The George Orwell quote, “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle” is almost a cliché in journalism circles by now. But we get it, don’t we? As the world of news became an increasingly discordant cacophony, it became clearer and clearer that if you followed politics, national events, or the world stage, you’d run into a lot of shameless liars.
I don’t mean differences of opinion, exaggerations, understandable errors while speaking off the cuff, or predictions that later proved erroneous. I mean just flat-out two-plus-two-equals-five versions of wrong. I’m talking about things such as:
John Fetterman’s doctor declaring, shortly before the lone debate in last year’s Pennsylvania Senate race, that he “has no work restrictions and can work full duty in public office.”
The president defended his keeping classified documents in boxes near his Corvette at one of his Delaware houses because, “My Corvette is in a locked garage. Okay? So, it’s not like they’re sitting out in the street.” That does not come anywhere near the requirements for making a site secure for the storage of classified documents under the law. Biden also insisted that, “People know I take classified documents and classified material seriously,” after investigators found four separate batches of classified materials in four separate insecure places.
Vice President Kamala Harris insisted in October that, “We have a secure border in that that is a priority for any nation, including ours and our administration.” A declaration that a secure border is a priority is not the same as actually securing the border. If the border were secure, fewer migrants would be trying to cross it; U.S. Customs and Border Protection would not be regularly experiencing more than 200,000 encounters per month.
President Biden warned that voting laws in Georgia and elsewhere amounted to “Jim Crow 2.0,” and “an atrocity.” And then that state had record turnout in the midterm elections, and a University of Georgia survey found that zero percent of black respondents said their voting experience in Georgia was poor in the 2022 midterm election. Around 73 percent of black and white voters alike said their voting experience was excellent.
Remember the contention in the Indianapolis Star that, “One of Buttigieg’s primary qualifications for a cabinet role is that he was the mayor of South Bend”? We were right to be skeptical!
Of course, the mainstream media and its self-appointed fact-checkers do a pretty thorough job of calling out Republican officials’ and prominent conservatives’ lies. They just seem to lose interest and motivation when it comes to Democratic officials and prominent progressives. Sure, they do it now and then, but it often feels like their hearts aren’t really into it. As the Times gently put it, “Biden, Storyteller in Chief, Spins Yarns That Often Unravel.” Like the commander in chief is Aesop or something.
Have you noticed that a lot of people lie to you shamelessly? Every day, someone tries to pelt you with a new hailstorm of BS. Week after week, some particularly unscrupulous, ambitious players in the world of politics try to convince you to believe that two plus two equals five.
They do this so that you’ll get angry at the other party, or keep voting for them and their allies, or ignore their scandals, or believe that they’re the only ones who can fix the problem. They often want to paint common sense as extreme, and the extreme as common sense. I think in some cases, like the president, they prefer to live in a golden-hued alternate fantasy world where they are always right about everything and their critics are always wrong…”
Here’s the Juice: Had Thomas Jefferson known as much about Joe Biden as we, he would have added another self-evident truth to his list, that the man is a deliberate and pathological liar who makes the Flanagan brothers…
…seem credible by comparison. And the rest of the Progressive movement in its entirety is right there with him.
It’s why Jim Freeman stresses we should all fervently hope and pray…
“…America can manage to keep power out of the hands of those to whom it does not belong. If not, let’s hope that at least they know what they’re doing. But it’s hard to be optimistic on that score, based on one exchange during Tuesday’s oral argument.
Justice Gorsuch questioned how much impact a government agency like the Department of Education should be able to have on the nation’s economy.
In an exchange with Mr. Campbell, the lawyer arguing for GOP-led states, Justice Gorsuch asked whether Education Secretary Miguel Cardona was outside his area of expertise when he put forth a regulation with such an extensive economic impact as the debt-forgiveness plan.
Justice Gorsuch asked: “I understand the [Education] Secretary has considerable expertise when it comes to educational affairs, but in terms of macroeconomic policy, do we normally assume that every cabinet secretary–learned as they are–has that kind of knowledge?”
“No we don’t,” Mr. Campbell responded. “Congress has the power and expertise to weigh the balancing and competing fiscal implications …this is something that’s outside the secretary’s expertise.”
Beyond questions of law, this is an important question for a healthy and functioning society. The issue calls to mind former government disease doctor Anthony Fauci, who was able to successfully advocate for massive societal changes while clearly lacking relevant expertiseANDeven while acknowledging he hadn’t studied critical issues related to the impact of his recommendations.
As for the federal government in general, even holding relevant expertise doesn’t mean that officials will give citizens accurate information. Dr. Marty Makary of John Hopkins told the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday, “The greatest perpetrator of misinformation during the pandemic has been the United States government.”
Let’s not give it more power.“
As for the MSM, here’s a thought:
Now, here’s The Gouge!
First up, since we’re on the subject of the pathological liar illegitimately occupying the White House, courtesy of George Lawlor, Project Syndicate examines…
“Presidents, like quarterbacks or top scorers, tend to get too much credit when things go right or too much blame when they go wrong. And, as with star athletes, this feature of public life is largely out of their control. But when presidents themselves try to take exaggerated credit for perceived successes, or to minimize perceived failures, their credibility can easily suffer for it (especially when the media indulges its penchant for blowing things out of proportion). U.S. President Joe Biden is becoming a case in point.
An American presidency is never just about the president. Also important are the political appointments across executive agencies and departments, from the cabinet on down. In this respect, Biden has failed to impress. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, once a rising Democratic Party star, has been tarnished by his inadequate responses to supply-chain problems, airline shutdowns, and the toxic-chemical fallout from a train derailment in Ohio. Similarly, Secretary of Homeland Security Alexander Mayorkas has repeatedly claimed that the southern border is secure, even though millionshave crossed over illegally in the past year, while cartels continue to ship huge amounts of deadly fentanyl into the country, through both legal and illegal entry points.
Biden’s approach to legislating has been similarly problematic. Since Congress is supposed to have the final say on most issues (subject to a president’s veto and judicial review), a president’s effectiveness should in part be gauged by how well he (it has always been men so far) does in achieving bipartisan support for policies that will endure after he has left office. As Biden himself puts it, “Building consensus for fundamental changes is really important to ensure that the people buy into them so they can be sustained.”
Yet, in practice, Biden has done exactly the opposite, enacting sweeping, poorly targeted policies that are too costly for the benefits they offer, and that have mostly been passed with razor-thin party-line votes…
…Biden’s advanced age and frequent lapses (when not reading from a teleprompter) have added to this credibility problem. Many observers, including many Democrats, question whether he should try to serve another term (he would be 86 at the end of it). According to a recent NBC poll, only around one-third of Americans believe Biden is honest and trustworthy or capable of handling crises, and only 28% think he has the “necessary mental and physical health” for the job. While he has done better on his handling of the war in Ukraine, his standing with the public has never recovered from the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden tried to portray that debacle as an “extraordinary success” that the military agreed with; but the top military brass soon revealed that to be a lie.
Or consider Biden’s claim to have cut the deficit by a record $1.4 trillion. In fact, the data show that the deficit reduction from 2021 to 2022 was wholly a result of the expiration of huge pandemic spending programs. “The White House is knowingly twisting the facts,” warned Maya MacGuineas of the Committee for a Responsible Budget. Likewise, Dan White of Moody’s Analytics concludes that, “On net, the policies of the administration have increased the deficit, not reduced it.”
Then there is Biden’s claim that he is not to blame for inflation reaching levels unseen since 1981. When recently asked about the issue, he replied that inflation “was already there when I got here, man. Remember what the economy was like when I got here? Jobs were hemorrhaging, inflation was rising.” This is patently false. When Biden took office, annual inflation was running at 1.4% – a five-year low – and the labor market had already recovered 12.5 million of the 22 million jobs lost nine months earlier in the government-ordered pandemic lockdowns.
Any leader whose claims are not even within hailing distance of reality is bound to lose credibility. But credibility is a president’s most valuable asset for achieving anything important…”
…We desperately need vigorous, thoughtful, honest, unifying leadership to steer us through a potentially perilous period in world history. Who will provide it?“
Here’s a hint: His name isn’t Donald. In a related item, the Morning Jolt records Biden’s age can no longer be ignored by the Dimocratic elites, as nearly 70% of registered voters believe him too old for a second term, with more registered Dims (48%) agreeing Joe’s too old than think he’s not (34%):
“Remember, according to the New York Times, “White House officials insist they make no special accommodations” for Biden’s age. I don’t believe them, and I think the fact that they can’t acknowledge making any special accommodations for Biden’s age means that they fear how the public would react to whatever special accommodations are being made.“
Next, for those needing further proof the DOJ is beyond repair, the most politicized hack ever to head the department…with the possible exception of Eric Holder…just offered it up. The following videos only confirm Garland’s guilty as charged:
And to think this corruptocrat might have occupied Neil Gorsuch’s SCOTUS seat.
Though if one of the two most corrupt Attorneys General in history had it rough, consider the the travails of Biden’s nominee as National Archivist:
Joe Biden’s nominee to be national Archivist took to Twitter to complain about mask mandates for kids being lifted. Then she lied about it under oath. And that’s just the start 👇 pic.twitter.com/9ZK495GGKK
“China is warning Twitter CEO Elon Musk against sharing posts that promote the lab leak theory of the coronavirus, suggesting that such commentary could hurt Tesla’s relationship with the company’s second-largest market.
The cryptic warning came on a social media post by the state-run Global Times newspaper. The writer was reacting to Musk commenting on a tweet that mentioned the Department of Energy’s conclusion that COVID-19 originated at a lab in Wuhan, China. The original tweet, from the account “Kanekoa The Great,” questioned whether Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was involved in the development of COVID-19 because he had funded “gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab.”
“He did it via a pass-through organization (EcoHealth),” Musk responded, referring to the nonprofit group that was awarded nearly $8 million in federal research grants to study bat coronaviruses in China. The Global Times warned Musk that he could be “breaking the pot of China.” The saying is similar to the expression “to bite the hand that feeds you,” according to CNBC’s Eunice Yoon, who was the first to report on the warning.
As noted by the outlet, the electric vehicle maker maintains a factory campus in Shanghai – China is the company’s second-largest market…”
Only time will tell whether Musk values free speech as much as the value of his stock shares. But ole Elon ain’t the only one with significant money at risk in the confrontation Xi Jinping has created, as nothing would chill foreign investment and business development in Communist China more than the Xi attempting to threaten Tesla.
Coronado’s Republican mayor says liberal state tolerates ‘destructive behavior’ instead of getting help to people in need
“…Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey (R) said there are no vagrants in his city at all, and he joined “Fox & Friends First” to describe how he has reinforced a no-encampment policy while still upholding the rule of law. “The policies that are in place at the regional and statewide level that are tolerating this type of behavior that is personally destructive and also destructive to the surrounding communities are really enabling this situation to increase throughout our entire state, and throughout our entire region,” Bailey told Ashley Strohmier. “Changing these policies will actually have a major impact,” he continued.
Bailey explained that the city works with the police department and a homeless service provider to give the homeless only one option – to get the help they need. Coronado funds “reasonable” services to help those struggling get “back on their feet,” but noted the city also has a no-tolerance policy for violating municipal codes. “We also make it very clear that we don’t tolerate encampments along our sidewalks, and we don’t tolerate other code violations such as being drunk in public or urinating in public or defecating in public,” Bailey said. “We just simply don’t tolerate these basic code violations. What ends up happening is an individual either chooses to get help or they end up leaving.”
…“The fact of the matter is there, although there are a myriad of reasons that people end up homeless, they eventually only fall into two camps, those that want help and those that do not want help,” Bailey said. “And if those that are refusing to get help… shouldn’t be granted additional the ability to break law such as tent encampments on the sidewalk or urinating or defecating in public.”
“We need to be enforcing these policies to ultimately kind of help them get into that other camp that eventually get help,” he continued…”
What a radical idea: Forcing people who are breaking the law to either get help or move along to a jurisdiction which will tolerate, if not embrace their refusal to be bound by any rules whatsoever. Mayor Bailey’s analysis of the homeless problem is dead-on balls accurate, as in the end, however they got there, whether as a result of addiction(s), psychiatric issues or both, a significant segment of the homeless don’t wanthelp, as they’re unwilling to accept the reasonable restrictions and rules governing their personal conduct and activities which come with it.
Poor choices are what made most of them homeless, and it’s poor choices which keep them in their condition.
Speaking of poor choices, what follows is Part 1 in an NRO series detailing…
“Just two decades ago, only a fraction of Ontario teachers reported being physically assaulted in school. Thanks largely to Conservative premier Mike Harris’s passing the Safe Schools Act in 2000, administrators adopted a “zero tolerance” policy toward violence. Suspensions and expulsions rose in subsequent years as the message trickled down that disruptive behavior would be deterred by “strict rules and mandatory consequences.”
Growing pushback that Safe Schools unevenly targeted minority groups led the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) to investigate allegations of discrimination in 2005. Two years later, the OHRC reached an agreement with the succeeding Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty, acknowledging that the “widespread perception” of current policies “can have a disproportionate impact on students from racialized communities” that “can further exacerbate their already disadvantaged position in society.”
The writing was on the wall. The month the settlement was publicized, the McGuinty government — led by education minister Kathleen Wynne — introduced the Progressive Discipline and School Safety bill in a bid to overhaul Safe Schools. Within two months, Progressive Discipline received royal assent and took effect in February 2008.
The new approach marked a radical departure from the traditional view of school discipline. Henceforth, administrators embraced a “whole-school approach that utilizes a continuum of prevention programs, interventions, supports, and consequences to address inappropriate student behavior,” Ontario’s Ministry of Education announced.
The new model transformed the student-teacher relationship to one in which the ultimate goal was the creation of “safe, equitable and inclusive” learning spaces. Progressive Discipline curtailed the ability of teachers to suspend students and defanged principals of their power to expel. Instead, educators were encouraged to address “root causes” to change student behavior.
The effort to prioritize the emotional experience of students over the need to maintain order had predictable consequences: Whereas only 7 percent of teachers in Ontario schools were the victims of physical abuse in 2005, by 2017 that number had spiked to 54 percent. This academic year is on track to become the most violent in history for the Toronto school district, the largest and most influential in Canada…”
As an English teacher with 20 years of teaching experience observed:
“It has progressively become worse and worse. Older teachers were used to something being done right away. If a student gives you the finger, they’re going home. That is no longer the case. They basically got licensed to do what they wanted.“
If you share the mindset of the Persian messenger…
you’re right, ’cause…
…the perfect example of the insanity which is Progressivism.
Then there’s this septet of special selections certain to sate the curiosity of inquiring Conservative minds:
“I have honestly never heard of a couple – married or otherwise – who order the EXACT same at a restaurant,” one Twitter user observed.
“I would definitely glare at my husband if he ordered the same thing as me because obviously we need to try as much of the menu as possible!” Washingtonian editor Jessica Sidman said.
“Getting the same thing as the person you’re eating dinner with is silly,” D.C. resident Hannah Madden told The Washington Post. “The whole point of going out to eat is getting to try as many things as possible. At first, I thought, it’s funny that everyone is in such a twist about this,” Madden remarked. “And then I realized, ‘Oh wait, I’m in a twist about this!'”
As G. Trevor observed, these are most inane comments he’s ever heard! Who died and made these three haughty harpies the arbiters of ordering?!? While TLJ and we almost always order different meals, it’s because we have different dining preferences, not because we want to sample as much of the menu as possible. And here’s a 411: If you ever go out to dinner with us at a Chinese restaurant, order what you want to eat, and don’t plan on sampling our selection.
(3). By nominating as Secretary of Labor an individual based solely on her race while completely ignoring her record of incompetence, Joe Biden demonstrates he’s learned nothing from the disaster which is Mayor Pete. Buttigieg merely mismanaged South Bend, IN, which doesn’t hold a candle to Julie Su’s resumé:
The NBC affiliate in Sacramento put together a documentary series on the fraud at the Employment Development Department, a state agency overseen by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency that Su led. They uncovered single addresses that received dozens of checks made out to dozens of different people. Payments were made to “Minnie Mouse” and “Poopy Britches.” The agency did not crosscheck recipients against prison records, and thousands of inmates, including convicted murderers, fraudulently took unemployment benefits. It sent out tax forms to people who never applied for benefits, forcing them to unravel the problems that identity thieves created. In a failed effort to constrain the fraud, the agency froze benefits for thousands of legitimate disability recipients, leaving them in a bureaucratic quagmire while scammers continued to steal billions.“
Only in Washington, and only in the name of the Dimocratic dogma of diversity, equity and inclusion!
(5). The Washington Free Beacon records congressional defense hawks state the only cuts to the defense budget that will be considered will be to “woke” programs, “saying cuts to the Pentagon would be disastrous as the United States faces down a Russian war in Ukraine and Chinese threats to invade Taiwan.” The most effective “woke” cuts would include these two sell-outs…
…though there’s no chance of that until we elect a Republican President; Though we must always note our last Republican President appointed…
…Thoroughly Modern Milley.
(6). In a related item, writing at The Patriot Post, Mark Alexander offered his thoughts on a recent DoD directive…
“…barring uniformed personnel from participating in the most familiar patriotic flag displays at sporting events and other high-profile public affairs. This would include on-the-field “unfurling, holding, and/or carrying of giant horizontal U.S. flags” during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It further decrees that “DoD jump teams may not incorporate [it] in their public demonstrations if the flag cannot be caught reliably and handled respectfully by ground personnel during landings.”
For the record, the display of huge flags on sporting fields, and those carried by Navy SEAL Leap Frogsand Army Golden Knights parachute teams, always includes teams on the ground to respectfully intercept our flag in order that it not touch the ground — though that presents a challenge sometimes.
A Pentagon spokesperson, Cmdr. Nicole Schwegman, confirmed that even though “many, including service members, find these events moving and patriotic,” they are now forbidden.
In fact, Title 4 of the United States Code, also known as the Flag Code, does specify that “the flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.” That section also states that “the flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground.”
However, does it strike you as odd that leftist Democrat Party appointees, many of whom view our flag as a symbol of division and oppression, are suddenly concerned that it be treated with the utmost respect? Call me skeptical.“
“A local man who recently completed his transition to living as if he were a woman immediately regretted his decision to do so after seeing the line for the ladies’ room at a large public event last night.
“I had no idea I would have to wait this long just to go pee,” said Ryanna Everhardt upon discovering the line at the restroom. “Before I transitioned, I could just walk into the men’s room, do my business at a urinal, wash my hands, and be back out in two minutes. Now this? I may have made a big mistake.”…”
Which brings us, appropriately enough, to The Lighter Side:
Then there’s these from Balls…
…and Speed…
…along with two direct from The Patriot Post:
Finally, we’ll call it a wrap with the Entomology Segment, as Best of the Web details the discovery of a…
Shortly after helping to demonstrate that science is never settledwith an example of galactic proportions, Pennsylvania State University is now reporting on a tiny species that appears to be more resilient than expected. Adrienne Berard writes:
A giant insect plucked from the façade of an Arkansas Walmart has set historic records. The Polystoechotes punctata or giant lacewing is the first of its kind recorded in eastern North America in over 50 years — and the first record of the species ever in the state.
The giant lacewing was formerly widespread across North America, but was mysteriously extirpated from eastern North America by the 1950s. This discovery suggests there may be relic populations of this large, Jurassic-Era insect yet to be discovered, explained Michael Skvarla, director of Penn State’s Insect Identification Lab.
This column wouldn’t wish mysterious extirpation on anyone, so it’s nice to learn the little creature is still with us in the quest for everyday low prices.
Though not on the level of Lord Beasley finally securing a specimen of the elusive…
…Pussycat Swallowtail, still, we congratulate Michael Skvarla and the rest of Penn State’s Insect Identification Lab on their discovery. No word on whether the giant lacewing was attracted by Walmart’s everyday low prices.
Magoo
Video of the Day
Vince Everett Ellison tells it like it is.
Tales of The Darkside
Walmart is closing its only two locations within the city limits of Portland and this local news team cannot bring themselves to conclusively state shoplifting and other crime in the lawless hellhole has anything to do with it.
On the Lightweight Side
As Tucker explains her convoluted logic, evil MAGA racist Republican supporters of The Donald are responsible for the former supporters or the first female Black lesbian mayor or Chicago refusing to REelect her!
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