After a few day without much issues of interest for the title, I find myself blessed with too many. First, yesterday the Dow Jones industrial Average, for some reason considered a benchmark for the stock market, first crossed 50k and ended at 50,156. In the immortal words of Robert Reich after the first election of Donald Trump, when asked when the stock market would recover, he said “If the question is when markets will recover, a first-pass answer is never.” Our 403Bs are looking pretty healthy. YaHoo! whines Trump admin issues new rule, making it easier to fire 50,000 federal workers "Approximately 50,000 federal workers in “policy-influencing” positions will lose specific protections against firings and become more at-will employees in the next month, per a new Trump administration rule announced Thursday." People will whine that Democrats will do the same when they are in office. Capt. Ed at Hat Hair, Swamp Draining: Here Comes Schedule F? At Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog on The “No Hire, No Fire” Economy, Statistics show that, one year into Donald Trump’s second term, the economic lassitude of the Biden Recession is still weighing down the American economy, as it isn’t creating jobs. As Hat Hair's John Sexton points out American Workers Are Doing Well Overall, But the Biden Years Sucked. Wages up, inflation down, but it takes a while to turn the tide of public opinion, especially when the press is stacked against you. From Sundance at CTH, Deporting Illegal Aliens and the Impact on Inflation, Consumer Prices and Wages. Beege Welborn at Hat Hair, A Quick Primer on the Mexican Screw Worm Fixn' to Screw You at the Meat Counter. Amanda Head at JTN reports How Trump's MAHA movement unexpectedly took a bite out of food price inflation "The food market has been reinvented substantially in the year since Kennedy's MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement merged with Trump's MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement in the fall of 2024." PJM's Stephen Kruise finds An Entertaining Treasury Secretary Is the Trump 47 Bonus Prize. But the scariest thing you will read today is Hat Hair's Dave Strom, What Percentage of Our Economy Is Fake? I don't think fake is quite the right word, it's very real but parasitic. Ace, Taking the Welfare Americans Just Don't Want: Half of All the Immigrant Households Contributing So Much to Our Economy Are on Welfare. "What would our economy do without them, besides thrive." Kane 謝凱堯@kane "Oregon’s Senator is bragging about paying $689M for 104,654 rural broadband connections, or $6,854 per connection. Construction won’t start until end of year, let alone service. You can buy Starlink for $350 retail with free two day shipping." Kevin Dalton @TheKevinDalton, "Hours after Gavin Newsom celebrated a major made up milestone for California’s criminally over budget and delayed high speed rail, it caught on fire… Fortunately, no tracks were destroyed in the blaze, but that’s only because none have been laid in 16 years." Bob Hoge at RedState, Gavin Newsom Mocked Into Next Week As He Holds Ceremony Honoring Invisible High-Speed Train.
At Hat Hair Beege Welborn asks What Difference Does It Make If We *checks notes* Finally Got a Benghazi Terrorist. Sundance, Third Member of Ansar Al Sharia Captured and Indicted for Participating in Benghazi Attack. Ace, Architect of Bengazi Terrorist Attack Finally Arrested "Wait, Hillary Clinton told me a video-maker was responsible for the attack. Are you telling me that Hillary Clinton lied? Because if you are saying that, Chief, then you and me are going to have a problem."
But the outrage of the day (on the left), "President Trump posted a blatantly racist video clip portraying former President Barack Obama and the former first lady Michelle Obama as apes...." ""The brief clip, set to 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight,' was spliced near the end of a 62-second video that promoted conspiracy theories about anomalies in the 2020 presidential election....In response to questions about the clip, which Mr. Trump posted Thursday during a late-night spree on social media, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said criticism of the video was 'fake outrage.' 'This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,' she said. 'Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.'" I'm reading "Trump Posts Video Portraying Obamas as Apes/The White House press secretary dismissed criticism of the clip’s racist content, shared by the president’s Truth Social account, as 'fake outrage'" (NYT)." And "Well, look, Laura, you know, it was a meme that was posted by a staffer at the President's Truth Social account." "I'm going to assume incompetence and sloppiness because the video that was shared had the offensive image spliced it at the very end, and the image had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the video." At TownHall, Matt Vespa, About That 'Racist' Video the Trump Team Posted Featuring the Obamas...It's a Fake News Hoax.
Capt. Ed, Hmmm: 'Flash of Orange' Raises New Question in Epstein's Death? At NYPo, Michael Goodwin says The Clintons knew Team Trump was coming — and waved the white flag over Epstein. From Campus Reform, the EPSTEIN FILES: How the 'most powerful people' at Columbia helped Jeffrey Epstein's girlfriend get in. From Ace, UK Police Search the Homes (Plural) of Labour's "Prince of Darkness" Political Fixer and Close Pal of Jeffrey Epstein "No word on whether any Ukrainian rent boys were interrupted when trying to burn the homes down." At No Pasaran! Epstein Scandal: No Matter How Clever You Think Trump Is, You Do Not Appreciate His Brilliance Enough. wretchardthecat @wretchardthecat, "The irony is the Epstein files were supposed to sink MAGA but the torpedoes are running circular."
NOELREPORTS @NOELreports, "
The United States has urged its citizens in Iran to leave the country immediately. In the advisory, immediate departure is listed as the top recommended action. The notice also warns that airlines continue to cancel flights to and from Iran.
#Iran" Capt. Ed,
Stand By: US-Iran Talks End In Oman Before They Begin.
From Twitchy
Dems Go for Gold in BS: JD Vance 'Booed Relentlessly' at Olympic Opening Ceremony (Watch and Listen). Althouse,
"this is a wicked man who knows he is being wicked and does it anyway/like, do you see that smirk? that brief 'ain’t i a stinker' grin? beneath contempt." ""i can’t imagine a parent who wouldn’t sell little JD for percocet if they knew he would turn out like this/to be a bit serious one irony of vance’s life is that he is also an addict: addicted to power and clearly willing to sell anything to get it"
Writes NYT columnist Jamelle Bouie, at Blue Sky, commenting on this video showing JD Vance declining to entertain hypotheticals about Alex Pretti."
Lauren Chen @TheLaurenChen, "
Imagine having 90% less violent crime. We could literally do it. But unfortunately, it would require upsetting the neurotic women and effeminate men who are active on Bluesky. So I guess we just have to deal with the violent crime." Quote Disclose.tv @disclosetv, "NOW - Trump: "You know, 2% of the population produces 90% of the violent crime—think of that!"" Ed Ring at Am Great wonders
Can the Center Hold? "As politics harden into moral warfare, friendships fray—and only shared prosperity, grounded in pragmatic policy, may yet keep America’s fragile center from collapsing."
NYPo,
Kamala Harris returning to the political landscape can be best described by Gen Z as ‘cringe’.
Jerry Dunleavy IV @JerryDunleavy, "
I regret to inform you that, after being clowned on, “Headquarters 67” is now “Headquarters 68.” Unfortunately I can now predict where this is going. From Althouse,
Ella Emhoff, step-daughter of Kamala Harris, has been on SSRIs for 15 years, and she has some questions. "I don't know if this is something that I feel like is being talked about enough." I do feel a little sorry for the children of politicians.
From Twitchy,
So It BEGINS! Ilhan Omar Will Absolutely FLIP OUT When She Sees What James Comer JUST Dropped.
Rep. James Comer @RepJamesComer, "NEW
I’m demanding financial information from companies linked to Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s husband. His companies reportedly went from $51K to $30 MILLION in one year — with zero investor information. So we want to know: Who’s funding this? And who’s buying access?" They need the money more than ever, since their winery evaporated. Mike Cantrell at PJM,
Pressley Waves Away Questions After Wealth Explodes by Millions. Funny how that works, but it's a bipartisan phenomenon.
Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes, "Investigation into ICE protesters storming the Minnesota Church reveals Don Lemon didn’t just happen to be there Don Lemon was part of the planning and was provided logistics days in advance Storming the church was a highly organized event by Democrats “Developing — a new federal arrest is drawing attention to what prosecutors say was Don Lemon's role in planning and recording the disturbing protest of demonstrators storming that Minnesota church service.
A Temple University student has now surrendered on federal charges admitting he helped Don Lemon with logistics and local contacts ahead of that anti-ICE protest — Court records and social media posts show Richardson describing himself as assisting Don Lemon in the days leading up to the protest — Prosecutors say this new arrest undercuts that defense, suggesting planning and not just passive coverage.”" Capt. Ed,
Did a 'New' Arrest Just Puncture Lemon's 'Journalism' Defense? Dave Strom says
FACE It: There Is a Double Standard.
At the Chicago Boyz,
Minnesota Nice-ly Frelled.
Kyle Becker @kylenabecker, "
Anti-ICE Hysteria is the new Covid Hysteria. Anti-ICE virtue signaling is the new Ukraine emoji. Anti-ICE rioting is the new BLM rioting. Anti-ICE propaganda is the new Russia Hoax. No matter how many times the Democratic Party goes back to its same old dirty tricks, they can always count on the same gullible, impressionable, low-info fools to keep falling for it." From the Free Bacon,
Anti-Israel Group That Stormed University of Minnesota Building Now Leads Illegal Anti-ICE Agitation "The school's Students for a Democratic Society chapter is one of several far-left groups that have shifted their focus to ICE in recent weeks."
Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol, "
#BREAKING:
Tennessee Highway Patrol has just released dashcam footage after a TN legislator claimed a person was "run over" by a state trooper during an anti-ICE protest. However, the footage shows 3 people jumping in front of a police car and 1 person flopping onto the hood of the vehicle. "The Tennessee Highway Patrol is releasing dashcam video from the incident in question in the interest of transparency and to allow the public to assess the facts for themselves." "The video shows two men, including presumably the person the legislator identified, running into the cruiser on their own accord." "This video is being made available so citizens can view the actual events and draw their own conclusions."" Fox,
I infiltrated radical groups 40 years ago. Leftists are desperate for martyrs. From Ace,
Terrorist For Group Which Does Not Exist, Antifa, Arrested for Inciting "Guerilla War," "
Boy this organization that does not exist sure seems to inspire a lot of terrorists who do exist."
Stephen L. Miller @redsteeze, "
The whitest white woman thing I've ever seen." Quote New York Post @nypost "Minneapolis yoga students berate instructors, demand they condemn ICE in wild video — and company caves ." Casey Chalk at Da Fed argues
Anti-ICE Activism Represents The Suicide Of Western Civilization.
Charles Cooke at NRO on
Why the Outrage Over the Cuts at the Washington Post Is So Annoying, the start of a
Driscolly post at Insty. At Twitchy,
'Very Revealing'! One Short Word in AOC's WaPo Layoffs Take Gives Away How Dems View the Media:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @RepAOC, "
When Jeff Bezos bought WaPo, he immediately took control of the opinions section. Now, he's laying off hundreds of journalists, including those covering Amazon. This isn’t a coincidence. It’s the result of billionaires with vested political agendas taking over our media." 'Our media'
Joel Berry @JoelWBerry,
"I live in the Midwest. I’ve seen entire factories—employers that kept a little cornfield town alive—disappear overnight after production was moved to Mexico or China. Complete devastation for an entire close-knit community. No tears, no 4,000-word eulogies in WaPo, no hyperventilating on Twitter. Anonymous suffering, broken families, people forced to uproot their lives just to survive. The overeducated, overpaid, overvalued, overprivileged activists-disguised-as-journalists who spent years whipping up climate hysteria and fomenting racial division while destroying the reputation of a once-great American newspaper have no idea what devastation looks like. Good luck with your Substack, Ashley." Quote Ashley Parker @AshleyRParker, "Yesterday, I was wet-eyed (obvi) on the Metro, wearing my Post beanie (obvi), and a woman, a stranger, leaned over and hugged me. Which is to say: The entire city understands the scope of this devastating tragedy… "
The Babylon Bee @TheBabylonBee, "
Journalists Shocked To Be Laid Off From Obsolete Media Outlet That Loses $100 Million Annually."
Althouse finds
"How can official orthodoxies persist for so long even when few people believe them?", "Megan McArdle asks, in
"The transgender orthodoxy is cracking/Malpractice suit and shifting clinical guidelines show cracks in transgender orthodoxy" (WaPo)(referencing the book "Private Truths, Public Lies" by political scientist Timur Kuran)."
Timur Kuran @timurkuran “
The consensus looked invincible, until it wasn’t. A few years ago, it was risky … to even hint at doubt. Slowly journalists began raising … concerns. Now, a whopping malpractice verdict … makes it risky for doctors NOT to question these interventions.” Ace hears
Senators Ask Netflix Head Ted Sarandos: Why Does Your Company Propagandize Children as Young as Babies to be Transgender? Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok, "
OMG. CoComelon Lane, a Netflix show for CHILDREN, showcases a little boy in a dress, dancing for his two gay dads. Why does @netflix have so many shows pushing LGBTQ propaganda on children???" John Sexton sees
More Evidence for the 'Wokeness as Feminization' Theory.
