Wednesday Potpourri

First, the nation’s media pundits have had their knickers in a twist-- to borrow a charming British phrase-- over the chance that President Biden is no longer among the living.

Alas, it was not true.

Having spent nearly four years lying about Biden’s mental capacity, these mini-thinkers woke up one day to see that the ruse was no longer plausible. They saw Biden debate Trump and were horrified to see their lies exposed.

So now, in order to save democracy-- which is code for the Democratic party-- the leaders of that political party have anointed Kamala Harris, the ultimate diversity hire. Or, shall we call her cackling Kamala.

Joel Kotkin, a Democrat, takes the measure of the shift:

With the ascension of Kamala Harris, the Democrats have made a full break from their historic roots as the party of workers and have gravitated towards the decidedly post-industrial politics of California-style progressives. Rather than worrying primarily about lifting up living standards, the party’s emphasis will now be on issues like climate change, abortion, reparations and trans advocacy.

Second, in her first official action as the new presidential candidate, Kamala Harris will boycott a speech delivered to Congress today by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

The presiding officer of the Senate will join the pro-Hamas Congresspeople in showing their opposition to the Jewish state.

Everyone knows that Harris’s husband is supposedly Jewish-- though he cannot really define what Hanukkah is. And everyone knows that Harris’s step daughter, Ella Emhof, has been militating for the Palestinian cause.

Third, the Washington Free Beacon names one group that is happy to see the ascent of Kamala-- anti-Israel government employees:

Anti-Israel radicals who resigned their government posts over President Joe Biden's support for Israel are betting on Vice President Kamala Harris to adopt more hardline policies toward the Jewish state. It's a good bet: Harris throughout her vice presidency touted her public opposition to Israel's war on Hamas and praised campus protesters who have violently harassed Jews.

In December, just two months after Hamas slaughtered more than 1,200 Jews, Harris publicly broke with Biden's support for Israel, saying the Jewish state had killed "too many innocent Palestinians" and "must do more to protect innocent civilians."

Since that time, the vice president has repeatedly thrown her support behind anti-Israel protesters in America, saying they show "exactly what the human emotion should be, as a response to Gaza." 

For instance,

In 2021 speech at George Washington U Harris calls Israel Iron Dome “Ethnic Genocide”.

If one were to be charitable one would remark that perhaps Harris does not know that the Iron Dome is a purely defensive system. Or perhaps she is as stupid as people think she is.

One understands that candidate Harris will appeal to Muslim voters. We will see how liberal Jews vote.

Fourth, speaking of Prime Minister Netanyahu, he is scheduled to visit with Donald Trump in Palm Beach this Friday.

Fifth, Los Angeles police officer Deon Joseph made the case against Kamala on Twitter. His words are worth weighing:

I’m going to make my stance abundantly clear. I don’t care who she slept with. Don’t care about her laugh, I am not going to dehumanize her or disrespect her based on her personal life. Who doesn’t have a past and she is grown. Don’t care if she is too Black for some and not Black enough for others. 

My decision not to even consider her is based solely on the following: - She created a bail fund for rioters in 2020 who destroyed cities to push a politics agenda. That is terrorism and she helped them skate instead of condemning them. - She supported two propositions in CA that exacerbated crime and made it incredibly difficult to for law enforcement to stop crime. 

As well as No Cash Bail, even against the will of California voters. Which also put Californians in danger. - She was tasked with solving the border crisis. She only went to the border because she was pressured and all she did was peek at it to find “root causes”. 

Which is progressive code for “I ain’t gonna do … about this.” - She engages in race baiting and fear mongering. Which lets me know she has zero solutions to the many issues American’s are facing right now. - She is even farther left than Joe Biden. 

That’s why. I don’t believe she is ready to lead and her politics will slide America further down the crapper. Not because she is a woman. I would gladly and without pause vote for a woman for president. Some of the greatest leaders I ever worked for were women. Just can’t vote for this one because of who she, is not her gender. Has nothing to do with her race. I’m always proud when I see Black people elevate. I don’t just want any Black person. I don’t care about color when it comes to leadership. I just want the leader best capable to lead.

Sixth, meanwhile the border czar allowed millions of illegals to flood the nation. Sanctuary cities, caught in their virtue signaling, are going broke trying to deal with the people.

And, of course, average citizens are paying the price by being the victims of crime.

The New York Post reports:

Rape surges 11% in NYC — as bail reform, vulnerable migrants, depleted NYPD create perfect crime storm 

Seventh, remember all of the stories about how we are going to decouple from China-- and how we were going to onshore manufacturing. It is not a partisan issue, since Republicans and Democrats both believe that this is the best path to the future.

People who know something about the issues have tried to shed some light on the problem.

David Goldman quoted the chairman of Raytheon, for example:

"Greg Hayes, chief executive of Raytheon, said the company had 'several thousand suppliers in China and decoupling . . . is impossible.' 'We can de-risk but not decouple,' Hayes told the Financial Times in an interview, adding that he believed this to be the case 'for everybody.' 'Think about the $500bn of trade that goes from China to the US every year. More than 95 percent of rare earth materials or metals come from, or are processed in, China. There is no alternative,' said Hayes. 'If we had to pull out of China, it would take us many many years to re-establish that capability either domestically or in other friendly countries.'

Eighth, the Director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, has resigned.

One is heartened that the Congressional hearing yesterday saw a significant and solid unanimity of opinion. Strangely, the representatives were of one mind about Cheatle’s failures. 

Ninth, remember when the Biden administration declared that it was going to deal with the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Since this rogue Iranian proxy had shut down shipping in the Red Sea, the Biden administration declared that it was going to open it back up.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page brings us up to date.

The bombing exchange between the Houthis of Yemen and Israel over the weekend isn’t merely another military escalation in the Middle East. It represents the failure of the Biden Administration’s policy of appeasement to contain the Iran-backed Houthis as they terrorize commercial shipping in the Red Sea, Israel and the U.S. Navy.

The Biden Administration told Israel nine months ago that the U.S. would handle the Houthi threat and it should stick to playing defense. But the attack on Tel Aviv shows that the U.S. effort is a bust.

The Houthis have all but shut down Western shipping in the Red Sea, at enormous cost to global businesses and consumers. They continue to attack U.S. naval vessels, which have been forced to play a high-stakes game of catch the drones and missiles. That one or more haven’t killed sailors and damaged ships is a tribute to U.S. naval training and technology. But sooner or later one might get through and result in American casualties.

But, the weak and feeble Biden administration is afraid of offending Iran, and surely afraid of undermining their great hope, for a nuclear deal.

So, they have gone soft. They have appeased. Only the Israelis stood up to Yemen.

They know Iran is the Houthis’ supplier and terror master, and that the U.S. would have to hurt Iran militarily to make enough of a deterrent impression. That would probably mean sinking much of Iran’s navy. Mr. Biden and his political advisers are afraid such a U.S. response would lead to Iranian escalation and more fighting before the U.S. election.

Tenth, from the satirical Babylon Bee, an obvious point that everyone has been making:

Donald Trump Will Destroy Democracy,' Says Party Nominating Candidate No One Voted For 

Then again, if you believed the hype about threats to democracy you deserve whatever opprobrium you receive.

Eleventh, as for the qualifications that cackling Kamala brings to the job-- count this: no one wants to work for her. Staff turnover at her office is apparently a world record.

Open the Books site offers this:

That’s not hyperbole from the national media. Our auditors at OpenTheBooks quantified an extraordinarily high 91.5-percent staff turnover rate. We used U.S. Senate disclosures to conduct our investigation and those databases can be downloaded below.

Elected in November 2020, Harris took the oath of office in January 2021. As of March 31, 2024, only four of the initial 47 staffers from the first year are still employed – consistently and without interruption – by the Vice President.

Furthermore, the turnover chaos isn’t getting better. In the trailing 12-month period, 24 staffers left — that’s almost half the employees.

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