoll nations — like the Maldives, the Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu, which seemed doomed to vanish — somehow have not.

The same could be said for the swamp...

Blame Game

Of course it's Trump's fault:

K Lies

Kamala Harris's campaign keeps lying:

"A social media account run by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has been repeatedly deceptive," observed CNN's Daniel Dale. "The @KamalaHQ account, which has more than 1.3 million followers on the X social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has made a habit of misleadingly clipping and inaccurately captioning video clips to attack former President Donald Trump." Dale gave eight examples of the account deliberately spreading misinformation. The first post mentioned in the article falsely implied that Trump was confused about where he was during a rally in Pennsylvania by showing him mention North Carolina. In reality, he was acknowledging North Carolina supporters in the crowd. Another post falsely implied Trump was confused about his location again during an Arizona speech, but omitted the context that he was discussing Pennsylvania’s immigration issues. It should come as no surprise that another lie referenced by Dale was Trump’s 2017 Charlottesville comments, which Kamala lied about during the debate last week, yet wasn't fact-checked over. Kamala's campaign also lied about Sen. JD Vance. The campaign posted a clip suggesting he supported privatizing veterans' healthcare, but the full quote showed he advocated for more flexibility while maintaining federal care. Another post falsely tied Trump’s monument-damage penalties to Project 2025, "But the full video of the rally shows Trump was not even talking about Project 2025 or his future plans."

If he didn't say it, they make it up for him...

Jail Vote

The inmate stays on the ballot:

The Alaska Democratic Party said its preferred candidate, Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), will be harmed if Hafner remains on the ballot, but Wheeles said that’s not true in part because Alaska uses a ranked-choice system in which voters can rank their choices. “Voters are able to accurately indicate their preferences under this system. If a voter votes only for Hafner, and does not rank other candidates, then the voter expressly asserts that they only want to vote for Hafner if no other ranking is indicated. Under this voting regime, no votes are diverted from one candidate to another, so no candidate is harmed,” the judge wrote in his 18-page decision. Removing Hafner at this stage, after some ballots have already been sent out, would also cause confusion, fear of fraud, and other harms to the public, the judge added. “In sum, an injunction threatens a successful administration of the election process, harming the defendants without adequate protection, while the plaintiffs face only minimal harm,” he said. “Most concerning to the court is the harm to the public and the integrity of the election, which would be truly irreparable.”

At least the candidate is an honest crook...

Under The Sea

The Navy has a new sub:

The USS New Jersey, a fast-attack Virginia-class submarine, was commissioned during a ceremony at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Middletown, New Jersey. "You operate the most complex platform on the planet and you continuously strive for excellence," New Jersey’s commanding officer Cmdr. Steve Halle addressed the submarine’s crew during the ceremony. "I’m amazed and humbled at what we have accomplished." "Our superior professionalism is enhanced by our crew integration and our diversity," Halle continued. "We have exceeded expectations at every turn and overcome every obstacle set before us."

We all live in a neutral submarine...

Campus Dump

Get rid of DEI, save money:

Disappearing Cases

The DOJ isn't that interested in going after Jan. 6th defendants after all:

the DOJ has now dropped the obstruction charge in nearly half of the pending J6 cases, and declined to oppose motions to dismiss or vacate the charge in almost a third of the cases that were already adjudicated.

Since the ruling in Fischer v. United States, about 60 out of 126 defendants had their pending obstruction charges dismissed, according to DOJ data released last week, which significantly diminishes the threat of decades of jail time for the defendants. Of the 133 defendants whose cases were already resolved before the Fischer decision, the DOJ indicated it “does not oppose dismissal or vacatur of the charge in approximately 40 cases” while it continues to assess the rest. The DOJ’s recent data dump reflects the findings of a Washington Examiner investigation last month that uncovered a majority of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) violations were being dropped before defendants head to trial. For many defendants, the charge amounted to the most severe violation they faced, as their cases otherwise featured lesser violations such as misdemeanor charges for trespassing or unlawful picketing.

Moreover, the DOJ continues to evaluate many of the remaining cases, so there may well be additional instances where the charges are dropped.

The long road to dismissal...

Paper Chase

The Constitution is hard:

Silent Celebrities

Celebrities and politics don't mix:

If a celeb is 100% motivated to jump into the political fray, it’s not your job to stop them. At the end of the day, it’s their life and it’s their brand; the way I’ve always looked at it is: What’s the point in being rich and powerful if you can’t do what you want anyway? Instead, you must apprise them of the potential fallout so they can make an informed decision, and then you need to have a plan in place to manage what happens next. Sadly, the “advisors” in a celebrity’s orbit often have their own political motivations. Not everything a celebrity does is for him or herself. All kinds of horrible, career-mangling decisions can be traced to unethical family members and hangers-on. Regardless of their motivation, most celebrities who poke and paw at the political rail are doing their career a disservice. They’re shortchanging themselves.

Time to stop trying to make bank on politics...

Down Under Blunder

Australia goes the Big Brother route:

The laws would penalize companies for enabling misinformation with fines of up to 5% of their global revenue for failing to prevent the spread of misinformation, requiring tech companies to set codes of conduct specifically to tackle misinformation through an approved regulator. The laws would also introduce a punishment of up to seven years in jail for doxxing someone – the term for when an individual either publicly reveals private information about another person online or uses that information for exploitation – and parents can sue for "serious invasions of privacy" related to their children, The Guardian reported. The government scrapped a previous version of the laws after facing widespread condemnation, and the Free Speech Union of Australia argued that the new laws failed to address "key issues" raised from the first effort "despite the outpouring of public concern." The new laws have drawn similar ire from across the media landscape, with Elon Musk calling the Australian government "fascists" in a terse tweet about the topic. Labor Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones countered by calling Musk’s comment "crackpot stuff" and insisting that the issue was a matter of "sovereignty." "Whether it’s the Australian government or any other government around the world, we assert our right to pass laws which will keep Australians safe – safe from scammers, safe from criminals," Jones said in response. Storey, in a statement released last year when the government made clear its intention to press on with developing these penalties for alleged misinformation, called the effort "disingenuous," arguing that the government sought to "conflate the protection of Australians … with the federal government’s plan to empower bureaucrats in Canberra with the right to determine what is the official truth." "The federal government is cravenly using heightened concerns about current tensions in parts of our community, and the fears of parents and others about harmful online content, as a trojan horse to push forward laws that will in practice impose political censorship," Storey said.

Less freedom isn't the answer...

Socialist Slick

Socialism is bad for the environment:

The constant oil and chemical spills that the socialist regime has caused — which leftist activists and/or environmentalist organizations often fail to report and condemn — have heavily polluted the lake, leaving 70 percent of its roughly 5,200-square-mile-wide surface contaminated with oil, chemicals, and a highly toxic, foul-smelling, and potential carcinogenic bacteria locally referred to as verdín (“greenery”). Venezuela’s Union Radio reported on Thursday that locals found a dolphin, a sea turtle, and a manatee dead and covered in oil in the vicinity of the Vereda del Lago, a park in Zulia’s capital city Maracaibo. “We had never seen this scenario. The putrid smell that spreads throughout the city, the degraded scenery of Lake Maracaibo, the oil spills, the dead animals of … incredible biodiversity,” environmental biologist Adelso Pineda said. “We are talking about a manatee, a species that is on the verge of extinction.”

Celebrities weren't available for comment...

Questions Time

Harris will finally take questions:

Harris will sit for local interviews in battleground media markets, the memo indicated, and “will participate in an interview next week with the National Association of Black Journalists,” the Times reported: While Ms. Harris’s top aides are thrilled with her debate showing and Mr. Trump’s inability to push consistent and coherent attacks, they are looking to tweak their strategy only around the edges. The next steps, close advisers say, are ramping up her visibility on the campaign trail, including retail politicking in communities, increased press appearances, and putting herself in front of as many voters as possible in battleground states. Aides believe that at its heart, the race is unchanged. But Ms. Harris remains a key part of an unpopular incumbent administration in a nation where many voters say they want a decisive change and have expressed unhappiness with President Biden’s leadership. Her quandary was encapsulated in the debate’s very first question, when Ms. Harris was asked if she thought Americans were better off now than they were four years ago. Instead of giving a direct answer, she talked about her middle-class upbringing and her plans to help working families. It was almost as if she felt it would be unwise either to embrace Mr. Biden too closely or to obviously distance herself from him. The Harris campaign faces a conundrum: Harris cannot campaign on policies to fix crime, inflation, and border security without undermining the Biden-Harris administration’s policies, but she must tout the administration’s policies to validate her record and candidacy.

Damned if she does, damned if she doesn't...

Peace Breakers

No peace in their time:

Nuland explained that foreign leaders involved in the negotiations believed the parties were close to reaching an agreement. However, the terms of the proposed deal, especially those regarding military constraints on Ukraine but not on Russia, were an issue for Western powers.“Putin’s main condition was buried in an annex,” she said, referring to restrictions on Ukraine’s future military capabilities while similar limits were not imposed on the Russian military.She admitted, “People inside Ukraine and people outside Ukraine started asking questions about whether this was a good deal, and it was at that point that it fell apart.”“Russia wasn’t required to pull back… wasn’t required to have the same constraints on its military facing Ukraine,” she stated.The peace deal aimed to establish Ukraine as a permanently neutral and non-nuclear state that would not join military alliances like NATO or host foreign military bases.

They like their forever war...

Narrative Decay

Modern journalists have forgotten what their job is:

Contrary to the banal assurances that come out of the mouths of intellectual flyweights such as Jim Acosta, reporters regularly do pick sides, omit important facts, and manipulate the coverage of breaking news. Almost all practicing journalists these days are creatures of the left. Fabian socialists, Marxist ideologues, or Democrat partisans — however else they might self-identify, they all view themselves as romantic figures destined to influence history. Who, What, When, Where, and Why are for the schlubs. They are here to engineer narratives, and they take their jobs quite seriously. “Narrative engineer” is such a perfect sobriquet for today’s reporters. It appeals to their special brand of vanity. Most would love to be known for their literary talents but lack the skill to tell good stories. Most wish others would see them as having the kind of brainpower associated with engineers, but alas, they struggle with basic geometry. Thinking of themselves as master builders of human events allows journalists to carve out a privileged caste for themselves that lies somewhere between that of the academic and the priest. And if anyone honored them as “professors” or bowed deferentially in their presence, members of the journalistic clergy would certainly not object. .... Good muckrakers are suspicious of power — in all its forms. If a self-described expert says that something is true, the muckraker says, “Prove it.” If an agent of the government says that something is true, the muckraker says, “Prove it.” If another journalist says that something is true, the muckraker still says, “Prove it.” Neither titles, nor positions of authority, nor membership in the journalistic clergy connotes absolute truth.

Unfortunately "truth" has become what they say it is...

No Time

No charges for Jan. 6th protesters:

The Supreme Court ruled in June that in charging Jan. 6 defendants, the DOJ had interpreted too broadly a statute that carries up to 20 years in prison for anyone who corruptly “obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding.” Since the Fischer v. United States ruling, around 60 of 126 defendants had the pending obstruction charges dropped, DOJ data from Sept. 6 shows. The DOJ is continuing to pursue charges for 13 defendants with pending charges and still assessing its course of action for the remaining defendants. .... The Supreme Court held that the government must “establish that the defendant impaired the availability or integrity for use in an official proceeding of records, documents, objects” or “other things used in the proceeding” in order to prove a violation of the obstruction statute.

People are still innocent until proven guilty in America...

Gassed Out

Italy discovers that banning gas vehicles might not work:

Telegraph reported: “Ministers from Giorgia Meloni’s government claimed the “absurd” policy was ideologically driven and required change to reflect the realities of the market. There has been growing unease across the Continent about a slowdown in demand for electric vehicles (EVs).” Besides this trend, there’s also widespread concern that Europe’s car industry may be falling behind manufacturers in China and the US. Just last week, industry leader Volkswagen warned it may close factories in Germany for the first time. The car giant suffers from high energy prices. This has led many to call for ‘a rethink’ of EU ‘green’ climate goals which ended up enacting a ban on internal combustion engine cars by 2035.

Going green continues to collapse...

Speech Taxes

The IRS is taxing speech:

In the complaint, the group cites examples of nonprofit media organizations appearing to endorse President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and other political figures, as well as church leaders praising Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former President Barack Obama during services while they were candidates for president. “Plaintiffs believe that the activity described ... demonstrates ongoing, open, and obvious violations of the [law] by churches friendly to Democrat candidates,” the complaint states. “However, plaintiffs contend that all such activity is constitutionally protected. Plaintiffs only seek the freedom to engage in similar activity.”

Investigations for thee, not for me...

College Control

Where the young Marxists come from:

Once considered a necessary road for a good future, colleges now are nothing more than communist propaganda centers. Young students are told that if they do not adhere to Marxist beliefs, they are bad. For white students, it is worse. They are taught that they are the problem and that the only way to remedy this is to strictly adhere to communist principles, even if it means turning on your "racist" family. Adhering to Marxist philosophies gives the communist—who hates itself—a reason to feel better. They feel a sense of supremacy while hating you. Their brainwashing is such that they feel their violence toward you is not only acceptable but commendable.

Love yourself, until you have to hate yourself...

Wood Chucking

Why wood alone isn't the answer:

It would be a monumental waste of time, energy, and natural beauty in order to create an impoverished communist society. Build some nuclear power plants and you will be done with the problem. Recycle the spent fuel and you are good for millennia. And we get to save our forests. Win win win. The point, obviously, is not that burning wood is a good way to power a civilization. The point is that convincing people that wood is a viable fuel source undermines industrial civilization, which is the current goal of the transnational elite. One of the authors of this piece is none other than the inheritor of the Roche Pharmaceuticals fortune and Vice Chair of the Board. This is his plaything, and we are the people he wants to experiment on. Only a rich communist with too much time on his hands could come up with this kooky idea, and convince others to help subsidize the project. He's even convinced a local government to pour millions into this silly idea. Once it fails he will be able to walk away and shrug. The population of the town, on the other hand, will have burnt up a lot of wood and money, and be poorer for the experience.

Socialism always does this...

Silent Greens

There are no fires near then:

Wildfires in the Amazon rainforest have been a recurring political subject for Brazil, both nationally and internationally. In 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron and American celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio and singer Madonna spearheaded a campaign against then-President Jair Bolsonaro using old pictures of the rainforest to accuse him of causing an emergency in the area. In 2021, DiCaprio joined other celebrities such as Mark Ruffalo, Alec Baldwin, and Katy Perry in pressuring U.S. President Joe Biden to take action against Bolsonaro for the purported “threat” that he and his policies allegedly posed to the rainforest. Despite the record-breaking number of fires in the rainforest this year and the dire emergency situation, celebrities who repeatedly condemned Bolsonaro during his tenure have not similarly condemned Lula as of press time. Ruffalo, a self-proclaimed “climate justice advocate” as per his Twitter profile, has made no public mention of the Amazon fires on his social media, instead focusing on commenting on Israel’s war in Gaza and participating in events in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.

Fires should be smelled, not seen...

Crime Capers

The Democrats are wrong:

According to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the FBI, crime is not decreasing but instead worsening under the current leadership. Crime Prevention Research Center President John Lott explained that there are “two measures that the Department of Justice puts out on crime.” For example, in 2021, the FBI reported only 387 crimes committed per 100,000 people. The following year, the agency only reported 380.7 violent crimes per 100,000 people. However, data contradicts this number. National Crime Victimization data found that violent crime increased by 42 percent in 2022.

Blues have the crime blues...

Intolerant Tolerance

Bill Maher chastises the intolerant left:

Beep Beep

In California, you can't honk and drive:

As introduced, the bill required "the GPS location of the vehicle [to be] compared with a database of posted speed limits, to determine the speed limit, and electronically limi[t] the speed of the vehicle to prevent the driver from exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 miles per hour." As introduced, the bill would have made "every passenger vehicle, motortruck, and bus manufactured or sold in the state" of the 2027 model year and beyond incapable of driving more than 10 miles per hour above the limit. Wiener emphasizes that "dangerous speeding [is] placing all Californians in danger, and by taking prudent steps to improve safety, we can save lives." The senator's concern for public safety is well taken, but there's already a prudent, private, and voluntary alternative: auto insurance programs that use apps to track driving habits and reward safe drivers with discounted rates. Programs like Allstate's Drivewise, USAA's SafePilot, GEICO's DriveEasy, and State Farm's Drive Safe & Save enrolled 16.8 million North American drivers in 2022, according to market researcher Berg Insight.

Honk if you think this is a crazy idea...

Eternal Rest

Joe Biden's been on an endless vacation:

In a social media post on August 31, the Republican National Committee (RNC) Research shared a video of Biden lounging on a chair at the beach. He appeared to be talking on the phone as beachgoers walked past: “Biden spent today — his 16th straight day on vacation — lounging on the beach. He has spent a total of 532 days (40.3% of his presidency) on vacation. Who’s running the country?” the post read. Social media users were quick to share their thoughts on the report, one person writing, “Same people running it when he isn’t on vacation.” “This guy is TOO MUCH. He’s not running the show. He’s spending his time WASTING AWAY while America is suffering,” another user commented. Biden recently spent 16 days enjoying Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, the Economic Times reported on Sunday, noting that “Biden’s vacation time greatly surpasses that of his predecessors.”

Vacation's all he ever wanted...

The Censoring Generation

Kids don't like free speech:

A whopping 52% of students think it can be acceptable to block other students from attending a controversial campus speech, way up from just 37% saying the same thing as recently as 2022. Meanwhile, a shocking 32% of students think using violence to block a campus speech can be acceptable, up from 20% saying the same in 2022. And finally, an astounding 68% of students said “shouting down” a controversial speaker can be acceptable, up from 62% in 2022. In an unfortunate but unsurprising twist, students who identified as “very liberal” were more likely to support these censorious tactics, and their support for censorship clearly skewed in one ideological direction. A clear majority of students, 68%, said that a speaker who argues “transgender people have a mental disorder” should not be allowed to speak on campus. Meanwhile, two-thirds of students similarly said that campuses shouldn’t let someone arguing “Black Lives Matter is a hate group” talk at an event. Nearly 60% said the same about someone who would argue that “collateral damage in Gaza is justified for the sake of Israeli security.” Whether one agrees with these opinions or not, students supporting their censorship are hopelessly misguided. These aren’t all even particularly fringe ideas, but even if they were, the answer to bad or upsetting speech is more speech: arguments that explain why something is wrong and offer another alternative. If ideas considered too “offensive” or “radical” are shut down instead of debated, the kind of social progress many of these young people claim to care about is hampered; after all, Martin Luther King Jr. was considered a “radical” in his day. Their approach is also remarkably short-sighted. If tactics such as shouting speakers down or using violence to disrupt talks are allowed, there’s nothing to stop right-wing opponents from using those same tactics to disrupt speeches by the people from whom these very liberal college students do want to hear. These things simply can’t go only one way. Regardless, the trend here is clear.

They really are rebelling against the Boomers...

Word Police

Big Brother is jailing you:

This all started when he refused to address a “transgender” student as “they” instead of “he.” As a result, the school placed him on administrative leave “pending the outcome of a disciplinary process.” However, Burke refused to stay away from the school, leading to his arrest. According to Catholic News Agency, this week, the High Court in Dublin ordered Enoch Burke’s committal for contempt after he appeared on school premises again. This violated an injunction banning him from school grounds.

By their words, you shall not call them...

Money Grab

The IRS is cleaning up:

Announced in a news release, the agency said in an update that it has recovered $172 million from 21,000 “wealthy taxpayers” who haven’t filed tax returns since 2017. That tax revenue was collected in the first six months of the initiative, it said. The agency launched its initiative in February to go after certain wealthy taxpayers who hadn’t filed returns since 2017. The IRS said it had received third-party information—including from W-2 tax forms filed by others—that suggested those individuals have an income between $400,000 and $1 million or more, but didn’t file their returns. In addition, about 80 percent of 1,600 millionaires who were targeted had delinquent tax debt and have now made a payment to the IRS, the tax agency said, adding that more than $1.1 billion has been recovered so far. “This is an additional $100 million just since July, when Treasury and IRS announced reaching the $1 billion milestone,” the IRS said.

Your money is their money now...

Color Binds

Racism, University style:

Advertised on the American Political Science Association’s (APSA) online job bank, the posting—which has since been removed—indicated that the Henderson-Harris fellowship, which has existed since the 1990s, "specifically seeks applicants" who "identify as people/persons of color." The two-year position pays up to $70,000 and fast-tracks winners for a tenured professorship at the university. "Applicants should be BIPOC/POC scholars," the posting read. "Preference will be given to candidates whose research focuses on the themes of inequality and/or exclusion." Adam Mortara, the lawyer who led the litigation against Harvard that outlawed racial preferences in college admissions, said the fellowship was patently unconstitutional. "This is state action in violation of the Equal Protection Clause," Mortara said, referencing the clause in the 14th Amendment that bars states from discriminating based on race. "It’s really astonishing." .... While race-based admissions were only made illegal in 2023, federal laws have long prohibited programs like the University of Vermont fellowship. The job post itself acknowledged those laws at the end of the advertisement, which described the university as an "equal opportunity" employer and included a "non-discrimination statement."

It seems they're doing that anyway...

Looking Left

Kamala Harris looks to labour for advice:

One of the places Harris is reportedly seeking advice from is the UK’s Labour Party. In July’s election, Labour won an impressive number of seats in Parliament, so it’s easy to see the appeal of a party that won a landslide — at least on paper. “Vice President Kamala Harris is reportedly seeking advice from the political strategists behind the Labour Party’s landslide victory in the July U.K. election, but any advice they can offer her is unlikely to improve her electoral prospects,” reports the Washington Examiner. “In 2024, the Labour Party won an enormous majority in the House of Commons,” the report continues. “In a climate in which liberal parties are losing ground to populist, right-wing parties, the result has been viewed as a road map for left-of-center parties to return to electoral success.” I’ve written before about how Labour’s big numbers are a bit of a mirage. The “landslide” only happened because of the UK’s electoral system, in which a candidate needs only achieve a plurality to win. In a system where half a dozen candidates may be in a race, many Labour candidates won with bare pluralities. This fact has led Britons to express low confidence in this government, which also makes it curious that Team Harris would look to Labour for advice.

They like the losers...

Lawyer's Lament

Dershowitz is done:

"I am no longer a Democrat. I am an Independent," he added, noting that he wouldn't reveal whom he was voting for president until possibly after Nov. 1. "I want to see how they deal with Iran. I want to encourage the current administration to support Israel." The Harvard Law professor emeritus said his departure from the party was a long time coming and that he gradually resigned over time. "A lot of things pushed me in that direction," he said. Dershowitz noted Harris' failure to preside over a joint session of Congress during an address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played a big role in his decision.

The last in a long list of straws...

Court Decision

No sentencing for now:

Trump's sentencing date is now scheduled for Nov. 26. The original date was Sept. 18. "The public's confidence in the integrity of our judicial system demands a sentencing hearing that is entirely focused on the verdict of the jury and the weighing of aggravating and mitigating factors free from distraction or distortion," Merchan said in a letter Friday. "Unfortunately, we are now at a place in time that is fraught with complexities rendering the requirements of a sentencing hearing, should one be necessary, difficult to execute. Thus, in accordance with certain of the grounds submitted by Defendant and the reasons for adjournment provided by the People coupled with the unique time frame this matter currently finds itself in, the decision on the [motion] and the imposition of sentence will be adjourned to avoid any appearance - however unwarranted - that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching Presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate," Merchan said. Justice Juan Merchan instructs the jury before deliberations as Donald Trump looks on Justice Juan Merchan instructs the jury before deliberations during Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump's criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, at Manhattan state court in New York City, May 29, 2024, in this courtroom sketch. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg) Trump was found guilty in an unprecedented criminal trial on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, following a six-week trial stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation. Steven Cheung, Trump campaign spokesperson, told Fox News Digital, "There should be no sentencing in the Manhattan DA’s Election Interference Witch Hunt. As mandated by the United States Supreme Court, this case, along with all of the other Harris-Biden Hoaxes, should be dismissed."

They'd probably still try to put him in jail even then...

Rock Is Dead

Long live the new punk:

Here’s the latest: Rock music is dead. It was killed by embracing the establishment, corporatism and authority. Today’s acts are more likely to be pro-war Big Pharma shills than peace activist hippies. — Shawn Kivimaa (@SKivimaa) August 27, 2024 I remember a time when rock music reflected the epitome of anti-establishment… — Klay Thompson (@Thompsonklay) August 24, 2024 Rock stars used to be anti establishment anti big corporations . Now they are in total lockstep with them … pic.twitter.com/zCZqNY87zl — Make L.A. Great Again (@lalovestrump) August 24, 2024 So sad. They’ve all sold out… Gone corporate… Become what they hated.

This is so often the case...