Flotsam and Jetsam - It's No Laughing Matter, Twitter Files #17 Out

From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 03.02.23, The Lid: Biden Chuckles When Talking About Two Brothers’ Fentanyl Deaths and Victory Girls: Mom Of Fentanyl Victims To Biden: “How Dare You Laugh?!”  At Hat Hair KT reports the Mom of two sons dead from fentanyl horrified that Biden laughed while telling their story. Natt Margolis at PJ Media wants you to WATCH: Joe Biden Laughs While Talking About Fentanyl Deaths. Also, at Hat Hair, reminder from John Sexton a Majority of voters, plurality of Democrats say Biden is too old to run again. Capt. Ed at Hat Hair WaPo: "Republicans seize®!" again, this time on train derailment; Manchin: "Pete is not getting high grades right now"  Breitbart,  Scientist Slams EPA for Not Testing for Cancer-Causing Chemical in East Palestine. Dioxin.  At ET, Biden Wants His Record Out There as 2024 Approaches "No presidential declaration from Biden in House Dem pep talk as he challenged McCarthy, ostracized 'MAGA Republicans'"

Capt. Ed, TrumpWorld: Murdochs soft-banning Trump from Fox News "This can’t last long, however, especially while covering a presidential campaign. Fox News doesn’t need to provide live broadcasts of Trump rallies the way they did in 2015-16 and again in 2019-20, but they do need to cover candidates somewhat fairly." Brian Parsons at Am Thinks about  A Subtle Way for Establishment Republicans to Sabotage Trump. Tim Young at Am Great, sees Another Get-Trump Witch Hunt in Georgia. "Emily Kohrs, the giggling foreman of a Georgia grand jury, betrays her bias on CNN."

From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 03.02.23,Shark Tank: Former Judge Accuses DeSantis Of Violating U.S. Constitution. Without his Fox post, Napolitano has become a Republican scold. Speaking of which, KT highlights Liz Cheney's next career move. College prof at UVA.

From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 03.02.23, Mary Chastain at LI notes Fetterman’s Chief of Staff Won’t Tell Anyone How the Hospitalized Senator is Introducing Legislation, “Why is the chief of staff of a United States Senator blocking people on Twitter who are asking about the Senator’s constitutional ability to vote on or introduce legislation?” Matt Vespa at Town Hall asks Has Someone Taken Over Fetterman's Office Because He Can't Do What Was Just Announced. Insty announces Di-Fi's hospitalization, WITH HER AND FETTERMAN HOSPITALIZED, DO THE DEMOCRATS HAVE A WORKING MAJORITY IN THE SENATE? Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 89, hospitalized in San Francisco for treatment of shingles. "Also, do you usually hospitalize people for shingles?" At her age, they're not taking chances. Now with both Fetterman and Di-Fi out, the Senate is temporarily 49-49, requiring Kamala Harris to break ties if necessary.

At PM, Kari Lake brings election lawsuit to Arizona Supreme Court, good luck. At Da Fed Vicky Marshall introduces you to  Three Dead People Jocelyn Benson Wants To Keep On Michigan’s Voter Rolls and Eddie Scarry wants to know why, If The Dominion Defamation Lawsuit Is A Slam Dunk, Why Are CNN And The New York Times Lying About It? Reflex. Natalia Mittelstadt at JTN reminds us that Months before Fox News, HBO aired voting machine allegations in a documentary. It wasn’t sued. "A 2020 HBO documentary highlighted allegations that Dominion voting equipment is vulnerable to hacking. Also at Da Fed, Biden’s DHS Just Revealed How It Plans To Use Your Tax Dollars To Interfere In U.S. Elections, focusing on getting out the "urban" vote. Jay Valentine at Am Think thinks about How to Lose in 2024 "The Zuckerberg boys will march into leftist-dominated cities - again, writing checks and controlling election machinery.  They know who voted, who did not vote, who never votes (and vote them), how many votes are needed. Each of these actions has a common characteristic -- it happens within 2-3 weeks during early voting!"

Ace, Merrick Garland: We Have Brought Charges Against 34 People For Allegedly Blocking Access to Abortion Clinics and Only Two People for Attacking Pro-Life Counseling Centers Because "We Equally Apply the Law." "He literally excuses this glaring disparity in prioritization of resources by saying, it's harder to catch the people attacking pro-life counseling centers because they do their crimes at night." At Breitbart, Merrick Garland Says DOJ Has Prosecuted More Pro-Lifers Because Attacks Occurred ‘During the Daylight.’  Sundance at CTH, Senators Grill Attorney General Merrick Garland About a Weaponized DOJ, Yet Miss the Person Doing the Weaponization. He thinks Lisa Monaco is running the DOJ. At Da Caller, ‘An Unbelievable Show Of Force’: Sen. Hawley Goes After Merrick Garland For Arrest Of Pro-Life Father. Nice Deb at Am Great, Josh Hawley Torches Merrick Garland Over FBI’s ‘Unbelievable Show of Force’ Against Pro-Life Family. Dan Chaitin at Da Wire reports Garland Claims Ignorance About Leaks From Trump, Biden Docs Investigations "I know nossing, nossing." Also, Merrick Garland Hungry For Expanded DOJ: ‘We Don’t Have Enough’ Reading between the lines, Bob Spencer at PJ Media concludes Okay, So It Looks as if the Justice Department Probably Has Spies in Catholic Churches 

In a heated exchange with Gestapo chief Merrick Garland at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) directly challenged Garland’s viciously corrupt and politicized “Justice” Department, and zeroed in on the once-respected agency’s targeting of traditionalist Roman Catholics. While Garland maintained, in the teeth of the available evidence, that the department is not actually targeting Catholics, he claimed not to know how many spies and informants the feds have in those hotbeds of terrorism, traditional Catholic parishes. In other words, he didn’t say they didn’t have any such spies and informants.

From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 03.02.23, Weasel Zippers, FBI Director Defends Agency Targeting Pro-Lifers. Bob Hoge at Red State, Christopher Wray's Failing PR Campaign to Save the FBI's Reputation. At TechCrunch, Secret Service and ICE conducted warrantless stingray surveillance, says watchdog. Why? Because they could. 

Insurrection alert! At Da Mail, Code Pink protesters interrupt first House China committee hearing - as lawmakers discuss country's role in Fentanyl trade, the spy balloon fiasco and a potential war over Taiwan. 

Matt Taibbi has released a new set of Twitter files, #17. Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi "1. TWITTER FILES #17 New Knowledge, the Global Engagement Center, and State-Sponsored Blacklists" John Sexton at Hat Hair, Twitter files part 17: The government funded cottage industry of disinformation 'experts'. Ace, New Twitter Files: How Obama Created an Agency to Create Blacklists of Supposed Foreign Disinformation Operators... and How Those Mechanisms Were Almost Immediately Turned, Surprise Surprise, Against the American Conservative Movement "Matt Taibbi wrote this post as a backgrounder to the today's Twitter Files. . . "The scary angle on GEC is not so much the agency as the sprawling infrastructure of "disinformation labs" that have grown around it." Sundance Twitter File Release #17 – Matt Taibbi Outlines Obama’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) Labeling U.S. Accounts as “Foreign Actors” to Promote Media Narrative. At Da Fed Tristan Justice claims an EXCLUSIVE: House Weaponization Committee To Focus On The ‘Twitter Files’ In Second Hearing and Margot Cleveland lists 6 Ways The Censorship Complex Silences Speech It Doesn’t Want You To Say Or Hear. At Am Think Joe Fried thinks about CNN and Election Disinformation "A. Are they grossly uninformed? B. Do they know the truth but tell falsehoods anyway? C. Do they think we are stupid or naïve?" Embrace the healing power of "and." Tristan Justice, again, Twitter Bans Sen. Mike Lee After He Shared Federalist Article Criticizing Biden Foreign Policy "It’s unclear whether Lee’s post from The Federalist provoked the censorship. The senior Utah senator wrote in a follow-up tweet that the company has still not offered an explanation after the suspension was lifted." Da Caller, Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s Twitter Account Suspended, Says He Doesn’t Know Why.

Scott McKay at Am Spec, The Suppression of the ‘Lab Leak Theory’ Has Collapsed "If you admit it’s a leak from the Wuhan lab, then it’s legitimate to trace that lab’s activities and who funded it." Ace, The View Announces the Media's Defense On Its Latest Covid Lie: The Media Couldn't Admit That The Virus Might Have Come From a Lab Because Trump Said "Chyna Virus" In a Very Very Subliminally-Racist Way

At LI Mike LaChance points out Female Faculty More Likely to Support Speech Restrictions, Campus Investigations, Deplatforming. “Young faculty members and female faculty members are the least likely to tolerate heterodox speech: One in five faculty members under the age of 35 report some level of acceptance of students using violence to stop a controversial campus speaker”

From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 03.02.23, Louder With Crowder: Tiktoker faces major backlash for calling out Jeffrey Marsh, but she hits back hard with receipts, Marvel actor dumps over what crap Hollywood has become: ‘You’re making movies for 16-year-olds and China’, and Nearly-Nude Man Dances Around in Bondage For An Audience of Babies And We’re Supposed to Be Ok With It. At Summit News, Girls Basketball Team Withdraws From State Tournament in Protest Against Transgender Player Who Dominates Games, and American Greatness, Christian School in Kansas City Gets Woke With LGBTWTFBBQ Messaging And Goes Broke. Breitbart,  Republican States Push to Ban Men from Womens’ Sports.  At Campus Reform, No more DEI at New College, "The New College of Florida Board of Trustees recently voted to abolish the college’s DEI office and programming, a move protested by the college's progressive students and faculty." From John Sexton, Princeton senior: Campus politics are driving some students to the right. Kaeley Triller at Da Fed, Aversion Therapy Is Back, And It’s Coming From The Trans Lobby.  From the Free Bacon, GOP Hawks Say the Only Thing Cut From the Pentagon Will Be 'Wokeness'  "I can't think of a worse time to cut defense spending than now"

And a message from Matt Walsh (via WeirdDave at Ace's)

This is my final response to the conservatives who’ve been lecturing me all week about my meanness. Yes, I’m aggressive and harsh and angry. You should be too:

pic.twitter.com/ehRaEivInG

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) February 22, 2023