When Nina Met Joey
by Lloyd Billingsley
Asked about Nina Jankowicz, the executive director of the federal government's new Disinformation Governance Board, Department of Homeland Security boss Alejandro Mayorkas said, "I don't question her objectivity." "There are people in the department who have a diverse range of views, and they're incredibly dedicated to the mission," Mayorkas added. "We're not the opinion police. She has testified before Congress a number of times, she's recognized as a tremendous authority, and we're very fortunate to have her." But Jankowicz, 33, has already provided reasons to question her objectivity.
As Roger Kimball explains, Nina Jankowicz is an "anti-Trump hack," already on record that Hunter Biden's laptop is a "Trump campaign product" and "Russian influence op." Jankowicz is also a big fan of Christopher Steele, author of the pissing prostitutes dossier, a Clinton campaign product now exposed as pure disinformation. | | King Joe Can't Transfer Student-Loan Debt
by Jeffrey H. Anderson
Transferring hundreds of billions of dollars of student-loan debt—as Joe Biden is reportedly considering—would be unjust, indiscriminate, and remarkably irresponsible. It would force everyday Americans who didn't take out those loans to shoulder their burden in the form of higher taxes or increased national debt (which, inevitably, leads to higher taxes). But none of this matters as much as the worst thing about such a potential action: It would be a naked violation of our constitutional forms, a move more monarchical than republican. Both the Constitution and the founders' writings make it clear that Congress has the power to make federal laws (subject to a presidential veto) and the power of the purse. Biden has neither, and yet he wishes to exercise both in this instance. Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said, "People think that the president of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress."
| | Fighting the Cathedral
by Paul Gottfried I caught up recently with Vanity Fair's in-depth feature on "the New Right." At one point, writer James Pogue interviewed neoreactionary Curtis Yarvin, who is quoted saying some provocative things. I fully agree with Yarvin's gibes about the autocratic oligarchy that stifles dissent, his sneering at the media as "predators," and his recognition that it may take a Caesar-like leader to pull us out of our present decadence. But Yarvin also made a statement with which I profoundly disagree. My disagreement may explain why, unlike Yarvin, I am never invited to address conservative conferences. Although I sound less edgy, I may in fact be more serious about pursuing the culture war. Unlike Yarvin, I would never argue "that conservatives waste their time and political energy on fights over issues like gay marriage or critical race theory, because liberal ideology holds sway in the important institutions of prestige media and academia—an intertwined nexus he calls 'the Cathedral.'"
| | Leaving Behind the Road to Catastrophe
by Emina Melonic
My journey across America yielded many thoughts and reflections upon the experience. My written reflections, no doubt, do not progress chronologically, because as my mind wanders, it seeks threads that connect one experience to another. One major theme of this trip (and perhaps any long journey) is that of unpredictability and vulnerability. We are at the mercy of the elements, be they human or meteorological. We drove through Kansas on the return leg of our trip. Before we left our home and even during the trip, family, friends, and strangers warned me about tornadoes. I really didn't need to hear that as I'm already prone to the special brand of Bosnian dread of catastrophe, nevertheless I did my best to laugh mildly at their warnings. I suppose, in the end, there was nothing I could do if I got sucked in by a tornado. The flatness of Kansas was welcome after the drive through the canyons of Utah and mountains of Colorado. But that flatness became less comforting once I realized that there would be miles and miles of land ahead of us with hardly any towns. True, it was beautiful—the plains were glittering with shades of yellow and brown, as if touched by Van Gogh's brush. | | The Future of the Book Is the Future of Mankind
by Vincent McCaffrey
With differing motives and for differing reasons, people say the book is dead. For the most part, this is fantasy, or science fiction if you prefer. Certainly speculative. The moldering piles that clutter our attics and basements, garages and cubby holes are testament to the present truth of the matter. But they are, in fact, moldering. And the piles grow ever smaller as we constrict our lives to fit the new social norms. Without a change in direction, the time will come soon enough when this death is a fact, with or without the intervention of a growing authoritarian state, because the growth of that state will only reduce those numbers faster as the contents of our books become more threatening to authority. The wonderful conceit of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, which once created a furor of indignation in the mind of a public that consumed books by the pound and reveled in the "paperback revolution," is now being accomplished without heat, and relatively without notice except by some curmudgeons and students of the past. Objecting to the ongoing digitalization of knowledge is considered Luddite—at least by the few who know a little language and less history. This ephemeral technology and its fungible content beg for the postmodernist editor's hand. | | The Age of the Absurd
By Dennis Prager
The West has gone through many eras—the so-called Dark Ages, the Renaissance, the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Age, and the Postmodern. The present era is the Age of the Absurd. In terms of the absurdities the cultural elites believe, and have convinced masses of people to believe, there has never been a time like today. Here is a list of the most ridiculous that immediately come to mind.
1) Men give birth. Heading the list has to be the radical redefinition—indeed, denial of—sex and gender, leading to such reality-defying statements as "men give birth," "men menstruate," "birthing person" instead of "mother," and to the Disney theme parks no longer greeting visitors as "ladies and gentlemen" or "boys and girls." 2) It is fair to allow biological men to compete in women's sports. We are supposed to believe that biological men do not have an innate physical advantage in competing against women. This is asserted as truth by every Ivy League university, virtually every other university, most high schools, and by virtually all the elite media.
| | The Disinformation Governance Machine
by Roger Kimball
Remember the date: April 27, 2022 That's when the mask came off the creaky Orwellian juggernaut that is the Biden Administration. The senile rictus disappeared and something far more threatening took its place.
In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell called the enforcement mechanism of his totalitarian propaganda regime the "Ministry of Truth." Appearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee, the ironically named Department of Homeland Security was slightly more subtle. Too many people have read Nineteen Eighty-Four. Calling a government-funded effort to suppress criticism of the regime the "Ministry of Truth" would cause people to worry and complain. Instead, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the creation of the "Disinformation Governance Board." No, I am not making that up. I sympathize with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who said he wondered whether this new assault on free expression was a "belated April Fools' joke." | | Ron DeSantis Leads Republican Charge Against Biden Regime's 'Ministry of Truth'
by Debra Heine Republicans hit at the Biden administration's new Disinformation Governance Board Friday, arguing that it is an "unconstitutional and unamerican" means of crushing dissent. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis led the charge during a press conference Friday, calling the Department of Homeland Security Counter-Disinformation Governance Board a "Ministry of Truth," and vowing to fight it. "You cannot have a Ministry of Truth in this country. We're not going to let Biden get away with this one. So we will be fighting back," he said. The Republican was in Willston, Fla. to talk about his administration's investment of $22 million for infrastructure in Florida.
The recently created disinformation board is being led by Nina Jankowicz, 33, a self-proclaimed "disinformation expert" and Karaoke enthusiast who helped spread the Russia collusion hoax in 2017, and supported the COVID lockdowns in March of 2020. In October of 2020, she called Hunter Biden's laptop a "product of the Trump campaign."
| | About $7 Billion Worth of Military Equipment Abandoned in Afghanistan
by Eric Lendrum The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has confirmed in a new report that the military had abandoned roughly $7 billion worth of equipment in the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan. As reported by Fox News, the report was mandated by an act of Congress after the fall of Afghanistan in August of 2021. After 16 years of the U.S. providing military assistance directly to Afghanistan, the equipment left behind for the rising Taliban forces included air-to-surface missiles, night vision equipment, and Humvees. From 2005 to 2021, the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) received at least $18.6 billion worth of equipment while it was being trained by the U.S. "After more than 16 years of combat operations, DOD estimates that $7.12 billion of this equipment remains in Afghanistan in varying states of repair," said DOD spokesman Rob Lodewick, a Major in the U.S. Army. "It is important to remember that the $7.12 billion figure cited in the Department's recent report to Congress corresponds to ANDSF equipment and not U.S. military equipment used by our forces." | | Experts Debunk NYT Claim that Increased Gun Sales Led to Rise in Violent Crime
by Eric Lendrum While the rise of violent crimes in the United States over the last two years has been attributed to such factors as pandemic lockdowns and the race riots of 2020, some on the Left have attempted to instead blame the rising trends on an increase in legal gun sales. Fox News reports that a New York Times article made this argument on April 17th, which pointed out that "Americans bought a record number of guns in recent years." While acknowledging the lockdowns and race riots as factors, the Times zeroed in on gun sales as the predominant reason for violence, claiming that "the guns that Americans bought remain in circulation," even as "COVID cases have plummeted and lockdowns have ended." But experts from the Heritage Foundation refuted these claims, with Charles Stimson breaking down the trends of violent crime and gun ownership over the last three decades. | | Majority of Troops Fired for Refusing COVID Vaccine were Given General Discharge
by Eric Lendrum
Of the roughly 3,400 American troops who were removed from service due to refusal of the COVID-19 vaccine, about 70 percent were labeled as general discharges, which leaves the door open to their return if they eventually do receive the vaccine. According to Military Times, the "general discharge" label also allows the individuals in question to retain access to their veterans benefits. At a recent hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Pentagon officials said that the remaining 30 percent of discharges were categorized as honorable. There was no explanation given for which circumstances saw some determined to be honorable and others considered general. "I can tell you there are no operational impacts across the force for readiness," said Marine Corps Lt. Gen. David Ottignon during his testimony. "There's no one community that has signaled an instance where a [leader], an NCO or another enlisted Marine is not present because of that."
| | Ranking Oversight Republican Says GOPers are 'Having Discussions' About Impeaching Joe Biden, Calls Hunter a 'National Security Threat'
by Debra Heine
The ranking Republican on the House oversight Committee said Thursday that Hunter Biden is a "national security threat" amid mounting evidence that Joe Biden was complicit in his son's corrupt foreign business dealings. Amid concerns that the president is dangerously compromised, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo that Republicans are "having discussions" about impeaching him if they win the House majority in November.
The New York Post last week reported that Biden met with his son's business partner, Eric Schwerin, in the West Wing of the White House on November 17, 2010. Schwerin was then the president of the since-dissolved investment fund Rosemont Seneca Partners. Schwerin reportedly made at least 19 visits to the Obama White House and other official locations between 2009 and 2015. In addition to Biden, Schwerin also met with various close aides of both Joe and Jill Biden while Hunter was "striking multi-million dollar deals in foreign countries, including China," Obama White House visitor logs show.
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2 comments:
ONLY $7 billion USD left behind in Afghan. Most of it will never even be used by the tribesmen other than for photo op. Still that is a lot of military hardware. They can sell to the Ukrainian? You can tell how sharp I am.
When the "truth" is decided by party affiliation--there IS no truth.
--GRA
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