Scattershots – 20sep21 (updated 23sep21)

The greater the number of laws and enactments, the more thieves and robbers there will be – starting with the lawyers and enactors. Lao-Tzu (as embellished by Rebane)

George Rebane

The wisdom of Lao-Tzu was brought to my attention again by a friend and reader.  Jeff Thomas, a true conservetarian, wrote ‘The First Libertarian?’, an important little essay on governance – its ills and desiderata.  In it he distilled some more useful aphorism from the great sage.

Those in power are meddlesome.

The greater the restrictions and prohibitions, the more people are impoverished.

The more advanced the weapons of the state, the darker the nation … thus the virtuous attend to contracts, while those without virtue collect taxes.

Act before things exist, manage them before there’s disorder

Trickle down taxes is a specialty of the Democratic Party which it sells gift-wrapped in a couple of its perennial Big Lies – raising taxes does not impact economic behavior (the Laffer curve doesn’t work), and corporate taxes lower the tax burden on the working class.  They correctly assess their constituents as being too ignorant to questions such lies, but they know both of them to be false.  For example, Kennedy lowered taxes in xx to stimulate the economy.  And corporations pay no taxes but pass that cost on to their customers in the form of higher prices, which quietly impacts most the poorest in the land.  And a tax not even the Democrats want to talk about is inflation – always government induced (more here and here).  The worker bees’ bigger paychecks don’t give them any more buying power, but do promote them into higher tax brackets (plus higher sales taxes) which surreptitiously increase their overall tax rates.  But our leftwing elites have no worries about pushback from their Democrat voters, people who are totally oblivious to such economic factors, and continue to believe that their political leaders are making corporations and the rich pay their ‘fair share’.

[21sep21 update]  Sorry ass Biden.  I have been aware of presidential doings since ol' Harry was in office, and want to enter into the RR record that I have never seen such a terminally sorry ass elected President of the United States of America as Bumblebrain Biden.  This idiot has done everything wrong that he could possibly do, as he continues to work on bringing about even bigger disasters for the country.  The list of his failures gets rehashed regularly in these pages, and I’m sure that at some future date I’ll compile another list of them myself.  Right now the bigger problem for our republic is that a huge share of our voting age citizens have shown themselves to be simply too dumb to maintain the blessed land we inherited.  Ben Franklin’s admonition – “… a republic, if you can keep it” – has come true as ever more of our freedoms are stripped away daily.  Nay, not stripped, we have now been reduced to compliant serfs who willingly give away our freedoms – no stripping required.  And many of us even sing hosannas to the munificent wisdom of our socialist overlords so long as the checks keep arriving.  They are buying our freedoms with our own money, and welcoming in millions more aliens, cum tomorrow's Democrats, who will guarantee our descent to tyranny.

[22sep21 update]  Bumblebrain’s poll numbers are tanking and Republicans are happy dancing in the streets about next year’s election.  That election is more than several political eternities in the future, and the not-too-bright electorate has a short memory.  By next Fall things could easily be turned 180, especially if the Dems can pass more social legislation to increase the number and size of checks to the takers, while crowing that their massive tax increases will make the ‘rich’ makers and corporations pay their “fair share”.  (Over 60% of US households pay no capital gains or federal income taxes.)  Their constituents are dim enough to lap up all that kool-aid, especially if Republicans don’t have the balls to call it like it is – loudly and often - singing castrato doesn't cut it.

[23sep21 update]  Biden denounces and repudiates capitalism and the US economic system.  Bumblebrain made it clear in his speech last Thursday that, contrary to his professions of being a capitalist and not a socialist, he is indeed most strongly a socialist and not a capitalist.  As Daniel Henninger underlines in the 23sep21 WSJ, “At no point in that speech did he acknowledge the private sector contributed anything positive to the life of Americans.”  His work on $3.5T Democrat debacle, that is supposed to be the hallmark of his administration, has been assessed by the US Chamber of Commerce as being an “existential risk” to the US economy.  Astute readers know that the USCC is far from being a rightwing propaganda organ.  If Bumblebrain knows anything, it is that he has only a short time to put some mark, any mark, on his reputation and legacy.  And so far everything he touched has turned to s#!t, so with what’s left of his cognitive abilities, he now thinks that locking America onto the path of irretrievable socialism is the only thing he can pull off with the Democratic Party that has already declared itself ‘all in’ for that fundamental transformation.

Comments

[Don Bessee]

Creepy grampa joe did it on purpose -

This country is a victim of his incompetence, his deteriorating mental state, his lack of empathy, and his horrible judgment.

None of this had to happen.

Biden inherited a miracle vaccine, a growing economy, a stable border, and a world that knew America meant business.

All of it, he’s squandered.

All of it.

And did so deliberately.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/21/nolte-biden-average-disapproval-rating-soars-to-record-50/

;-)

[Don Bessee]

The ss biden is more like the titanic than they want to admit -

Armed F-16 Intercepts Small Plane Over NYC After President Biden Addresses…
Australian documents showed French submarine project was at risk for years

August 2021 will probably be remembered as the month when Joe Biden's presidency was holed below the waterline. September is the month when it started to sink.

Biden is beset by several disasters at once. All the blame is his, for they flow from his dumb, stubborn, and ideological moves immediately after he was sworn in. First, his border crisis has graduated into a catastrophe.

Migrants are flooding across the trickle of the Rio Grande at sometimes hundreds an hour, and 10,000 or more of them now wait in a filthy shantytown under the international bridge in Del Rio, Texas. The city's authorities are overwhelmed. There is no news yet of a cynically opportunistic visit from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to pose for a grief-stricken photo like the one she set up when the president was a Republican. Back then, many of these migrants were living in better conditions throughout South America. But after Biden told them during his presidential campaign that "you should come," they accepted his boneheaded and reckless invitation

Meanwhile, the disaster Biden created in Afghanistan continues to unravel apace. The deadly, disorderly, and dishonorable rout he made inevitable there will be a source of lasting shame for the United States and will inspire future terrorist attacks. More immediately, it has European allies, both in Britain and on the continent, openly doubting American resolve and reliability.

To compound matters, Afghans whom Biden brought back to the U.S. were, in many cases, random people taken off the street and entirely unrelated to the American war effort. To inflate the numbers of people he was seen rescuing — remember his administration's boasting about the scores of thousands and its ludicrous braggadocio about being as admirable as the Berlin airlift? — Biden shipped out people who weren't in danger from the Taliban while leaving behind tens of thousands who were and still are.

Biden's incompetence — nay, his negligence, because incompetence at least implies an honest effort — is entirely to blame for both of these disasters. But it gets much, much worse.

We thought we had seen the greatest possible depths of presidential pettiness. But Biden has outdone everyone, including his famously thin-skinned predecessor. Just last week, Biden's administration abruptly and without warning decided to withhold desperately needed treatments for COVID-19 from the states where they are most in demand. Not coincidentally, most of them are states governed by Republicans.

Biden's cruelty in arbitrarily depriving people of a cure to a disease that will hospitalize or kill them is outrageous even in the lamentable catalog of his odious decisions. It is worse than anything his predecessor did, including the acts for which he was twice impeached. It is a deadly abuse of power by a president unfit to govern the country.

No wonder Biden's approval ratings are collapsing. But there is a silver lining. Biden, or whoever makes decisions for him, has so fallen out of favor that no Republican or centrist Democrat will feel pressure to help pass his inflationary, unnecessary, and radical $3.5 trillion spending bill.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/joe-biden-s-ship-has-started-to-sink/ar-AAOEu9R?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

;-)

[Don Bessee]

She is right on this one -

Meghan McCain rips 'feckless' Biden in Daily Mail column debut: He's becoming 'worse than Jimmy Carter'
McCain knocked Biden for not living up to his promise to 'heal the soul of America'

https://www.foxnews.com/media/meghan-mccain-feckless-biden-jimmy-carter-daily-mail

;-)

[Don Bessee]

Yup -

Dems immigration policy flaws

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cartoons-slideshow

;-)

[scenes]

Biden strikes me as an easy target, but he's just an addled old man.

Any real knowledge of the situation would tell you the identities of the various mafias that surround him, and who currently is dominant. Biden just presents plausible deniability for a bunch of whacked-out 30 something 'advisers' or a group of well-connected apparatchiks.

Simply put, I'm not seeing enough news about what is really going on to care much about President Potato's foibles.

[fish]

Any real knowledge of the situation would tell you the identities of the various mafias that surround him, and who currently is dominant. Biden just presents plausible deniability for a bunch of whacked-out 30 something 'advisers' or a group of well-connected apparatchiks.

Yes....President Klain has been keeping a rather low profile.

[Bill Tozer]

The vaccine mandate is racist.

‘After Altercation at Restaurant, Black Lives Matter Claims NYC Vaccine Mandate Is Being Weaponized’

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/after-altercation-at-restaurant-black-lives-matter-claims-nyc-vaccine-mandate-is-being-weaponized/?

[Bill Tozer]

Scenes @

What is bothering me is the last two paragraphs of Pat Buchannon’s article previously posted. Does not bode well for the country. That bothers me more than gaffs and seeing the elder abuse when they put get Joe Biden up and point him to the stage. It’s not Biden, it’s the failed and destructive policies.

“And the poll numbers are not only the worst Biden has received. They are not all that good for the nation either. Seventy percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the direction of the USA. The president's disapproval exceeds his approval rating by eight points, just eight months in office. Republicans and Democrats in Congress both get negative ratings from the American people. And only 37 percent of registered voters approve of the Supreme Court's handling of its role. Half the country disapproves.

If all three branches of the U.S. government have lost or are losing the confidence of their countrymen, what does that suggest is the future for our democratic republic?”

Beyond the tipping point.

[The Estonian Fox]

BT @ 8:50AM-

Looks like BLM is jumping to conclusions again. Owner shows the video, and no apology forthcoming from BLM, just further attacks.

[scenes]

BillT: "It’s not Biden, it’s the failed and destructive policies."

..or the notion that a 'policy' is always the go-to solution for any perceived problem. I'm afraid that the natural checks and balances of the free market (or free will) are going by the wayside to be replaced by committee-driven guesses backed by the force of arms. Add in the fact that increasing diversity results in increasing top-down control combined with improvements in instrumentation of the population and fun times are had by all.

Now, whether the US blows apart before the inevitable next war is a thing I can't guess. The Chinese might feel the need to cut up rough due to internal problems or external threats and there's always the flashpoint of Taiwan. Taiwan is doubly interesting because of both the Chinese nationalist fervor to own it and the semiconductor biz. The mainland really needs to build their own fabs or take over the ROC with them intact, I think it's more important than first meets the eye..

Thanks God that President Potato can lead us through the stormy waters.

[Bill Tozer]

Oh, E Fox. Never let facts get in the way of a juicy story. Think Starbucks. Think $$. They will never stop coming as long as the milk is free. . Next up, they will go inside and take up all the seats for hours without buying an item. Or walk around inside and harass customers. That’s what they did to the bakery just off campus at Oberlin College when an Oberlin student got caught shoplifting wine and the owner’s grandson chased the pair down the street and got the stolen bottle smashed over his (the grandson’s head) and a couple of female co-eds kicked the kid while he was down on the ground. The students were targeted! Would you go to a racist establishment?? IDs to proof of legal age to buy alcohol are something bad. But, off thread.
——————————
Dr. Rebane penned, “The list of his failures gets rehashed regularly in these pages, and I’m sure that at some future date I’ll compile another list of them myself. Right now the bigger problem for our republic is.....”

Here is a list from just one day, last Friday. The individual items have been covered here, but it is eye pooping when you put it all together and realized the headlines all hit within an hour. TGIF went bankrupt, BTW. Gotta get away?

‘CURL: Joe Biden And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day’

https://www.dailywire.com/news/curl-joe-biden-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day

“The headlines all hit within an hour. But what did Biden do? He left for the beach in the early afternoon on Friday and didn’t return to the White House until Monday afternoon. At one point, he positioned members of the media along a bike path so they could take some action photos, then pedaled away when reporters asked him about France.”

[Bill Tozer]

Rather than put this under Canadian C-19, it probably is best suited here, all in all. The list gets longer and the hits just keep on coming for the angry old white guy.

‘Biden’s Approval Rating among Black Voters Falls after Private-Sector Vaccine Mandate’

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/bidens-approval-rating-among-black-voters-falls-after-private-sector-vaccine-mandate/

[Don Bessee]

Its even worse than originally thought -

Mayorkas reveals just 3% of Afghan evacuees had special immigrant visas

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mayorkas-reveals-just-3-of-afghan-evacuees-had-special-immigrant-visas

;-)

[Don Bessee]

Those socialist dems are getting what they want -

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2021/09/22/fed-forecasts-higher-unemployment-worse-inflation-lower-growth/

;-)

[Don Bessee]

So creepy grampa joe gave the russians the leash on the EU with nordstream 2, they are pinching the supply to jack up prices and meanwhile the chi coms are buying with both fists. Win win for them and the EU is screwed. Gee wouldn't it have been nice if we killed the russian pipeline and we were selling LNG to the EU. That makes too much sense for this administration of fools -

Bloomberg) -- China is escalating its purchases of liquefied natural gas for the winter, exacerbating a global supply shortage and leaving less fuel for energy-parched Europe.

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/finance/news/china-begins-winter-gas-buying-020902055.html

U.S. Says Europe Energy Crisis Raises Manipulation Concerns

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/finance/news/u-says-europe-energy-crisis-142336993.html

Opening the tap would be "an opportunity for Russia to underscore its credentials as a reliable supplier to the European market," it added.

Higher demand, including from extremes of hot and cold weather this year, and squeezes on supply due to "a series of unplanned outages and delays across the globe and delayed maintenance from 2020" have boosted gas prices, the IEA said.

Prices for electricity in Germany and Spain "have been around three or four times the averages seen in 2019 and 2020" in recent weeks, in part down to higher gas prices, it added.

https://news.yahoo.com/iea-presses-russia-end-europe-140003162.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall

;-)

[Don Bessee]

Multi millionair creepy grampa joe cheated on his taxes -

President Biden may have improperly avoided paying Medicare taxes before he took office and could owe the IRS up to $500,000, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

"Joe Biden wants to raise taxes by $2.1 trillion while claiming the rich need to pay their ‘fair share.’ But in 2017, multi-millionaire Joe Biden skirted his payroll taxes — the very taxes that fund Medicare and Obamacare," said Rep. Jim Banks, who chairs the conservative Republican Study Committee.

Banks said the report indicated that Biden improperly used "S corporations" while he and First Lady Jill Biden raked in over $13 million on speaking fees and book sales in 2017 and 2018, but counted less than $800,000 of it as a salary that could be taxed for Medicare.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-may-owe-up-to-500k-in-back-taxes-report-says

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

Well, duh

Majority Says Biden Isn’t ‘Mentally Sharp’: Poll

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/majority-says-biden-isnt-mentally-sharp-poll/?

[Bill Tozer]

‘Biden Sinking: 21 Point Loss In 2 Months, 93% Have Inflation Concerns, Most Signal Multiple Issues’

“Other top line takeaways from Pew Research’s poll include:

93% of Americans are concerned about rising prices.
56% do not believe that he is mentally sharp.
66% are not confident that he can unite the country.
Biden has lost support from every key demographic surveyed.
Biden has seen his support decline by 21% among voters who consider themselves to “lean Democrat.””

https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-sinking-21-point-loss-in-2-months-93-have-inflation-concerns-most-signal-multiple-issues

[Jose Peyote]

Recycling yesterday’s news:

HOW CRAZY ARE THE DEMOCRATS? THIS CRAZY

In a recent paper “The People’s Ledger,” she proposed that the Federal Reserve take over consumer bank deposits, “effectively ‘end banking,’ as we know it,” and become “the ultimate public platform for generating, modulating, and allocating financial resources in a modern economy.”

All right then! Has anyone told Ms. Omarova that the Soviet Union lost the cold war, and fell apart? I suppose she knows that, having departed the USSR in 1991 when it collapsed, for what are undoubtedly greener pastures. But, living a cushy academic life in the U.S., she is not only free to advocate for Leninist banking policies, she can actually be appointed to regulate American banks! Is this a great country, or what?

The woman, to be blunt, is an idiot:

Ms. Omarova believes capital and credit should be directed by an unaccountable bureaucracy and intelligentsia. She has recommended a “National Investment Authority,” with members overseen by an advisory board of academics, to finance a “big and bold” climate agenda. Sounds like the green infrastructure bank the Senate rejected.

She’d also like a politically and structurally independent “Public Interest Council” of “highly paid” academics with broad subpoena power to supervise financial regulatory agencies, including the Fed. The Council, she explained, would not be subject to the “constraints and requirements of the administrative process.” Ivy League professors know best.

[Bill Tozer]

HOW CRAZY ARE THE DEMOCRATS? THIS CRAZY

In a recent paper “The People’s Ledger,” she proposed that the Federal Reserve take over consumer bank deposits, “effectively ‘end banking,’ as we know it,” and become “the ultimate public platform for generating, modulating, and allocating financial resources in a modern economy.”

All right then! Has anyone told Ms. Omarova that the Soviet Union lost the cold war, and fell apart? I suppose she knows that, having departed the USSR in 1991 when it collapsed, for what are undoubtedly greener pastures. But, living a cushy academic life in the U.S., she is not only free to advocate for Leninist banking policies, she can actually be appointed to regulate American banks! Is this a great country, or what?

The woman, to be blunt, is an idiot:

Ms. Omarova believes capital and credit should be directed by an unaccountable bureaucracy and intelligentsia. She has recommended a “National Investment Authority,” with members overseen by an advisory board of academics, to finance a “big and bold” climate agenda. Sounds like the green infrastructure bank the Senate rejected.

She’d also like a politically and structurally independent “Public Interest Council” of “highly paid” academics with broad subpoena power to supervise financial regulatory agencies, including the Fed. The Council, she explained, would not be subject to the “constraints and requirements of the administrative process.” Ivy League professors know best.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/09/how-crazy-are-the-democrats-this-crazy-3.php

[Bill Tozer]

HOW CRAZY ARE THE DEMOCRATS? THIS CRAZY

In a recent paper “The People’s Ledger,” she proposed that the Federal Reserve take over consumer bank deposits, “effectively ‘end banking,’ as we know it,” and become “the ultimate public platform for generating, modulating, and allocating financial resources in a modern economy.”

All right then! Has anyone told Ms. Omarova that the Soviet Union lost the cold war, and fell apart? I suppose she knows that, having departed the USSR in 1991 when it collapsed, for what are undoubtedly greener pastures. But, living a cushy academic life in the U.S., she is not only free to advocate for Leninist banking policies, she can actually be appointed to regulate American banks! Is this a great country, or what?

The woman, to be blunt, is an idiot:

Ms. Omarova believes capital and credit should be directed by an unaccountable bureaucracy and intelligentsia. She has recommended a “National Investment Authority,” with members overseen by an advisory board of academics, to finance a “big and bold” climate agenda. Sounds like the green infrastructure bank the Senate rejected.

She’d also like a politically and structurally independent “Public Interest Council” of “highly paid” academics with broad subpoena power to supervise financial regulatory agencies, including the Fed. The Council, she explained, would not be subject to the “constraints and requirements of the administrative process.” Ivy League professors know best.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/09/how-crazy-are-the-democrats-this-crazy-3.php