Tucker Carlson notes that the none-to-bright spawn of prominent elected Democrats seem to get into elite colleges at a mathematically improbable rate:
One correction, though: If you work in high tech, you run into people from Stanford a fair amount.
(Hat tip: The Other McCain.)
Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams announced she has no interest in being failed senatorial candidate Stacey Abrams:
Former Democratic state legislative leader Stacey Abrams will not challenge Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) next year, a blow to Democrats who hoped to make inroads in a state Republicans have controlled for nearly two decades.
In a video posted to Twitter, Abrams said she didn’t believe serving in the Senate would be the best use of her desire to serve the public.
“I will not be a candidate for the United States Senate,” Abrams said. “The fights to be waged require a deep commitment to the job, and I do not see the U.S. Senate as the best role for me in this battle for our nation’s future.”
Abrams met with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to tell him of her decision on Monday, a source confirmed to The Hill.
Yeah, Chuckles is on a real losing streak recruiting senate candidates.
Let’s recap the supposed top-tier recruits who were impervious to Schumer’s “power of persuasion” this cycle:
Tom Vilsack in IA ❌
John Hickenlooper in CO❌
Steve Bullock in MT❌
Stacey Abrams in GA❌
Beto O’Rourke in TX❌
Josh Stein in NC❌
Crisanta Duran in CO❌— Jesse Hunt (@JJHunt10) April 30, 2019
What next for Abrams? Widespread speculation is she’ll either run for President or Governor. Erick Erickson thinks both:
Stacey Abrams, suffering from spiking unpopularity for her willful refusal to accept defeat in 2018, has decided not to run for the U.S. Senate in 2020. This makes a ton of sense.
Abrams wants to fundraise and running for the Senate would distract from that. Her real goal is a rematch against Brian Kemp in 2022.
If Abrams ran for the Senate, she would either win or lose. If she won, that suggests there’d have been a huge Democrat wave and Democrat presidential victory. Historically, that’d cause an emboldened response from the GOP in the off year election, putting Abrams at a disadvantage against Kemp and raising questions about why she won’t complete a Seante term.
If Abrams lost against David Perdue, she would no longer be seen as the natural nominee against Kemp in 2022 and other Democrats who’ve waited their turn would fight her for the nomination.
Instead, Abrams can now run for President as a single issue candidate focused on voting rights. No one will hold that sort of loss against her. That will allow her to raise her national profile and fundraising efforts for a 2022 re-match.
This makes a certain amount of sense. But Abrams may be looking at Kamala Harris’ faltering campaign and think she can do better in the same “lane.” She has her own fundraising donor list from her unsuccessful gubernatorial run (albeit not as impressive as Beto O’Rourke’s record-breaking donor list from his unsuccessful run), a fake issue to run on (“voter suppression”), and her own slavish national cult following.
My own estimate is there’s about a 60% chance Abrams jumps into the presidential race.
There’s always more room in the Clown Car…
They quotes they’re actually getting are from Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer.
It’s a shame he didn’t follow up with the people who said the quotes were “racist.” It would be interesting to get recations to a quote calling illegal aliens “webtbacks” and then reveal to them it came from Hispanic labor icon Cesar Chavez.
(Hat tip: Hot Air.)
Welcome to another Friday LinkSwarm! At least those of you not among the millions dead from the shutdown, assuming you already survived the tax cut and the end of Net Neutrality…
In December, the United States reached a staggering level of oil production, pumping some 11.6 million barrels per day. For the first time since 1973, America is now the world’s largest oil producer
Since Trump took office, the United States has increased its oil production by nearly 3 million barrels per day, largely as the result of fewer regulations, more federal leasing, and the continuing brilliance of American frackers and horizontal drillers.
It appears that there is still far more oil beneath U.S. soil than has ever been taken out. American production could even soar higher in the months ahead.
In addition, the United States remains the largest producer of natural gas and the second-greatest producer of coal. The scary old energy-related phraseology of the last half-century—”energy crisis,” “peak oil,” “oil embargo”—no longer exists.
Near-total energy self-sufficiency means the United States is no longer strategically leveraged by the Middle East, forced to pay exorbitant political prices to guarantee access to imported oil, or threatened by gasoline prices of $4 to $5 a gallon.
The American economy grew by 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2018, and by 3.4 percent in the third quarter. American GDP is nearly $1.7 trillion larger than in January 2017, and nearly $8 trillion larger than the GDP of China. For all the talk of the Chinese juggernaut, three Chinese workers produce about 60 percent of the goods and services produced by one American worker.
In 2018, unemployment fell to a near-record peacetime low of 3.7 percent. That’s the lowest U.S. unemployment rate since 1969. Black unemployment hit an all-time low in 2018. For the first time in memory, employers are seeking out entry-level workers rather than vice versa.
The poverty rate is also near a historic low, and household income increased. There are about 8 million fewer Americans living below the poverty line than there were eight years ago. Since January 2017, more than 3 million Americans have gone off so-called food stamps.
Abroad, lots of bad things that were supposed to happen simply did not.
After withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, the United States exceeded the annual percentage of carbon reductions of most countries that are part of the agreement.
North Korea and the United States did not go to war. Instead, North Korea has stopped its provocative nuclear testing and its launching of ballistic missiles over the territory of its neighbors.
Despite all the Trump bluster, NATO and NAFTA did not quite implode. Rather, allies and partners agreed to renegotiate past commitments and agreements on terms more favorable to the U.S.
The United States—and increasingly most of the world—is at last addressing the systematic commercial cheating, technological appropriation, overt espionage, intellectual-property theft, cyber intrusions, and mercantilism of the Chinese government.
Read the whole thing. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
House Democrats are up and running, and their first bill is instructive. Couched as an anti-corruption and good-government measure, it is really an attempt to silence or obstruct political opponents.
A central part of H.R. 1 is “campaign-finance reform,” no surprise given the progressive fixation with money in politics, which oddly turns to mist when Tom Steyer or Mike Bloomberg are spending. The House bill requires some advocacy groups to publicly disclose the names of donors who give more than $10,000, even if the groups aren’t running ads that endorse candidates but merely inform voters about the issues.
The goal is to identify donors who don’t genuflect to progressive views, then bully or harass them to stop giving. Recall how the Mozilla CEO was driven out after he donated to California’s referendum opposing same-sex marriage.
(Hat tip: MQ Sullivan on Twitter.)
How long would it take for police to arrest me if they found 24 syringes, meth, cocaine, other ILLEGAL drugs and paraphernalia AND a dead body in my home?
How long b4 prominent politicians like @HillaryClinton to distance themselves?
Why wasn’t Ed Buck charged the 1st time? pic.twitter.com/rTGd48jH1C
— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) January 11, 2019
Jair Bolsonaro is “far right” and the media means that as a pejorative.
Turns out he favors the private sector and wants to get rid of government owned industry.
He favors expansive gun rights as a way to combat crime and let people protect themselves. This has led to massive media backlash in the United States.
He favors conservative social policy including a rollback of the LGBT agenda in Brazil. Again, this has led to massive media backlash in the United States.
Most damning in the eyes of many in western media, he favors abandoning restrictions on private property that could threaten Amazonian forest growth, i.e. he’s bad for climate change.
The media has focused a lot on Bolsonaro talking favorably about Brazil’s American backed military dictatorship that ruthlessly exterminated communists and other dissident groups from the 1960’s into the early 1980’s. They suggest Bolsonaro might bring it back.
So far, the only thing Bolsonaro seems to be doing is keeping his campaign promises to fight corruption, roll back progressive social policies his socialist predecessor supported, and expand gun rights. But the American commentariat can do nothing but see everything through the lens of Trump and if you hate Trump, you must hate Bolsonaro apparently.
HOW ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO CUT STRAWBERRY SLICES FOR MY CEREAL BENNY??
But seriously, we are presented with a K-Bar knife at SEAL training graduation, engraved with the name of a fallen SEAL. Never Forget. https://t.co/ZEfI4M0dw3
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) January 11, 2019
Sure, Beto may have the social media upper hand now. But just wait until Joe Biden livestreams his nipple-piercing on Twitch.
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 10, 2019
On Greg Gutfeld, Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made the Mother of all Freudian Slips:
Kat Timpf wonder why he’s incapable of using Google…
Have relatives coming into town, so the LinkSwarm may be a tad light today.
So, the Washington Post says that Donald Trump wants to honor the military with a parade, which the Trump-haters inform us is the worst thing that ever was because it’s Donald Trump who wants to honor the military with a parade. The very day the Democrats decided that they should make fun of Trump’s physical disqualification for military service – Democrats were pretending to think not serving is bad that morning – the Donkeys also decided they needed to spazz out about honoring our troops.
Whap! That’s the sound of the Democrats stepping on another rake.
Is a parade a good idea? A bad idea? Irrelevant! It’s a hilarious idea, because when this idea erupted on social media, it was absolutely certain that the liberals would immediately take a position that required them to say, “No, we should totally not honor our troops.”
Also:
Every day, the Democrats seem intent on stepping on a new rake. The tax bill comes out, and the Democrats’ promise that those of us not already dead from Trump pulling us out of the Paris Climate Change Grift were going to be dead from getting more money back in our paychecks.
Whap! Rake! Because working folks keeping their own money is bad – for Democrat prospects.
Then a bunch of companies start giving bonuses to their employees, which the Dems pooh-pooh.
Whap! Rake! Because money not dispensed by Uncle Sucker doesn’t count or something.
And then Nancy Pelosi, the gift who keeps on gibbering, announces again and again that a grand is just “crumbs.”
Whap! Rake! Way to remind us why everyone hates San Francisco limo libs, Richie Witch.
With powerful midterm messages like, “We intend to repeal the tax reform bill that gave you Normals a few more bucks,” and “More illegal aliens or you’re racist!” the Democrats are a shoo-in to hold their House seats in Manhattan, Marin County, and Chicago!
(Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Well, that shutdown didn’t last long:
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer waved the white flag Monday, paving the way for an end to the three-day government shutdown many have named after the New York Democrat — and prompting liberal fury and conservatives’ mockery.
Democratic lawmakers initially refused Friday to support a continuing resolution to fund the government — unless the measure included amnesty for an estimated 800,000 individuals who qualified under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to remain in the U.S. with the parents who brought them here illegally.
But that changed on Monday as Schumer conceded, saying he would allow a vote without the DACA amnesty provision included. Republican leaders agreed, in return, to hold a Senate vote on an amnesty bill in February.
What did they get for abandoning their “deeply held principles” that illegal alien amnesty was more important than keeping the federal government running?
Democrats came away with two important things from the shutdown:
1.) Jack
2.) Squat— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2018
A few more reactions from Twitter:
Shutdown Schumer caved-military paychecks saved; @POTUS holds-Schumer folds. Lessons learned-Schumer burned; Build the wall-or lose it all.
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) January 22, 2018
The Media, Democrats & Twitter now have egg on their face after promoting #TrumpShutdown Now it the truth comes out that it was #SchumerShutdown as he embrasingly walks it back after realizing he just committed political suicide for Democrats #SchumerSellout Sen. Chuck Schumer
— Deplorable Melissa (@sweetatertot2) January 22, 2018
You’re a #Loser @SenSchumer and @realDonaldTrump is the #Winner!! We’re taking OUR COUNTRY BACK!#SchumerShutdown just turned to #SchumerSellout 😂🤣#MAGA#POTUS pic.twitter.com/dXfq65W3st
— MAGA 🥀 Amy 🇺🇸❤️🇺🇸 (@alozrasT11) January 22, 2018
"Democrats CAVED" and #SchumerSellout are both trending!
Which is vexing given that @TheDemocrats and the Media sold the #GovtShutdown as a #TrumpShutdown.
Oh! and the cherry on top was Trump was supposedly a TERRIBLE NEGOTIATOR! cc: @JoeNBC, @morningmika, #MorningJoe pic.twitter.com/tSGgta2NN3
— Boston🇺🇸Bobblehead (@DBloom451) January 22, 2018
For Democrats to cave so fast the internal polling most be even worse than we think. Did no one on the Democratic Party’s leadership team think to themselves “Hey, maybe caring more about the fate of some illegal aliens over those of the American people may not be a winning electoral strategy”?
Let’s let Willy explain just what Sen. Schumer earned from his little shutdown stunt:
(*Seriously, I have no idea how that whole Bills Mafia Folding Table thing came about and would like some Bills fan to explain it to me. SooperMexican, perhaps?)