Greetings, and welcome to another Friday LinkSwarm! The Biden Administration has done everything it can to worsen inflation, The Ministry of Truth’s Scary Poppins dissolves into a puddle, a whole lot of school groomer news from all across the country, and the world’s longest D&D game.
The Biden administration’s first response to any problem is to pretend that it isn’t a problem. That’s how inflation went from a minor problem to a major one. Unwilling to take the necessary steps to rein in inflation early — pushing the Fed to raise interest rates and slowing down the torrent of money going out the Treasury’s doors — Biden and congressional Democrats at first insisted that inflation wasn’t a real problem: “Transitory,” they called it.
And then when inflation turned out not to be transitory, they thought they could just pin it on the Russians. Jen Psaki sniffed smugly at the “Putin price hike,” as though Americans were too stupid to understand that inflation at home had started long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That gambit fizzled, too.
When you don’t have any fresh ideas or real principles — and when your long-term goals are limited by the fact that the president, who was born during the Roosevelt administration, isn’t exactly buying any green bananas — then the easiest thing to do is to throw money at every problem.
Throwing money at things is how you make inflation worse.
Washington had already thrown a lot of money at the economy during the COVID-19 emergency, and, predictably, the emergency spending outlasted the emergency. By the time Biden was elected in 2020, Washington had thrown $2.6 trillion in budgetary resources at COVID and had authorized as much as $4 trillion in subsidized federal lending. That was new money amounting to about a third of GDP sloshing around the economy. Biden’s first priority was pushing out another $1 trillion in a phony infrastructure bill (that has little to do with actual infrastructure) and a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, even though the Consumer Price Index was already rising steeply, according to the Federal Reserve.
Stimulating an already overstimulated economy is how you make inflation worse.
Our inflation problem is only partly an issue of dovish monetary policy and reckless spending. There are problems in the real-world physical economy, too, those “supply-chain issues” we hear about. The Biden administration has done extraordinarily dumb things to make these worse, too, keeping in place the worst of the Trump administration’s anti-trade policies. That “Made in the USA” talk sounds good on the stump, but the truth is we need a lot that we don’t make at home and aren’t going to — including much of the steel and other vital inputs for the high-value manufacturing we actually do here.
The incredible fact is the Biden administration still had punitive tariffs on Ukrainian steel while it was seeking financial aid for the Ukrainians — it wasn’t until the Chamber of Commerce and conservative critics started making a stink that the administration changed its stance.
Investigating and criticizing a Homeland Security official is now "harassment" and bullying, according to the WashPost and @TaylorLorenz.
Only ordinary citizens can be investigated — not high-level US Security State operatives. Them's the rules:https://t.co/rtHpupbeMw
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
In sum, a free press exists to unmask and punish private citizens with the wrong politics ("shoe-lace reporting"), not to investigate and scrutinize the beliefs, conduct and claims of powerful government officials ("harassment" and bullying).
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
Also seems odd that WPost allowed @TaylorLorenz (who, credit where due, broke the story of the DHS "pause") to write an entire article arguing Nina Jankowicz should be off-limits from criticism, without mentioning Jankowicz argued the same about Lorenz:https://t.co/Sh6mzcKRe0
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
Indeed, Jankowicz has a very long history of defending Lorenz and expressing solidarity for the trauma Lorenz suffers when her work is criticized. That's almost certainly where Lorenz got her version of events and seems like it should be disclosed when Lorenz defends Jankowicz. pic.twitter.com/R49NHCQ3RZ
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
I live in a manufacturing city with a very strong union voice speaking into the politics of our community. Yet a fascinating and unmistakable phenomenon has been occurring over the course of the last decade or two. Though the percentage of citizens in our area who post their “Proud Union Home” yard signs has likely increased, the percentage of them identifying as, or supporting, the Democratic Party has dropped precipitously during that same time frame.
For the first time in my city’s history, Republicans swept all municipal offices in the last election. So what is happening, and is it a microcosm of some larger trend?
I can’t offer any scientific study or analysis; I can only tell you what I have been told. Though former President Trump attempted overtures towards the “made in America” union mentality, that isn’t the most often cited rationale among Democrat dropouts. Instead, their disillusionment seems to stem from the prevailing belief that the party has been hijacked by single-issue ideologues that are willing to destroy party cohesion and solidarity if it means advancing their singular cause. More and more of these ex-party members now consider the Democrats the “Abortion First” party.
Again, that may be just the frustrated sentiments of disgruntled Dems in rural Indiana who feel as though the once big tent that embraced them has become far more rigid and dogmatic in who they welcome under the awning. Gone seem to be the days of the party’s Rust Belt/Union Grit identity, replaced today with a coalition that obsesses over white guilt, pronoun pandering, and legal feticide.
Bellingham School District board director is advertising a “queer youth open mic” for ages 0-18 taking place in her sex shop which she owns. @BhamSD pic.twitter.com/jIIdAV0YOu
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 18, 2022
In another action-packed school board meeting in McKinney, the board president was served with a lawsuit for suppressing the free speech rights of citizens who disagree with her policies.
Civil rights attorney Paul Davis served Amy Dankel, president of McKinney Independent School District’s board of trustees, during the public comments portion of Tuesday night’s meeting.
“Your outrageous display of tyranny in how you trampled on the rights of the public at the last meeting was shocking,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
In recent months, McKinney ISD’s school board meetings have featured a heavy police presence.
On several occasions, police officers have ejected citizens, at Dankel’s direction, for failing to observe her rules of decorum during public comments.
Davis said Tuesday that Dankel’s rules “placed an unconstitutional restraint on First Amendment rights by disallowing signs, clapping, and comments.”
He also says Dankel enforced her rules unequally.
She directed police to physically remove people who were wearing green—supporters of conservative trustee Chad Green, who Dankel is trying to oust from the board.
“Those same rules were not applied to people wearing blue,” Davis said, referring to Dankel supporters. “For that, we have filed a civil rights lawsuit against you.”
Kevin Whitt is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
During last month’s school board meeting, the pro-family activist spoke against the district’s failure to proactively identify and remove sexually explicit books found in students’ libraries—a contentious topic in McKinney and other districts across the state since last year.
Later in that meeting, Whitt was dragged out by City of McKinney police officers for uttering a single word—“disgusting”—after a local mom finished comments that included excerpts from one of the explicit books.
The contentious saga in Round Rock ISD continues after two parents filed a federal lawsuit last week against five school board trustees, the district superintendent, and several district police officers.
Last year, the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office arrested Jeremy Story and Dustin Clark on charges of “hindering proceedings by disorderly conduct” following a September school board meeting. Both men were released the next day.
The lawsuit claims the defendants violated Story’s and Clark’s rights under the First Amendment and the 14th Amendment. Additionally, the suit accuses the defendants of violating 42 U.S. Code 1983, or misusing their power to deny their constitutional rights.
The two men attended last September’s school board meeting to protest Superintendent Dr. Hafedh Azaiez’s continued employment and a proposed tax increase.
Texas Scorecard chronicled multiple scandals involving Round Rock ISD in a special report and a podcast series, Exposed, which included investigations into the school district and Azaiez. Five of the district’s seven trustees, dubbed the “Bad Faith Five,” were also brought under scrutiny for allegedly covering up domestic violence allegations against Azaiez.
At the August 16 board meeting, Round Rock ISD officers removed Story after he referenced the investigation into Azaiez. Amy Weir, president of the school board, instructed district officers to escort Story from the building, claiming his concerns about Azaiez did not follow the meeting’s agenda.
At the same meeting, trustees Mary Bone and Danielle Weston walked out after accusing the district of intentionally limiting seating under the guise of following COVID-19 safety guidelines. Clark then demanded the board let more citizens in to witness the meeting, and Weir subsequently instructed district officers to escort him out.
Three days later, Williamson County officers arrested Story and Clark. Although Story’s charges pertained to the August 16 meeting, Clark’s charges dated back to a September meeting of the school board. Their lawsuit, filed May 11, accuses all defendants of suppressing Story’s and Clark’s constitutional rights and claims they were arrested illegally.
If successful, the lawsuit would void Azaiez’s contract and prevent Round Rock ISD from restricting attendance at school board meetings due to COVID-19.
Elementary-high school students at @OlentangySD were allegedly given an invasive electronic survey on their pronouns, sexual orientation, and mental health. Parents were not notified and were not asked to consent. pic.twitter.com/opEPFNm6dC
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 18, 2022
Tar.
Feathers.
Head scritches=Instant golden smiles #dogs #funny pic.twitter.com/MLzj2Hodov
— Baby Animals (@BBAnimals) May 16, 2022
Tags: abortion, Amy Dankel, Amy Weir, Ash Sarkar, Bellingham School District, Biden Recession, Bill De Blasio, Democrats, DHS, Dungeons and Dragons, Dustin Clark, Economics, education, GameStop, gay, Glenn Greenwald, groomer, gun control, Guns, Hunter Biden, inflation, Jenn Mason, Jeremy Story, Kevin Whitt, Larry Correia, LinkSwarm, McKinney ISD, Media Watch, Meg Whitman, Melvin Capital, Michigan, Ministry of Truth, Nina Jankowicz, Ohio, Oklahoma, Paul Davis, Round Rock ISD, Social Justice Warriors, Taylor Lorenz, Texas, transexual, Tucson, Ukraine, Zobella Brazil Vinik
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Sexual deviants are attracted to schools and working with kids for the same reason that some reporter attributed the famous quote about why he robbed banks to Willie Sutton: “That’s where the money is…”
Willie later said he’d never used those words, but it’s pretty apropos. The same reason you find so many sexual deviants in the Church is the same reason you find so many in teaching: That’s where the victims are. Whether you’re attracted to the kiddies, or those who are vulnerable, what better stalking grounds than a ministry or a school could you find?
I’m not going to say that every preacher or teacher is a deviant, but the professions are far too attractive to those who are, because that’s where they find their prey. Both the institutions of religion and teaching need to spend a lot more time paying attention to the motivations and mindset of the people they accept.
Time was, teaching was a very well-policed profession. The stories my grandmother and great-aunt, who were both teachers starting back in the 1920s, told me about how carefully they were watched and how easy it was to be blackballed for seemingly innocuous reasons…? Yeah; they used to have standards, and if you didn’t meet them, you were out on your ear. Mary Kay LeTourneau would never have happened in the schools where my grandmother and great-aunt taught; she’d have been ID’d by a peer, turned in, and dealt with before it ever got to the point where she was sleeping with a pre-teen.
There were reasons the old-timers did things the way they did. Ones we discarded way too casually, and with very little understanding. Chesterton’s Fence would apply, here: If you do not understand why a social rule or custom exists, don’t change it until you can come back to me and explain exactly why it is there, why it should be changed, and what you intend to replace its function with.
Ahhhh, Round Rock. When I first moved to RR 15+ years ago, RR could still be considered a reasonably conservative place to live. Now it’s more like the Austin “Mini-Me” and getting worse all the time.
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Historically, interest rates are are still too low to fight inflation.
Link broken.
Typo in the tag. It’s working now.
The abortion thing shows one of the reasons why “first past the post” is infinitely superior to “proportional representation”
In FPTP, you have to compromise and work together, or you all lose. In PR, we’d have the “abortion party” and the “union party”, etc.
And while the “leaders” of those parties would have to negotiate with each other, the voters wouldn’t get a say in the matter.
FPTP means the voters get the final say.
I’m expecting that the abortion issue is actually going to get the Dems even more crushed this year. Because 65% of Americans think that abortion should be “mostly illegal” or just illegal in the *2nd* trimester
The “Abortion uber alles” position of the Democrat Party, OTOH, gets less than 20% support.
I dont’ beleive that the pro-abortion crowd will be willing to give up on abortion uber alles this year, and the Dems are going to pay for that
Major social issues like abortion should have never been decided by the courts in the first place. The fact that they went there with Roe v. Wade, rather than by convincing people to vote for the policy change? Indicative of the fragility of the whole thing. If they’d have gone through the legislative path, they’d have been very unlikely to get permissive abortion through that process in most states. Because they didn’t get consensus, they got fifty years of conflict–And, the policy is likely to become entrenched in a lot of places with more restrictions than they’d have had by doing it the right way in the first place, simply because they pissed so many people off.
The courts are not where you should be doing these things, just like with executive orders. You get it put through a popular vote, that’ll usually last. The other two paths? Nope; it’s going to change. The Democrats made the same damn mistake with their previous major issues; the courts eventually reversed themselves within a generation.
[…] Awkward’ for children ages 9-18.” If the story seems familiar, it’s because she tried to do the same thing in May. According to their website, she’s still a Bellingham School Board […]