In The Mailbox: 08.11.22
Posted on | August 12, 2022 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 08.11.22
— compiled by Wombat-socho
Silicon Valley delenda est.
OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: NPR Vs. Single Mom & Gun Owner
EBL: Las Vegas Smoke Shop Owner Defends Himself From Robbery, also, Leave The Monkey Alone! [But Peter Gabriel says differently.]
Twitchy: The Memo Went Out, also, Matt Yglesias Takes On Noam Blum Over Biden’s “0% Inflation” Claim, Gets Rekt
Louder With Crowder: Watch: Kari Lake calls for the complete disbanding of the FBI
Vox Popoli: Hypergamouse is Real, The Rules of Trolling, and Depopulation Vectors
RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: Family Breakdown and the Ohio Abortion Story
American Greatness: For the Rule of Law to Reign, the Bureau Must Be Destroyed, also, Trump-Endorsed Joe Kent Defeats Pro-Impeachment Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in Primary
American Power: Attorney General Merrick Garland Approved Decision to Seek Search Warrant for Mar-a-Lago
American Thinker: The Lockdowns and Mandates Emboldened the Ruling Class and Led to the Raid on Mar-a-Lago, also, The Federal Government Refuses to Listen
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Banana Republic News
Babalu Blog: As worst fire in Cuban history rages, buildings collapse in Havana (part two), ‘Patria y Vida’: Fighting communist oppression in Cuba with song, and An apparition appears in the smoke rising from a burning Cuba
BattleSwarm: Russians Fleeing Crimea
Behind The Black: SpaceX gets FCC communications license for Starship orbital launch, ISRO successfully tests engines for Gaganyaan manned launch abort system, and A union official’s opinion of blacklisting: “I am all about targeted assassinations.”
Cafe Hayek: On Smith and Marx
CDR Salamander: Diversity Thursday
Chicago Boyz: Things Missing – Supply Chain and Groceries, also, The Raid on Mar-a-Lago
Da Tech Guy: DaTechGuy’s Spontaneous Podcast, also, The FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago can be an effective rallying cry if we’re intelligent about it
Don Surber: Trump 180, Liz 20, also, How to end the FBI
First Street Journal: When it comes to #VaccineMandates the maintenance of dictatorial power is far more important than the effectiveness of the vaccines!, also, Several previously convicted sex offenders arrested in Lexington for parole violations
Gates Of Vienna: “Youths” Get Rambunctious in Saint-Denis, When Lobbyists Rule, The Year is 2030, and Dare to be Stupid
The Geller Report: Trump-Backed Candidates Sweep Board Day After FBI Raids Mar-A-Lago, PV Undercover: Sen. Lisa Murkowski Secret Support of Ranked Voting EXPOSED, and Mar-a-Lago Security Cameras Captured FBI Agents Behaving Improperly
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, also, Found a PeVatron
Hollywood In Toto: National Lampoon Squeezes IP for NFTs After Woke Podcast Bust, Emily the Criminal Plays Victimhood Violin, and Biden’s Biggest Failure Getting HBO Closeup with Escape from Kabul
The Lid: Poll: Most Americans Worried About Biden’s Mental Health
Legal Insurrection: Remember How They Suppressed Hunter’s Laptop Story? Twitter Announces Midterms Crackdown On “Misleading” Election Claims, Study Finds Diversity and Inclusion Efforts Haven’t Improved Graduation Rates for Students of Color, and Biden Admin Keeps Contradicting Itself on Targets of the New IRS Audits
Nebraska Energy Observer: I know. I know.
Outkick: Antonio Brown Speaks In Third Person, Compares Himself To Jesus In Wild Statement, John Calipari: Kentucky Is A Basketball School; Football Coach Mark Stoops Responds, Field Of Dreams Game Sparks Harry Caray Hologram Rumor, and 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan Irked By Pointless NFL Hat Rule
Power Line: Trump From Here: “A Nation in Decline”, What were once raids are now searches, and Britain Goes Into Shutdown Mode
Shark Tank: DeSantis Announces Five-Year Temporary Teaching Certificate For Veterans
Shot In The Dark: Our Betters Know It, also, Prominent By Its Absence
STUMP: Meep’s Data Visualization Evolution: Tile Grid Maps
The Political Hat: The Perpetual Woke Revision Of The Newspeak Dictionary
This Ain’t Hell: Units to lose Confederate battle streamers, Space Force wants wearable fitness trackers. What could go wrong?, and SCOTUS to hear Affirmative Action Cases against Harvard, UNC
Transterrestrial Musings: The Ukrainian Counteroffensive, The “Climate Emergency”, and My Space Podcast
Victory Girls: Judge Reinhart Recused Self from Trump-Clinton Suit, also, Garland Personally Ok’d Warrant, Whines About Attacks On DOJ “Integrity”
Volokh Conspiracy: FIRE Challenges College Removal of Posters Criticizing “Leftist Ideas,” Restriction of Anti-Abortion Flyers
Watts Up With That: Why Red Meat Negative Health Claims are False, also, WSJ and Lomborg show just how useless the “Inflation Reduction Act” is at tackling climate
Weasel Zippers: MAGA-World Most Determined To Vote In 2022/2024 Since FBI Raid, Good News? Everything But Gas Is Still Massively More Expensive, and Poll: 60% Of Latino Voters Say The Country Is On The Wrong Track
The Federalist: Christian Nationalism Is Biblical And America-First, But It’s Not White, What The Ukraine War Revealed About The World’s Fragile Food Supply Chains, Democratic Operatives Control Voter Rolls In 31 States, Report Shows, and Missouri AG Sends Letter To IRS Demanding Army Of New Agents Back Off
Mark Steyn: Cracks in the Groupthink, Obama’s Third Term, and Chinese Water Torture
The Hazards of Army Life
Posted on | August 11, 2022 | Comments Off on The Hazards of Army Life

My Army son, now a sergeant first class, recently transferred to Alaska, where he’s part of the new 11th Airborne Division. Besides leading a platoon in the “Arctic Angels,” my son’s also enjoying the Alaska wildlife, catching gigantic salmon at Willow Creek. While his new assignment has been pleasant so far, he called last night to talk to my wife about what happened this week at his previous assignment, Camp Merrill near Dahlonega, Georgia. That’s where he served as a training sergeant for Mountain Phase of Army Ranger School. Two trainees, 2nd Lt. Evan Fitzgibbon and Staff Sgt. George Taber, were killed when a tree fell on a group of five soldiers in a “weather-related incident” Tuesday.

2nd Lt. Evan Fitzgibbon; Staff Sgt. George Taber
This was such a freak accident — a tree blown down during a sudden storm up on Yonah Mountain — that it’s probably unprecedented, and yet there are two soldiers dead, and another seriously injured, as a result. Training-related deaths are not an insignificant risk in a hazardous occupation. Last year, the Army lost 20 troops in training accidents, down from 24 in 2020. The two soldiers killed in Tuesday’s incident were obviously excellent troops, or they wouldn’t have been in Ranger School. Both of them were from Florida. Taber was a five-year veteran from Glen St. Mary who served as a Special Forces medic, while Fitzgibbon was a West Point alumnus from Winter Garden. And while of course their deaths are mourned most deeply by their family and friends, the entire nation has suffered a loss. In case you weren’t aware, the military has been suffering a recruiting crisis the past year, and the Army could ill afford to lose two top-quality men like this. For our family, of course, such a loss hit rather too close to home, and makes us conscious of what risks attend our son’s service. Pray for our troops.
In The Mailbox: 08.10.22
Posted on | August 11, 2022 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 08.10.22
— compiled by Wombat-socho
Silicon Valley delenda est.
OVER THE TRANSOM
Ninety Miles From Tyranny: The 90 Miles Mystery Video – Nyctophilia Edition #1105
EBL: Judith Durham & Lamont Dozier RIP, Where the Truth Lies, and It wasn’t Merrick Garland, it was Christopher Wray?
Twitchy: Think The IRS Is Fair & Reasonable? also, The Mar-A-Lago Raid Was Supposed To Be Low-Profile
Louder With Crowder: IRS is hiring some of those 87000 jobs, you just need to be comfortable with firearms and using deadly force, also, Watch as these three teachers demonstrate exactly why you shouldn’t trust your children to the public schools
Vox Popoli: The First Rule of Ticket-Taking, The De-Comicization of DC, and Was Mar-A-Lago a Trap?
RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: The Meaning of the Raid on Mar-a-Lago, The Ugliness of Everything, and A Lament for the Monasteries
American Greatness: Survey: 8 in 10 Americans Believe U.S. has Two-Tiered Justice System, also, What to Expect If the 2024 Election Is Trump vs. Newsom
American Power: The FBI’s Mar-a-Lago ‘Raid’ is About the Capitol Riot, Not the Mishandling of Classified Information, also, End of the Republic
American Thinker: Donald Trump Must Be The 2024 Republican Nominee
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Hump Day News
Babalu Blog: Protests against power blackouts keep spreading throughout Cuba, Monster fire in Cuba still out of control: Fourth oil storage tank explodes, and Cuban apartheid update: No power blackouts or food shortages for tourists
BattleSwarm: Russian Airbase In Crimea Goes Boom, also, Is China Buying Texas Land?
Behind The Black: SpaceX successfully launches 52 more Starlink satellites, UK regulators to investigate Viasat-Inmarsat merger, and Today’s blacklisted American
Cafe Hayek: “Smart people, smart process”, On the Great Barrington Declaration, and Two Benjamins on Export Restrictions
CDR Salamander: Overspec’d, Overpriced, all Navy: Bob Work on Institutional Addictions, also, Saki’s Lessons for WESTPAC
Chicago Boyz: The End of Debate?, also, Tech
Da Tech Guy: I Have One Question To All Of you Who Still Insist the Last Election Was on the Up and Up, AARP: A bad deal from a bad group, and Five More Under the Fedora Thoughts on the Raid on Donald Trump’s House
Don Surber: Kane takes on ABC, CBS and NBC — and wins, also, Price of eggs and the FBI
First Street Journal: How can anyone expect government action on the economy to work when so many politicians are economically ignorant?, also, Congratulations to Jim Kenney!
Gates Of Vienna: Buddy, Can You Spare a Euro?, Mask Up, Eat the Bugs, Wear Two Sweaters, and Get Boosted Every Three Months, A Naval Blockade to Keep the Invaders Out of Italy?, and Does Klaboosterbach Have a Screw Loose?
The Geller Report: Jeffrey Epstein’s Lawyer Is The Judge Who Signed Sealed Warrant for Trump Raid, VICTORY! Trump-Endorsed Joe Kent DEFEATS Pro-Impeachment RINO To Advance To November, and Tim Michels Prevails in Battleground Wisconsin’s GOP Gubernatorial Primary Against Pence RINO
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, Supernova SN2021afdx, and Well, If 2 + 2 = 5…
Hollywood In Toto: Rafelson’s Black Widow – An ’80s Thriller for Grown-Ups, Woke USA Today Gives Unfunny Lecture on Modern Comedy, and We Need Beavis and Butt-Head Now More Than Ever
The Lid: Tax Credit for Electric Vehicles Don’t Apply to Most New EVs- Their Fossil Fuel Efficiency Is Overrated
Legal Insurrection: Ex-NY Gov. Cuomo: ‘DOJ Must Immediately Explain the Reason for Its Raid’ of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Something’s Happening Here: Feds Seize Cell Phone Of Trump Ally House Rep Scott Perry Day After Mar-a-Lago Raid, The Left is Now Desperately Trying to Change the Meaning of the Word ‘Raid’, and Pro-Antifa High School Teacher in California Gets Paid to Resign
Michelle Malkin: FBI: Feds Behaving Incorrigibly
Nebraska Energy Observer: Banana Republic
Outkick: Irish Rugby League Bans Transgender Athletes From Competing in Women’s League, Washington State Coach Fired Over Vaccine Mandate Files Wrongful Termination Claim, David Feherty Gets Honest, Says Money And Cancel Culture Pushed Him To Join LIV Golf, and Cam Smith Reportedly Signs With LIV Golf For Over $100 Million, Offers ‘No Comment’ When Asked About It
Power Line: Most Transparent Lie of the Day, Today’s Energy Tutorial, Mayor Frey on Ilhan Omar, and Ben & Jerry’s Forced to Swallow Some of Their Own Fat
Shark Tank: Scott Demands Inquiry Into Red Chinese Influence On The Fed
Shot In The Dark: Victory Celebration, also, Ray Of Hopelessness
STUMP: Taxing Tuesday: A Retrospective of Stupid Tax Policy – Soda taxes, Amazon tax, SALT cap
The Political Hat: Won’t Someone Ride Us Of These Meddlesome Climate Deniers?, also, The White Racial Stain Of Cis-Genderism
This Ain’t Hell: National Guard facing 40,000 member shortage, Ft. Bragg Soldier and “Wife” Convicted of Sham Wedding, and Move Over Ultra-MAGA, Time for Dark Brandon
Transterrestrial Musings: The TWA Whistleblower, Subsidizing Electric Vehicles, and Progress In Boca Chica
Victory Girls: CNN: Burnett Tries To Play “Gotcha” On Mar-a-Lago Raid, also, Biden Redefines Numbers, Claims Zero Inflation
Volokh Conspiracy: Restoring the right to bear arms, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen
Watts Up With That: About the Newly Approved Nuclear Microreactor
Weasel Zippers: Pelosi: “China Is One Of The Freest Societies In The World”, Former Top NY Cop Says The Left May Try To Physically Hurt President Trump Now That Legal Matters Are All But Doomed, and Texas Sends 3 More Buses Full Of Illegals To NYC Days After Mayor Adams Threatens To “Visit Texas”
The Federalist: The 20 Republican Senators Who Voted To Confirm Merrick Garland Owe America An Apology, The White House Is Lying About Democrats’ Middle-Class Auditing Scheme, and 87,000 New IRS Agents Will Join Union That Gives 100% of PAC Funds to Democrats
Mark Steyn: Criminalizing Opposition in a Pseudo-Republic, also, It Takes a Village
Biden Was Wrong, Kirby Was Right: Albuquerque Muslim Murders Were Not — NOT — Motivated by ‘Hate’
Posted on | August 10, 2022 | Comments Off on Biden Was Wrong, Kirby Was Right: Albuquerque Muslim Murders Were Not — NOT — Motivated by ‘Hate’

My brother Kirby has a keen sense of probability. We were sitting outside our local convenience store having coffee on Sunday, when he started ranting about a story out of New Mexico to which I hadn’t paid attention. Four Muslim men had been murdered in the span of a few days, and President Biden (or, at least, whatever White House staffer is running his Twitter account) issued a statement condemning the “hateful attacks.” Kirby expressed doubt that this was some kind anti-Muslim hate crime. Why? All four victims were from the same mosque, Kirby pointed out, and it seemed to him that this was significant. Well, I said, we’ll wait and see. The killer couldn’t possibly get away with this, I said, because of ubiquitous video surveillance, so it probably wouldn’t be long until they announced an arrest. Oh, did you notice how Biden said he “stands strongly with the Muslim community”? Someone should ask him whether he stands with the Shi’ite Muslims or the Sunni Muslims, because Albuquerque police arrested a suspect Tuesday and — call it a hunch — but I don’t think Syed Muhammad is a MAGA-hat wearing Trump voter:

Police said Tuesday that they were investigating whether a string of murders that have shaken Albuquerque was motivated by a Sunni Muslim father’s anger over his daughter marrying a Shiite Muslim.
Muhammad Syed, 51, has been charged with the murders of two Muslim men in New Mexico’s largest city, and faces possible charges for the murders of two other Muslim men killed in the last nine months.
Authorities said in a press release that “the offender knew the victims to some extent, and an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings.”
Ahmad Assed, president of the city’s largest mosque, told The New York Times that authorities informed him the shooter is a Sunni Muslim who may have targeted the victims because he was angry over his daughter marrying a Shiite Muslim.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Albuquerque’s deputy chief, Kyle Hartsock, said police are still investigating the motive behind the slayings, but acknowledged the theory that Syed targeted victims because he was angry over his daughter’s marriage. “We’re not sure if that’s the only motivation,” Hartsock said, adding that they’re “still investigating it.”
The men killed have been identified as Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, Aftab Hussein, 41, and Naeem Hussain, 25.
Syed faces murder charges for the deaths of Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, police said Tuesday, and remains the prime suspect in the other two homicides. A gun traced back to two of the homicide scenes was found during a search of Syed’s home, authorities said. . . .
Syed is the only suspect being investigated as of Tuesday, Hartsock said. Authorities are not labeling him a “serial killer” and said that, at this point, they still do not believe the murders were a hate crime.
Syed is a native of Afghanistan who has lived in New Mexico the “last several years,” Hartsock said. He’s been arrested on domestic violence charges three times in recent years, but all the charges were eventually dropped. . . .
As police connected the four murders to a single shooter, authorities released a photo of a silver sedan they believed was driven by the suspect. On Tuesday, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina posted to Twitter just before 1 p.m. local time that the car had been found.
“We tracked down the vehicle believed to be involved in a recent murder of a Muslim man in Albuquerque,” Medina wrote. “The driver was detained and he is our primary suspect for the murders.”
Sherry Shafiq, a friend of Afzaal Hussain, told The Daily Beast he was relieved that the alleged killer was caught. Over the past few days, he said, his community was living in fear while a suspect was on the loose. Some Muslim residents stayed home or kept hyper-vigilant of their surroundings.
“It’s heartbreaking news,” Shafiq said. “It’s one of the community members. It was a possibility that had crossed our minds, but never in my wildest dreams would I imagine someone in the community would do such a heinous crime.”
He “can’t imagine” a Muslim committing “such a heinous crime” because vengeance and honor killings are unheard of in the Islamic community.
Somebody should tell Joe Biden he was wrong. Of course, he’s been so wrong about so many things, this isn’t really surprising.
In The Mailbox: 08.10.22 (Morning Edition)
Posted on | August 10, 2022 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 08.10.22 (Morning Edition)
— compiled by Wombat-socho
Silicon Valley delenda est.
OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Don’t Bring A Knife To A Gunfight
EBL: So what were the DOJ and FBI up to today?
Twitchy: “We’re Laughing At You, Not With You,” also, “Transgender State Of Refuge” Bill Advances To California Assembly floor
Louder With Crowder: Kanye sends Pete Davidson into ‘trauma therapy’ for making fun of his Kim Kardashian break-up
Vox Popoli: The Raid on Mar-A-Lago, Indefinite Exercises, and Filthbloods Die Faster
Stoic Observations: Black Class Over Racial Affinity
RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: The Failure in Uvalde Was Societal
American Greatness: Kevin McCarthy Vows Investigation of DOJ after Mar-a-Lago Raid
American Thinker: Joe Manchin May Have Just Cooked His Own Goose
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Believe It When I See It News
Babalu Blog: Cuban oil depot fire intensifies, inferno still out of control
BattleSwarm: Harris County Really Doesn’t Want Vote Audits
Behind The Black: Northrop Grumman partners with Firefly to make Antares entirely U.S. made, Debris from Russian anti-sat test causing numerous near Starlink collisions, and The Democratic Party of thugs and goons
Cafe Hayek: National Conservatives Demand the Economic Equivalent of a Square Circle, In Praise of Liberalism, and Economic Competition Is Not a Tort; Its Costs are Internalized By the Market Process
CDR Salamander: China to the Slot
Chicago Boyz: F*** you. Shut up.
Da Tech Guy: When the Biden White House calls on “experts” to support its agenda, watch your wallet, Report from Louisiana: Random Thoughts in a Transitional Week, and Who needs to teach Kids to read in Lawrence When You Can Teach them About the Evils of Whiteness?
Don Surber: NYT upset that Republicans win, Raid Trump? DeSantis is the next man up, and Even Andrew Cuomo sees the FBI abuse
Gates Of Vienna: Talking to the Elephants, They’ve Got a Ticket to Ride, And They Don’t Care!, Stop Me Before I Fart Again!, and Syrian Mujahideen Arrested in Austria and Spain
The Geller Report: FBI And DOJ Criminalizing Opposition To The Regime Is How The Republic Ends, also, Hopelessness is all the Democrats have left
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, Water on the Moon, The Twenty-Four Hour Rule, and Proper Resource Allocation
Hollywood In Toto: Winners, Losers of 2022’s Summer Movies (And 1 Question Mark), Off Limits – A Conservative Assault on Late Night Clapter, and What’s Missing from the James Franco/Fidel Castro Debate
Legal Insurrection: Rhode Island School District Encourages Entire Town to Report Violations of ‘Anti-Racist’ Policy, Gibson’s Bakery Will Have to Wait To Collect, and NYPD Cops Quitting Before They Qualify for Pensions
Nebraska Energy Observer: Part Three of three
Outkick: ESPN Is In Huge Trouble With The Big Ten’s New Media Deal, Russell Wilson’s Hair Mousse Rubs Channing Crowder Wrong Way, Minor League Team Held Seinfeld-Themed ‘Elaine’ Dance Contest, and Serena Williams Announces Pending Retirement
Power Line: A simple desultory philippic
Shark Tank: Fried Accuses DeSantis Of “Defending Donald Trump Instead Of The Rule Of Law”
Shot In The Dark: Due Process, also, I’m Curious
STUMP: Meep and Media: Podcasts and Videos – Sumo, Fraud, and Math, oh my!
The Political Hat: Out: Academic Freedom. In: Academic Liberation By Woke Groupthink
This Ain’t Hell: Military Monkeypox Cases Increase x10!, Medal of Honor awardee Simanek passes on. Only 2 from Korea remain, and Milley resignation letter cited in upcoming book
Transterrestrial Musings: The Manual Transmission
Victory Girls: Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Raided By Partisan FBI
Volokh Conspiracy: Removal of Books With “Lascivious Content” from School Libraries Likely Constitutionally Permissible, also, Can Portions of States Secede from Those States?
Watts Up With That: Big Wind/Solar Roll Taxpayers, Landscape
Weasel Zippers: WATCH: Trump Campaign-Style Video After Mar-A-Lago Raid “The Best Is Yet To Come…”, ABC Poll: 69% Of Americans Say Biden’s Economy Is Getting Worse, and WH Accuses Texas Gov. Abbott Of Using Illegal Immigrants As “Political Pawns”
The Federalist: FBI Raid On Trump Confirms The Security State Picks Who Americans Are Allowed To Vote For, LGBT Activism In Sports Is Increasingly Forcing Christians Off The Field, and Public Schools Have No One But Themselves To Blame For Enrollment Drops
Mark Steyn: Motown Mo’ Times, also, The Return of Interest
The Persecution of Donald Trump
Posted on | August 9, 2022 | Comments Off on The Persecution of Donald Trump

Democrats impeached him twice, but that wasn’t enough:
Former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, Mar-A-Lago, was raided by FBI agents, Trump announced in a statement on Monday.
“These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar- A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump said. “Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.”
Trump noted his previous cooperation with law enforcement and called the FBI raid of his home “prosecutorial misconduct.” Trump also said it is an example of “the weaponization of the Justice System who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.” . . .
Eric Trump said on FNC’s Hannity Show tonight, “That’s what this is about today. To have 30 FBI agents, actually, more than that descend on Mar-a-Lago, give absolutely, you know, no notice, go through the gates, start ransacking an office, ransacking a closet. You know, they broke into a safe. He didn’t even have anything in the safe. I mean, give me a break. And this is coming from, what, the national archives? Yet Hunter Biden, he’s did firearms crimes, illegal drugs, you know, shady deals with everybody around the world. By the way, it’s all on his laptop for the whole world to see, in his own writing, in his own words. Where are these FBI agents? Where is everybody? Why is it that the arrows only fly at Donald Trump and his family? Why is it that the political persecution only goes one way in this country?”
"Mar-A-Lago 'under siege, raided, occupied' by FBI agents, Trump says"
Americans live in a banana republic run by people who are sick and evil https://t.co/Wg6cePuOA4
— Pedro L. Gonzalez (@emeriticus) August 8, 2022
So if the Biden White House is now claiming that they had no idea this historic raid on the home of a past President was happening… that means that they're admitting there are people in FBI/DOJ that are more powerful than the White House or even the President himself.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) August 9, 2022
DeSANTIS: "The raid of [Mar-a-Lago] is another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves." https://t.co/NUFML2NxjF pic.twitter.com/aUChePZwo8
— Newsmax (@newsmax) August 9, 2022
Professor William Jacobson is almost certainly correct: “This is a provocation. They are trying to get a reaction that allows a further crackdown. Don’t take the bait.” Democrats desperately want to turn the November midterms into a referendum on Trump, and this raid is part of that political strategy. Joy Pullman observes: “We’re watching federal agencies use their powers not to catch criminals but to criminalize peaceful political views and actions. We’re witnessing a growing campaign to lock people up for their opposition to the ruling political party, which is not only profoundly un-American but profoundly dangerous societally.” And in the name of “deficit reduction,” Democrats just passed a bill that gives the Internal Revenue Service $80 billion to hire 87,000 new IRS agents. Because nothing reduces inflation like hiring tens of thousands of new government agents to harass taxpayers.
You might recognize the source of that quote.
In The Mailbox: 08.08.22
Posted on | August 9, 2022 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 08.08.22
— compiled by Wombat-socho
Silicon Valley delenda est.
Wendell’s cousin Lipton.
OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: What’s The Carbon Footprint Of An Apartment Fire?
EBL: Lived Because Of Hiroshima, Biggest Loser, and Olivia Newton-John, RIP
Twitchy: “A Disgrace!”, also, THIS Is An Actual Threat To Democracy
Louder With Crowder: Billion-dollar MegaMillions winner gets harsh lesson in taxes, Elon Musk challenges Parag Agrawal to debate about fake Twitter accounts, and Chris Pratt gets last laugh on woke critics of his new show
Vox Popoli: The Daily Kabuki, Natural Immunity FTW, An Absence of Sanctions, and The Fall of NATO
RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: Hey Viktor, What Time Is It?, also, The Torn-Apart Land
American Greatness: Nancy Pelosi’s Childlike Diplomacy Mirrors America’s Childlike Posture Toward China, also, Wyoming Voters ‘Upset’ After Liz Cheney’s Campaign Sends Out Absentee Ballot Request Forms To Their Homes
American Power: Despite Climate Bill, Electric Cars Will Remain Out of Reach for Many, also, Unmask Alice Cracks Open Story of Wildly Successful Literary Hoax
American Thinker: Increasing The IRS Annual Budget By Seven Times Doesn’t Add Up, also, The TWA 800 Whistleblower Is Legit
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday (Number 400! Woo!)
Babalu Blog: Hundreds of Cubans stage public protest over power blackouts in Cienfuegos, As anti-government sentiment grows in Cuba, anti-Díaz-Canel graffiti pops up everywhere, Cuban military is recruiting and training squadron leaders for repression of imminent popular uprising, and Cuba fire update: Third oil storage tank collapses, firefighters still missing
BattleSwarm: Top Chinese Chip Executives Arrested, also, Ukraine Export Deal: Too Little, Too Late
Behind The Black: FCC decides to expand its power in space, India’s new SSLV rocket fails on first launch attempt, and Today’s blacklisted American: Doctor jailed for entering Capitol on Jan 6 and expressing opinions
Cafe Hayek: National Conservatives Should Learn Some Economics, More on the Dangers of National Conservatism, and Calling Mark Perry
CDR Salamander: Fullbore Friday, also, China’s Decade to Win with Jim Fanell – on Midrats
Chicago Boyz: Speaking of Resilience and Renewal
Da Tech Guy: We Interrupt My planned Post Today to Second Stacy McCain’s call for people to give Lisa Grass a hand with her Cancer Treatments, The Navy’s poor poker face on manpower, and The Biden/Soros Left Finds the Solution to Illegal Immigration Crisis
Don Surber: To regain trust, ditch the editorial page, NPR, that was the plan, and Civil rights did not flip the South
First Street Journal: Telling the unvarnished truth about #Monkeypox verboten!, also, No sense letting this guy plead down; he obviously likes jail!
Gates Of Vienna: Heap Big Trouble for Those WAYCIST Germans, Nice Non-Work If You Can Get It, Do Not Be One of the Kulaks of the Great Reset!, and China Won’t Be Here for Long
The Geller Report: Jabbed Athletes Die Suddenly, Gestapo-Style FBI ‘Raided and Occupied’ Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Resort and Home, Broke Into Safe, Parents File ‘Blockbuster Lawsuit’ for ‘Moral Corruption of Children’ Against Virginia’s Loudoun County Schools, and BREAKING: Crowds Arrive at Mar-a-Lago In Support For President Trump After News Broke of FBI’s Raid On Him
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, The Little Gem Nebula, and Science Deniers
Hollywood In Toto: They/Them – Scare-Free Horror Triples Down on Woke, Can Woke Hollywood Survive Biden’s Recession?, and Louis C.K.’s Fourth of July Delivers First-Rate Dysfunction
The Lid: Indianapolis Homeowner Fatally Shoots Intruder: “If You Come and Take It, There’s Consequences”
Legal Insurrection: Debunking Critical Race Theory – The False Claim that “Racism is Ordinary”, Lawyer Marc Elias Shows the Mar-a-Lago Raid is All About Disqualifying Trump in 2024, ADL’s SCOTUS Brief: Harvard’s Discriminatory Admissions Policies OK Because College Meant Well, and This is a provocation. They are trying to get a reaction that allows a further crackdown.
Nebraska Energy Observer: Change is good, The Road to Freedom, and It’s Not About Trump
Outkick: Jon Gruden’s Agent Believes Former Coach’s Emails Being Leaked Was A Hit Job, LA Times Also Ridiculously Tries to Make Brittney Griner Arrest About ‘Equal Pay’ For WNBA Players, Cleveland, Home Of Deshaun Watson, Will Host National Massage Therapists Convention, and Pete Rose Sends Twitter Into Frenzy By Dismissing Statutory Rape Question, Calling A Reporter ‘Babe’ After Standing Ovation
Power Line: The Coming War on Agriculture, What’s Behind the Democrats’ IRS Expansion?, David McCullough, RIP, and Cheney Versus Cheney
Shark Tank: DeSantis Says Trump Raid An Example Of Federal Agencies Being Weaponized, also, Loomer – Illegal Immigration Needs To Be Addressed
Shot In The Dark: Conversations I’d Like To Have, also, Empty
STUMP: Meep Hits the Road and Plays the Oldies: Today – Silly(ish) Mortality Posts!
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Watching The Herd Stampede
Posted on | August 9, 2022 | Comments Off on Watching The Herd Stampede
— by Wombat-socho
Silicon Valley delenda est.
This weekend the Senate passed, and Slow Joe signed, the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act”, and today the right side of the blogosphere was full of folks screaming about the part where the IRS will get funding for 87,000 new agents, which certainly seems to fit the complaint memorably issued by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence:
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

I first caught sight of this on Dana Loesch’s Instagram, and left the comment that as far as I was concerned this was no big deal. The IRS’ staffing problems are of long standing, and much of the problem boils down to the fact that very few accountants want to work for one of the most hated agencies of the Federal government when they can earn a lot more money and a lot less enmity signing up with Deloitte, KPMG, or some smaller accounting shop. The IRS was desperate enough to make me an offer this spring (almost a year after I filed an application with them while I was on unemployment last year) and I don’t even have an accounting degree. I do have fifteen years of seasonal experience preparing taxes, especially small business Schedule Cs, and I think that was what led them to make me an offer. Unfortunately for the IRS, the offer was for a position in Ogden, Utah, which is a long way from my current burrow in rural Nevada, and the pay for a GS-5 Step 1 is not much more than I’m earning from disability and my tax season work with H&R Block, so I turned them down. But think on it – they are so desperate for bodies they were seriously considering hiring a 62-year-old semi-retired tax professional who hadn’t held a full-time job sine 2009. Would they be doing that if they could find freshly-minted accounting majors from…anywhere?
Coming at this from a slightly different angle, there was no shortage of people in the comments to Dana’s post harrumphing “Well, they don’t need accountants, they just need activists to harass Republicans!” Yeah, sure, they’ll be issuing the brown shirts and Democrat Party brassards right after these people fill out their Standard Form 86. People need to tighten their tinfoil hats and consider that 1) nothing gets done quickly by the Feds, especially in the hiring process, and 2) the IRS can’t just hire unqualified schmucks to stand around and menace the taxpayers. I would be extremely surprised if the IRS managed to get the job requirements for the new meat done before the end of the calendar year/beginning of tax season, much less hire more than a few hundred agents. By then, assuming everyone on the Right has been out doing the necessary field work, the Red Tsunami should have swept a lot of Democrats out of Congress, and even if McCarthy & O’Connell can’t manage to outright repeal this shameful bill, they should be able to slice here, trim there, and tie up the IRS personnel bureaucrats long enough to keep anywhere near 87,000 agents from getting hired.
Finally, there’s no guarantee the IRS is going to use those agents the way the Democrats want them used. Right now the staffing crunch is so bad that a lot of paper returns filed in 2021 haven’t even been looked at, much less processed, and if they haven’t finished 2021, what do you think their stack of 2022 returns looks like? The IRS very badly wants those returns finished, because every one that doesn’t get done in a timely fashion means that either the IRS owes interest on the refunds or they aren’t collecting the debts owed by people with balances due. I suspect a lot of the 87,000 new chums are going to be handed a desk, a banker’s box full of returns, and told “I don’t want to see your face until these are done. You have until Friday – and don’t forget you’re on six-month probation, rookie.”
So be of good cheer. Maybe some of the crazies on the left want to use these new T-men to be goon squads in the service of the Great Reset, but I don’t think it’s going to work out that way.



