April 16, 2024

ANOTHER REASON NOT TO GET COCKY: ‘Bidenbucks’ Make ‘Zuckbucks’ Look Like Chump Change.

On Aug. 9, 2021, just five months after Biden signed the executive order that would command the federal government to serve as a get-out-the-vote arm of the Democrat Party, Adam Lioz emailed “Team USDA.” Lioz, who at the time served as senior counsel for left-wing policy activist group Demos, wanted to circle back with Department of Agriculture staff and thank them for “a productive conversation,” according to records obtained by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project.

“As we noted, we’ll have our ‘best practices’ slides ready in the next 1-2 weeks and in the meantime, y’all had asked for data on voter registration at the state level, which I’ve pasted below,” Lioz, who these days serves as senior policy counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, wrote in the email with the subject line, “Demos Meeting on Voting Rights EO.”

“We’re eager to schedule follow up conversations to dig into specific programs and help with integration in any way we can. Just let us know when you are available for that,” he added.

Not surprisingly, Biden’s USDA did just that. New York-based Demos reportedly helped draft Biden’s Executive Order 14019, which directs each federal agency head to develop a plan to “promote voter registration and voter participation.” As the Foundation for Government Accountability notes, Biden’s fiat “follows the same strategy” contained in a Demos policy paper.

If you’re filling your leftist bingo card, Demos is closely tied to the far-left Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wing of the Democrat Party, according to activist tracker InfluenceWatch.

Much more at the link.

Posted at 2:47 pm by Stephen Green

KUDOS TO CBS: ‘If a Bully Takes 350 Odd Swings at You and You Duck, How Is That a Win?’

CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil eschewed both approaches and did his job of asking tough, adversarial questions. …

When [Biden flack John] Kirby meandered and argued it all worked out for the best, Kirby both pushed back and took aim at those (including in the White House) arguing Israel should just take drones and missiles ad nauseam without being allowed to hit back:

Nobody wants a war in that region, not at all, but let’s take up this question of what a win is. You’ve described the Middle East there, Israel’s neighborhood, as a tough one. Deterrence matters, hitting back does. If a bully takes 350 odd swings at you and you duck, how is that a win?

Kirby replied he wouldn’t “get into what the future portends here and — and what the Israelis might or might not do”, but doubled down on not wanting “a wider war” while also this laughable and vague claim of “continu[ing] to hold Iran accountable”.

A wise community organizer famously advised his constituents to “get in their faces and punch back twice as hard.” Offer not valid in Israel, apparently.

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll

CLOGGED ARTERIES: The unseen cost of road-blocking protests.

Recent events in Israel and Gaza have sparked a wave of protests, with some activists in major cities using a familiar tactic: obstructing traffic.

While this seems to have been an effective strategy by protesters across the political spectrum to draw attention to a variety of issues in recent years — including racial injustice, climate change, and pandemic restrictions — these protests raise an important question: At what cost do these disruptions come?

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times about a demonstration disrupting traffic at the Los Angeles airport recently, Michael Beer, the director of Nonviolence International, said that it can be hard for protesters to cut through the media environment without disruptive action like blocking traffic. He then added, “But you have to think: Are you stopping the ambulance from getting to a hospital and somebody’s going to die?”

Research on road closures suggests the answer is probably yes.

* * * * * * * *

The issue at hand, of course, is not the right to protest; non-violent protest is a cornerstone of our democracy and our American identity. But a commonsense extrapolation of the marathon study, and other studies that illustrate how mere minutes matter in medical emergencies, tells us that even when the protest itself is peaceful and protesters clear the way for ambulances or other emergency vehicles, transit times will still be longer, particularly when accounting for the ripple effects that a blockage in one area can cause for motorists miles away.

If activists are indeed committed to peaceful protest, they must be cognizant of the real harms of road-blocking protests that are more problematic than a simple nuisance to commuters, nearby businesses, and others. It is unlikely that protesters would ever find out if an ambulance was delayed and a patient was physically harmed or died as a result of that delay. If protesters were aware of the extent to which those with life-threatening medical emergencies could be dying as a result of their blockade, would they choose differently?

Given that they share the same “Progressives Against Progress” anti-modernity worldview as the climate change apocalyptic narcissists who similarly block roads and destroy artwork, then the answer is “No.” Next question?

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

PARTY OF YOUTH UPDATE: John Cougar Mellencamp, 72, angry that fans don’t want a lecture on the wonders of Joe Biden, age 81:

Posted at 1:34 pm by Ed Driscoll

UNEXPECTEDLY! ABC, NBC, CBS Fail To Tell Viewers Trump Prosecutors Are ‘Democrats’ 90% Of Time.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, barring any unforeseen delays, will begin his criminal trial of former President Donald Trump on Monday on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to cover up “hush money” allegations.

The trial is unprecedented. Political implications loom large. The Republican nominee for president and favorite to win the general election faces a full team of Democratic prosecutors.

Yet Americans who rely on evening newscasts from legacy broadcast networks for information are likely unaware of the latter fact.

Rich Noyes is a contributing editor for MRC NewsBusters, the most reliable media watchdog in the industry today. Noyes led a team of analysts who reviewed “NBC Nightly News,” “CBS Evening News” and ABC’s “World News Tonight” from January 1, 2023, through April 10, 2024.

MRC found that the three networks failed to inform viewers during “at least 90 percent” of the coverage that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis, and New York Attorney General Letitia James are Democrats.

“The network coverage of the Trump prosecutions routinely and fraudulently implies that they are nonpartisan public officials. It’s Trump versus the New York Attorney General, or the Manhattan District Attorney,” NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham told Fox News Digital.

“They’re not just Democrats, they’re elected Democrats, building a career on taking down Trump. Leaving that out of the story is irresponsible.”

Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and the bias-by-omission makes perfect sense.

Evergreen:

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll