Category: You Can’t Make This Up

Vox: It’s time to reconsider air conditioning for the sake of ‘cooling justice.’

Thursday Vox published a piece about the need to reconsider air-conditioning in order to promote “cooling justice.” The article is based on a book on the same topic but this interview with the author is a bit vague. What exactly is “cooling justice” and what would that look like in practice? I confess I’m a bit curious if only because I like to know what it is that the left has planned for all of us. Here’s the author not quite telling us what that is:

What I hoped to do with the book was by tracing this history people could consider a radically different way of living, one that doesn’t have to be suffering. It can actually be pleasurable. I think a lot of people are too afraid to even try that because they think they have to give something up. I hope that it can open the door just a little bit for people to really re-contextualize what it means to be comfortable. I think there’s something to be said about making us a bit more comfortable with the discomfort of outside air.

Get “comfortable with discomfort” doesn’t sound like an improvement. Anyway, it has to be done because air-conditioning is racist, hence the need for “cooling justice.”

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BIDEN BUGS OUT

Our departure from Afghanistan under the supervision and alleged protection of the Taliban represents a historic humiliation of the United States. Executing a sophisticated [update: the Pentagon has now revised its description of the attack] attack at and near the Kabul airport, terrorists killed at least 13 U.S. troops and 95 Afghans. Dozens more were injured. The attack deepened our humiliation and erased another administration talking point.

The casualties fill our hearts with rage and sorrow. There must be an accounting and accountability.

President Biden took to the lectern in the East Room of the White House to make a statement and field a few questions. The White House has posted the transcript here. I have posted the White House video below.

Here are 12 thoughts and observations in the form of bullet points.

• Biden is spent. His remarks were pathetic and stupid. He gives human form to our humiliation. He embodies it. Anyone can see that.

• Charles Lipson rendered this concise verdict after the attack but before Biden’s remarks: “This deadly fiasco didn’t just happen on his watch. It happened because of his decisions, a series of fundamentally bad ones, taken by the President himself.” Anyone can see that too.

• Our political system does not offer an appropriate remedy for the epic failure of the Biden administration. Has any president ever stood so exposed in the opening months of his administration? Have we ever had a more ridiculous vice president than Kamala Harris standing next in line? Next in line after Kamala Harris is Nancy Pelosi. Next in line after Nancy Pelosi is Patrick Leahy.

• Biden vowed: “To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget.” His vow made me reflect on Biden’s literal memory issues. He can’t even remember the name of his Secretary of Defense — you know, the General.

• It is hard to take Biden’s vow seriously in the context of our retreat and surrender. It has a Monty Python quality to it.

• The word “mission” appears 12 times in Biden’s remarks. Biden asserted, for example: “We will not be deterred by terrorists. We will not let them stop our mission. We will continue the evacuation.” What is the “mission”? I infer that the mission is to bug out by the Biden/Taliban deadline of August 31. That is the “mission” from which “we will not be deterred.”

• The terrorist attack demonstrated the weakness of our reliance on the Taliban to provide security at the airport. Anyone can see that too. It is an essential element of our humiliation. Matt Continetti explores this component of our humiliation in “Biden Subcontracts U.S. Security to Terrorists.”

• In response to the question posed by Trevor from Reuters following his remarks Biden explained the interest of the Taliban in facilitating our retreat and surrender. Biden doesn’t even understand the interest of the United States. He and his administration certainly don’t understand the Taliban’s perception of its interest.

• Biden did not dispute and partly confirmed the Politico story “U.S. officials provided Taliban with names of Americans, Afghan allies to evacuate.” Subhead: “The White House contends that limited information sharing with the Taliban is saving lives; critics argue it’s putting Afghan allies in harm’s way.”

• Biden asserted that our abandonment of Bagram comported with the advice of his military advisers: “They concluded — the military — that Bagram was not much value added, that it was much wiser to focus on Kabul. And so, I followed that recommendation.” Can that be true?

• Whether that is true or false, it comported with Biden’s remarks over the past two weeks. Biden has routinely passed the buck and blamed everyone but himself for the events of the day. He is without shame.

• Quotable quote: “Ladies and gentlemen, they gave me a list here. The first person I was instructed to call on was Kelly O’Donnell of NBC.” Biden’s minders in the daycare operation at the White House have failed to impress on him that he is to omit their instructions from his remarks.

 

White House Cuts Audio as Joe Biden Jokes About Stranded Americans

Joe Biden’s inability to control his faculties has become more and more obvious over the last seven-plus months of his presidency. In what is almost certainly a symptom of his declining mental state, the president has had numerous angry outbursts and tone-deaf moments since taking office. Today was the scene of another awkward interaction that crossed the line into being outright offensive.

While talking about cybersecurity — because there’s apparently nothing more important going on — NBC News’ Peter Alexander asked Biden about what would happen if Americans still remain in Afghanistan after the 8/31 deadline.

That’s when the White House cut the audio feed to obscure his answer.

Luckily, there was a radio pooler in attendance who was recording and we now know what the president said. Per Alexander and multiple other people in the room, Biden actually made a joke about the Americans left stranded in the collapsed, war-torn nation, cracking a smile as he did so.

You can see why they cut the audio………………….

Yet, because this is Joe Biden, no one says anything. It’s the starkest double standard in politics.

Regardless, on the merits, this is about as gross as it gets. Just this morning, I read the harrowing account of an American citizen from New Jersey who has tried to get to the Kabul airport multiple times. She’s been turned back and is now hiding out in her home with a group of SIV applicants who were also denied passage. These people have nowhere to go and are being forced to make impossible decisions. Does she leave children behind to die? Or does she stay and attempt to protect them? That’s not a decision she should have to make, but she does because Joe Biden is a complete failure as president.

The point is that this is a deadly serious situation. It is not funny to make light of the ongoing suffering by popping off at reporters with smart-alec remarks instead of just answering basic questions. None of this is a joke, and that Biden is treating it as one is more proof he’s unqualified to hold the office he holds.

Let’s also pay attention to the fact that his handlers simply can’t protect him anymore. They tried to cut the audio but the president’s remarks got out anyway. Biden may not be in control of his own administration, but those who are can’t keep him in line. His mental state is becoming more of a liability, with him being five hours late for a presser yesterday only to show up half-alive being one of the latest examples.

None of this is normal. None of it should be treated as normal. The only reason this isn’t a major scandal is that Biden has the right letter next to his name.

I’d tag this as an example of cluelessness, but she’s not clueless, she just has no moral or ethical base. And she probably thinks she’ll never have to account for her hypocrisy and lies, since, so far, she hasn’t.
I often wonder what the looks on their faces will be when the bill comes due.

US general tells British special forces: Stop rescuing people in Kabul, you’re making us look bad

I understand that the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division has told the commander of the British special forces at the Kabul airport to cease operations beyond the airport perimeter.

Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue has told his British Army counterpart, a high-ranking field-grade officer of the British army’s 22nd Special Air Service Regiment, that British operations were embarrassing the United States military in the absence of similar U.S. military operations. I understand that the British officer firmly rejected the request.

This show of rare tension between the U.S. and British command groups in Kabul reflects three factors.

First, it shows the obvious stress of attempting to extricate thousands of personnel under a situation of increasing terrorist threat. Elements of the Haqqani network, the Islamic State in Afghanistan, and possibly al Qaeda are now operating in proximity to Kabul airport with some degree of command separation from the Taliban.

In addition, the British military has more operational latitude in Kabul than the U.S. military, including the Navy SEAL elements present at the airport. I understand that the SAS has conducted operations to bring American citizens, as well as British citizens and at-risk personnel, through checkpoints and to the airport. This is not an indictment on U.S. capabilities or special operations intent, but rather, it’s a reflection of political-military authorities. In part, this difference is understandable. Large-scale U.S. military operations beyond the Kabul airport perimeter would entail significant risk absent prior Taliban approval. But there is a sense, at least by allies, that the U.S. military could be doing more to leverage the Taliban into providing greater ease of access to the airport for those most at risk.

A bureaucratic tug of war between the State Department, Pentagon, and White House is also disrupting evacuation operations out of Kabul. This is aggravating British, French, and other Kabul-present military authorities. I understand that these governments have been further aggravated by the failure of the White House and Pentagon to communicate adequately, or in some cases, to communicate at all, on their intentions and actions. All these allies admit, however, that only the U.S. military could provide the airfield defense and air traffic control capabilities now on display.

Still, as I noted on Wednesday , the Biden administration’s conduct of the Afghanistan withdrawal has raised deep concerns by allies as to the administration’s credibility and confidence. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, allied officials reemphasized this concern to me on Friday.

 

Stephanopolous: “We’ve seen Afghans falling -”
Biden: “That was four days ago, five days ago.” (It was 2 days ago)

When asked if it could have been handled better Biden says “no I don’t think it could have.”

If you still haven’t figured out that SloJoe is the unsurpassed example of an idiot, this should help. But at least he doesn’t post mean tweets.

That was then:

June 24th, 2020

Oakland City Council Votes to Defund Police, Stripping More Than $17M from Department Budget.

OAKLAND (KPIX) — The Oakland City Council approved a budget early Thursday evening that will strip $17.4 million in funding from the Oakland Police Department and direct the money toward other programs.

 

This is now:

August 10, 2021

Oakland Chinatown Leader Demands Gov. Newsom Declare State Of Emergency; Residents Living In ‘State Of Fear

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce President Carl Chan asked Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday to deploy California Highway Patrol officers to the city’s troubled streets and declare a local state of emergency in an attempt to stem the rapidly rising tide of brazen robberies and violent assaults.

The left, liars and hypocrites.
But we already knew this from so many prior examples

The Co-Founder Of The Fact-Checking Site Snopes Was Writing Plagiarized Articles Under A Fake Name
“You can always take an existing article and rewrite it just enough to avoid copyright infringement.”

David Mikkelson, the co-founder of the fact-checking website Snopes, has long presented himself as the arbiter of truth online, a bulwark in the fight against rumors and fake news. But he has been lying to the site’s tens of millions of readers: A BuzzFeed News investigation has found that between 2015 and 2019, Mikkelson wrote and published dozens of articles containing material plagiarized from news outlets such as the Guardian and the LA Times…………..

Founded in 1995 by Mikkelson and his then-wife, Barbara Hamel, Snopes bills itself as “the internet’s definitive fact-checking site,” and is a two-time Webby Award winner cited by the likes of the New York Times and the Washington Post. It served as one of Facebook’s fact-checking partners between December 2016 and February 2019. But in recent years, the site has been troubled by a bitter ownership dispute.

Mikkelson’s alias flies in the face of the site’s mission, once described by the New York Times as “a quest to debunk misinformation online.”

Mexican Government Sues U.S. Gun Makers over Cartel Crime

The government of Mexico is suing six U.S. gun makers and one Boston-area wholesaler, claiming “massive damage” created by “unlawful trafficking” of firearms to cartel and criminal elements.

while in other news………

Mexico near deal to buy Sig Sauer automatic rifles from U.S.

The small arms maker Sig Sauer Inc has sought U.S. approval to sell millions of dollars’ worth of automatic assault rifles to the armed services of Mexico in a deal that will help to modernize the country’s military, people familiar with the situation said.

The U.S. Congress was notified last week that the Mexican Navy and Naval Infantry are in line to purchase as much as $5.5 million worth of automatic rifles made by Sig Sauer.

A Reporter Shoots an AR-15 and Absolute Hilarity Ensues

If there’s one thing Democrats have taught us about AR-15s, it’s that they are the most powerful, deadly weapons of war ever created, assembled by the devil himself. Of course, anyone that knows anything about the platform and the round it shoots knows that’s nonsense, but still, when someone of a leftward persuasion shoots one, hilarity often ensues.

That’s what was on tap when Kevin McCallum, writing for Seven Days in Vermont, decided to share his experience shooting an AR-15 at an indoor gun range. To hear him tell it, he basically had an out-of-body experience due to the massive, bone-rattling recoil.

Seriously, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out this is satire, but all indications are that it’s real, and it’s spectacular.

I’d hate to see this guy shoot my .308, which itself is not a very hard kicking gun. Still, if he did, it might break him in half. I also own an AR-15, and I can personally vouch for the recoil being non-existent. It’s just a 55 grain .22 caliber bullet, after all. My wife, who is not even 110 pounds, laughed after the first time she shot it. At no point did she describe it as deep shockwaves coursing through her body after a meteor landed in front of her. She certainly wasn’t “rattled” by the explosion.

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Does Pasadena Police Chief Not Know What Straw Buys Are?

Right now, a lot of the Second Amendment news out there revolves around the Biden administration’s focus on straw buys. The administration has said they’re cracking down on these kinds of gun sales.

However, after a news story earlier today, I’m left wondering just how many people even understand what a straw buy actually is.

After all, it seems the police chief in Pasadena doesn’t.

Violent crime is down in the city this year, according to Pasadena police Chief John Perez, but the alarming number of guns seized to-date by officers has caught the attention of local leaders, who asked to see a more detailed report on the matter.…

“Many of these guns are what you would consider registered to somebody. The track record of these guns are very interesting because of straw purchases, which means people sell them to one another without any legal process,” Perez said.

Uh, no. That’s not what the term “straw purchase” means. Those may be illegal gun sales in states with universal background checks, but they’re not straw buys.

A straw purchase is when someone buys a firearm for another who generally cannot purchase a gun for themselves. This is an act that’s illegal in all 50 states and all U.S. territories.

Buying and selling of firearms without undergoing a background check is something else entirely, and you’d think a police chief in a city of over 140,000 people would understand this.

If he doesn’t, then just who in the hell does?

It’s especially frustrating because he follows up with this:

“So, there are many times that the weapons are in fact missing from people’s homes, and when we contact them, they didn’t know they were stolen or they were unreported in burglaries,” Perez said. “It runs the gamut in different categories.”

If they’re stolen guns, then they can’t be the result of a straw buy. He clearly seems to grasp that many of these guns are stolen firearms. That’s an important point that we need to see discussed more, especially by law enforcement.

But it doesn’t help if a police chief of a decent size city muddies the issue by simply not understanding what we’re talking about here.

Of course, this makes me wonder how much of this push by the Biden administration is because they don’t understand what a straw buy is or not. Granted, this is President Joe Biden we’re talking about here. I’m not sure he knows what day of the week it is, much less what a straw buy is or isn’t.

Still, that might explain the push to combat something that accounts for only a small number of firearms used in criminal acts.

After all, there’s not much else that explains this odd focus on straw purchases all of a sudden.

Of course, the question then becomes just how many police chiefs in the country also aren’t aware of what a straw buy is. Maybe that’s why there are so few prosecutions for these things?

If I didn’t have enough reasons to weep for our nation’s future, this would be enough.

Facebook Flags the Name of a Gardening Tool When Used in a Gardening Group

The Biden White House leans on Facebook to censor your speech online if what you say goes against what the Biden White House wants you to say.

This is not a conspiracy theory. It’s a fact. Let’s see how well Facebook handles the very sensitive topic of policing even non-political speech in a nation that’s built on the principle that speech must be free, and where people have wide varieties of interests that may fall outside Silicon Valley’s collective experiences.

Facebook flagged the word hoe in a gardening group.

Oh. No. They censored “hoe.”

Wait ’til they figure out what people do with certain emojis…

A group called WNY Gardeners has been repeatedly flagged by the social network for “violating community standards,” when its more than 7,500 members discussed the long-handled bladed implement, which is spelled with an “e,” unlike the offensive term.

When one member commented “Push pull hoe!” on a post about preferred weeding tools, Facebook sent a notification that read, “We reviewed this comment and found it goes against our standards for harassment and bullying,” a moderator said.

This is funny and would be a lot funnier if the Biden White House hadn’t deputized Facebook to chase you and me around on its platform if we post something the regime doesn’t like. But it has.

Dumb White House plus dumb censors = a major problem.

Yesterday I tried to share a graphic on Facebook that said factually true things that are not in dispute. Facebook gave me a little warning as I was posting, as if to flash a yellow light, warning me to slow down and think about whether I really want to speak against the regime.

I posted it anyway and headlined it noting that Facebook tried to slow it down. I am both an American and a Texan.

Back to the hoe scandal. Facebook said it would put more humans on the task, supposedly to avoid censoring hoes and the like. That’s not a comfort to any thinking individual.

The extra set of eyes did not prevent a subsequent post in the group from being automatically disabled because of “possible violence, incitement, or hate in multiple comments,” Licata said.

“Kill them all. Drown them in soapy water,” and “Japanese beetles are jerks,” were some comments Facebook deemed offensive, according to the moderator.

(Eyeroll.)

Japanese beetles are jerks.

Japanese beetles are a serious pest of flowers, trees and shrubs, fruits and vegetables, field crops and turf.

That’s not me talking. That’s the University of Minnesota. Whoever wrote that will be hauled in for sensitivity training any minute now.

We live in a time in which some dopey scientist out there wants us all to mind the feelings of sharks, and the stupid mainstream media doesn’t laugh him straight off the nearest pier.

Gun and ammo sales started going through the roof in mid 2020 and are just in the last month beginning to look like they’re slowing…a little.

Hrmmmm, summer 2020? Where we had riots and building being in looted and burned while the media called it “mostly peaceful protests.”?

The bug was the excuse given by goobermint to release thousands of prisoners back into the populace ?

Police come under attack, were defunded by city goobermintss and a significant number of officers decided to take early retirement and leave the city’s residents to their own devices ?

You can’t turn on the news and not hear about weekends in major metro cities where 50 or more people are shot.

A lot of eyes have been opened.  When the police have been defunded and the ‘woke’ prosecutors refuse to prosecute for reasons of “equity,”  it becomes crystal clear that nobody is coming to save you and you better be ready to protect yourself.

But Chipman has nothing but contempt for law abiding Americans who want to be able to defend themselves. Of course he’s like that, he’s a career bureaucrap at the ATF and they simply hate law abiding American gun owners.

Warning; Some strong language within

Liberal Reporter Rips Biden White House’s Endorsement for Social Media Purges

The purge is coming. Actually, a soft version of it already happened after the 2020 election, but the real purge is coming. The previous one was merely a test run. Last Friday, White House Spokesperson Jen Psaki was quite clear that if you’re banned on one platform, you should be banned on all of them. Who the hell are these people? We were worried about authoritarianism under Trump which was always an overreaction by the liberal media because they’re babies, but this was an actual shot across the bow. Big government and the communists in Silicon Valley uniting to censor political speech they don’t like. I know I don’t need to say more on the subject, but even liberal reporters, like Glenn Greenwald, are appalled by this move, calling it some “pernicious s***.”

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