Flotsam and Jetsam - Biden In, Carlson, Lemon and Rice Out

As expected, Joe Biden announced his re-election campaign today, releasing a video at 6 AM (goodness knows Joes wasn't actually awake.  At Da Caller, Biden Announces 2024 Run. Unknown is how many takes it took to get an acceptable presentation. As it is, Althouse makes light of his garble, "This shouldn't be a redurburdution..." As WaPoo puts it, Democrats reluctant about Biden 2024, but they see no other choice "They are lukewarm about picking Biden as their nominee, but many believe he may be the best hope of preventing a second Trump term and fighting extremism."  Wayne Dupree at PI, Democratic Party Will Support Biden’s Reelection And Will Not Sponsor Any Debates

Of course, the only really shocking news was Tucker Carlson's sudden departure from Fox News, no good byes, no nothing, just guest hosts filling in for the foreseeable future. Stacy McCain calls it Major (and Also Minor) Media News

The Daily Caller (a publication founded by Carlson) offers no clues for the reasons behind his departure from Fox, which leads me to suspect that nobody yet actually knows why he left, but Glenn Reynolds at least offers some informed speculation (as opposed to Oliver Darcy’s bizarre theories). As for me, my best guess is that Tucker had gotten tired of having to put up with the uptight “don’t-be-too-right-wing” concerns of Fox News management, which is no doubt pining for the good old neocon days of Chris Stirewalt, Bill Kristol, Stephen Hayes, et al. However, the Los Angeles Times asserts as a fact that Carlson was “pushed out by Rupert Murdoch,” which may be true, as far as I know.

So, that is the major media news of the day, and as for the minor media, well, Don Lemon finally got fired from CNN:

Althouse, "Tucker Carlson is leaving Fox News." "WaPo reports." Dave Strom at Hat Hair On Tucker Carlson. "Lots of rumors regarding why it happened are floating around, and as with all breaking news stories you should wait for a bit before you trust anything anybody says. “Inside sources” or outright speculations are unreliable. Was it Dominion? Was it Tucker wanting to defend himself? Was it something else?" The LAT asserts Tucker Carlson departs Fox News, pushed out by Rupert Murdoch. Ace, in all red caps with a flaming skull, FOX ANNOUNCES THE DEPARTURE OF TUCKER CARLSON; LAST SHOW WAS THIS PAST FRIDAY DON LeMON FIRED AS WELL!!! Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom (the new substack version), Tucker up, Buttercup! "With Carlson out at Fox, and Matt Walsh pulled from YouTube, is the Uniparty making its move?" PJM's Stephen Kruiser snarks Fox News Has Been Hitting the Bud Light a Little Hard.

Of course, the question is how and why. It doesn't appear to have been voluntary, the lack of notice suggests that almost for sure, but there are several competing (and perhaps complimentary) theories being offered as the precipitating event(s). PJM's Matt Margolis Here’s the Reason Tucker Carlson Is Out at Fox News, offers Tucker's revelations from the J6 tapes. Ace concurs,  RUPERT MURDOCH FIRED TUCKER CARLSON HIMSELF, REPORTEDLY "CONCERNED" ABOUT TUCKER'S REPORTAGE ON JANUARY 6TH HOAX, PLUS: RAY EPPS CLAIMS HE'S NOT A FED ON 60 MINUTES.  Matt Vespa at Town Hall, Is This What Caused Tucker Carlson to Leave Fox News? Justin Hart@justin_hart "My sources are telling me: Tucker was all set to go live tonight. He probably had plans to talk about the lawsuit and clear his name. Producers were prepping guests and slots of Monday's show. Corporate nixed the idea and Tucker up and quit!" At Red State 'Bonchie' offers an odd one, Possible Reasons for Tucker Carlson's Departure From Fox News Start to Come Into View Angelo Carusone@GoAngelo "Note: Tucker was supposed to do a show tonight. He was set to interview Vivek Ramaswamy. Fox had been promoting it this AM. So whatever happened, it was abrupt. My gut is Tucker didn’t want to play ball in this delicate moment for Fox News and it unravelled fast." Twitchy, NEW –> Yashar Ali drops SCOOP about WHY Tucker Carlson and Fox News ‘parted ways’ in thread: Yashar Ali@yashar "NEWS Rupert Murdoch made the decision to fire Tucker Carlson. Murdoch is said to be concerned over Carlson's coverage of January 6 including conspiracy theories about government agents being involved." "We have to wonder what happens to the J6 footage though; Kevin McCarthy didn’t give the footage to Fox News, he gave it to Tucker. The plot THICKENS." Lee Fang@lhfang, "Tucker Carlson last week ripped big pharma spending hundreds of millions of dollars on TV ads and news outlets routinely parroting drug industry talking points. Is there a single example of a CNN, MSNBC or other Fox News host ever discussing TV advertising corruption?"At CTH, sundance has Thoughts on Tucker Carlson’s Firing

Fox Corp, and Murdoch’s stenographers at the Wall Street Journal (SEE HERE), will try to frame the Carlson firing as something of a palate cleansing. Claims of adversarial viewpoints, controversial views and conflicts with other Fox loyalists on the inside, will be used to frame the narrative. However, all of those false frameworks are just that, false. The source of the issue that led to the firing was 100% ideological.

During Tucker’s red pill absorption phase, he changed views on a variety of subjects from the FBI to the Fourth Branch of Government, to vaccination and COVID-19, to his views on Donald Trump as a disruption to an increasingly admitted corrupt political machine.

Context in the Tucker worldview expanded and he began to frame the conflict in a big picture of Good -vs- Evil. Unfortunately for Carlson, this view was from inside a multinational corporate system spreading the darkness. He had to be removed.

We have, of course, not heard the last of Tucker. Reputedly, he will be paid the 20 million annual salary in his contract for the next three years (good work, if you can get it), and there is no NDA or non-compete agreement, so he is free to pursue whatever option seems best, or most lucrative (they may not be the same thing).

 In other news, Susan Rice is either quitting, or being eased out at the Biden White House. Architect of the Benghazi incident, and Biden's disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, we could hope for someone better, but other appointments by the administration do not offer much hope. Given that they are riding themselves of a black woman, they will probably opt to fill the spot with a black transgender. The Peacock, Susan Rice to step down as Biden's domestic policy chief, "Rice's departure next month will bring to a close her prolific, wide-ranging and at times controversial tenure." Ace, Susan Rice Fired -- or, "Stepping Down" -- from Biden Administration. "I'm not sure if the rap sheet here is accurate, but she has, in the past, been the author of many evils, including all the lies about Benghazi . . ." Jim Geraghty at NRO (cited at Hat Hair), Good riddance, Susan Rice. Capt. Ed worries "I suspect she’s heading to the 2024 re-election campaign, so maybe it’s too early to cheer for her exit." Sundance, Only One Question Remains as Susan Rice, Biden’s Shadow President, Leaves the White House "If Susan Rice is departing, the question becomes how the club removes Biden from the 2024 race? There are a multitude of approaches and leverages available for the Lightbringer’s team, which includes Deputy AG Lisa Monaco at Main Justice . . . There are many club-installed insurance policies, political landmines all around Joe Biden.  Which one will they show him? " At Insty, NOBODY’S PERFECT:

Grenell is not wrong… https://t.co/x4arNDnMsc

— @amuse (@amuse) April 24, 2023

At Hat Hair John Sexton calls our attention to Another case of dueling memos, this time over Antony Blinken's call to Mike Morell. Matt Taibbi, says it's Time to Get Spies Out of Politics "The Michael Morell story demonstrates that the intelligence community needs sweeping reform, beginning with getting spies all the way out of domestic political life." Jonathan Turley opines on Antony Blinken and the ‘made men’ of the Biden administration.

This week, Blinken was implicated in a political coverup that could well have made the difference in the 2020 election. According to the sworn testimony of former acting CIA Director Michael Morrell, Blinken – then a high-ranking Biden campaign official – was “the impetus” of the false claim that the Hunter Biden laptop story was really Russian disinformation. Morrell then organized dozens of ex-national security officials to sign the letter claiming that the Hunter laptop story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

Morrell further admitted that the Biden campaign “helped to strategize about the public release of the statement.” Finally, he admitted that one of his goals was not just to warn about Russian influence but “to help then-Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election.”

Help it did. Biden claimed in a presidential debate that the laptop story was “garbage” and part of a “Russian plan.” Biden used the letter to say “nobody believes” that the laptop is real.

In reality, the letter was part of a political plan with the direct involvement of his campaign, but Biden never revealed their involvement. Indeed, over years of controversy surrounding this debunked letter, no one in the Biden campaign or White House (including Blinken) revealed their involvement.

Of course, the letter was all the media needed. Discussion of the laptop was blocked on social media, and virtually every major media outlet dismissed the story before the election.

That was also all Biden needed to win a close election. The allegations that the Biden family had cashed in millions through influence peddling could have made the difference. It never happened, in part because of Blinken’s work.

Ace wakes up to Reports: Hunter Biden Is Hiding Out at the White House to Avoid Baby-Mama's Subpoenas for Financial Records "Hm, why do you think Hunter wants to avoid disclosing financial documents? Why do you think Joe Biden would do something so ghetto like hide his disgraceful crack addict son in the White House to help him dodge subpoenas for financial documents?" From the Free Bacon, 'Let’s Clear That Issue Up Right Now': Arkansas Judge Orders Hunter Biden to Court To Answer Laptop Questions, "I want both of your clients at every hearing that I conduct," Meyer told the attorneys for Biden and Roberts during a virtual hearing on Monday. "I will no longer allow us to dismiss clients from these hearings, because it is interfering with the progress of this litigation which is taking way too long to get over simple points." At NYPo, Michael Goodwin sees Bidens’ corrupt web unraveling before our eyes. Optimist. 

Never-DeSantis sundance, Payback For Backstabbing – Lee Zeldin Endorses President Donald Trump

At a key moment in the New York governor race, in late August of 2022, shortly after the Mar-a-Lago raid, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was scheduled to be keynote speaker at a New York City Zeldin dinner/fundraiser. Before the fundraiser, DeSantis went to pick up a six-figure donor check from Billionaire developer Joseph Cayre of Midtown Equities.

Cayre told DeSantis that he supported Zeldin’s Democrat opponent Kathy Hochul. The contingency for the contribution appeared to be that DeSantis would cancel attendance of the dinner for Zeldin. DeSantis took the Cayre donor check and at the last minute cancelled his attendance at the Zeldin dinner.

Ed Driscoll at Insty,  DISPATCHES FROM THE ICE FLOE: Dianne Feinstein and the Cult of Indispensability.

Dan Chaitin at Da Wire reports, Jordan Subpoenas FBI Executive In Conservative ‘Purge’ Inquiry “Today, Chairman Jordan issued a subpoena to Jennifer Leigh Moore, Executive Assistant Director of Human Resources at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, after she refused to answer questions during her transcribed interview about the FBI’s retaliation against brave whistleblowers who have come forward to raise concerns about abuses they have seen at the Bureau,”  At Splice Today Mark Judge has A Hard-Boiled Take on Jim Comey’s Crime Novel “Just another D.C. hack looking for a quick score.”

Via Insty, a FLASHBACK: CORRUPTION AT THE TOP:  Mike Benz@MikeBenzCyber "That's not a typo. Seven living CIA directors - Michael Hayden, James Woolsey, Leon Panetta, David Petraeus, Michael Morrell, William Webster & Robert Gates - on the board of the group deputized by DHS to censor your opinions about mail-in ballots during the 2020 election cycle." Chris Caldwell at Compact on Dominion’s Blow to Free Speech "Burrowing underneath the law, the judge laid down a set of courtroom rules that made Fox culpable by definition. Those disgusted with Fox may thrill to this approach. Celebration is premature. No newspaper is so anti-Trumpian, no network so woke, that its in-house counsel would not shudder to contemplate the implications of the roadmap Dominion has charted for plaintiffs and Davis for judges."

VodkaPundit at PJM, Trans Rights Means No Rights at All "There’s nothing in “trans rights” that addresses the sad fact that nothing we’re doing is helping, and seemingly everything we’re doing hurts someone — particularly those who don’t even suffer from gender dysphoria." At Twitchy, The Black Women’s Caucus Statement Against Gender Ideology is pure fire 

We, the members of the Black Women’s Caucus of Women’s Declaration International USA, believe that it is crucial for Black Women to denounce gender identity ideology. This ideology promotes the idea that sex is nothing more than a social construct and that an individual can choose to *be* a man or a woman regardless of her or his sex. Gender ideologues employ the “forced-teaming” tactic against Black women in order to shame us into being work mules for their campaign of male sexual privileges that they call “transgender rights.” While these efforts are masked as progressive and inclusive concepts, gender identity ideology is actually intrusive and harmful to women, and uniquely so to Black women. . . .

At PM, Pennsylvania school board closes ALL locker rooms amid controversy over trans student "In an 8 to 1 vote on Monday, the Eastern Lebanon County School District board of directors decided to close the locker rooms for the duration of the school year." When you can't make anyone happy, you can still piss everybody off.

Insty has A REMINDER FROM DON SURBER: You Can’t Win if You Don’t Fight. “The firing of the elitist woman marketer behind the Dylan Mulvaney can of Bud Light came on Friday night, a week too late to save the brand. Bud then fired the fellow who hired her. Get woke, go broke struck again. . . . The departure of the marketer comes after a week of liberals assuring us that those silly conservatives won’t hurt Bud Light.”