The Morning Report — 1/26/23

Good morning kids. So, Kevin McLuntz is now being praised for unflinchingly doing what anyone in his position had to do without even giving it a second thought in kicking Schiff-for-Brains, Flatulent Fang-Banging Swallwell and the Jew-hating Bro-Fo the hell off of the intelligence committees. The cherry on the parfait was telling the propagandists to go eff themselves when they attacked him. Bravo. Well done. And for me, big friggin' deal.

If Kevin McCarthy really wanted to impress me and perhaps begin to gain some of my respect, he would be leading the charge in dismantling the Federal government. That is, not just cutting the budget, which in DC speak means only decreasing the rate that at which the budget is increased (that is the agreed upon definition of budget cuts in DC so Dems can rile up their base and the GOP can appease theirs depending on the breaks). But in real terms actually cutting spending.

Aside from merely bankrupting us and our children's children's children, the size and scope of government is in direct proportion to the freedom and prosperity that is lost by the individual citizen. For the first time in history, a nation was founded on the bedrock principle that political power is vested first and foremost in the individual, and not in the government. That nation was called America. It's painfully obvious that it no longer exists and really has not existed for many years if not decades already.

So, with this debt ceiling "crisis" yet again coming into the fore, what did McCarthy do?

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) that Republcans would not make cuts to social security or Medicare to offset the debt ceiling during a meeting on Tuesday, according to Punch Bowl News co-founder Jake Sherman.

Sherman noted in a tweet that Manchin also “hopes” President Joe Biden will negotiate with Republicans, who want spending cuts in exchange for their help raising the debt ceiling. . .

. . . Manchin predicted that there would be no social security cuts to anyone already receiving benefits and asserted that “everyone’s using that as a leverage,” as CNN’s Daniella Diaz and Paul LeBlanc reported.

He did, however, indicate “He was open to raising the income cap for Social Security taxes,” according to the article.

Former President Donald Trump has sternly warned Republicans against making cuts to either social security or Medicare, noting that there was plenty of wasteful spending that could be cut instead.

“Cut waste, fraud, and abuse everywhere that we can find it, and there’s plenty of it, but do not cut the benefits our seniors worked for and paid for their entire lives. Save social security, don’t destroy it,” he warned.

So, there goes our hero McCarthy assuring Manchin that the sacred and sacrosanct "entitlements" will not be cut. Heaven forfend. Meh, I shouldn't just blast away at McCarthy. There is plenty of blame to go around. And while President Trump is correct about waste, fraud and abuse, the very thing that destroyed him, a feral Bureaucracy that only exists because we are forced to pay for it, is the root cause and is ignored. If we're really honest with ourselves, too many of us look upon "entitlements" as just that. Sure, we paid into it and of course are "entitled" to get the returns, but it's bankrupt. Gone. Bernie Madoff? Sam the Sham Bankman-Bank Fraud? Charles Ponzi? Pfft. Their entire takes combined are a rounding error to the money that has been stolen from us year after year after year.

It's one thing to kick welfare queens, illegal aliens and other layabouts off the government teat. And while I in no way, shape or form want to equate hardworking taxpaying citizens with them, this notion of not being able to recognize that Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and all the rest of it – despite having forcibly paying into it – is still a form of slavery/indentured servitude to a government that the rest of the time everyone rails against for destroying the Bill of Rights makes no sense. Molon labe is the battle cry when our 2A rights are threatened but "Social Security reform" or even the brave soul who dares suggest privatizing or even phasing it out? Watch how fast the attitude towards Uncle Sugar does a 180.

Again, yeah, I get it. You paid into it. But again, it's not only gone or will be when the whole shit-house goes up in flames, but it's a way in which the Junta keeps us in line. It is time to cut the damned cord, painful as it might be.

Social Security is evil. It is in its way the government offering you security in exchange for a bit of your freedom. In the end, you'll have neither. The former is an empty "lock box" and the latter? Well, look what they did with the "lockdowns" culminating in 1/6/21.

So, another brave GOP standout Elise Stefanik is assuring us. . .

“A top priority for House Republicans is rooting out the weaponization of the federal government against everyday Americans,” said Stefanik. The No. 3 lawmaker in GOP leadership highlighted the nation’s top intelligence agencies as the committee’s primary focus.

“The FBI and DOJ are ripe for oversight, and they deserve oversight,” she said, while also pledging that investigations would come for the Internal Revenue Service and National Institutes of Health. Both agencies “have run rampant in targeting Americans,” Stefanik said, adding that Congress has a “constitutional duty” to conduct meaningful oversight.

Oh great. More hearings where Jim Jordan can huff and puff while nothing ever comes of it. The fact that someone like Lois Lerner is free as a bird and enjoys a big fat pension that, along with Social Security, our tax dollars also fund does not make me get all excited about Stefanik's tough talk. And Lois Lerner is just one cog, one "Little Eichmann" so to speak in a Machine that is nudging us gently, a la Cass Sunstein, into a mass grave.

I have news for Elise Stefanik. The Federal government hasn't been "weaponized." The Federal government IS. THE. WEAPON. The bitter irony is that its power comes from our money. Money which she, McCarthy and all these alleged "conservatives" are pretending to be responsible administrators of.

Meh, as I said earlier, we too in a way are just as much to blame in going along with this crap. I don't care about SSI or all the rest of it. I want my damned freedom. I want to be free to succeed or fail whether in saving for my future, getting the health insurance or doctors that I want, getting the car I want, owning and carrying a firearm for my protection anywhere I want, hiring and firing anyone from my business based on my criteria, baking or not baking a cake as my conscience and religion dictates . . . or on any other issue that the government sticks its beak into to wet. Which in reality is everything.

Samuel Hammond over at The American Conservative has a long, thoughtful piece in which he tries to differentiate between FDR's New Deal and LBJ's Great Society, and tires to advise not to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

What do we mean when we talk about “big government”? Conservatives have railed against this enemy for generations, but it is striking how rarely we try to define the term.

The conservative movement was born in opposition to the New Deal and has thus historically oriented itself against the programs that emerged from that era. Social Security, our New Deal-era retirement system, is America’s biggest federal outlay by far. This makes it tempting to conflate “big government” with the government’s total fiscal footprint. Yet at least since Trump, conservatives have awoken to the folly of libertarian-inflected cuts to popular entitlement programs. While Medicare and Social Security have their problems, they are viewed by the public as earned benefits, and don’t represent what most conservatives intuitively mean by “big government” anyway.

Modern conservatives are thus better served by delineating the New Deal from what came after: the Great Society. Indeed, while President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society initiatives are typically seen as an extension of New Deal liberalism, they originated in an entirely distinct political economy. The political scientist Matt Grossman goes so far as to dub the era between 1961 and 1976 “the Long Great Society,” spanning four presidents, with LBJ merely being the most prominent. . .

. . . [So-called quote-unquote "president"] Joe Biden’s boosters fancied him the next FDR, but in perspective, he’s at best the faint echo of LBJ, a caretaker for the sclerotic and diffuse form of government his generation helped set into motion. That makes it all the more important for conservative opponents of big government to define their terms. Size matters, but it isn’t the only thing at play. Unwinding our mid-century technocracy, and the patronage systems that sustain it, should be the primary goal. It’s also one that conservatives have far more to learn from FDR than to disdain.

He makes some good points but on the whole, I have to disagree. The entire system is corrupt because all the people who are part of it are corrupt. Everything from FDR forward should never have existed in the first place. And as people, both FDR and LBJ were two horrid examples of megalomania, ego and plain old corruption.

The system isn't broken. The system is the problem in the first place.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• "Eisenhower knew what he was talking about. Every president who opposed the CIA, ended a war (even the Cold War), and/or didn’t start a war has either gotten shot or lost reelection. Those who have played nice with them kept their jobs and heads."
  Ike Was Right: The Military-Industrial Complex Has Become a Serious Problem
  
• Michael Anton: "There is no permanent solution to the political problem. And this seems to cause some to insist there are no natural standards for truth."
  Farewell to Z-Man! Once More on the Question of Natural Right

FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
• Trump's response: "FACEBOOK, which has lost Billions of Dollars in value since 'deplatforming' your favorite President, me, has just announced that they are reinstating my account. Such a thing should never again happen to a sitting President, or anybody else who is not deserving of retribution! THANK YOU TO TRUTH SOCIAL FOR DOING SUCH AN INCREDIBLE JOB. YOUR GROWTH IS OUTSTANDING, AND FUTURE UNLIMITED!!!"
  Mark Zuckerberg to End Suspension of Donald Trump from Facebook and Instagram
  
• The lawsuit alleges that the defendants, which include the named individuals as well as [so-called quote-unquote "president"] Joe Biden and top officials from a variety of federal agencies, “colluded and/or coerced social media companies to suppress disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and content on social media platforms by labeling the content “dis-information,” “mis-information,” and “mal-formation.”
  Judge Orders Biden DHS To Release Files On Agents Who Allegedly Helped Censor Election "Misinformation"
  
• "The Journal’s editorialists were once in the vanguard of the Reagan Revolution but now seem committed to toeing the line for government."
  The Wall Street Journal’s Reflexive Opposition to the People 
  
• Define the word "journalist" in this context and I will respond accordingly.
  Murder of Journalists Rose Nearly 50 Percent in 2022, Report Finds
  
• Bob Zimmerman: "In both cases, the banning occurred because some leftists made unsubstantiated accusations that the line really represented “white supremacy” and thus is racist. No evidence of course was ever presented to prove those allegations, but who cares about evidence in this day and age? All that matters is that the accusation is made, and all must immediately kow-tow to it, even if it destroys the first amendment and the lives of many innocent people."
  Today’s blacklisted American: Thin blue line banned on flags in Los Angeles and suburban Philadelphia

  DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, THE COURTS, WASTE/FRAUD/ABUSE

• "[Punch Bowl News co-founder Jake] Sherman noted in a tweet that Manchin also 'hopes' [so-called quote-unquote "president"] Joe Biden will negotiate with Republicans, who want spending cuts in exchange for their help raising the debt ceiling."
  Report: McCarthy Assured Manchin No Cuts to Social Security, Medicare in Debt Ceiling Resolution
  
• "We have plenty of money." (We do? And for what? - jjs)
  Rand Paul Fires Back at "Completely Dishonest" Debt Ceiling Doomsday Talk
  
• "It's magical thinking for Republicans say that touching Social Security and Medicare is a nonstarter."
  Why Would Republicans Rule Out Social Security and Medicare Reform?
  
• "If House Republicans were serious about making spending cuts at least practical, if not immediately achievable, it’s easily done."
  Reduce Federal Spending by Cutting Back Anywhere and Everywhere: A Guide for Bladder Shy, Financially Illiterate Republicans
  
• "Conservatives have far more to learn from FDR than to disdain."
  Unwinding the Long Great Society
  
• “The Republican Party must unabashedly champion the interests of the country class.”
  How Republicans Sold Out America
  * * * * *

• "Federal infrastructure law empowers the feds to monitor impaired driving and shut off your car. What could go wrong?"
  Big Brother Gets a Seat in Your Car
  
• "A major, unacceptable defeat for our constitutional freedoms." (the list is longer than your arm - jjs)
  SCOTUS Defeated: The Leaker Gets Away With It
  
• "A longtime analyst of the public sector offers a provocative solution to America’s government-union problem."
  Philip Howard’s Endgame

  CIVIL WAR 2.0: J-6 FBI FALSE FLAG "RIOT" & AFTERMATH, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION

• "These twerps, who claim to have no leadership but have the infrastructure to issue statements, are calling for more terrorism."
  Turns Out the Atlanta Terrorists Are Children of Privilege
  
• More soundbites and outrage with zero ramifications. PS Elise: The Deep State itself IS the corruption.
  Stefanik: Rooting Out Deep State Corruption is a Top Priority for House Republicans

  BIDEN CRIME FAMILY REVELATIONS

• "The fresh allegation was made after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) blocked Schiff’s appointment to remain on the House Intelligence Committee, where he served as chairman for the last four years."
  Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo Accuses Schiff-for-Brains of Leaking Classified Information
  
• Victor Davis Hanson: "One of these things is not like the other."
  The Real Differences Between the Biden and Trump Troves
  
• "Laws governing classified documents in private possession have become a primary vehicle to thwart political opponents."
  The Real Scandal in the Classified Documents Debacle Is Washington’s Overclassification Problem
  
• "Classified documents about Ukraine were among those discovered at Biden’s home and office. Hunter Biden lived at his dad’s Wilmington, Del., home after his divorce, the same home where classified documents were stored. The email raises red flags because of the way it was written and the amount of detail it contained that Hunter Biden likely would not have known about had he not been made privy to classified information."
  Is This Evidence Hunter Biden Had Access to Classified Documents?
  
• "The question of how they were moved is still a mystery. Are we to believe the chief librarians at NARA actually initiated this investigation? The answers to these questions expose its genesis: Hunter Biden’s laptop."
  Kash Patel Op-Ed: "Hunter Biden’s Access to Classified Docs Should Concern Everyone. Here’s How We Get to the Bottom of It"
  
• “Those circumstances highlighted in that letter [from Mike Pence’s lawyer Greg Jacob] sound remarkably similar to the situation with [so-called quote-unquote "president"] Joe Biden,” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes suggested after the Pence classified document news broke.
  The Usual Suspects Use Pence Classified Docs Story to Absolve Joe Biden, but Not Trump
  
• David Harsanyi: "What possible reason could there be for so many classified documents?"
  Our Classified System is a Joke

  RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS, JUNK SCIENCE, LYSENKOISM

• "Before scoring coveted role in Biden's Energy Department, Jigar Shah represented China's largest solar companies."
  Meet the Biden Energy Official Who Fought To Shield China From US Solar Tariffs
  
• "The Biden [junta] shows a rare flash of prudence by treading lightly around the nationalization of the Mexican lithium industry." (a complete fluke - jjs)
  Why Make the Perfect the Enemy of the Good?
  
• "A hideous solution to a non-existent problem." (isn't this really the story of Democrats? - jjs)
  Crazy Energy Ideas? Oz Is the Place

  THE ECONOMY, STUPID

• "Fox News reported that the market crashes in those cities could be worse than 25%."
  Top Investment Bank Projects 4 U.S. Cities Will Suffer a 2008-Level Crash in Home Value
  
• "Politicians need to stay out of the way." (like asking Dracula to keep away from a Red Cross blood bank - jjs)
  Nationwide Rent Control Is a Dangerous Proposition

  AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY

• "Elected leaders like Karen Bass and Eric Adams know that advocating sanctuary policies is a requirement to stay in good standing with their party, so they will likely never abandon them."
  Big-City Mayors Get Border-Wise, Policy Foolish
  
• "Fewer than three percent of Hispanic voters think there should be a blanket amnesty."
  Poll: Only 14% of Americans Agree With Amnesty for Illegals

  CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY

• "Paralyzed by apathy."
  School Officials Were Warned About Gun 3 Times Before 6-Year-Old Shot Teacher, Lawyer Says
  
• "The order comes after a coalition of news outlets filed a motion to release the footage on January 11. The coalition included such outlets as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Fox News."
  Paul "MC Hammer-oid" Pelosi Attack Footage To Be Released After Court Order
  
• "New CDC data show that the rise in murders isn’t a “red state” or “blue state” problem." (anything from the CDC is axiomatically not to be trusted, but take from this what you will - jjs)
  An Update on America’s Homicide Surge

  AMERICA AND THE WORLD IMPRISONED: CHINESE CORONAVIRUS FICTIONS AND FACTS

• The footage was released late Wednesday night by guerilla journalism outfit Project Veritas, and entirely proves the thesis first mooted by The National Pulse and others, which were routinely dismissed as “conspiracy theories” by politicians, bureaucrats, and the corporate media.
  Pfizer Director Says ‘Cash Cow’ Chinese COVID Came from Wuhan lab, and That Pfizer is Doing Similar
  
• "The IG audit concluded that the NIH and EcoHealth both failed to comply with oversight and monitoring procedures, particularly as it pertained to research at the WIV." (gee, who'd've thunk it? - jjs)
  NIH, EcoHealth Did Not Properly Monitor Taxpayer Funds, Inspector General Finds
  
• "Medical tyranny starts with medical brainwashing."
  Forgiving the Medically Brainwashed in the Post- Chinese COVID Era

  SECOND AMENDMENT

• "The nearly 90-year-old federal law restricting short-barreled rifles has been superceded by time and technology. It’s past time the Supreme Court took notice."
  Why the ATF’s Pistol Brace Ban Is Unconstitutional (the ATF itself is unconstitutional but that's another story - jjs)

  EDUCATION, AND WHAT PASSES FOR IT

• "Central Bucks Schools shut down despite no waiver from the legislature to close classrooms."
  Email Shows Bucks County School Closures Weren’t Just Bad For Kids, They Were Illegal
  
• "Records obtained by Legal Insurrection Foundation reveal that when Bessinger was involuntarily transferred to Classical High in late August 2022, after her middle school whistleblowing retaliation, an influential teacher already was organizing against her based on Bessinger’s viewpoints."
  Whistleblower Teacher Ramona Bessinger Targeted For Viewpoint Discrimination At Providence High School Even Before Arrived, Records Reveal
  
• The University of Texas at Austin increased its commitment to implementing social justice policies following demands from student activists in 2016, according to a new National Association of Scholars (NAS) report. The university has since implemented diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into its courses and hold DEI-based trainings and workshops.
  Major Red State University Caved To Student Activists To Push ‘Social Justice,’ Report Says 
  
• "A case study in what’s happening in academics as real science morphs into narrative support."
  Geology Professor Explains How Woke Policies Create Profession “Not Worthy” of His Effort
  
• "The ballooning expansion of administrative spending has driven up tuition costs and funneled money away from instruction." (and the instruction is nothing to brag about either - jjs_
  The More Taxpayers Pay for College, the Worse It Gets

  DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY

• "The DOJ’s lawsuit alleges that Google has systematically bought out competitors and used its advertising to promote its own products. Alphabet stock dropped $2.71 on Tuesday, but has risen $6.04 since Pelosi sold her stock."
  Pelosis Sold Google Stock One Month Before DOJ Announced Antitrust Lawsuit
  
• "Ingrid Gant took more than $400,000 from Arlington Education Association."
  Former Teachers' Union President Arrested in Virginia for Embezzlement

  POLITICS

• "New poll shows elected officials are out of touch with voters."
  Elected Officials No Longer Reflect Views, Values of Average Voters, I&I TIPP Poll (but 110% of average Democrat ballots - jjs)
  
• "Whoever wins the Chicago mayoral election will have to contend with two powerful officeholders working to drag the city down."
  Headwinds in the Windy City

  THE UKRAINIAN "FRONT"

• "Germany and Poland are sending tanks, too."
  Biden Sending 31 M1 Abrams Tanks to Ukraine, Russia Calls the Move ‘Blatant Provocation’
  
• U.S. stockpiles of weapons systems critical to national defense dwindle to levels described as “uncomfortably low,” “insufficient,” “precarious,” and “dangerous” due to the large quantities of these weapons given to Ukraine.
  U.S. Weapons Stockpiles “Uncomfortably Low” Due To Arms Shipments to Ukraine
  
• "There’s an increasingly hallucinatory feel to what’s happening in Ukraine as if we’ve wandered into Biden’s personal demented dreams."
  In Ukraine, It Appears America Will Soon Be Arming Both Sides' Combatants

  FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL

• "America’s credibility is in doubt."
  Our Indo-Pacific Allies Signal That They Don’t Trust the Biden Administration’s Extended Deterrent
  
• "Iran threatens to shutter vital Persian Gulf shipping lane."
  US Monitoring Iranian Bid To Establish ‘Military Presence’ in Panama Canal (why are we not telling them we'll blow them out of the water if they dare leave port? - jjs)
  
• "We do not, as Madeline Albright did, think the price is worth it."
  The Limits of Number One
  
• "[Karine] Jean-Pierre was responding to a decision Wednesday by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to kick Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) off the House Intelligence Committee for security reasons."
  WATCH: White House Claims Anti-Semite, Immigration Fraudster and Incest Aficionado Bro-Fo Omar Has Foreign Policy "Expertise"

  FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY

• "A transgender who only started identifying as a woman after raping two women is being sent to an all female prison."
  You’ll Barely Believe This
  
• “On Tuesday, Francis said there needed to be a distinction between a crime and a sin with regard to homosexuality."
  Pope "Fiction" Francis: Homosexual Behavior is ‘a Sin’

  CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE

• "Has Crowder pulled back the curtain on some ugly practices in the highest echelons of conservative media?"
  Steven Crowder versus Big Conservative Media?
  
• "As recently as 2004, 91% of Americans were extremely or very proud to be American and the United States ranked first in the world in national pride."
  America’s Future is Bleak When Only 27% of the Younger Generations are Proud to be American
  
• "Your first course in critical paint theory."
  Come See the Racism Inherent in the Paint Chip!
  
• "Although set in Ireland, the Oscar nominee’s reflection of the same political strife we see in America is not likely to be accidental."
  Irish Tragic-Comedy The Banshees of Inisherin Echoes the Existential Angst of U.S. Politics

NOTE: The opinions expressed in the links may or may not reflect my own. I include them because of their relevance to the discussion of a particular issue.

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posted by J.J. Sefton at 07:41 AM

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