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JANUARY 6,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

YOU MEAN SOME PEOPLE STILL BELIEVE THAT ELECTIONS CAN BE STOLEN?  DISGRACEFUL RADICAL RIGHTISTS! – OVERNIGHT – FROM EPOCH TIMES:   State officials in Georgia are now investigating allegations that ballot harvesting–a practice that is unlawful in the state—was used widely during the November 2020 general election and the U.S. Senate runoff elections that followed two months later.  The allegations originated from good-government group True the Vote, which promises to release other information on voting irregularities in five other states.  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, confirmed to John Solomon of Just the News, that a probe is underway and that subpoenas from the state’s election board may soon follow as part of the evidence-gathering process.  True the Vote, which focuses on electoral integrity issues, acknowledged in a statement late on Jan. 5 that following “a year’s worth of research and analysis,” the group “submitted three official complaints to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office regarding occurrences in the 2020 General and 2021 Run-off Elections.”  As a result of this, on Jan. 3, 2022, Raffensperger “announced a statewide investigation into ballot trafficking in Georgia.”  True the Vote added that “shockingly similar findings will soon be released to appropriate authorities in five additional states.”  Raffensperger fought efforts by activists including Democratic Party attorney Marc Elias to overturn the state’s ballot harvesting ban. He also clashed with then-President Donald Trump and Republicans in 2020 when he dismissed claims that fraud was widespread in the election.  I'm glad to see this happening.  While I doubt that there is enough corruption out there to swing the 2020 presidential result, the probe can possibly reveal widespread practices that urgently need correcting.  Those practices would probably be found mostly in Democratic cities.

January 6, 2022       Permalink

GRIM AND GRIMMER – OVERNIGHT.  No matter what Joe Biden does, his approval rating keeps dropping.  From Breitbart: 

Only 35 percent of respondents approved of President Joe Biden’s job performance, according to the CIVIQS rolling job approval average.

Biden also received record-high (56 perfect) disapproval from the poll, with nine percent having no opinion. The poll showed Biden with net approval of negative 20. This comes as Biden has been in office just less than a year and has dealt with a host of problems so far: a supply chain crisis, record-high inflation, and botched Afghanistan withdrawal.

Biden had the lowest job approval among the 18- to 34-year-old age group, as 27 percent and 58 percent disapprove. The 65-plus-year-olds gave Biden the highest approval at only 41 and 54 percent disapproval.

The president was underwater with women and men. Men only showed 31 percent approval with 62 percent disapproving, while women only showed 39 percent approval and 50 percent disapproval.

Broken down by race, white respondents showed 28 percent approval and 64 percent disapproval. However, Biden was roughly the opposite among black respondents, who indicated 63 percent approval and 20 percent disapproval.

Biden’s job performance is underwater in 47 states, including California, which is considered a solidly blue state in the presidential elections and an overwhelming vote for Biden in 2020.

Only three states approve of Biden’s performance: Massachusetts (48 – 39 percent), Hawaii (49 – 42 percent), and Vermont (49-39 percent).

The CIVIQS rolling job approval average had 147,731 responses tracked between January 20 and January 4, just less than a whole year of Biden being in office.

The CIVIQS tracking model is meant to capture the shifts in attitude of various groups over time across all 50 states and Washington, DC. These changes can occur either over time or rapidly.

COMMENTS:  It seems to me that only a dramatic victory in some area can turn it around for Biden, and his helpless vice president, Kamala Harris.  The administration gives us no reason for confidence, and hasn't tried to find one. 

The midterms are ten months away, about 50 lifetimes in politics.  Anything can happen.  Biology can take its course.  But I'd rather be a Republican today than a Democrat.

January 6, 2022       Permalink

JANUARY 5,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

DUMB AND DUMBER – OVERNIGHT:  The author of "The 1619 Project" just can't get anything right.  From Fox:   New York Times Magazine reporter and 1619 Project author Nikole Hannah-Jones falsely claimed this week that the Civil War – which began in April 1861 and resulted in an end to slavery in America – began in 1865, the year the war actually concluded.  "We did not stop the expansion of slavery, and enslavers dominated the presidency, Senate and Supreme Court until 1865, when the North was reluctantly drawn into a war that ultimately ended slavery," Hannah-Jones wrote in a series of comments shared to Twitter discussing the end of slavery in America.  After being called out for the mistake, Hannah-Jones, who was named to TIME's list of the "100 most influential people" in 2021, claimed her message was "poorly worded" and placed doubt on whether anyone would believe she did not know "when the Civil War started."  Yeah, who would think that?

January 5, 2022       Permalink

WHAT?  THE NEW YORK TIMES REPORTED THIS?  ARE THEY SEEKING REDEMPTION? – OVERNIGHT: IT SEEMS THERE'S LIFE IN THE OLD GRAY LADY YET:  FROM PJ MEDIA:

Thomas Edsall, one of the few decent contributors at the New York Times, published a valuable piece of journalism Wednesday on the sheer size of philanthropic commitment to left-wing “racial justice” measures. 

With nearly 3,000 words of interviews and assorted content, he explores how much money — nearly $25 billion it turns out — was donated by progressive elites to divisive racial endeavors after the May 2020 killing of George Floyd.

Before Floyd’s death, Candid — a website for wealthy “people who want to change the world with the resources they need to do it” — said philanthropic entities provided about $3 billion in “racial equity funding” from 2011-19. Since then, Candid found, “50,887 grants valued at $12.7 billion” and “177 pledges valued at $11.6 billion.”

Among the top funders are the Ford Foundation, at $3 billion; Mackenzie Scott, at $2.9 billion; JPMorgan Chase & Co. Contributions Program, at $2.1 billion; W.K. Kellogg Foundation, $1.2 billion; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, $1.1 billion; Silicon Valley Community Foundation, $1 billion; Walton Family Foundation, $689 million; The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, $438 million; and the Foundation to Promote Open Society, $350.5 million.

This is the largest amount of philanthropy ever spent on one cause in such a short period — probably by a factor of 10.

This institutional caving-in to bogus theories of racial inequity and victimhood is mind-blowing and also poses a great danger to Democrats because these causes are so far left of where even their voters are, much less where everyday Americans are.

Some liberal strategists worry about unintended political consequences from this surge in virtue signaling.

Matt Bennett, senior vice president of Third Way, a center-left think tank, told Edsall:

“Whether inadvertent or not, some progressive foundations are funding work that is shortsighted and harmful to the long-term progress they hope to achieve. It’s crystal clear that some ideas being pushed by activists and funded by lefty foundations go beyond that paradigm, treading into territory that is flat-out politically toxic and that undermine our collective goals.”

And it’s all failing, too.

COMMENT:  It's comforting to see people wake up, as opposed to woke up.   There are some signs that the woke era is falling asleep, and that some corporations that enthusiastically wrote checks are having buyer's remorse.  We hope that's true.  There no guarantees, because the corrupt racial ideas of the last few years are deeply embedded in academia and the press.  But voters, at the polls, seem to be heading our way.

January 5, 2022       Permalink