When Stupid People Launder Money

1/13/23 New York Post reports on Hunter Biden renting his father's house for $50,000 per month and paying half his income to cover Joe's bills.  That's 10% for the Big Guy.

Some years ago, a Republican Congressman from California sold his house at an absurdly high price to a defense contractor executive.   He was caught and sent to prison for taking a bribe.   Will any Democrat be concerned about this?

Leader of the Free World

4/14/22 New York Post has video of Biden trying to shake hands with someone not there.  But no mean tweets!

Wow! Buyer's Remorse?

MrcTV is quoting BLM that Biden is sending more military equipment to police departments than Trump did 

Of course, Trump was a racist!  Everyone who mattered knew that.

Shocking Performance

 I kept reading comments about how badly Biden's first press conference went.  I watched it.  I wonder if what we saw during the campaign was stress (which can aggravated Alzheimer's) and how much was waiting for a good day for him.

To my utter surprise, after claiming that the large number of unaccompanied minors was not because of him, a female Hispanic reporter described calling the mother of this kid who had walked from Honduras to illegally enter the U.S.; the mother told the reporter that she sent him on his way because of Biden.  Biden handled being contradicted much better than I expected.  It was not all flawless speaking, of course, but who is, in that situation.  He also emphasized that most illegals are still being deported.

Of course, he blamed Trump for shutting down facilities for unaccompanied minors, claiming Trump left them in Mexico to starve.  Why did I not see coverage of that when Trump was President?  Were the news media too buddy-buddy with Trump?  Could it be that he closed those facilities because he successfully stopped the large scale illegal entry?

There was a mention by a reporter of North Korean resuming missile testing. Why has this received little coverage?

He did his best to dance around the filibuster question.  Apparently some Democrats want the rule changed for really important bills: gun bans.

I See Coverage of These Trump Parades

How do you find out about them?  If you hear of one planned for the Boise area, tell me.  The Jaguar will look a bit out of place surrounded by trucks and SUVs, but I still will be there.

Why Your Vote Matters -- Even in A Red or Blue State

 It is commonly believed that voting third party or even for a Democrat does not matter in Idaho.  The state is going to go for Trump, so if you think you are sending a message of disapproval by voting Libertarian or Democrat, it really does not matter.  

The spoil sports in 2016 made a big deal about Trump receiving a minority of the popular vote (just like Lincoln in 1860).  The same thing may happen again.  A majority popular vote (not just a majority electoral vote) will take away that talking whining point.

Just Like Last Time: Why I Knew Clinton Was Going to Lose

 The enthusiasm gap:

That's Senator Harris ascending the platform.  Purportedly from Fox Business but I cannot find it elsewhere.  Here at CSPAN. The applause wouldn't deafen an amoeba.

I Think the Debate Went Well Enough

The DJIA is up 1.67% so far today.  I did not watch it.  My wife could only handle about 5 minutes of Trump doing his NYC bombast to Biden's nonsense. 

About Trump's Taxes

Over at Monster Hunter Nation is a marvelous description of why our tax code is so messed up that even a billionaire could legally pay no taxes for several years.   With this riotous description of how tax accountants work:

Trump has those resources. I bet he’s got a room full of accountants, and their leader is probably a grizzled old CPA with an eye patch and a raven who sits on his shoulder. The raven also has an eye patch and an accounting degree. This man has wrestled bears, and he’s going to take advantage of every tax break in the US Code for his client, and do so gleefully, knowing that many of those laws were signed by Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

On the other side, you know damned good and well that the IRS has sent their most fearsome auditor against him. This man sold his soul to the devil, and then fined the devil for failing to list that soul as a depreciable asset. When he shows up to audit your company, he appears a flash of fire and brimstone, as a Finnish death metal band plays his theme song. He is an auditor bereft of mercy, compassion, or pity, and beneath his leathery wings serve a legion of IRS goblins, who will crawl into every nook and cranny of the Trump Corporation’s P&L looking for errors, and if a mouse so much as shits a turd large enough to unbalance that ledger, there will be hell to pay. 

Why Joe Biden Will Not Be President Even If Elected

 Cannot seem to find it with Blogger YouTube Video Search, but you can watch it directly here.  Yes, he says 200 million will have died of COVID-19 by the time he "finishes this talk."  I guess this problem is worse than I thought.  I feel sorry for him, but there is no reason this guy should be allowed any decision more complicated than "Do these LEGO blocks go together?"

Was Trump on the Lolita Express?

 Another popular leftist belief.  I grabbed the first 10 articles on news.google.com with Trump and "Lolita Express" in them.  The first that mentions both (other than PR for the next offensive Borat movie), is.#2:

Bill Clinton

Obvious, but still needs to be stated. Bill Clinton was a very close friend of Epstein’s back in the day, constantly attending fundraisers and going on international trips with the mogul. None that we know of while he was president, but it’s still important to acknowledge the power and out of office president can still have. 

While he does appear on the Lolita Express logs, he technically is never shown flying to Little St. James, or Epstein Island. He flew to multiple other cities with Epstein aboard his private jet, and even took a trip to Africa, but never to the Caribbean. He has allegedly had interactions with some of Epstein’s victims, though Clinton denies knowing anything about the sex trafficking activities. 

Donald Trump

The current US president was in similar circles as Epstein back in the day, so it’s no surprise Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump became close. Epstein spent a good amount of time at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and allegedly would recruit girls for his sex trafficking circle from Trump’s employees. 

While Trump’s contact info was in the little black book, it seemed more casual than anything else. Trump never flew on Epstein’s plane, and there’s no connection to the president being on Epstein’s island at all.

#4:

From property brothers to property rivals

In 2004, a mansion called Maison De L’amitie, ironically translating to House of Friendship, went up for sale in Palm Beach. Being a lucrative property, both real estate baron Donald Trump and investor Jeffrey Epstein had their eyes on the prize. 

The bidding war began. It nearly ended their friendship, with each accusing the other of not having enough money. Donald Trump even banned Jeffrey Epstein from Mar-a-Lago. The ban was because Epstein was being inappropriate with a guest’s underage daughter. 

The friendship was well over by 2008 after Jeffrey Epstein was found guilty of soliciting a prostitute and soliciting a minor. Donald Trump now denies that he and Epstein were ever friends. According to a 2018 interview with Miami attorney Bradley Edwards, a prosecutor in the Epstein case, Trump was more than willing to discuss details with him about Epstein.

#5: no such claim.

#6:

Clinton took over two dozen trips on Epstein’s Boeing 727 airborne sex den dubbed “The Lolita Express” to the island the locals referred to as “pedo island” and “orgy island.”

The man wagged his finger in the faces of Americans and lied that “he did not have sexual relations with that woman.” But we all know the truth in that lie with his impeachment and loss of his law license.

 #7 claims:

Epstein and Trump were friends for years, with the latter flying the president on his private plane — nicknamed the “Lolita Express” — and Trump once telling New York Magazine he considered Epstein a “terrific guy.” They allegedly fell out in 2004 — before federal investigators started looking into Epstein the first time — over a real-estate purchase. Trump has since clarified that he was “not a fan” of Epstein’s, but Maxwell? He continues to wish her well.

It seems to be a style publication--hardly deep journalism.

 #8 is a redirect to a site infected  with malware and porn.

#9:

The flight logs of his "Lolita Express" private jet contain many of the same names (Bill Clinton appears on the logs over a dozen times).

Epstein's "little black book" of contacts has over 1,000 names, reports Bloomberg: "including Ralph Fiennes, Alec Baldwin, David Blaine, Jimmy Buffett and Courtney Love; media figures including Charlie Rose, Mike Wallace and Barbara Walters; former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, former British prime minister Tony Blair, industrialist David Koch and the late Salomon Brothers Chief Executive Officer John Gutfreund and his wife, Susan," in addition to Clinton and Trump.

The article tries hard to blame Trump for Epstein's "suicide" but never claims Trump flew with him.

#10 New York Magazine Intelligencer:

Underage Girls, to Her Knowledge

One of the unsealed documents is a deposition of Giuffre in which she says Maxwell directed her to have sex with Britain’s Prince Andrew and former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, among other prominent men. (Buckingham Palace has put out a statement denying this. Richardson’s spokesperson also denied this in a statement to CNBC, saying, “These allegations and inferences are completely false.”)

In a partial transcript of her deposition on November 14, 2016, Giuffre is asked to identify errors in statements attributed to her by reporter Sharon Churcher. Giuffre put check marks next to a handful of claims on a list, indicating that she took issue with them. She put a check next to this statement: “Donald Trump was also a good friend of Jeffrey’s. He didn’t partake in any sex with any of us but he flirted with me. He’d laugh and tell Jeffrey, ‘you’ve got the life.’”

The article quotes Giuffre that she never saw Trump and Epstein together or Trump at an Epstein property. It also says Trump flew on Epstein's plane at least once. 

You would think if this was so clearly true it would appear in many articles not just magazine and one style magazine, and not be contradicted by other sources.  This would be big news.

You can see why Trump is down on fake news.  Two of 10 sources make this claim, only one of which could qualify as news.  Multiple sources either make no mention of this supposed fact or reject its factuality.

Daily Mail mentions Trump might be called as a witness:

An unnamed woman is suing Jeffrey Epstein's estate and claims that he took her to Mar-a-Lago when she was 14 and was showed to Donald Trump

She claims Epstein 'playfully' elbowed Trump and said: 'This is a good one, right?' during the introduction

There is no suggestion Trump knew she was underage or was involved in any abuse 

The unnamed woman claims she was the late pedophile's 'guinea pig' and named Trump as a possible witness to Epstein's years of abuse

 

What Trump Really Said

 He did not say to vote twice.  9/5/20 CNN:

In a North Carolina "telerally" Friday night, which was later posted on Facebook, Trump spent the first few minutes of the call explaining in detail how he wanted his voters to vote. If they vote by mail, they should go to their polling place anyway to "see whether or not your mail-in vote has been tabulated or counted," Trump said, noting that if it's been counted, they won't be able to vote.

Remember When Reagan's Speech Mistakes Were Signs That He Was Stupid or Too Old?

 9/10/20 New York Post:

Joe Biden fumbled the number of military members that died from the coronavirus during a campaign stop in Michigan on Wednesday.

The Democratic presidential candidate was in Warren, Mich. when he misspoke and said that over 6,000 U.S. military members have died from Covid-19.

The Biden campaign told Fox News that the former vice president cited the number of confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19 in Michigan as being the numbers for the military, saying the armed forces had seen 118,984 cases and 6,114 deaths....

In June, Biden incorrectly said 120 million people in the country had died from the coronavirus. At the time the number was about 120,000.

The Trump campaign had used that slip-up as evidence that the Democratic candidate was “confused” and “not playing with a full deck.”

 Gee, if you knew that there are 320 million Americans, you would not make that mistake.  No wonder the Democrats, the innumeracy party, is behaving like COVID-19 is a Black Death level of problem.

Refusing to Concede in November

 Powerlineblog points that the Democrats have this fantasy that Trump will refuse to accept defeat.  (Like they did in 2016?)  But the 12th Amendment defines the procedure pretty clearly:

The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice.

Every state gets one vote.  While Democrats have a majority of Representatives right now, if you group them by state, how many states are majority Democrat Representatives and how many majority Republican Representatives?  Much of the Democrat majority in the House are high population states like California and New York, where having most of them being Democrat assures only that state of picking Biden.  But the total number of Representatives is very close to the number of Electoral votes.  Has anyone added up the number of D and R Representatives by state?  I suspect that the preponderance of Democrats in single states will make a House vote a Trump victory, with predictable ranting about Trump stealing the election.

One of you clever people noticed:

The Twelfth Amendment mandates Congress assemble in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the election.^[106] The session is ordinarily required to take place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors.^[107] Since the Twentieth Amendment, the newly elected Congress declares the winner of the election; all elections before 1936 were determined by the outgoing House.

So a Republican sweep of Congress, which I expect, would still likely put Trump back in office and Nancy Pelosi in apoplexy.

Small Dead Animals Ran a Captioning Contest

 Here.

Read the other suggestions.  Awesomely funny.

When the Klan Did (And Rarely Still Does) Burn a Cross on Someone's Lawn

 It was a form of terrorism.  Move out or else!  (If you were a Unitarian, the joke went "They burn a question mark.")  But what does this say about the Democratic Party's commitment to respectful disagreement?  8/28/20 Newsweek:

The clip, shared on Twitter by a reporter for conservative-leaning outlet the Daily Caller, shows a life-sized Trump doll with its head through a guillotine. Protestors dressed the doll up to wear a prisoner's jumpsuit, a straightjacket and the sort of mouth-covering mask made famous by the character Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. The Daily Caller reporter said that there was a piece of paper on the presidential effigy that read "Fascist, Rapist, Criminal."

Oh, that's right, the Klan was the Democratic Party.  A burning cross was not a direct threat, unlike this.  As many others have pointed out, if Trump was a fascist, these clever people would already have joined the "disappeared." 

Divisive Hatred

 8/22/20 WDEL.  Where Donald Trump takes you in a world of haters.

A Very Important Endorsement

 8/24/20 PJMedia reports that the organizer of the Charlottesville tiki torch parade has endorsed... Joe Biden.

I plan to vote for Biden and a straight democratic ticket. It’s not based on “accelerationism” or anything like that; the liberals are clearly more competent people.

White supremacists are clearly not very bright. Endorsing Slow Joe makes perfect sense. 

Rioting is Contraindicated

 8/24/20 Gallup:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the Republican convention gets underway, recent Gallup polling finds the GOP still trailing Democrats in U.S. adults' party affiliation but not nearly to the degree it did in June. The Democratic advantage over the Republican Party, which was an unusually large 11-percentage-points in June, is now six points. Though smaller, the current gap remains larger than it was in any of the first five months of the year.

Democrat registration has exceeded Republican registration as long as I can remember.  But Republicans still win the Presidency and control of Congress for several reasons:

1. Republicans turn out to vote, not riot.

2. Much of Democratic registration is cultural.  If your family has been registering Democrat since they arrived at Ellis Island or since Dr. King's assassination, it is a hard change.  If you have lived in the same rent-controlled apartment for decades, your registration is unlikely to have changed.

3. Get out the vote drives are less successful in cemeteries than you might expect.

4. A surprising number of Democrats cross party lines.  The "Reagan Democrats" voted for him for the same reason many voted for Trump: constantly being told that your race makes you an oppressor is not a way to make people like; many Democrats are sufficiently socially conservative that gay marriage and transgender bathrooms generate distaste, not support; "gun control" means proper aim; abortion remains a negative, even among Americans who call themselves "pro-choice."

Washington Post Article About Voter Fraud

 8/22/20 Washington Post has a long and interesting article about a largescale attempt to throw the 1864 election to the Democratic candidate George McClellan by mail-in voter fraud.  Reading the comments by WP readers is a riot.  They attempt to shift blame for this to conservatives, and seem unaware that McClellan was a Democrat.  They also portray Trump as a tyrant for being concerned about voter fraud.  The level of self-delusion never ceases to amaze me.