Monthly Archives: January 2021
January 29, 2021 — John Hinderaker
A good friend who is extremely knowledgeable about financial matters writes about the GameStop/Reddit story: I find the whole spectacle a disturbing case of unreason and run-amok passions — including, if not especially, on our side. Some questions: (1) What’s wrong with hedge funds? They’re just high risk investment vehicles; the lumpen-intelligentsia might consider that teachers’ pensions and those of “public servants” — to the extent that they are actually
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January 29, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Good grief, the Biden era is providing an embarrassment of riches in the TWiP department, and as tomorrow’s gallery is already groaning at the gills, this is one of those times when a special edition is justified, even on a Friday afternoon, because the GameStop escapade just won’t quit. Old and busted: Wall Street banks are too big to fail! New hotness: Wall Street hedge funds are too big to
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January 29, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
New York’s Attorney General has found that the state underreported Wuhan coronavirus deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50 percent. The AG’s report is here. Why the discrepancy? Because the official count did not include nursing home residents who died at the hospital. How convenient. In addition, some nursing home officials attributed deaths of infected residents to other causes. How convenient. The official count isn’t meagre. It now
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January 29, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Monsieur John F. Kerry is the Harris-Biden administration’s Climate Ambassador. He is assisted in his diplomatic duties by National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy. Earlier this week they held a press briefing with the psickening Jen Psaki. I have embedded the video below. It is excruciating. The White House transcript can be read without the full effect of Kerry’s otherwise audible hauteur. The gentleman from Madame Tussauds killed the Keystone Pipeline
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January 29, 2021 — Scott Johnson
As a result of failure to communicate on my part, Ammo Grrrll’s weekly column will not be posted as scheduled this morning. I apologize to Ammo Grrrll and her faithful readers. The fault is mine. I hope to figure out some way to make up for it with Ms. Grrrll in due course. You need a laugh. You deserve a laugh. We count on the laugh regularly scheduled for this
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January 28, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
George Will has an excellent column in which he presents the arguments of Philip Howard, as set forth in an article called “From Progressivism to Paralysis.” Howard contends that modern government “is structured to preempt the active intelligence of people on the ground.” Moreover:
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January 28, 2021 — John Hinderaker
In another sign of the times, an employee of a New York literary agency has been fired for having accounts on Parler and Gab. The president of a literary agency [the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency] based in New York City said Monday on Twitter that one of the agency’s employees was terminated after her use of conservative social media sites Parler and Gab was discovered. I have seen no
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January 28, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a woman of little intelligence who, however, has the useful quality of reflecting, like an inanimate mirror, certain aspects of our sick zeitgeist. Thus, earlier today she accused Ted Cruz of trying to get her killed. The whole thing unfolded on Twitter, starting with Cruz’s cordial expression of agreement with Ocasio-Cortez on the Gamestop issue (whatever that is): Needless to say, Ted Cruz has not been “almost
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January 28, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Michael Ellis is a highly experienced, superbly qualified intelligence professional. He has a strong record of accomplishment in all three branches of government. Last year, Ellis, a family friend, was selected to be the general counsel at the National Security Agency (NSA). But now, after Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff demanded that he be removed, the Biden administration has placed him on administrative leave. The Washington Post and other left-liberal
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January 28, 2021 — Scott Johnson
One of the notable media sidebars to election night was the FOX News call of Arizona for Biden with 800,000 votes outstanding. At the time FOX had yet to call Florida, although just about all the votes to be counted were up in the Panhandle. The Trump campaign was not happy. FOX News called on Arnon Mishkin — the consultant crunching the numbers on its so-called Decision Desk — to
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January 28, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Amanda Gorman is our National Youth Poet Laureate. Lucky us. The title isn’t an oxymoron — it’s not impossible for a young person to be a great poet — but the appellation doesn’t sit well on Gorman. “Laureate” means a person who is honored with an award for outstanding creative or intellectual achievement. Gorman has achieved little as a poet, other than being named youth poet laureate. If Gorman has
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January 28, 2021 — Steven Hayward
I imagine a lot of readers are following the tulip-mania over Gamestop, which is roiling Wall Street and costing a lot of hedge funds some serious money. It is certain to end as such speculative excess always does—with a crash leaving a handful of people who got out at or near the top with nice gains, and a lot of losers on the side of the road. It is sure
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January 28, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Almost exactly a year ago I had Spencer Case on the show from Wuhan, China, where he had a front row seat to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. A lot of listeners wrote asking about Spencer and wanting to know if he got out, and what he was up to. And now is the perfect time for a sequel and update: Spencer is back in Wuhan, finishing up a
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January 28, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The execrable Susan Rice has returned to public life to lead the White House Domestic Policy Council. It’s an anodyne title, but she has taken up residence in the Executive Office of the President to execute, to crack the whip, to impose discipline, to play the role of Krupskaya to Joe Biden’s glassy-eyed Weekend at Bernie’s routine. Rice emerged on Tuesday to preview the strong dose of “equity” that Biden
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January 27, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Most conservatives I know are disgusted that the Senate is going to try Donald Trump even now that he’s no longer president. At the same time, most think that holding the trial will either benefit Republicans or be a political wash. However, Andy McCarthy believes that it’s the Democrats who will come out as winners. He argues that the trial will “unite the Left while intensifying the Right’s internecine conflict.”
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January 27, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Time to grok some graphics. . . • The Biden-Harris Administration is determined to be anti-energy, the opposite of Alexander Hamilton’s hopes for “energy in the executive.” They want to start by ending fossil fuel subsidies. This first chart is hard to make out (you may be able to enlarge it), but it shows that “renewables” receive ten times the amount of subsidies as fossil fuels. Roy Spencer comments: But federal
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January 27, 2021 — John Hinderaker
The Biden administration has appointed a “bipartisan” commission to study “reforms” to the Supreme Court. It isn’t hard to see where this is going: Biden campaign lawyer Bob Bauer and former deputy assistant attorney general within the Obama Justice Department Cristina Rodríguez will serve as co-chairs, according to Politico. The outlet said the commission’s exact mandate is still being determined. Here is a clue: Politico pointed out that Fredrickson, who
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