Lee Stranahan On The Clinton State Department Crony Origin Of The Russian Collusion Hoax

October 6th, 2019

Here’s an interesting thread by Lee Stranahan on how Clinton cronies at the State Department were building the Russian Collusion hoax story back in early 2016, before Fusion GPS hired Steele to assemble the fake dossier.

So that’s TWO State Department employees being briefed by Steele; Jonathan Winer & Victoria Nuland.

They both have 🇺🇦 Ukraine connections, as does Steele.

And there’s one more State Department who is VERY relevant to the whole story…Clinton’s Oxford roommate Strobe Talbott.

Strobe Talbott is one of the Clinton’s oldest and closest friends.

He headed the Brookings Instituion for years.

And is the THIRD State Department official briefed by Steele.
This is already looking very much like a State Department operation.

The 🇺🇦 Ukraine connections are everywhere.

Strobe link to a VERY important connection.

Back in the 1970s, Strobe married the twin sister of a man who would become a shadowy Clinton operative: Cody Shearer.

Read that Jonathan Winer op-Ed from earlier in the thread and you’ll that he was shown the little discussed “second dossier” that Cody Shearer assembled.

Steele gave it to the FBI.

But it’s totally misnamed. Why?

Because it came first, as you’ll see soon.

Snip.

Cody Shearer was assembling HIS dossier BEFORE STEELE WAS HIRED.

He was discussing Trump / Russia in MARCH OR APRIL of 2016.

Other names that play a role in the timeline: DNC operative Alexandra Chalupa, notorious Clinton crony Sidney Blumenthal, George Soros, John McCain and even convicted felony Brett Kimberlin, though those last three names appear to be involved in the Steele story only tangentially. Also, I don’t buy Stranahan’s “Ukraine bad/Russia good” positioning near the end of the thread. But the information about State Department/Clinton crony involvement in assembling the Steele hoax dossier information much earlier than most people know is worth pointing out.

Joe Rogan: “TransWomen” Beat The Shit Out Of Real Women

October 5th, 2019

Joe Rogan makes an obvious point here. Super obvious. Blindingly obviously. But in a world gone mad, the obvious needs to be restated again and again: “TransWomen” are men, and merely good male athletes regularly beat the very best women athletes in fair competitions. And when it comes to martial arts, male athletes of the same weight simply beat the snot out of female athletes.

There are two biological sexes, male and female, genetically determined before birth. Either you have XX chromosomes and are a women, or XY chromosomes and are a man, or you’re and end-of the bell curve genetic anomaly. Everything else is sophistry.

LinkSwarm for October 4, 2019

October 4th, 2019

Welcome to the October Country!

  • Why not ask foreign governments if they have information on criminal activity by America’s criminal elites?

    The events of this week reveal the new standard. Like sharks to a whale carcass, our elites routinely feast upon precarious situations in other nations: The Podesta Group, Hunter Biden, and others were content to make a buck off the tensions in Ukraine along with Paul Manafort, just as the Clintons and others were happy to take tens of millions of dollars from Russian oligarchs. We all know that Manafort would be sitting in a house in Malibu right now with the same immunity deal the likes of Podesta, Biden, and the Clintons apparently possess if only he had never decided to work for Donald Trump.

    Recall that the supposed original sin of the entire Russian-collusion gambit was that when approached (apparently mostly by agents of the United States government working for President Obama and friends) then-candidate Trump or his team were interested in recovering the emails that Hilary Clinton unwisely and illegally sent and then deleted from her private server so that no one could read them. There would be plenty of reasons for Americans and the U.S. government itself to seek out these emails, of course, if only to determine to what extent they threatened national security—never mind the power and wealth of the foundation engaged in international money collection that her husband ran while she was Secretary of State.

    But while the supposed reasons for it change every week, the Ukraine fiasco reveals the real underlying cause of the Left’s outrageously hypocritical march towards impeachment. The ruling class is now effectively saying to President Trump: “We know that domestically we have nothing to fear from the media and the law—so how dare you ask other countries about us! You must be impeached for this crime and this crime alone—asking other countries about our wrongdoing! Only an insane or evil person would do this!”

  • Speaking of which, “July 2019: Ukraine launched probe of military sale by fundraiser for Adam Schiff.”
  • Related: “Ukraine Mystery: Schiff Staffer Made August Visit for Think Tank Backed by Hunter Biden’s Old Employer.”
  • “Dems, media aim to squash Barr’s probe of Russia collusion hoax.” I bet they do… (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • This is the meme they keep trying to get taken off Twitter:

  • Impeachment? Go for it!

  • “Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam pleads guilty to stealing $87K from youth basketball nonprofit he founded.” Hey, which political party do you think Mr. Gilliam is a member of? Let’s start scanning the article and see if we can guess. Headline? No. First paragraph? No. Second paragraph? No. Look, I’ll save you the suspense: You have to go all the way down to the eleventh paragraph to learn what you already assumed: Mr. Gilliam is a Democrat.

  • The whole “white nationalist” charge against President Donald Trump and his supporters was always garbage.
  • Another court victory for President Trump: His name will appear on the California ballot despite Democratic machinations to keep him off.
  • Saying goodbye to the extremely consequential GOP class of 1994, the first Republican House majority in 40 years, the one that ran on the Contract With America and passed welfare reform.
  • A very malevolent incarnation of Florida Woman: Rich Democrat wife files police report over man using a meme on Facebook. “Beth Jaffe, who is the wife of city commissioner Bryon Jaffe, felt that the meme was threatening her life. Ms. Jaffe contacted the district office of the Broward County Sheriff’s Department and asked for them to investigate Van Antwerpen.” (Hat tip: Say Uncle.)
  • A running list of everything Democrats want to ban. Including hamburgers, football and To Kill A Mockingbird.
  • “Honduran president’s brother allegedly took $1 million bribe from drug lord ‘El Chapo.'”
  • Followup: Remember MyPayrollHR, the online payroll company that suddenly closed owing $35 million? Well The CEO has been arrested and admitted to $70 million worth of fraud. And he’d been embezzling for years…
  • Another week, another fake hate crime hoax.
  • Related: “Reporter Who Covered the False Dreadlock Story Pushed for Hairstyle Laws In Earlier Tweets.”
  • No, you silly billies, the world of The Handmaiden’s Tale is not Trump’s America. So says Margaret Atwood. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • Sports Illustrated lays off half its staff. I can’t possibly imagine why—

    I said, I can’t possibly imagine—

    Ahem! I said I can’t possibly imagine how Sports Illustrated might have alienated their core—

  • The Guardian: “Women’s magazines are more progressive than ever – and they’re all closing down.” There’s this thing called “causality.” Maybe publishers should look into it while they still can… (Hat tip: Aceof Spades HQ.)
  • Wallace Hall: University admissions scandals go deeper than you think:

    The real cause of these abuses is failure of university trustees to meet their fiduciary obligations, which in the case of public schools is to taxpayers. Weak boards allow university administrators to limit oversight of admissions. The administrators are allowed to see admissions criteria, but not the trustees who are supposed to be in charge. Board members who want admission favors for their own children or their friends go along, while others turn their heads to avoid the wrath of powerful alumni and politicians who benefit from the workarounds.

    I witnessed this while serving as a member of the University of Texas System Board of Regents. My actions to expose the admissions scandal at UT-Austin, our flagship campus, resulted in impeachment hearings against me by the state legislature and even efforts to convince a grand jury to indict me. While neither worked, the university continues to hide all of the documents that would have exposed the scandal. Even the FBI knows only a fraction of the real corruption.

    Details of the larger problem at the Austin campus were uncovered in a private investigation commissioned by our then-Chancellor and a minority of Board members. The problem is, our university president teamed up with a new Chancellor and the state’s most powerful elected officials to keep the findings sealed. The un-redacted report, which explains how hundreds of unqualified students manage to occupy spots in UT programs—including our law school—is locked in a courtroom after my lawsuit to make it public was challenged by the university. Every one of those students owes his or her presence on campus to a politician who controls state spending at the university, or to a well-connected donor or faculty member.

    (Hat tip: Chuck DeVore.)

  • Babylon Bee founder starts real news site.
  • “Staffer Nervously Informs Hillary Clinton She Lost 2016 Election.”
  • Jackalopes return to Yellowstone.
  • Wargaming a Sanders Exit

    October 3rd, 2019

    Following yesterday’s news that Socialist Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders suffered a heart attack and had two stents installed, rumors have been rife that Sanders will drop out of the race.

    Give the old commie his due: Bernie appears to be a tough old bird who keeps up a rigorous campaign schedule. And a stent procedure is far less taxing than a coronary bypass, and some people are up and walking about within a week after having a stent inserted.

    That said, heart surgery of any kind is no joke. The people who are up and around in a few days after stent surgery are young people. Sanders is 78. And the next Democratic debate is thirteen days from now. It’s possible that Sanders will be recovered enough to participate, but I rather doubt it. At the very least I expect he’ll need a chair rather than standing for a couple of hours.

    Also, anytime old people undergo general anesthetic, there’s the possibility they’ll suffer from postoperative cognitive dysfunction. Problems can include “impairments in attention, memory, concentration and/or executive function.” And even if he is all there, it’s a good bet that he won’t be as up physically for the grueling schedules of a serious presidential campaign.

    If Sanders drops out, lots of people have calculated that will help Elizabeth Warren as the most viable leftward candidate, but that’s not necessarily the case. Morning Consult polls consistently show that slightly more Sanders voters prefer prefer Joe Biden as their second choice over Warren. I’m pretty sure Sanders voters won’t be wild about backing billionaire candidate Tom Steyer (an opinion they seem to share with the overwhelming voting age population).

    If I had to pick a likely beneficiary of Sanders dropping out beyond Biden and Warren, the longshot that comes to mind is Andrew Yang. After all, both of their followers have a noted devotion to being promised free stuff…

    Breaking: Bernie’s Blocked Arteries

    October 2nd, 2019

    Bernie Sanders has been hospitalized with blocked arteries. He’s suspended campaign events.

    This should shake up the race. And Elizabeth Warren must have a very good voodoo doll maker on staff.

    Update: He’s had surgery to have two stents installed. Seeing reports he’s cancelled Iowa ad buys as well. Hmmm…

    Is Your Minimum Wage $15 An Hour? Behold Your Future!

    October 2nd, 2019

    If you live in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, or anyplace else the minimum wage is $15 an hour, and work in kitchen prep, behold your future:

    After three years of quietly toiling away on a robotic food system, Seattle startup Picnic has emerged from stealth mode with a system that assembles custom pizzas with little human intervention.

    Picnic — previously known as Otto Robotics and Vivid Robotics — is the latest entrant in a cohort of startups and industry giants trying to find ways to automate restaurant kitchens in the face of slim margins and labor shortages.

    Snip.

    Picnic’s platform assembles up to 300 12-inch pizzas per hour, far faster than most restaurants would be able to make the dough, bake and serve the pizzas. That speed comes in handy in places where large numbers of orders come in during a rush, such as at a stadium or in large cafeterias. It’s also compact enough that it could theoretically be installed in a food truck.

    Machines have been making frozen pizzas for years, but Picnic’s robot differs in a few respects. It’s small enough to fit in most restaurant kitchens, the recipes can be easily tweaked to suit the whims of the restaurants, and — most importantly — the ingredients are fresh….The robot is also highly customizable, comprised of a series of modules that dole out what

    There is a catch: “The dough preparation, sauce making and baking — the real art of pizza — is left in the capable, five-fingered hands of people.” How long do you think it will take before that part is automated as well?

    I don’t think it’s any accident this startup hails from Seattle.

    I don’t know how it tastes, but I’d certainly be willing to give it a try.

    As always, the true minimum wage is “Zero.”

    Why Nancy Pelosi Is Screwed

    October 1st, 2019

    Interesting piece on the politics and timing of the impeachment vote.

    Why green-light the Full Monty impeachment farce three days later, when it was clear as day that this “bombshell” was already fizzling, just like all the other “bombshells”?

    The answer is simple: the absence of impeachable offenses makes no difference whatsoever, because the outcome is pre-determined, and Pelosi’s options are stark: start the impeachment now, and retain control of the narrative, or start a month or two from now, and lose control completely, with the impeachment hearings dragging on into the primary season.

    Pelosi understands perfectly that an election where the Democratic Party is framed as a single-issue party, whose sole concern is an impeaching a president over two casual sentences in a phone call, will be catastrophic. But she has run out of rope.

    Impeachment proceedings are a given, because her caucus now almost unanimously demands it, and her caucus demands it because the Democratic Party has been hijacked by the Resistance crazies and the hard left. Pelosi has also run out of cute euphemisms for impeachment—the usual Pelosi mumbo-jumbo, like “inquiry,” “investigation,” and “official inquiry,” no longer work without giving the crazies the real deal.

    Pelosi had to get ahead of the tidal wave before it drowned her. As Spartan women used to say to their men, “Return with the shield, or on it.” Pelosi, who generally does not lack in political courage, would rather return with the shield this time, and live to fight another day. So she chose the better of two bad options.

    Snip.

    With the House vote done by December, Pelosi can congratulate the troops, and move on, regardless of the result (not that it’s in any doubt). She can then proudly proclaim that the House Democrats have been diligent in saving the republic, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and those nasty obstructionist unpatriotic Republicans in the Senate refuse to see the light.

    With a straight face, she can tell the lunatics and the impeachment fanatics that she has given them exactly what they asked for, and that it is up to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer now. Then she can privately breathe a sigh of relief.

    Pelosi can then spend 2020 working to retain her House majority, while hoping Republican voters lose their energy by next November. Democratic candidates can spend the next year talking about something else, anything else, and at least have a chance of defeating Trump.

    Pelosi knows that if impeachment is on the voters’ minds next year, Trump will be reelected in a tsunami. Her majority and speakership will go the way of the Dodo bird. The only way to change that narrative is to do the impeachment show now, and forget all about it next year.

    Read the whole thing. (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.) However, his idea that the Senate can have a quick up-and-down vote on impeachment simply won’t happen. Article I, Section 3, Paragraph 6 of the United States Constitution states:

    The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

    That means a real trial, presided over by Chief Justice John Roberts. That also means that President Trump’s defense team will probably be able to compel witnesses to testify, and given the Constitutional nature of the proceedings, it is entirely possible that witnesses will not be able to plead Fifth Amendment rights and refuse such testimony. Let the Senate call James Comey, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Rep. Adam Schiff, Hunter Biden, Andrew McCabe, Bruce and Nellie Ohr and every Fusion GPS and CrowStrike employee involved in both the Russian collusion hoax and Hunter Biden’s crooked dealings in the Ukraine.

    The Clinton impeachment lasted a month, had thirteen House members stating the case for the prosecution, and dealt with a much narrower case and criteria. There’s no reason a Trump impeachment wouldn’t take three to six times as long for a much more complex and sprawling case.

    If Democrats want an impeachment, let’s give them an impeachment, good and hard.

    Democratic Presidential Clown Car Update for September 30, 2019

    September 30th, 2019

    The Biden clan gets rich, Klobuchar kills a duck, O’Rourke threatens a kitten and calls Journey punk rock, while Yang channels The Dead Kennedys and the Q3 fundraising deadline looms. It’s your Democratic Presidential clown car update!

    Polls

    Too damn many polls this time around…

  • CNN (Nevada): Biden 22, Sanders 22, Warren 18, Harris 5, Buttigieg 4, Steyer 4, Yang 3, Booker 2, Gabbard 1, Klobuchar 1, Ryan 1, Williamson 1. 4% is as high as we’ve seen Steyer in any poll. Is his airdropping money on his campaign finally moving the needle?
  • CNN (South Carolina): Biden 17, Warren 16, Sanders 11, Buttigieg 4, Harris 3, Steyer 3, Booker 2, O’Rourke 2, Gabbard 1, Klobuchar 1. These numbers are from the RealClearPolitics summary, as they’ve double-linked the Nevada poll on their source link.
  • Harvard/Harris: Biden 28, Warren 17, Sanders 16, Harris 6, O’Rourke 3, Buttigieg 3, Yang 3, Castro 2, Booker 2, Steyer 2, Klobuchar 1, Gabbard 1. be prepared to click the zoom button a lot…
  • Quinnipiac: Warren 27, Biden 25, Sanders 16, Buttigieg 7, Harris 3, O’Rourke 2, Klobuchar 2, Castro 2, Yang 2, Bennet 1.
  • Economist/YouGov (page 185): Warren 25, Biden 25, Sanders 16, Buttigieg 7, Harris 6, O’Rourke 2, Yang 2, Gabbard 1, Castro 1, Klobuchar 1, Delaney 1, Bennet 1, Ryan 1, Bullock 1.
  • LA Times/Berkeley (California): Warren 29, Biden 20, Sanders 19, Harris 8, Buttigieg 6, O’Rourke 3, Yang 2, Klobuchar 2, Booker 1, Castro 1, Gabbard 1, Bennet 1.
  • Landmark Communications (Georgia): Biden 41.4, Warren 17.4, Sanders 8.1, Harris 5.6, Buttigieg 4.9, Booker 2.0, Yang 1.9, O’Rourke 1.4, Klobuchar 1.1, Gabbard 0.8, Bennett(sic) 0.1, Steyer 0.1, Castro 0.0. While I should theoretically appreciate the greater precision, I don’t understand how you get a 0.1 out of a sample of 500. Doesn’t that work out to half a person?
  • Goucher College (Maryland): Biden 33, Warren 21, Sanders 10, Harris 6, Buttigieg 5, Klobuchar 1. Yang 1, Booker 1, O’Rourke 1, Delaney 1.
  • Emerson Biden 26, Warren 23, Sanders 22, Yang 8, Buttigieg 6, Harris 4, Booker 2, Castro 2, O’Rourke 1, Ryan 1, Gabbard 1, Sestak 1, Williamson 1. Small sample size of 462, but 8 is a new high for Yang. A couple more points and he’s in Ron Paul territory…
  • Politico/Morning Consult: Biden 32, Warren 20, Sanders 19, Harris 6, Buttigieg 5, Booker 3, O’Rourke 3, Yang 3, Klobuchar 2, Bennet 1, Bullock 1, Castro 1, Delaney 1, Gabbard 1, Ryan 1, Steyer 1, Williamson 1.
  • Monmouth (New Hampshire): Warren 27, Biden 25, Sanders 12, Buttigieg 10, Harris 3, Booker 2 Gabbard 2, Klobuchar 2, Steyer 2, Yang 2, O’Rourke 1, Williamson 1.
  • USA Today/Suffolk (Nevada): Biden 23.2, Warren 19.4, Sanders 14.2. Harris 3.8, Buttigieg 3.4, Yang 3.0, Steyer 2.8, Booker 2.4, Bullock 1, O’Rourke 1.
  • Real Clear Politics
  • 538 polls
  • Election betting markets
  • Pundits, etc.

    Today is the Q3 fundraising deadline, so expect leading candidates to crow about their respective hauls right after I click Publish.

  • Which candidate is putting the most money into campaign ads? Right now, Steyer…and almost nobody else.

    The other candidates have not yet started seriously spending on TV. To date, most candidates have been committed more resources to Facebook and Google ads than to television ads (Pete Buttigieg, for example, has spent $5.3 million on digital vs. just $302,200 on TV). After Steyer, the active candidate who has spent the most on TV is Joe Biden, who has aired 882 spots for an estimated $384,220, almost all of it in Iowa.

  • Evidently Saturday Night Live is still on, and they had a DNC Town Hall skit Saturday:

  • If you think this section is light this week, you’re right: I think the impeachment nothingburger has sucked a lot of the air out of the room for the 2020 race. One way or another, Trump always manages to do that…
  • Now on to the clown car itself:

  • Colorado Senator Michael Bennet: In. Twitter. Facebook. Says he’s staying in the race until New Hampshire. Gets a Politico interview, says he’s not on the impeachment train. Also says far left candidates hurt Democratic chances of beating Trump. He’s the third richest Democrat running, behind Steyer and Delaney. “Within days of the appointment [to the senate in 2009], Bennet sold off at least $2 million worth of stock, in companies like Philip Morris, Eli Lilly and Chevron, according to federal filings.”
  • Former Vice President Joe Biden: In. Twitter. Facebook. “Wherever Joe Biden went, son Hunter cashed in.”

    Biden has been leading the Democratic field. The central case for his candidacy rests on the supposedly exemplary work he did as a senior member of Team Obama. Well, in 2016, acting as the Obama administration’s point man in Ukraine, the vice president — unlike Trump — openly threatened to withhold $1 billion in American loan guarantees if the embattled nation didn’t fire the country’s top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin.

    As Biden later bragged, “I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’ Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.’ ”

    Most of the media assure us that, though by the Democrats’ new standards this kind of ­intimidation constitutes a flagrant abuse of power, Biden’s reasons for threatening Ukraine were chaste.

    But simply repeating this talking point doesn’t make it true. Granted, Shokin was a shady character. Yet at some point he had been investigating Burisma, the largest gas company in Ukraine, which also happened to be paying Hunter Biden a $50,000 monthly salary as a board member.

    By coincidence, Hunter had landed this cushy gig in a foreign country only a few months after the Obama ­administration began dispatching his father, Joe, to the very same foreign country on a regular basis.

    There was, of course, absolutely nothing in Hunter’s résumé to indicate that he would be a valuable addition to foreign energy interest. He didn’t speak the language, and he had no particular expertise in the energy industry. Oh, he did have one thing, though: his last name.

    I suppose, that isn’t entirely fair. Hunter once ran a hedge fund with his dad’s brother, James Biden, and associated with a notorious Ponzi schemer. James would go on to snag a job as executive vice president of a construction company in 2010, despite having virtually no experience in the field. And only a few months into his tenure, the company would win one of its biggest contracts in its history, a $1.5 billion deal to build affordable homes in Iraq.

    By pure happenstance, Joe was also the Obama administration’s point man in Iraq at the time. Funny how these things work out.

    Liberal reporters, who are framing Trump’s conversation with Zelensky as the most perilous threat in the ­republic’s history, have shown little curiosity about Biden’s dealings with the Ukrainian government. Many media personalities, in fact, have rallied to ­Biden’s defense, calling any intimation of wrongdoing a smear.

    NBC’s Chuck Todd dismissed any Biden talk as a mere distraction. CNN called questions into the former vice president’s actions “baseless.” Other liberals now argue that the Biden firing of Shokin actually worked against the interests of Hunter.

    We have no way of knowing if this is true, either. According to The New York Times, Hunter’s work for Burisma had “prompted concerns” among Obama administration State Department officials, because it undermined diplomacy in Ukraine. Was Biden really the only person available to pressure Ukrainian officials while his son was raking in the cash? Does anyone really believe Biden’s claims that he never once spoke to his 49-year-old son about business in the two years they spent working in the same country?

    A comprehensive timeline of Hunter Biden’s business dealings:

    Late Summer 2006: Hunter Biden and his uncle, James Biden, purchase the hedge fund Paradigm Global Advisors. According to an unnamed executive quoted in Politico in August, James Biden declared to employees on his first day, “Don’t worry about investors. We’ve got people all around the world who want to invest in Joe Biden.” At this time, Joe Biden is months away from becoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and launching his second bid for president.

    The unnamed executive who spoke to Politico charged that the purchase of the fund was designed to work around campaign-finance laws:

    According to the executive, James Biden made it clear that he viewed the fund as a way to take money from rich foreigners who could not legally give money to his older brother or his campaign account. “We’ve got investors lined up in a line of 747s filled with cash ready to invest in this company,” the executive remembers James Biden saying.

    It’s not just Hunter:

    Joe Biden’s brother told executives at a healthcare firm that the former vice president’s cancer initiative would promote their business, according to a participant in the conversation, who said the promise came as part of a pitch on behalf of potential investors in the firm.

    The allegation is the latest of many times Biden’s relatives have invoked the former vice president and his political clout to further their private business dealings. It is the first that involves the Biden Cancer Initiative, a project Joe Biden made the centerpiece of his post-White House life following the death of his son Beau.

    Biden’s brother, James, made the promise to executives at Florida-based Integrate Oral Care during a phone call on or around November 8, 2018, according to Michael Frey, CEO of Diverse Medical Management, a health-care firm that is suing James Biden. At the time, James Biden’s business partners were pursuing a potential investment in Integrate, according to Frey and court records. Frey, who had a business relationship with James Biden and his associates, had introduced the group to Integrate.

    James Biden told the Integrate executives that he would get the Biden Cancer Initiative to promote an oral rinse made by the firm and used by cancer patients, Frey, who said he participated in the call, told POLITICO. He added that James Biden directly invoked the former vice president on the call. “He said his brother would be very excited about this product,” Frey said.

    “Is Impeaching Trump Really About Kneecapping Joe Biden?”

    Make no mistake: This is a risky game the Democrats are playing. On the one hand, their most energetic voters practically demand Trump’s immediate removal. On the other hand, most voters are apathetic at best to the idea of impeachment, and will probably turn against it quite sharply if yet another investigation fails to reveal enough dirt on Trump. But as I wrote at Instapundit earlier today, maybe the only thing worse to the Democrats’ kamikaze wing than not going ahead with an impeachment inquiry would be an unsuccessful one.

    But for some Democrats, that might be a risk worth taking. So let’s go back to our earlier thought, courtesy of GMU law prof David Bernstein.

    The payoff here for “some very powerful Democrats” — and it wouldn’t be prudent to point fingers at anyone in particular — might be well worth the risk. Weaken Trump and force Biden out of the race, probably before Iowa? You can picture a particular presidential candidate or three saying “Deeeeeeliiiiiicious” in their best Dr. Evil voice.

    How bad is the scandal hurting Biden? “Biden Campaign Demands TV News Execs Stop Booking Giuliani.” Long 538 piece on Biden’s popularity among black voters, and how he could lose it.

    In order to win the nomination in a crowded race, Biden needs to cultivate support across demographic groups, to at least feint at his ability to win back the Obama coalition in the general election. His bedrock of support is black voters. Black voters made up around one-quarter of the 2016 Democratic primary electorate and are a crucial demographic group for any candidate. According to Gallup, 63 percent of non-Hispanic black Democratic voters self-identify as moderate or conservative. This, even as the Democratic Party overall has gotten more liberal — 2018 was the first year that over half of Democrats (51 percent) identified as liberal (in 1994, that number was only 25 percent.)

    But while black voters have remained more moderate or conservative, white voters have become increasingly likely to identify as liberal — 65 percent of non-Hispanic white Democrats called themselves liberal and have become rapidly more liberal on issues of race over the past 10 years. With white liberals comprising a key demographic not just in the first two primary states, Iowa and New Hampshire, but also in the media, it’s no wonder that Biden’s campaign has felt the pile-on of Twitter chatter.

    Caveat: Includes analysis from Al Sharpton.

  • New Jersey Senator Cory Booker: In. Twitter. Facebook. Announced he met the donor threshold for the November debates. Can he raise enough money to stay in?
  • Montana Governor Steve Bullock: In. Twitter. Facebook. Unveiled a public lands proposal.
  • South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg: In. Twitter. Facebook. Plans to take on Sanders and Warren on socialized medicine. He campaigned in Reno. At a campaign stop in Sparks, he was literally left in the dark during a power outage.
  • Former San Antonio Mayor and Obama HUD Secretary Julian Castro: In. Twitter. Facebook. Swears he’s not going to run for the senate even if he drops the presidential run. Which is understandable, since (like O’Rourke) he would lose either. “Julián Castro’s campaign manager says fundraising email not ‘a threat to quit.'” Like I said last week about Booker, it’s the standard campaign solicitation shuck.
  • Former Maryland Representative John Delaney: In. Twitter. Facebook. His Iowa State Director Monica Biddix left the campaign to “pursue other opportunities,” which is hardly reassuring for Delaney’s longshot hopes. “His campaign announced later Friday that it had named Brent Roske the new Iowa state director. Roske earlier served as Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson’s Iowa state director.” I’m guessing this is a step up in neither prestige nor likelihood of success, but probably a much stronger chance of receiving additional paychecks until the caucuses. BEEEEEFCAAAAKE!
  • Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard: In. Twitter. Facebook. Qualifies for October debate. Caves on impeachment. Every day a little more of her “not quite as insane as the rest” credibility slips down the drain.
  • California Senator Kamala Harris: In. Twitter. Facebook. Declining popularity in her home state. “The highs and lows of Kamala Harris’ roller coaster summer.” You know, the sort of roller coaster that climbs one big hill near the beginning, and then it’s all downhill…
  • Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar: In. Twitter. Facebook. She killed a duck while golfing. The fact this is the big news of the week for her should give you an inkling of her chances…
  • Miramar, Florida Mayor Wayne Messam: In. Twitter. Facebook. No Messam news this week. Trust me, I looked.
  • Former Texas Representative and failed Senatorial candidate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke: In. Twitter. Facebook. He’s reached the “don’t give a shit” phase of his campaign, or at least he’s come up with a brand new form of phoniness. Also commits the unpardonable sin of calling Journey “punk rock.” “Give me money or I’ll kill this kitten!”
  • Ohio Representative Tim Ryan: In. Twitter. Facebook. Says he’s not dropping out.
  • Vermont Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders: In. Twitter. Facebook. Plans to step up the campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire. He wants national rent control, because he’s obviously not satsified with it just screwing up New York and California. Wants to register but not ban AR-15s.
  • Former Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak: In. Twitter. Facebook. Appeared at something called the Harry Hopkins Democratic Dinner in Sioux City, Iowa.
  • Billionaire Tom Steyer: In. Twitter. Facebook. Gets interviewed by the Council on Foreign Relations. Naturally he’s crowing about leading the impeachment charge.
  • Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren: In. Twitter. Facebook. It’s not just the Biden Family profiting from the insider sleaze. “Elizabeth Warren’s daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi, is reportedly chairwoman [of] Demos, a liberal think tank, which gave the Working Families Party $45,000 in 2017-2018. This is significant because the Working Families Party just issued a surprise endorsement of Elizabeth Warren for president.” What do you know, some people are taking that unconstitutional wealth tax proposal personally: “Wall Street Democratic donors warn the party: We’ll sit out, or back Trump, if you nominate Elizabeth Warren.”

    Some big bank executives and hedge fund managers have been stunned by Warren’s ascent, and they are primed to resist her.

    “They will not support her. It would be like shutting down their industry,” an executive at one of the nation’s largest banks told CNBC, also speaking on condition of anonymity. This person said Warren’s policies could be worse for Wall Street than those of President Barack Obama, who signed the Dodd-Frank bank regulation bill in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown.

    She’s all about leading the charge…except when it comes to fulfilling her actual senate voting duties:

  • Author and spiritual advisor Marianne Williamson: In. Twitter. Facebook. Gets a New York magazine profile. “How Spiritual Snobs Became the New One Percent. Enlightenment is the new status symbol for the elite, and Jack Dorsey, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Marianne Williamson the undisputed gods of the wellness aristocracy.” Eh, it’s a sort of irritating, scattershot attack on a real issue. Oh, and in that SNL skit, Williamson appeared via astral projection…
  • Venture capitalist Andrew Yang: In. Twitter. Facebook. While Beto was calling Journey punk rock, Yang was declaring his devotion to the real thing:

    $5 for anyone who can find a video of him doing a karaoke cover of “Holiday in Cambodia.” Gets a BBC profile. He proposed a VAT, which a New York Times writer says will raise more money than Warren’s wealth tax. In truth, both will earn exactly the same amount: zero, since neither has a hope in hell of passing.

  • Out of the Running

    These are people who were formerly in the roundup who have announced they’re not running, for which I’ve seen no recent signs they’re running, or who declared then dropped out:

  • Creepy Porn Lawyer Michael Avenatti
  • Losing Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams
  • Actor Alec Baldwin.
  • Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
  • Former California Governor Jerry Brown
  • Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown
  • Former one-term President Jimmy Carter
  • Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, Jr.
  • Former First Lady, New York Senator, Secretary of State and losing 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
  • New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
  • New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (Dropped out September 20, 2019)
  • Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti
  • New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (Dropped out August 29, 2019)
  • Former Tallahassee Mayor and failed Florida Senate candidate Andrew Gillum
  • Former Vice President Al Gore
  • Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel (Dropped out August 2, 2019)
  • Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (Dropped out August 15, 2019; running for Senate instead)
  • Former Attorney General Eric Holder
  • Washington Governor Jay Inslee: Dropped Out (Dropped out August 21, 2019; running for a third gubernatorial term)
  • Virginia Senator and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Vice Presidential running mate Tim Kaine
  • Former Obama Secretary of State and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry
  • New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu
  • Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe
  • Oregon senator Jeff Merkley
  • Massachusetts Representative Seth Moulton (dropped out August 23, 2019)
  • Former First Lady Michelle Obama
  • Former West Virginia State Senator Richard Ojeda (Dropped out January 29, 2019)
  • New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (constitutionally ineligible)
  • Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick
  • California Representative Eric Swalwell (Dropped out July 8, 2019)
  • Talk show host Oprah Winfrey
  • Like the Clown Car update? Consider hitting the tip jar:





    Bill Maher Slams White Guilt

    September 29th, 2019

    Ignore the usual “white privilege” throat clearing, as Bill Maher takes aim at the risible nature of white liberal guilt:

    “Hating all whites is just tedious virtue signaling.”

    (Hat tip: Jack Posobiec on Twitter.)

    Will Hurd Running For President? That’s Not Happening

    September 28th, 2019

    At a Texas Tribune forum, retiring Texas Republican Rep. Will Hurd floated the idea of running for President in 2024.

    As for the running part, well, who knows? Lots no-hope candidates delude themselves into running for President every year, people with names like “Wayne Messam” and “Tom Steyer” and “Bill Weld” and “Joe Walsh” and “Kirstin Gillibrand” and “Even McMullin” and…

    You get the idea.

    As for the idea of Will Hurd securing the Republican nomination for President, well, that’s not happening.

    In many ways Hurd was a perfect fit for TX-23, the only true swing district in Texas until 2018. A moderate Republican and squish on border enforcement, he probably did reflect the rough consensus of his majority Hispanic San Antonio-to-just-short-of-El Paso district. But the moderate views that were such a virtue in getting elected (and re-elected) would be a non-starter in the Republican primary. There are at least two other Texas Republican office holders (Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Sen. Ted Cruz) who would be much stronger first-tier contenders for a 2024 Presidential run, and several others who could do better than Hurd as well were they to run (and Rep. Mike McCaul could probably self-finance his run at least as well as John Delaney…er, never mind).

    That said, I could see Hurd as a dark horse VP pick for a non-Texas nominee (pesky Twelfth Amendment). Which puts his overall chances of ever being President better than Beto O’Rourke’s…