Dear Lee Zeldin: One More Item…

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is constantly fulfilling my political wish list and reversing regulations in a manner that I only dreamed might ever happen. Again, this is why I voted for Donald Trump.

Here are just a very few of the headlines we’ve been enjoying.

This wish-list item just got passed in the past week: EPA Chief: Auto Start/Stop Technology Is Done

This headline obviously thrilled me: EPA Takes Action to Terminate EV Mandate

As did this one: EPA head says he'll roll back dozens of environmental regulations, including rules on climate change 2025

This line from Mr. Zeldin is so beautiful I’d like to put it to music: “We are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age…”

OK, Mr. Zeldin, we know you won’t let us down, but we’re all on pins and needles awaiting the announcement that every person who works with power tools is ready to hear. I’ll give you a hint:

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 02:00 PM | Comments (273) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Streisand Effect: Texas RINO Dade Phelan is Promoting the Memes He Is Trying to Criminalize

The fissures in Texas Republican politics are somewhat reflective of the national battle for the soul of the Republican Party, as the anti-MAGA establishment has allied with Democrats to try to defeat the Republicans’ conservative base by any means necessary.

In 2023, “Republican” Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Dade Phelan, sought to impeach Texas’ Attorney General, Ken Paxton, who has aggressively used his office to battle the left’s agenda. While Paxton was technically impeached for “misusing the powers of his office,” it was an obvious political exercise to take out an elected conservative warrior.

The good news is that the impeachment failed, as enough senate Republicans in the state legislature heard from angry constituents who helped the Senators understand that if they removed Paxton from office via impeachment, they would also be terminating their own political careers. Best of all, Paxton has emerged stronger than ever from all this, and he is poised to defeat 24-year incumbent John Cornyn in the 2026 Texas Republican primary for the US Senate.

Meanwhile, Dade Phelan became an object of scorn and mockery. There is a famous video of him incoherently drunk as he was speaking to the House around the time of the impeachment trial. Having been widely mocked, Phelan is now trying to make it criminally illegal for Texans to mock him. Although he is no longer Speaker of the House, he still serves as a Republican representative in the legislature in an alliance with Democrats and a lot of other fake-Republicans. So, he had his buddies in the legislature pass a bill for the purpose of criminalizing memes that mock Dade Phelan. Seriously.

Texas House Approves Former Speaker Dade Phelan’s Meme Regulation Bill: Punishment under the legislation could result in up to a year in jail [Texas Scorecard – April 30, 2025]

The Texas House has approved legislation by former Speaker Dade Phelan that would criminalize the distribution of altered political media, such as memes, videos, or audio recordings, unless they contain a government-mandated disclaimer. Despite tweaks in a recently adopted committee substitute, the bill continues to face intense criticism from First Amendment advocates who warn it would chill political speech and satire.

It is not yet law, as it still must be passed by the state Senate and signed by Governor Abbott.

Meanwhile, Rep. Phelan is going on social media highlighting examples of the memes he is trying to criminalize. I believe this is called the Streisand Effect, in which you bring attention to that which you are trying to suppress.

The Streisand Effect. RINO Dade Phelan (who led efforts to impeach Texas AG Ken Paxton) has pushed the Texas legislature to criminalize memes that mock Phelan. The mockery keeps increasing, so now Dade is actually spreading the memes by whining to make them stop. https://t.co/Q1IGOBBiED

— Buck Throckmorton (@BuckThrockmort) May 7, 2025

Please Mr. Phelan, continue to let us know of any and all memes you encounter that disrespect you.

Far be it from me, however, to post any of those memes that Rep. Phelan wants to criminalize. But I will post a video of him struggling to make a coherent sentence at the dais of the state House of Representatives.

It’s also worth remembering that the same “respectable” establishment Republicans in Texas who state that Donald Trump has neither the character nor temperament to serve in public office remain steadfast in their support for Dade Phelan.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 12:00 PM | Comments (294) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Morning Book Thread - 5-18-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (207) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 18 May 2025

Top Story

• Proton - the company behind secure email ProtonMail and also ProtonVPN - has said it will leave Switzerland if new legislation passes that would require all internet service to maintain IP logging. (Tech Radar)
  
  Proton keeps only very short-term logs to keep the system running, and only provides customer information reluctantly and with a court order. Proton's CEO says the new laws would violate privacy in ways already forbidden in the US and EU.
  
  
  
• So where would Proton go? Well, not anywhere in the EU, which is planning legislation that would outlaw security entirely. (Tech Radar)
  
  The proposed rules would mandate backdoors in all end-to-end secure protocols, affecting not just Proton's services, but every website and app in the world except for those that are already not secure.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (323) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Night "Club ONT" May 17, 2025 [The 3 Ds]

Welcome to Club ONT! A collaboration of your Sunday through Wednesday ONT Crew - The Disco, The Doggo, and The Dino. Please note: Local law enforcement has recovered the sign that disappeared from the Club last weekend and has reportedly launched a full-blown dragnet in their quest to track down the Moron(s) responsible for the temporary sign adventure. They're currently dusting for fingerprints, collecting DNA, and possibly reaching out to the Gin Blossoms to get Mrs. Rita on the case. As we all know, this is the time-honored moment for the Rule of Siblings: Nobody saw anything, nobody knows anything.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (440) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Evening Movie Thread - 5/17/2025

Godzilla, from the 80s On

About a year ago, I ran through the largest bulk of the Japanese Godzilla franchise: the Showa Era films. I promised myself I'd return to finish watching the rest, so I have now watched all of the Heisei, Millennium, and Reiwa Era Godzilla films.

And I have thoughts.

I mostly have thoughts about the nature of franchise filmmaking. Like most long-running franchises, the Godzilla franchise is a producer driven effort, individual films carrying marks of writers and directors but the overall movement of the franchise from entry to entry being more about producer whims than any other creative. The one franchise that Godzilla ended up reminding me most of was the Bond franchise, especially through some of the later entries where there were extremely obvious efforts to latch onto popular new trends in the action genre.

I was entertained. I was bored. I was frustrated. I was even touched a couple of times. But mostly, I was fascinated at a franchise searching for purpose.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison at 07:45 PM | Comments (177) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hobby Thread - May 17, 2025 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it came up with drones!

[Top photo: Landwasserviadukt in Switzerland Photo Credit]

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:30 PM | Comments (123) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Ace of Spades Pet Thread

[Rumor has it they may merge with Dewey, Cheatem & Howe, S.C.]

Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. I'm filling in once again for the lovely and talented KT. Enjoy the world of animals and pets and for heaven's sake, leave the politics and current events out at the curb.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 03:00 PM | Comments (107) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Gardening & Puttering Thread

Good afternoon and welcome to this potpourri of items. The lovely, talented and gracious KT is still recovering. Hopefully, she will be back next week to fulfill your need of a real gardening and puttering thread.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 11:55 AM | Comments (110) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

[Mis. Hum. painting based upon an AI Image at FreePik]

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 09:59 AM | Comments (186) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival

*****

Good morning boys and girls and everything in between. Before we enter the Prayer Revival there are just a few housekeeping matters to go over. (Rulz for those of you in Weyauwega)

1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be kind, be nice. Even the trolls have feelings.
3) No running with sharp objects. Walking fast with them is allowed.
4) Have a great weekend!

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 07:51 AM | Comments (259) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 17 May 2025

Top Story

• Facebook is arguing in court that the FTC has no case that Facebook has become terrible because Facebook was always terrible. (Ars Technica)
  
  They might have a point there.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (204) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Thrill Of Victory And The Agony Of ONT

Hello everyone! Boy, did I have a busy day today. Which was good, but I need a beer or three.

Posted by: WeirdDave at 10:00 PM | Comments (403) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Shy Blondes Meet-Cute Cafe

Mads Peter Iversen Photography
Golden retriever puppy growing up.

German-engineered technique (of course) allows roads to clear tons of rain water, letting the water drip down to under-road pipes.

Dog was fascinated by seeing a dog on a trampoline on TV, so its owners bought it one.

I know a lot of these "bush-build" videos are fake in the sense that they have a pickup truck with a generator and lots of power tools just off-screen, but this is neat.

Seal has massive crush on a diver.

The bestest fetch-dog in the world.

ICYMI: Camel just wants to make friends with horses, who are skeptical because he's so weird-looking.

Big snake. So it's an AI "Cheapfake," as Cheapfake Tapper would call it. But it's a visualization of a legend about a giant snake, that legend also being pure bullshit. But this post nevertheless illustrates an important point about... something.

The Pete "Maverick" Mitchell of drone operators.

Sea otter (?) pops up in a vent in the ice.

Dogs that talk the talk but can't walk the walk.

Huskies start their Drama Classes early.

Summer's coming.

Dog enjoys the water slide.

Goofus and Gallant.

Spare a thruppence for film with added color and ambient sound of Victorian London in 1901, guv'nor?

Posted by: Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (264) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Week in Woke

from @GuntherEagleman on X

Ro Khanna
@RoKhanna

It is absurd that Palo Alto School district just voted to remove honors biology for all students & already removed honors English. They call it de-laning. I call it an assault on excellence. I took many honors classes at Council Rock High in PA.

Mark Hemingway
@Heminator

May 13
It's pretty amazing how omnipresent critical race theory was for a while -- hucksters such as Ibram X. Kendi, Robin D'Angelo, and Nikole Hannah-Jones et al. were everywhere -- and how absent they are now.

A pretty big cultural victory.

Eh, maybe. I still see the hateful DEI charity-hire Jemelle Hill on TV, pushing anti-white racism.

technology sista (aspiring)
@typeclonghouse

"DEI until they come for my son's AP classes" Democrat

A Democrat running for office in a very MAGA Virginia district needs you to know what she gets up to at night.

Specifically: She's a swinger, baby!

Rorrer, a Democratic candidate for Virginia's House of Delegates in the 47th district, revealed Saturday on social media that she is married and ethically nonmonogamous, meaning she and her husband consensually date other couples together.

"In politics, people love to dig up the unexpected and spin it into a spectacle," the 47-year-old wrote on social media. "I don't do shame, and I sure won't give anyone else the opportunity to tell my story."

Rorrer told HuffPost on Tuesday that while no one was threatening to out her, she believes word of her lifestyle would have gotten out of her inner circle in Stuart, Virginia, her hometown with a population of just over 1,000.

A professor was arrested by Yale police for a "racist" statement she never made.

I never thought I'd end up in handcuffs and a jail cell for something I didn't say.

But last May, police in New Haven, Conn., arrested me -- because a parking attendant falsely claimed I had used a racial slur against him nearly a year earlier.

I denied it. I asked the cops to check the parking lot's surveillance video.

They didn't -- and the state charged me first with disorderly conduct, then with three counts of breach of peace in the second degree.

It took almost a year, tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and endless stress before the nightmare ended on March 27, when the prosecutor finally dropped all charges.

Why? "Insufficient evidence," "inconsistencies," "credibility issues," video that "clearly contradicted" the accuser's claims -- and a possibility that I wasn't even the right person.

The judge dismissed the case.

If this can happen to me -- a First Amendment advocate with resources, legal counsel and a public reputation to defend -- it can happen to anyone.

In 2011, while still a student at Yale University, I founded the Buckley Institute, named for conservative hero William F. Buckley, Jr.

Our mission is to promote intellectual diversity and freedom of speech at Yale.

For the past decade, we've hosted an annual Disinvitation Dinner featuring speakers who have been disinvited from and disrupted on college campuses.

And now here I was, facing not merely an attempt at cancellation, but actual criminal charges that could mean prison if I was convicted.

It did not exactly feel like a coincidence.

The interest in my case seemed to have more to do with what the Buckley Institute represents than anything I ever did, or was accused of doing.

...

They made the malicious assumption that those who defend free speech do so to say offensive things.

The case was a farce from the start: There were no threats, no violence -- just a made-up accusation, rubber-stamped by a system that didn't bother to check basic facts before putting someone's life through a meat grinder.

When the state finally obtained the video footage I had asked the police to view before arresting me -- footage that had been accessible all along -- it showed me, on multiple dates, calmly parking, getting out of my car and walking away.

No confrontation, not even any interaction, with the accuser.

No slurs.

No drama.

Yet for nearly a year, I lived under a cloud of suspicion.

My experience should terrify anyone who values free speech and due process.

...

This wasn't about justice.

It was about ideology run amok.

When the woke campus mindset infects the criminal-justice system, fairness takes a back seat to political influence and pressure.

The parking attendant's attorney suggested as much when he objected to the prosecutor's decision to drop the case by bemoaning "the caste system in this country" in court.

The real systemic problem?

It's not bias.

It's cowardice.

It's a criminal-justice system that rushes to judgment, punishes the innocent and works on a sluggish timeline to correct its own mistakes, regardless of the cost to the accused.

If this is what free speech in America now looks like, we're all in more trouble than we realize.

It doesn't matter if you commit the offenses the left imagines you committed, because if they even imagined you did it, you crossed the line. The very fact that they can imagine you doing something means that there's some vibe you're giving off that much be punished and purged until you denounce your vibes.

A district judge in California of all places has ruled that schools must provide parents an opt-out for gender indoctrination.

Fox 5 San Diego reported:

Carlos and Jenny Encinas have two boys who attended La Costa Heights Elementary school in the Encinitas Union School District in the Southern District of California. In May 2024, their fifth-grader's teacher read his class the book, My Shadow is Pink, which urges children to question their own gender identity. Following the reading, their son was forced to watch a read-aloud video of the book with his kindergartener "buddy" as part of the school's mentoring program. He was then required to participate in an activity where he drew the kindergartener's shadow, using the color that "represents" him.

Featuring a boy who sees his shadow as pink instead of blue, My Shadow is Pink promotes the idea that children can change their own gender, encouraging kids to find the color of their shadow described as "your inner-most you." The story displays the boy learning to cope with being true to his inner self, starting when he decides to wear a dress on his first day of school. His dad, originally full of "anxiety and stress" about the issue, changes his mind and puts on a dress too. He encourages his son to wear a dress to school, and if anyone doesn't like it, then "they are the fool."

The Encinas' fifth-grade son, a strong Christian, was very uncomfortable with being used as a mouthpiece for views contrary to his beliefs. Carlos approached the school with two requests: notification when sensitive topics would be read in school and an allowance for his children to opt-out of participation. Unfortunately, both requests were denied.

The judge issued an injunction ordering the school to provide parental notification and opt-outs for concerned children. But this is only a temporary injunction; no idea if the shithole state of California will respect it.

See the article for the whole story.

Our genius media:

What a weird thing to say. The Washington Post knows that its audience is entirely atheist/non-Christian, so they felt they had to explain what "hallelujah" might mean.

And their explanation isn't really accurate. Yes, "hallelujah" is Latin but in the same way that "taco" is English. The word exists in the language, yes, but it's just imported from another language with hardly a change.

James Carville offers a list of seven words that must be banned in the Democrat Party.

He started off the list with the phrases "communities of color" and "people of color." He said that in Democrats' zeal to prove how not racist they are, these phrases actually are a bit racist because they imply that all minorities are identical and not unique. But if Democrats stop using these phrases, will they then have to concede that not all minorities think alike? A tall order indeed. Next on the list was the phrase "generational change." Carville asked, "Why do you want to limit the appeal of your message to younger people? ..." Plenty of Americans of all ages want some drastic change. Next on the verboten list was the word "structural." Carville stated the obvious: "We're not going to attack the structural issues in the world right now." I would add two things: one, it sounds pretty elitist, and two, what are structural issues anyway?

The next one should definitely be on the chopping block: the word "equity." Again, an elitist-sounding word. What Joe Sixpack kind of guy rambles on about equity? Carville again laid a truth on Democrats, saying, "People basically don't know what it means, and if they do know what it means, it looks like you tried to force an outcome."

Other words Democrats need to stop saying: "community" and "oligarchy." See the link for that.

Posted by: Ace at 06:23 PM | Comments (207) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Left-Wing Supreme Court Rules 7-2 That Trump Cannot Deport Terrorist Illegal Aliens Without a Cumbersome Lengthy Trial

By what right are they here? They have zero legal right to be here, but the soon-to-be-ignored-and-chastened Supreme Court says we have to have trials to deport people who are illegal aliens with no right to even be present.

Roberts and all of Trump's liberal-leaning, Federalist-Society-certified saboteurs voted with the liberal bloc.

When Republican AGs sued Biden over his illegal policy of ignoring the law and dissolving the border, the Supreme Court tossed out their lawsuit, ruling that the President had plenary power to conduct the foreign policy of the country (of which immigration enforcement is a part) and therefore the courts had no power to restrain him.

Now that Trump is deporting these Undocumented Americans, the Court reverses itself and says "You bet the courts have power to overrule the President in his conduct of foreign policy."

Disgusting -- and destabilizing.

Posted by: Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (339) | Trackbacks (Suck)

This Guy Read Jake Tapper's Cover-Up Book So That You Can Boycott It

Tyler Austin Harper
@Tyler_A_Harper

I wrote about Biden and the new book. As the reporting in "Original Sin" makes clear: this story is bigger than just the 2024 campaign. It was more than a year or two of decline. We need to confront the truth: Joe Biden never should have been president of the United States.

Finally, a left-winger admits the obvious and undeniable.

So far, most discussion of the book has focused on incidents from later in Biden's term and 2024 campaign: not recognizing Clooney, calling Sullivan "Steve." But arguably the most damning new reveal came much earlier, during the 2020 campaign, when Biden was not yet president. 2/

You don't say!

Posted by: Ace at 04:20 PM | Comments (267) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Shock Poll: The People Most Eager to "Disconnect" from Friends and Family Members Over Politics Are... Left-Wing Colleged "Educated" Women

Educated...? Let's say "college-attending."

A poll finds that college-educated left-wing women, or AWFLs, are the group most eager to sever connections with friends or families due to their cultic "political" beliefs.

You don't say.

You. Don't. Say.

New polling data shows what you may already suspect: your experience of losing friends since the 2024 election of Donald Trump is absolutely real -- if very divided depending on your political tribe.

...

According to Cygnal's latest national survey of 1,500 likely voters (conducted May 6-8, with a 3 percent MOE), more than half of voters (53 percent) say "it's at least somewhat common that their friends and neighbors have ended a friendship because of Donald Trump and the 2024 election" while "39 percent say not that common or not at all common."

The ideological breakdown isn't close. Democrats and voters who backed Kamala Harris in 2024 are far more likely to say friends and neighbors have ended a friendship over the election, with self-identified liberals saying they have a hard time co-existing and playing nice with someone who voted differently than they did by 30 points, a 2:1 margin (61 percent common compared to 31 percent not common). On the other side, conservatives are much more even-keeled -- 49 percent say lost friendships over 2024 are common, but 45 percent saying it's not common.

If you wanted to drill down to the biggest dividing factor here, it's the portion of the coalition made up of college-educated women -- a cohort that now dominates the politics of the Democratic coalition. In their circles, they say differences of political opinion have led to broken friendships with friends and neighbors at a more than 40-point rate -- 67 percent to 24 percent.

...

It's the allyship that matters most, you see -- not friendship.

If you're wondering where all of this radical left-wing authoritarian cultishness is coming from: It's coming from stupid left-wing women.

I think women serve as the cultural and moral forces in society. When most women believe in wise things, society is orderly and prosperous.

When most women believe in sick, demented things -- or, actually, when a privileged minority of women who exert an outsized influence on morals and culture -- society degenerates.

Obviously our society has been degenerating for a long time.

Jordan Peterson explains that they've conducted surveys to determine if there is a left-wing fascist impulse -- there is, obviously -- and if so, what factors lead someone to embrace left-wing fascist attitudes.

The answers, based on actual social science surveys, are these:

* Female gender

* Feminine temperament. Note that some women may have a more masculine temperament and some men have a more feminine one.

* Low verbal IQ

That last one, he postulates, is critical for breeding this cultish left-wing fascist worldview, because you have to be sort of stupid to believe that all of your failures are due to a Conspiracy So Vast of men and white people working together to keep you from getting a raise and getting a husband.

Posted by: Ace at 03:25 PM | Comments (332) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Tulsi Gabbard Fires Two Deep Staters for Undermining Their Superior Officer's Foreign Policy and Allegedly for Leaking;
Perjurer John Brennan Cries About His Frenz Getting Canned

Apparently they disagreed with Trump's assessment that the communist authoritarian government of Venezuela works with Tren de Aragua.

Okay, fair enough, that's your opinion.

But what is not fair -- or legal, actually -- is to leak your opinion to the press in order to spike a policy you disagree with.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fired the top officials leading the National Intelligence Council -- whom whistleblowers describe as "radically opposed to Trump" -- and has moved the agency to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI, to ensure she can block any "politicization of intelligence," Fox News Digital has learned.

Gabbard fired Mike Collins, who was serving as the acting chair of the National Intelligence Council, and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, Tuesday, senior intelligence officials told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out Langan-Riekhof for comment and did not immediately hear back, and couldn't immediately find contact information for Collins.

Collins also has whistleblower complaints against him for political bias and "deliberately undermining the incoming Trump administration," officials said.

I wonder if they were members of #TheResistance...?

Hm, seems likely:

They added that Collins was closely associated with Michael Morrell, the former deputy director of the CIA who worked to write a public letter in 2020 claiming that Hunter Biden's laptop had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation," and to get signatures from top ex-intelligence officials.
Tulsi Gabbard opening a folder

As for Langan-Reikhof, officials said she has been a "key advocate" for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and is someone who whistleblowers allege is "radically opposed to Trump."

Meanwhile, Gabbard is moving the National Intelligence Council from the CIA to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to "directly hold accountable any improper action and politicization of intelligence," Fox News Digital has learned.

Many intel community leakers are "career bureaucrats that are entrenched in Washington politics," officials said.

"It takes time to weed them out and fire them," one official told Fox News Digital, adding that "plans to eliminate non-essential offices within ODNI that we know are housing deep state leakers are underway."

...

The moves come as Gabbard has taken steps to root out leakers and alleged "deep state holdovers" who officials say are politicizing intelligence analysis and "trying to sabotage President Trump's agenda."

...

So far, Gabbard has referred three intelligence community professionals to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution over alleged leaks of classified information. Fox News Digital first reported on those criminal referrals in April.

An ODNI official at that time told Fox News Digital that the intelligence community professionals allegedly leaked classified information to the Washington Post and The New York Times.

John Brennan went on MSNBC to nearly cry about it, which means:

Direct Hit. Deep State agents uncovered.

Posted by: Ace at 02:25 PM | Comments (277) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Politico: Democrats Beginning to Fear That Their Five-Year Conspiracy of Deception About the Husk President Might Come With Actual Consequences

While Politico refuses to say so, the media should have the same worries.

Oh right, I said "Democrats." That includes the media.

Joe Biden may have cost Democrats the White House in 2024. Their inability to admit it, some Democrats fear, could hobble them in 2028.

As a fresh reckoning in the party unfolds around the former president's mental acuity, potential presidential contenders have mostly dodged questions about his condition while in office. They've also sidestepped whether the party should have more forcefully called on him to abandon his reelection bid earlier.

"How are some of these national frontrunners or people who are already barnstorming states like South Carolina or Iowa expected to look voters in the eyes with a straight face and say, 'Trust me, even though I got the 2024 election so terribly wrong?'" asked the former Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.), who said he expects the issue to come up on the trail in what is now the first-in-the-nation primary state. "There's no courage on display by any of the folks whose names are being circulated right now."

He said the party's Biden question needs to be "nipped in the bud" if Democrats want to reestablish trust with voters.

Some potential presidential contenders have been willing to criticize Biden, to varying degrees, risking pushback from critics accusing them of hypocrisy after they defended Biden last year. Just this week, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said there was "no doubt" about Biden's cognitive decline, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg conceded the party "maybe" would have done better without him and Rep. Ro Khanna of California said "Democrats must be honest ... Joe Biden should not have run for reelection."

But they were the exception. For the most part, leading Democrats -- many of whom attested to Biden's fitness when he was still on the ticket -- are ducking what is fast becoming the first real litmus test of the 2028 campaign. The problem for Democrats is Biden's blast radius keeps expanding. It isn't just the embarrassing accounts dribbling out from a forthcoming book. It's that so many Democrats with 2028 ambitions were defending him at the time -- and are now being forced to answer for what they knew and when.

When Murphy, in an interview, fessed up to Biden's diminishing capabilities, GOP operatives threw months-old comments in face. "This you??" said an aide to Speaker Mike Johnson on the social media platform X, pointing to when the Democratic senator had vouched for Biden in the wake of a damning Wall Street Journal report on the subject.

Khanna got similar treatment. After Biden's disastrous debate, one social media user pointed out, Khanna compared Biden to the fictional boxer Rocky, saying the latter was a "fighter" even if he "wasn't the most eloquent."

On Thursday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro appeared to try to differentiate himself from other ambitious Democrats -- and put some distance between himself and Biden -- by maintaining he privately raised concerns with the former president in the moment.

...

While Shapiro said publicly at the time that Biden had "a responsibility to reassure" Pennsylvanians he could win, the governor and most other elected Democrats defended Biden's fitness up through the final months of his presidency.

Note that the only thing Democrats will admit about Biden's health is that maybe he lacked the physical ability to "vigorously" fight in the 2024 election, or maybe he didn't reassure voters that he "could win."

This is the same lie they all told when they were pressuring Biden to drop out. They all claimed they had no questions about his mental acuity or ability to discharge the office. They only were concerned about his "ability to win" or the public's mistaken perception of Biden as too frail and deteriorated to be president.

This is how they justify forcing him out of the race but letting the demented man remain president for six more months.

And they're still lying, including those, like Josh Shapiro, that Politico claims are finally doing some "truth" telling. They're still pushing the absurd lie that Biden was mentally fit, just maybe not capable of convincing voters that he was mentally fit.

Asked by POLITICO in August 2024 if he had any concerns that Biden had slipped, Shapiro said, "Not at all, and I've been in regular contact with the president."

The article notes that Gavin Newsom vouched for Biden's fitness, even after the debate.

At least he vouched publicly.

But he was present at the fundraiser where Biden shocked people with his weakness and lack of mental acuity.

But the book reports that Newsom attended a June 2023 fundraiser with Biden in Kentfield, California that "went awry," with attendees "shaken by Biden's meandering remarks."

"I remember leaving that fundraiser thinking, Fuck," one attendee told the book's authors, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.

Democrats continue pushing the lie and refusing to come clean:

"I think he had good days and bad days. That's all I'll say," Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan told POLITICO.

The leader of the free world, the man with access to the nuclear football, is not allowed to continue in office if he has "some good days, some bad days."

Many Democrats who vouched up and down for Biden's fitness now say... they didn't see Biden's infirmity, because they just never spoke to Biden much:

...

It was a pleading of ignorance that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer likewise employed, telling CNN on Thursday, "I didn't see the president frequently. And I can tell you I can't speak to that directly."

But you did speak to his fitness directly in 2024. You say you didn't really see him much -- but you vouched for him anyway.

...

Some Democrats argue that their leaders aren't owning up to the truth about Biden -- and risk keeping the issue alive indefinitely as a result. They fear that Democrats' record-low approval ratings are tied, in part, to their unwillingness to come clean.

This is amusing: "Tapper" is trending, and not for good reasons.

Posted by: Ace at 01:25 PM | Comments (316) | Trackbacks (Suck)