Howdy All, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –
In this issue:
- Biden
- Wuhan
- Hairdresser
- Failure
- Flynn
- Grenell
- Biden. Joe Biden got out of his basement long enough for an interview with MSNBC’s Mika Brezezinski on May 1. It was a surprisingly harsh and pointed interview, as Brzezinski pressed him on sexual harassment and the Tara Reade claims of sexual assault while she was a senate staffer. Democrats, especially presumptive presidential nominees, normally don’t get this sort of treatment from their media cheerleaders, so the obvious and unasked question is why did this interview take place and what is going on? Best explanation I’ve come across is that the DNC and greater democrat establishment has already decided to replace Biden on the ticket. The only thing up in the air is how and when. I see three possibilities:
- Replace him now or at the convention. This option will give democrats the highest probability of success in November. The only thing to finesse will be the delegate count currently owned by Bernie Sanders. It shouldn’t be a difficult finesse, as Bernie has demonstrated over the years that he neither has the stomach for nor is capable of a messy political fist fight. All it might cost will be another house, like his payment for rolling belly up to Hilly in 2016.
- Replace him before election day. This almost guarantees a democrat loss. I would think that this option only occurs if he demonstrates he is not capable of running in the upcoming campaign. Whatever happens, expect democrats and the media to pretend (or attempt to pretend) that the VP nominee is really the presidential nominee and put her in front of all combined / campaign events instead of Biden. Don’t think Trump will allow this but do expect the dems to try.
- Replace him after being elected. If the very worst happens and Biden gets elected, expect him to do everything humanly possible to get inaugurated, take the Oath of Office, and then resign a couple weeks later. This is the cleanest and will guarantee his VP selection becomes president. She will then nominate another VP for senate confirmation, not unlike what Nixon did with Gerald Ford in 1973. Should Biden be unable to make it to inauguration day, the critical day will be the day Electors vote for president. Make it that far, and the democrats should own the office. Fail to make it that far, and things will get very interesting indeed.
Given all this is speculation, and there may very well be other paths. But I tend to believe it gets done at or just before the convention as it will ensure the maximum viewership. I remain in agreement with Scott Adams that Kamala Harris will be the VP nominee and in turn the next democrat president.
- Wuhan. It was a big news week for Wuhan Flu stories as the Fog of War described last week cleared at least a little bit. For instance:
- We have a credible explanation why the ChiComs (CCP) sat on notifying the world that their bat soup virus was capable of human to human transmission for at least two months. It appears that they used that time to send their people out into the world to import as much PPE (masks, testing kits, gowns, ventilators, etc) as humanly possible because they did not have enough to take care of their population. Now that they have enough of that stuff on hand, they are exporting it back to the rest of the world at nice markups.
- I have seen several stories indicating that the Wuhan Flu was making its rounds in the US, particularly on the west coast months before the lockdowns began. This information comes from antibody testing in Chicago and LA that found a much higher percentage of the general population (herd immunity) than would be expected from the known infection rate. I’ve written about this a few weeks ago with appropriate links. Another indicator as to when this all started was a little news over the weekend that one of the viral research labs in Wuhan was shut down for a couple weeks in November. Nobody would ever get the ChiComs to acknowledge that was ground zero, but the timing fits with the rise of herd immunity here in the US.
- PowerLine is one of the better blogs out there and is on my regular reading list. They are located in MN, another state with a democrat governor who has inflicted outrageous lockdown orders on the state. One of the things going on in MN (as with most blue states), is that the Wuhan Flu has been particularly deadly in nursing homes, long term care facilities, with as of this morning, just over 80% of their 578 total deaths. Their series is Coronavirus in One State (latest number is 36). Well worth following.
- MN is not the only blue state with nursing home / long term care facility issues. In NY, where Governor Cuomo required these homes and facilities to intake infested patients, a full 58% of all deaths statewide have taken place in NYC area nursing homes. He wrote his order on March 25 and just lifted it over the weekend.
- The Law & Liberty blog published a piece last week demonstrating the best thing you can do to survive the Wuhan Flu is live in a red state. Data as of April 26 finds that states with Republican governors have 57.53 deaths/million while states with democrat governors have a death rate of 179.74 deaths/million. If you exclude the extreme outlier of NY, that number is still 138.58 deaths/million. The obvious question is: “If the democrats were so smart and caring, then why this huge divergence of death rates between Republican and Democrat states?”
- St Louis set up a snitch line aimed businesses which did not shut down per the essential / non-essential list. Unlike DeBlasio’s snitch line in NYC, this one wasn’t inundated with porn and photos of genitals. It consisted of an online form. As of last week, over 900 complaints had been filed. Problem with this is that the complaints were not anonymous. Worse, they are deemed public records and subject to sunshine laws in MO. An enterprising individual, likely a business owner, though the story doesn’t say so, acquired a copy of the tipster records and released them on FB. The information release included names and addresses. Karma, what a concept.
- Hairdresser. Shelly Luther, the owner of a hair salon in Dallas was jailed last week of opening her shop in violation of the non-essential business order. The judge, a very self-important democrat (judges at this level in Texas are elected) demanded she apologize and shut her shop. She refused, noting she was not going to apologize for feeding her kids and helping her employees feed theirs. He sent her to jail for a week and levied a minimum of $7,000 fine. In this, Luther became the Rosa Parks of the lockdown a description that infuriated the left. Reaction was swift and loud, with the TX Attorney General, LtGov and Governor all getting involved. The TX Supreme Court ordered her release two days later. Governor Abbott modified his closure order to no longer allow anyone to be fined or jailed for refusing to close. He also moved up the date for these sorts of businesses to be opened. Her GoFundMe page raised over a half million in 72 hours. The day she reopened, US Senator Ted Cruz stopped by for a haircut, demonstrating he has learned a lot about politics as entertainment from Trump. And the judge picked up an opponent for his next election. He has a reputation for ruling with a heavy and quite self-righteous hand. Roe v Wade came boiling out of Dallas half a century ago. Hopefully, this case will be as momentous, though not nearly as horribly deadly.
- Failure. American Greatness wan a Julie Kelly piece entitled “The Failed Experiment of Social Distancing.” In it, she reminded everyone that social distancing is an experiment, one that has never been tried on this level before, and now that we are two solid months into that experiment, one that did not consider even the most basic health and variable when the experts demanded it. Former FDA head Scott Gottleib was a lead booster of social distancing. He admitted a week ago that it wasn’t working as the experts promised. Instead, we have significant economic damage, and the disease continues to spread despite varying levels of lockdown in states. JoNova last week demonstrated the spread of the disease along with the peak graphically for multiple nations. North America is doing the worst. Why? My guess is because we did the best with the lockdown and never allowed herd immunity to build. Social distancing ends up being an untested pseudoscience particularly as it relates to halting the transmission of the virus. The CDC offers no links to any peer-reviewed studies that support its official guidance. Neither the CDC nor WHO know how the virus spreads. They have no idea about aerosol spreading nor about how long it will remain on any surface. The formula was first created during the Bush 43 administration. Reaction to it was skeptical. It took the O’Bama administration a full five years to approve it. Original separation was three feet, but there is no data to support how effective this is. As this has gone on, that number has increased to 6’ and in some places here in AK to 10’. This experiment needs to end immediately. The virus continues to spread. Hospitals are not overwhelmed, and it does not appear they will be. Social distancing was a failed social experiment masquerading as actual science.
- Flynn. I have been following the Michael Flynn prosecution from the beginning, mostly with a skeptical eye. Last week, Attorney General Bob Barr dropped the government’s case against Flynn. It remains to be seen if the presiding judge will agree to that withdrawal. Reaction to this from the political left was as expected, accusing Barr of politicizing what was a political hit on Flynn. Trump hit all the players with a series of very pointed Tweets, one of which used the term ‘treason’. Next up will be making Flynn whole after this. One thing would be to request legal fees from the court. Another would be a possible series of civil suits aimed at the prosecutors and FIB agents and higher-ups who orchestrated this entire mess. Watch this one closely, as it is only beginning.
- Grenell. Acting DNI Richard Grenell has been busily declassifying and releasing transcripts taken by House Intel Committee in their investigations over the last four years. Two of them were under Republican leadership and two of them under democrat leadership. Grenell warned current Chairman Adam Schiff to release the transcripts or he will. Schiff made a halfhearted heavily redacted release which Grenell expanded last Friday with a massive release of transcripts. What they show is breathtaking. Every single O’Bama official under oath said there was no connection between anything Trump and Russia. Yet every single one of them went public in the media and claimed there was and did so for years. Every single Republican on the committee knew that and heard that yet said nothing about it publicly. Why is that? Democrats don’t have a problem leaking. Why do Republicans?
More later –
– AG