Oh, I do

Reason: "Blame Insane Government Spending for Inflation" - "Some want to solve the problem with subsidies for gas, housing, child care, and more. That only risks greater stagnation." 

Welcome to the party, pal!

Timely reporting from the Democracy Dies in Darkness crowd: "Washington Post: Some of the material on Hunter Biden's laptop is definitely real." 

Extra - Powerline: "Hunter Biden: First the Times, now the Post."

For the record, I don't even care about Hunter Biden.  All I want is the mainstream media to apply the same standards to both sides of the political spectrum.  FFS, they don't even try to hide their bias anymore.

More - National Review: "Recuse Yourself, Joe Biden." - "If we’re going to create transparently idiotic, partisan standards on the fly, they should be applied to everyone in government." 

Maybe we should have listened to Larry

This is an article back in November 2021: "Biden's Truly Reckless Spending Will Likely Be His Undoing."

With a full $1 trillion in prior federal emergency relief still unspent upon his taking office, Biden nonetheless pushed through the so-called American Rescue Plan, an additional purely partisan $1.9 trillion COVID-19 spending package.

In total then, the U.S. government spent more than 30% of the country's annual total economic output to try to stimulate the economy. This was unchartered territory. Many on both sides of the political aisle warned at the time that all this government spending could overheat the economy. Larry Summers, Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and National Economic Council director under President Barack Obama, summarized the concerns succinctly: "While there are enormous uncertainties, there is a chance that macroeconomic stimulus on a scale closer to World War II levels than normal recession levels will set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation, with consequences for the value of the dollar and financial stability ... Stimulus measures of the magnitude contemplated are steps into the unknown."

Which leads to this, today: "Former Obama Economic Advisor Larry Summers: We're Heading for 1970s Stagflation and a Major Recession."  

Larry Summers was wrong about one thing: inflation is the highest it's been in two generations.

So I guess the "Will Smith Celebrity Roast" is off

What a wild show.  I had the TV on but muted and eventually I looked up to see Will Smith yelling and Lupita Nyong'o looking very uncomfortable.  The United States feed was censored but not the international feed and all the best videos showed up this morning.

This stupid idea never dies

Hot Air: "Biden: You're just going to love my plan to punish the successful."

The centerpiece of this legislation is the "unrealized assets tax" that takes the value of stock you didn't cash out and slaps a tax on the "income" you made.  Never - ever - explained is what happens if your investments decrease in value.  Do you get a rebate then?

This is likely unconstitutional and it will never pass Congress anyway.  It's just raw meat for the Elizabeth Warren and AOC loons.

"He came, he saw, he confused"

NY Post: "President Biden’s Putin speech in Poland is a catastrophe."

Don't sell Brandon short: this entire trip has been a disaster. 

Here we go again

This tough-guy clown Biden is going to start World War 3: "Biden says Putin ‘cannot remain in power’ as he assures Ukraine: ‘We stand with you’."

It appeared to be the first time Biden has explicitly called for Putin’s removal and would mark a sharp contrast from prior statements from the White House, which have emphasized that regime change in Russia is not the policy of the United States.

Shortly after Biden's address however, the White House denied that Biden was calling for regime change.

"The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change," a White House official told Fox News Digital shortly after the speech concluded.

I can think of another country desperately in the need of regime change.

Extra - Twitchy: "‘Unbelievable’! WH flacks grab mops for more clean-up duty after Biden’s comment about Putin."

For as much as Biden claims he doesn’t want WWIII, he’s about to stumble us into it with his extraordinary sloppiness.

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) March 26, 2022

Clean-up on aisle Biden

Red State: "Biden Just Stuck His Foot Straight in His Mouth in a Way That Could Set off WWIII."

For not the first time, the White House communication office had to say "ignore what that guy just said."

Keep digging

Reason: "The Biden Administration Is Ignoring How Its Policies Will Worsen Inflation. Again." 

Democracy dies with dumbasses

Journalists: "Our credibility has hit rock-bottom."

Washington Post: "Hold my beer."

Hot Air: "WaPo editors: KBJ got treated worse than Brett Kavanaugh, you know."

This entire editorial is intellectually bankrupt. It’s the kind of commentary we’d expect to see on TikTok, not from serious analysts and especially not from news editors that actually covered the Kavanaugh hearings. It should linger in the air like a permanent boof over the offices of the Washington Post and embarrass everyone connected to the newspaper.

I'm pretty sure they're incapable of shame at this point.

Extra - Federalist: "Washington Post Says Asking KBJ Questions About Her Legal Rulings Is Worse Than Falsely Accusing Kavanaugh Of Rape" - "The Post’s commentaries on Jackson are not only patently false but their phony claims about her confirmation hearing deserve endless taunting." 

Decades of foreign policy "experience"

PJ Media: "Joe Biden and World War III for Dummies"

This is when wise Western leadership — an unfunny joke these days, I know — would be taking Sun Tzu’s ancient advice to heart.

“Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across,” he told winning generals.

In other words: When the other guy is effectively beaten but still needs to keep his dignity intact, offer him a gracious way out. You never know how much fight he might have left in him, or what desperate-stupid thing he might try if you insist on pushing him too hard.

Not warring is almost always better than warring, particularly in the case of Ukraine, which is Not. Our. War.

Can you guess what Presidentish Joe Biden is doing instead?

Tough guy Joe loves to be a tough guy.  Just ask Corn Pop.

Extra fun - Always remember "Biden has been on wrong side of foreign policy issues for decades."

Oh that's just Russian propaganda, they lied

Tablet: "Invasion of the Fact-Checkers" - "Who are you going to believe, the Democratic Party’s new official-unofficial, public-private monopoly tech platform censorship brigade, or your misinformed, disinformed eyes?" 

That's not a crack pipe.  It's a "slender glass tube," the fact-checkers declared. 

Huh, I did not see this coming

Just kidding.  Red State: "Democrats Call Republican Senators Racist for Treating Ketanji Jackson Like Everyone Else."

No news if she's been accused of sexual assault but she was asked about being a religious nut.  And she pretty much lied about critical race theory.  But nobody cares because she checks all those Kamala Harris boxes, and that's all that matters.

Absolute clown show

National Review: "Washington Post Attempts to Justify Media Suppression of Hunter Biden-Laptop Story." - "One of the main reasons that the mainstream press is so utterly lost these days is that the mainstream press does not know that it is utterly lost these days. See, for a good example, this preposterous post-rationalization of the reaction to the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story that has been put together by the Washington Post’s Philip Bump."

Just take the "L," mainstream media.  You destroyed your own credibility - stop digging.

What's Russian for "OMG"?

Hot Air: "Did the true number of Russian troop deaths in Ukraine just leak?"

Here are the guesses in the article:

United States intelligence: 7000

This pro-Kremlin newspaper in the article: 9861

A Russia-intercepted communication, per the Ukrainians: 12814

Yeesh.  That's a lot of dead soldiers in such a short amount of time.

On par with El Salvador

The Youtube channel "Economics Explained" does great videos including reviews and rankings of countries' economic power.  The takeaway from this video is that Russia's economy was already pathetic before they turned themselves into a pariah state with the invasion of Ukraine:

The NYT discovers free speech

When they're not busy trying to bury news harmful to Democrats, the New York Times occasionally reveals some integrity.  Reason: "The New York Times Admits That 'America Has a Free Speech Problem'."

By now, it should be impossible to ignore the ill effects of free-speech hostility; what appeared to begin on elite college campuses has spread to broader society and is agitating for a world where the act of dissenting from progressive orthodoxy is treated as violence—and thus can be met with force. Indeed, colleges campuses continue to provide some of the most palpable examples of this phenomenon: Earlier this month, Yale Law School students shouted down a conservative speaker and a liberal one—as well as the school's own officials—in order to prevent a discussion about a recent Supreme Court case. (David Lat, an attorney, legal commentator, and Yale graduate, described the incident as "much worse" than many people know.) The student activists' philosophy is by now familiar to everyone who has paid attention to higher education for the past decade: Speech that perturbs progressives or their allies is illegitimate and should be prevented.

Your speech is violence, but their violence is speech.

Extra - Legal Insurrection: "Liberals Infuriated By NY Times Editorial Recognizing Cancel Culture Problem; Cancel Subscriptions."  So much for their famed tolerance.

It committed suicide a long time ago

Fox Business: "Hunter Biden story is the 'death of journalism': Doug Collins" - "New York Times confirms legitimacy of Hunter Biden's laptop, emails." 

China starts their pivot

Hot Air: "Hmmmmm: Chinese media now airing evidence of Russian atrocities." 

Also right all along

The NY Post is taking a well-deserved victory lap: "Now that Joe Biden’s president, the Times finally admits: Hunter’s laptop is real." 

Rude, crude, and right all along

Today a woman in Massachusetts faced federal charges for fraud: "Boston's 'best social justice advocate' arrested for defrauding donors."

In 2017 Monica Cannon-Grant started a social justice group called Violence in Boston. She became an organizer of Black Lives Matter marches and was voted one of the Bostonians of the Year in 2020 by the Boston Globe. Now Cannon-Grant has been arrested and charged with defrauding donors of much of the money her organization collected.

Cannon-Grant was showered with accolades from the usual quarters of Boston and nobody thought to question where all the money was going.

Except for Turtleboy.  This guy runs an unsophisticated blog that exposes grifters like Cannon-Grant all across the Bay State and he's been churning out stories on her for almost a year.  It's almost like he asked very obvious questions while the very "journalists" who were expected to do their job covered their eyes because a story they liked fit their preferred narrative.

10% inflation

Townhall: "Producer Price Index Sets New Inflation Record." - "The latest data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that prices upstream from consumers continue to surge higher at record-setting levels, putting more pressure on American companies and manufacturers."

Extra - Reason: "Biden's Dishonest Attempt To Pin Inflation on Putin." 

Today's obligatory post

Breitbart: "H.R. McMaster: 'Russia getting desperate - Putin is in real trouble."

The failed logistics of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

“Infantry wins battles, logistics wins wars.” - General John J. Pershing.

I found this 20-minute video on YouTube and it's an excellent review of the logistical mistakes committed by the Russian army invading Ukraine.  Well worth the time:

Batting a thousand

Two economies in one year. Not bad. https://t.co/FpYW0E60IE

— Andrew Mark Miller (@AndyMarkMiller) March 10, 2022

Russia heading for defeat in Ukraine

That's the opinion of Francis Fukuyama here, with this interesting detail in bold:

Russia is heading for an outright defeat in Ukraine. Russian planning was incompetent, based on a flawed assumption that Ukrainians were favorable to Russia and that their military would collapse immediately following an invasion. Russian soldiers were evidently carrying dress uniforms for their victory parade in Kyiv rather than extra ammo and rations. Putin at this point has committed the bulk of his entire military to this operation—there are no vast reserves of forces he can call up to add to the battle. Russian troops are stuck outside various Ukrainian cities where they face huge supply problems and constant Ukrainian attacks.

Oops.  I like the part about the Turkish drones, too.

Biden's next scapegoat: you, dummy

Red State: "Biden Just Insulted Americans as Being Too Stupid to Understand His Greatness." 

Nah, bro, nah

Fox News: "Former Obama advisor: Don't blame Russia, blame Biden for inflation rates."

Also: "Biden took credit for dip in gas prices, now sheds responsibility during spike."

This you, Joey?

Look at me, judge me based on -- I know what the job takes. I've sat for hundreds of hours in the Situation Room. For eight years I was vice president in every major decision. I know how difficult this job is.

And one more thing I'll do, I'll take responsibility, I'll acknowledge my mistakes when I make them, and I'll level with the American people.

This administration has been a disaster in every conceivable way, but it's not Biden's fault, according to Biden.

Extra - The Paper of Record again: "Biden Says Gas Prices Are Not His Fault Unless They Go Back Down Again." 

More - Legal Insurrection: "February CPI Increases 7.9%, Highest in 40 Years, As White House Intensifies Spin To Blame Putin For Gas Increase." 

Jussie goes out the liar he is

I just finished watching the sentencing of Jussie Smollett for his felony hate hoax and it was worth the wait.  The judge spent over a half-hour lacing into Jussie for dragging out his obvious lies, committing perjury on the stand, and for generally undermining the fight against real hate crimes.

The judge sentenced him to 150 days in the Cook Country jail, 30 months felony probation, and restitution to the Chicago police for all the time they wasted.

Upon sentencing, Smollett took off his mask and yelled out "I am not suicidal!"  (It looks like he was worried about going out like Epstein.)  Then he said "I am innocent!"  The judge turned down all motions for a suspended sentence during the appeal process and Smollett was led away once again proclaiming his innocence and saying he was not suicidal.

It was quite the show, the last one he'll ever star in.

The adults are back in charge

Federalist: "The U.S. And NATO Have No Strategy To Aid Ukraine And Defeat Russia." - "The confusion over providing fighter jets to Ukraine underscores a dangerous reality: NATO has no end-game and no off-ramps for this war." 

Narrative shift

December 2021: "Joe Biden's actions have lowered gas prices by two cents.  You're welcome, America."

Today: "Nothing I can do, jack."

Biden does the ol' "you can't fire me, I quit" twist

Putin's puppet didn't want to cut off oil revenues to his Russian buddy...until his hand was forced by Congress: "Democrats Hit New Level of Disarray Over Decision to Ban Russian Oil."

The Associated Press reported Tuesday morning that President Biden will ban imports of Russian oil, less than 24 hours after Jen Psaki sought to minimize the impact of the United States' share of the oil Russia exports and following a tense series of conversations between the White House and Democrat leaders on Capitol Hill.

Whether you agree with the ban or not, one thing is clear: Biden didn't lead on this decision. His team has been cagey at best when questions have come up about why Russian oil hadn't yet been banned amid multiple rounds of sanctions levied against Russian government officials and oligarchs. But the wheels really came off when the White House learned that the House Ways and Means Committee had been working on a bill over the weekend to ban Russian oil imports — from a press release issued Sunday night that was quietly removed some five minutes later.

Congress was drafting bipartisan legislation to shut down Russian oil imports and the White House got wind of it and tried to stop it.  When Nancy Pelosi demurred, Biden placed a personal call, but it was clear something was going to come out of Congress.

So, with the handwriting on the wall, Joe Biden bravely did the right thing.  Then he promptly declared there was nothing he could do to alleviate the price of gas at the pump.

Just like a leader who takes responsibility.

Oh my gosh this color is phenomenal.

The White House worked to stop Congress from a deal to ban Russian oil for days, even Pelosi was like “you guys are dumb we are doing this” and here we are.

The Biden administration is incapable of decisive action unless they are forced. https://t.co/yVze0Afes6

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) March 8, 2022

Putin's puppet keeps the oil cash flowing

Hot Air: "What are the dark, unsettling truths behind Biden's reluctance to ban Russian oil?"

What kind of dirt does Putin have on Brandon?  Has Stephen Colbert been informed?

Extra - The Paper of Record: "Biden Sells Alaska Back To Russia So We Can Start Drilling For Oil There Again." 

Mumble-mouth on his terrible Administration

The squeeze is on

Hot Air: "Visa/Mastercard suspend operations in Russia "immediately"." - "This is one headline that may not rise to the top of the endless flood of news coming out of Russia and Ukraine, but it may wind up being one of the more important ones." 

Clown show

The Corner: "Russia and Iran Taunt Biden in Humiliating Revival of Nuclear Deal."

What a perfect storm of American amateur hour and embarrassment. And what an inexcusable blow to American national security.

That's our Joey, who has been wrong on every foreign policy decision for 40 years.

We have billionaires over here

NY Post: "Russia has lost its power over NASA and in the space business: experts." 

I would argue that NASA has lost the power over space exploration.

Well, *I'm* ready

Social Security has been a topic of interest to me for a while although I pretty much stopped writing about it because it's clear that nobody cares.  But the program's baked-in insolvency isn't going away and the date of bankruptcy keeps creeping forward.  So here's another story: "Social Security's Day of Reckoning Could Arrive Soon. Are You Ready?"

Can Social Security be saved?

To be clear, Social Security isn't going bankrupt, and as of now, the worst-case scenario involves benefit cuts -- not a dissolution of the program itself. But significant benefit reductions are apt to be a huge problem for the millions of seniors who get most or all of their income from Social Security.

As it is, many beneficiaries today are struggling to make ends meet. Take away what could be 20% of their retirement income or more, and we're talking about a widespread financial crisis.

Current workers have an opportunity to avoid a serious financial shortfall in retirement by socking funds away in an IRA or 401(k) plan. But that's not an option existing retirees have. And so we have to hope that lawmakers will get moving on a solution to address Social Security's financial issues -- before that doomsday clock ticks down.

Simply put, the Social Security Trust Fund is running out of money which means either it needs to be replenished with new taxes or we have to toss aside the Trust Fund structure and just start paying out of the general fund by adding to our $30 trillion national debt.  

Personally, I have never factored Social Security into any of my retirement calculations and - humblebrag - I'm well positioned to live out my golden years (several years away now).  However, for the vast majority of Americans, the future is either 1) higher Social Security taxes, 2) reduced SS benefits, or 3) more borrowing which triggers inflation thereby reducing the value of those benefits.

That's it: there's no quick fix.  Stein's law applies: "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop."

Overtaken by events

Hot Air: "White House: Maybe we should stop buying Russian oil after all." - "This is pretty clearly a case of leading from behind. The White House has clearly been dragged to this new position over several days by both Republicans and Democrats."

I think that's the only thing that moved President Klain on this issue: the prospect of bipartisan legislation forcing Biden's hand. 

Good thing we killed that Keystone pipeline

Ace: "The US Will Not Increase US Energy Production, and Will Continue Enriching Russia By Gobbling Up Russian Oil At Jacked Up Prices." 

Tough guy Joe Biden is a man who stands on principle...and that principle is that high gas prices will hurt Democrats in the midterms.  When you've lost Nancy "I love burn pits" Pelosi.

On a related note: the professional journalists are on the job, crafting a narrative for Brandon.

Brandon's talk-time before nap-nap

Federalist: "The ‘State Of The Union’ Is A Disaster, So Biden Gave A Campaign Speech Instead."

Here's Stephen Green echoing my Insta-analysis from last night: "If you liked all the things I didn’t get passed last year, you’re going to like them even better when I don’t get them passed this year." 

Gas pumps join the vast right-wing conspiracy

High-school graduate Chuck Todd is on another jag: "Chuck Todd proposes that a majority of Americans feel the economy sucks under Joe Biden because of the all-powerful ‘right-wing echo chamber’."

When I was in the supermarket the other day, searching through decimated shelves, the vast right-wing conspiracy manifested itself.

That speech (mostly) sucked

Biden's State of the Union started strong with support for Ukraine but then devolved into a laundry list of spending that has already failed to pass through Congress.  What's the point of bringing it up again?  Biden's a lame duck President, he just doesn't know it.

No words on Afghanistan, nothing on Iran, and nothing on crime except to pretend that it wasn't Democrats who wanted to defund the police.  Inflation was the fault of all those greedy corporations and not the result of pumping trillions out of the Fed.  That 60 million barrels of oil released by "the world" is enough for three days consumption in America.  This is just pandering.

Finally, I'll say this: Biden vilified members of Congress who disagreed with a federal takeover of voting rights as "Bull Conner" and comparing them to white supremacists like George Wallace.  Just yesterday, he claimed that Republicans are trying to ban black votes "from even counting" - whatever that means.

So you can shove your call for unity, Joey.

Slur of the Union

The Paper of Record: "State Of The Union Will Just Be 90-Minute Broadcast Of Dumpster Engulfed In Flames."  

Deep thoughts with Kamala

A heartbeat away, America.  One decrepit heartbeat away:

Kamala Harris explains the Ukraine/Russia conflict:

“Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country." pic.twitter.com/QYPLJ02mDy

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 1, 2022