Rule 5 Sunday: But First, Coffee

Posted on | October 7, 2024 | 3 Comments

Somewhere in one of my picture folders I have a photo of a coffee-drinking lass on a bed wearing a T-shirt* with the sentence “Yes, But First, Coffee”. Until I find it again, this pic from Rule5Texan on X will do quite nicely.

Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule 5 Barn-burner Friday, and the Saturday Gingermageddon.

EBL: Saturday Night Girls With Guns, MAGA Fayetteville NC, Ride Me, Cowboy! – Sexiest Classic Westerns, Faith Hill, Dark Angel Theme, Sasquatch Sunset, Happy Rosh Hashana, CNN Turkey Confirms The Mossad Is At It Again, Green Day, and RIP Maggie Smith

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Son?a Holen?a?kova?, Gone Fishin’, Fish Pic Friday – Brittany McWaters, Thursday Tanlines, Brown Boobies Make Maryland Stop, Night of the Master Debaters, The Wednesday Wetness, Helene Is Biden/Harris’s Katrina, Supermassive, Back Through the Rain, The Monday Morning Stimulus and Palm Sunday

FLAPPR: Serious Matters & Unfolding Trends for 10.4.24

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

*Maybe she had panties on. It was hard to tell.

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Category: Rule 5

Happy Birthday to Me

Posted on | October 6, 2024 | Comments Off on Happy Birthday to Me

Among the ‘elite’ in 2017

Today is my 65th birthday — old enough to qualify for Social Security, but still working. It’s been four days since I updated the blog, but my day job kind of interfered with the blogging schedule this week. Also, I keep doing that thing where I begin an article, write hundreds or even thousands of words, and then abandon the draft because some news event interrupts. Do not accuse me of early-onset Alzheimer’s — I’ve always been somewhat scatter-breained this way, before they had such terms as “ADD” or “multi-tasking” to describe my modus operandi.

My greatest joy in journalism was the years I spent, from 2008 to 2012, in a blur of frenetic travel, doing shoe-leather reporting on the campaign trail. Being on the scene, reporting what I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears, provided infinitely more satisfaction than the mere quote-and-comment stuff of blogging. But the rigors of the campaign trail take their toll — it’s a young man’s game, and I was something of a senior citizen in the traveling press corps even when I was not yet 50. Nowadays, it seems, the business of covering campaigns is done mainly by kids fresh out of college, no doubt as a cost-saving measure by financially strapped media organizations.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe it’s been so long ago that I was careening around upstate New York covering the Doug Hoffman campaign, furiously ratting the tip jar to pay for my gas and the rental car (that got ambushed by a deer one foggy night). That grassroots populist Tea Party campaign against the GOP Establishment (remember Dede Scozzafava?) was, as those of us who witnessed it predicted at the time, a template for the 2010 midterms, when Republicans recaptured the House in a historic landslide (see “The Republican Mandate,” Nov. 25, 2010). And, when you look at it in retrospect, one can trace a direct path from the populism of the Tea Party movement to the campaign that put Donald Trump in the White House in 2016 and which now, less than a month before Election Day, bids fair to return Trump to the White House again.

Excuse the nostalgic reverie, but you get to be this old and find that most of what you have to offer the younger generation is (a) fabulous tales of Ye Olden Days, and (b) advice that they will, of course, ignore.

Portrait of the Author as an Old Man

However frustrating it is to get old, however, it is still preferable to the alternative. Merely being alive can be considered an achievement, at this point and, like Carl Spackler said after telling his story about the Dalai Lama: “So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.”

Speaking of old guys, it’s a great misfortune that my old blog buddy John Hoge died last year. As you know, Hoge was an alumnus of Vanderbilt University and yesterday, the Commodores upset the Alabama Crimson Tide, the first time in 40 years that Vandy beat ’Bama, and the first time they had ever beat a team ranked No. 1 in the country. Why did this tragedy strike the Tide, which was riding high after knocking off Georgia a week earlier? My brother Kirby could preach you a sermon about what’s wrong with Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, but you probably wouldn’t want to hear that sermon. However, having received total consciousness (thank you, Dalai Lama), I view this world-historic event — Vandy beating Alabama — as a timely omen of November 5.

Maybe it’s just me who sees it this way, but if lowly Vanderbilt can triumph over the top-ranked team in the country, isn’t it possible that Donald Trump can achieve something no president has done since Grover Cleveland, winning the presidency in two non-consecutive terms?

Trust me on this one. I went to Harvard University. Once, on a road trip with Da Tech Guy in 2017. But at least I can say I went there.

What did I gain from that experience? Well, not total consciousness (again, thank you Dalai Lama), but merely walking across Harvard Yard has a mystical way of imparting the spirit of elite enlightenment, and from that experience I obtained a crucial esoteric insight that, to celebrate the occasion of my 65th birthday, I will now share with readers, i.e., the Five Most Important Words in the English Language are:

HIT THE FREAKING TIP JAR!

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Category: Journalism, Shoe Leather Fund

FMJRA 2.0: The Pleasure Is To Play

Posted on | October 6, 2024 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

SOTD
Regardless of how poorly my Senators did this year, I miss playing, and I am already poring over the cards of players who will definitely be available next year as well as looking at players from the playoff teams who will probably be available in the draft after those teams trim their rosters in the off-season. If nothing else, we’ll have the Designated Hitter rule in effect, which means we’ll have space for a slugger with an iron glove on the roster without having to worry about his impact on the defense.
In other news, the era of T.I.T.S. is over at Flappr. Sad!
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

Spring training will be here before you know it

Media Mourns Loss of Terrorist Leader
EBL
357 Magnum

FMJRA 2.0: Wait Until Next Year
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Rule 5 Sunday: Loungewear.
Flappr
A View From The Beach
EBL

In The Mailbox: 09.30.24
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Debate: J.D. Vance Defeats Tim Walz, Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan
Flappr
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 10.02.24 (Afternoon Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

How Badly Did Tim Walz Lose?
The Daley Gator
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 10.02.24 (Evening Edition)
The Daley Gator
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 10.04.24 (Afternoon Edition)
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 10.04.24 (Evening Edition)
EBL
357 Magnum
A View From The Beach

Top linkers for the week ending October 4:

EBL (10)
357 Magnum (9)
A View From The Beach (8)

Thanks to everyone for all the links!

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Category: FMJRA Award

In The Mailbox: 10.04.24 (Evening Edition)

Posted on | October 4, 2024 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Happy Friday, Comrades of the Commentariat. Usual weekend deadlines for the usual weekend posts.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

GPrime85 nails it.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: You Can’t Have Government Run Health Care Without Health Care Workers
EBL: Biden-Harris Supporter Garth Brooks accused of rape, Joe Biden does not know what is going on anymore, Biden-Harris Administration doesn’t care about rural Helene victims, and Tim Walz polling strong with this demographic
Twitchy: A Puppet With Her Strings Cut, MSNBC Attacks Elon Musk For “Misinformation”, Gets Fact-Checked By Twitter Users, and Massively Tone Deaf Samantha Power Brags About Lighting Up Ukraine While Americans Sit In The Dark
Louder With Crowder: Transgender Pastor Claims The Bible is outdated because it says God only created “man and woman”, also, California mayor tells Gavin Newsom where he can stick his ban on voter ID
Vox Popoli: They Hate You, also, Can We Talk?
According To Hoyt: Down With Technocracy, Our Yuge Country, and Huns Helene Soundoff
Monster Hunter Nation: Space Pirate of Andromeda by John C. Wright
Defending The Wood Perilous: Gypsie Princess Effie’s Diary #11
Postcards From Barsoom: Hurricane Helene & The Lost Mandate Of Heaven

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: An Autumn Interlude
American Conservative: How to Break the Sanctuary States
American Greatness: Special K Denies That FEMA Funds Were Used to Support Noncitizens, 3 Women’s Volleyball Teams Forfeit Rather Than Play Against Biological Male Opponent, DOJ Warned by Rep. Massie Against Interfering With IG’s Upcoming J6 Report, Biden-Harris Border Legacy: 1.7 Million Potential National Security Threats, and Pete Buttigieg Forbids Americans from Using Private Drones to Locate Hurricane Victims
American Thinker: The UN’s Pathetic Attempt to Rule the World
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Red Thursday News, Animal Magnetism LIVE Ep. 22 – Winter, and Bears, and Rule Five Barn Burner Friday
Babalu Blog: Cubans outraged after Castro dictatorship confiscates farmers’ trucks filled with food, Cuban dictatorship unleashes severe repressive campaign to silence independent journalists, and Cuban mercenary captured by Ukraine reveals Havana’s role in supplying Russia with cannon fodder
BattleSwarm: Blue Party Blues Over Blue Collar Going Red, also, LinkSwarm for October 4
Behind The Black: ULA successfully completes second test launch of its new Vulcan rocket, Engineers set new laser communications record to asteroid probe Psyche, FAA says No Starship/Superheavy launch before late November, NASA pushes discrimination to favor minorities in its education workshops, and Pushback: Fired teacher wins $575K free speech settlement from school board
Cafe Hayek: Open Letter to Harold Daggett, also, On Free Trade and Externalities
CDR Salamander: Fullbore Friday
Chicago Boyz: On the Waterfront, Book Review: Rockets and People, and When The Bough Breaks
Da Tech Guy: Hurricane Helene is most definitely Kamala Harris’ Katrina, also, 1972 Dynasty League Playoffs Divisional Round Minnesota at Milwaukee [and two more similar posts if you’re into that]
Don Surber: Battered Democrat woman syndrome
First Street Journal: Killadelphia, also, That this has led to fraud is no surprise at all
Gates Of Vienna: Young “Swedish” Rascals Arrested for the Explosions at the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen, Architect of the Charlie Hebdo Attack Sentenced to Life, The Eve of Deconstruction, “One of the Most Dangerous Times for Free Speech in Our History”, and Paul Weston: “Only and Ever England”
The Geller Report: Hundreds Of National Security Officials Endorse Trump, also, RIGGING 2024: Illegal Immigrants Sent to Swing States In Mass Numbers Under the Biden/Harris Regime
Hollywood In Toto: Joker Director Could Change Hollywood with This Movie, Saturday Night – When Liberals Loved Free Speech, and Yes, Joker: Folie a Deux Trumps 2019 Blockbuster
The Lid: Trump Endorsed by Hundreds of Security Experts, High Ranking Members of the Military, and Gold Star Families
Legal Insurrection: James Carville Has Meltdown Over Lack of Response From Harris Campaign to J.D. Vance Debate Claims, Helene Death Toll Passes 200, FEMA Accused of ‘Seizing’ Aid, Anti-Israel Students Object to Yale’s ‘Institutional Neutrality’ Proposal, Chicago Board of Education to Resign Amid Conflict With Mayor Johnson, and FEMA Whistleblowers Allege Waste, Including Deployed Employees Sitting Idle in Hotels
Nebraska Energy Observer: Here we go, also, Scattershot Friday
Outkick: Davante Adams Is Either A Big Edgar Allen Poe Fans Or Dropping Hints About Joining The Ravens, Kirk Cousins Gets His Groove Back As Falcons Win In Walk-Off Fashion Against Bucs, WNBA Looks For Pivotal Playoff Games, New York Mets Thank Their Broadcaster Howie Rose In The Coolest Way Possible, and FSU Icon Jenn Sterger Resurfaces As ‘Sexy Velma,’ Jon Gruden Wants To Bash Skulls & Trent Dilfer HATES His Job
Power Line: The Scandal-Plagued Walz Administration, Fact-check this, Public Sector Booms, and Thoughts from the ammo line
Protein Wisdom Reborn: Mental sorbet
Shark Tank: Obama Goes To Bat For Mucarsel-Powell
Shot In The Dark: Annals of Fieldcraft, Truer Words, Willful Ignorance, and Morning In Canada
STUMP: Funeral & Viewing For M. Stuart Grace, 1961-2024
The Political Hat: Quick Takes – The Coming Economic Doom, also, Free to Choose Friday, Revisited (Part 6)
This Ain’t Hell: A Utah National Guard sergeant major interfered with snooping Chinese nationals, VA rolling out program to help Veterans denied benefits due to discharge status, Valor Friday, Navy Recruiting Win, and Funding for illegal aliens could have assisted with hurricane relief
Transterrestrial Musings: Epistemic Authority, SLS, Why The Feds Are Preventing Private Aid In Asheville, Tim Walz, and Twenty Years On
Victory Girls: J.D. Vance And The Sad, Confused Chicks, also, FEMA Says It’s Broke, But Where Did All The Money Go?
Volokh Conspiracy: Campus Pro-Hamas Events on October 7: What Should be Done?
Watts Up With That: India Monsoon Drying Up, Says BBC, India’s monsoon rains hit four-year high in boost to crop output, Steve McIntyre on the Real Lesson to be Learned from Hurricane Helene, and Proposed Model Bill Would Improve Electric Reliability
The Federalist: Book Tells Kids Republicans ‘Don’t Believe In’ Immigrants While Dems Are The Party Of Lunch And Free Stuff, Arizona Supreme Court Green-Lights Ranked-Choice Voting Ballot Initiative Riddled With Duplicate Signatures, From Courtesan To Patriot: The Remarkable Life Of Pamela Harriman, President Joe Biden Threatens 2024 Election Won’t Be ‘Peaceful’, and Stevie Nicks’ Abortion Anthem Is A Cope To Get Over The Lives She Took
Mark Steyn: Winning as a Strategy, Through Tiananmen by Bicycle, and The Rise of China [Tales For Our Time]

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Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 10.04.24 (Afternoon Edition)

Posted on | October 4, 2024 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 10.04.24 (Afternoon Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley et Hamas delenda sunt.

#FAFO

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: How Is That Criminal Justice Reform Working Out?
EBL: Sasquatch Sunset, Officials in North Carolina threatening to arrest private people helicoptering aid to Hurricane Helene victims, and Charlie Hustle & The Question of Pete Rose
Twitchy: Kamala Once Again Dodges Press Questions On Why She’s Done Nothing As Veep, NC Hurricane Helene Victim Brutally Takes Biden/Harris Apart, and City-Dwelling Leftist Goes On Blocking Spree After Snotty Dig At Hillbillies Backfires
Louder With Crowder: UK family releases pro-Kamala Harris song that is so cringe it will destroy your will to live, Longshoreman union boss Harold Daggett was ready to destroy America and YOUR future, Kamala Harris brags about giving hurricane victims $750 after Ukraine got $2900 per person, and While FEMA is nowhere to be found, MULES are bringing aid to hurricane victims
Vox Popoli: The Same Failed Strategy, Satanists Confirmed, Will Not Could, BRICS or Sanctions, and IDF Attacks Russia?
Upstream Reviews: Presents Spooky Stories!, also, Main Street DOA

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
CDR Salamander: Podcast #3, There Goes Diego…Garcia
Don Surber: The irony of the dockworkers strike

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In The Mailbox: 10.02.24 (Evening Edition)

Posted on | October 3, 2024 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley et Hamas delenda sunt.

So appropriate in this time when the Administration bungles and blocks aid to the victims of Helene.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: John Kerry versus The First Amendment, also Don’t Bring a Rock to a Gunfight
EBL: Kamala Harris’s Husband Doug Emhoff Allegedly Slapped His Old Girlfriend For Getting Out Of Line, TIMMY GOT ISSUES, Biden & Harris: Too Little, Too Late for Hurricane Helene Victims, and Why Did Kamala Harris Not Pick Josh Shapiro as VP?
Twitchy: Jon Cryer Shows His True Colors With Pretty In Pink Reference, Biden Finally Realizes He Made A Big Mistake Rescinding Trump’s Iran Sanctions, and
Louder With Crowder: Three key moments of JD Vance’s dominance over Tim Walz, moderators (and what Trump needs to NOT do next), also, MSNBC dingbat claims JD Vance’s “worst” moment of the debate was his…mansplaining?
Vox Popoli: Hunting Neal Gaiman, An Incoherent Narrative, A Question of Identity, History Number Seven, and They’re SO Not There To Help
Stoic Observations: The Tool Aesthetic
Gab: A Nation In Crisis
Ammo.com: Gun-Free School Zone Laws & School Shootings

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: How to Fix the Australian Housing Market
American Conservative: ‘Trump-Washing’ U.S. History Endangers Our Freedom, also, Are Mercenaries a Way to Split the Difference on Regime Change?
American Greatness: CBS, CNN Polls Say J.D. Vance Won Debate, CBS Moderators Criticized for Debate Interference, Ignoring Stated Rules, and Bias, 3 Women’s Volleyball Teams Forfeit Rather Than Play Against Biological Male Opponent, Kamala’s Husband Doug Emhoff Reportedly Once Slapped a Girlfriend in the Face So Hard, ‘She Spun Around’, and Mayorkas Says FEMA Will Run Out of Funds Before Hurricane Season is Over; Agency Spent $640.9 Million on Noncitizens in 2024
American Thinker: The Advent of Idiocracy, also, Who Wins When the Longshoremen Go on Strike?
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Flood News, also, Animal’s Hump Day News
Babalu Blog: Cuba wants to be removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list while continuing to support terrorism, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol creates a new express line for Cuban communists, Cuban dictatorship slaps ‘private’ businesses with fines totaling $14.5 million, and Yet another rabid communist party official from Cuba discovered to be living comfortably in U.S.
BattleSwarm: Israel Grounds And Pounds, Iran Sprays And Prays, also, Democrat Voting Fraud Update For October 2
Behind The Black: Russia delays first launch of new Soyuz-5 rocket to 2026, Carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide found on the surface of Pluto’s moon Charon, Orbital tug startup Impulse Space raises $150 million, ISRO reveals design of its Chandrayaan-4 lunar sample return mission, Scientists detect jets of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide from asteroid, and Sunspot update: Sunspot activity crashes in September
Cafe Hayek: These People Act In Ways to Earn Our DIStrust
CDR Salamander: Israel Is Settling All The Family Business That It Can
Chicago Boyz: This Is What It’s Like When Mullahs Cry
Da Tech Guy: October Indulgence Calendar. Pete Rose will Have to Wait Till November, Quick Debate Judgement, Reality goes 1-2 Vance wins but Walz Achieves his Primary Goal, and Dynasty Baseball 1972 League AL Red Sox at Yankees
Dana Loesch: Last Week In Legal – Fraud Appeal Edition
Don Surber: Israel’s ceasefire plan
First Street Journal: Harris Gives Complete Babble When Ask On How Something Becomes Law, Midnight oil blogging, and Karma comes to Taylor Lorenz!
Gates Of Vienna: Bringing the War Back Home — To Sweden, Cultural Enrichment Quotas in the German Justice System, Angry Knife Resists Eviction, Antifas Save Aachen From Evil Right-Wingers, and The Muslim Brotherhood in Sweden, Part 20
The Geller Report: Harris-Biden Announce $300 Million to Palestinian (Hamas) Terror But “Can Do Nothing More” For Hurricane Victims in North Carolina, also, Head of Iran’s Anti-Mossad Intel Unit Was an Israeli Agent, Reveals Former Iranian President
Hollywood In Toto: How Black Christmas Changed the Face of Horror, Kevin Sorbo Schools Whoopi: I’m Proof of New Hollywood Blacklist, Why Wild Robot Earns Those Iron Giant Comparisons, and Will Taylor Swift Regret Endorsing Kamala Harris?
The Lid: An IMPORTANT Rosh Hashana Message To Gentiles And Secular Jews
Legal Insurrection: IG: DHS Doesn’t ‘Fully Access Risks’ When Releasing Illegal Aliens Without IDs Into U.S., Walz’s Minnesota: Almost 70 Percent of Eighth Graders Not Proficient in Math, Democrats Losing Working Class Voters in Deep-Blue Philadelphia to Republicans, Columbia Student Suspended For Saying Be Grateful He’s Not ‘Murdering Zionists’ Now Suing for Anti-Palestinian Bias, and Who Should We Punish for the Fake Science Poisoning our Children’s Futures?
Nebraska Energy Observer: I didn’t realize, also, Masterclass
Outkick: Danica Patrick Sums Up JD Vance’s Debate Performance With One Word, Eli Drinkwitz Not Risking It, Won’t Allow Marcel Reed’s Sister At Full Practice, ESPN Writer Slammed For Disgusting Pete Rose Headline Hours After Death, MLB’s New Advertisement On Playoff Helmets Has Fans Predictably Furious, and Sydney Sweeney Ad Features Her In A Bathtub, Is Marketing 101: WATCH
Power Line: A Good Night For the GOP, The Morning After, and Immigration, By the Numbers
Protein Wisdom Reborn: Humpday Shrapnel [One-Handed Posting Edition]
Shark Tank: Top Democrats Blame Guns For Killing People But Not The Shooters
Shot In The Dark: In Case You Were Wondering, Pounce, and To The Dacha Born
The Political Hat: Transgenderism Comes For The Daughters Of The American Revolution, also, The Hot New Science: Indigenous Wisdom
This Ain’t Hell: Chinese sub successfully sinks, Pete Rose, another vet dies, Pew says most military veterans support Donald Trump over Kamala Harris, Don’t like it? Doesn’t matter…you’re funding it, and Two VA staff transferred pending investigation on delayed time-sensitive care
Transterrestrial Musings: Ships, also, Iran’s Nuclear Program
Victory Girls: Rudy Giuliani’s Daughter Knifes Him In The Back, also, Longshoremen Union Bosses Are Raking In The Cash
Volokh Conspiracy: Judge Blocks California Law Restricting “Materially Deceptive” Election-Related Deepfakes
Watts Up With That: Germany Risks being Left behind…Big Tech Confirms CO2 Neutrality Only Possible With Nuclear Power, No, Media. Hurricane Helene was not Worsened by Climate Change, and Rule of Law vs. Eco-obstruction
The Federalist: 15 Best Memes About J.D. Vance Wiping The Floor With Tim Walz In Vice Presidential Debate, Jack Smith Parrots Phony ‘Fake Electors’ Smear In Latest Get-Trump Court Brief, How Does Tim Walz Explain His Stolen Valor Controversy? CBS Moderators Didn’t Bother Asking, Unpopular Abortion Through Birth Could Become Legal In These 10 States Unless Voters Act Now, and If Kamala Has Such Great Plans, Why Hasn’t She Implemented Them?
Mark Steyn: Danke schön, Caterina, The “Far Right” Inches Nearer, Unforgettable, “Underwater” in North Carolina…and Michigan, and Live Around the Planet: Friend Of The School Shooters

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How Badly Did Tim Walz Lose?

Posted on | October 2, 2024 | 1 Comment

Does this look like the face of a winner?

My first reaction to Tuesday night’s “debate” (scare-quotes necessary because this televised event in no way resembled an actual debate) was focused mainly on how bad Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan were as “moderators” (scare-quotes necessary, etc.), However much you hate the media, you don’t hate them as much as they deserve to be hated.

Beyond that, however, the real story was how badly outmatched Walz was, as my friend Matt Margolis explains at PJM:

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) dominated Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) from start to finish in Tuesday nights vice presidential debate. It wasn’t even close. Despite the moderators’ best efforts to give Walz a hand, he was no match for Trump’s running mate.
Vance, composed and prepared, delivered clear, well-informed responses, especially when highlighting Kamala Harris’s ineffectiveness as vice president. Vance not only outperformed Walz on core issues but also tackled traditionally Democratic topics in ways likely to appeal to voters. His effortless command over the debate left both Walz and the moderators struggling to match his poise and precision.
And not even the liberal media could deny it.
“[JD Vance] landed a lot of punches in between all the niceties and all of that,” observed CNN’s Abby Phillip. “And the thing that really stood out to me was that Tim Walz did not seem prepared for it. He didn’t respond to a lot of the criticisms and attacks that Vance put on the table.”
She added, “I mean, I think there was a clear lack of preparation and execution here on Walz’s part.”
Dana Bash disagreed with her. “I think, actually, it’s the opposite,” she said. “I think he had too much preparation.”
Bash continued, “He had so many lines that he was clearly trying to say that he didn’t listen.. when… JD Vance said one of the many, many things he really hit Kamala Harris on — not Tim Walz, but Kamala Harris — he didn’t respond because he clearly had things in his mind. I think the lack of interviews that he has done with national media, with local media, it showed he needed more rest.”
Jake Tapper agreed.
“I agree. I mean, JD Vance is much more experienced at this, at public speaking, at defending himself, at pivoting,” Tapper conceded.

The undeniable fact of Walz’s debate flop was, of course, a subject that CNN (I watch, so you don’t have to) didn’t want to spend much time discussing Wednesday. Insofar as they couldn’t avoid it, CNN spent most of their time highlight a couple of what they imagined to be “gotcha” moments involving abortion and the J6 “insurrection.”

J.D. Vance avoided answering the question of whether Biden actually won the 2020 election. This is scandalous, inside the bubble where CNN talking heads live, but of course there is a very good reason why Vance refused to address this — namely, that about 70% of Republican voters don’t for a minute buy the “81 million voters” narrative.

Inside the bubble where CNN anchors and other news media types live, there is not the slightest doubt that Biden won and Trump lost, which is why they keep yammering on about J6 as a “threat to democracy.” Out here in the real world, of course, those of us who watched the Election Night coverage, and who have followed up on some of the claims made by skeptics, fall into one of two categories:

“Election deniers” who absolutely don’t believe Biden won;

and

People who aren’t sure that Democrats stole the election, but aren’t willing to rule out the possibility.

Personally, I’m in the second category. It seems to me that there was some illegal “ballot harvesting” and maybe other shenanigans in the key swing states, but I haven’t yet seen irrefutable evidence that I would stake my credibility on as an explanation of how Democrats stole the election. Furthermore, and this is important, I don’t think there’s a lot to be gained, politically, by endlessly re-litigating the 2020 election. It’s enough for me to say I suspect shenanigans, and move on.

One of the things that leads me to suspect that Democrats really did steal the 2020 election is how determined the media are to silence anyone who doubts the result, and how enthusiastically they applaud the prosecution of J6 protesters. If it were really so self-evident that Biden won, why the censorship? Why the punitive rage toward “election deniers”?

Anyway, the judge in the J6 case against Trump unsealed special counsel Jack Smith’s 165-page filing in the case, and CNN was covering this at the top of every hour, without acknowledging the root problem with Smith’s case. See, it is impossible to say what Trump did was a crime — not morally wrong, nor unconstitutional — if Democrats actually did steal the election. That’s a giant asterisk the media never permit to be discussed. Smith’s argument is that Trump was trying to overturn “the will of the people.” That’s both his starting premise and his conclusion, so that his argument might be rendered as a syllogism thus:

A. Trump lost the election and tried to prevent the legitimate winner, Biden, from taking office;
B. [ blah blah blah ]
therefore
Conclusion: TRUMP IS A CRIMINAL! A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY! SEND HIM TO PRISON!

My point — now circling back around to J.D. Vance’s avoidance of the question during the debate — is that the prosecution of Trump hinges on an ironclad certainty that Joe Biden did get 81 million votes, but even if I can’t prove otherwise, that doesn’t mean it’s a crime for me (or Trump) to think the election was stolen. Given the circumstances, where most of the people who voted for Trump felt that he (and, by extension, they) had been wrongfully cheated, the riot at the Capitol wasn’t a threat against democracy, but rather an attempt to protect democracy from crooks who rigged the election.

All that will become moot — a subject for historians to discuss — if Trump wins in November. Let him have his second term, after this four-year interregnum of Mr. Eighty-One Million Votes, and Trump will have a chance to redeem his reputation. The floundering performance of Walz in Tuesday’s debate makes it seem more likely than not that Trump will win this election, and win it convincingly enough that those who doubt Biden won in 2020 will be able to say, “See? We told you so.”

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Category: Debates, J.D. Vance, Tim Walz