Quick Hits

Anytime a Democrat fails -- that is, any time the same old socialist/progressive policies fail, which have failed countless times before -- the media declares it's because the country -- or state -- or city -- "has become ungovernable."

Lori Lightfoot failed. Therefore, The Atlantic declares, Chicago is ungovernable.

In fact, all big cities -- those run by Democrats, anyhow -- are "ungovernable."

Big Cities Are Ungovernable

Lori Lightfoot's failed bid for reelection is a sign that America’s mayors are in jeopardy.

By David A. Graham

Crime didn't soar because Democrats decided to let all the criminals out of the prisons and stop prosecuting crime. No, it's just that all of the blue jurisdictions "became ungovernable" since the summer of 2020, for some reason.

You know what's also become ungovernable, now that another prominent Democrat has failed?

The Department of Transportation, that's what.

Transportation post has become political nightmare for Buttigieg

by Amie Parnes and Alex Gangitano

When Pete Buttigieg became Transportation secretary at the start of the Biden administration, some Democrats said it would be a perfect platform for his political prospects if not in 2024, then 2028.

Buttigieg could crisscross the country, appearing before crowds in key states while elevating his name recognition, resume and overall brand.

Instead, the job of Transportation secretary has been a set of compounding problems for Buttigieg, 41, who has been seen as one of the Democratic Party's brightest stars.

Buttigieg has been blasted for taking too long to travel to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a train derailment that has created serious environmental and health concerns for the community.

In January, he bore the brunt of criticism over a disastrous holiday travel season for Southwest Airlines, which resulted in thousands of people being stranded. And that same month, he was criticized over problems with the FAA, which had to ground flights for two hours for the first time in more than 20 years.

"I don't think his story was supposed to go this way," said one Democratic strategist. "I think he took the job thinking there wouldn't be a lot of risk surrounding the role. I don't think he understood how political this job would be and how he'd be a punching bag."

The latest criticism came on Thursday from Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) who said Buttigieg is "not ready for the responsibilities he has."

"He was a fine mayor from what I understand, but the position he's got really would be better served by a person who's managed a large enterprise, a state, or something of the scale he's now dealing with," Romney told the HuffPost when he was asked about Buttigieg's job performance.

In the past, Transportation secretaries weren't always magnets for political criticism. But Buttigieg's situation is unique.

He's among the most high-profile figures in the Biden administration, seen as second to Vice President Kamala Harris in terms of Democratic presidential politics as a potential successor to Biden.

He's also leading a department that is now solidly in the news given the times. COVID-era issues with the supply chain, travel and inflation have put various transportation issues in Buttigieg's portfolio in the public view.

It has nothing to do with his poor performance or failure to fix any of the problems that have come his way. (In fact, he's skipped out on work during serious crises while on My Two Dads Secret Paternity leave -- do both dads need to be home? -- or on vacation in Porto, Portugal.)

No, it's just that since Mayor Butt became Secretary of Transportation, this country's transportation Suddenly Became Ungovernable.

SBU. Democrats are always getting hit with SBU Syndrome.

Another hate crime hoax -- or, actually, it's a real hate crime, but perpetrated by the members allegedly "targeted" by the "hate," so it won't be prosecuted. If you or I wrote the message, we'd be prosecuted, but when a member of a protected group writes the same hateful messages to frame us, it's a non-crime. It's just a college lark, you understand.

They meant well.

Gays at MIT chalked anti-gay messages on the ground to prove that you shouldn't be allowed to chalk anti-gay messages.

'The point they seem to be making was that they should not have the right to say it'

Massachusetts Institute of Technology students behind flyers and chalkings recently found at the school that included slurs against LGBTQ people were protesting the university's emerging policies in support of free speech.

The incident came in the wake of a two-month-old MIT faculty resolution that defends freedom of speech and expression -- even speech some find "offensive or injurious."

A Feb. 23 memo from MIT administrators stated flyers posted across campus and some chalking outside a school entrance "contained slurs directly targeting the LBGTQ+ community."

MIT's bias response team investigated, the memo added, and determined "the messages were put up by students choosing to use extreme speech to call attention to and protest what they see as the implications of" several new pro-free speech policies and efforts at the school.

"The chalking and flyers that carried slurs were put up as part of a much larger set of flyers, expressing a wide range of views, many framed in provocative terms. We have been told that these flyers were intended to probe the boundaries of MIT's commitment to freedom of expression and to determine how this commitment comports with MIT policies, including those on harassment," stated the memo, written by Dean for Student Life Suzy Nelson and Institute Community and Equity Officer John Dozier.

Well, fine -- then by your own logic, you should all be expelled. On the other hand, if you had the right to write these messages for your purposes, then so does any other non-privileged person.

CPAC returned to Washington, DC this year. I don't know why. For two years they staged the conference in, I think, Texas and then Florida, which seem better fits.

Also better places to visit in February... of course that's why a lot of these events are held very, very much off-season. Hotel/conference hall rates are much cheaper. It's relatively cheap to rent a cold-weather city's conference hall in winter. Still, can't they just get a venue in a town with lower property values?

Anyway, the return to DC -- or rather, the return to the DC area; it was actually held in Maryland, over the water -- was a disappointment.

The conference, once a mandatory stop for aspiring Republican presidential candidates, saw several notable Republicans such as former Vice President Mike Pence, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), and numerous other governors skip the high-profile convention. Meanwhile, longtime attendees noted a sea-change in the number of attendees and sponsors.

Vickie Froehlich, an attendee who said she had attended the conference multiple times, noted the lower attendance and said the absence of Fox News in the media hub and the exhibit hall likely contributed to the event's inability to draw presidential aspirants.

"It's been a huge difference that Fox is not here," Froehlich said. "Fox helped get the candidates out here to be interviewed, so it's noticeable to me that they're not here." Several other attendees the Washington Examiner spoke to similarly noted the smaller crowd.

The absence of high-profile attendees was exacerbated by the Club for Growth's donor retreat, which is drawing many of the notable figures who skipped out on CPAC. And further complicating the conference's image are sexual assault accusations leveled against its Chairman Matt Schlapp by a former male staffer of Herschel Walker's Georgia senate campaign. Schlapp has denied the allegation.

A guy named Dennis Lennox complained that CPAC "isn't a conservative conference anymore," and is only "MAGA, super-MAGA, and ultra-MAGA," so you know where this guys is coming from. He whines that NeverTrumpers aren't invited or don't come any more.

NeverTrumpers make up a small fraction of the party, but, of course, they are all cosmopolitan liberal corporate grifters, and that faction makes up a lot of the money in the party -- thus, the lack of corporate sponsorship.

Based teacher mocks her woke colleagues:

From last week:

posted by Ace at 06:21 PM

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