Republican News

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They say the first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one. If that’s true then the Democrats are in deep trouble. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the last election, they don’t seem able to admit they have a problem, at least not one that goes deeper than public relations.

Case in point, Joe Biden gave an exit interview to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell yesterday and his takeaway from the 2024 loss was that his party didn’t take enough credit for all of the wonderful things they accomplished.

“The mistake we made was — I think I made — was not getting our allies to acknowledge that the Democrats did this. So, for example, building a new billion-dollar bridge over the river, we’ll call it the ‘Democratic Bridge,’ figuratively speaking,” Biden said in an interview that aired Thursday with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, his final TV sit-down before he leaves office. “Talk about who put it together. Let people know that this was something the Democrats did, that it was done by the party. That’s different than me writing a check and me signing a check and saying I did it.”

Biden was asked if he considered putting his name on COVID checks the way President Trump did at one point. The assumption behind this question was that Biden just wasn’t as aggressive as Trump in taking credit for things. But as CNN helpfully notes, Biden did exactly the same thing in 2021. 

Letters signed by President Joe Biden have begun to go out notifying beneficiaries of their direct payments under the administration’s Covid relief package, CNN has learned…

“My fellow American, On March 11, 2021, I signed into law the American Rescue Plan, a law that will help vaccinate America and deliver immediate economic relief to hundreds of millions of Americans, including you,” the letter from the IRS reads. “This fulfills a promise I made to you, and will help get millions of Americans through this crisis.”

Maybe Joe forgot about that? In any case, he’s convinced that the real problem is he’s not enough of a “huckster.”

“I’m not a very good huckster. I mean, and that – it wasn’t a stupid thing for him to do. It helped him a lot. And it undermined our ability to convince people that we were the ones that were getting this to them,” Biden said. “And so – but I don’t think – ironically, I almost spent too much time on the policy and not enough time on the politics…”

So there you have it. Biden’s takeaway from four years of failure and disappointment with his leadership is that he wasn’t selling himself enough. In a word, that is delusional.

But he’s not alone. The DNC is currently holding a contest to determine who will take over there and guide the party to a glorious comeback. Politico reports all of the candidates have one thing in common. They all think the party’s big problem in 2024 was communications and, to some degree, the media.

Jason Paul, a long-shot candidate from Connecticut and now living in Massachusetts, placed the blame at the feet of the media, garnering a loud round of applause from the crowd. “Our problem is we trusted you all,” Paul said…

Democrats have long maintained their problem isn’t what they’re selling — but how they’re selling it. Don’t expect much of a change no matter who’s elected chair. Instead of an overhaul of party priorities, candidates cast themselves as change agents who could spark a party rebrand…

There was Martin, accusing the party of relying too heavily on celebrities to do voter outreach. “We have so many … spokespeople out there that we should be tapping into,” Martin said. “Instead of sending celebrities out, we should send workers out to talk to workers.”…

It’s a diagnosis of the problem that any number of Democratic strategists recoil at, arguing the party has substantive problems that go beyond communications. But at the DNC, it’s still the common refrain.

If only the media had been in their corner, they would have won. Incredibly that’s what many of these people really believe. No one wanted to talk about Joe Biden’s age or his decision to run for reelection despite obvious indications he had lost a step. No one wanted to talk about the border crisis or the party’s commitment to far left positions on race and gender. It was all just about bad PR.

Even if you step back from Joe Biden and his multitude of problems, it should be obvious that there’s more going on here than a PR problem.

Left-wing parties are more unpopular now than at any time since the end of the Cold War, The Telegraph has assessed…

Right-wing groups emerged as the worldwide winners after more than 1.5 billion people voted in more than 70 countries in 2024, the most on record in a single year.

Leftist parties suffered a record low average vote share of just 45.4 per cent in each democracy’s latest election, according to Telegraph analysis of elections in 73 democracies.

This is a global pattern and the only country that seems to have recently bucked the trend is the UK, though that isn’t going very well for Keir Starmer at the moment. There are various reasons the left has lost but anger about immigration seems to have played a role in many countries, including the US and Canada. Wokeism also seems to be playing a role both in stoking opposition to things like trans athletes and in making it difficult for left-wing organizations to accomplish anything as they are weighed down by internal squabbles over these same identity politics issues.

Bringing this back to America, Joe Biden’s goose may have been cooked by inflation but there’s little doubt that uncontrolled immigration and trans issues helped seal his fate. These were not PR problems, they were bad choices in a country where some of these are still 80-20 issues. If Democrats ever want to come back they need to admit they have a far-left/woke problem and then do something to mitigate it.

A real solution to this problem would look less like Democrats complaining about PR and the media and more like an AA meeting in a church basement: Hello, my name is Tim Walz and I’m a wokeaholic. It has been nine weeks since I called a stranger a racist transphobe.

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A lot of people hoped that Governor Mike DeWine would replace J.D. Vance in the Senate with Vivek Ramaswamy. 

I was not among them. 

Instead, Jon Husted will be headed to Washington, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief. 

DeWine passes over Ramaswamy, will select Jon Husted for Senate https://t.co/LwOTWbSR4G

— POLITICO (@politico) January 17, 2025

Husted is currently the Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, and is something of a Mike DeWine clone, only younger and better looking. 

Gov. Mike DeWine has selected his own Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to become the next senator from Ohio, passing over entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Two sources, granted anonymity to speak freely about the appointment, confirmed that DeWine will pick Husted.

DeWine is expected to make the announcement at 1p.m.

Husted, a Republican more in DeWine’s institutionalist mold, had long planned to run for governor in 2026 to succeed DeWine. His ascent to the Senate will likely scramble the field in that race.

Ramaswamy learned mid-morning Friday he would not be the pick, according to a person familiar with the discussion and granted anonymity to describe it.

I am not a Mike DeWine fan, although he is far from the worst governor in America. He is an old-style Republican and didn’t exactly cover himself in glory during the COVID-19 pandemic. Just as Mike Pence went all-in on the Fauci worship, DeWine was in the “trust the experts” class of governors whom I found repulsive. 

So why am I happy that Hustad was chosen over Ramaswamy? After all, Ramaswamy would have been a far better Senator by most standards, at least ideologically. 

Simple: it would be a waste of talent. The U.S. Senate is not really the best place for energetic, intellectually dynamic, and highly competent people. Not that more such people wouldn’t be a great addition every once in a while, but I would rather have ideologically solid but stolid people there. Hustad is more the latter than the former, but such is life. I could wish for a more ideologically sympatico Senator, but think that Ramaswamy will be much more useful to the cause at DOGE. 

Even if DOGE winds up accomplishing only 10-20% of its potential, it will make an enormous contribution to the vitality of America and begin the transformation of our government into something closer to barely competent. If it accomplishes 50% it will be miraculous, both in achieving the impossible (like catching a rocket out of thin air after it shot up to space) and transforming both the government and the country. 

I want Ramaswamy laser-focused on doing that job, not wasting his time around people like Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer., Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren.  

Let a plodder do that. We could do better than Husted, but at least no major talent is being wasted. 

Then there is the possibility that Ramaswamy could run for governor of Ohio, a job for which he is much better suited and through which he could accomplish much more, rather than having to be a toady to John Thune. 

Can you imagine Vivek stomaching that?

I don’t know if Vivek wanted the job, but even if he wanted it badly, I am thrilled that he didn’t get it. America needs him where he is right now. 

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This doesn’t seem as if it’s merely chickens coming home to roost in California, whatever size of the massive flock. 

It’s going to feel like every kettle of vultures, condo of condors, and murder of carrion crows has set up house in the air above, just waiting for an open spot to glide in and feast on yet another casualty smoking in the wreckage.

The ‘Oh, it’s climate change!’ excuses started falling as fast as the flames raced down hillsides. Santa Ana winds have always happened. Fires in Los Angeles have always happened.

The 1938 fires burned more than 50,000 acres and destroyed lots of Hollywood actors homes. This year’s LA fires have burned about 40,000 acres. It is not “climate change” – but rather the normal climate of California.https://t.co/4YbBq2kFHn pic.twitter.com/106XZnTwtS

— Tony Heller (@TonyClimate) January 17, 2025

It’s always been a question of what the people in charge have done to protect the state’s residents from the normal conditions the state is subject to, be it 1938, 1962, 2024, or any year in between. 

Have those officials and department officers exercised their sworn duty to the utmost of their ability to protect and defend the citizens in their care from harm, or have they squandered the resources available to them to do so in pursuit of vanity projects and unicorn farts?

21 days before the Palisades Fire broke out, Los Angeles Fire personnel jammed into a LA Fire commission meeting with a dire warning about the consequences of Karen Bass’ budget cuts.

“The residence of Los Angeles are going to pay the ultimate sacrifice, and someone will die.” pic.twitter.com/RpHN9yOziq

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) January 16, 2025

The answer is obvious and damning.

Gold doesn’t tarnish, but it sure can melt.

Take a drive down Pacific Coast Highway in Los Angeles, California after the Pacific Palisades fire

Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass must be held accountable for this

This was one of the most iconic drives anywhere in the world. LA history gone. pic.twitter.com/OEcxtwmYGm

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) January 15, 2025

The flames of destruction can have more than one source. Uncontrolled, uncleared, tinder-dry brush on a wind-ravaged hillside in a city obsessed with funding DEI and progressive social projects over providing basic safety nets for citizens is a lethal combination that eventually erupts, exposing the folly of favoring fads over competence.

Pursuing expensive and unreliable unicorn fart renewable power generation schemes while blithely destroying the tried and tested old reliable – but suddenly out of vogue – power plants before there are proven replacement backups available is the height of arrogance and disregard for public welfare and safety.

Yet, CA has been at the forefront of demolishing dams that provide not just precious drinking water but hydro electrical power, as well as the nuclear reactors, natural gas, and coal power plants that keep the lights on when Newsom and Co.’s much-touted renewables fail to measure up, as they so often do, to the power demands of weather and life in an active, vibrant state with a massive population.

A population that oleaginous Newsom and his fellow climate cult grifters have put at increasing risk with their dogged determination to embrace NetZero goals at whatever costs to residents. Those costs, astronomic as far as dollar figures, are also hideous in terms of quality of life impacts, such as power outages and brownouts in a state that never had those before. 

Or the sudden appearance of massive and deadly dangerous lithium-ion ‘battery storage facilities’ near or in residential areas. These lethal monstrosities attempt to hold some of the power produced by the erratic operation of the solar and wind farms, destroying the landscapes and precious, formerly pristine wild areas California’s officials used to pretend mattered to them more than life itself.

GOOD TIMES, GOOD TIMES

 All that burst into flames at around 3 pm yesterday afternoon in Monterey, CA, about 320 north of Los Angeles. 

Only a few hours later, it was apparent something in one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery plants – at Moss Landing – had gone really wrong.

Sabotage? Vistra Energy 700MW lithium battery storage plant at Moss Landing on fire after explosion. This California power plant is the largest of its kind.

PG&E Elkhorn 182.5MW lithium Tesla Megapack storage is located on the same site. pic.twitter.com/XchDVM85Wn

— Gary Mark⚡️Blue Sky Kites  𝕏 🈴 (@blueskykites) January 17, 2025

(The nearby Tesla storage is fine, contrary to what the MSM has tried to imply.)

As of 11 pm last night, 1500 residents had been evacuated, roads in the area were closed, including iconic Highway 1, and fire crews were still waiting this morning for the fire to burn itself out.

Flames continued to spew early Friday morning in the community of Moss Landing and the Elkhorn Slough area in northern Monterey County after a major fire at a battery storage plant that brought evacuations.

The fire closed Highway 1 and raged out of control Thursday night, sending up huge flames and clouds of hazardous black smoke. It was reported around 3 p.m. at the plant, located on Highway 1, Monterey County spokesman Nicholas Pasculli said.

…At 11 p.m. Thursday, the county’s emergency alert system advised residents to stay indoors, keep their windows and doors closed, turn off their ventilation systems and limit outdoor exposure. There were no updates early Friday.

Evacuations of about 1,500 people were ordered for areas of Moss Landing south of Elkhorn Slough, north of Molera Road and Monterey Dunes Way, and west of Castroville Boulevard and Elkhorn Road to the ocean remained in place, Pasculli said.

“It’s imperative that residents heed the evacuation order and take the direction of law enforcement and fire personnel,” he said. “This is a situation where we take the idea of protecting life and property very seriously. We implore people to heed the evacuation order and to go to a safe location.”

THERE ARE A LOT OF BATTERIES IN THERE

…“It’s a major incident,” he said. “All the resources in the county and our neighboring jurisdictions have been deployed to assist with this incident.”

The facility, owned by Vistra Energy, a Texas company, is one of the largest battery storage plants in the world. It holds tens of thousands of lithium batteries, which are used to store electricity from solar power and other sources generated during the day for use at night. Such battery storage plants are a key part of California’s efforts to shift most of its electricity generation to renewable sources.

“There’s no way to sugarcoat it. This is a disaster, is what it is,” Monterey County Supervisor Glen Church told KSBW-TV. “This is extremely disconcerting.”

Church said the fire was “contained” inside a concrete building whose roof had collapsed.

“We don’t think there’s any real threat of it extending outward and getting beyond where it’s in,” he said. “There are a lot of batteries in there, and it’s burning pretty much inside that facility.”

Yes, it’s a ‘disaster,’ as the county supervisor says, from both a local and environmental aspect, much like we discussed when the facility outside of San Diego went up. All the toxins in the air and those that will be eventually washed into the watershed around Monterey – another one of those ‘pristine’ areas Californians so used to treasure. Who knows what the clean-up and impacts will look like once it can even begin? 

The greater concern for some right now is California’s fragile electrical grid. This facility was the main storage plant for excess solar power produced and used to stabilize the grid when loads turned heavy at night.

🔥 😱 🔥 BIG NEWS: Massive fire at the world’s largest lithium battery storage facility in the WORLD, of course in @GavinNewsom run California!

In addition to making it impossible to use solar power during evening periods, it’s releasing VERY toxic heavy metal smoke.

UGH! https://t.co/RONkpVEXTj

— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@houmanhemmati) January 17, 2025

If they’ve lost that, and they’ve turned so many backup alternatives off permanently…whacha gonna do when people need power, Gavin?

Beege Adds: I found a little more information in an industry publication about what exactly the Vistra plant at Moss Landing has and what its loss potentially means for the stability of the California electrical grid. And according to this piece, it is ‘the world’s largest.’

Owner Vistra Energy has announced the completion of work to expand its Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in California, the world’s largest lithium battery energy storage system (BESS) asset.

…An additional 350MW output and 1,400MWh energy capacity has been added to the plant, bringing it to a total 750MW/3,000MWh.

This comes after the 300MW/1,200MWh Phase I was completed in 2020, followed by the addition of another 100MW/400MWh in Phase II the following year.

As with the first two phases, offtaker of the new batteries will be California investor-owned utility (IOU) Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). The utility has contracted with Vistra for resource adequacy (RA), the California mechanism for ensuring electric load-serving entities in the state deliver energy reliably to customers and with sufficient supply.

RA is the main reason for California becoming a world leader in grid-scale BESS deployments. The fact that battery developers can secure long-term contracts with associated revenue streams from electricity supplier offtakers has seen the market surpass 5GW in the main CAISO grid service area.

RA requirements include delivery of electricity in four-hour blocks, which is why most new-build battery storage facilities in the state have durations of that length.

PG&E’s new contract for Moss Landing Phase III, also known as MOSS350, is under a 15-year term and was approved by California regulators in April 2022.

So this plant has a 15-year contract to pick up PG&E shortages and can do so in up to four-hour blocks of extra go-juice. 

Just look at the number of batteries that were added in the expansion. Crimeny.

…Vistra Energy noted that the expansion was completed on schedule within a 16-month timeframe, adding more than 110,000 battery modules in 112 containerised units. It comes after the company reported in May that the expansion was on track, as it announced its most recent financial results.

The plant had been approved for another expansion to 1.5GW, so basically, a doubling of where it burns…oh. Sorry. Stands size-wise right now.

Wonder if the neighbors are rethinking voting for their local commissioners about any of this?

To give you an idea of how critical these horrific things are to the self-inflicted fragility of the CA grid, I found an illustrative story about the smaller Tesla unit at the same site.

…“It’s a win-win-win,” Doherty said. “It’s more affordable energy, it’s cleaner energy, and it helps the state in meeting the needs of the grid, you know, especially in periods like the summertime peak demand when there’s potential shortages of energy.”

The Elkhorn Battery system participates in the California Independent System Operator wholesale electric markets, which manages the flow of electricity for about 80% of California.

To illustrate what the facility means for customers and state energy storage in real-time, Poppe cited a system success story from its short stint actively operating. Just 10 days after connecting to the grid in April, Elkhorn saw a midday charging cost of about $10/megawatt-hour, when the system had “ample, abundant, renewable clean energy resources,” Poppe said. Meanwhile, at peak demand, power was selling at $100/megawatt-hour, but Elkhorn already had reserved power to dispatch.

“That saves money for our customers and brings clean energy that otherwise would have been a diesel-generated, fossil fuel-powered resource,” said Poppe. “People, I think sometimes, speculate that California is going too far with clean energy. Heck no, we’re just getting started, and a facility like this makes it possible.”

Heh. Who’s riding to the rescue now?

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To paraphrase The Boss, TikTok users may soon find themselves dancing in the dark. In a unanimous order handed down this morning, the Supreme Court ruled that the law passed by Congress banning the Chinese social-media app does not violate the constitution.

That sets up the new administration with a conundrum the day before it officially takes office:

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a new law that would lead to a ban of the social media platform TikTok, clearing the way for the widely popular app to be forced to shutter in the U.S. as soon as Sunday. …

The court’s opinion comes days before the law, which was passed with bipartisan majorities of Congress last April, is set to take effect. TikTok and a group of content creators who use the app argued the law infringes on their free speech rights, and the Supreme Court heard arguments in their bid to block it one week ago.

The unanimity of this decision seems at least a little surprising, given the political implications it has. The per curiam decision even quotes Justice Frankfurter’s warning to not “embarrass the future” when dealing with emerging technologies. But this case is less about the technology than it is about national security and the government’s ability to defend against foreign-sourced interference, and as such the First Amendment does not apply:

The challenged provisions are facially content neutral. They impose TikTok-specific prohibitions due to a foreign adversary’s control over the platform and make divestiture a prerequisite for the platform’s continued operation in the United States. They do not target particular speech based upon its content, contrast, e.g., Carey v. Brown, 447 U. S. 455, 465 (1980) (statute prohibiting all residential picketing except “peaceful labor picketing”), or regulate speech based on its function or purpose, contrast, e.g., Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 561 U. S. 1, 7, 27 (2010) (law prohibiting providing material support to terrorists). Nor do they impose a “restriction, penalty, or burden” by reason of content on TikTok—a conclusion confirmed by the fact that petitioners “cannot avoid or mitigate” the effects of the Act by altering their speech. Turner I, 512 U. S., at 644. As to petitioners, the Act thus does not facially regulate “particular speech because of the topic discussed or the idea or message expressed.” Reed, 576 U. S., at 163. …

The Government also supports the challenged provisions with a content-neutral justification: preventing China from collecting vast amounts of sensitive data from 170 million U. S. TikTok users. 2 App. 628. That rationale is decidedly content agnostic. It neither references the content of speech on TikTok nor reflects disagreement with the message such speech conveys. Cf. Ward, 491 U. S., at 792–793 (holding noise control and sound quality justifications behind city sound amplification guideline were content neutral). 

Because the data collection justification reflects a “purpos[e] unrelated to the content of expression,” it is content neutral. Id., at 791. 

The court ruled that the US government has a rational purpose and interest in preventing the government of China from trawling Americans’ personal data via an app that clearly is designed for that purpose. The law itself limits the intrusion into the marketplace to that purpose and is rationally limited in this application to the least intrusive policy possible to achieve that state interest under intermediate scrutiny. The court also notes that TikTok/ByteDance practically concedes this point:

The Act’s prohibitions and divestiture requirement are designed to prevent China—a designated foreign adversary—from leveraging its control over ByteDance Ltd. to capture the personal data of U. S. TikTok users. This objective qualifies as an important Government interest under intermediate scrutiny.

Petitioners do not dispute that the Government has an important and well-grounded interest in preventing China from collecting the personal data of tens of millions of U. S. TikTok users. Nor could they. The platform collects extensive personal information from and about its users. See H. R. Rep., at 3 (Public reporting has suggested that TikTok’s “data collection practices extend to age, phone number, precise location, internet address, device used, phone contacts, social network connections, the content of private messages sent through the application, and videos watched.”); 1 App. 241 (Draft National Security Agreement noting that TikTok collects user data, user content, behavioral data (including “keystroke patterns and rhythms”), and device and network data (including device contacts and calendars)). If, for example, a user allows TikTok access to the user’s phone contact list to connect with others on the platform, TikTok can access “any data stored in the user’s contact list,” including names, contact information, contact photos, job titles, and notes. 2 id., at 659. Access to such detailed information about U. S. users, the Government worries, may enable “China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.” 3 CFR 412. And Chinese law enables China to require companies to surrender data to the government, “making companies headquartered there an espionage tool” of China. H. R. Rep., at 4.

For those unfamiliar as to why both the Trump and Biden administrations wanted to shut down TikTok and other ByteDance applications — which this law authorizes too — read the court’s review of the evidence. ByteDance’s only defense to it was that Beijing hadn’t yet demanded access to their data and they thought it unlikely to happen. The first claim in that defense is highly suspect; the latter is just laughable. The CCP has conducted cyberwarfare against US government systems for at least a decade or more to get to that very data. TikTok delivers it on a silver platter. 

Now that the court has removed the final obstacle, TikTok could be barred as early as Sunday. However, Trump may not be as enthusiastic as he was before about ending the CCP troll of Americans’ data. Beijing has gone on a full-court diplomatic press to salvage ByteDance’s access to the US market, and Jim Geraghty is worried:

The Chinese government will send its vice president to attend Trump’s inauguration Monday … The CEO of TikTok will not only be attending Trump’s inauguration as well, he will be seated on the dais, the platform where the swearing-in occurs in front of the crowd[.] …

Shou Zi Chew is also expected to attend a Trump “victory rally” Sunday at Washington’s Capital One Arena, and TikTok “is spending $50,000 on an inauguration party honoring influencers who helped Donald Trump spread his campaign message.”

Trump has eased off the tariff talk somewhat too, although in degree rather than application. With the law in effect, though, Trump will have little choice but to enforce it for a while unless and until he can convince Congress to change their minds. Given the wide majorities this bill had in passing both chambers (see Jim’s post), that doesn’t look possible.

An hour or so ago, Trump offered a non-committal statement that only pledged to engage with Xi Jinping on TikTok:

I just spoke to Chairman Xi Jinping of China. The call was a very good one for both China and the U.S.A. It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately. We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects. President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!

 It’s definitely worth watching over the next few days. 

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Bill Gates at least made his money in the old-fashioned way: by building a company. George Soros made his more controversially through financial manipulation, but I won’t go deeply into the ethics of his methods because it is irrelevant to my point. 

What is the point? All this talk from the Democrats about an American oligarchy is hypocritical BS. Democrats are and have been quite a while the party of big money and Wall Street, and their complaint about billionaires getting involved in politics is ridiculous. 

The commies are getting destroyed in these hearings. pic.twitter.com/WSYqvdKnkj

— MAZE (@mazemoore) January 16, 2025

Don’t get me wrong–I am neither in favor of an oligarchy nor in favor of restricting the speech or the legitimate political activity of wealthy people. If political favors are dispensed for money, then that is corruption–such as when George Soros is given a sweetheart deal to purchase 200 radio stations in a manner that nobody else would be. 

Biden says he’s worried about “wealthy billionaire oligarchs.” Well he just gave a Medal of Freedom to George Soros—who didn’t even show up to collect it. He sent his son. pic.twitter.com/vjPQkA1XtL

— Link Lauren (@itslinklauren) January 16, 2025

But when Elon Musk or Laurene Powell Jobs use their money to magnify their speech–that’s life. You will never get money out of politics because there is too much at stake. It will find its way in no matter what. Better that it be spent openly than through things like smurfing, which hides the expenditures and actually makes politicians more, not less, in conspiracy with the big donors. 

@BernieSanders Rules for thee but not for me…hypocrite pic.twitter.com/GkCMtMj0R1

— Dan (@Dannodo606) January 16, 2025

Joe Biden’s dark warnings about a “tech oligarchy” is sour grapes from a deeply corrupt man. Perhaps his complaint is simply that the oligarchs he is worried about are Americans, not Chinese, Ukrainian, or other foreigners who in addition to spending money in American politics, also send him and his family a cut. 

🔥NEW: VDH tears Biden and his “oligarchy” warning to shreds:

“The subtext of that was that all of the so-called oligarchs that supported him in 2020 got tired of him.”

Ouch.

“Mark Zuckerberg gave him $419 million to warp the 2020 election in key states, and he had no problem… pic.twitter.com/V7CqlsQPzv

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) January 16, 2025

It is true that the “tech bros” have lined up behind Trump, mostly, and no doubt the Democrats are deeply concerned about that. After all, Big Tech spent years pouring hundreds of millions into the Democratic Party, Mark Zuckerberg spent HALF A BILLION DOLLARS helping Biden defeat Donald Trump by directly taking over much of the election infrastructure, Google,

In which Joy Reid – who reportedly makes over $3M a year – claims Ben Shapiro is funded by an oligarch when, in fact, the company he helped create generated well over $200M last year in advertising and subscription revenue (plus a few razor sales!).

Joy Reid lives in such a… pic.twitter.com/ci9vvFdZTv

— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) January 16, 2025

YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn actively censored non-progressive speech (including my own, Hot Air’s, Townhall’s, and all of Salem Media), and now at least some of that censorship is being pulled back. 

Joe Biden — whose administration pressured tech companies to censor Americans — says that tech companies walking back “fact checking” is a grave danger to our democracy.

You can’t make this up. pic.twitter.com/WsqRii9hAK

— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) January 16, 2025

All this talk from leftists can be summed up in this clip from CNN. After all the whinging about billionaires like Elon Musk owning X and news outlets, when it comes to the possibility of Bill Gates owning Twitter or liberal billionaires owning news outlets, there is no problem, according to the liberals, because Gates is “sane.”

CNN: “Who’s your source that 𝕏 is more balanced than any other platform?”

Jennings: “Uh, CNN” pic.twitter.com/kJL2avT8dO

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) November 26, 2024

In other words, it is not an “oligarchy” about which they are worried, but that the wrong wealthy people can have their say. It is just another version of “censor the conservatives” dressed up in class warfare terms. 

CNN: “Who’s your source that 𝕏 is more balanced than any other platform?”

Jennings: “Uh, CNN” pic.twitter.com/kJL2avT8dO

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) November 26, 2024

George Soros can almost literally purchase Attorney General and prosecutors’ seats, and the liberals loved it and egged him on. The only problem they have with the “oligarchs” is that they don’t own their allegiance anymore. 

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I’m starting to feel like George Jetson stuck on the moving sidewalk. “Jane, get me off this crazy thing!”

All day yesterday, I hoped and prayed that Democrats would pull themselves together for my sake as well as the country’s. By mid-afternoon, I was breathing a little easier, thinking that I’d fall short of a robust top ten list without having to pad it. Alas, several late contenders crossed the transum, and some of them are absolute beauties. 

This may seem like Groundhog Day, but it’s an entirely different collection of dumb things said by a Democrat, all within the confines of Thursday, January 16th. 

I pinky swear this will be the last one of these types of columns I write for a while. But my staff (my adorable wife), and I have agreed that going forward, I’ll begin working up a podcast version of the top 10 list of the dumbest things said for the week. It’ll be available at Duane’s World beginning next Friday. 

In the meantime, to complete the column trifecta, this is what you might have missed on Thursday. 

[Get ready for the stream of biased reporting on this, as well as on Republicans taking control of Washington, by taking advantage of our new Inauguration Sale for VIP memberships! Use the code POTUS47 to get 74% off of the usual rate, for new memberships and upgrades! This week will prove the necessity of having independent voices to report and analyze the news, from the wildfires in Los Angeles to the meltdowns in Washington DC over the change of administrations. Be sure to check out our new VIP Platinum level for the best value!]

#10

Lloyd Austin – He refused to hand the Afghan war over to another president, but…

Perhaps the families of 13 American servicemembers, along with families of thousands of Americans and Afghani allies left behind and abandoned by this administration probably wish Biden wouldn’t have handed the war off. 

By the way, war is still going on in Afghanistan. It was handed off…to the Taliban, the terrorist group we lost so much blood and and treasure fighting. The dumb thing about this is this didn’t happen decades ago. This is recent enough that everyone not suffering cognitive decline like Joe Biden remembers fully how disastrous this withdrawal was conducted. At the time of this bug-out, we were suffering zero casualties and gradually handing off all offensive operations to the Afghanis. We just provided training, materials, and back-up support as needed. An entire generation of Afghani women and girls were allowed to go to school for the first time in decades. Our presence there was making a difference. Joe Biden couldn’t let that stand, and handed the keys to the country to our enemies, and eventually Bagram Air Force base to the Communist Chinese Party. And Secretary Austin thinks this is a good thing? How can someone that dumb have lasted long enough in uniform to have four stars put on his shoulders? 

#9

Joe Biden – Barack Obama used to get mad at me when I was a kid…

Joe Biden was 18 years old when Barack Obama was born. Joe was 66 years old on Inauguration Day, 2009, which is the earliest possible day President Obama could technically get mad at Biden, a very likely occurrence. So Joe Biden, leaving the White House after the set of circumstances we’ve experience this past four years, making age jokes is actually pretty dumb. But then you get to what he said that was meant to be serious. 

“He said, ‘I know, I know, all politics is personal.'”

Technically, Obama never said that. Obama used to say, “All politics is local,” but that line was actually plagiarized from Late House Speaker Tip O’Neill. 

As for Joe’s faulty recollection, columnist and pundit Mark Shields used the phrase, “All politics is personal” in describing Donald Trump on PBS’ News Hour with Judy Woodruff in 2017 after President Trump had nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. So Biden not only had his attribution wrong, both what he said and what he meant to say were both coined by other people. It’s a multiplicity of dumb stuck in a memory fog. 

#8

Bernie Sanders – But what about the oligarchs? 

Give Bernie credit where credit is due. There’s never been a billionaire he didn’t demonize and try to tax into oblivion. That’s the heart of socialism. Keep taking other people’s money until it’s gone, and then find the next richest person in line and attach the siphon. 

Bernie, of course, was trying to dig at Elon Musk, who he cannot believe is going to have an active role in this administration. He’s not at all pleased that Mark Zuckerberg has apparently kissed the ring as well. He still believes to his core that class envy is what will energize progressives and propel the party back into power. But Bernie is so short-sided that he didn’t see the obvious counterattack coming a mile away from Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent. 

Bessent rightly accepted the premise of what an oligarch is – a very wealthy business leader with a great deal of political influence, and said under your terms, Biden just hung the Presidential Medal of Freedom around the necks of two oligarchs. Bessent had the good taste not to mention them by name, but they are Tim Gill of Quark and George Soros, the Sheev Palpatine of American politics. 

Bernie’s goose was immediately cooked. That’s why he raised his voice and yelled, “I’m not talking about any one individual.” Of course, you aren’t, Bernie. Hot tea with honey and lemon, Senator. If the next four years go down the way I think they will, your voice will be hoarse from all the yelling.

#7 

Gavin Newsom – I bail out red states all the time.

Ever notice the poker tell with our governor here in the Mount Doom State? The wilder his hand gestures, the bigger bag of fertilizer he’s trying to sell you. It’s like he’s got Tourette’s Syndrome of the limbs. 

Oh, sure, his lips say ‘I’ve bailed out plenty of red states,’ but his hands say ’23 Skidoo.’ 

As for the substance to his flailing, the majority of both houses of Congress are not keen at all about flushing a bunch more relief money down the tubes. And especially not forking it over to a group of people that have demonstrated on every occasion they cannot manage money in a fiscally responsible way in the slightest. Newsom drew out House Speaker Mike Johnson as well as his constant ‘I will not be ignored, Dan’ diatribe aimed at President-Elect Trump. So far this week, Trump has ignored him. Johnson, on the other hand, bodied him from the top rope in two sentences on X.

Instead of making highly produced clap back videos with social media influencers, you should get to work helping Californians.

You’re the leader of a state in crisis, and you should finally start acting like it.

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) January 16, 2025

Just treat the fires like tallying elections, Governor. No rush. They’ll get put out eventually. 

#6

Ron Wyden – If only one person is running, is it really a race? 

Back at the confirmation hearing for Treasury Secretary nominee Bessent, Oregon’s Ron Wyden attempted to get him to accept the premise that every other economic concern pales in comparison to the clean energy race we’re in. The problem, of course, it it is a race in which no one else is running.

 
Honestly, where does Wyden go after getting dunked on that hard? There is no race, other than an energy race to develop enough electricity to power artificial intelligence advances. That’s a race we cannot lose, and no amount of wind, solar, or kale can generate it. China is the top polluter in the world. Bernie Sanders and Wyden will be quick to point out that we’re number two. China churns out three times the carbon we do, and the difference between first and second place is widening every year. Our footprint is declining every year through innovation and efficiency, not because of government standards. By the way, any clean energy advantage California tries to claim by having more electric cars on the road than any other state, well, that’s now gone because the carbon in the air from the fires will hover in the atmosphere for years over the western half of the country. And the fires still aren’t even halfway contained, yet. 

If Bessent had been wearing sunglasses, sporting a mustache and wearing a cowboy hat, he’d have been the lead in a Taylor Sheridan series. Wyden is just a goofball who can’t even bring himself to accept nuclear power as a viable alternative, and this exchange showed he’s out of his depth in a kiddie pool.

#5

Ed O’Keefe – The big question is will Biden be in the same conversation as Washington, FDR, or LBJ?

Uh, no. If there’s a list of presidents that’s being talked about, Biden will be mentioned solely because he technically was one. The only other presidential subset where Joe Biden gets a mention is the worst of all time. Jimmy Carter, James Buchanan, Woodrow Wilson, and Andrew Johnson are usually right up there at the top of worst executives this country has sent to Washington. Biden may outrank them all, save for Buchanan. 

O’Keefe had three options of conversations with which history would talk about Biden’s legacy. One bucket is the most famous ones that did great things. Biden will never be in that bucket. O’Keefe’s conjecture is easily one of the dumbest takes I’ve heard all week.

The second bucket is contenders to do great things, but we’ll never know because they fell ill and died in office or were assassinated. We’re still being told by Chuck Schumer Biden’s at the top of his game, but he can’t judge his fitness. Kamala Harris still maintains he’s as sharp as ever. That makes it hard to put him in that pile. 

And then there’s bucket three, which only has Washington in it, who voluntarily gave up power when he didn’t have to. Yes, Ed O’Keefe theorized that maybe historians would view Biden’s voluntary withdrawal from consideration in that same heroic, patriotic way. It’s a total crock, because everyone in that town, including O’Keefe, knows the reality. Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, and Chuck Schumer came to the White House after the debate performance followed up by the disastrous George Stephanopoulos interview with a lead pipe in her hand to break his leg if he didn’t step aside. There was nothing heroic about it. It was a dumb segment made longer by even dumber analysis by someone who knew four years ago the President had burned up his clutch.

#4

Ed Markey – It’s the EPA’s job to keep the fiery embers of climate change under control.

Poor Lee Zeldin really drew the short straw in his confirmation hearing for EPA Director. Ed Markey is Ron Wyden without the lisp or the mental acuity. Power plants – bad. Lighting and cameras so he can be seen on televisions and cell phone viral videos – good. 

The wind speed in the nation’s capital Thursday was around 2 miles per hour. Try turning a wind turbine with that. It was 33 degrees and partly cloudy. It’ll snow on Sunday. That takes a little oomph out of the efficiency of the solar panels. 

Zeldin really didn’t get an opportunity to get a word in edgewise, but honestly, it won’t matter. He’s in, despite the theatrics of Ed Markey. No one in his own conference takes him seriously. He’s got his eco hobby horse he consistently rides, but so long as he’s a reliable left-wing votes, nobody really cares.

The larger point, one I wish Zeldin would have but didn’t make, is that agencies like the EPA, along with dozens of other ones, have hijacked the charter legislation that created those agencies and expanded well beyond what they were intended. And once you’re several decades removed from the original intent of the original statutes, politics creeps in and weaponization takes place. If you substitute the Endangered Species Act for the Environmental Protection Act, those are different bureaucratic departments, but still make rules and enforce them. The weaponization, and the negative impact on the country, is identical. 

Here’s Interior Secretary nominee Doug Burgum talking about that with Senator Tom Cotton today. 

That’s a serious conversation. To be fair to Zeldin in his hearing, even if he went down that road with Markey, the Massachusetts Senator wouldn’t have understood a word of it. It’s like reading a chili recipe to a tuba. It’s not going to get you anything you can use, nor will it give you anything good to listen to in the process. 

#3

Mazie Hirono – Have you ever asked anyone besides your wife or girlfriend for sex as an adult? Inquiring minds want to know. 

I’m really trying here, as hard as I can, to come up with what she hoped to glean with this line of questioning. She’s asking these questions of Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota, who has, *checks notes*, exactly zero allegations of any personal impropriety thrown at him in his entire life. He is trying to get confirmed as the nation’s next secretary of the Interior department. Perhaps Hirono is concerned he’s going to engage in a little interior decorating with his secretary? Otherwise, when it was her turn, she should have just passed. 

#2

Kamala Harris – I’m not going quietly into the night. 

Yeah, I’ve heard that about her…from Willie Brown. 

But in all seriousness, actually she will go quietly into the night. If she doesn’t, she’s an insurrectionist. And I’m reliably told we like to file lawsuits, seek criminal indictments, attempt to incarcerate, and otherwise cite Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to prevent them from coming back out of the night. 

Kamala Harris – what else can I say? Same number two, different day. 

#1

Joe Biden – so me and John Rich went to see the conservative pope about Poland leaving NATO…

This is why I had to write the third installment this week. I was compelled to after Joe uncorked this one on Lawrence O’Donnell’s The Last Word on MSNBC Thursday night. 

To save you the trouble of replaying it, here’s what he actually said. 

It’s a little bit like, you may remember, uh, um, I found myself, uh, with, uh, the former Pope who was much more conservative. And he wanted to see me after, uh, uh, after, uh, I spent some time in Poland, because I said, remember John Rich? You knew John. Great guy. John and I went to Poland, and I came back and said they’re going to leave the Warsaw Pact. They’re not going to be, a year from now, there’ll be no, they’re not going to be part of NATO. He said, “don’t write that. You’ll ruin your reputation. You’ll ruin your reputation. Don’t write that.” And I was confident it was true.

If this were an onion, the greatest chef in the world could not peel it fast enough to keep from bawling their eyes out. This is so densely-packed with bovine scat, I’m enlisting the aid of Grok, X’s artificial intelligence, to work through this. 

First off, the only data point with which we can plot on a timeline, is Poland leaving the Warsaw Pact. That happened in October of 1990. Joe Biden was Senator from Delaware. Poland didn’t, and hasn’t left NATO. 

Second, Joe Biden is a Catholic. For him talking about a period of time when the Pope was John Paul II and he couldn’t recall the name, he has no business being president. He doesn’t have the mental acuity for the hardest job in the world. 

Now we go to AI to comb the world’s combined database for fact-checking. 

Hey Grok, did Senator Joe Biden ever visit Poland as a sitting Senator?

Grok: Yes, Senator Joe Biden visited Poland while he was a U.S. Senator. In October, 2009, he traveled to Warsaw, Poland, in his capacity as Vice-President under President Barack Obama. But there are also records of him visiting Poland earlier in his career. Specifically, posts found on X indicate that 25 years prior to his 2022 visit as President, which would be around 1997, Senator Joe Biden visited Warsaw and commented on Poland’s democratic roots.

Yes, he went to Poland, but in 1997, seven years after Poland left the Warsaw Pact. Kind kills the whole Nostradamus predictive abilities, doesn’t it? 

Hey, Grok, did Senator Joe Biden ever visit John Paul II as a sitting Senator? 

Grok: Yes, Senator Joe Biden visited Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in April, 1980.

Huh. So Biden went to see JPII in 1980 right after the Pope knew he went to Poland, in 1997. 

Now comes the John Rich connection. John was playing bass in Lonestar as a 23-year-old in 1997. He probably wasn’t touring Eastern Europe at the time. He was six when Biden visited the Holy See. It had to be another John Rich.

Hey Grok, was there a politician or diplomat named John Rich? 

Grok: Yes, John Treadway Rich was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative and the 23rd governor of Michigan. His government service spanned from 1873 to 1897.

No other John Rich types. Yet Larry O’Donnell was nodding along as if he knew exactly what Biden was talking about. 

Finally, he said he found himself with the Pope after he got back from Poland. Okay! Maybe we’re onto something here. Maybe the Pope met up with Joe while on a trip to the U.S. 

Hey, Grok. Did Pope John Paul II ever visit Washington, D.C.? 

Grok: Yes, he made two visits to the city during his papacy. The first was in October, 1979, and the second was in October, 1995.

The first visit would have been before Biden went to Poland, and 11 years before Poland left the Warsaw Pact. The second trip was 15 years after the Poland trip, 5 years after they left the Warsaw Pact. 

As Joe Biden stories go, this is a viral outbreak at an oil spill on a previous Superfund site, airdropped into East Palestine, Ohio. There’s no evidence any of this is true, and I pity poor John Rich and his bass guitar playing at the time. 

Well, that’s it. Three days, 30 different dumb things said by Democrats, and I still have reserves in the tank if necessary. Which one was the dumbest? Your mileage may vary, but since we finished today, and the trifecta of columns with the Big Guy, can we just remind ourselves of the axiom of life offered by the Boss whenever Joe Biden is concerned? 

Joe Biden is 20 pounds of bull excrement in a 10-pound bag. 

Have a great weekend. Inauguration Day is right around the corner. 

This post was originally published on this site

Game on … maybe?

Ink finally met paper in Doha overnight, according to the Times of Israel, cementing an operational pause and the exchange of hostages for prisoners with Hamas. Officially this requires a vote from the security cabinet (which has already approved the deal) and then the full cabinet for approval, but that is nearly a formality at this point.

On the Israeli side, anyway:

Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams signed a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal in Doha early Friday, after the final hurdles stalling finalization of the agreement were cleared.

Confirming the deal was completed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the security cabinet would convene on Friday to vote on it, before the full cabinet was expected to follow suit on Saturday night.

Though this was initially expected to push off the scheduled release of the first group of hostages from Sunday until Monday, officials said on Friday the ceasefire and release would start Sunday as planned.

Will Hamas actually follow through, or will they balk yet again and attempt another round of the Hamas Hokey Pokey? Don’t put anything past them, but they do face a real deadline for action. Donald Trump takes office on Monday and has pledged there will be “hell to pay” if Hamas continues to hold Americans hostage. 

That might be complicated, however. ABC News notes that most of the American hostages are dead, and one of those who may be still alive had been an IDF veteran. That means his release will be a few weeks off, at best:

The release of three American-Israeli hostages who are alive will be included in the agreement, though in two different phases, a senior White House official told reporters on Wednesday.

Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, and Keith Siegel, 65, are both expected to be released, with Sigel qualifying for release due to age, and Dekel-Chen qualifying because of injury, according to the official who noted he was shot on Oct. 7, 2023, when the conflict began with a terrorist attack by Hamas in southern Israel.

Edan Alexander, 20, will be in the second phase of releases because of his service with the Israel Defense Forces, according to the official. The official noted that he spoke with Alexander’s father last night, and that the U.S. remains fully committed to getting him released.

Somewhat unusually, the list of the hostages to be released in Phase I has already been published. In the previous exchanges, the names of the hostages freed were kept quiet until after the exchange took place. The Jerusalem Post has the names of the 33 hostages that Hamas will exchange, although it’s not clear whether they are all still alive:

The names are: Liri Albag, Itzhak Elgarat, Karina Ariev, Ohad Ben Ami, Ariel Bibas, Yarden Bibas, Kfir Bibas, Shiri Bibas, Agam Berger, Gonen Romi, Daniella Gilboa, Emily Damari, Sagui Dekel Chen, Iair Horn, Omer Wenkert, Alexandre Sasha Troufanov, Arbel Yehoud, Ohad Yahalomi, Eliya Cohen, Or Levy, Naama Levy, Oded Lifshitz, Gadi Moshe Mozes, Avraham (Avera) Mengisto, Shlomo Mantzur , Keith Samuel Sigal, Tsachi Idan, Ofer Kalderon, Tal Shoham, Doron Steinbrecher, Omer Shem Tov, Hisham Al-Sayed , Eli Sharabi. 

As ABC deduced (or was told), Chen and Sigal (Siegel in ABC’s report) will be among the first group to return to Israel on Sunday. Alexander will remain in Hamas captivity until at least Phase II and perhaps Phase III, assuming Hamas sticks to the deal long enough to reach either of those phases. 

Israelis will watch closely to see whether the children captured will return alive. The plight of Kfir and Ariel Bibas has gripped their nation, ever since the video of their abduction along with their mother Shiri emerged after October 7. Hamas has suggested in its propaganda that they are all dead, but there is still hope for their survival with their names on the Phase I list:

The Bibas family is among the highest-profile hostages still held in Gaza. Ariel, 4 years old at the time of his abduction, and Kfir are the only children left after an earlier deal in November 2023 that saw the release of more than 100 of the 251 people seized in the onslaught by Hamas terrorists the previous month, in which some 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, on the deadliest day in Israel’s history.

At the time, Hamas said the children had been killed along with their mother. Israel said it was investigating that “cruel” claim but has not confirmed it, and the IDF has since said it has no intelligence to confirm their status. …

After announcing their death in November 2023, Hamas released a video showing Yarden, their father, who was abducted separately and had been told his family was dead. In February 2024, the IDF found more footage from surveillance cameras in Khan Younis of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel’s abduction.

Prepare for heartbreak, hope for joy. That has been the story of this war since it began October 7.

It’s also the story of Israel and the Israelis, and a new poll finds them very hopeful about this deal. Almost three-quarters of Israelis support the deal announced on Wednesday and finally signed early today, a signal that Netanyahu may be far stronger than some of the hardline-Right ministers have calculated:

Some 73% of Israelis favor a hostage deal to return the hostages held in Hamas captivity to Israel, according to a Maariv poll published on Friday.

Israel and Hamas signed the deal in Doha in the early hours of Friday. 

The poll also showed that 19% of the public opposes the deal, and 8% have no opinion on the matter.

A significant difference also emerged between opposition party voters, nearly all of whom (91%) supported the deal, and current coalition party voters, where a small majority (52%) were in favor, and a significant minority (37%) were opposed. 

It’s not all peaches and cream for Netanyahu, though:

Additionally, according to the poll, 45% of the public believed that the government was only partially meeting the war goals, while 36% thought the government did not meet them at all.

What do these numbers tell us? Getting the hostages back was the top “war goal” for the Israeli electorate, by far. It also suggests that Netanyahu may not have managed expectations well, although one can also suggest that the Israelis may not fully appreciate what has taken place in the last few months. Netanyahu eviscerated Hezbollah and indirectly toppled Iran’s puppet regime in Syria, cutting Tehran off from their borders for at least a long while. The war may end up with Hezbollah kicked out of Lebanon too, although that’s still an ongoing issue. 

The hostage deal will make them happy, at least for now. In the long run, though, it will incentivize the next hostage crisis, and the next one after that, and so on. At some point, the Israelis will have to reduce the value of hostaging to zero if it wants to stop having to cut these deals in the future. 

This post was originally published on this site

Coulton Moore is a rabble-rousing member of the Georgia State Senate, and having insulted a former (and deceased) Speaker of the House, he was banned by the current Speaker from entering the Chamber until he apologized. 

It’s a pretty bizarre story to begin with, given that Moore’s comment was certainly not particularly nice but hardly shocking to the sensibilities:

The conflict started after comments Moore made last year about naming a new facility at the University of North Georgia after Ralston, who Moore called “one of the most corrupt Georgians we’ve seen in our lives.” Burns said Moore’s ban would be lifted if he delivered a “sincere apology” to the former leader’s family and friends.

My guess is that nastier things are said on the House floor every day they meet. Imagine what Georgia Democrats have said about Trump or Brian Kemp without getting banned from the House Chamber. 

Obviously the banning of a State Senator from entering the House Chamber would not normally obstruct his ability to perform his duties, but yesterday was an exception. Governor Kemp gave his State of the State address in a joint session, as is usual, and because the House Chamber is the largest available space, that is where it is given. I assume it is the same in all or most states. 

Here’s what happened when Moore tried to enter the chamber:

No elected representative should be thrown to the ground & arrested for fulfilling their constitutional obligation.

I’m happy to help with paying for @realColtonMoore bail.

Please share details @FreedomCaucusGA @MalloryStaples1
pic.twitter.com/8DML6RQcox

— Harrison Floyd 🇺🇸 (@hw_floyd) January 16, 2025

Moore was, quite literally, manhandled, thrown to the ground, arrested, and charged with a misdemeanor. 

Attending the State of the State is clearly a part of his legislative responsibility, and while legislators get wide latitude in their behavior and in setting the rules for their bodies, this seems to be a clear step over the line. On that day, the House Chamber was the site of a JOINT session of the legislature and not simply the province of the House of Representatives. The Speaker, at the very least, should have acknowledged that and accommodated Moore, in my not-so-humble opinion. 

Colton Moore, a loyal, hardworking, pro-Trump Georgia State Senator, was handcuffed and arrested by the House Speaker after attempting to attend the State of the State session to fulfill his duties.

Previously suspended from the GOP caucus for helping lead the charge to end the… pic.twitter.com/oiyydOhGpS

— Bruce LeVell (@Bruce_LeVell) January 16, 2025

No doubt Moore is not many people’s favorite in the Georgia legislature, given that he is one of the leaders of the Freedom Caucus. No doubt that played a role in the rather generous latitude given to the goons who threw him to the ground. 

Ralston was SO corrupt, TEN principled House Republicans in Georgia introduced HR328 asking that Speaker Ralston resign his political position as Speaker of the House.

WHY?

Because Ralston was protecting rapists. pic.twitter.com/EFsRJ165a5

— National File (@NationalFile) January 16, 2025

I don’t pretend to be an expert on Georgia politics, but this stinks to high heaven. I don’t care that the current or former Speaker were Republicans; I do care that this is a bad look and arguably unconstitutional obstruction of a legislator doing his job–although I doubt there is any remedy given that few courts want to get entangled in legislative matters of this kind. 

Speaking ill of the dead may not be seen as nice by Georgia Speaker Jon Burns, but getting the police to manhandle and throw to the floor a State Senator who represents 200,000 people looks and is awful. 

Apparently the Chair of the Georgia Republican Party thinks the same:

Statement from @GaRepublicans Chairman @JoshMcKoon

“Republicans believe in our Constitutional form of government. Usually on a few occasions each year, the Georgia House and the Georgia Senate meet in a joint session to conduct legislative business.

Today was one of those…

— Josh McKoon 🇺🇸 🇹🇼 🇮🇱 (@JoshMcKoon) January 16, 2025

This post was originally published on this site

Closing the tabs …

Biden lecturing Americans about “play by the same rules” and “pay their fair share” while Hunter Biden sits in the room is the height of hypocrisy. pic.twitter.com/mfxQQff8Ib

— Bobby LaValley (@Bobby_LaVallley) January 16, 2025

Ed: Painful to watch. My take on this speech can be found here.

===

“When we see what transpired, what we’ve witness[ed], what has transpired over the last year plus. He was supposed to step away. He was supposed to be a transitional president, and you didn’t do that,” Smith said. “You decided that you wanted to stay in the race, and then you got exposed because you showed up on a debate stage June 27, and you were not what people on the left have purported you to be. Then you ultimately [were] forced out by a party and the candidate, Kamala Harris, was somebody that you immediately endorsed.” …

“I was sad. Of course the president is entitled, and he should give a farewell speech. There is no question about that. But different times invade us all, and when you see the times that we live in sometimes you see something and you just say, ‘Silence or a simple goodbye would suffice.’ That’s how I felt about the president tonight,” Smith said.

Ed: An old saying goes: Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. Not that there was much doubt left after four years.

===

Joe Biden can’t even read. Every time he speaks it gets worse. Trying to run him in 2024 is the most reckless and indefensible presidential decision in any of our lives.

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 16, 2025

===

“When I watch this tonight, I remain astonished that he, his family and other people around him thought he could ever run for another term,” Jennings, who worked in the George W. Bush administration, told CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”

“There’s no way he could serve another six months, much less another four years,” he continued.

“The fact that they pursued that farce for as long as they did, to me, remains one of the most astonishing things about this term.”

Ed: As I wrote earlier, I deliberately avoided watching the video replay, as I had seen enough televised elder abuse in the last four years already. I did see and hear a few clips later, and it’s astonishing that the Bidens and his White House handlers thought that even this was a good idea. He might be ready to transition to memory care after the Inauguration on Monday. It’s disgraceful, and we may never really get an accounting for it. 

===

Farewell Biden

The danger that Joe Biden failed to warn about in his speech was the power of government and its abuse.

Abuse when government determines what can and cannot be written on social media.

Abuse when government gives jobs and money to political friends instead of…

— Mark Penn (@Mark_Penn) January 16, 2025

Abuse when political opponents are arrested and charged at the urging of the president. Abuse when the laws are not enforced and the border left open for political reasons. Abuse when hundreds of billions of dollars in loans are forgiven for political gain despite court rulings. Abuse when a president says others should pay taxes while pardoning his own son for failing to pay taxes on millions shaken out of shady global interests.

Ed: Mark Penn was Hillary Clinton’s pollster in 2016.

===

JUST IN: Democrat Senator Chris Coons accidentally says the quiet part out loud, says Nancy Pelosi “orchestrated” a coup against Biden.

The comment comes after the left has claimed for months that Biden stepped down all by himself.

Coons was responding to Jill Biden’s comment… pic.twitter.com/AMngf5B5Ta

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 16, 2025

Ed: If it was “the right thing to do,” why didn’t Coons speak out against Biden running for a second term in the first place?

===

Instead, in four years’ experience with Joe Biden, we saw a venal cynic who lied about such basic matters of integrity as pardoning his son when he wasn’t violating his promise to be a “bridge to the future.” We saw an incompetent bumbler who threw open the borders and watched the world light itself ablaze as a detached spectator. Most of all, we saw a frail, dependent old man whose mental and physical condition had weakened to the point where he allowed himself to be hidden from view and governed by a coterie of his closest advisers, who sought only to please the activist “Groups” whom they gleefully slopped favors to from America’s policy trough. Finally, remember: This man, who was already collapsing in the first months of his administration, sought another four years in office.

It is this grand imposture that will inevitably be Biden’s legacy.

===

BERNIE SANDERS: “Do you agree with President Biden who last night stated ‘an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that threatens our entire Democracy…'”

SCOTT BESSENT: “The three billionaires who you listed [Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos] all… pic.twitter.com/lRg84D0P8O

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 16, 2025

Ed: Of course Sanders is condemning the people he’s naming! And while Bessent’s delivery needs a lot of work, he scored a great point on Sanders’ grandstanding. 

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Joe Biden’s Goodbye was as Bad as his Presidency https://t.co/FD8KDtnyI3

— Tony Katz (@tonykatz) January 16, 2025

Ed: I get the real final word tonight, because …. RHIP. My segment starts at about the 24-minute mark of this video.