Better in their words…

Oh, and nobody elected Biden’s shadow administration, either.  mrossol

Source: LOST ☙ Sunday, December 22, 2024 ☙ C&C NEWS

WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY

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As the headline explained, yesterday the New York Times noted the brief but fiery budget battle ended yesterday as Joe Biden’s autopen signed the much-contested and finally approved version. The Times’s story was headlined, “Biden Signs Spending Bill, Finalizing End to Shutdown Drama.”

Though Joe’s office released a statement about the budget bill, President Rutabaga was nowhere in evidence. Biden’s invisibility was one reason it was so unfortunate that Democrats chose this week to start their whole “President Musk” narrative, implying that an unelected, unaccountable person was running the government.

As corporate media began to admit this week, finally, Joe the Cabbage Patch President wasn’t doing his job much over the last four years. So, who was really running things? Who were the unelected, unaccountable people running the government?

It was a really bad week for the Democrats to deploy their nobody elected President Musk meme.

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One of the biggest problem is that the rules are so rigged to favor incumbentsthat literal mental patients can get re-elected so long as they enjoy party support. (Joe Biden is Exhibit A.) We desperately need term limits, to pry the human barnacles out of Congress. Let them serve for 10 or 12 years and then return to the private sector, where they must live with the rules and laws they helped pass.

This isn’t normal. An eye-opening chart was making the rounds yesterday:

How did this happen? While I’m sure there are plenty of 70+ folks who canserve well, it doesn’t seem like there should be so many as to make up 25% of the entire Congress. One reason is that running for office takes a sky-high level of energy and stamina that you don’t usually find in seasoned citizens (Trump being a great example of an exception to this rule).

The problem isn’t only the ancient lawmakers. And it isn’t even an age issue. That’s just a symptom. Maybe even more culpable than the seat-squatters are the parties, which are so bent on making the numbers that they almost always support incumbents —no matter what— and almost always discourage primary challengers.

We seriously need to get back to merit.

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The UK Guardian ran a sobering story yesterday headlined, “US shoots down two of its own navy pilots over Red Sea in ‘apparent friendly fire’ incident.” Hey, at least they hit something.

Yesterday, US Central Command (Centcom) issued a statement saying, “The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit an F/A-18.” The F/A-18 Hornet is a twin-engine, multirole (air-to-air and air-to-surface) combat jet used by the Navy and the Marine Corps.

The two pilots safely ejected before their fighter jet suddenly, unexpectedly, and quite surprisingly exploded. Chagrined Gettysburg personnel fished the pilots out of the ocean shortly after.

It wasn’t exactly clear whose fighter jet the Gettysburg’s highly motivated fire team thought they were shooting down. The cruiser’s main adversaries in theater are the African Houthis, but the Houthis don’t fly fighter jets. “It wasn’t immediately clear,” the Guardian cautiously conceded, “how the Gettysburg could mistake a Navy F/A-18 fighter for an enemy aircraft or missile.” Especially since “ships in a battle group remain linked by both radar and radio communication.”

Add this unfortunate story to the chaotic surrender of Afghanistan, the tale of the lost F-35 (inside the U.S.!), and the Army’s $500 million Gazan bridge to nowhere. Things in the military aren’t looking super well managed, to put it lightly. And in war, looks count.

As the Biden Administration slowly drains away, this fortunately non-fatal accident is a metaphor for the difficult state of the Armed Forces, and as the rotting fruit of a mistaken focus on DEI instead of military preparedness. We’re shooting ourselves in the F/A-18.

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Proving the exception to the rule that somebody said something isn’t news, Elon Musk posted a remarkable six-word tweet yesterday. The space billionaire and presidential confidante had re-posted a meme about pedophile conspiracies, and he added his own caption, which ignited a flaming river of excitement. First, here’s the tweet:

It’s a cute meme, but before that: WAIT, WHAT?? What exactly did Elon mean by let’s find out shall we? And what did he mean by adding the little detective emoji? Was Elon speaking aspirationally, in the generic sense, merely agreeing that we would all like somebody to investigate these scandals, since useless corporate media long ago threw in the towel?

Or was Elon speaking in a more tangible sense, using the expression “let’s find out, shall we” in its ordinary meaning — hinting that we are all going to find something out soon?

It was frustratingly ambiguous, but there were a couple more clues. Elon’s cryptic tweet got more tangible and became less aspirational after independent journalist Nick Sortor replied to Elon’s initial comment. Sortor quipped that the hammer of justice would be hitting hard. Look what Elon said next:

Maybe he was just being agreeable. But Musk wasn’t done dropping hints. After Adam Lowisz wondered how many Democrats attended pedophile parties, Elon replied again:

Musk might not know anything that isn’t already public domain. He could be just teasing, only winding people up, or simply saying what many other people have been saying for years. But since these cryptic comments were dropped by someone who is right next to the President, and who, we might add, is connected multiple ways to various military and intelligence agencies, we have to consider more seriously his enigmatic observations.

Certainly Elon does know, perfectly well, precisely which strands of conspiracy theory he’s plucking. If he is just winding people up, it’s a pretty mean tease. As for me, I sure hope he’s hinting at something big coming in the near future.

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Since I cannot stand the World Health Organization, and wish it were declared a hostile foreign enemy, I found good transition news in yesterday’s Financial Times. It came to my attention in a story headlined, “Donald Trump’s transition team seeks to pull US out of WHO ‘on day one.’” The unintentionally encouraging sub-headline explained, “Swift exit would remove global health body’s main source of funds and damage its ability to tackle emergencies.” Hopefully.

Most normal people feel a sense of nausea and an urgent intestinal pressure whenever they learn that the United States is the World Health Organization’s “main source of funds.” We’re literally doing this to ourselves.

It wasn’t clear whether the Financial Times actually knew something about Trump’s plans, or was just projecting its insecurities. “The Trump transition team did not comment directly on the potential withdrawal,” the paper unhelpfully reported. But it quoted half a dozen Democrats who are wringing their hands about how horrible it will be if Trump withdraws the U.S. from the W.H.O. again, just like he did last time in July, 2020.

After Trump finally managed to cancel the original contract, which required staying on hold for hours and explaining over and over to the Indian call center operator that we no longer wanted the service, all while turning down repeated offers for free extensions of pandemic coverage, Biden in his first day in office signed us right back up for a brand new W.H.O. subscription all over again.

What Trump must do this time is end the W.H.O. for good, once and for all. Don’t take any chances the infection could come back.

🔥 But wait, there’s more! Bloomberg ran another great transition story yesterday headlined, “Trump Demands Panama Lower Transit Fees or Return Canal.” Bloomberg was outraged that President-Elect Trump called the transit fees Panama charges U.S. vessels “ridiculous” and “a rip-off,” words that are far too plain-spoken for the delicate élites at Bloomberg. They would never call it a “rip-off;” they would say “economic opportunity.”

Trump said that American ships should get the best treatment, since we built the canal in the first place and, thanks to President Jimmy “the Peanut” Carter, we just handed it over to the Panamanians for free. Trump was also troubled by Panama’s flirtation with the Chinese, who are getting the better deals these days.

“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed,” Trump warned them, “then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question. To the Officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly!”

I suspect we’ll see a few rate adjustments for American ships. Lower transit costs through the Canal will reduce the cost of goods, which will, in turn, reduce prices Americans pay at the store. I know I’ve said this a lot, but Trump is getting more done as the President-Elect than most presidents accomplish in their first 100 days. I can’t wait to see what he’ll do when he actually gets into the office.

Have a blessed Sunday! In this season of giving and gratitude, we are grateful for you and your unwavering loyal support. Coffee & Covid will be right back again tomorrow morning, on schedule, with a terrific roundup of essential news and commentary to get you past the holiday.

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