Bummer Beyond Belief

Ramirez strikes on Halloween

Featured image Michael Ramirez observed Halloween yesterday with the editorial cartoon posted here at his Substack site (below). He calls it “Scary Inflation.” President Biden seems to have taken over from “Dr. Jill.” As Dracula strikes Biden covers for him. We are to believe that all is well as Biden touts the wonderworking power of the Inflation Reduction Act. Ramirez himself strikes in this cartoon with a dry and biting wit. Copyright »

Our president [?] explains

Featured image President Biden’s daycare minders in the White House had a project with high degree of difficulty to complete yesterday. They were required to put their heads together and come up with an explanation of Biden’s belief that Congress had enacted the student loan giveaway he promulgated by royal decree. You see, Biden doesn’t know what he is saying or doing. How could his minders explain it? It wasn’t easy. Someone »

Art of the deal, Wimpy style

Featured image West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin signed off on the absurdly named Inflation Reduction Act in lieu of the full Build Back Broke bill that represented the left’s shopping list. Manchin was reported to have signed off on the bill with a Wimpy deal that recalled Popeye’s friend Wimpy. Wimpy adopted the motto “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Not a good deal. It was a recurring joke »

Energy Prices Set to Skyrocket

Featured image The Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act $739 billion boondoggle will have nightmarish consequences for years to come, assuming it is actually implemented. Half of the bill’s total spending, $369 billion, is devoted to energy and climate. This spending, largely devoted to subsidizing wind and solar energy, is intended to hasten an alleged transition from fossil fuels to “green” energy sources. In fact, no such transition is taking place. The gap between »

In Re: The Climate Bill (Part 1)

Featured image I’ll have a lot more to say about the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” in due course after I finish unpacking and catching up with five weeks of snail-mail and other things in the pile, but as an opening generalization it should be said that by passing massive subsidies for wind and solar power, the U.S. has decided to emulate Germany’s energiewende (“energy revolution”) policy that it adopted 20 years ago. »

Reduction ad absurdum

Featured image The political news of the day is the passage of the shove-it-down-your-throat absurdity of the Inflation Reduction Act. What this country needs is a vastly expanded Internal Revenue Service! (said no sane man or woman ever). Adding to the insufferable stupidity and deceit of the bill’s provisions is the insufferable stupidity and deceit of the media coverage of the bill itself. Feel the excitement coursing through Politico Playbook’s “How it »

Another Aspect of the Dem Disaster: Drug Price Controls

Featured image We have not yet taken the measure of the disaster that is the Democrats’ “Inflation Reduction Act,” perhaps the most absurdly named statute ever. One element of the law that has not gotten enough attention is its imposition of price controls on pharmaceuticals. Price controls are always, and everywhere, a terrible idea. When you apply price controls to a vital product like drugs, the results could be catastrophic. At Real »

The wheedle & the damage done

Featured image In his Wall Street Journal morning editorial report email, Paul Gigot usefully summarizes the damage done in the absurdly named “Inflation Reduction Act” that the Senate is approving via the reconciliation process: The Washington press corps prefers to cover politics over policy, so it’s mostly ignored the details in Sen. Joe Manchin’s tax-and-spending deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The Journal opinion pages have tried to fill that gaping »

Ramirez v. the Star Tribune

Featured image In his morning email blast the great Michael Ramirez pairs his cartoon of the day (below) with my post “Sinema & the Star Tribune sign on” and three other columns on the Schumer/Manchin monstrosity. Michael’s take is of course more concise than the Star Tribune’s. Unlike the Star Tribune’s propagandistic pabulum, it is also right on the money, so to speak. He titles this one “Fiscal fantasy” and comments in »

Sinema & the Star Tribune sign on

Featured image Senator Kyrsten Sinema has signed on to a slightly tweaked version of the Schumer/Manchin Bummer Beyond Belief bill that is to be passed via the reconciliation process. Politico reports on Sinema’s approval here. Judging by the ecstasy of the Star Tribune editorial board about the bill — they buy it “price controls” hook, “climate control” line, and “inflation reduction” sinker — it is a destructive mess. The editors get extra »

Sen. McConnell: It ain’t us, babe

Featured image Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sat for an interview with Bret Baier on Special Report last night. Senator McConnell himself has posted the video below on YouTube. In it he explains the Schumer/Manchin Bummer Beyond Belief light bill as beyond his power to affect. It is a reconciliation package that requires only the Democratic majority for adoption. “Reconciliation is something done by one party only,” McConnell explained. “There’s nothing we »

The Manchin version illustrated

Featured image In his morning email blast the great Michael Ramirez pairs his cartoon of the day (below) with my post “The Manchin version.” We are thinking along the same lines, but Michael gets the job done more effectively in fewer words. He titles this one “Buried” and comments in his message: “The Schumer-Manchin Inflation Reduction Act raises taxes, spending, and the prospect of an extended recession but does little to reduce »

The Manchin version

Featured image FOX News has posted the video of Harris Faulkner interviewing Senator Joe Manchin about the fraudulently titled Inflation Reduction Act that he and Senator Schumer have concocted and put into a package to be passed via the reconciliation process. I have embedded the video below. Faulkner touched on the surface of Manchin’s misrepresentations regarding the substance of the bill, although she was insufficiently prepared to challenge them in any detail. »

The uses of burn pits

Featured image The Democrats staged one of their classic dramas with their so-called burn pit legislation. The Senate voted last night to pass the bill to expand health care benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits during their military service. The final vote was 86-11. President Biden can now sign it into law. I took it from the appearance of Jon Stewart to act up and promote the bill in Washington that »

BBB light: What happened?

Featured image Minnesota Sixth District Rep. Tom Emmer is chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. He appears weekly for a segment on Jon Justice’s morning news/talk show in the Twin Cities. Jon let me ask Emmer a question about the passage of the CHIPS bill spenderama with the support of 17 Senate Republicans and 24 House Republicans while the Democrat tax-and-spend Bummer Beyond Belief was still in play. Tom referred to »

Say it ain’t so, Joe

Featured image Yesterday Senators Schumer and Manchin announced they had arrived at an agreement on a slimmed down Build Back Better spenderama and tax package. This one is absurdly renamed an inflation fighter. How shameless can you get? How stupid do they think we are? The Hill reported on the deal late yesterday afternoon here. Roll Call reported on it here. Politico talked with Manchin for the story “Manchin’s latest shocker: A »

Earth Day, Biden style

Featured image President Biden traveled to Seattle yesterday to observe Earth Day, Biden style. The White House has posted the transcript of his remarks here. The speech went on at what must have felt like Castroite length to those in attendance. The text is far beyond my poor power to add or detract, but it warrants attention. The transcript reflects Biden mangling names, slurring words, misreading numbers, and so on. That is »