Posts Tagged ‘Joe Biden’
Saturday, July 1st, 2023
In all the other Supreme Court news dropping, I didn’t have time to include the fact that the Supremes struck down Biden’s student loan forgiveness executive order.
The Supreme Court on Friday struck down President Biden’s student-loan-forgiveness program, finding that the statute the administration relied on in issuing the executive order does not give the secretary of education sweeping authority to forgive billions in student loans for tens of millions of Americans.
In the first of two cases the Court ruled unanimously that the individual plaintiffs lacked the standing to sue because they failed to establish harm. But in the second case, the Court ruled 6-3 that the state of Missouri had standing to sue and convincingly argued that President Biden lacked the authority to forgive student loans for entire categories of borrowers under the HEROES Act.
The Court’s precedent “requires that Congress speak clearly before a department secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.
“The Secretary asserts that the HEROES Act grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not,” Roberts goes on to write. “We hold today that the Act allows the Secretary to ‘waive or modify’ existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite that statute from the ground up.”
Roberts went on to cite a statement made by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), who in 2021 insisted that President Biden could not exercise executive authority in the name of “debt forgiveness,” to bolster the majority opinion.
“People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress,” the California Democrat said during a press conference in July 2021.
Snip.
In August of last year, the Biden administration announced an executive order that would cancel up to $20,000 in federal student-loan debt for those making less than $125,000 in income per year. The administration invoked the HEROES Act to justify the plan. It was the same statute that was invoked by former president Donald Trump’s education secretary, Betsey DeVos, to pause student-loan payments as well as the accrual of interest early in the pandemic.
Notice: Pause. Not forgive. There’s a vast difference.
It was always a crazy idea that the President of the United States could unilaterally forgive someone’s debt. This goes against the entirety of the English/American legal tradition, where debts are considered enforceable unless discharged by an action of the courts (such as in bankruptcy).
Joe Biden is not a king, nor does the cabal backing and ruling through him have the power to unilaterally forgive debts. We should all be glad the Supreme Court squashed this insane idea.
Tags:debt, Democrats, Department of Education, education, Joe Biden, Regulation, Supreme Court
Posted in Democrats, Supreme Court | 6 Comments »
Friday, June 30th, 2023
Another half year gone. In one way, it seems impossible that it’s flown by so quickly. In another, I certainly feel tired enough for that, and then some…
There’s a zillion Biden corruption links I could have added to this week’s LinkSwarm, so feel free to share your favorites in the comments.
“Prosecutor Reportedly Told Six Witnesses He Was Not Permitted To Charge Hunter Biden.”
U.S. Attorney David Weiss wanted to bring charges against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden in Washington, D.C., IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley said on Friday — and when he was reportedly barred from doing so, he told six witnesses.
Shapley testified on the matter last month, telling the House Oversight Committee that Weiss revealed in an October 2022, meeting that he had actually wanted to charge Hunter Biden in two federal districts but that he had been denied — and when Attorney General Merrick Garland denied that had ever happened, Shapley publicly named the witnesses he said Weiss had told.
“He surprised us by telling us on the charges, ‘I’m not the deciding official on whether charges are filed,’” Shapley told the committee when he testified in late May. “He then shocked us with the earth-shattering news that the Biden-appointed D.C. U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves would not allow him to charge in his district.
Shapley explained that by not allowing Weiss to file charges in D.C., Graves had effectively barred Weiss from seeking charges on crimes allegedly committed during 2014 and 2015 — including “foreign income from Burisma [Holdings] and a scheme to evade his income taxes through a partnership with a convicted felon … The purposeful exclusion of the 2014 and 2015 years sanitized the most substantive criminal conduct and concealed material facts.”
It was at that same meeting in October 2022 that Weiss said his request for special counsel authority had been denied, Shapley said. He was instead told to go through the regular process — which would have once again pitted him against a Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney.
(Hat tip: Instapundit.)
“‘Bidens are the Best’: Hunter Demanded $10M From Chinese Energy Company, Bragged About Connections.”
The House Oversight Committee released a Hunter Biden WhatsApp message to Communist Party-linked Chinese energy firm CEFC associate Gongwen Dong.
Hunter demanded $10 million because $5 million “is not acceptable obviously.”
Hunter then said his shell company Owasco “in consultation with Hudson” will determine his expenses along with the “BIDEN (loan 5M) capital.”
It also “baffled” Hunter if the “Chairman” didn’t think the relationship with the Bidens was worth at least $5 million.
Hunter reassured Gongwen that “The Bidens are the best I know at doing exactly what the Chairman wants from this partnership.”
Then Hunter told him not to “quibble over peanuts.”
Man, imagine having to complain about ONLY $5 million dollars.
Joe Biden actually picks up when journalist calls burner phone in Hunter Biden laptop docs.
Supreme Court strikes down Affirmative Action.
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the race-conscious admissions policies of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
“The Harvard and UNC admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause. Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points. We have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts for the six-justice majority.
However, universities may still consider an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. Roberts clarified that this does not mean universities can simply establish through application essays or other means the regime declared unlawful by the Court. It means, explained Roberts, “the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race.”
Of course our elite liberal institutions are furious, since they desperately want to discriminate the basis of race.
Another Russian war crime: “Russia executed 77 civilians detained by its forces.”
“First transgender state rep in NH charged with child pornography.” Try to contain your shock. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
“The IC Inspector General: China Hacked All of Hillary’s State Dept. Classified Emails. FBI: So What, She’s a Democrat.”
Despite lifting of Flu Manchu restrictions, U.S./China flights are only running at 6% of their previous volume.
It’s riot season in France again.
“Democratic Donor Arrested and Charged With Setting Destructive Wildfire That Democrats Blamed on Climate Change.”
Statewide malaria alert in Florida. Cue the MSM stating this is all DeSantis’ fault.
Paragraph 2: National Geographic magazine (now owned by Disney) laid off its last remaining staff writers. Paragraph 14: “Among those who lost their jobs in the latest layoff was Debra Adams Simmons, who only last September was promoted to vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at National Geographic Media.” Usually it takes longer for DEI to destroy a company… (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Speaking of Disney disasters, Indiana Jones and the Dial Up Internet of Depravity: “What a fucking incomprehensible calamity of a film this is. I mean, I’d be lying if I said I went into it expecting great things, but Jesus Fucking Mother of Christ, this was worse than anything I could have imagined.”
eBay has glitch that adds sold items as available.
“7 Simple Ways To Get Away With A Massive Foreign Bribery Scheme.” “Get one of your immediate family members elected to a powerful office: Like your father, for one completely random example.”
“Hollywood Concerned As They’re Running Out Of Beloved Movie Heroes To Turn Into Sad, Pathetic Old Failures.”
“Karine Jean-Pierre Throws Smoke Bomb And Disappears When Asked About Hunter Biden Texts.”
Baily loves tiny bunny.
Tags:Affirmative Action, bribes, CEFC China Energy, China, corruption, David Weiss, Debra Adams, Democrats, Disney, dogs, eBay, Edward Fredrick Wackerman, Florida, France, Gongwen Dong, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, LinkSwarm, Media Watch, pedophilia, racism, riot, Russia, Russo-Ukrainian War, Social Justice Warriors, Stacie-Marie Laughton, Supreme Court, transexual, war crimes
Posted in Communism, Crime, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Global Warming, Media Watch, Social Justice Warriors, Supreme Court, Waste and Fraud | 5 Comments »
Friday, June 16th, 2023
More Biden corruption comes to light, California gets even more crazy, and two former European Prime Ministers step out of the spotlight in different ways.
“House Oversight Chairman Says There Is Evidence Of $20-$30 Million Of Illegal Payments To Bidens.”
House Oversight Chairman James Comer revealed Thursday that he expects there is evidence of at least $20-$30 million being made in illegal payments by foreign nationals to the Biden family.
Appearing on Fox Business, Comer stated “We have more bank records coming in but we’re gonna exceed $10 million this week but I think we’ll get up to $20-$30 million.”
He further noted that it is becoming clear that the Bidens potentially engaged in bribery, influence peddling, and money laundering.
“This is going to be hard for Biden to explain, this is not going to go away, and I think eventually the mainstream media is going to start asking the real questions,” Comer added.
“They know there’s something wrong here. They know all the allegations have merit, because of where Joe Biden was, because of what we’ve seen on tape before, where Joe Biden bragged about firing that prosecutor,” he added,
“They know that this family created these shell companies. They know this family was money-laundering, they were profiting off Joe Biden’s influence,” Comer asserted, adding “The media knows that – they’re just not covering it.”
“I can assure you: there is more money that we’re going to be able to identify, that was transferred between foreign nationals in other countries and the Biden family,” Comer further emphasized, adding “I think, eventually, the mainstream media will turn on Joe Biden and start asking the real questions: ‘What did your family do to receive all this money?’”
Speaking of Biden family corruption: “House Oversight Panel Subpoenas Former Hunter Biden Associate Devon Archer…[The committee] is particularly interested in Archer’s involvement in the family’s international business deals, which included countries like China, Russia, and Ukraine.” Archer was in Global Seneca Partners with Hunter Biden and John Kerry’s stepson.
Meanwhile, Robert Hur, the special council charged with investigating Biden, seems to have fallen off the face of the earth.
Biden recession update: Average real weekly earnings have dropped for the 26th consecutive month. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
California advances bill to help shoplifters steal.
“Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison stepped down this week as the progressive-run city struggles with homicides, a drug crisis, and a troubling rise in violence involving teenagers.” Time to pull this out again:
Illegal aliens try to hijack merchant ship with knives. Italian commandos demonstrate that’s a bad idea.
Jihadis kill nine in Congo.
The Netherlands are closing the largest natural gas field in Europe.
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s longest-serving prime minister, dead at 86. Berlusconi revived Italy’s economy, but then couldn’t keep it out of the PIIGS. But for a whilehe kept the wolves at bay.
Also stepping out of the spotlight this week: Former UK Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned from Parliment. Other than getting Brexit accomplished, Johnson’s tenure seemed all sizzle and no steak.
California’s unrealistic environmental policies are creating a trucking nightmare.
In April 2023, an unelected Board in California voted to force trucking companies to buy zero-emission trucks. This technology is at early-stage adoption in limited segments, and infrastructure buildout is lagging behind what is required to support electrification in our industry. The Board unanimously advanced the Advanced Clean Fleet rule to accompany California’s equally tough electric vehicle sales mandate regulation, the Advanced Clean Truck rule, that would require truck manufacturers to sell zero-emission vehicles. These two regulations together are designed to create an artificial electric vehicle market sooner rather than later.
This new rule was made at the behest of the environmental lobby, which pushed for unrealistic targets and unachievable timelines that will undoubtedly lead to higher prices for goods delivered to the state and fewer options for consumers. ATA has strongly opposed this rule from the outset and testified at a hearing in Sacramento to express the trucking industry’s concerns directly to the Board.
Snip.
Today’s clean diesel trucks can spend 15 minutes fueling anywhere in the country and then travel about 1,200 miles before fueling again. In contrast, today’s zero-emission trucks:
- Have significantly less range of about 150-330 miles between charging or refueling;
- Need to be charged or refueled more often and for longer periods of time leading to unproductive downtime;
- Cost two to three times more than a comparable clean-diesel truck; and
- Weigh thousands of pounds more, reducing payload capacity and requiring more trucks and drivers to move the same amount of freight.
Also: “The California Energy Commission estimates that 157,000 chargers will need to be installed by 2030 to support California’s heavy-duty vehicle electrification goals.” Assuming there’s enough Lithium in the world for the batteries… (Hat tip: TPPF.)
Hope for San Francisco? Residents replace drug-addicted transients on their local sidewalks with large planters.
Two Russian oil tanks collide for exactly the reasons you would expect.
“DNC Generously Offers To Host Rally For Robert F. Kennedy Jr. By Grassy Knoll.”
“Satan Asks LGBTQ Community To Please Tone It Down A Bit.”
Tags:Baltimore, Biden Recession, Boris Johnson, Congo, Conservatives, corruption, Democrats, Devon Archer, Foreign Policy, Fox News, hijacking, homeless, Hunter Biden, Italy, James Comer, Jihad, Joe Biden, Media Watch, Michael Harrison, natural gas, Netherlands, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Robert Hur, Russia, San Francisco, Silvio Berlusconi, UK
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Media Watch, Social Justice Warriors, video, Waste and Fraud | 4 Comments »
Thursday, June 15th, 2023
Slowly but surely the relics of governmental overreach in the name of containing Flu Manchu are being rolled back. Texas Governor Greg Abbott finally announced he was letting his three year old emergency declaration lapse. (Are you sure you’re not rushing there, governor?)
Now a federal court has slapped down Biden’s vaccine mandate on the National Guard.
Just hours after Gov. Greg Abbott finally ended the COVID-19 disaster declaration, he announced that he won an appeals case against the Biden administration for attempting to enforce vaccine mandates on the Texas National Guard.
In January 2022, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden to stop him from forcing the Texas Army National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard to get coronavirus vaccinations.
Over a year later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued its ruling that the Constitution and laws of the United States deny Biden the power to punish members of the Texas National Guard if they refused to get injected with the vaccine.
Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham stated in his opinion that he rejects the president’s assertion of power over the members because they were not called into national service.
In this case, President Biden imposed and then repealed a mandate requiring State militiamen to take the COVID-19 vaccine. And now that the President has rescinded the vaccine requirement, he wants to retain the power to punish militia members who refused to get the shots while the mandate was in effect—all without calling them into national service. We reject the President’s assertion of power because it would undermine one of the most important compromises in the Constitution. If the Constitution’s text, history, and tradition make anything clear, it’s that the President can punish members of the Texas militia only after calling them into federal service.
In Paxton’s lawsuit, he argued that neither the president nor federal military officials can force the state’s National Guard to comply with vaccination mandates.
“Neither the President nor federal military officials can order the Governor of Texas and non-federalized National Guardsmen to comply with a vaccination mandate or to direct a particular disciplinary action for failure to comply,” Paxton’s office wrote in a press release. “President Biden is not those troops’ commander-in-chief; Governor Abbott is.”
There seems to be no constitutional limit statists won’t override in their eternal, all-encompassing quest for dominion over others. Eternal vigilance is still the price of freedom.
Tags:Andrew Oldham, coronavirus, Greg Abbott, Joe Biden, Ken Paxton, National Guard, Texas, vaccine mandate
Posted in Regulation, Texas | 1 Comment »
Saturday, June 3rd, 2023
If you want to look at a big story the mainstream media continues to suppress, the entire contents of Hunter Biden’s infamous “Laptop from Hell” are now online.
And not only his laptop, but stuff from his iPhone as well.
There are the salacious photos you would expect (pics of his dick and what appear to be naked, under-aged girls, pics of a woman giving him a blowjob in-between puffs on her cigarette, etc., all censored).
Some of it is suggestive of Biden Family corruption, like the famous “Big Guy” memo.
Some of it is innocuous: Map snaps, pics of food, pics of sunsets, vacation photos, pictures of kids (presumably some his own, and presumably ones he’s not having sex with), etc.
Some of it is just weird. There seem to be dozens of pictures of a flashlight beam shining through what I assume are crack pipe fumes in a darkened room.
Arty
There’s no doubt this is a rich treasure trove for bloggers and investigative reporters with some free time to dig through. (Alas, that’s not me right now, because books.)
In a related story, the FBI has begrudgingly agreed to turn over evidence of Biden corruption to a congressional committee on Monday.
How nice of them…
Tags:corrupt scumbags, corruption, Crime, Democrats, FBI, fraud, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden
Posted in Crime, Democrats, Waste and Fraud | 5 Comments »
Friday, May 12th, 2023
Biden family corruption, Hollywood fumbles, Poland rising, and a whole bunch of NFL teams you’ve never heard of. It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!
House Republicans reveal details of Biden crime family.
The Biden family and its business associates created a complicated web of more than 20 companies, according to bank records obtained by the House Oversight Committee — a system, GOP lawmakers say, that was meant to conceal money received from foreign nationals.
Sixteen of the companies were limited liability companies formed during Joe Biden’s tenure as vice president, the committee said in a press conference on Wednesday. The Biden family, their business associates, and their companies received more than $10 million from foreign nationals’ and their related companies, the records show. These payments occurred both while Biden was in office as vice president and after his time in office ended.
In what Representative Nancy Mace called an act of “financial gymnastics,” many payments were routed from foreign companies to the Biden family’s business associates’ companies which then doled out payments to the Bidens in incremental payments to different bank accounts in an alleged attempt to hide the source of the funds.
At least nine Biden family members received payments, according to committee chairman James Comer. That includes Hunter Biden; James Biden; James Biden’s wife, Sara Jones Biden; the late Beau Biden’s wife, Hallie Biden; Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle; Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen; and “three children of the president’s son and the president’s brother.”
Much of the money came from Chinese nationals and companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Multiple Biden family members received money after it passed through an associate’s account. Comer said of the countries the Biden family was influence peddling in, China is “the most reputable.”
The committee revealed Wednesday that records suggest the Biden family and its associates’ business dealings in Romania “bear clear indication of a scheme to peddle influence” from 2015 to 2017.
At the time, then-Vice President Biden spoke out against Romanian corruption while the Biden family received more than a million dollars from a company controlled by a Romanian national, Gabriel Popoviciu. Popoviciu, who has been accused of corruption, sent the money through a Biden family associate, according to the committee. Sixteen of the seventeen payments involved in the deal occurred while Biden was still in office. The money “stops flowing from the Romanian national soon after Joe Biden leaves the vice presidency,” Comer said.
The Bidens also received “millions of dollars from China,” with Comer saying it is “inconceivable that the president did not know” about the payments.
Comer said the information revealed Wednesday is the result of subpoenas to four different banks and stressed that the committee is still early in its investigation and believes there are as many as 12 banks with records relevant to its investigation.
Naturally, the mainstream media are doing their very best to ignore these revelations…
How badly the Biden Recession screwing the Democrats? Elizabeth Warren is trailing possible Republican challenger Charlie Baker by 15 points. Early poll caveats apply, but this is Massachusetts. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Man whose ad campaigns made Bud Light #1 complains that Budweiser’s tranny pander has destroyed all his work in a week.
“Why shouldn’t Poland be richer than Britain?”
You might have noticed a meme floating around the media about how Britons could become “no better off than people living in Poland”. “If the UK continues with the same level of growth it has seen for the last decade,” writes Sam Ashworth-Hayes, “Poland will be richer than Britain in about 12 years’ time”:
It sounds like an absurd idea that in 2040 we might see complaints in the Polish press about a flood of British plumbers undercutting wages, or Brytyjski Skleps lining the rougher areas of Warsaw, but it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.
This talking point has also appeared in the Telegraph, the Express and the Financial Times. It often comes with a sense of vague alarm and bewilderment. Poland? The post-communist place? Don’t they live entirely off vodka and potatoes? Don’t they have horses clippety-cloppeting down the streets selling women’s underwear pinched off a truck in Germany? Poland?
Having lived in Poland for nine years, I can say that I am not at all surprised by these projections. To be clear, that is all they are — projections. A lot can change in nine years, in Britain and in Poland.
Still, I think a lot of British people would be surprised by how much better things can be in the land of Lech Wałęsa and John Paul II. Equally, a lot of Polish people would be surprised by how much worse things can be in Britain — given that a lot of Poles of my acquaintance appear to think that getting rich in the U.K. is as easy as walking outside with a wheelbarrow and catching the banknotes that rain down from the sky.
Britain has had minimal economic growth for years. Poland has long been enjoying some of the highest economic growth in Europe. It even emerged from the pandemic better off than other European nations with, as Paweł Bukowski and Wojtek Paczos wrote for the LSE, “a relatively lax approach to economic lockdown and a bit of sheer luck”.
Institutions often seem to work better as well. I can generally visit a GP on the day I call. Britons often have to wait for more than a week. Maternal mortality is higher in the UK — and infant mortality is about the same, despite Britain being much richer overall. Actually, Polish life expectancy as whole is just a touch shorter than British life expectancy, despite the nation having a lot more smokers.
Polish kids have ranked higher on the PISA education rankings than British kids — ranking, indeed, the third highest in Europe in science and maths, and the fourth in reading comprehension. Poland is a more peaceful place than Britain, with murder and rape generally being rarer (granted, statistics in the latter case are famously difficult to trust). Terrorism, for reasons I leave to the reader, has been almost non-existent in Polish society.
Some Polish achievements are more difficult to quantify. In Britain, the 20th century was marked by a curious habit of ripping down beautiful buildings and constructing ugly ones. Poland, meanwhile, has been beautifully renovating and reconstructing many of its urban spaces, pursuing a philosophy of “preservation meets modernisation”. Warsaw and Kraków are famous enough, but travellers could also visit lovely towns and cities like Wrocław, Toruń and Gdańsk — or my own, Tarnowskie Góry.
Also, Poland seems to have actual conservatives who aren’t afraid to push for the right policies, instead of timid functionaries scared of their own shadow.
UK sends Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Chile nationalizes lithium. Peter Zeihan thinks this hurts China worst, but that’s one of his go-to conclusions…
King Charles III crowned. I have no strong opinions on this. It’s a hard gig to screw up, and they’ve had worse kings…
Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss says that Hollywood mandatory diversity rules make him vomit.
Texas republican state representative Bryan Slaton resigns over wine-and-bang sex with underage (for alcohol) staffer. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Last quarter, Disney+ lost 2.4 million subscribers. But this quarter is different! This quarter, Disney+ lost 4 million subscribers.
Related. “They got these ulterior motives, and you know, it’s about this this sort of political shit. And, yeah, I guess that’s part of it. But a lot of it is just these guys are just fucking stupid.”
This won’t end well: “UFC fighter says he could beat up any 10 ‘trans men’ at the same time, trans wrestler challenges him to 1-on-1 fight.”
Huge floods in China.
“Golden Corral saved my life.”
“Biden Unable To Participate In Democratic Debates Due To Looming Screenwriters Strike.”
Oh no, not the bees!
Competitive tag. I’d still watch this over golf.
Like most people from Houston, I have little use for the BESFs Tennessee Titans, but this is pretty funny.
Cajun Dog is not tired of your shenanigans:
(Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Tags:2024 Election, Biden Recession, Bryan Slaton, Budweiser, Charles III, Charlie Baker, Chile, China, corrupt scumbags, corruption, Disney, dogs, Elizabeth Warren, Gabriel Popoviciu, Hallie Biden, Hollywood, Hunter Biden, James Biden, Joe Biden, Kathleen Buhle, LinkSwarm, Massachusetts, Melissa Cohen, NFL, polls, Romania, Sara Jones Biden, Social Justice Warriors, supply chain, Texas, transexual, UK
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 21st, 2023
I finally finished and sent off my taxes this week. It’s a load off my mind! Now I can get back to my low calorie life substitute!
This week: The Biden Administration tries to cram transexism down America’s throat, more Blue City crime dysfunction, and the Babylon Bee is on fire!
“How Americans have taken a pay cut every month since Biden took office.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has laid out the devastating results of runaway government spending on the middle class and why it’s so important to claw back lost ground for the average American, who has “received a pay cut for 24 consecutive months … as inflation has persisted.”
He also noted the average American family has lost the equivalent of more than $7,000 in annual income.
There is a direct link between spending, borrowing and printing trillions of dollars, and these disastrous results for Americans.
President Biden has spent trillions of dollars the nation didn’t have.
These unchecked costs drove the deficit to record highs and pushed the debt over $31 trillion.
(Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Ex-Planned Parenthood exec commits suicide after botched child porn raid in Connecticut.
A former Connecticut Planned Parenthood honcho took his own life days after police failed to arrest him on child pornography charges — botching the raid by knocking down the door of the suspect’s New Haven neighbor.
Tim Yergeau, 36, the former director of strategic communications at the Southern New England branch of Planned Parenthood, died by suicide on Tuesday amid a child pornography investigation in Connecticut last week.
The Biden Administration desperately wants to cram transexism down America’s throats.
The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled a proposal that would prohibit schools from instituting policies that “categorically ban transgender students from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.” The policy would allow schools to implement certain limitations in the interest of fairness or safety, however.
The proposed rule, which would impact any school or college that receives federal funding, would expand Title IX protections to include gender identity. Under the proposal, a “one-size-fits-all” ban on transgender athletes playing on teams that match their stated gender identity would be a violation of Title IX. The rule, which is likely to face challenges, will face a lengthy approval process.
This is, in fact, the exact opposite of the text of Title IX, which provides special protection for biological women, not men pretending to be women.
“Pennsylvania Teachers, Activists Concocted Bogus LGBTQ Bullying Epidemic for Political Gain, Investigation Finds.”
Meanwhile, Twitter has moved in the opposite direction, saying it will no longer ban users for “misgendering” or “dead-naming,” i.e. daring to say that a biological man is a man.
Meanwhile, Democrats in Minnesota are planning to shove social justice down children’s throats.
Under the radar, a package of bills is ramming through sweeping changes that will reorient our public schools around a new paradigm — subordinating academic basics to an obsessive, politicized preoccupation with race and social justice activism.
“Critical Social Justice” ideology (CSJ) — the vehicle for manipulating our young people into adopting this worldview — is laced strategically through a variety of bills, including “ethnic studies” (HF 1502), “Teachers of Color” (HF 320) and now the House and Senate omnibus education bills (HF 2497/SF 2684).
Taken together, this legislation will inject reductive, racialized thinking into every classroom in Minnesota’s approximately 500 school districts and charter schools; change the fundamental mechanics of education in our state; and give the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) broad new powers that amount to an end-run around our state’s hallowed tradition of local control.
More blue city dysfunction. “Portland REI to Close Due to Record Number of Break-Ins, Thefts.”
California’s crazy program to subsidize poor home owners with mortgage down-payments runs out of money in 12 days.
Related: “Joe Biden Wants Homebuyers With Good Credit to Subsidize High Risk Mortgages.”
“TikTok’s Democrat Lobbyists Visited Biden White House At Least 40 Times In Past Year.” Beijing Joe likes his dough.
Here’s a story I missed earlier: “Kazakhstan Impounds Property of Roscosmos Subsidiary.” That’s the Russian company that’s the main operator of Baikonur spaceport. Haven’t seen any resolution to this, mainly because Russia is so broke thanks to mismanagement, sanctions, and an illegal war of territorial aggression.
“Ruh-roh!”
ATF Director Steve Dettelbach says he’s not a firearms expert. Sounds like he should have another job.
No wonder they hid it. “Louisville Shooter’s Manifesto Details His Intent To Push Gun Control.”
“Anheuser-Busch Thinks We’re Idiots.” (Hat tip: Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit.)
BuzzFeed shuts down. Dwight whipped this up:
Jay Leno drives the 1,025 horsepower 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170. I have an irrational desire to own something with a Hellcat engine, which I need like I need a hole in my head. Plus I like the look of the Shelby GT-500 Mustang better, and I’m not buying one of those either.
Size comparison video of different science fiction starships.
“Disney World Forced To Close After DeSantis Builds Elementary School Within 1,000 Feet.”
“Disney has proudly employed sex predators for years, and this act of aggression by DeSantis will force thousands of our proud pedo-American workers to leave the park to stay outside the 1,000-foot radius required by law,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger. “This is tyranny!”
“Hasbro Introduces New ‘Transition Me Elmo’ Doll.”
“Budweiser Replaces Clydesdales With Cows Dressed As Horses.”
“Chicago Mayor Warns That If Local Walmart Locations Close People Will Have Fewer Places To Shoplift.”
“Newlyweds In San Francisco Looking For Nice One Bedroom, Zero Bath Starter Tent.”
Tags:ATF, Babylon Bee, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Biden Recession, Budweiser, California, cars, Chicago, China, Crime, Democrats, Disney, Dodge, inflation, Jay Leno, Joe Biden, Kazakhstan, LinkSwarm, Media Watch, pedophilia, Planned Parenthood, Portland, Regulation, Ron DeSantis, Russia, Russo-Ukrainian War, science fiction, Social Justice Warriors, space, Steve Dettelbach, Tik-Tok, Tim Yergeau, transexual, Twitter
Posted in Crime, Democrats, Guns, Media Watch, Military, Regulation, Social Justice Warriors, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | 4 Comments »
Sunday, March 5th, 2023
This story seems like it should be a bigger deal:
Blackstone (NYSE:BX) has defaulted on part of a €531M bond backed by a commercial portfolio owned by Finnish property investment firm Sponda, which it acquired in 2017.
The private equity firm has repaid almost half of that figure, closer to €300M, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Currently €297.1M of the loan remains outstanding, according to ratings agency Fitch. The loan is secured against 45 properties in Finland, most of which are offices and the rest are stores.
Blackstone (BX) earlier sought an extension from holders of the securitized notes so that it could sell the assets and repay the debt, Bloomberg reported citing people aware of the matter. The commercial mortgage-backed security has since matured, without being repaid.
A Blackstone (BX) spokesperson told Seeking Alpha that “this debt relates to a small portion of the Sponda portfolio. We are disappointed that the servicer has not advanced our proposal, which we believe would deliver the best outcome for noteholders.”
Translation: “Shut up and let us force our losses on you rather than taking them ourselves.”
Though off in Finland, this story should probably receive more notice due to the “mortgage-backed” angle.
Remember the 2008 Subprime Meltdown, fueled by easy taxpayer-backed Fannie Mae money and bundled subprime mortgage securities? And how all sorts of banking fatcats got bailed out and never paid a price for their shenanigans?
Well, mortgage backed assets never went away, they just moved into commercial real estate. There’s untold trillions of dollars in Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) across the world, and almost no one is keeping track of them. The average retail investor probably knows less about CMBS now than they did about subprime mortgages in 2008.
And you know one of the hardest-hit sectors following the Flu Manchu lockdowns? Commercial real estate. A whole lot of companies figured out that a whole lot of their work force can work from home, freeing them from having to pay expensive rent on office space.
Add to that the fact that the way CMBS are structured has immediate negative consequences on several cities. Because the rules of many CMBS state that the value of a property doesn’t need to be reevaluated as long as the asking price per square foot doesn’t change, commercial real estate spaces stay vacant for years rather than lowering their prices, screwing would-be renters and shrinking tax bases. (Louis Rossmann has been ranting about this for years.)
Letting valuation get too out-of-whack with reality you get bursting bubbles and market panics. Blackstone Group is the largest commercial real estate owner in the United States. And they’ve been having other financial difficulties.
Blackstone Inc’s (BX.N) fourth-quarter distributable earnings fell 41% year-on-year as the world’s largest manager of alternative assets said on Thursday it cashed out fewer investments across key portfolios.
Blackstone has been dealing with rising redemptions at its flagship real estate income trust (BREIT), prompting the private equity firm to exercise its right to block investor withdrawals at 5% of the quarterly net asset value of the fund.
That’s not exactly a sign of unassailable strength.
Blackstone also gives political donations generously to both parties. Oh, and Chuck Schumer’s son-in-law works there. And Blackstone’s president Jonathan Gray and executive chairman Tony James were both big Biden backers in 2020.
I am very far indeed from being an expert on how Blackstone has structured its various holdings. I suspect that its various funds and trusts and CMBS are all well-siloed and isolated from each other, which is the smart way to do things. But The Biden Recession That Dare Not Speak Its Name, falling real estate prices, frozen rental prices and huge shift in the need for commercial real estate all point to some very difficult challenges for Blackstone to navigate.
Given the amount money Blackstone has spread around to the Chuck Schumers of the world, expect that there are going to be a whole lot of swamp creatures ready and willing to make any serious Blackstone financial problem into a big problem for the America taxpayer.
Tags:bailout, Blackstone Group, Chuck Schumer, Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS), Democrats, Finland, Joe Biden, Jonathan Gray, Louis Rossmann, Sponda, Tony James
Posted in Democrats, Economics | 6 Comments »
Friday, February 24th, 2023
Sunday and Monday this week, I gathered up all my dead branches from the ice storm along the curb in advance of Tuesday’s announced neighborhood-wide branch pickup. I know it’s going to take some time, but it’s Friday and I see no signs that brush has been cleared from anyone’s curbs…
The radical social justice left in action: “Transgender Cannibal Baby-Rapist Put in Women’s Prison Near Mother-and-Baby Unit.”
Russian revenue fell by 35% in January from a year ago.
How is Joe Biden allowed to bail out the teamster’s private pension fund to the tune of $36 billion? And how much of the original pension fund money was raked off to organized crime or the Democratic Party (assuming there’s a meaningful distinction between the two)? (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis launches crackdown on ESG firms using state funds.
He said ESG poses a threat to the American Economy and individual economic freedom, he further said it’s an attempt for corporate’s elite to discriminate against those who do follow a particular “ideological agenda.” His proposal will outlaw this.
“By applying arbitrary ESG financial metrics that serve no one except the companies that created them, elites are circumventing the ballot box to implement a radical ideological agenda. Through this legislation, we will protect the investments of Floridians and the ability of Floridians to participate in the economy,” DeSantis said, at the news conference.
Meanwhile, California’s budget deficit is even worse than previous thought.
Heh. “Federal District Court Judge Orders Illinois to Show Examples of Every Newly-Banned Firearm.” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Maybe they should spend more time on schools instead. “Not A Single Student Can Do Math At Grade Level In 53 Illinois Schools.”
“Judy Monro-Leighton, one of three women who accused now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, was found to have lied during a congressional investigation and is now being charged with making materially false statements and obstruction.”
Stop treating the delusions of insane transsexual activists as though they’re real. (Hat tip: Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit.)
Hmmmmm. “Birth Rates Plunge in Heavily Vaccinated Countries.”
Drug-using transients force Seattle woman to close her family business and move away after 116 years in business.
“Meet the Woke Activists behind the Roald Dahl Book Purge.
“Ex-MSNBC host Krystal Ball says she had to get permission to criticize Hillary Clinton.”
Related: Trust in news collapses to a historic low.
Japan pulls a 180 and embraces nuclear power.
Nicaragua’s scumbag commie government sentences Roman Catholic bishop Roland Alvarez to 26 years in prison for “treason” for daring to stand up for Catholics and refusing to be exiled.
“Operation Choke Point 2.0 Is Underway, And Crypto Is In Its Crosshairs.”
What began as a trickle is now a flood: the US government is using the banking sector to organize a sophisticated, widespread crackdown against the crypto industry. And the administration’s efforts are no secret: they’re expressed plainly in memos, regulatory guidance, and blog posts. However, the breadth of this plan — spanning virtually every financial regulator — as well as its highly coordinated nature, has even the most steely-eyed crypto veterans nervous that crypto businesses might end up completely unbanked, stablecoins may be stranded and unable to manage flows in and out of crypto, and exchanges might be shut off from the banking system entirely. Let’s dig in.
For crypto firms, obtaining access to the onshore banking system has always been a challenge. Even today, crypto startups struggle mightily to get banks, and only a handful of boutiques serve them. This is why stablecoins like Tether found popularity early on: to facilitate fiat settlement where the rails of traditional banking were unavailable. However, in recent weeks, the intensity of efforts to ringfence the entire crypto space and isolate it from the traditional banking system have ratcheted up significantly. Specifically, the Biden administration is now executing what appears to be a coordinated plan that spans multiple agencies to discourage banks from dealing with crypto firms. It applies to both traditional banks who would serve crypto clients, and crypto-first firms aiming to get bank charters. It includes the administration itself, influential members of Congress, the Fed, the FDIC, the OCC, and the DoJ. Here’s a recap of notable events concerning banks and the policy establishment in recent weeks:
- On Dec. 6, Senators Elizabeth Warren, John Kennedy, and Roger Marshall send a letter to crypto-friendly bank Silvergate, scolding them for providing services to FTX and Alameda research, and lambasting them for failing to report suspicious activities associated with those clients
- On Dec. 7, Signature (among the most active banks serving crypto clients) announces its intent to halve deposits ascribed to crypto clients — in other words, they’ll give customers their money back, then shut down their accounts — drawing its crypto deposits down from $23b at peak to $10b, and to exit its stablecoin business
- On Jan. 3, the Fed, the FDIC, and the OCC release a joint statement on the risks to banks engaging with crypto, not explicitly banning banks’ ability to hold crypto or deal with crypto clients, but strongly discouraging them from doing so on a “safety and soundness” basis
- On Jan. 9, Metropolitan Commercial Bank (one of the few banks that serve crypto clients) announces a total shutdown of its cryptoasset-related vertical.
More at the link. I’ve long been skeptical of cryptocurrency advocates assertion that crypto provides a useful alternative to government-backed fiat currency. But it sure looks like the federal government is acting like that’s the case…
An important message about eternal truths from well-known biologist Fred Rogers:
Sudden Clinton Death Syndrome strikes again. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Apple is working on adding glucose monitoring to the Apple Watch. Faster, please. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
CRT-pushing commie Angela Davis finds out that one of her ancestors was on the Mayflower.
A British farmer reviews Clarkson’s Farm. He says despite obvious setup bits, a lot of it (like the unexpected catastrophes and intractable town council bureaucracy) rings true.
Dog flu on the rise.
How the Texas system of Farm-to-Market Roads came to be built.
Pneumatic cafe.
Every book I bought in 2022.
“Romney Attacks George Santos: ‘There’s Only Room For One Fake Republican In Congress.'”
Tags:Angela Davis, Apple, Bitcoin, Brett Kavanaugh, Communism, Crime, cryptocurrency, Daniel Ortega, Democrats, dogs, Environmental Social Governance (ESG), Florida, fraud, FTX, Guns, ice storm, Illinois, Japan, Jeremy Clarkson, Joe Biden, Judy Monro-Leighton, Krystal Ball, LinkSwarm, Media Watch, MSNBC, Nicaragua, nuclear power, Roald Dahl, Ron DeSantis, Russia, Seattle, Sudden Clinton Death Syndrome, Teamsters, unions, Welfare State
Posted in Budget, Communism, Crime, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Guns, Media Watch, Military, Obama Scandals, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Supreme Court, Texas, Uncategorized, unions, video, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »
Monday, January 16th, 2023
As revelations continue to roll out about a third set of classified documents being illegally kept by Joe Biden, and crackhead son Hunter Biden paying The Big Guy $50,000 a month to rent his house (which would have meant that Hunter only got to keep $33,333 of his Burisma salary…assuming there was no other graft being passed on) a question occurs to me: Which Democratic Kingmaker(s) want to force Biden out of office?
With midterms safely past, news about the classified documents (which was known in advance of the midterms) was allowed to leak out, indicating that whoever arranged Slow Joe’s greased-skid path to the White House has lost confidence in his ability not to screw things up so badly that Democrats get slaughtered in 2024. And this despite the decided unpopularity both of VP Kamala Harris and backup catspaw Pete Buttigieg. My working theory is that the same people who installed Biden will try to install Gavin Newsom in 2024.
But the question is who is calling the shots in the Democratic Party? George Soros? Barack Obama? Valerie Jarrett? Ron Klain? Randi Weingarten? (I might previously have included Tom Steyer on this list, but if he really were calling the shots he wouldn’t have tried that disasterous presidential run.)
If you have good theories and solid evidence on who is actually calling the shots in the Democratic Party these days (and thus the likely candidate for wanting to push Biden out), let me know in the comments below. As Instapundit noted, those that foisted Joe Biden on us have an awful lot to answer for…
Tags:2024 Presidential Race, corruption, Crime, Democrats, Elections, George Soros, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, Obama, Randi Weingarten, Ron Klain, Valerie Jarrett
Posted in Crime, Democrats, Elections, Waste and Fraud | 27 Comments »