Friday, March 14, 2025

Flotsam and Jetsam - Schumer Caves, Putin Takes the Hint

Stacy McCain, Chuck Chickens Out: No Schumer Shutdown, CR Will (Barely) Pass Senate. But first, PJM's Athena Thorne, Shutdown Schumer and the Shifty Democrats Plot to Bring Government to a Standstill, then Matt Margolis, Senate Democrats May Already Be Caving on the CR and then Schumer Caves on CR, Blames Trump for His Own Surrender! Dan Chaitin at Da Wire, Schumer Caves In Shutdown Showdown ""I believe it is my job to make the best choice for the country," said the top Senate Democrat." Eric Daugherty@EricLDaugh "THERE IT IS: Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) caves after threatening a shutdown. "While the bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse." "Let me be clear about one thing: nobody on my side of the aisle wants a government shutdown." Schumer goes on to slam the Trump-backed CR, but says shutting down the government is a "far worse option."" He knew they would be blamed for a shutdown. Trump voters wouldn't care, but the Democrat's in government, one of their main constituencies, would. Twitchy, Chuck Schumer Caves on CR Sending AOC into a Rage, but Is She Ready to Steal His Senate Seat?.. John Sexton at Hat Hair, Schumer Blinks (AOC Upset). It will still take all the Republicans plus 8 Democrats to make cloture, and pass the bill.

Trump, accused of favoring Vlad gets tough as a Ukraine Ceasefire agreement looks closer, gets tougher on Russia. Bonchie at RedState, Trump Just Dropped the Hammer on Russia, As Negotiations Loom. "In a move likely meant to build leverage, the Trump administration has not renewed a Joe Biden-era waiver that facilitated European purchases of Russian oil. As RedState reported, after the US president asked Putin to stop "pounding" Ukraine so talks could be organized, Russia proceeded to escalate attacks, including on civilian areas. Perhaps the purpose was to show strength and put Trump on his heels at the negotiating table. Whatever the reason, it doesn't seem to have worked in Russia's favor." PBS roots against it, Putin agrees in principle with Ukraine ceasefire proposal but says more discussions needed. Matt Margolis, Vladimir Putin Responds to Ceasefire Deal. Althouse likes her NYT, "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said on Thursday that he was open to the idea of a 30-day cease-fire in Ukraine..." "... but that a number of 'questions' must still be resolved. His remarks, at a news conference in Moscow, signaled he was in no hurry to go along with a truce and came as U.S. officials were in Russia to discuss the cease-fire proposal that Ukraine has already agreed to.... It was the first time that Mr. Putin had publicly addressed the cease-fire offer. He is expected to meet with President Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, later today — and Mr. Putin said he may soon speak with the American president...." Ace, Breaking: Putin Agrees to Peace Talks, But Says He Wants to Talk to Trump and Wants to "Remove the Initial Reasons for the Crisis" "That is, he wants Trump to agree that Ukraine will not be allowed in NATO and he will keep the land he's conquered. He may also have additional demands, like that Ukraine won't be armed by America or Europe, which is probably a non-starter. This is certainly not an agreement to a lasting peace. But peace can only happen if you can get the warring parties to stop shooting at each other and start talking. So this isn't an end to the war, but it is a necessary step if the war is to ever end." 

Althouse, "The predecessor who now inspires Trump in vivid oil paint served only one term, dying shortly after he left office in 1849." "But in four years Polk nearly doubled the territory of the U.S. On the northern border, Polk’s supporters rallied around the expansionist slogan '54°40’ or Fight,' demanding the U.S. take over the entire Pacific Northwest up to that latitude, then the southern boundary of Russian Alaska, even if it meant going to war with Britain."

At RCP, President Trump’s Tariffs: A New Golden Age for American Aluminum Workers. NewsWeek, No Taxes If You Earn Less Than $150k. Donald Trump's Plan Explained. L'Ombre de l'Olivier on What is the Wealth of a Nation? "aka GDP is a lie and the price of fuel and eggs is more important." Shipwreckedcrew @shipwreckedcrew, "The price of consumables are down, and inflation is down. You've been almost uniformly wrong in your various opinions about economics for a decade. You might want to sit this one out -- or just retire altogether." Quote Chuck Todd @chucktodd, "I believe the expression is known as “it’s the economy, stupid.” (Perhaps, “it’s the tariffs, stupid?”) x.com /natesilver538/…"Bonchie @bonchieredstate, "The Trump administration stopped social security bank routing numbers from being changed over the phone (because it's so easy to commit fraud), and journalists rushed to claim seniors couldn't make claims anymore. Some might suggest you can't hate the press enough."

NS Lyons at The Upheaval, looks at American Strong Gods, "Trump and the end of the Long Twentieth Century." AMAC, How JD Vance Won Over the American People. Rasmussen Reports @Rasmussen_Poll, "Support for a law making English the official language of the U.S. government crosses all demographic boundaries: 72% of whites 68% of black voters 75% of Hispanics."

Insty, at his substack, The Rout Continues, But Be Ready for the Counterattacks. "Plus, is Elon bringing machine intelligence to the fight?" Hat Hair's John Sexton, California Judge Orders Rehiring of Probationary Employees. Da Caller, Trump Admin Asks SCOTUS To Stop Judges From Trying To Govern ‘Whole Nation From Their Courtrooms.’ End Wokeness @EndWokeness "MSNBC justifies violence against Tesla as "a form of protest, NOT domestic terror." Twitchy, Oh, Honey, NO! Jasmine Crockett Dunks on MAGA's Tesla Support, FAILS at Reading Comprehension Instead. Matt Van Swol @matt_vanswol "Just got off the phone with a sales rep from Tesla. She said today is one of the busiest days they’ve EVER had for sales." Scott McCay at Am Spec, Entitlement Fraud Is Now a Stated Aim of the Democrat Party "Democrats have said the quiet part out loud." Bonchie at RedState, WATCH: CNN Tries to 'Fact-Check' Lee Zeldin's EPA Orders, and Holy Crap, Does It End in Embarrassment. "My absolute favorite part of this entire thing, though, is Collins sarcastically mocking Zeldin by saying "Oops," even as it is her correspondent that is in the midst of getting the story completely wrong. That is the kind of arrogance that has led to the press suffering its worst approval ratings in history. Will she correct the record and apologize on her show on Thursday night? She should, but somehow, I doubt she does." Ace, OOOOpsie! CNN's Deranged Propagandists Have Another On-Air Shart, "Via Instapundit, CNN's Kaitlin Collins has once again revealed herself to be a clueless but arrogant Democrat shill. It begins with CNN's biased anti-Trump know-nothing Bill Weir asserting, WITHOUT EVIDENCE, that the Trump press release stating that he would reform "OOOO" was a "typo" or "place-holder" for the real section name which would be added later." Reuters whines Johns Hopkins University slashes 2,000 jobs after Trump administration grant cut, mostly overseas. 

Scott Pinsker at PJM, ‘No Daylight': How an Insecure Old Man Sabotaged Kamala’s Presidential Campaign. Thanks, Brandon. No, really! At Altouse,  "Mr. Buttigieg’s decision to skip the 2026 race to succeed Senator Gary Peters, a retiring Democrat, allows him to pivot more easily to the next contest for the White House...."  ""Mr. Buttigieg determined he could not run for both the Senate and the White House, according to one of the people familiar with his planning..... Mr. Buttigieg, who ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, was seen as the most prominent potential contender in next year’s marquee Senate contest.... But he also would have been vulnerable to 'carpetbagger' attacks, and was plainly aware of that risk. . . . From "Pete Buttigieg, a Possible 2028 Contender, Won’t Run for Senate in Michigan/The former transportation secretary, who moved to Michigan from Indiana in 2022, had been seen as the most prominent potential candidate in next year’s marquee contest" (NYT)." Matt Vespa at TownHall says If Dems Want to Be Taken Seriously, Nix This Talking Point Right Now. Also, Please Keep Saying It. Jonathan Turley @JonathanTurley "Democratic Poll: "just 27 percent believe Democrats are focused on helping them." https://politico.com/news/2025/03/11/poll-democrats-jobs-economy-00222988… Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries: "We have them on the run."

Rick Moran at PJM sees Nearly 100 Protesters Storm Trump Tower Demanding Release of Mahmoud Khalil, fine, back in Gaza. Ace, Terrorist-Supporting Insurrectionists Take Over Trump Tower By Force, Demand that Trump Release Terror-Supporting Foreign Alien Mahmoud Khalil, "And they also demand that the police release the other terror-supporting radicals they've arrested. Will Capital One Bank and Bank of America be debanking these insurrectionists...?" John Kass, Democrats Rally Support for Their Terrorist Hamas Campus Cheerleader. Mark Goldfeder at Da Fed says Yes, The Trump Administration Has The Power To Deport Mahmoud Khalil. Greg Lukianoff and Robert Shibley at the Eternally Radical Idea, have Five things to remember as the Mahmoud Khalil case develops "The story is still developing and it’s complicated, but there are still concrete lessons to learn here."

Democrat Congressman dies, continues to tweet. Fox, Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva dead at 77 "He was formerly chair of the House Natural Resources Committee." Sean Davis @seanmdav "We’ve known for decades that Democrats keep voting even after they’ve died. Now we know they tweet from the grave as well, as this guy’s staff just kept posting in his name hours after he died." Quote Raul M. Grijalva @RepRaulGrijalva, "President Trump’s latest reckless decision to fire thousands of employees at the Department of Education jeopardizes critical student aid programs, weakens protections for students’ civil rights, and undermines essential support for students with disabilities. This move severelyShow more."

From Revolver, Capitol Police chief quickly resigns after whistleblower and Roger Stone drop bombs… Tarik Johnson @elleonCEOTK "Breaking: USCP Chief J Thomas Manger is ranked as the third Dirtiest Capitol Cop to ever don the uniform and he’s back to his old tricks again! I’m giving Manger 48 hours to inform the country of what occurred during President Trump’s Inauguration last month. I just found out today. Once again, he (Manger) has done the country a disservice as he tries to cover-up security malfeasance that could have easily put the life of our President in danger. I wanted nothing more than to be done with Manger but I WILL NOT be silent about this. Tarik K Johnson Former Lieutenant US Capitol Police" Roger Stone@RogerJStoneJr "Capitol Police Cheif resigns hours after I exposed two different gun men in the Capitol during both the Inauguration and the State of the Union address on the StoneZONE yesterday on @77WABCradio." Matt Vespa, Well, That Phrase Gave Away Who's Responsible for the Bomb Threat Against Amy Coney Barrett's Family. Eyal Yakoby @EYakoby, "BREAKING: Conservative US Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett's sister was the target of a bomb threat at her home by a "Free Palestine" radical. The threat included: "The device's detonation will be triggered as soon as the mailbox is next opened. Free Palestine!""  Althouse, "You pay all this money to these high-priced schools that are supposed to be of great esteem, and you can’t even go to class." ""You’re afraid to go to class because these lunatics are running around with covers on their face, screaming terrifying things. If you told us that’s what you intended to do when you came to America, we would have never let you in. If you do it once you get in, we’re going to revoke it and kick you out." Said Marco Rubio, quoted in "The Khalil case is a threat to First Amendment rights/Donald Trump wants to deport a legal resident for his views. Who else will be punished for exercising free speech?" by the Editorial Board of The Washington Post. (Free-access link). I thought Alan Dershowitz did a good job of discussing the complexities of this case:"

HE claims Migrant crossings through Panama's Darien Gap drop 99% after Trump takes office: report. Tod Bensman at Da Fed says Trump Doesn’t Need Maduro’s Cooperation To Deport Venezuelan Migrants "Most of the Venezuelans who illegally crossed the U.S. southern border were living in 20 other peaceful countries for years beforehand."


From the Free Bacon, UN Judge, Onetime Columbia University Human Rights Fellow, Found Guilty of Slavery "Ugandan judge Lydia Mugambe, 49, "exploited and abused" the victim, prosecutors said, forcing her to work as an unpaid maid and caregiver while barring her from seeking other employment. A jury found Mugambe guilty of multiple offenses, including facilitating illegal immigration, forced labor, and witness intimidation, the Independent reported." Also, How a Brown University Professor Helped Drive Anti-Israel Materials Into K-12 Schools. Steven Hayward at Political Questions sees  Peak Academic Absurdity Unlocked"Queer canine becomings: Lesbian feminist cyborg politics and interspecies intimacies in ecologies of love and violence" Don't challenge them. I think they can go lower. From NYPo, High school seniors reject Columbia over campus chaos: ‘Why would you want to go there?’ They don't want you anyway, they want the foreign kids who pay the full ride.

1 comment:

  1. That Redstate article about Trump 'dropping the hammer' on Putin is complete, utter, total, nonsensical gibberish obviously written by someone with the same blinkered foresight of John 'nuke 'em' Bolton. Redstate... sheesh.

    ReplyDelete