The Morning Report — 1/22/24

Good morning, kids. Well, Ron DeSantis has bowed out of the race gracefully and even endorsed Donald Trump. That leaves one little Indian, literally, left standing and we'll get to her in a moment. It's quite telling that DeSantis' striking a conciliatory tone stands in stark contrast to his boosters:

It's quite telling that his striking a conciliatory tone stands in stark contrasts to his boosters:

While much of the political world rejoiced in DeSantis’s decision to unify the party and back Trump in the primary race to focus on defeating [spurious fraud "president"] Biden in November, many of DeSantis’s online influencers are having a much more difficult time letting bygones be bygones.

“It’s ‘Governor Ron DeSantis’ now, is it?” Jenna Ellis sarcastically asked in reaction to a statement from the Trump campaign on DeSantis’s exit from the race and subsequent endorsement of Trump.

“No more Rob DeSanctimonious? We’re all just supposed to forget? They think so. I don’t. The audacity here to use the line, ‘It’s time to choose wisely,'” she said.

“Instead of trying genuinely to recruit DeSantis supporters, the Trump Camp takes a parting shot at @bobvanderplaats and evangelicals who wanted to be post-Trump,” she asserted.

“It was all just a psyop. And you all still trust anything that Trump promises?!” she proclaimed in another post.

I thought in order to be considered an "influencer" you have to actually influence people in a positive manner. How'd that work out for you, Jenna Ellis? Pfft. If their results matched the hype, DeSantis would be the one with the massive double-digit lead going into New Hampshire after a double-digit win in Iowa. Look, I get it, and in all fairness, I was a Cruz booster eight short (long) years ago and absolutely hated the "Lyin' Ted" swipe. It was what it was and it is what it is. I voted for Trump just to protect us from Hilary and then four years later I voted FOR Trump period. In any case, when you realize that these schmucks have zero influence on anyone, their puerile tantrums are micturating into the 600mph eye of Jupiter.

I like and respect Ron DeSantis. More importantly I admire Ron DeSantis for his record as governor. He's done more in his tenure to preserve and grow Florida as a sanctuary (pun intended) and a haven for freedom-loving Americans escaping the insanity of blue-state anti-America than arguably any other red state governor. That he won the statehouse by a very narrow margin and in doing so, prevented crack-addicted Marxist Andrew Gillum from completely wrecking the state earns my gratitude. In fact, Florida's formerly heavily Democrat-influenced election machine gave us fits every election cycle and victory was never a sure thing. That seems to be a thing of the past, in no small part thanks to DeSantis' presence in Tallahsee. Need I remind you of Al Gore and his hanging chakras, er, chads? DeSantis is going places and hopefully he'll be the one in '28. An unknown MAGA superstar on the horizon who captures the imagination, or the descent into total dictatorship after '24 notwithstanding.

As for Trump, he is who he is, warts and all. If you don't get that by now, you're never going to get it. His "style" and his "personality" are irrelevant, and those who attempt to make that the issue are fools or disingenuous in their real opposition to him. That said, those who have issues with his missteps and fiascos based strictly on policy, most egregiously his hiring practices and his record on the lockdowns, should not be dismissed. And I count myself in that category, and was indeed wavering on my complete support of him as the candidate to be the standard bearer.

Most likely, the appeal of Trump centers on two things: the abject destruction that Joey Sponge-Brain Shits-Pants has unleashed on the nation and his state-sanctioned persecutions via several kangaroo court trials with the cherry on the parfait of the attempts to remove him from state ballots. All of those things are interrelated and more and more people get it. For better or worse, Trump is seen as a martyr. With every new charge and accusation hurled at him came a significant rise in his polling. I don't think Ron DeSantis or anyone ever had a chance against that.

The fact of the matter is, Trump is indeed a political martyr and before long he will either be imprisoned or assassinated. And that will be the bitter end. Ditto if he manages to actually beat the odds and the Democrat cheat machine in the swing states and win re-re-election, because the Left, after equating him with "literally Hitler" who will take away our freedoms and throw people into concentration camps (like Merrick Garland has actually done, ironically) will unleash a wave of terror that will make the 2020 Summer of Floyd look like Disco Night at Comiskey Park (or Kaminski Field, pace Obama the Dog-Eating Boy).

All of that said, I still think Trump's worst enemy is himself. Mercifully, the scuttlebutt of his supposedly courting Nikki Haley as his running mate have been exploded. Mostly by Trump himself who ripped her a new one the other day. But was there any substance to the initial rumors? His son Don Jr. a couple of weeks back supposedly told him to drop her like radioactive waste. If true, I hope this is an indicator that he and brother Eric are not of the same mindset as Jared and Ivanka and can effectively box them out this go round.

The late great William F. Buckley once said "I'd rather be governed by the first 3,000 random people from the Boston phonebook than an equal number of Ivy League graduates." Regardless of the fact that there are no more phonebooks or that most of Boston these days is solidly Democrat, the meaning of the quote still stands. In Trump's case, it goes back to staffing. Will he or even can he find a chief of staff, the guy/gal in charge of all the hiring and cabinet nominations, that is outside the Deep State? If he indeed hires outsiders, will they even have a chance at being confirmed? And even if confirmed, will they have the power to overcome mass insubordination and mutiny at the agencies they supposedly head at the behest of a President Trump 47?

Meh. Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself because there's still this Non-Endearing Ghandi who refuses to read the tea leaves.

Has Nikki Haley suddenly become the Republican frontrunner? In a certain sense, yes: she clearly represents the Mitch McConnell/Kevin McCarthy wing of the party, that is, the establishment Republicans who wish Trump had never come around and hope he’ll go away for good soon. Two of her mailings contain the same warning: “WE CAN’T RISK IT / With President Trump’s criminal trials and the Liberal media’s bias against him, our country can’t risk four more years of Joe Biden.”

While this may appeal to those who love Trump but are worried about his, and America’s, prospects, Haley also reaches out to those who hate him: “Donald Trump can’t defend his fiscal record, so he is lying about Nikki Haley’s,” says one mailing, which features headlines about how Trump increased spending and added to the national debt. The rest of the Haley mailings don’t mention Trump and try to present Haley as a fresh new alternative, although they’re larded with generic rhetoric that can be, and has been, said about every candidate under the sun: “Nikki Haley has a plan to make Washington work for you, not the other way around.” “She will be the new leader Washington so desperately needs.”

In contrast, all four Trump mailings spend as much or more time hitting Haley than they do actually touting Trump. “Nikki Haley & Joe Biden’s Open Borders Put America In Danger,” says one. Another asserts that “Nikki Haley’s Day One Checklist” will include “Cut Social Security & Medicare” and “Raise the Retirement Age to Receive Your Benefits.” Therefore, voters should “Reject Nikki Haley On Jan. 23rd.” Another says that Nikki Haley is “Too Weak and Too Liberal to Fix the Border!” In fact, “Tricky Nikki Is Too Close With COMMUNIST CHINA.”

From these mailings, one might get the impression that it was Haley who had a big lead in the polls, and Trump was trying to close the gap. Trump has plenty that he could run on from his tenure as president, but instead it seems as if his team has opted to demonize Haley front and center, and only secondarily to talk about what he has done and what he plans to do . . .

. . . For the establishment, Haley represents a return to the comfortable days of John McCain and Mitt Romney, when Republicans knew their place in the workings of official Washington, and were happy playing second fiddle and giving Americans the appearance of a multiparty free republic. They didn’t rock the boat. 

Then Trump came along and upset everything. The people who want to make sure that he doesn’t get another chance to do so from the Oval Office are not all Democrats.

Tricky Nikki. I bet you that sticks. For one thing, it's shorter, punchier and more memorable than Ron DeSanctimonious. And unlike that, it's completely accurate. That segues quite nicely into our next item on the agenda which Robert Spencer touched upon in his essay. Last week we looked at the stupidity/co-conspiracy of the GOPe on the issue that will decide this election: the open borders. If that's not enough, look what the Galling Old Potemkins are planning now:

This new energy tax was voted out of committee 14-5, with four Republicans — Senator Kevin Cramer (from North Dakota, an energy producing state), Senator John Boozman (Arkansas), Senator Graham (South Carolina), and, most inexplicably, Senator Cynthia Lummis (from Wyoming, another state that produces energy) — joining ten Democrats to create this new tax.

Five Republicans, led by Senator Capito from West Virginia, voted against the new energy tax.

Like all energy taxes, this one will fall hardest on the poor, the elderly, those on fixed incomes, and local institutions that have limited budgets, like schools and hospitals.

The legislation sponsors, which include Senator Cramer, have tried to disguise the actual intention of the legislation — which is to increase the price of energy and everything grown, made, or transported with energy in an attempt to address global warming — with propaganda about being tough on our trade competitors, including China.

That charade is so embarrassingly thin that even Politico ignored it and declared in a headline: “Senate Committee OKs Carbon Tariff.”

The legislation directs the Team Biden over at the Department of Energy to set up the infrastructure that would be needed to tax imported goods based on their carbon dioxide content.  These taxes, which are called tariffs when imposed on imported goods, could be imposed by the executive branch, without any Congressional votes.

The sponsors have tried to argue that those selling these goods into the United States will pay the tax. That’s nonsense. . . Those who drafted and those who voted for this legislation know that it is a way to create a domestic tax on carbon dioxide without requiring Congress to vote and get on the record one way or the other.  They know that this energy tax will hurt the poor, the elderly, those on fixed incomes, and local institutions the most.

When we asked about this particular tax, voters opposed it by almost a 2-1 margin. This new carbon dioxide tax is intensely unpopular; that’s why its sponsors have shrouded it in a verbal smokescreen about communist China.

These fucking Quislings are selling us down the river. A Pinochet/Patton administration for the next 100 years couldn't do jack shit against this. Not if they play by the rules.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• "Do Americans have the 'right' to buy raw foods?"
  An Amish Farmer’s Food Rights Battle
  
• "About 1,700 people in Arizona voted in 2018 with a federal-only ballot. Two years later, the number grew to 11,600 individuals."
  Ballots Cast Without Proof of Citizenship "Exploded" After Lawfare Crippled Arizona Election Laws
  
• "Can America’s institutions run as well in the 21st century if white Americans are quiet quitting them in despair? It looks like we’re about to find out."
  White Americans are Quiet-Quitting Our Leading Institutions

ISRAEL AT WAR
• ". . . the Biden [junta], Qatar, and Egypt have proposed a three-stage deal in which Israel would release Palestinian terror convicts and withdraw completely from Gaza in exchange for the gradual release of Israeli captives. Effectively, that would amount to defeat for Israel, whose stated goals for the war are the complete destruction of Hamas’s military capabilities, the return of the hostages, and the restoration of security to Israel’s border communities (north and south)."
  Netanyahu Rejects Biden Surrender Plan
  
• IDF spokesman: Soldiers “located prison cells with toilets and a mattress, and they were closed with bars, where 20 hostages were held at different times in harsh conditions without daylight in dense air with little oxygen and terrible humidity that makes it difficult to breathe.”
  IDF Uncovers Underground Hostage Jail Cells in Hamas Stronghold of Khan Yunis
  
• "The airstrike was carried out by the Israeli air force while flying over the Golan Heights. The strike leveled a building in Mazzeh, a heavily guarded neighborhood in western Damascus, the Associated Press (AP) reported."
  Israeli Airstrike Kills Five Iranian Military Advisers
  
• "If it's either the Israelis or the Palestinians who win in Gaza, it ought to be Israel."
  Is the West Allowed to Win?
  
• "Tel Aviv Diarist."
  Israel’s Fight
  
• "Whom should we believe — the IDF or Hamas?"
  The Hostages: Killed by IDF Airstrikes or Murdered?
  * * * * *

• "On October 8th, one day after Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and took 240 hostages, Santos begged Islamists to come 'all out for "Palestine”' and terrorize Americans. He issued the following statement; 'We are supporting the '"Palestinian" people who are resisting an illegal occupation and apartheid imposed by the Israeli government. We are demanding that the US end all aid to the state of Israel.'  Goldman Sachs, you finance this. Goldman isn’t alone."
  Goldman Sachs Needs to Explain Why it's Donating to Terrorist Sympathizers
  
• "They can refuse to sign the checks – but they choose not to." (Time for stockholders to raise hell at the next meeting. Unless of course they back this crap - jjs)
  Goldman Sachs Funds Pro-Hamas Rallies
  
• "The situation appears to be a case of an organization that blindly seeks utopia and professes support of the  working class clashing with reality — forcing it to have to balance a budget like the rest of America and even contemplate layoffs hated by labor unions." (Maybe Bernie Sanders should sell a couple of his mansions to alleviate the suffering. Pfft! - jjs)
  Comedy Gold! Democratic-Socialists Face Seven-Figure "Crisis" Amid "Palestinian" Support That May Force Dreaded Layoffs of Staff

  WE-ALL-SLAM-FOR-I-SLAM

• Daniel Greenfield: "Half the shootings in Burlington, VT were linked to immigrants." (Wait until they find out Mary Cloggenstein and Bernie Sanders are Jewish! - jjs)
  Vermont Resettled Somalis, Shootings Are Up 185%
  
• "It can happen here."
  Hamas’ Howl in Amsterdam

  BIDEN CRIME FAMILY REVELATIONS

• Margot Cleveland: "Congressional testimony suggests Hunter was setting up another front for the family influence-peddling racket when the plan collapsed due to public scrutiny."
  Hunter’s Painting Foray Had All the Classic Earmarks of a Biden Family Influence-Peddling Operation
  
• . . . the existence of the Hunter Biden laptop—and the stuff it contained—was so obviously true. So to hear that the story of its existence had been censored? It was, he told me, "the most political-activating event of my life." Then came COVID "police state" tactics and he, like millions of other Americans who thought they were "citizens," began to question where they fit in at all.
  Was the Censorship of Hunter Biden's Laptop Your Red-Pill Moment?

  SHAMPEACHMENT 1.0, 2016 CLINTON/OBAMA COUP, CONGRESSIONAL PERSECUTION, SPYGATE, DEEP STATE, MUELLER DECEPTION

• No, she chose people to work that were on top of her. Repeatedly. And thrusting. - jjs
  Fani Willis In 2020: "I Certainly Will Not Be Choosing People To Date That Work Under Me"
  
• "I have no doubt that Trump was conflicted that day. Hence, the apocalyptic rhetoric along with admonishments to stay peaceful.  But any effort to portray the clownish, boorish, drunken break-in of the Capitol building as anything but a spur-of-the-moment action by a few rowdies has always fallen short of reality. I don't think the Supreme Court will agree that Trump's words and actions amounted to an insurrection." (There was no "break in," Rick Moran! The doors were opened by the cops! - jjs)
Trump's Bid to Toss Colorado Disqualification Will Settle the "Insurrection" Argument

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

• This isn’t just some one-time gaffe he’s made; it’s a repeated talking point—and a concerning one at that, because Democrats have been claiming for some time now that anyone politically conservative is a "threat to democracy" and a domestic terrorist. Is it really that outlandish to think that [a junta] as radical as the Biden [junta would use military jets and weapons against American citizens they have been equating to terrorists?
  Yikes! Did Biden Threaten To Use Military Jets Against American Citizens?
  
• ". . . according to Tucker Carlson, 'It seems likely that government officials were involved in planting pipe bombs in Washington, D.C. three years ago, as part of an effort to keep Donald Trump from running for president again.'"
  Tucker Carlson Claims Government Planted Pipe Bombs at Capitol on January 6
  
• Julie Kelly: ". . . Ramaswamy’s linking of Jan. 6 and the Whitmer plot resonated with many on the right who want similarities between the two episodes exposed to the general public, especially the FBI’s reliance on informants and other paid operatives."
  Inside The FBI-Tainted Wretched Whitmer "Kidnap Plot" You’ve Heard Almost Nothing About
  
• "DEI and its advocate, Claudine Gay, marginalize Brown and take us back to Plessy, where differences in skin color justify imposing unequal opportunity on all—some to benefit at the expense of others."
  The Long Shadow of Southern Segregation by Race
  
• "The battle against DIE is about power and money."
  Fight DIE and ESG on Our Terms
  
• The study, titled “Them Vs. U.S,” defined the American “elite” as “having a postgraduate degree, a household income of more than $150,000 annually, and living in a zip code with more than 10,000 people per square mile.” Such people account for about 1 percent of Americans. The study also examined a sub-sample of the 1 percent who graduated from Ivy League schools or other name-brand institutions such as Northwestern, Duke, Stanford, and the University of Chicago.
  Survey: Two-Thirds of Elites Say There’s Too Much Freedom in America
  
• "Leftists win when conservatives give up." (And RINOs stab us in the heart - jjs)
  The Dominant Narrative Requires Citizen Passivity
  
• "Whether he admits it or not, Matt Gaetz helped usher in a new House speaker who’s just as feckless as his predecessor."
  Speaker Johnson is Willingly Funding the Biden Regime’s Authoritarianism
  
• "Denigrating white people has become the ideological backdrop of American cultural and political life. Unlike for Jews, no one denounces it."
  Why Can Jews Attack Anti-Semitism But No One Denounces Hatred Against Whites?

  FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH

• Roger Kimball: "The New York Times doesn't get it. That’s one more reason why it is an increasingly parochial publication that speaks only to a shrinking coterie of pampered, irrelevant dittoheads."
  Ramaswamy Defies New York Times Narrative: Suspends Campaign, Backs Trump
  
• "The lies are catching up."
  Internal Democrat Worries Aired on NPR
  
• "Top representatives from government, universities and nonprofits set their sights on this purportedly menacing threat in speeches and discussions throughout the summit."
  Surprise! The Global Elites Have Set Their Sights on a New Target: Free Speech
  
• "From the moment Trump announced his run for president he was a constant presence on TV news."
  "Free Media" for Trump Feels Like 2016 Again
  
• "Until the Supreme Court revisits its ‘Sullivan’ precedent, public outcry is our only defense against damaging accusations."
  Supreme Court Should Reexamine New York Times v. Sullivan
  
• "The propaganda press’ latest lying campaign may look like another attempt to undermine Trump’s credibility, but it’s really a strategy to justify Big Tech censorship and elicit punishment for the leading presidential candidate in court."
  Corrupt Media Use "Misinformation" Smears to Fuel Democrats’ "Get Trump" Lawfare Campaign
  
• "Cross went on to say that although she believed Scarborough had worked behind her back to submarine her at MSNBC, it was a Tucker Carlson segment about her – accusing her of stoking racial hatred — that ultimately led to her firing." (Huh? You would think that would've only burnished her, for lack of a better word, "credentials" at the Jive Goebbels lefty house organ - jjs)
  Ex-MSNSDAP Host Blames Joe "Intern-Strangler" Scarborough for Her Ouster

  AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY

• "Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently had his authorities seize city property along the southern border, arresting migrants crossing illegally for trespassing, which the federal government has vocally opposed. The Biden [junta] subsequently asked the Supreme Court to intervene, arguing that Texas is overstepping its authority, sparking a legal battle the high court hasn’t seen since 2012." (Ignore the court if they cave. Nullification now! - jjs)
  Biden and Abbott Have Set the Stage for One of the Biggest State-Versus-Feds Immigration Fights in More Than a Decade
  
• Robert Spencer: "Old Joe opened the border. It’s his crisis. He will keep lying, but while the facts are still allowed to be stated, there they are."
  I Thought Biden’s Lies Couldn’t Shock Me Anymore. I Was Wrong.
  
• Miranda Devine: "The chutzpah is breathtaking. But it’s not going to fly. Every rational person knows that Trump drove illegal migration to record lows, and Biden drove it to record highs."
  Biden Admits the Border Crisis He Created is Real – But Won't Accept Any Blame
  
• “One of our challenges is just the folks that are out for health issues right now, but once those individuals get back, I anticipate a very quick vote on the floor,” [Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green] said.
  Homeland Security Chair Says "We Have the Votes" to Impeach Mayorkas
  
• "What explains legal immigration being so bureaucratically stringent for a foreign national to enter the country?"
  The Frustrating Irony of Legal Immigration
  
• "Officials of the suburb — which is only about 25 minutes west of downtown Chicago and only minutes south of O’Hare International Airport where hundreds of illegals have been sheltering for months — noted that the thieves often use bags lined with sheets of tinfoil in an attempt to thwart store anti-theft protection devices at entrances, the New York Post reported. The issue has been ongoing in the suburb, especially inside the Oak Brook shopping mall."
  Chicago Organized Retail Burglary Ring Allegedly Led by Newly Arrived Illegal Aliens

  THE ECONOMY, STUPID

• Another win for Bidenomics; greatest economy evah!!!! - jjs
  Macy’s Sheds 2,300+ Jobs, Closes Five Stores
  
• With paper-thin margins, retailers thought they'd hit paydirt with self-checkout. Cut wages, shorten lines, and make shopping, aka spending money, "easier." But instead of improving the bottom line, stores are losing money.  One study shows that retailers who rely heavily on this technology have double the industry loss rate. Shrinkage is the technical term for this loss, and it can mean the difference between solvency, survival, and store closings. 
  Is Self Service Checkout Being Cashiered?
  
• "Both parties in Washington are negotiating a ‘child tax credit’ giveaway that will blow a bigger hole in our $34 trillion debt."
  Washington Uniparty Plans More Welfare Spending Under Misnamed "Child Tax Credit"

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

• "This new energy tax was voted out of committee 14-5, with four Republicans — Senator Kevin Cramer (from North Dakota, an energy producing state), Senator John Boozman (Arkansas), Senator Graham (South Carolina), and, most inexplicably, Senator Cynthia Lummis (from Wyoming, another state that produces energy) — joining ten Democrats to create this new tax."
  Shocker — RINO Republicans are Backing a Carbon Tax
  
• "Joe Biden’s war on American energy started on day one."
  Unhappy Anniversary: Biden Killed Keystone Pipeline 3 Years Ago
  
• “This is a central planning snarl-up. The subsidies exceed the scale of market demand. States complain of inflexible requirements regarding how far apart charging stations must be, how many charge ports must be built per station, and how many must be located in disadvantaged communities. In addition, central planning and politics are joined at the hip, so workforces must be certified by unions, and materials such as iron and steel must be sourced from American companies.”
  Here’s Why the Biden Junta's Multi-Billion Dollar EV Charging Program Has Short-Circuited
  
• "As C. Northcote Parkinson in legislative mood might say (and as Milton Friedman did say): If a program is launched to regulate an industry, its strongest supporters will be that industry’s lobbyists. Meanwhile, the Climate Change Navy is neither shrinking nor sinking, Instead, it is sailing calmly on a sea of oil."
  Parkinson's Law in the Persian Gulf
  
• "The venue question is fatal to their campaign. These cases are dead-letters in the federal courts, and the only chance they have is by keeping it in the family, so to speak."
  Inside the Left's Spurious Legal Strategy to Take Down Oil and Gas Producers
  
• So, again, the judges are being fed ideology before everything in their "education." As for who funds this lefty legal project, the Environmental Law Institute reported $8.6 million in revenue last year, mostly from "progressive" non-profits, like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, the Alfred Sloan Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The MacArthur Foundation gave ELI $500,000 in 2020, expressly for the Climate Judiciary Project. The foundation stated, clearly, in its bequest that, “This will lead to better informed decisions and ultimately build a body of law supporting climate action.”
  Indoctrinating Judges on "Climate Change"
  
• "Extreme cold is exposing a fatal flaw in EVs."
  "Climate Change" Puts Biden’s EV Mandate on Thin Ice
  
• “Hollowing out the economy is not benefiting the German people, nor is it helping climate change. It is not reducing emissions, because manufacturing is being shifted to other nations, like China and India, that use dirtier energy. The German economy is going down, and their people do not have the jobs and economic opportunities that they used to.”
  Germany Went All In on the Green Transition. Now, Its Economy is Crumbling.

  CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY

• "You know the argument: Certain demographic cohorts go to prison out of proportion to their presence in the population — and this, all by itself, is certain proof of an inequitable criminal-justice system. This also is the rationale for the criminal-justice “reforms” Cuomo approved in 2019 and now fueling so much of the chaos plaguing New York. But Eddie Byrne was gunned down at age 22 — and his killers are now in their 50s and 60s. Is this equitable?"
  (The animals who slaughtered Eddie Byrne should've been given a seat in Old Sparky - jjs)
  Progressives Forget Lesson from NYPD Cop's Slay: THere's Nothing Just in Freeing a Killer

  AMERICA AND THE WORLD IMPRISONED: CHINESE CORONAVIRUS FICTIONS AND FACTS

• Another information item supporting “lab leak” origin that was originally deemed as “misinformation”/”a conspiracy theory” back in 2020.
  Chinese Scientists Submitted Genetic Sequence of Coronavirus to U.S. Database in 2019, Two Weeks Ahead of China’s Official Disclosure
  
• "Despite the findings, the scientists who authored the study cautioned against drawing any conclusions on the vaccine’s efficacy beyond rat populations. 'More extensive studies are needed to confirm these observations in humans,' they note." (And fake the evidence to clear Pfizer - jjs)
  Study: Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine Linked to "Autism-Like" Symptoms in Neo-Natal Rats

  EDUCATION, AND WHAT PASSES FOR IT

• “Conservatives have been purged from academia, as have pro-Israel professors . . . So there is no internal opposition left on campuses. The faculty is approaching 100% anti-conservative and approaching 100% anti-Israel.”
  There is No Internal Opposition Left on Campuses
  
• "Harvard's plagiarism scandal reveals how DEI has been weaponized by 'woke' activists."
  Claudine Gay’s Firing: The Left Sought To Protect DEI, Not Her
  
• “This ‘DEI training’ is a form of indoctrination and demeans law students based on their race.”
  Univ. Wisconsin Law School Forcing Students To Endure Racist DEI Reeducation
  
• Thad McCotter: "The student’s ‘lived experience’ and their parents are the problem, because the woke left’s aim is not education but indoctrination."
  What about Parents’ “Lived Experience” with Their Child?
  
• "The findings reveal that, over four years spanning from before the pandemic to the present, approximately 12% of elementary schools and 9% of middle schools experienced a loss of at least one-fifth of their enrollment. Brookings Institution fellow Sofoklis Goulas emphasized that enrollment declines are a widespread phenomenon, impacting schools across the nation."
  Schools Across US Face Massive Enrollment Decline
  
• "Those who are obsessed with equity are doing great damage to American education." (The damage has been done. Now the rubble is bouncing - jjs)
  Inflated Grades, Increasing Graduation Rates, and Deflated Test Scores
  
• "Corrosive to academic freedom."
  These States Might Get Rid Of Diversity Programs This Year

  ABORTION

• "At the end of the day it was a great turnout for the March and the overall attitude moving into 2024 seems very positive, optimistic and hopeful."
  Pro-Aborts Protest March for Life: "Murder is Perfectly Fine"

  THE 2020 AND 2022ELECTION HEISTS & AFTERMATH

• "A pair of letters obtained by The Federalist confirm Forsyth and Brunswick Counties have exited the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence."
  North Carolina Counties Withdraw From Democrats’ "Zuckbucks 2.0" Dark Money Group
  
• "The Sunshine State’s election cops have released a devastating report for those who insist there’s no such thing as voter fraud."
  Florida Leads the Way on Fighting Voter Fraud

  DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY

• "In 2019, actor Jussie Smollett claimed he had been involved in a similar incident in Chicago. . . It later turned out Smollett had staged the attack with the help of two Nigerian migrants, however." (Like here, no doubt - jjs)
  "MAGA COUNTRY!" — Marxist Stooge Barbara Lee Says "White Guy" Stopped Her Entering Congressional Elevator, Asked Whose Lapel Pin She Stole

  POLITICS

• "In a video DeSantis released from Florida on Sunday afternoon, he endorsed Trump over the last challenger—former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley—saying that while he has disagreements with Trump he thinks Trump is better than Haley and certainly better than Democrat [so-called quote-unquote "president"] Joe Biden."
  Ron DeSantis Drops Out of Presidential Race, Endorses Donald Trump
  
• Robert Spencer: "For the establishment, Haley represents a return to the comfortable days of John McCain and Mitt Romney, when Republicans knew their place in the workings of official Washington, and were happy playing second fiddle and giving Americans the appearance of a multiparty free republic. They didn’t rock the boat. Then Trump came along and upset everything. The people who want to make sure that he doesn’t get another chance to do so from the Oval Office are not all Democrats. The Trump campaign in New Hampshire clearly knows that no matter how big a lead their man has in the polls, he could still end up losing. Call it the lesson of 2020."
  Is Nikki Haley the Real Frontrunner?
  
• Funny how so much of what Nikki Haley endorses is the same as what the Democrats endorse."
  Forget Michelle Obama or Gavin Newsom – Dems' Choice to Replace Biden is Nikki Haley
  
• At the end of the day, these puerile tantrums are meaningless. If DeSantis was as popular a candidate as he was pimped, it would be Trump supporters melting down and sulking. Meh, these "influencers" had literally zero influence on the outcome. And DeSantis is a mensch and bowed out gracefully - jjs)
  DeSantis Influencers Melt Down: "We’re Not Uniting Behind Trump"
  
• "Sununu said the quiet part out loud. Suffolk polling from Thursday shows Haley trailing Trump by about 14 points, dampening the enthusiasm for Haley’s campaign among voters."
  Nikki Haley Fails to Gain Momentum in New Hampshire  
  
• "The longer she stays in the race, the harder it will be for the party to unite behind the candidate that will ultimately represent the party in November: Donald Trump."
  Can Someone Tell Nikki Haley It’s Over?
  
• “There’s been a lot of talk. The whole narrative has been ‘Narrow the field. Narrow the field,’ and now it’s time to do that. This race for the nomination for the Republican Party should be over after New Hampshire,” Burgum said.
  Former Candidate Doug Burgum Calls for GOP Unity Behind Trump, Says Race for Nomination "Should Be Over After New Hampshire"
  
• "What she needs is a firing spree." (Meh, she had no shot whatsoever. Total globalist RINO stooge and everyone saw it from day one - jjs)
  Haley Made Strategic Blunders. They’re Costing Her the Campaign.
  
• "According to multiple reports over the weekend, Phillips signaled he would be open to a campaign under the No Labels banner if President Joe Biden appears likely to lose against former President Donald Trump should they face each other again in the general election."
Democrat Dean Phillips Entertains 3rd Party Bid for President — On One Condition

  THE UKRAINIAN "FRONT"

• "Zelensky’s regime has been plagued with allegations of corruption, mismanagement, and failed war strategy. He has banned opposition political parties and canceled elections, all with the support of the Western world, as evidenced by recent comments by Kiev’s mayor and plummeting popularity numbers."
  Zelensky Says Trump’s Peace Talk is "Dangerous" and Makes Him "Stressed"

  FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL

• Clarice Feldman: "The [junta] has backed off its historic mission of protecting freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. Instead, it keeps choosing appeasement."
  Our Weird Passivity Toward Iran’s Aggression
  
• Victor Davis Hanson: "Add it all up, and the world abroad agrees America is in rapid decline and will not or cannot defend its interests, or for that matter itself."
  2024—America’s Year of Living Dangerously
  
• "They may not have changed many minds at Davos, but they certainly put the globalists on notice."
  Roberts and Milei Set Fire to Libs at Davos
  
• "Xi Jinping wants 'reunification' with Taiwan, but this doesn’t imply any notion of consensuality."
  China’s New Year’s Resolution Does Not Include Peace
  
• "The critical conflict for humanity’s future will be fought between human beings who desire freedom and international institutions that seek totalitarian control."
  The World Economic Forum’s Marie Antoinettes

  DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS

• "The 19-page document, issued Thursday, explained that the crucial blunder occurred when a maintainer used and overlooked a flashlight inside the engine inlet during an inspection. After the examination, the jet’s engine was fired up for five minutes, testing for potential fuel leaks. The foreign object was not detected until after the engine was switched off and the maintainer reported hearing an unusual noise from the decelerating engine."
  Maintenance Left a Flashlight in an F-35 Jet Engine. It Cost $14 Million and Totaled the Aircraft
  
• "Mr. Lerette’s candid and gritty look at modern war, full of the profanity and humor used by soldiers and contractors alike, gives a view into the Global War on Terror."
  Guns, Girls and Greed: A look Into How Modern Wars are Fought

  DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, THE COURTS, WASTE/FRAUD/ABUSE

• Daniel Greenfield: "NASA is focused on men going where no man has gone before – the ladies’ room." (Meme of the year candidate, that - jjs)
  After DEI, Every Country Except America Can Land on the Moon
  
• "Or rather, what we haven’t been told . . . "
  What We Don’t Know About the Danger of DEI in the Airline Industry is Scarier than What We Know
  
• "Though drug addiction and homelessness in the city have drawn national attention, the most innocent victims—children—often go overlooked."
  Portland’s Encampment Kids

  HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE

• Deane Waldman, M.D.: "Our government obsesses over the number of uninsured while insured Americans die waiting for health care."
  America’s Healthcare Potemkin Village

  ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

• "The final mass of material will be determined once it is removed and weighed, though the team has already recovered more than 70 grams that had clung to the outside the capsule, which in itself exceeded the mission’s targeted goal."
  Scientists finally look at prime samples captured by OSIRIS-REx of the asteroid Bennu
  
• Robert Zimmerman: "Based on the information released (or lack thereof) from the previous flight, the 71st, it is my sense that the situation is not as dire as these reports suggest, and that the situation might simply be related to issues of communications. Let me explain why I have come to this conclusion."
  Ingenuity’s status uncertain but likely healthy

  CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE

• "In recent years, Sports Illustrated became a purveyor of the radical left’s woke propaganda, such as publication of covers celebrating obese and transgender athletes, as many social media posters were quick to point out, reacting to news of the layoffs."
  Woke Bloodbath: Sports Illustrated’s Entire Staff Told They're Being Cut from Team
  
• Yes, “Lift Every Voice” will be sung and toxicity will be present before the Big Game. The NFL announced Thursday singer Andra Day will be performing the song. It will be the third consecutive Super Bowl that the Black National Anthem will be sung with “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In other words, the third-straight year the NFL will be further dividing an already divided America.
  The NFL Will Continue to Divide America at the Super Bowl (Because, Of Course)
  
• Christian Toto: "Were Sara Ramirez, Melissa Barrera and Susan Sarandon punished for speaking up?"
  Anti-Israel Celebrities Get Taste of Conservative Blacklist
  
• "Those religious forces have always been there to make effective unity possible."
  Jordan Peterson Reclaims Religious Beliefs That Promote Freedom
  
• "We need to equip sports industry leadership against anti-empirical woke ideologues."
  Why We (Sadly) Need to Prove the Obvious About Sex in Sports
  
• "The Grand Canyon-sized divide between the elites in America and ordinary Americans is so profound that it is as if they live in two different countries. . . The elites in America tend to work in the 'talking professions' – university professors, journalists, lawyers, actors, and lobbyists. They keep talking and normal Americans are more than ever not listening to them. (All subcategories of what's know as "con men" - jjs
  The Real Story of the Two Americas

  HITHER & YON

• "Seven years after loosing the Bolshevik virus upon the world."
  A Century Ago, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Died

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 07:50 AM

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