Open Thread

Open Thread

Mark Noonan40 Comments

I didn’t watch the presser – just didn’t feel up to watching the senile creep. But I guess he managed to say “Vice President Trump” while implying he thought Harris unfit to serve. And something about reuniting Japan and Korea. Something which will comes as a bit of a surprise in both countries.

Right into it the Democrat comments were all along the lines of “this is going well because Biden has such great experience in foreign policy”…which is news to me, you and everyone on Earth. Biden has never been good on foreign policy. He’s grotesquely ignorant of it, in fact. But that a large number of Democrat comments were along these lines shows it was a talking point passed out before the presser. And, of course, he had a list of reporters to call on – which means it wasn’t a press conference but a campaign event.

At the end of the day, Biden has to show the people that he is in great health and mentally sharp. That he didn’t have a debate-style meltdown isn’t going to do the trick. He had to be like the Biden of the 2008 Vice Presidential debate where he was able to smoothly lie his way through the whole thing without a hiccup. He is mentally and physically incapable of that and every time they put him out there looking like a worn out geezer the more frozen the public mind will be on “unfit.”

I still doubt they’ll force him out – there is a growing desire on the part of some Democrats to get him out but the delegates are mostly Biden loyalists. Unless he voluntarily goes, there’s not much the Democrats can do about it – and his pride along with Jill and Hunter will keep him in it. He does not want to be remembered as the man who quit…especially in the face of Donald Trump, whom he hates with a passion. But at this point I’m not sure the Democrats can get to the monotonous unity they normally present for the general election. You know it: where day by day regardless of what is actually happening they all stay on message. We might have leaks and back biting among the Democrats all the way until November.

This is why the GOP wants Biden to stay in.

And how is it going?

Well, the Biden people put out a memo which says, essentially, they’re counting on holding WI/MI/PA…which means here in July their plan is to thread the needle to exactly 270. The campaign trying to do that is the campaign that is losing. Badly. Side note: the MI Senate race has been moved from “Leans Dem” to “Tossup”. Why? Because Biden is proving such a downward drag on Democrat enthusiasm that nobody is sure if enough Democrats will show in November.

Trump VP speculation is rife – I honestly have no idea. I think his team is stirring the pot on this deliberately so that his pick will come as a complete surprise…and, who knows?, maybe it’ll be someone nobody expects? One thing everyone is agreeing on: this 2024 Trump campaign is vastly more disciplined than either 2016 or 2020. No leaks. Message discipline. Prepping for turnout and fraud prevention. Mapping out strategy to hold or take States and, perhaps, move into one or two traditionally Blue States if that seems warranted.

Democrats are trying to turn Project 2025 into something to harm Trump. I think it only works on the most committed Democrats. And that could mean, actually, that Team Pudding Brain hasn’t even locked down traditional Democrat constituencies. We’ll see!

SIDE NOTE: You know how fans love their teams? Well, I found out something – when you abandon your team after more than half a century of sticking with them, the other fans get really mad about that. I became a Padres fan in 1972 when at the age of 7 my Dad brought me to my first game. The Padres beat the Cubs that day. I was hooked. And like a good, little fan I stuck with them all these years. But when the Padres got swept by the Mariners after a two game totally inept and lazy performance, something inside me broke…I just couldn’t be a fan any longer. Honestly, I think it’s that I became a Golden Knights fan that ultimately ruined it for me. Being a Padres/Chargers fan I had long been accustomed to “next year”. Knights got a Cup in six years. I now expect that if I’m going to invest time and emotion in team that they at least try hard. Anyways, when I posted my anti-Padres rant on X, did I get scorched! So, if you do decide to bail out on a team which perennially sucks, don’t post it!

Open Thread

Mark Noonan58 Comments

As of this moment in time, still thinking that Biden remains – he’s really digging in his heels (or Hunter and Jill are) and he is garnering some public support among Democrat electeds. There are still a few Democrats calling for him to step aside but the numbers are small and it can often be seen a tactical: they’re in areas where Democrats are weak and Democrats are always forgiving of Democrats who do what it takes to survive.

I think, bottom line, that its really too late to swap out. Not based on law. Laws don’t matter to Democrats. If they were really determined to push Pudding Brain out, they’d do so and rely on friendly Democrat judges and squishy cooperative GOPers to ensure the new guy is on the ballot in all 50 states. Its too late because getting someone new in and trying to ramp up a national campaign with a new candidate is just entirely too forlorn. Democrats know they are headed for defeat – they could have pushed Biden out 9 months ago, but now it is just too late. On to the end – maybe a miracle shows up, but keeping Biden is now at the very least no worse than hitting the eject button. It is now all about down-ballot. At the moment, most State-by-State polling shows Democrats doing ok – it looks like they’ll lose the House and Senate but only by a few seats in each…but that is the polling. This polling screens for Presidential-year voters…who only show up every four years.

And that is the problem Democrats really have – the Presidential-year Dem-leaners aren’t going to show up in sufficient numbers if it gets into the public mind that Biden is done for. This could be catastrophic for Democrats. If even five million such people become stay-at-homes then what is now a narrow Congressional loss could become a landslide loss…all sorts of Dem House and Senate candidates who are up by even 5 to 7 right now could end up losing. And so I just saw a Rosen (D-NV) Senate ad lauding her for fighting to secure the border; an egregious lie, of course, but it indicates that even with polling showing her substantially up over Sam Brown, the GOP Candidate, she’s concerned about losing the race on the right.

Team Biden is still going with “he’s vigorous as heck!”. In fact, they even have surrogates out there going, “hey, where’s Trump?”. Basically implying that since Trump isn’t on the stump right now, it is Trump who is feeble while the vigorous and manly Biden is out on the trail. Of course, Trump is wisely holding back – while your opponent is self-immolating, just shut up and let him do it. Remember, we’re only here right now because Team Pudding Brain issued a debate challenge they clearly thought Trump would decline. Had they not done that, this would be going a lot differently right now (and a heck of a lot more funny if June’s debate happened in September and it was only at that moment Democrats realized they’re screwed). Trump is naturally delighted with how it went and as he preps for the RNC and the Veep selection, there’s no need for him to do anything.

Especially as the latest RCP average has Trump up something like 3.3. I might be slightly wrong on that – it might be more. But, no matter: as I’ve said – and everyone says – for Biden to have a shot as scraping by with 270 Electoral Votes, he’s got to be up by 3 nationally. Trump up by 3+ puts this entirely out of reach. Trump was narrowly winning pre-debate. He’s comfortably ahead now (many forecasters have taken GA, AZ and NV out of the “tossup” realm and put them “Lean-R”…and an argument can be made that PA is “Lean-R” – and, if so, that is game over). Trump is in the driver’s seat here. Lots of things can happen, of course, but it is also a well-known fact of political life that usually in June the thing is pretty baked in. Takes something really major to shake it up. Unfortunately for Biden, most of the major things that can happen are bad for him (another mental breakdown live, Ukraine being defeated, inflation spiking, that sort of thing).

The French election went as I expected – the Left convinced that squish “Right” to vote Left to keep the “far Right” out. Do keep in mind that when they say “far Right” they mean “middle class French patriots”. It is the same as when they call you and I “MAGA extremists”. Looks like Le Pen’s party actually got the most votes – and by a substantial margin. But by the quirks of French election process, her party came in third, seat-wise. This has caused a lot of heartache on the French Right (as it should) but I tell them to buck up – a decade ago there were like 4 French patriots in Parliament. Now there’s 150. And while the Left is trying to forge a governing coalition (no party obtained an absolute majority) it already looks unstable…with plenty of the squish Right being dismayed that the Left now wants 100% of their program enacted. I expect a good portion of the squish Right to defect to Le Pen’s party…and they might have to call another snap election if a stable government can’t be formed.

The Brit’s, on the other hand, are screwed. Labour obtained an unassailable absolute majority. Moving swiftly they have already announced they will let a bunch of criminals out of jail. Not kidding. This is apparently a high priority for Labour. No, they didn’t campaign on that. The Left never campaigns on what they’re going to actually do. They learned that lesson in the 1980’s when in both the US and UK the Left did campaign on what they wanted and they got electorally wiped out. Since then, it has always been like this:

“We’ve passed the free ice cream for everyone law!”

“Cool! When do I get my ice cream?”

“Ice cream? We’re here to shoot your dog.”

I don’t see how the UK comes back from this – the Labour government is going to import a couple million Muslims and give them citizenship to make sure Labour never loses again. Think I’m kidding? I’ve seen videos of new-minted Labour officials dressed entirely in Muslim garb and with only Muslim flags being waved by the crowds. One does have to remember that Leftists – all Leftists, everywhere – hate their own country and their own people. Its why Labour is rushing through the release of criminals…they want these criminals to prey upon the British people. To the Left, the British people are evil and now they’re going to get what’s coming to them.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan18 Comments

It isn’t important so much as a thing, but it is showing how things are done via the MSM in the modern era:

Justin Timberlake – who I didn’t realize until just now was part of the boy band NSYNC and who’s songs I couldn’t for the life of me identify, but who has been a pop icon for 20 years – was arrested for DWI in Sag Harbor. This is one of those Long Island communities where rich people soak up the local atmosphere…meaning, the actual purpose of the place is long gone and the whole thing is like a Disney-park, in this case the community pretends it still has some connection to its nautical, whaling past. So, you know: a place where the rich are privileged. Timberlake is, of course, rich. And the rich people of Sag Harbor and such places are not about to put up with impertinence from the cops.

There is this article in the MSM and many others attacking the cop. He has, as the story says, been “unmasked” as a rookie cop who didn’t recognize Timberlake. The horror! There are also stories circulating claiming that other locals don’t like this particular cop. This is all intimidation: not just of this particular officer, but the entire police force and law enforcement apparatus of the area. It is a PR blitz to let everyone know that you damned well better recognize Timberlake – and any other rich/famous people – and do what you have to do to make sure the rich/famous don’t face significant consequences for actions. And the MSM is playing along with it – just as they do with the overall Ruling Class, which includes Democrats and kept Republicans. The particulars of the cop are, of course, irrelevant unless there is a charge that the officer violated the law – that he’s a rookie or didn’t recognize Timberlake is unimportant. The only thing we, the people, need to know is if the arrest was legit – that’s all we ever need to know about the cops: did they act within the law? Whether or not Timberlake is guilty is a matter for the courts. But if you want to put a shot across the legal system’s bow, you do it like this – letting everyone know that big wheels are not pleased and so maybe make this all go away.

In the UK the Tories are going to get wiped out in the July 4th election. Some polling indicates the Tories may drop from their current 344 seats down into the low 50s. The Tories have completely earned this destruction. My actual hope is that the party dissolves shortly afterwards. They have been the worst of the worst “RINO” type of party. You think Romney is bad? He’s a conservative stalwart compared to PM Sunak and his cronies. There is nothing that Labour wants that the Tories don’t go along with – from open borders to pronoun policies, the Tory government has been Labour for all intents and purposes. Don’t get me wrong – an actual Labour government (which the UK will get, and with an unassailable majority) is going to be worse. You know how Leftists are – once they do get power, they kick in the afterburners and go for it. And like always, this new Labour government will rest secure in the knowledge that once they screw everything up and get the boot, a new Tory government will just tap the brakes and keep on with Labour policies. But, will it?

Nigel Farage, famed leader of the Brexit movement, has come out of retirement to lead Reform UK into the election. Reform will not win. In fact, best polling has them winning less than 10 seats; this is because of the way things are done in British elections. Reform is polling just a little below Tory but it is first past the post in the UK (as it is in our Congressional elections) and with the Right vote split between Tory and Reform, it’ll be Labour (barely polling above 40%) that takes as many at 470 out of 650 seats (that is 40% getting 72% of the seats – and 100% of the power because there is no actual check on the power of the House of Commons). But while Reform will enter the next Parliament as a tiny party – and with perhaps the absurd Liberal-Democrats as the official Opposition to His Majesty’s Government – they are, perhaps, a harbinger. All across the world, the Ruling Class is threatened by a rising tide of discontent. This discontent is going to result in a Labour government in the UK (which is monumentally stupid, but change does take time) but everywhere the Establishment is besieged by a populace running out of patience. Labour will ruin Britain. It is what Leftists do. And at the next election, Reform might come into its own.

In addition to the “you want expensive tomatoes?” arguments in favor of illegal immigration, the Ruling Class is trotting out the, “you think only illegals commit crimes?” excuse. I’m not sure this one will work any better than the other given that the crime rate for illegals should be zero as there should be no illegals in country to commit crimes. In addition to this, I don’t put any stock in the Libertarian and Left studies claiming that illegals commit less crimes than Americans. That is just a stupid assertion given that illegals are people and are prone to crime as any other random group of people. Of course they commit, on average, at least as much crime per 100,000 as anyone else. And that is the baseline – now add in this:

“Hey, you’re an illegal…transport this meth to Arizona or we’ll tip off immigration.”

It is almost an existential certainty that illegals commit more crimes than citizens.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan67 Comments

Just a quick hit showing up here because I’m out until late Friday.

Missouri’s AG has been suing Planned Parenthood over the allegation that they’ve helped traffic minors out of State for abortions – if so, obviously to dispose of evidence of crimes. PP is a vile organization from top to bottom and it is things like this which will destroy it – and the good news here is that the judge denied PP’s motion to have the case dismissed. The chances that an organization dedicated to killing is clean are very small.

This is the model. All Red State AG’s should be suing these Leftist groups – they are the backbone. They are how money and influence get peddled. It is groups like PP – hundreds of them, all around the country – that have made sure that even in the Reddest States, Liberalism rules the roost. But only because nobody in the Red States has gone after them. The old, let’s-be-nice GOP never wanted to get down in the mud and fight these people. Now we’re getting some who do – and we can start to step-by-step dismantle the money if the Left.

Democrats and the MSM (BIRM) are pushing “the videos are fakes” regarding the live videos of Biden malfunctioning in public. The word went out and everyone ran with it. I guess we’ll see if MSM lies really carry water these days. I doubt it, though. Even more ridiculous in this is Democrat/MSM attempts to paint Trump as the mentally impaired candidate. Forget that you just watched him do a 90 minute live rally – we have sources telling us he’s gaga behind closed doors. I don’t think it’ll work.

The Buffalo Bills will be sponsoring a gay flag football league. Just go ahead and get all the jokes out of your system.

Done?

Good.

Now, isn’t that discrimination? I mean, if the league only allows gay players, doesn’t this discriminate against straight people?

There were rumors that Noam Chomsky had become a good commie but then this was later denied so, pro tempore, he remains a bad commie. But we know how this turns out in the end.

Someone in Democrat-land decided that it was a good idea to make a thing about the 12th anniversary of Obama’s unconstitutional DACA order. They were all over social media with it – asking us, in effect, to be proud of them for breaking the law and allowing a flood of illegals into the country. With, of course, the usual drivel about these people being hard working, law abiding people. Except for that whole breaking the law to get in here thing…fortunately, the comments on these Democrat posts were filled with links to articles about recent murders done by illegals. I think the people are kinda fed up with the illegal immigration thing. For goodness sake, if you really are a refugee you just have to present yourself at the border and meet some very minimal requirements to get in…the flood of millions is just contempt for America.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan27 Comments

Rumors abound of Democrat groups prepping for Trump II – getting their legal affairs in order, getting ready for IRS audits. The sort of things you do if you’re spent years breaking the law to get a guy and that guy is about to obtain the power to get you. The thing about a Lawfare battle is that if we engage in it, the Democrats routinely commit crimes. They’re out there breaking the law all the live long day. Any Liberal reading this will get all huffy and say there’s been investigations and they’ve been cleared. Not so: there was a phony investigation by Liberals of Liberals and the Liberals decided that the Liberals did nothing wrong. Gonna be a bit different if there’s a MAGA prosecutor.

Let’s go back a moment in history – to Joe McCarthy. He was politically destroyed on the notion that he falsely accused patriotic Americans of being Communists. He made his list – with supposedly endlessly changing numbers of people on it – and after a while the decent people of the Ruling Class smacked him down by having people investigated and they were all cleared! Well, not quite like that.

The list, of course, wasn’t made by McCarthy. There were several of them and all made by Democrats. McCarthy just brought attention to the work of others. As for the investigations, they were done by people who wanted it all buried and so they deliberately sabotaged their own grand juries to ensure against indictments so that the Commies could walk out claiming vindication and McCarthy would look bad. That basic model has been used ever since – when something bad does happen, make sure a Liberal in in charge of the investigation. First to make it go away entirely, secondly if there must be an indictment, make it of a small fry who doesn’t lead to anyone big. We’re so used to this happening that we hardly notice it any longer. It will change if Trump gets in. Any person selected for AG and FBI Director will be someone with no interest in protecting the system – the only question will be how aggressively Justice goes after the system. My hope is that Trump appoints wrecking balls to both positions.

They are dirty, dirty, dirty. All of them: the entire uniparty. People keep forgetting that Congress has paid out millions to settle sexual harassment claims and continues to do so. There are so many perverts and thieves in government that we’ll be years getting after the all…if we have someone willing to get after them. It’ll be like pulling a string on a sweater…once we get a few, the whole thing unravels and low level people run for cover by becoming cooperating witnesses. It’ll be glorious.

Sudan is on the verge of famine. There’s been a horrific and cruel civil war going on there for years. Millions of lives are at risk. You’re not hearing about it because Jews aren’t involved and nobody in Sudan passed out 50 grand a month no-show jobs to a politician’s crackhead son. This is a catastrophe in the making – and nobody cares. Keep this in mind: it is so very crucial. The power the MSM still retains is selection on what we’ll care about. If the MSM doesn’t make it front and center in the American conscience, it simply doesn’t get there. This is still a very crucial power for the Left: the ability to decide what we see. It is breaking down more and more – that is why in spite of MSM blackouts, the border is an issue – but for the most part, if it ain’t on the idiot box, the people don’t know or care about it. We really do need to duplicate the entire media complex – radio, TV, movies, books, art – to make sure that what we care about has a shot at being noticed.

Scott Pressler continues to do the work – in 2020, Bucks County, PA had a Dem voter registration advantage of 15,582. As of today, he announced that advantage is down to 720. I’ve been watching Pennsylvania voter registration trends since 2015 and it is remarkable how fast the Democrat registration advantage has melted away – even after the Democrats cooked up a new motor-voter scheme, GOP registration increased. I have been informed by multiple Experts that none of this matters – Pennsylvania remains a purple-to-blue State. And, indeed, the Democrats have done well lately. OTOH, Florida Dems were doing great until it all fell apart over a couple of election cycles. I think Pennsylvania is the next Florida – and this November could be the start of the Democrat collapse there.

Long term: yes, even California will be GOP again. You can’t see it now. But the build starts at the bottom and works its way up. Before I die, California’s electoral votes will go GOP.

As more and more videos emerge of Biden malfunctioning in public – pretty much every public event has a glitch large or small – Democrats have decided that the best way to handle this is to claim that the video is wrong. You didn’t see Biden drop a bomb at Normandy. You didn’t see Obama guide Biden off stage. Biden is a sharp, vigorous Executive. He just has a stiff gait. And a stutter. And we’ve heard that behind closed doors, Trump is glitching out! Forget that you can watch Trump do 90 minutes extemporaneously…we’ve got “‘sources” who say he’s gaga!

This is the same tactic they’re using on inflation: just telling us again and again that it isn’t happening.

I do not think this will work.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan21 Comments

The Israelis rescued 4 hostages and the world is loud in its condemnations of Israel. Of course. It took them a while to settle on the number, but the claim I’ve seen most consistently is “Israel murdered 200 innocent people to get 4 people back.” Yet another “war crime” by those dastardly Israelis…if you will please just pretend 10/7 didn’t happen and while mourning over the doctor and journalist killed forget that said doctor and journalist were holding Israelis captive. It is all so much drivel. But not all of it comes from the Left/Hamasnik side – there is some drivel from the Right as well. The tut-tutting about how tragic the deaths were and while we’re glad the captives were freed wow poor dead people.

I am really sick to death of this crap. This “war crime trap” the USA and Israel always find themselves in: the enemy is allowed to do whatever the heck it wants while we have to be super-duper careful and even after we have been, we’re still the bad guys. To heck with that.

There are no innocent Palestinians. They’re all in on it. Every Arab 12 and up in Gaza is to be considered an armed combatant. They can surrender or they can die. And I don’t care what they choose. What the IDF did was a glorious victory. They killed the enemy. They freed the captives. There is no bad thing that happened in the event. The enemy dead simply got what they wanted.

Polling is still good for Trump – all of it, when you consider that Biden needs to win the national popular vote by about 5 points to get past 270 – but there is a CBS poll out this weekend which is giving Democrats lots of hopium because it shows Biden doing better in the battlegrounds. Smart people – including smart people on the Left – are pointing out that this isn’t a survey of Battlegrounds but a national survey in which the Battlegrounds have been broken out. They didn’t poll Michigan; they polled Nationally and then separated the Michigan responses out. This is ok as far as it goes – it isn’t nefarious – but it is also a weak poll of Michigan. And, you guessed it, in the Battlegrounds looking best for Biden, there is an over-sample of Democrats. I’m ok with letting the Democrats get their hopes up.

Meanwhile, some people are looking at the numbers and wondering if there’s a possibility that Trump wins the national popular vote but loses the Electoral College? As you might have guessed, they’re saying this is low-probability but possible. I say it is so close to impossible as makes no odds. What I think we have here is a bit of a psy-op; a Democrat orchestrated discussion point designed to get Trump out of the “reach” States…that is, States where he’s a little behind and doesn’t need for 270 (Virginia, New Mexico…States like that). One headline that crossed the TL on X this past week was Team Pudding Brain announcing a major outreach to LGBTetc people. Depending on the Exit Poll for 2020 you look at, Biden won the gay vote by anywhere from 37 to 48 points. You know: not a demographic that a Democrat should have to reach out to in June…the sort of bloc that should be all neatly locked down. But it ain’t. At least, not enough. This is the state of the campaign, guys. And you can think about it: a gay guy in a purple State might hate Trump and the GOP…but he hates that mortgage interest rates are through the roof, food is expensive, crime is rising…most of that like will still pull the Democrat lever in November…but suppose the Democrats only win that demographic by 25 points? That is what I think the Democrats are trying to avoid – having Trump come out to purple area and getting part of the Democrat coalition to vote for him.

Other markers for how its going – Jacky Rosen (D-Zombie Harry Reid) is running for re-election highlighting how she stands up to Democrats. Tester, over in Montana, is in even more trouble and is explicitly saying he fights Joe Biden. They don’t want Biden anywhere near them – and, of course, they also don’t want Schumer on the podium. If Biden were doing well, they’d want his help…especially Tester who looks like he’ll finally come up short (more dicey in Nevada – Rosen is a non-entity but she’s “nice” and will have the remains of the Reid Machine behind her). Last word on it: it is June 9th and we still don’t have Biden’s May fundraising numbers. Trump and GOP are said to have collected $400 million…that Biden’s people are holding the numbers is not a good sign.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan25 Comments

So, they dragged Pudding Brain’s senile carcass to France for the 80th anniversary of D Day. This, as it turns out, was not a good idea.

I can see why they did it. Short speech, mostly photo ops with a few surviving veterans. They probably figured it would be a breeze. But that was before Biden malfunctioned multiple times – including an event which looked very much like he lost control of his bowels, as aged people will do from time to time. Naturally, there were people out there to say it was a bold, vigorous speech showing that Biden is at the top of his game. Not sure how they do that – I mean, I realize these people are paid to lie, but is there no limit at all? We saw the guy mentally check out several times…you can’t hide that. But there they go lauding our Handsome and Charismatic Leader and Teacher.

Everyone is certain that he’ll never make it to 2029…I’m not sure he’ll make it to next week. He really looks just terrible. Some of the 99 year old veterans looked sharper. I mean he looks so bad I’m actually developing sympathy for him…and anger at his despicable family for keeping him at it as he falls apart in public rather than gracefully retiring from the scene. This is actually dangerous – we do not have a functioning Executive. If the poop hits the proverbial fan it could go very badly for us as there will be nobody in the Executive capable of issuing an unquestioned order.

Meanwhile, polls. I had guessed the verdict would lead to about a week of Biden improvement and, man, did some pollsters try mightily to get that – but even vigorous massaging of the data (and D+9 pools) could only get Biden to maybe even. Over the past few days, even that has receded and we’re back to Trump on a glide path to 270…and now with an even money chance, from what I can see, of winning the popular vote. Things can change, of course, and five months is an eternity in politics…but, also, things tend to be as they are. Absent some major event to shake up the race, I just don’t see how the dynamic changes. Nobody likes Biden. In spite of all MSM efforts, they can’t hide his obvious mental and physical decline. In spite of massaged data, things are getting worse in the economy…we see it; we know people who have lost their jobs, who are juggling expenses…and we see it, ourselves, day in and day out. The Mrs and I keep an eye on the Crime Wave – that is, how close the latest armed robberies are to us. We’re in an middle class area of town and it is quiet and safe here…but not as nearly quiet or safe as it was before. And now things that took place miles away towards the seedy side of town are creeping closer to us.

What do the Democrats have? Abortion. Shouting about “Our Democracy” (though in one recent poll Trump beats Biden on “protecting Democracy”). Biden’s X account includes such shopworn issues as “lets give teachers a raise” and “it is time for an assault weapons ban”. Talk about stuck in the past and talking about issues nobody cares about – these days, inflation and the border fluctuate as the most important issues…and Trump absolutely wipes out Biden on those issues. But, what can they really say about either? Not much, and nothing good – and also nothing true.

Steve Bannon has been ordered to serve his 4 month sentence of contempt of Congress – starting July 1st so he won’t be able to play a role in the Fall campaign. Meanwhile, a Texas doctor who revealed that a children’s hospital was medically mutilating minors has been indicted on four counts of violating HIPAA. This is sheer intimidation – it is designed to strike fear into the hearts of everyone who isn’t on the side of the Regime. It is very Fascist. And it has to be stopped: I’m still suggesting our best route is to indict these people for conspiring to deny civil rights. The law is very broadly written and it has teeth (max of ten years per offense). We start dragging these people in cuffs to jail and they’ll finally have some fear in their own hearts…and maybe the rest of them will get the message.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan33 Comments

In the 6 hours after the verdict was read, the Trump Campaign – via the Team Red donor ap – was taking in money at $1,600 per second. In the 24 hours after verdict, nearly $54 million was taken in. We’ll see what the final numbers are but it wouldn’t surprise me if in the immediate aftermath (say, a week?) it is around $100 million. Thanks, Democrats, you completely erased the Democrats fundraising edge for 2024. Oh, and Miriam Adelson, widow of the late, great casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, is donating about $100 million for pro-Trump PACs. Then there there are the rumors – we’ll have to see money numbers over the next couple months – that some of Biden’s major money bags are switching to Trump. But more important than that is the Team Red money – massive numbers of first time, small donors ponying up. This is people doing something. With money. That matters

Bottom line, Team Trump and the GOP will have all the cash they need.

Oh, don’t want to forget that Team Trump is building a nationwide system to monitor the vote and object early and often to any irregularities. And I guarantee you with this much time – and, now, this much money – they’ll be able to venue shop a bit to make sure they get to judges who aren’t mere Democrat hacks. Team Pudding Brain will not be able to ballot box stuff like they did in 2020. Oh, sure, in deep Blue States like California they still can…but, who cares? It is in the purple States that they won’t be able to…certainly not to the degree they’d need to for a repeat of broken water pipes at 3 am.

There were a few polls right after verdict which claimed that Biden got a boost and/or Trump lost GOP support. These polls seem like drivel to me. I guess they could be real, but most of them claimed that the re-interviewed people interviewed previously…which means it isn’t random and not at all hard to pick your target to get the result you want. In this, whatever you see in polling: give it ten days. That’ll tell us if there’s any trend away from Trump. One thing certain: Trump’s conviction won’t make Biden more popular. Won’t make us forget what we’re paying for groceries. Won’t make us forget the border and rising crime. Won’t make us forget Biden’s attempt to mollify anti-Semites over Gaza. On and on like that – Biden and his people are still who they are. And they are monumentally unpopular. Whatever negatives Trump picked up via conviction will fade away…you can’t re-convict him (and the other trials are winding towards dismissal or being pushed into 2025…showing that only in Manhattan could you get an overall system anti-Trump enough to get a trial going…to be sure, they could get it in San Francisco or LA, but Trump doesn’t have offices in those places). If the judge tries to hit Trump with jail time as a first-time offender for Class E felonies, that will just make people mad. It fades. Biden is who he is.

How will the appeals go? Badly for Bragg. Basically every element of the trial was questionable. From bringing the charges to begin with (never in all of American history has anything like this been charged against anyone. Ever), to the obviously biased judge, tainted jury pool, unfair trial procedure, inadmissible evidence…on and on. How long it takes for this to get tossed is the only question. There is absolutely no doubt that at some appellate level, this conviction gets vacated.

Some are arguing Trump should apply to the Supreme Court. While rarely done – and even more rarely accepted by the Court – it does happen when there is a case of very large and immediate impact. One we’ll all remember was the 2000 Election case. It was still winding its way through the State and federal appellate process but it was determined by the Court that all legal challenges needed to be resolved lest the people of Florida lose their equal protection under the law – that is, if this wasn’t resolved by a date certain, Florida’s vote wouldn’t count. So, too, with the Trump case – it can be argued that having this hang over Trump’s head unresolved unfairly impacts Trump’s equal protection under the law. Trump’s claim is that the trial is false. Biden’s claim is that the trial is true. But it is unfair for Trump to labor under the trial if it was false, and so someone better step in and decide if it is good or bad. And Roberts might accept it.

Here’s the crucial aspect of this – and risk to our entire Republic – if we get into the habit of placing former President’s on trial our whole system of government hangs in the balance. If Trump is defeated as a result of a trial – especially one as bogus as this, and over a trivial issue (class E felony, guys: it is the sort of thing you charge a guy with when he paints graffiti on a wall) – then it would cause a catastrophic collapse in trust in the system…and lead to retaliatory lawfare from the other side. It is best we put this to bed. I know our Liberals won’t agree – but Caesar crossed the Rubicon because his political opponents proposed to jail him after his term as governor of Gaul expired. It was start a Civil War or be jailed on bogus, political charges. If we start jailing ex-Presidents then very quickly we will no longer have ex-Presidents.

Meanwhile, Biden’s people are refusing to release the audio of Biden’s special counsel interview. Their current claim? That if released someone will make a deep-fake of it so that Biden sounds like a senile twit. This means, of course, that Biden sounds like a senile twit on tape. They really don’t want that tape out – they can barely hold Biden together for 20-30 minute public events…a long interview and I guarantee the guy was completely lost.

Hunter Biden goes on trial – after Joe and company paid a visit to Beau’s widow…who is a witness in the case. Allegedly to mark Beau’s passing…but actually to make sure she knows that you never go against the Family. Ever. I figure it’ll still wind up with a sweetheart plea deal.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan62 Comments

The Democrats are trying desperately to pressure the Supreme Court to rule their way over the J6 and Presidential Immunity cases. Their method is to exert pressure directly on Alito and Thomas in the hopes that this will convince Roberts to do everything he can to ensure the Court decides in favor of the Dems. I doubt it will work – Roberts is a noodle but it seems that Barrett keeps him on an even keel. The bottom line for both cases is that the punishments inflicted for J6 amount to cruel and unusual while the President must have broad immunity for actions in office even if those actions are considered wrong, even illegal. It would be one thing if the President connived as embezzlement or some such crime…but if the President does something wrong in a political matter then the only solution must be via the political process (impeachment or voting the President out of office; also, of course, the Congress can deny funds until the President bends to Congressional will).

They’re also back on the “expand the Court” kick as additional pressure: rule the “wrong” way and next time we have a trifecta, the Court goes to 15 members. This is something that Congress and the President can do at any time – there’s no Constitutional number of Supreme Court Justices. We just settled at 9 early on and it has been kept out of habit. Personally, I’ve been in favor of expanding the Court for some time – like 25-30 years. The size of the country requires far more federal district courts and that implies a larger Supreme Court to ride herd on them. I figure 11 or 13 is the best number – and the next time the GOP has a trifecta, we should do it. Both for practical reasons noted but also to short circuit any Democrat attempt at a later time – if it was just done, expanding it some more would be seen as nakedly political and Democrats would pay a price at the polls for it.

The Democrats are also inciting violence – I’m not 100% sure it is intentional but the bottom line is that when you call Trump and his supporters an existential threat to all that is good and true, some people will take that literally and act upon it. They are priming their street muscle to act out – and that muscle will act out at some point in some way. We could be heading for a “Bleeding Kansas” if the far Left kooks decide that to “fight the Nazis” means doing things like blowing up churches and assassinating GOP office holders.

Trump’s trial has pretty much dropped off the map – because the Democrats are finding that it is massively backfiring. Trump did a rally in the Bronx. There is much dispute over crowd size (as usual) but the fact of the matter is that it was a fairly large crowd and given the Bronx, it was very much filled with black and brown people…including some rather prominent, political figures not normally associated with the GOP. Will Trump win the Bronx? Not a chance in heck. He’s going to get blown out there – but Trump lost it in 2020 by 67 points. My bet: he will do remarkably better this time. This still can mean, by the way, a 40 point loss. But I see what Trump is up to here – he’s got the inside track to 270. That may change, but at the moment if the election were held today, he’d probably win 312 Electoral Votes. What Trump probably wants in addition to the EC is the popular vote – it is both personal redemption and for raw, political power. Coming back into office more popular than Democrats and with a popular vote mandate means that for at least a year, presuming GOP control of at least one House (almost assured), Trump can get what he wants. Really remake Government – the people will have spoken; it will be what they wanted. So, campaign a bit in the Bronx. Why not? After all, Democrat lawfare has got you stuck in New York, anyway, might was well make the best of it.

Here in Nevada we’ll get to vote on a requirement for voter ID – this is good because if passed (can’t imagine it failing), it will dismantle the last of the Reid Machine…that curious device which always seems to get just enough votes out of Clark County to give Democrats State-wide wins. It is so weird; always in heavily union areas there’s some late arriving votes. I’m sure its a coincidence. Anyways, we’ll be able to vote on if we want people to actually prove they can vote.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan46 Comments

The Trump trial gets ever more ridiculous by the day. The judge is just being massively unfair to the defense and is doing everything he can to help the prosecution. But even with that, it is clear the prosecutor doesn’t have a case. I’m still thinking we might get a hung jury here – perhaps even a not guilty. I mean it: the thing is such an obvious show trial that even a New York jury might figure this is just a step too far. But even with a guilty verdict, this thing will be vacated in short order on appeal. It is just drivel.

Meanwhile, Biden hits the trail and nobody shows up – Trump shows up in Manhattan to large, friendly crowds. There’s a couple outlier polls showing Biden even or slightly ahead – but even in that scenario, he loses. But most polls show Trump ahead, some significantly. Trump, to the absolute shock of everyone, is becoming popular…while Biden is increasingly despised. Everyone knows he’s senile and physically one foot on a banana peel. It is actually kinda insulting that the Democrats are trying to force him on us for another four years.

The pyscho-killer who masqueraded as President of Iran was whacked in a helicopter crash so NATO and the USA expressed their condolences. Because of course. Just f’ing disgusts me the way the USA and the West gets on its knees for the mullahs. The more you hear about the guy the more psycho he was – not a nice guy. No redeeming qualities. A bloodthirsty murderer, mostly of his own people. The riddance level on his death: good.

Various Leftists groups are dredging up Michael Brown (hands up, don’t shoot lie) and George Floyd (I can’t breath lie). Then there was Biden’s vile, racist speech on Sunday. Pretty sure these idiots are looking for another summer of riots. There are those who disagree with me on this – figuring it would be insanely stupid of the Left to stir the pot. My rejoinder to that is the Left is insanely stupid. My thinking is they believe that if they can stir up the fear and hatred of 2020, it’ll somehow work to Biden’s advantage.

We built that pier to bring aid to the Palestinians and Hamas is stealing all the aid. This is because Hamas doesn’t give a damn about human life. None of the Islamists do. Heck, none of the various stripes of pedos, grifters, tyrants and freaks who run our world do. They’re all anti-human and only interesting in obtaining money and sex for themselves.

Red Lobster if filing for bankruptcy because that is what middle class, family-orientated businesses do when the economy is red hot like Pudding Brain says it is.