Flotsam and Jetsam - WaPoo Reluctantly Admits Trump Didn't Crash Train

Shoulda been there yesterday!

Well, back from fishing. I went out with Pete and a friend of his on a scouting trip. It was one of those "you should have been here yesterday" days. After tripping over a big school of large fish yesterday (including one 50+ inch fish yesterday, he was hot to see if he could repeat. We each caught a couple fish at CCNPP early while playing bumper cars with 8 other boats in the the outflow reduced by half due to a refueling outage going on now. After that we cruised the channel edge looking for birds or schools of fish, without any success. 

Stacy McCain,  WOW: Left-Wing Narrative on Train Wreck Debunked by … Washington Post? "If even the Washington Post is compelled to side with Trump against Buttigieg, that’s really bad news for the Buttigieg 2024 campaign." John Sexton at Hat Hair, Fact-check: No evidence regulatory rollback had any impact on Ohio derailment. Mary Chastain at LI, Sorry, Buttigieg. Even WaPo Admits Trump’s Regulation Rollback Didn’t Cause Ohio Train Derailment. Althouse, The Washington Post Fact Checker says: "So far, Trump’s rollback of regulations can’t be blamed for Ohio train wreck." "Glenn Kessler investigated Trump's statement "I had nothing to do with it." So far, we have no evidence that WaPoo crashed the train either, but if we keep looking, maybe we can find it. At Am Great 'Adam Mill' finds Five Ways the Trainwreck Revealed the Trainwreck "1) Democrats caught not caring. . . 2) Caught lying to blame Trump. . . 3) Exposing the fakeness of modern environmentalism. . . 4) Another black eye for Democratic stewardship of public safety. . . 5) An inconvenient lack of “white privilege.”" Rick Moran at PJ Media reports No One in East Palestine Believes Anything the Biden Administration Is Telling Them. And why would they? At Zero Hedge, “We’re Dying Slowly”: East Palestine Residents Report Bizarre Health Issues After Toxic Train Derailment. I'm sympathetic, but an event like this generates a lot of psychosomatic illness, as well as having perfectly normal illnesses blamed on the event. And it's impolite to say that out loud. From City Journal, James B. Meigs discusses Toxic Clouds and Spy Balloons, "How the Biden administration bungled two recent crises." Mary Chastain again, Transportation IG Investigating Buttigieg Using Govt Planes for Personal Use. "The Fox News report in December 2022 found that Buttigieg took “at least 18 flights using taxpayer-funded private jets since taking office.”"

Althouse, "71% of Democratic Voters Think Biden Should Be 2024 Nominee." "Says a new Emerson poll. I said it 2 weeks ago: "That's your candidate, Democrats. There's no getting around it. And it seems that America will spend the next 6 years in the arms of the gerontocracy. Snuggle up!" Matt Margolis at PJ Media is suspicious Was the Air Raid Siren During Biden’s Visit to Kyiv Was Staged? Here Are Some Clues. Ilya Shapiro at City Journal, cited at Hat Hair, Loan forgiveness on the rocks ... ain't no big surprise. Capt. Ed, "Tomorrow’s arguments should be interesting indeed. And that Neil Diamond reference in the headline is all mine." Grabien has a video, posted at Hat Hair, CNN: New study finds recession necessary to end inflation. Zero Hedge, "Stupid Slow" - Dallas Fed Manufacturing Production Plunges Into Contraction. Thanks, Brandon! At Da Wire, ‘Bad Faith’: Treasury Department Obstructing Investigation Into Biden Family Finances, House Republican Says.

KT at Hat Hair, sees Jeb Bush troll Trump with passive endorsement of presidential run by Ron DeSantis. Who? Also, Top Republican contenders head to Club for Growth's donor retreat ... except Trump. Nick Arama calls a Swalwell Tweet Attacking Trump a Hilarious Self-Own. I&I has a poll, Voters Want A Trump-DeSantis Primary Battle In 2024: I&I/TIPP. Ace, DeSantis "Blueprint For Florida" Video Looks a Lot Like a Presidential Campaign Video. "Obviously it's a teaser trailer for a presidential run. It's below the fold." At PJ  Media, VodkaPundit wonders Is Ron DeSantis Running for President Without Running for President? Yep. Also at PJ Media Paula Bolyard really thinks We Need to Talk About Mark Levin's Interview With Ron DeSantis. Eddie Scarry at Da Fed finds the New York Times Frustrated That Ron DeSantis Isn’t Dumb Enough To Be One Of Their Staff Writers "Why hasn’t he called Donald Trump a fathead on Twitter yet?! Where are all the women who want to accuse him of being a rapist?! Why won’t he back down from positions that are popular with voters?!" NewsMax reports, Two GOP Stalwarts to Newsmax: 'Drama' Over Loyalty Pledge 'Inevitable' Drama is always inevitable. 

Beege Wellborn at Hat Hair smells NY Dems sweating "extinction-level events" if Gov Hochul's budget proposals go through. "Talk about a twofer: doubling down on disaster and getting what entrenched liberals outvoted the saner citizens for." Natalia Mittelstadt at JTN reports Georgia election chief blasts county for taking $2M in Zuckerbucks, suggests legislative remedy "DeKalb County's acceptance of the private funds "is a violation" of the state's 2021 election reform law, said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger."

At Am Spec, Deroy Murdock hears New Democrat Battle Cry: Tampons for Boys! From HE, Libs of TikTok's New Book Teaches Parents and Kids How to Fight Back Against Groomers. She's a national treasure.

FBI photo of 'sedition panda'

The BBC reports FBI arrests 'sedition panda' in Capitol riot case

According to court documents, Mr Rumson was identified by the FBI after receiving a tip and reviewing footage that showed him putting on and taking off the panda mask while on his way to the Capitol, with his face in full view.

There, he is believed to have been among the first rioters to enter the building through a large door that had been breached.

Images taken inside the building appear to show the panda-mask-clad Mr Rumson roaming the halls, before eventually abandoning the costume and leaving the building.

At Am Great, the redoubtable Julie Kelly describes A Partisan Judge’s Parting Rampage. "The queen of January 6 jurisprudence, Judge Berry Howell is a shameless partisan willing to twist the law, and the U.S. Constitution, to advance her own political agenda." Dave Catron at Am Spec explains Why J6 Transparency Frightens the Democrats. "Publicizing the Capital surveillance video will finally destroy their “insurrection” narrative."

Contrary to what Insty suggested yesterday, at the Originalism Blog, Michael Ramsey  thinks Mike Pence Does Not Have Legislative Immunity. Lawyers. 

Ace, ICYMI: DOE Determines Covid Leaked From China's Wuhan Bat Virus Lab, Which Was So Obvious That Everyone Except the Technocratic Non-Elite Have Known It For Years. Sundance at CTH, With The Lies Behind COVID-19 Mitigation Efforts Collapsing, U.S. Government Now Says Wuhan Lab Leak Likely. Victory Girls see orders to the Media: Do NOT Pounce Or Jump On The Covid Lab Leak News. At Fox, Dr. Fauci blasted over new revelations about COVID lab leak: 'We need to crack this egg open'. From NYPo, Critics rip Dr. Anthony Fauci after latest Wuhan lab leak findings. He's been in ass covering mode from day 1. Capt. Ed,  "As I mentioned in my Amiable Skeptics episode, Fauci and his efforts to fund gain-of-function research are the likely reason why debate over the lab-leak theory was actively suppressed by media and government. If COVID-19 leaked from the lab that used NIAID and NIH funding under Fauci’s direction, then Fauci and his pandemic leadership would have been undermined. If the new assessment by US intelligence turns out to be true, it *should* have been undermined. This whole set-up smells to high heaven, and Fauci isn’t the only one who should be held accountable for it. " Twitchy, Self-anointed ‘Vaccine Scientist-Author-Combat Antiscience’ still fighting lab-leak ‘misinformation’

At the Volokh Conspiracy, Stew Baker explains why he thinks  Big Tech will lose its Supreme Court case on section 230.

Stacy McCain writes In Defense of Scott Adams

Because I’m not a mind-reader, I won’t pretend to know what Scott Adams had in mind when he said what he said, but I know him to be an intelligent person who probably doesn’t plan to start painting swastikas on synagogues or fire-bombing black churches to express his “racism.” Nor do I think he intends to incite anyone else to “hate crimes.” The risk of oppressed minorities being attacked by “Dilbert” fans is probably close to zero. The idea of Scott Adams as a 21st-century Hitler is ludicrous and yet, because the shrieking mob of lunatics is yelling “RAAAAACISM!” at the top of their lungs, every newspaper in the country has to cancel the only comic strip that is still funny. Perhaps the best thing you can do is to order some Dilbert books like Eagerly Awaiting Your Irrational Response, or maybe some Dilbert T-shirts, and then go spray-paint swastikas all over the place. No, wait — that was a joke!

You can never be too careful about this stuff nowadays.