“Most realize that China has eaten our lunch!”

August 6, 2022

Our Deal with the Chinese Devil

By Allan J. Feifer at American Thinker:

Most realize that China has eaten our lunch. But what most don’t know is that China was a reluctant participant early on. Every subsequent action is on us!  It was only later that American companies got greedy and decided to trade their patriotism for corporate growth. How else to explain the wholesale exodus of American jobs and technology overseas; particularly to China? The reason: to make our goods more competitive on the world market by utilizing cheaper labor which results in higher corporate profits.  China is not just another country among many who got America’s manufacturing jobs; it was the number one country that took our jobs. China has cornered 28.7% of all manufacturing jobs in the world. Think about it for a moment.

Both corporations and government put blinders on to make a bargain with the devil. When you look at the logic of trade with China, you realize quickly that our motives were capitalistic, but we neglected to understand the ramifications of building up a country that one day was likely not to just be a rival, but an adversary, a Marxist Communist adversary. Someone was asleep at the switch as this trainwreck slowly unfolded over decades.

It was Henry Kissinger, President Richard Nixon’s Secretary of State who got the ball rolling in a secret trip to China in 1971. The strategy was twofold:

1. To fracture the relationship between the Soviet Union and China, which did happen
2. To attempt to bring the world’s most populous nation into an alliance with the West, both economically and hopefully and in that way, perhaps naively, change their system of government.  At this point, we can state… not so much.

Alfred Coucher, an old China watcher, said “In 1978, two years after the death of Mao, and during the period in which the ‘four Asian Tigers’ began their journey to prosperity, Deng Xiaoping initiated policies designed to reduce dependency on state ownership and central planning, and introduce private incentive to revive the Chinese Economy which had been dormant since Mao initiated comprehensive nationalization in 1956.”

And so began a period of nearly 40 years that unleashed economic reforms in China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) encouraged capitalism as a way to prevent the possibility of a populace in revolt which had experienced severe famine, stark living conditions, and other deprivations under Mao, who killed at least 65 million Chinese.  Capitalism helped lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and created trillions of dollars in wealth, but also led to rampant corruption and eroded the ideological basis for continued Communist rule.

Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 when he was elected to head the CCP. Xi lived a carefully curated life designed to assure his ascendancy to control of the CCP. In 2021 the Wall Street Journal ran an article that laid out the rationale for Xi’s change of heart. For him, the capitalistic experiment was over:

“Xi Jinping’s campaign against private enterprise, it is increasingly clear, is far more ambitious than meets the eye… He is trying to roll back China’s decades-long evolution toward Western-style capitalism and put the country on a different path entirely”

The question is, why now? To be blunt, the West’s main usefulness is no longer as operative. Thanks to the West and especially the U.S., China has been transformed from an agrarian economy to a modern high-tech powerhouse. They accomplished that through voluntary and forced technology transfer from Western nations and then, for what they could not get through that avenue, through the theft of intellectual property. It is that IP issue that is of utmost importance today.

The West’s IP is our secret sauce. It is the only thing that China does not already possess. China has an estimated 25,000 spies in the U.S. Most of them are stealing not only military but economic secrets and technology. They are vampires sucking our lifeblood. We should see this as economic warfare just short of actual war and thus respond accordingly.

The biggest question is, what happens when they have sucked us dry? Time will tell, but there are many signs that this won’t end well.  One only has to read the current news of China’s military current encircling Taiwan, ostensibly as punishment for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit.

The American Enterprise Institute has stated that China sponsors the theft of IP because its main challenge is a lack of Chi­nese innovation. Beijing’s preference for large firms and state funding at the expense of genuine competition ensures it will struggle in key areas, from aircraft development to shale oil. The main challenge is China’s acquisition of IP and the use of regulatory and financial subsidies to develop products from that IP is to drive the U.S. out of global markets.

You can read article after article explaining how China has manipulated foreign companies by promising large orders in exchange for technology transfer.

At the moment, China is withholding fulfillment of orders placed with Boeing and promised under President Trump, even as China just ordered another 292 aircraft from Airbus last month.

China made that deal with the Trump administration back in 2017 to buy 300 Boeing jets. China, as it frequently does, is using this order for political leverage against the U.S. This is par for the course with them. China became the last major nation to recertify the Boeing Max just last month. Their delay in recertifying was a studied tactic, not to gain concessions from Boeing, but rather from our government. Whether we can get any on-order aircraft delivered is subject to the approval of the CCP. China only lives up to its word when it is good for them.

There is no Chinese government, there is only the Communist Party instructing government functionaries on what to do. The CCP requires all government entities, companies, and even individuals to fully follow its directions, mandates, and orders regardless of the law or China’s Constitution.

CCP policy is ultimately anti-American, so our ability to either influence or even require compliance with written agreements is limited. China is a monolithic entity that Americans can’t comprehend. Everyone in China is watched, evaluated and in the end, freedoms recently received are being rescinded.  No court or politician can offer redress. Look up Jack Ma for a better understanding of what can happen to someone who strays too far from government edicts. An order from Xi can be compared to an order from God himself. China shoots or imprisons those who dare to disagree.

Understand what we are up against. There is no trying to outfox this fox. As a country, we hue to a set of rules that many of our adversaries laugh off as quite quaint. China is playing chess. We dare not allow them to checkmate us.

Author, Businessman, Thinker. Read more about Allan, his background and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com

“Through The Looking Glass!”

Our Alice in Wonderland Culture

By Jack Wisdom at American Thinker:

The Chancellor of the City University of New York (CUNY), Felix V.M. Rodriguez, just sent a mass mailing to everyone in CUNY about… monkeypox. In it, he repeated the advice of the NYC Dept. of Health include “asking sexual partners whether they have a rash or other symptoms consistent with monkeypox and avoiding skin-to-skin contact with someone who has a rash or other monkeypox-related symptoms.”  The chancellor of a great urban university — to fulfill his administrative and educational duties (not as a medical professional or a counsellor but as a chancellor) — is recommending all employees and students to ask their sexual partner(s) about symptoms of monkeypox, a disease contracted by homosexuals and bisexuals. One-quarter of the cases in the USA are in New York State, and most of those are in New York City. Rodriguez wants to advise all educators and students what to say one-on-one to avoid placing their rod in the wrong monkeyfied place. This is his way of waving the rainbow flag to show solidarity with homosexuals.

His letter is part of an increasing number of “through the looking glass” experiences we are having in American society.  Each day we may feel more and more like Alice in Wonderland having strange encounters in a make-believe world. One of the creatures Alice meets is the Hatter (often referred to as the “Mad Hatter”) who asks strange riddles. He asks Alice, “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?” which is only one of his many stumpers. In our looking-glass world, the answers to normal questions are strange as his riddles.  We have a candidate for the Supreme Court — the so-called top nine jurists in the USA — who evades answering “What is a woman?” and declares, “I’m not a biologist.”  That is an Alice in Wonderland-style answer.

Alice also encountered the Cheshire Cat, notable for its constant grin. It also expresses a perverse sort of wisdom.  For example, this cat that grinned all the time (remind anyone of any President we know?) says to Alice, “Well, then, you see, a dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry. Therefore I’m mad.”  Here the cat posits dogs as the standard of mental health and the cat, not being a dog, thus declares himself to be “mad.”  Thus, in our “evolving” society the ever-growing number of gender fluid categories are posited by the woke as true identities whereas those who advance the cause of a binary so-called “cis gender” world are derided by the avant-garde as deniers of reality, tormenters, and dangerous to the well-being of society — both its health and its order. Measured by dog-ness the Cheshire cat self-designates as mad; and measured by transgender-ness, the straight world is now often deemed similarly mad.

The most terrifying persona Alice meets is the Queen of Hearts even though she understands that the Queen of Hearts is merely a playing card.  Additionally, Alice is informed that the Queen never actually executes anyone she sentences to death, Rather, the angry Queen becomes representative of the idea that Wonderland is devoid of substance. This is not unlike the show Presidency we have had since January of 2021. In his inauguration, Biden claimed the desire to unify our country; yet time and time again he belittles the half of the country that voted against him.  He lies incessantly, claiming that Hunter’s laptop was Russian disinformation and that he never met any of Hunter’s business clients, yet interviews and photos show that James Gilliar and Tony Bobulinski had dealings with Hunter — dealings where Pres. Biden was referred to as the “Big Guy” behind the scenes. 

Biden takes an oath of office to defend the Constitution of the U.S. but purposely undermines the laws governing access to our country by allowing almost unrestricted crossing at our Southern border. He abandoned Afghanistan to the terrorists we were fighting for 20 years. He and his fantasyland advisers are not building up the military, but are castrating it with an endless stream of gender-sensitive directives about trans-women in men’s showers and toilet areas.  He is a tough guy who can insult questioners during his campaign or at press conferences — but he is a wimp when it comes to protecting U.S. interests.

Alice also met the sobbing Mock Turtle, who describes his education in such subjects as Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.  Look at the sycophants and incompetents around the President.  Kamala the Cackling Goose is right out of Alice in Wonderland.  If one were to rudely ask her why she frequently cackles instead of chuckling or smiling politely, she might, like a character in the Wonderland, answer “because something is stuck in my throat you boob.” The turnover of employees in her office suggests some deficiencies in administrative and/or social skills.  Or if one asks why, even though she is in charge of the border, she has never gone to the grievous Del Rio, TX area, she might reply in characteristic Wonderland fashion “I’m limiting flying hours to save gas and protect our environment.”  She could rightly say along with the Mock Turtle that her education has been in ambition and distraction.   

Karine Jean-Pierre also studied Ambition and Distraction as she proudly described herself as the first black, lesbian press secretary.  These are certainly high qualifications exceeding the traditional skills of communication competencies, thorough research, articulate presentation of announcements, appreciation of subtleties, and the ability to contend for truth.  What person or persons she is intimate with is certainly a matter of national interest, and the color of her skin is, undoubtedly, not only a matter of equality but of equity.  Equity, which her employment exemplifies, requires not only that people of color be treated fairly in an application process but that they be placed in positions without regard for qualifications altogether.

The Mock Turtle Uglification education undoubtedly applies to the guitar playing Secretary of State, Andrew Blinken, with his prim little Ivy League haircut and self-satisfied face.  He has taken degrees in Ugly and is now carried to the top of Mock Turtle world where he can make obviously great decisions about Iran, Afghanistan, NATO, the United Nations, as well as renewing his subscription to Foreign Affairs magazine.

Yes, dear reader, we are living in an Alice in Wonderland world where government officials and high-positioned individuals in education are living out a fantasy of power and looking-glass reality.  It is funny in one way, but would be even funnier if it were not also so grim.

Slithering IN MINNESOTA!

Great education, quality of life yesterday’s legacy for Minnesota

“There used to be a social contract between parents, teachers and school administrators.  That contract is being renegotiated at the expense of academic excellence and at the expense of students,” Kendall Qualls said on this week’s episode of Fully Charged. 

Great education, quality of life yesterday’s legacy for Minnesota

][ . . .] “With all the issues with reading and math test scores, they want to add that as a new standard for licensing teachers? It’s dripping with critical race theory — they’re requiring teachers to understand intersectionality and how white supremacy undermines equity. That’s what they think is important to getting a teacher’s license in Minnesota?” Mrs. Qualls said.

St. Paul Public Schools is lowering the number of credit hours a student needs to graduate while adding culturally responsive indoctrination, Mr. Qualls said.

“While we’re focusing on race, our students are falling farther and farther behind,” said Sheila Qualls, executive director of TakeCharge.

In St. Paul, less than 17% of eighth-graders are performing at grade level in math. Less than 32% are reading at grade level.

This year’s eighth-grade class will be the first class that needs a “Critical Ethnic Studies” credit to graduate.

No matter how much people complain, the teachers union will not deviate from their agenda, so parents must get involved, run for school board, and take control, Mr. Qualls said.

“This is why school choice is so important, and we’re huge supporters,” Mrs. Qualls said. “Year after year these kids fall farther and farther behind. We shouldn’t be telling parents wait until next year. They should have the option to put their kids in schools that perform.”

Meanwhile, some school systems like Edina no longer use objective measurements when recognizing academic excellence.

“There used to be a social contract between parents, teachers and school administrators.  That contract is being renegotiated at the expense of academic excellence and at the expense of students,” Mr. Qualls said.

Mark Waldeland sent the above NOTICE! He and I, Glenn Ray, taught at the same high school for a number of years; he spreading English and I Russian and Senior Social Studies.

Despite the crude Principal of that time….who became assistant superintendent of Minneapolis public schools shortly before a teachers’ strike, and despite the miserable pay causing a needed STRIKE WHICH WAS AGAINST STATE LAW at that time, the faculty teachers were courageous, polite, determined, and poor but went on strike anyway!

I felt proud being with them, but the administration remained dictatorial. ghr

The Fascist Left’s War On Agriculture…

 AUGUST 6, 2022 BY JOHN HINDERAKER at Power Line:

THE COMING WAR ON AGRICULTURE

You probably know about what has happened in Sri Lanka, where the government’s attempt to impose organic farming led to food shortages, impoverishment, and a revolt that caused that country’s prime minister to flee. Also the Netherlands, where the government’s attempt to drastically reduce fertilizer use has led to massive protests by farmers that continue to this day.

At Hot Air, Jazz Shaw notes that farmers in other countries are up in arms as well:

There are already protests by farmers taking place in a number of countries besides the Netherlands, though the farmers there are currently drawing the most headlines. Similar uprisings are happening in Spain, Ireland, and New Zealand. There are food shortages gripping a number of countries around the world, but our elite climate warriors are pushing to reduce food production rather than expanding it.

Next up is Canada:

Undaunted by the uproar in the Netherlands over the impact on farmers of rules limiting nitrogen emissions, Canada’s government is now looking to go down a similar route.

The Financial Post:

The government is proposing to cut emissions from fertilizer 30 per cent by 2030 as part of a plan to get to net zero in the next three decades. But growers are saying that to achieve that, they may have to shrink grain output significantly at a time when the world is scrambling for more supplies.

Also at stake is the estimated $10.4 billion that farmers could lose this decade from the reduced output.
***
Cattle and fertilizer are key sources of nitrogen emissions.

Global warming religion is international, and the same anti-farming movement is coming soon to the U.S., the world’s number one agricultural economy. The first target will be nitrogen-based fertilizers, which are a principal foundation of the world’s ag productivity. Without fertilizers, the world will go hungry.

That leads to target number two: animals, especially cows. By far the largest crop in the U.S. is corn, and that corn is fed to cows and pigs to produce steaks, ground beef, bacon, pork chops, and so on. Liberals will argue that this is “inefficient.” People should live on vegetables and insects, and animal husbandry should be phased out. The fact that cattle also emit methane, primarily by chewing cud, makes their decline an added bonus from a global warming perspective.

Will the Left’s war on agriculture succeed? I don’t know. The Sri Lankan government pushed it until mobs invaded the prime minister’s residence. The government of the Netherlands isn’t giving an inch, despite massive and prolonged civil disobedience by farmers. Justin Trudeau apparently likes what he sees in those countries. And consider the Left’s war on energy: I never would have imagined that it could get as far as it has.

I think many liberals are essentially sadists. They love to boss the rest of us around and make us miserable. If you didn’t know better, you might think they spend their days dreaming up ways to humiliate their fellow citizens. “Here’s an idea–let’s screw up the grid to produce blackouts, so that people turn on the lights and nothing happens!” “They’ll never stand for that.” “We’ll make them stand for that, and like it, too!” “Here’s another idea: let’s tell people they can no longer eat hamburgers and bacon, they have to eat crickets and vegetables!” “What? No one is crazy enough to go along with that.” “Sure they will–all we have to do is tell them it’s necessary to save the planet.”

Making food scarce and expensive, so that much of the population is threatened with starvation, has another benefit for liberals. They can respond by writing people checks representing food subsidies. Thus they turn millions of formerly self-sufficient Americans into government-reliant serfs. It’s a win-win, if you are a liberal.

All of this is coming to the U.S. soon. We have seen the opening shots fired, as environmental groups have tried to block the expansion of dairy herds on the ground that cows cause global warming. We have seen the price of meat skyrocket, so that many Americans have had to change their eating habits. Already, if you look at ingredient lists on food products, you may see ground-up crickets. And the effort to delegitimize eating meat, especially beef, like the effort to delegitimize air travel, is under way.

I will hazard one more guess: when the Left looked for another state to follow California’s lead on automobile emissions, where did they go? Minnesota. When the Left wanted to spread California’s “ethnic studies” curriculum into the Midwest, where did they go? Minnesota. When the Left launches its full-scale war on American agriculture, where will that war begin? It won’t be Iowa. It will be Minnesota. And Minnesota currently has a governor and an administration that would be willing to lead the anti-food charge.

A final comment: global warming is a great boon to the Left because every human activity emits carbon dioxide. In fact, human beings emit carbon dioxide simply by living. So if you believe that carbon dioxide is the worst possible threat to the world, it justifies absolutely any government action that leftists might want to take.

So conservatives, and conservative politicians, need to stop conceding the premises of global warming to the Left. “Climate change”–that is, the theory of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming–has been decisively refuted as a matter of science. But it lives on as a religion for those seeking meaning in their lives, and as a cynical political tool of the Left. Conservatives need to stop conceding moral high ground to environmental Leftists, and instead attack them head-on.

Queen Trouble Maker Collects A Couple Of Equal GOPers To Offer WHAT?

GOP groups rushing to try to save Liz Cheney in her primary for some reason

by ALLAHPUNDIT at Hot Air, Aug 05, 2022

Jim Bourg/Pool via AP

But why?

It’s not going to work. And at this point, I don’t think she wants to be saved. She’s accepted her fate and is prepared for civic martyrdom at the hands of MAGA.

Does this sound like someone who’s trying to win over Republicans in a state Trump won by 44 points?

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1555305573943590922&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fhotair.com%2Fallahpundit%2F2022%2F08%2F05%2Fgop-groups-rushing-to-try-to-save-liz-cheney-in-her-primary-for-some-reason-n487766&sessionId=104caa398d4816cbfd2ab88a50bad0528d3f8b31&siteScreenName=hotairblog&theme=light&widgetsVersion=b7df0f50e1ec1%3A1659558317797&width=550px

“Dick Cheney is a war criminal..lied to the American people and brought nothing but death and destruction to Iraq ….Cheney’s demon seed will be destroyed at the polls by the good folks in Wyoming… and then we will be done with them,” Steve Bannon said yesterday after Dick’s new ad appeared, no doubt expressing the views of many Trump voters.

You think the “demon seed” stands a chance in a Republican primary in the reddest state in the country?

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=eyJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9iYWNrZW5kIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9mZiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfcmVmc3JjX3Nlc3Npb24iOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib24iLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3R3ZWV0X3Jlc3VsdF9taWdyYXRpb25fMTM5NzkiOnsiYnVja2V0IjoidHdlZXRfcmVzdWx0IiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19zZW5zaXRpdmVfbWVkaWFfaW50ZXJzdGl0aWFsXzEzOTYzIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6ImludGVyc3RpdGlhbCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2R1cGxpY2F0ZV9zY3JpYmVzX3RvX3NldHRpbmdzIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9mZiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9mcm9udGVuZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvZmYiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfX0%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1555648586985025536&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fhotair.com%2Fallahpundit%2F2022%2F08%2F05%2Fgop-groups-rushing-to-try-to-save-liz-cheney-in-her-primary-for-some-reason-n487766&sessionId=104caa398d4816cbfd2ab88a50bad0528d3f8b31&siteScreenName=hotairblog&theme=light&widgetsVersion=b7df0f50e1ec1%3A1659558317797&width=550px

Per Axios, there are still some righty groups out there fighting on her behalf for every remaining vote, God love ’em. Suddenly I hear Sean Connery’s voice in my head: Indiana, let it go.

A handful of Republican operatives are quietly mounting a last-ditch effort to rescue Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from a Trump-backed primary challenge, Axios has learned…

Wyomingites Defending Freedom and Democracy is running digital and television ads and encouraging Democrats in the state to cross party lines and vote for Cheney in the Aug. 16 primary.

Conservatives for a Strong America is portraying Hageman as a fake conservative secretly in league with Cheney and critical of Trump.

The latter group is also trying to boost two of Cheney’s other primary challengers in an apparent effort to split the anti-Cheney vote.

If they go all out and spend every available dime on this race, I’m confident they can reduce Liz’s margin of defeat from 40 points to 30.

My sense is that Cheney is far, far less concerned with winning or losing than with communicating her defiance of Trump to the bitter end. There was no need to showcase Dick Cheney attacking Trump in an ad that didn’t so much as mention the word “Wyoming.” Neither was there a need for Liz to sit down with CNN to reiterate her belief that the former guy should be prosecuted for January 6. All of that is certain to antagonize primary voters, which is nonsensical for a candidate who’s trying to win but quite sensible for a candidate whose priority is to hold Trump accountable at whatever personal cost, even if no other Republican will. Especially if no other Republican will.

Besides, I think she’s already looking past her primary.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-2&features=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%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1555493902400065536&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fhotair.com%2Fallahpundit%2F2022%2F08%2F05%2Fgop-groups-rushing-to-try-to-save-liz-cheney-in-her-primary-for-some-reason-n487766&sessionId=104caa398d4816cbfd2ab88a50bad0528d3f8b31&siteScreenName=hotairblog&theme=light&widgetsVersion=b7df0f50e1ec1%3A1659558317797&width=550px

Apart from her and Adam Kinzinger, every House Republican who voted to impeach Trump tried in the aftermath to avoid talking about it in hopes that Republican voters would forgive and forget — and nearly all of them are headed out of Congress anyway. Cheney and Kinzinger owned their votes from day one and now they’re getting their money’s worth out of their time left as House members on the January 6 committee. That’s what the others should have done. Cheney will get obliterated in her primary, but between exposing Trump’s culpability for the insurrection and refusing him the satisfaction of seeing her clam up in fear of defeat, she’s getting her shots in before she goes.

In her heart of hearts, I wonder if she’d prefer a truly lopsided defeat at this point to one that’s closer than observers expect. Insofar as there’s an element of martyrdom here for having had the courage to do the right thing where so many others failed, it’s more glaring if she’s crushed than if she loses narrowly.

If so, I think she’s going to get her wish.

Here’s one last clip about the sadness she and her father share about what’s happening to the party, which is … also not a natural message for a candidate who’s 11 days out from a party primary.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-3&features=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%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1555395857050124297&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fhotair.com%2Fallahpundit%2F2022%2F08%2F05%2Fgop-groups-rushing-to-try-to-save-liz-cheney-in-her-primary-for-some-reason-n487766&sessionId=104caa398d4816cbfd2ab88a50bad0528d3f8b31&siteScreenName=hotairblog&theme=light&widgetsVersion=b7df0f50e1ec1%3A1659558317797&width=550px

Is Senile Biden IN A RUT?

August 5, 2022

The Meaning of Bidenomics

By Paul Krause at American Thinker:

Everyone senses that the American economy under Joe Biden is in a rut. Inflation is at a 40-year high. Energy prices are skyrocketing. The prices of all goods and services going up. Meanwhile, the administration does little to alleviate these regular everyday problems. This is by design.

Since the Industrial Revolution there have been two approaches to economics. One, sometimes called laissez-faire, is really a decentralized form of economic organization and productivity in which individuals, civil society, and private organizations have broad freedom to act as they see fit. There is little centralized oversight, limited bureaucracy, an emphasis on entrepreneurial risk and reward. The economic activity from this decentralized approach benefits all and empowers individuals and civil society.

The other, which goes by many names, is a centralized system of top-down controls where a single leader or the organs of the federal state make most — if not all — of the decisions. Moreover, all independent or private organizations, insofar that they might still exist, operate under the subjugated dictates of the central authority either corporate, government, or an alliance of both. The economic activity from this centralized approach benefits the planners, bureaucracy, and established corporate powers.

We know the second system under different names: socialism, communism, fascism, national-socialism, the welfare-state. All are the same, roughly speaking, regarding the top-down control system that a centralized system of economics seeks to establish.

This is precisely what the Biden administration, their apparatchiks, and the proponents of the Green New Deal seek: a thorough top-down command-control system of the economy. Whether in the more benign bureaucratic-managerial form of the modern welfare-state of the West, or the more viciously brutal socialistic, fascistic, or communistic cousins, the goal remains the same: centralized command-control.

By permitting economic malaise, the Biden administration deliberately seeks to punish the independent spirit of American freedom in order to subjugate it to its federal vision of regulatory control (that’s what regulation is always about). After a while, the despondency of Americans suffering under an economic crisis will look somewhere to find alleviation for their pain. It is at this critical juncture that the Bidenistas will appear as if saviors from the mountain.

The playbook will be typical. We see it already. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders blame corporate business, the oil tycoons, and the capitalist system itself for our problems. In other words, these organizations cannot be trusted to help Americans in their time of economic need.

But who can be trusted? The commissars of the command economy that Biden and his allies seek to construct. Since private business and the free market cannot be trusted, the government and their lackeys will step in as the faces of salvation.

“Trust the government and its plan” will be the new mantra, the new ideology. In falling for the façade, freedom will be squeezed out, the spirit of civil society diminished (as civil society is a threat to the federal state), and entrepreneurial ambitions crushed as much as possible because those darn entrepreneurs may hold beliefs contrary to the political zeitgeist and the idol of “progress.”

The Biden administration does want to help us. They just think we’re too stupid to know how to help ourselves.

George Frideric Handel’s Messiah!

GEORGE FREDERIC HANDEL….1685-1759!

As you listen to the story of this music by Handel, can you think of anything of today’s music, America’s or the World’s, that isn’t garbage dumping to the ear at best. Where is anything available in music or any artform today that is culturally inspiring to any degree whatsoever?

Why do we and the world today live in such mental emptiness where greed and animal seem to dominate our world of this present century? WHERE IS THY GOD?…..AND ITS GODLINESS?

The Evasive Mr. Wray’s DEM FBI IS SLEAZY, TOO!

The Evasive Mr. Wray

The FBI director knows a lot about issues that matter to the Biden regime and the media. But he isn’t so savvy when it comes to issues that matter to Americans.

By Julie Kelly at American Greatness:

August 4, 2022

It was time for him to fly.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the first time since July 2021, insisted he had to leave the hearing by 1:30 p.m. sharp. (It began at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday morning.) 

Despite leading a scandal-ridden agency quickly losing the trust of the American people and congressional Republicans, Wray somehow believes that setting aside less than four hours to answer questions by lawmakers responsible for checking and balancing his work is sufficient.

“I had a flight that I’m supposed to be high-tailing it to, and I had understood that we were going to be done at 1:30, so that’s how we ended up where we are,” Wray told Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member who asked why the rush. If Wray needed to leave on business, Grassley noted, “you’ve got your own plane,” referring to the taxpayer-funded Gulfstream G550 jet used to ferry the head of the FBI around the country privately.

Wray got his way—the committee wrapped shortly after 1:30 p.m. with no chance for Republicans to ask follow-up questions. It was a symbolic win and another example of how Wray almost always prevails in skirmishes between his agency and members of Congress.

To be fair, an extended appearance only would have resulted in more non-answers and political spin. 

Wray, appointed by Donald Trump in 2018, knows a lot about issues that matter to the Biden regime and national news media, such as the imaginary threat of “domestic violent extremists.” But he isn’t so savvy when it comes to issues that matter to Americans, such as a wide-open southern border, exploding crime rates, an aggressive China on the rise, and foreign terrorists who arrived here in the disorderly evacuation of Afghanistan.

Once again, Wray designated the events of January 6 an act of domestic terrorism, bragging that FBI agents so far have arrested and charged more than 850 Americans for their involvement in the mostly nonviolent disturbance that happened over 18 months ago. 

“In January, we marked the one-year anniversary of the January 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol, which has led to unprecedented efforts by the Department of Justice, including the FBI, to investigate and hold accountable all who engaged in violence, destruction of property, and other criminal activity on that day,” Wray said in his written statement.

While Wray was eager to boast about his relentless pursuit of Capitol trespassers, he was less than straightforward—one might say he stonewalled—on other issues. 

Pressed several times to condemn the situation at the border as a national security threat, Wray repeatedly demurred. The record number of citizens from more than 150 countries who’ve crossed the border is “an eclectic mix of nationalities, and the volume is just staggering,” Wray told Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), a crafty way of portraying the unprecedented and criminal influx of migrants from around the world.

Wray gave the same watered-down response when Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) asked if the border was a national security threat, instead referring to the situation as a “security issue.”

Wray was similarly evasive when Blackburn asked if Wray believed the Trump-Russia election collusion claims were a “hoax.” “That’s not a term I would use,” Wray replied. Details on the whereabouts of Hunter Biden’s laptop or an explanation as to why his agency warned any reporting on the contents of the device was part of a Russian “disinformation” operation also were off-limits.

Wray had no explanation as to why his department is not enforcing a federal law that protects federal judges; since May, leftwing activist groups have targeted the houses and children of conservative Supreme Court justices after the media published a draft of the Dobbs ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade. Protesters have demonstrated outside the personal residences of both Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. A California man was charged with attempted murder after he was arrested in June outside Kavanaugh’s Maryland home.

That arrest, however, appears to be the only criminal charge associated with a coordinated campaign to intimidate and shame conservative Supreme Court justices, including one group that offers “bounties” for confirmed sightings of conservative justices so they can be harassed in public. So why the foot-dragging? 

“Our agents—are up to their necks in enforcing all sorts of laws, uh, and I wish we were in a situation where every federal violation that occurred in this country was something the FBI could have the resources to investigate,” Wray told Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) when asked why the FBI had yet to charge anyone for violating the federal law that bars “picketing and parading” in front of a justice’s home.

Ironically, FBI agents have arrested and charged hundreds of Americans who protested Joe Biden’s election on January 6 on a separate “parading and picketing” offense, many of whom face jail time. Plenty of time and resources to nab selfie-taking Indiana grandmas.

Priorities!

But Wray seemed really flummoxed when confronted about the FBI-concocted plot to kidnap and assassinate Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a clear case of FBI entrapment conceived and executed on his watch. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) read the damning bill of particulars on the case—which included the acquittal of two men in April and mistrial of two other defendants who face a new trial next week—and the dismissal of a lead agent arrested for assaulting his wife in a drunken rage following a swingers party last summer.

Cruz also asked Wray to confirm that the special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit field office during the Whitmer kidnapping caper was then promoted to head of the D.C. FBI field office. Wray unintentionally responded with the most accurate statement of the entire hearing: “That doesn’t seem right to me,” Wray said.

No, it doesn’t seem right, but it is true. Shortly after several men were arrested in the kidnapping scheme in October 2020, Steven D’Antuono was moved to Washington—just a few months before the Capitol protest.

Cruz: “So the guy in charge got promoted and is now in charge of the January 6th investigation?

Wray: “The guy in charge of the whole Detroit field office is now in charge of the whole Washington field office.”

Cruz: “That is astonishing.”

To say the least.

Wray might not want to talk, but whistleblowers inside his department are finally speaking out. Disgruntled agents fed up with the FBI’s politicking and bad reputation have reached out to Grassley and U.S. Representative James Jordan (R-Ohio) in recent months, with more likely to come.

As Senator John Kennedy (R-La.), after reading a series of anti-Trump social media engagements posted by a senior FBI official, warned Wray, “you’re killing yourself with this stuff.”

Republicans pulled plenty of punches on Thursday, but they landed some, too. Wray’s quick exit act, however, cannot be tolerated any longer. Mounting scandals and public safety threats endanger the country, not merely the reputation of the FBI.