Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Here's What Trump Wants to Know After Dem Congressman Caught Pulling Fire Alarm

Here's What Trump Wants to Know After Dem Congressman Caught Pulling Fire Alarm

AP Photo/Mike Mulholland

Former President Donald Trump argued on Sunday that Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) should be jailed for pulling a fire alarm ahead of the government funding vote on Saturday. 

“Will Congressman Jamal Bowman be prosecuted and imprisoned for very dangerously pulling and setting off the main fire alarm system in order to stop a Congressional vote that was going on in D.C.,” Trump wondered in a post on Truth Social. “His egregious act is covered on tape, a horrible display of nerve and criminality.” 

Bowman has acknowledged pulling it after the incident was caught on tape, but claimed he wasn’t trying to delay any votes but was confused about how to open the door. 

“Today, as I was rushing to make a vote, I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today would not open. I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door. I regret this and sincerely apologize for any confusion this caused,” he said. 

“But I want to be very clear, this was not me, in any way, trying to delay any vote. It was the exact opposite — I was trying urgently to get to a vote, which I ultimately did and joined my colleagues in a bipartisan effort to keep our government open,” Bowman continued.

Trump called the move “a very dangerous ‘Obstruction of an Official Proceeding,’” which the former president said is the same argument made “against J-6 prisoners.” 

He added: “Actually, his act may have been worse. HE MUST SUFFER THEIR SAME FATE. WHEN WILL HIS TRIAL BEGIN???”


Don's Tuesday Column

THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson   Red Bluff Daily News   10/03/2023

Observations on news items


In their “infinite wisdom,” our betters in Sacramento say a $20 per hour minimum wage sill solve a host of ills. Having decades in food service work, from shlepping to catering to sales, service and management, I can assure readers that minimum wage hikes are the opposite of what entry-level workers need and benefit from.


Their low-skill capabilities aren’t worth $12, $15, $20 or whatever arbitrary number rich legislators and union advocates deem “fair.” Rush Limbaugh used to shut down such debates by saying “Why not $20 (when minimum wage was $7)? Why not $40 or $50, since it’s just about their personal economic needs?”


These economic dunces, who never signed the front of a paycheck, are clueless that the “yootes” have no skills; they could learn them at a fraction of the current wage, but aren’t worth imposed, inflated wages. So, rather than giving them a low-wage entry-level position with advancement as they improve, they just don’t get hired, laze around parents’ basements or garages with their little screens, while businesses figure ways to serve food with fewer workers, using technology, or expand operations elsewhere.


“Progressive” solution? Money-for-nothing guaranteed income paid for with pixie dust, unicorn farts and scalping those rascally, stingy rich folks. SEIU union hacks will surely organize the lay-abouts to demand more.


Next, our admirable local congressman, Doug LaMalfa, simplified the debt ceiling fight in an email: It’s over “secure borders,” “reduced government spending” and “bringing back a basic level of common sense.” He probably knows as we do that Democrats consider “open borders,” endless spending and debt, and far-left, ideological Marxism superior to the common-sense that guides families, businesses and many state governments.


Dems want the country flooded with ignorant, third-world, illegal aliens; indulged with “Democrat government” cheese/largesse, they’re fast-tracked into legal voters whose “mail-in” ballots are “harvested” to provide endless Democrat rule. Cue the long-sought totalitarian, communist hierarchy of rich rulers redistributing from earners to non-earners.


The Biden/Democrat cabal predicts “shutdown,” complete with made-to-order sob stories from federal employees who have never lost a day’s pay in previous shutdowns (we left a note about that at a shut nature preserve in the 90s). It’s a thinly-veiled “feature” of their never-ending propaganda campaign, using news media to advance their goals.


The longest “shutdown,” during Trump’s presidency, was an “open borders” victory for the Dems, as they succeeded in forcing a cutoff of funds for the border wall. Their “holy grail”: Stop the wall; and flood the nation with future Democrats (see above).


Democrats’ shameless attempted manipulation—however brief but still useful for “Republican shutdown” headlines—consisted of 1) Democrat Jamaal Bowman pulling a fire alarm—a crime—to empty the chamber and push the vote past the deadline;


And 2) moving to adjourn until Monday—also creating a “shutdown—ostensibly so they could read the “continuing resolution.” Yes, the same Democrat Party that insisted on 12-hour deadlines to vote on 2,500-page omnibus bills—now insisted on days to read…a 71-page bill.


They never shed a crocodile tear over shut churches, schools, playgrounds, events, bars or personal-care vendors (which Nancy Pelosi infamously ignored to get her wash-n-blow).


Let’s give a passing nod of sympathy to the personal loss of Senator Diane Feinstein by her family and relatives. That said, this writer feels no more obligation to praise Feinstein than Democrats have displayed whenever a Republican icon passes—meaning none.


Centrist John McCain and conservative Jesse Helms were both pilloried. Democrats’ principle seems to be that every current Republican leader is a “fascist, Nazi, white supremacist,” until the next one comes along—when the last one becomes a paragon of moderation and probity.


In this case, 1) Don’t start a “drinking game” over “Feinstein’s a centrist,” as you’ll have a hangover for days. Feinstein was about the most left-wing of all U.S. Senators, earning a “zero” from the American Conservative Union (along with Democrats Jeff Merkley and Patrick Leahy). Not one single vote for a conservative Republican bill.


For a realistic, unvarnished analysis of Feinstein, look up “China’s Doll Departs,” by Lloyd Billingsley, at https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/09/chinas-doll-departs.php and posted at https://donpolson.blogspot.com/ this morning.

“Sen. Dianne Feinstein has departed this life at the age of 90. The California Democrat can be remembered in several ways, especially as the American politician most faithful to the People’s Republic of China.”


From pointing to China’s 25 years of “economic and industrial progress” on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre; to removing the annual congressional review of China’s record on human rights and weapons proliferation; to having had a Chinese Communist Party spy on her staff for some 20 years—it was always “China first, America last,” the way I see it. The CCP’s responsibility for 60 million murders under communism’s rule? Move along, nothing to see here. Read “China’s Doll Departs” for more.


Also, never forget her self-serving press conference as San Francisco Mayor wherein she tipped off the “Hillside Strangler,” Richard Ramirez, about the evidence prosecutors had on him, prompting him to get rid of said evidence and relocate back to Southern California for more murders and mayhem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ramirez).

CHINA’S DOLL DEPARTS

CHINA’S DOLL DEPARTS

BY LLOYD BILLINGSLEY IN CHINA

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has departed this life at the age of 90. The California Democrat can be remembered in several ways, especially as the American politician most faithful to the People’s Republic of China.

In April of 2020, Missouri attorney general Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit charging that Chinese Communist officials are “responsible for the enormous death, suffering, and economic losses they inflicted on the world, including Missourians.”  For Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the  Missouri lawsuit was the problem.

“We launch a series of unknown events that could be very, very dangerous,” said Feinstein in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.  “I think this is a huge mistake.” The California Democrat had only praise for the Chinese government.

“Where I live, we hold China as a potential trading partner,” Feinstein said in the hearing. “As a country that has pulled tens of millions of people out of poverty in a short period of time. And as a country growing into a respectable nation among other nations. And I deeply believe that. I’ve been to China a number of times. I’ve studied the issues.” Much of that study, it turns out, was on location.

“I’ve been coming to China for 31 years, so I’m not a newcomer,” Feinstein told James Areddy of the Wall Street Journal during a 2006 visit to Shanghai. In Beijing, the U.S. Senator explained, “we spent time with Zhu Rongji, the former premier who was a mayor of Shanghai” and “a good friend.”

In 2014, on the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Feinstein issued a statement recalling “perhaps even thousands” of demonstrators killed. “I know of no other country that has made as much economic and industrial progress in the last 25 years than China,” Feinstein wrote. “But what this anniversary reminds us is that progress still must be made in the areas of human rights, rule of law and governance.”

The senator failed to chart any human-rights progress China might have achieved, and expressed no second thoughts about China’s membership in the World Trade Organization. That removed the annual congressional review of its record on human rights and weapons proliferation records, a huge win for the Communist regime.

As Rosemarie Ho reported in The Nation, Democrats in general and Feinstein in particular kept rather quiet about the democratic protesters in Hong Kong. As it happens, Feinstein’s China issues go much deeper.

The former San Francisco mayor had a Chinese spy on her staff for some 20 years, and he was much more than her “driver.” As the San Francisco Chronicle noted, the spy even attended Chinese consulate functions for the senator.

As Ben Weingarten explained, Feinstein’s husband has “profited handsomely from the greatly expanded China trade she supported.” And the senator “served as a key intermediary between China and the U.S. government, while serving on committees whose work would be of keen interest to the PRC.” All this, plus a spy on her staff through three election cycles. The FBI launched no covert operation to uncover any wrongdoing, and the Senate failed to investigate the spy matter.

Sen. Feinstein was one of the first to cry “racism” over the Wuhan virus that caused massive damage in the United States and around the world. When one American state attempts to hold China accountable, Sen. Feinstein called it dangerous. She “deeply believes” that one of the most repressive regimes in history, responsible for some 60 million murders according to The Black Book of Communism,  and occupier of Tibet since the 1950s, is a respectable nation.

By contrast, the San Francisco Democrat is on record that the United States is burdened with “systemic racism in areas ranging from housing to employment to education,” all part of “institutional racism.” As Jeane Kirkpatrick said in 1984, the San Francisco Democrats “always blame America first.” On the home front, Feinstein’s prejudices have been on full display.

In 1992, the year Feinstein was elected to the Senate, the FBI deployed massive military force against the family of Randy Weaver, victim of an ATF entrapment scheme. Federal agents killed Weaver’s son Samuel and FBI sniper Lon Horiuchishot Randy’s wife Vicki in the head as she held her infant daughter. Vicki Weaver was unarmed, not under arrest, and not charged with any crime.

During hearings in 1995, Democrats Herb Kohl and Patrick Leahy showed sympathy for Randy Weaver. Sen. Feinstein, by contrast, “dealt sternly with Weaver, asking whether his children wore Nazi arm bands and shouted Nazi slogans at neighbors.” For the San Francisco Democrat, victims of government violence must be Nazis.

In 1993, Attorney General Janet Reno deployed military force against civilians in the standoff at Waco, Texas. The ensuing conflagration claimed the lives of 75 people, including 25 children. Reno also sent two dozen federal agents, armed with machine guns, to seize six-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez. Instead of granting asylum to the youth, whose mother perished in the escape attempt, the Clinton administration returned the boy to the Sado-Stalinist dictatorship of Fidel Castro.

“One of my earliest votes in the Senate was to confirm Janet Reno as attorney general,” proclaimed Feinstein in a 2016 statement after Reno passed away. “I said at the time that Janet combined an expertise in criminal justice with a deep sense of independent thought, and not once did she prove me wrong.” Reno’s cheerleader was down with all of it, and she wasn’t letting go of the Nazi accusation.

In a 2017 hearing for Eric Dreiband, a nominee to head the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, Feinstein invoked the Charlottesville rally and said “there isn’t any good in Nazism.” As sons and daughters of World War II veterans will confirm, there had been a lot of confusion about that until Sen. Feinstein cleared it up.

Also in 2017, Sen. Feinstein told Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, a Catholic mother of seven, that “the dogma lives loudly within you. And that’s of concern.” Anti-Catholic bigotry lived loud in Feinstein, but there was more to her.

In 2018, the San Francisco Democrat served as impresario of the “Summer of 82” hearings starring Christine Blasey Ford, who was “100 percent certain” that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had attacked her back in high school. As it emerged in testimony, Ford had sent her letter to Feinstein, not the Republicans and Democrats on the judiciary committee. Sen. Feinstein was also a staunch promoter of gun control but there’s a back story here.

During the 1970s, the New World Liberation Front denounced Feinstein, then a San Francisco supervisor, as a ruling-class enemy of the people. The Marxist NWLF shot out 15 windows at Feinstein’s beach house and detonated a bomb in a flower box outside her daughter’s window. Feinstein purchased a .38 revolver, practiced regularly, and secured a conceal-carry permit.

The deep believer in China, quick to call fellow Americans Nazis, was once a champion of the Second Amendment. The San Francisco Democrat peaked too soon.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/09/chinas-doll-departs.php

Monday, October 2, 2023

Oregon Joins Lawsuit Against EPA Over Wood Stoves, Leaving Alaskans Annoyed

Oregon Joins Lawsuit Against EPA Over Wood Stoves, Leaving Alaskans Annoyed

An Alaska winter sunset. (Credit: Ward M. Clark)

In a recent (and successful) attempt to personally annoy the rest of the country, Oregon's Attorney General, Ellen Rosenblum is joining nine other state AGs in suing the Environmental Protection Agency to toughen regulations on wood stoves.

The complaint, filed late last week, alleges both that the federal agency’s current standards aren’t good enough and that the agency’s wood-stove testing and certification program fails to ensure that new wood-burning stoves comply with the emission limits.

The lawsuit seeks to have the federal agency institute and enforce new standards for residential wood heaters to decrease emissions. 

The use of wood stoves for home heating was widely popular during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, but the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that 12.5 million homes in the U.S. continue to use wood stoves – as well as other wood-burning devices such as fireplaces – for home heating, because they’re affordable, create constant warmth and look cozy.

No doubt Ms. Rosenblum is growing bored, as the state of Oregon and several of its major cities are well in hand, leaving the AG's office with nothing better to do - except, maybe, deal with these things:

Oregon has, in fact, dealt with this issue already:

Oregon law requires the removal and destruction of uncertified wood stoves and fireplace inserts when a home is sold. If a stove or insert is certified by the EPA to meet wood-smoke emission standards, it can remain in the home – but that certification may mean little, given the allegations in the lawsuit.

So, if the wood stove issue is solved to Oregonians' satisfaction, why does Ms. Rosenblum - who, I remind one and all, clearly has nothing better to do - feel the need to join a lawsuit demanding nationwide standards for wood stoves? 

This flies in the face of one of the republic's founding principles, federalism. Each state is meant to be its own laboratory of liberty because what works for Massachusetts won't work for Wyoming, and what works for Oregon won't work for Alaska.

Recently, I've documented some issues Alaska is currently having with Washington, D.C., and this wood stove issue, as my colleague Streiff observed some time ago, has been ongoing for a while. The hard truth is this: Alaska has a population of 736,081, as of the 2020 census, over half of whom live in the Anchorage bowl. The rest of us, especially those of us who live out in the woods -- and over an area large enough to swallow up Texas, California, and Montana combined -- depend in large part on our wood stoves, using locally cut firewood and plenty of it. We don't have problems with air pollution, smoke, particulate, or anything else. There's just too much land and too few people for it to be an issue here.

The EPA won't take these differences into account. Washington won't take these differences into account. That's why the republic was set up the way it was; government that governs least governs best, and to be responsive, government functions should be carried out by elected officials as close to the individual citizens as possible.

Speaking as RedState's most popular Alaskan (also RedState's only Alaskan), I can say to AG Rosenblum and the EPA, "Thanks, no." I predict that these efforts, however they end up, will be roundly ignored by people not only in Alaska but also in places like Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, where there are more trees than people. Oregon can mind their own wood stoves as it suits them. We'll do the same. Everybody -- well except Oregon's seemingly bored AG and some other bothersome busybodies -- will be happy.

https://redstate.com/wardclark/2023/09/29/oregon-joins-lawsuit-against-epa-over-wood-stoves-alaskans-annoyed-n2164475?utm_source=rsmorningbriefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=333548a2571394d78f5984884e55069e

The Economy Isn't Biden's Only Problem

The Economy Isn't Biden's Only Problem

 

AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File

If James Carville were dead, he’d be rolling over in his grave – because when it comes to Joe Biden’s low-and-going-lower poll numbers and bleak-and-looking-bleaker reelection prospects, it’s not just the economy, stupid. 

Two new public opinion surveys released in recent days show Biden in an increasingly tight spot as he campaigns for reelection. The Washington Post/ABC News poll released over the weekend shows Biden trailing former president Donald Trump by 52-42 percent among registered voters, while the NBC News survey shows the two in a dead heat at 46-46 percent.

It’s what’s inside the topline numbers that reveals the real story, and proves it’s not just the economy, stupid – while the economy’s performance under Joe Biden’s watch is clearly a huge problem for many, and definitely has a negative impact on Biden’s overall approval and re-elect numbers, the polls reveal there are other negatives also driving Biden’s numbers down.

First, though, the economy: The Post/ABC News poll shows Biden upside down on the economy, with only 32 percent of registered voters approving of his performance, against 63 percent who disapprove; the NBC News poll shows Biden in only slightly better shape, with 37 percent approval against 59 percent disapproval on his handling of the economy. Anyone who’s tried to buy a new car or a new house since Biden took office understands what’s driving those poor numbers. 

Interest rates on mortgages and auto loans have reached highs not seen since a Bush was in the White House. Mortgage rates for “top tier” borrowers on 30-year loans have hit 7.5 percent, a level not seen in at least 22 years – and, consequently, Americans are applying for mortgages at the lowest rate since Bill Clinton’s first term. 

It’s more than just mortgage and auto loan rates, though. Since Biden took office two and a half years ago, inflation has reached 40-year highs and made everything significantly more expensive, robbing families of purchasing power – by one estimate, “it costs $734 more each month to buy the same goods and services as two years ago for households who earn the median income.” That works out to more than $8,800 per year in added costs, just to buy the same stuff. How many families got a $9,000 raise last year, just to keep pace with Biden’s inflation? 

As bad as that 32-63 approve/disapprove number on the economy is, it’s not Biden’s worst approval in the Post/ABC poll – that “honor” is reserved for his approval rating on “the immigration situation at the U.S.-Mexico border,” which comes in at a gasping-for-oxygen 23 percent approval rating, against a 63 percent disapproval rating. 

Given that Customs and Border Patrol just released the August 2023 “land border encounters” data, showing 232,972 encounters on the southwest border – the worst August ever – that 40-point net negative approval rating on immigration is no surprise.  

Those encounters on the southwest border – about five times the monthly average during the last year of the previous administration – add up: Since Biden took office, more than 6 million illegal immigrants have invaded our country. 

Further, crime still has not returned to its pre-COVID levels. Say the authors of one recent study, “Motor vehicle thefts continued their upward trend through the first half of 2023. There were 33.5% more motor vehicle thefts from January through June 2023 compared to the first half of 2022. … Violent crimes remain elevated compared to 2019 … There were 24% more homicides during the first half of 2023 than during the first half of 2019 … Motor vehicle thefts more than doubled (+104%)…"

You don’t have to personally be a victim of crime to be affected by it – just ask the residents of all the major cities that have recently seen retail stores closing down because the cities won’t get a handle on rising crime. According to data from the National Retail Foundation, the 2022 National Retail Security Survey revealed a 26.5 percent increase in organized retail crime – and last year, retailers lost about a hundred billion dollars due to crime and theft. Starbucks, McDonald’s, Target, Walmart and a host of other major outlets are responding by shutting down and leaving to go to areas where they can do business safely. 

We’ve only begun to scratch the surface. Biden’s policies blocking domestic energy development, promoting taxpayer-funded social experimentation in the armed forces, having the FBI launch surveillance programs against Catholics and pro-lifers, and weaponizing the government to cajole and coerce social media platforms into censoring disfavored speech, among others, also work to drive his approval numbers down. 

Biden’s poll numbers are cratering because on his watch – and, more importantly, because of his implementation of leftist policies – America itself is cratering.  

And the polling makes it clear – while the poor performance of the economy is an important factor in driving Biden’s approval numbers down, it’s not just the economy, stupid. 

Jenny Beth Martin is Honorary Chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action.

https://townhall.com/columnists/jennybethmartin/2023/09/29/the-economy-isnt-bidens-only-problem-n2629077?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=15803c7fc8c68b6fd1f0a5e7f4b59fc49df45d48335d4339ad60f7b0a0c7404d&recip=28668535


ANNALS OF SENESCENCE

ANNALS OF SENESCENCE

BY SCOTT JOHNSON IN JOE BIDEN

Alex Thompson reports that President Biden is working on a critical project for his re-election bid: Make sure he doesn’t trip. Thompson’s Axios scoop runs under the headline “Biden team’s don’t-let-him-trip mission.”

The Biden team is worried that one more public tumble might convince voters that Biden is not up to the job. I believe that voters already come to that view, and with good reason. The physical manifestation of his senescence corresponds with his visible limitations of speech and understanding. He makes 80 look like the new 100.

Thompson’s scoop has more than enough material to work up a Saturday Night Live routine:

With a physical therapist, Biden has been doing exercises to improve his balance as far back as November 2021.

Since his stumble in June, he has been wearing tennis shoes more often to avoid slipping — and using the short stairs on Air Force One, entering the plane on a lower deck than before….

Democrats, including some in the administration, are terrified that Biden will have a bad fall — with a nightmare scenario of it happening in the weeks before the November 2024 election.

Zoom in: Some senior Democrats privately have been frustrated with Biden’s advance team for months, citing the [Air Force Academy] sandbag incident and noting that the president often appears not to know which direction to go after he speaks at a podium.

Often without context [Ed.: Give us the context, Alex] Republicans have used [Ed.: isn’t the term of art “pounced on”?] video clips of Biden looking confused about where to go after speeches to raise further questions about his age.

Biden’s balance difficulties are likely the result of what his physician has diagnosed as “a combination of significant spinal arthritis” and “mild post-fracture foot arthritis.” [Ed.: Do you think the physician is telling us everything? By the way, how does Biden do on the Medicare cognitive test?]

Biden works out many mornings with physical therapist Drew Contreras, who also worked with former President Obama.

Obama was working on his jump shot. Biden is working on maintaining an upright position while walking.

Thompson laces his scoop with a little humor:

Biden’s doctor has recommended exercises for balance, which he called “proprioceptive maintenance maneuvers.”

What the maneuvers entail is unclear.

“I have never heard the term ‘proprioceptive maintenance maneuvers.’ It is not a clinical term in standard use,” said Professor James Gordon, associate dean and chair of the Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy at the University of Southern California.

Whatever you do, don’t ask the old man if he can say “proprioceptive maintenance maneuvers” or if he has followed up. It may set him off.

I would suggest that Biden take up ballet. It would do wonders for his balance and give him the kind of up-close-and-personal social opportunities he loves.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/09/annals-of-senescence-2.php

Sunday, October 1, 2023

WHAT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN?

WHAT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN?

BY STEVEN HAYWARD

It is still not clear whether we might have a “government shutdown” because of dissent among House Republicans on our mangled budget process, but it is worth repeating something that has been pointed out before: the hysteria over a “government shutdown” is overdone.

Think back to past government shutdown: Were your local schools still open? Did your local police still patrol the streets, and were your state and local courts still open and functioning? For that matter, did you still get your mail delivered? (Yes you did, in case you have forgotten.)  The point is, there are something like 50,000 government units in America, ranging from your local mosquito abatement district up through state government to the federal government. Although the federal government is the largest government unit, it is only one among our 50,000 government jurisdictions, many of which are more important to our day-to-day lives than the federal government is. In fact, even a federal government “shutdown” doesn’t mean no federal government at all (kind of like Prohibition that way); Social Security checks still get sent out, and other “essential” services, like our military in the field, continue.

The always reliable Dan Henninger notes this in his Wall Street Journal column yesterday:

If There’s a Government Shutdown, Will Anyone Notice?

Two related questions. If a tree falls in an empty forest, does it make a sound? Ergo, if the federal government shuts down this weekend, will anyone notice? . . .

We understand the concern about paychecks not going out to Border Patrol agents and the like, but the government-shutdown scenario usually evokes images of Washington itself turning into a ghost town.

Guess what? It’s already empty.

Of the nearly 300,000 federal workers in Washington, most aren’t bothering to show up these days at those great stone buildings that people think of as “Washington.” A post-pandemic report this summer by the Government Accountability Office found that 17 of the federal headquarters buildings surveyed were at 25% or less capacity.

I used to think that government shutdowns were mostly a pointless sideshow, but I’m growing more enthusiastic. Especially since, when the government “re-opens,” no one will much notice that either.

ps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/09/what-government-shutdown-2.phpweet

HILLARY CAN’T LET GO

HILLARY CAN’T LET GO

BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN HILLARY CLINTON

Hillary Clinton was at the State Department yesterday for the unveiling of her official portrait as Secretary of State. She was ungracious as usual:

Returning to the State Department for the unveiling of her official portrait, Mrs Clinton also used the occasion to display distaste for the policies of Donald Trump, the Republican former president, who defeated her in the 2016 United States presidential election.

Mrs Clinton, the former US secretary of state, suggested that people might have questioned to US’s ability to muster support for Ukraine because of Trump’s legacy of alienating allies.

“People might have doubted that because we had burned so many bridges with our allies and our friends,” she told current and former officials in the agency’s ornate Benjamin Franklin State Dining Room.

This has been a Democratic Party talking point for years, but there is no substance to it. Trump’s foreign policies were successful. The Abraham Accords were a major accomplishment. His administration cemented our relationship with Israel, one of our most important allies. He smoothed over the gratuitous anti-British bias of the Obama/Clinton administration. He revitalized the NATO alliance by successfully pressing our allies to re-commit to it by increasing their military spending. He stood up to China and focused on improving our relationship with India. Trump’s foreign policy record was, on the whole, very good, and the idea that he “burned so many bridges with our allies” is sheer fantasy.

Contrast that with the Obama/Clinton record: the disgraceful sucking up to Iran’s mullahs; the Libya fiasco; the failure to identify Russia as a significant threat (“The 1980s called, they want their foreign policy back”); the rebuffs of Israel; Obama’s pathetic retreat from his “red line” in Syria.

“Reinstating a foreign policy … that actually brings people to us, not pushes them away, would have been thought to be extremely difficult. And indeed it was, but it was accomplished,” she added, thanking Antony Blinken, the current secretary of state, for “helping to restore America’s standing”.

It would be interesting to hear Hillary explain how America’s standing has been restored under the incompetent Biden/Blinken administration. The catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan was the worst foreign policy disaster in many years. The Biden/Blinken administration just paid billions to Iran’s mullahs, continuing Obama’s bizarre policy of friendship and financial support toward our bitterest enemy. (Neville Chamberlain may have underestimated Hitler and made a foolish deal on Czechoslovakia, but it wouldn’t have occurred to him to fund Germany’s war machine.) Biden has also sold out our allies and given the Russians a reprieve by suppressing oil and gas production at the precise moment when our European allies need our fossil fuels more than ever.

Then there is Russia. Or, more specifically, Vladimir Putin:

“Defending democracy in Ukraine, expanding Nato – just as an aside, too bad Vladimir, you brought it on yourself,” she said, prompting laughter and applause.

Ah yes, “Vladimir.” The same Vladimir whom Hillary courted at the beginning of her tenure as Secretary of State. At least a few of our readers may remember that the incoming Obama/Clinton administration faulted George W. Bush for being unduly hard on the Russians. Tensions between us and them, Hillary thought at the time, were our fault. Hence her presenting the Russians with her famous “reset” button.

Why did US-Russian relations need to be “reset”? Because that meanie George W. Bush had been too tough on the Russians. Obama and Clinton wanted to usher in a new era of accommodation. But that was then, and this is now. The Democrats have always been at war with Putin.

That Hillary Clinton is ungracious is not new information. That she continues to be obsessed with her own political ups and downs has been apparent for quite a while. But she is also not very intelligent. For many years, Democrats have tried to promote Hillary Clinton as a uniquely brilliant person, the flower of Yale-educated womanhood, more than a match for any man. In fact, she was never more than a mediocre and unoriginal intellect, and a not very competent administrator. She has gone downhill steadily from there, as her State Department appearance exemplifies.

We should all be eternally grateful that this utter mediocrity never became president.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/09/hillary-cant-let-go.php