It’s been a while since we did a 5QT around here, so now there will be one. Just to keep things equitable.
Speaking of that …
At the risk of being called a racist by people who have mastered the craft, some of the absolute dumbest, most venal, and absolutely most useless politicians in America are the ones who make up the Congressional Black Caucus and its related organizations in state legislatures. This is true not because they are black but because they are never held accountable. They represent monolithic districts in which the only candidates with a real chance at election are Democrats, and the traits that get such candidates elected are not those that steer toward good governance or representation of their constituents.
Am I overgeneralizing? Fine. Show me someone in that caucus who’s as thoughtful and effective as Cori Bush is embarrassing. Got somebody who can cancel out Hank Johnson? How about Sheila Jackson Lee? Or Maxine Waters? Ayanna Pressley?
How about the utterly corrupt Jim Clyburn?
We could be at this for a while. You aren’t winning the argument, you know.
And on Thursday, when it was announced that inflation had ballooned to 7.5 percent in January, it became painfully obvious that this collection of stooges and frauds doesn’t represent its constituents at all.
Inflation is the most regressive tax of all. It crushes poor people, because inflation affects everything. If you were imposing high sales taxes, for example, the objection is that the poor are hit hardest because they have the least buying power. That’s why when sales taxes are raised they almost always exclude things like utility bills, groceries, and so forth out of political considerations. It’s one reason why, when this country should have had a conversation about switching from income taxes to consumption taxes a long time ago, that conversation never happened.
And now that inflation is at a 40-year high, the Democrat politicians who generally represent the poorest people in America not stuck on Indian reservations or in the hills and hollows of forgotten Appalachia have nothing whatsoever to say?
I had a conversation with an exceptionally smart woman last night who observed that one reason the black community has not risen up against the trolls and goofballs who represent it, in for example a fashion similar to the Tea Party movement, is that more than two-thirds of the households in those congressional districts are headed by single mothers. She noted that the people who did the majority of the organizing of Tea Party events and other such activism were women — their husbands were out earning money, so they were the ones carrying the torch. Single moms, particularly poor single moms, are too busy with sheer survival to get active in politics — particularly in bottom-up activism not paid for by the Soroses of the world.
The black community doesn’t have resources for citizen-based political action and is thus quite docile under the thumb of its political class. It’s different in the black middle class who have made their way to the suburbs, of course, but that escape takes one out of, say, Al Green’s district more often than not.
It’s a shame there is no escape from the kakistocracy of the Black Caucus, and one sympathizes with the victims of Democrat policy. Of course, while the inner city poor may be hardest hit we are all suffering from the Biden tax. The least we should expect to receive is acknowledgement from the most partisan of hacks, and yet that isn’t coming.
You might have noticed the remarkably flaccid performance of Canadian prime minister Justin “Fidelito” Trudeau this week in Canada’s parliament, as he was verbally abused by members of the opposition party over COVID-19 mandates and restrictions. The Freedom Convoy truckers’ protest has all but shut down the capital city of Ottawa, and while local police have managed to harass the protesters they’re clearly not capable of breaking the siege.
Canada’s provinces have taken the hint and are beginning to wind down their lockdowns and restrictions on the populace, though their leaders have fastidiously denied the truckers have forced the changes.
Uh huh.
It’s only a matter of time before Trudeau relents. Ontario is now the outlier in terms of COVID insanity, and the public is weary of the restrictions. Canada’s conservatives are regaining political momentum after years in the wilderness, and Trudeau’s star is rapidly falling as the public recognizes what a weak leader he is.
And the truckers are now saying that next month will be America’s turn. Look out.
That was the RealClearPolitics average of Joe Biden’s job approval rating on Wednesday. It went under 40 for the first time before bouncing back to 40.2 when a Reuters/Ipsos poll with Biden at 43 was added, and it’s a number that should induce Democrat panic.
But for some reason it isn’t. At Politico, aged Democrat pollster Stanley Greenberg was almost optimistic that his party might retain its House majority. Greenberg spun scenarios by which things would turn:
“I see the strength of the economy and worker leverage coming to matter late,” Greenberg said. “Prices are supposed to edge down. Democrats will pass Build Back Better in some form and government funding that shows a lot of visible benefit for families — all opposed by Republicans. The tax on corporations and Republicans fighting them is a huge potential motivator. Then, the January 6 findings get reported and the partisan polarization and cues kick in — producing surprising turnout from Democrats.”
Sure, sure.
He forgets that passing Build Back Better would have to depend on having an actual majority. And that would depend on getting Ben Ray Luján back on the Senate floor and out of the hospital, which won’t happen until late spring. How late in the year does Greenberg think the Democrats are going to try to legislate before fleeing the capital and conducting desperate attempts at saving their campaigns?
Would that conservatives and Republicans were capable of such optimism.
Meanwhile the DNC put out a press release Thursday which said this:
Republicans’ Week Is A Dumpster Fire…And It’s Not Over Yet
It’s not a great week to be the Republican Party. Republicans spent day after day attacking each other, and of course, trying to dodge and even run away from any and all responsibility in the RNC’s decision to officially declare the January 6 insurrection “legitimate political discourse.” The weekend couldn’t come fast enough for Republicans – but then again, at this rate, we’re not sure next week will be much better.
Three words upended the Republican Party’s week before it even started – “legitimate political discourse.”
As if anybody in the real world gives a damn about the problems of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. Whatever, dudes.
Another DNC press release on Thursday celebrated the Chinese New Year, because of course it did.
When the pitiful clown Alejandro Mayorkas and his useless goons at DHS put out their latest terrorist advisory, which created a new class of terrorists — people who engage in what they call “MDM” (mis-, dis-, and mal-information) — it became clear that the American taxpayer gets absolutely zero value from that agency and that it’s now a threat to individual liberty and the good order of the nation:
The sociopaths who run our government have decided free speech = terrorism. https://t.co/mNZBmL7WiN
— Dan Gainor (@dangainor) February 8, 2022
This is an easy problem to solve. Simply zero out DHS’ budget and dismantle its component agencies, those which are still worthy to continue, into other departments of the government.
America survived for well more than 200 years without a Department of Homeland Security. Its creation was one of several profoundly stupid ideas enacted into policy in the aftermath of 9/11 — as though the solution to the poor performance of government bureaucracies was more government bureaucracy.
DHS’ signature agency is the TSA, which has as its primary mission the groping of American citizens as they attempt to board airline flights. This supposedly would prevent another 9/11, but the end of the 9/11-style threat came in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on 9/11/01. Nobody can attempt to hijack an airline flight in this day and age without being lustily torn limb from limb by the passengers on the jet.
And now that DHS has been so politicized and corrupted that it sees itself as a woke Gestapo, it needs to go. Republican candidates for the House and Senate should run on abolishing it and then make that the first priority of a new Congress. And if the White House wants to fight on the issue, then let’s have a government shutdown over it.
Let freedom ring. I have a dream today.
According to some internal polling which made its way into the public domain, it looks like Josh Mandel has the upper hand in the Ohio GOP Senate primary over J. D. Vance. This is the race to replace Rob Portman — and a great opportunity to upgrade from a lackluster Bush Republican to someone of a more aggressive political stance.
I’ll confess that I like Vance. I think he’s the kind of Republican we need more of. He comes from a working-class background, and he’s uncompromising in wanting to fight for the people who’d elect him. That isn’t to say Mandel falls short on those traits — from an outsider’s perspective either one would be better than what’s there now, and maybe one day soon they’ll both be senators and the outrageous loon Sherrod Brown will be sent home.
But what’s interesting about the polling is the weakness it shows for Vance:
Last fall, the Trump-aligned PAC Club for Growth ran a multimillion-dollar ad campaign using old footage of Vance speaking disparagingly about Trump. The PAC has thrown support behind candidate Josh Mandel, the former Ohio state treasurer.
Vance, by all accounts, became an authentic supporter of the former president during his time in the Oval Office. But his one-time “Never Trump” status seems to be sticking to him in a primary that has been characterized by closeness to the de facto GOP party leader.
According to the presentation, Vance’s biggest problem is that he is “now underwater with strong Trump” supporters, the precise demographic a candidate in the race needs to win the primary. Furthermore, the venture capitalist and author of “Hillbilly Elegy’s” association as a Trump hater “has only grown since November” and is “the #1 reason voters do not like Vance.”
The primary winner moves to the general election for the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Rob Portman.
“The groups where Vance has improved are those we don’t want him doing better with: Trump disapprovers and moderate/liberals,” wrote the pollster.
“Vance needs a course correction ASAP that will re-solidify him as a true conservative. He has a ton of strong messaging to make that happen and he should push it hard,” concludes the report.
This brings up an interesting question: do we chide Trump skeptics who weren’t convinced at the beginning that he’d fulfill his promises? It seems like that would be a little counterproductive, as that’s not the same thing as someone who opposed what Trump was promising as the David Frenches, Kevin Williamsons, and Bill Kristols of the world did.
Vance and Mandel aren’t the only candidates in that race. The Republican field looks like a solid one.
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