• Looks like Biden’s State Department has more problems beyond those that our Afghan Charge d’Affaires Karen Decker acknowledged yesterday. Fox News reports:
The State Department on Tuesday withdrew the nomination of an Ivy League professor who called then-candidate Joe Biden a “senile gaffe machine” and criticized other officials for their pro-Israel views.
James Cavallaro was nominated last week to serve on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the Organization of American States. But the State Department’s link to that announcement no longer works, and spokesman Ned Price told reporters Tuesday that the nomination was withdrawn after Cavallaro’s past controversial tweets were discovered.
Seems to me that Mr. Cavallaro, ivy league or not, is the perfect Biden Administration appointee.
• Did you know that slavery is legal in California? Of course you didn’t, because it isn’t. But tell that to the left, which is pushing for a statute entitled “End Slavery In California Act.” Turns out what they are really after is ending “involuntary servitude” in the form of making prisoners in the prison system work as part of their sentences. What next: a $20 minimum wage—and maybe a labor union—for inmates? Gov. Newsom is said to be opposed to the bill, another sign that he’s running for president. Because this change would need to be a constitutional amendment, if it passes the legislature and is signed by the governor, it would go to a vote of the people. Love to see what the campaign messaging is for this idea.
UPDATE—No sooner do I make a whimsical suggestion about minimum wages for inmates, than this happens (from the Seattle Times):
Bill would pay WA’s incarcerated workers minimum wage
OLYMPIA — State Rep. Tarra Simmons, D-Bremerton, wants the state to pay incarcerated workers more money.
She’s sponsoring House Bill 1024, called the “Real Labor, Real Wages Act,” to raise incarcerated workers’ wages to the state minimum of $15.74. Simmons, believed to be the first formerly incarcerated person elected to the State Legislature, said when she was in prison she worked graveyard shifts for no more than 42 cents an hour, before various deductions to her paycheck.
I have to hand it to Rep. Simmons: going from state prison to the state legislature shows rapid progress on the thievery learning curve.
• Cue the Wall Street Journal‘s news pages as the latest baton carrier in the “Dump Biden” media relay race:
Biden Appears Set to Run in 2024, but Many Democratic Voters Have Doubts
As President Biden prepares for an expected re-election bid, Democratic leaders are increasingly enthusiastic about his candidacy. Many of his party’s voters aren’t on board.
Concerns about Mr. Biden’s age and abilities are front of mind for some Democrats, even those who think the 80-year-old president has done well during his first two years in office, according to recent polling and Wall Street Journal interviews with more than two dozen people around the country who voted for Mr. Biden in 2020.
“I think he’s too old,” said Kelly Spencer, 35, of Flatonia, Texas, a Democrat who voted for Mr. Biden in 2020. “And maybe that’s a little ageist on my part, but I think he’s too old. I worry about cognitive decline. I worry about a stroke, anything like that.” . . .
A recent poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs showed that 62% of Democrats didn’t want Mr. Biden to seek a second term, while 37% did.
A Washington Post-ABC poll showed that 58% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents would prefer to nominate someone other than Mr. Biden, while 31% favored nominating Mr. Biden.
One thing seems certain: if Biden does run again (very likely), he won’t be able to campaign from his basement. Even if the media is in the bag for him, their self-interest will demand that he emerge from his groundhog hole.
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