Masks for thee but not for me:
Story here.
Last September I predicted he'd run, except as a spoiler for the Libertarian Party.
This is just more evidence that he has never been the consistent libertarian he has claimed to be. He's nothing but a climber, like all the rest.
Year over year we're still at 2.8%, still well above 2.0.
The monthly pop of .4% is high relative to anything in the last year.
The .5 change in the index was . . . pretty dang big.
The drive by media always spins this as "expected" when consensus estimates are confirmed, but that doesn't make them good.
Referring to French President Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to rule out sending western troops to Ukraine this week, Putin said Russia remembered “the fate of those who once sent their contingents to our country. “Now the consequences for possible interveners will be much more tragic,” he added. “We also have weapons that can strike targets on their territory.”
CNBC similarly here:
The comments appeared to be a direct response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion earlier this week that European heads of state and Western officials, who had met in Paris on Monday, had talked about the possibility of sending ground troops into Ukraine.
The French leader on Monday said there was no consensus on the idea, but that it had not been “ruled out.”
The comments have since sent NATO countries scrambling to deny they’d send troops into Ukraine, with Russia warning that such a deployment would prompt an “inevitable” Russia-NATO conflict.
Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll of nearly 5,000 (all online smh):
Almost six in 10 swing-state voters labeled Trump as dangerous — a concern far more pronounced among undecided voters, who make up less than one-tenth of the swing-state electorate. Even 28% of those who plan to vote for him in November agree that Trump is dangerous. Fewer than half as many Biden supporters said the same about their candidate.
Swing-state voters who volunteered that they had heard something about his recent comments degrading NATO were especially lopsided in thinking Trump was the more dangerous of the two candidates.
The states Kennedy remains focused on are Michigan, another key battleground state, Maryland, South Carolina, West Virginia, Indiana, Texas, Illinois, New York, California, and Massachusetts . . ..
More.
Yes, I'm well aware he dropped out and endorsed Trump.
Turn out was pretty pathetic in Michigan, despite mail-in voting and early in person voting up to 29 days in advance.
Combined turnout for the two parties was less than 23% of the 8.275 million registered voters.
The Hamas vote racked up a big protest vote against Joe Biden of more than 100k.
Uncommitted Republican votes of 33k+ must be the small L libertarians? Social conservatives could vote happily for Ron DeSantis.
Meanwhile Nikki Haley attracted 293k of the AWFLs, most of whom were Democrat voters.
The primary is well nigh useless as an indicator of much of anything since all you have to do is check the Republican box or the Democrat box when you appear and you are given the appropriate ballot. There is no party "registration". You are what you say you are, but every man is a liar (Romans 3:4).
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November. ...
McConnell’s path to power was hardly linear, but from the day he walked onto the Senate floor in 1985 and took his seat as the most junior Republican senator, he set his sights on being the party leader. What set him apart was that so many other Senate leaders wanted to run for president. McConnell wanted to run the Senate. He lost races for lower party positions before steadily ascending, and finally became party leader in 2006 and has won nine straight elections.
More.
Mitch was 64 when he took over in 2006.
Senator John Thune, 63, is a favorite to succeed him.
Google Gemini is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and even prompts one to recognize it in the shorthand of "DEI":
“I noticed how little difference there is between men and women; I don’t understand what kind of fatal attraction Chinese women possess which enthrals the corresponding men to such an extent that they are incapable of defending themselves against the formidable blessing of offspring”.
From their editor:
"the remark that must strike the modern reader as most offensive is his feigning not to understand how Chinese men can find their women sufficiently attractive to have offspring with them."
-- The Grauniad, 2018
Easy mistake:
Laura Rosen Cohen, parent of a special needs child in Toronto, for Newsweek here, who calls this the Abuse That Dare Not Speak Its Name:
This is a pattern in keeping with many dementia patients, as are other symptoms: Rarely does a day go by without video of Biden looking completely confused. He also frequently shouts angrily at reporters and confuses things, like Mexico and Egypt, or the names of dead leaders with current ones.
It's increasingly alarming, and the general consensus in America and around the world is that Biden is both too old for the job and not well.
In most normal families, a frail 81-year-old grandfather insisting on working but showing clear signs of diminished mental capacity and repeated episodes of falling and physical fragility would be encouraged to quit, enjoy his retirement, golf and garden to his heart's content. Quit your day job, Gramps, they would rightly say. And it's not like the Biden family is strapped for cash. Aside from any potential extended family business earnings, Joe Biden himself is reported to be worth approximately $10 million.
President Joe Biden faces a clear and present
physical danger to his person due to his decline. But the public
spectacle of his enfeebled nature also begs a different question: Why is
the First Lady not putting an end to her husband's repeated and
consistent public humiliation? Why aren't his children or grandchildren
doing the right thing for their loved one? ...
If insisting on keeping a frail and doddering senior in the White House (or any job for that matter), exposing him to daily physical risk, demanding he perform tasks beyond his mental and physical capacity or stamina and world ridicule isn't elder abuse, what is? Are there any adults in the Biden family "room" who will finally call a lid not just on the President's repeated public humiliations but on his tenure writ large?
The leader of the free world is now an actual physical representation of the decline of American power and the American Republic. The President's diminished capacity is being willfully and purposely ignored by those closest to him, something that is very well-appreciated by America's enemies. As a result, the world is in chaos.
In Biden's defense at the end, it appears to me that with "I'm right here?" he's confirming with his aides that he's to move next to the table directly in front of the podium to have his meal. He's not demonstrating confusion exactly, but the constant need for direction is a sign of the loss of what is called "executive function", which is sad to see in anyone, let alone a Chief Executive.
Do you want a president who must ask which button to push in a nuclear war?
The rest, showing both the Xi Jinping and Abraham Lincoln remarks, is hard to watch.
The first story is a five day old story where Trump was speaking in Michigan about the importance of gearing up for November, urging Michigan voters to do that by voting in their primary on Feb 27th but saying November again by mistake. This type of mistake is commonly made by people of all ages. It's also commonly made by ancient scribes.
The story about getting Melania's name wrong is simply a lie. Trump was referring to Mercedes Schlapp in the audience. The story itself is a smear.
The third is a lie about wanting Biden as president. Trump said he agreed that Putin wants Biden as president.
This looks like it's going to be a regular feature at Drudge from now on, not journalism but advocacy.
Drudge is fast becoming Rush Limbaugh's drive-by media, taking shots but never killing.