Everyone is picking on poor little Jimmy Comer

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer should be celebrating. After all, he got what he wanted for Christmas on Wednesday when the House, in a party-line vote, handed him a no-evidence-required impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. Considering that all Comer has done since he took control of the committee is sift through the bank accounts of Biden family members, their friends, families of their friends, and friends of those friends, the House bill might as well have been stuffed straight into his … stocking.

But in an interview with Fox News on Thursday morning, Comer seemed more than a bit depressed. First, when asked about his best evidence that Biden might have done something wrong, Comer didn’t mention anything that he had come up with in his months of scanning bank accounts and going through over 100,000 documents. Instead, he repeated false claims that Rudy Giuliani brought back from Ukraine in 2019. Lies that were almost immediately debunked and that were thoroughly discredited again during Donald Trump’s first impeachment.

Fox News host Maria Bartiromo first asked Comer about an Associated Press story concerning his shell company, a piece of property that’s kept in his wife’s name, and some extremely shady connections. Comer insisted that the Associated Press is financially illiterate because this isn’t a shell company at all. It’s a land speculation LLC. Totally different thing.

Daily Kos has covered Comer’s not-a-shell-company before, including a series of land swaps among his family that definitely seem less than above board.

Much of Comer’s business activity seems to follow inheriting land in Kentucky following his father’s death in 2019. But exactly what happened with that land is the opposite of transparent. In one case, Comer reportedly sold his interest in a piece of land to his brother, then bought it back five months later, slipping his brother $18,000 in the process. That purchase ran through a shell company owned by Comer, the value of which doubled in two years. That company appears to have dealt exclusively with agricultural land deals at a time when Comer was on the House Agriculture Committee.

Of course, we did use the term “shell company.” Comer wants to pretend it’s not a shell company, because it controls all of six acres, so it has assets. But those six acres (now five, since one acre has since been sold off) are only a small fraction of the value that runs through this shell company.

But Comer’s ridiculous claims and finger-pointing at Biden seems to satisfy Bartiromo, who then turned to an even more critical question.

“Do you think that this is the media trying to begin to muddy up Republicans,” asked the Fox host, “or continue to muddy up Republicans because you are getting so close to your target that you have actually been able to release all this evidence on the Biden family? That now the White House is maybe calling media to try and plant these stories?”

Bartiromo casually tosses out a conspiracy theory that "the White House is calling media" to plant negative stories about Comer pic.twitter.com/3AQFnoyw2E

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 14, 2023

Comer was quick to not just agree but to elaborate on this conspiracy theory. “It comes from the White House. They have their own war room. They have two dozen people we’re paying tax dollars in there so they can attack the investigators.”

Comer went on to complain about the media attacking him and Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. “This is the biggest public corruption scandal of my lifetime,” Comer said.

Things are so bad that Comer is even afraid to go on “Fox & Friends.” According to The Hill, Comer declared that he wouldn’t return to the show after co-anchor Steve Doocy said that Comer’s investigation had “got a lot of ledgers and spreadsheets, but they have not connected the dots.” Which is the truth. But then, Comer’s relationship with the truth is like the connection between vampires and sunlight.

And after all, it’s not as if Comer has ever done anything wrong. Such as sending this note to a legitimate whistleblower seeking to report sexual abuse when Comer was in the Kentucky legislature.

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Critics demolish liberal DC mayor for forgetting where her own city’s Metro lines go: ‘Absolute embarrassment’

Democrat Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser was lambasted by critics this week for forgetting where her own city's Metro lines run.

The flub came during a Wednesday press conference as Bowser took a swipe at Virginia traffic amid her efforts to keep the Washington Wizards and Capitals, the city's professional basketball and hockey teams, from relocating to the state.

"I'm the D.C. mayor. I'm not an expert on their crime, but that traffic is notorious. So people know about it. And, I think—which lines go to that station?" Bower said, referencing the new Potomac Yards Metro station in Alexandria, Virginia, near the site of the proposed arena for the teams.

HUNTER BIDEN CLAIMED HE DIDN'T ‘STAND TO GAIN ANYTHING’ IN CONTROVERSIAL BURISMA ROLE DESPITE MAKING MILLIONS

"Blue and yellow," someone answered. 

Bowser repeated "blue and yellow," before attempting to name the Metro lines that run to Gallery Place, the Metro station that serves Capitol One Arena, where the teams currently play in D.C.

"So, every line goes to Gallery Place, right? Red, blue, orange and yellow. Yellow? And green. Is that right? I think that's right," Bowser said, appearing confused.

WATCH: WHITE HOUSE SAYS BIDEN ‘PROUD’ OF HUNTER DESPITE MOUNTING LEGAL ISSUES, SUBPOENA DEFIANCE

The red, green and yellow lines are the only lines that run through D.C.'s Gallery Place station, and the yellow and blue lines are the only lines that run through Alexandria's Potomac Yards station.

Critics, notably from both sides of the aisle, quickly took to social media to blast Bowser, with some calling her comments "embarrassing," and others questioning whether she ever rode the Metro.

"You gotta be kidding me..." Republican strategist John Burke wrote, while Jason Johnson, communications director for Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., wrote, "Our city leadership is an absolute embarrassment."

Thomas Falcigno, communications director for Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., questioned the last time Bowser rode the Metro, and Doug Stafford, the chief strategist for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., described city leadership as a "clownshow."

SUPPORT FOR BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY GROWS WITH A NOTABLE LEVEL OF DEMOCRAT BACKING: POLL

"Of course she doesn't. . . . She rides around in black cars with private security while the city burns," Daily Caller reporter Henry Rodgers wrote, while Politico's Anthony Adragna called Bowser's comments "astounding."

"This is so embarrassing," Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman added.

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday that both teams would be moving out of D.C. and into a new $2 billion "world-class" entertainment complex in Alexandria.

The move comes as rising crime continues to grip D.C., but USA Today reported that a $36 million mortgage-type payment on the site has been weighing on the teams' owner, Ted Leonsis.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Bowser's office for comment.

Fox News' Greg Norman contributed to this report.

Just 1 in 4 Michigan Democrats enthusiastic about Biden being the nominee: poll

President Biden is experiencing a collapse in enthusiasm among Democratic voters in Michigan, according to a new poll. 

Just 27% of Democrats in the Great Lake State say there are "enthusiastic" for Biden as their party's presidential nominee, according to the Washington Post-Monmouth poll. 

Approximately 51% of Democratic voters in the state say they would be "satisfied" with Biden as the Democratic nominee, and 19% say they would be "dissatisfied" or "upset."

HUNTER BIDEN FACES BACKLASH AFTER DEFYING SUBPOENA WITH PRESS CONFERENCE 'STUNT': 'HOLD HIM IN CONTEMPT'

By contrast, approximately 45% of Michigan Republicans report being "enthusiastic" about former President Trump as their party's nominee.

Approximately 31% of GOP voters in the state say they would be "satisfied" to have Trump as the Republican presidential nominee in 2024.

About 21% of Michigan Republicans say they would be "unsatisfied" or "upset" with Trump leading the party into the election.

SUPPORT FOR BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY GROWS WITH A NOTABLE LEVEL OF DEMOCRAT BACKING: POLL

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that Americans are increasingly unsatisfied with the prospect of a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024.

Approximately 56% of U.S. adults report they would feel "very" or "somewhat" dissatisfied with Biden as the Democratic nominee. 

Meanwhile, about 58% of U.S. adults say they would feel dissatisfied with Trump representing the GOP.

Approximately 42% of respondents said they view Biden favorably, compared to 36% for Trump.

The Post-Monmouth poll surveyed 1,066 potential voters in Michigan between Dec. 7 and Dec. 11. Its reported margin of error is +/-4.4%. 

The Associated Press-NORC poll surveyed 1,074 US adults selected via the NORC's AmeriSpeak Panel. It was conducted between Nov. 30 and Dec. 4 and reports a margin of error of +/-4%.

House Republicans hand Democrats an early 2024 gift: A fact-free impeachment inquiry

House Republicans voted unanimously Wednesday to open an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. They will live to regret it.

Even under the best and most convincing of circumstances, impeachments are typically unpopular. After Donald Trump sicced a violent mob on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, only a slender majority of Americans supported impeaching him. A Monmouth University poll conducted shortly after Trump's impeachment on Jan. 13 found that 56% of Americans favored his impeachment and Senate conviction, including 92% of Democrats but just 52% of independents, despite the Jan. 6 insurrection unfolding on live television for all of America to see.

Fast forward to this week, with Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado telling CNN Monday, "This is not the way to run a Congress. This is not the way to run a House. We should not be engaging in retribution politics, in retribution impeachments.”

Still, Buck couldn’t bring himself to buck his fellow Republicans on the party-line vote.

Republican Rep. Ken Buck: “This is not the way to run a Congress. This is not the way to run a House. We should not be engaging in retribution politics, in retribution impeachments.” pic.twitter.com/YgJJFRpRz8

— Ian Sams (@IanSams46) December 12, 2023

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa admitted Wednesday that Republicans had "no evidence" on which to conclude the president is guilty of any high crimes or misdemeanors.

"I'm going to follow the facts where they are, and the facts haven't taken me to that point where I can say the president is guilty of anything," Grassley told CNN's Manu Raju.

Amazing. Chuck Grassley admits "I have no evidence ... the fact haven't taken me to that point where I can say the president is guilty of anything." pic.twitter.com/fCuVcNLTB0

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 13, 2023

This impeachment should be embarrassing to Republicans, and yet the bubble of far-right politics has given them the courage of their fact-free convictions.

Democrats should thank them. After months of polling showing a tight 2024 presidential contest with whiffs of sagging Democratic enthusiasm for Biden's reelection, Republicans have handed Democrats a base-energizer.

Democratic voters will be rightfully outraged that Republicans would launch an inquiry when they have zero supporting evidence despite a year-long investigation into Biden’s supposed misdeeds that turned up squat.

Just wait for the polling. Republicans may be hermetically sealed from reality, but the majority of voters are not—particularly those in some 17 Biden-won swing districts that are currently represented by Republicans.

Need detailed info on the 18 Biden-Republican districts in the House? We've got you covered at this link! https://t.co/lEcCvxvfqi (Trump-Democratic districts are on a second tab) pic.twitter.com/i3aXnHzUys

— Daily Kos Elections (@DKElections) October 18, 2023

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The Republican leading the probe of Hunter Biden has his own shell company and complicated friends

Rep. James Comer, a multimillionaire farmer, boasts of being one of the largest landholders near his rural Kentucky hometown, and he has meticulously documented nearly all of his landholdings on congressional financial disclosure documents – roughly 1,600 acres (645 hectares) in all.

But there are 6 acres (2.4 hectares) that he bought in 2015 and co-owns with a longtime campaign contributor that he has treated differently, transferring his ownership to Farm Team Properties, a shell company he co-owns with his wife.

Interviews and records reviewed by The Associated Press provide new insights into the financial deal, which risks undercutting the force of some of Comer’s central arguments in his impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden. For months, the chairman of the House Oversight committee and his Republican colleagues have been pounding Biden, a Democrat, for how his relatives traded on their famous name to secure business deals.

In particular, Comer has attacked some Biden family members, including the president’s son Hunter, over their use of shell companies that appear designed to obscure millions of dollars in earnings they received from shadowy middlemen and foreign interests.

Such companies typically exist only on paper and are formed to hold an asset, like real estate. Their opaque structures are often designed to help hide ownership of property and other assets.

The companies used by the Bidens are already playing a central role in the impeachment investigation, which is expected to gain velocity after House Republicans voted Wednesday to formally authorize the probe. The vote follows the federal indictment last week of Biden’s son Hunter on charges he engaged in a scheme to avoid paying taxes on his earnings through the companies.

But as Comer works to “deliver the transparency and accountability that the American people demand” through the GOP’s investigation, his own finances and relationships have begun to draw notice, too, including his ties to prominent local figures who have complicated pasts not all that dissimilar to some of those caught up in his Biden probe.

Comer declined to comment through a spokesman but has aggressively denied any wrongdoing in establishing a shell company.

After Democrats blasted him for being a hypocrite following the Daily Beast’s disclosure of the company last month, Comer countered by calling a Democratic lawmaker a “smurf” and saying that the criticism was the kind of thing “only dumb, financially illiterate people pick up on.”

The AP found that Farm Team Properties functions in a similarly opaque way as the companies used by the Bidens, masking his stake in the land that he co-owns with the donor from being revealed on his financial disclosure forms. Those records describe Farm Team Properties as his wife's “land management and real estate speculation” company without providing further details.

It’s not clear why Comer decided to put those six acres in a shell company, or what other assets Farm Team Properties may hold. On his most recent financial disclosure forms, Comer lists its value as being as much as $1 million, a substantial sum but a fraction of his overall wealth.

Ethics experts say House rules require members of Congress to disclose all assets held by such companies that are worth more than $1,000.

“It seems pretty clear to me that he should be disclosing the individual land assets that are held by” the shell company, said Delaney Marsco, a senior attorney who specializes in congressional ethics at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington.

Marsco and other experts were perplexed as to why Comer would place such assets in a shell company, especially since he disclosed his other holdings and does not appear to have taken other efforts to hide his wealth.

“This is actually a real problem that anti-corruption activists would love to get legislative reform on,” said Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in government ethics. “It is hard to trace assets held in shell companies. His is a good example.”

Comer created the company in 2017 to hold his stake in the six acres that he purchased two years earlier in a joint venture with Darren Cleary, a major campaign contributor and construction contractor from Monroe County, Kentucky, where the congressman was born and raised.

It’s not clear how Comer came to invest with Cleary, who did not respond to an interview request. They have offered mutual praise for each other over the years, including Comer having called Cleary “my friend” and “the epitome of a successful businessperson” from the House floor.

Cleary, his businesses and family have donated roughly $70,000 to Comer’s various campaigns, records show. He has also lauded Comer on social media for “For Fighting For Us Everyday” and has posted photos of the two on a golf course together.

At the time he and Comer entered their venture, Cleary was selling an acre of his family's land to Kentucky so it could build a highway bypass near Tompkinsville, which was completed in 2020. He sold Comer a 50% stake for $128,000 in six acres he owned that would end up being adjacent to the highway.

Comer, a powerful political figure in this rural part of Kentucky, announced his bid for Congress days after purchasing the land.

Marketing materials described the land as “choice” property and play up its proximity to the bypass. The partnership sold off about an acre last year for $150,000, a substantial increase over its value when purchased, property records show.

Farm Team Properties has also become more valuable. On Comer’s financial disclosure forms, it has risen in value from between $50,000 and $100,000 in 2016 to between $500,001 and $1 million in 2022, records show.

As House Oversight Committee chairman, Comer has presented himself as a bipartisan ethics crusader only interested in uncovering the truth. As evidence, he has pointed to a long career as a state legislator and official who sought to build bridges with Democrats and to “clean up scandal, restore confidence, and crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Interviews with allies, critics and constituents, however, reveal a fierce partisan who has ignored wrongdoing by friends and supporters if they can help him advance in business and politics.

“The Jamie Comer I knew was light and sunshine and looking for common ground. Now he’s Nixonian,” said Adam Edelen, a former Democratic state auditor and friend, comparing the lawmaker to a disgraced former president who resigned from office amid the Watergate scandal.

In Comer’s telling, he is a man of self-made wealth who founded his first farm while still enrolled at Western Kentucky University and shrewdly invested in land.

After graduating in 1993, Comer got into the insurance business with Billy D. Poston, a family friend.

The two later had a falling out. When poor health prevented Polston from running for reelection as a state representative in 2000, Comer, then 27, took on Polston’s wife in the GOP primary, winning that race and the general election. For years, Comer took credit in interviews for defeating the 'incumbent.”

Comer cut his teeth in the bare-knuckled machine politics of Monroe County, Kentucky, and knew how to win allies, according to those who knew him.

When he was barely out of high school, Comer was writing campaign checks to state politicians, including a $4,000 contribution to a Republican candidate for governor in 1990, followed by another check in 1991 for $1,050, according to campaign finance disclosures published in local news stories. Both contributions listed Comer’s occupation as “student.”

Comer followed in the footsteps of his paternal grandfather, Harlin Comer, who was a leading figure in local Republican politics, as well as a construction contractor and bank officer.

When Harlin Comer died in 1993, the 21-year-old Comer took over as chairman of the Monroe County GOP. A wave of indictments against local Republican office holders, some of whom helped launch Comer’s political career and became close friends, soon followed.

Mitchell Page and Larry Pitcock were among those charged in the sweep. Page, then the county’s chief executive, and Pitcock, the former county clerk, were sentenced in 1996 to 18 months in prison for tampering with a state computer database so that they and their families could avoid paying vehicle taxes.

Rather than turning on Pitcock and Page, Comer has remained close to the men. He praised Page on the House floor in 2020 for his “principled leadership.”

Page did not respond to a request for comment. Pitcock could not be reached at phone numbers listed to him.

Pitcock and his family members have donated about $9,000 to Comer’s political campaigns and held one of Comer’s first fundraisers when he ran to become state agriculture commissioner, records show. Comer dismissed questions about the propriety of having Pitcock sponsor a fundraiser for him, noting to CN2 News that it helped him raise nearly $60,000.

Comer eventually hired Pitcock’s son to work for him in the agriculture commissioner’s office, records show. Members of the Pitcock family have since attended a House Republican fundraiser with Comer in Washington and posed for photographs with him inside the U.S. Capitol.

In 2011, a voter fraud case roiled local politics and swept up Billy Proffitt, Comer’s longtime friend and former college roommate. Proffitt pleaded guilty in December 2011 and was sentenced to probation.

A few years later, Proffitt came to Comer’s defense from allegations that nearly derailed the future congressman's political career. During the 2015 Republican primary for governor, a local blogger began posting about accusations that Comer had abused a college girlfriend.

Comer vehemently denied the allegations. And in the hopes of discrediting the stories, he leaked emails to a local paper that suggested a rival campaign had been coordinating the coverage with the blogger, according to The New York Times. The leak allegation may have discredited the other candidate, Hal Heiner, but ended up hurting Comer’s campaign.

The coverage angered the former girlfriend, who wrote a letter to the Louisville Courier-Journal in which she asserted that Comer had hit her and that their relationship had been “toxic.” She also told the newspaper that Comer became “enraged” in 1991 after he learned she had used his name on a form she submitted before receiving an abortion at a Louisville clinic.

Proffitt, however, told the newspaper that he had never seen Comer be abusive toward Thomas.

“That doesn’t sound like Jamie at all,” said Proffitt, using Comer’s nickname, adding that he had never heard about the allegations of Thomas getting an abortion.

Comer ended up losing the primary by 83 votes to Matt Bevin, who went on to win the general election. It was the only campaign that Comer has lost.

The lawmaker and Proffitt remain close friends and business associates.

Profitt’s family’s real estate company is spearheading the efforts to sell the land held by Farm Team Properties.

In a brief interview, Proffitt called the focus on Comer’s shell company “much ado about nothing,” adding that the lawmaker “is a loyal friend and a good man who comes from a really, really good family.”

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Cheers and Jeers: Thursday

25 Seconds of Happy Dance

At Big Basin Redwoods State Park, proof of amazing resilience three years after the 2020 Lightning Complex Fires. Says biological sciences professor George Koch at the University of Nevada Las Vegas: “The CZU Fire consumed all of the leaves on some of the tallest and oldest trees in the world, yet many are recovering. Redwoods’ scientific name is ‘sempervirens,’ which means ever-flourishing. It’s very satisfying to have learned a bit more about how this remarkable species lives up to its name.”

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Cool. The only thing I’ve seen grow back faster than those redwoods is my nose hairs. Ha ha ha! 

Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, December 14, 2023

Note: For the treatment of minor aches and pains, ask your doctor if asking your doctor is right for you. And just to be sure, ask your doctor if asking your doctor for a second opinion from your doctor is right for you. Then just go grab a fistful of pills from the dispensary when they’re not looking and run like hell.

Your Friends at BillyCo Mystery Pharmaceuticals

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2 days!!!

By the Numbers:

Days 'til Festivus: 9

Days 'til the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party: 2

Estimated percent of active-duty ground troops that Russia has lost—around 315,000—versus what it had before its invasion of Ukraine: 87%

Portion of its tanks Russia has lost: 2/3

Rank of Paris, Dubai, and Madrid in the latest Top 100 City Destinations Index by Euromonitor International: #1, #2, #3

Rank of highest-ranked U.S. cities New York and Los Angeles: #8, #19

Number of holiday trees in the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina: 67

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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:

What a campaign! Jesse Ventura took offense at someone else's manners? Mr. Etiquette, the Sensitive Male.

Poor Charlton Heston, who is suffering from Alzheimer's, no shame to him, was trotted around the country and held up by both arms while he urged us to get more guns. Both candidates for governor in California were capable of causing tooth decay in anyone forced to listen to them. In Texas, our governor merely accused his opponent of being a drug dealer and murderer. Slime and negativity from coast to coast.

In Texas, we have elected wall-to-wall dipsticks who have to figure out how to close what could be a $40 billion budget gap. They've all sworn to eat worms and die before raising taxes, so this should be entertaining.

—December 2002

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Puppy Pic of the Day: This one has a squirrel cameo…

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CHEERS to informed opinions. One of the imperatives in this crazy world is holding the powerful to account when they make predictions. The bolder their prediction, the accountier the holding must be. And one year ago this week, our illustrious Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told 60 Minutes that inflation would be "much lower" by…well, by this time right now. So let's check with the Bureau of Labor Statistics to compare last year's inflation rate and this year's:

One year ago: The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 0.1 percent in November on a seasonally adjusted basis. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 7.1 percent before seasonal adjustment.

Much Nostradamus I sense in her.

Now: The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.1 percent in November on a seasonally adjusted basis. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.1 percent before seasonal adjustment.

Excellent—a solid prediction, Janet. Well done. But we're still a little disappointed. Nothing, not a word, about dropping bundles of cash from helicopters over major New England cities to spur economic growth by letting it trickle down to the rest of the country. Honest to god, I don’t know why I even bother to call her every night at 3am with my brilliant ideas.

CHEERS to payback time. I'm all-in for the elimination of gerrymandering. The sooner we have federal legislation appointing independent commissions to fairly decide district maps, the better. But until then, Republicans will continue cranking out House districts that look like the gooey trail a drunk snail leaves behind on the sidewalk and Democrats better be ready to reciprocate. So this is welcome news in the Empire State:

New York's highest court ordered new congressional districts to be drawn for the 2024 elections.

This key ruling could flip as many as six seats to Democrats, potentially impacting control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2024.

 Flip 'em all, I say. Congratulations, Speaker Hakeem Jeffries” has such a nice ring to it.

CHEERS to “Moscow Maggie.” Happy 126th birthday to Maine's own Margaret Chase Smith.  She was the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House and Senate, and she reserved some choice not-so-nice words for Senator Joseph McCarthy (who responded by giving her the aforementioned nickname).  And get a load of this from 1950, which would no doubt get her branded a libturd by the right-wing noise machine today:

"I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and Smear.

A Republican who actually cared about the American people.

I doubt if the Republican Party could—simply because I don't believe the American people will uphold any political party that puts political exploitation above national interest.  Surely we Republicans aren't that desperate for victory.

I don't want to see the Republican Party win that way.  While it might be a fleeting victory for the Republican Party, it would be a more lasting defeat for the American people.

Surely it would ultimately be suicide for the Republican Party and the two-party system that has protected our American liberties from the dictatorship of a one party system."

Yeah. They'd be crazy to try that. And don’t call me Shirley.

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BRIEF SANITY BREAK

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Welcoming the holiday season at the Matsue Vogel Park, Shimane, Japan [📹 matsuevogelpark]pic.twitter.com/OsTxPtAWu8

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) December 12, 2023

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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK

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JEERS to missing 1800 by 18 days. He came this close. On December 14, 1799,George Washington died at age 67 (which was actually quite old for his family, relatively speaking, given how many of his relatives died at a younger age).  He caught a cold during a horseback ride in the rain, but forensic historians suspect that the real reason he expired was the 300-pound leech doctors attached to him to drain his "tired" blood.  I read in the book His Excellency by Joseph Ellis (highly recommended) that the last thing Washington did before he died was check his own pulse.  Which probably explains his last words: "Oh, that ain't good."

CHEERS to kicking the bums out. Though it often seems like authoritarian governments are damn-near impossible to dislodge, that ain't always the case. Exhibit A this week is Poland, where the unthinkable just got thunk:

In a cathartic moment for many in Poland, centrist political veteran Donald Tusk got the nod on Monday to be the country’s next prime minister, marking the end of eight years of right-wing nationalist rule and a dramatic shift in the European political landscape. Tusk’s alliance secured a majority in October elections with a promise to restore Polish democracy and the country’s relationship with European allies.

Donald Tusk celebrates.

“This is a wonderful day, not for me, but for all those who have deeply believed over these years that things will get even better, that we will chase away the darkness, that we will chase away evil,” Tusk said, addressing the Polish people on Monday night.

“From tomorrow, we will be able to right the wrongs so that everyone, without exception, can feel at home,” he added.

Excellent. It'll be nice watching them join the ranks of enlightened nations again. By the way: if you're wondering how many Poles it takes to change a light bulb, shame on you. Shame shame shame shame shame.

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Ten years ago in C&J: December 14, 2013

JEERS to life inside the bubble.  Last week Fox News host Megyn Kelly caused a stir when she made a big fat hairy deal out of the alleged "fact" that both Jesus and Santa Claus are "just white."  Friday she backpedaled and claimed that—of course!—her race-baiting was the ha-ha jokey kind of race baiting, people.  Which it wasn't, because neither she nor her guests cracked a smile at the time (except Candy Crowley, but that's just the perma-botox).  But her real problem this morning isn’t with the left's criticism of her comments.  Rather it's with her conservative viewers, who thought she was gloriously correct about white SantaJesus, but are now wondering why she's gone all Massachusetts Kum By Yah Liberal on them.  It's left them fearful, confused and agitated.  In other words: Megyn Kelly has done her job well.

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And just one more…

CHEERS to D-Day 2020. Can’t let today slide by without noting that December 14th will be noted as the day America—and all the restaurants, theaters, gyms, and bowling alleys therein—was saved by a bunch of little pricks. And I admit that I remember getting a bit verklempt watching it happen:

[T]he battle against Covid-19 took what could be a decisive turn Monday as the first federally approved coronavirus vaccine was injected into an American arm.

Good on ya, Nurse Lindsay.

Sandra Lindsay, an ICU nurse who has been on the front lines of the battle against a virus that's killed almost 300,000 people in the United States alone, joined in the applause moments after the first dose was injected into her left arm.

"I feel hopeful today, relieved," Lindsay, who works at at Long Island Jewish Medical Center said…"I feel the healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of the very painful time in our history."

The vaccines (and the follow-up miracle covid happy pills) have come a log way since then. For instance, one of the tricky things about that early vaccine was it keeping it stored in a receptacle that was super-duper-icy cold. Today they can just be shipped under normal refrigeration. But it was pretty dicey back then. The only known way for each shipping container to reach minus-94 degrees Fahrenheit was to let it be stared at for 30 seconds by Laura Ingraham.

Have a nice Thursday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?

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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial

"The Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool splashers say jump, Bill in Portland Maine says how high?"

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA)

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Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Republicans trashing our institutions

We begin today with John T. Bennett of Roll Call reporting on the GOP-lead House approving of an impeachment inquiry of President Biden.

The measure was approved 221-212, with every Republican supporting it and every Democrat opposed. One Democrat did not vote.

The impeachment resolution spells out the authorities of three involved committees, and an accompanying measure describes the GOP-run panels’ subpoena powers. GOP leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who teed up the resolution, contend the move would place the inquiry on firmer legal ground, should the Biden camp challenge any subpoenas in court. [...]

House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., on Wednesday called the inquiry “political hackery,” adding: “This is not serious work.” And Oversight and Accountability ranking Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland said moments earlier that “this stupid, blundering investigation is keeping us from getting any real work done for the people of America.”

President Biden and White House aides have vigorously denied any wrongdoing. Asked last week about House GOP claims that he had interacted with his son’s foreign business associates, Biden told White House reporters, “I did not. And it’s just a bunch of lies.”

Kimberly Atkins Stohr of The Boston Globe says that the U.S. Supreme Court threatens to dismantle the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump by taking up the appeal of a case from a Jan. 6 Capitol rioter.

By taking up an appeal by accused Jan. 6 Capitol rioter Joseph W. Fischer, the court could undo the most serious federal criminal charge Trump is facing for his attempt to subvert democracy.

Fischer’s appeal stems from a charge that he, Trump, and hundreds of others involved in the events of Jan. 6 are facing: corruptly obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding. The charge comes under a federal law passed in the wake of the Enron collapse and was aimed at toughening penalties for actions including destroying, altering, or fabricating financial records. The penalties are stiff indeed: Trump and the other defendants face as many as 20 years in prison as well as steep fines if found guilty.

The language of the statute is not limited to shredding documents and the like. It contains the broad catchall that prohibits any action that “otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so.” And it has been deemed by courts to include interfering with congressional proceedings.

Adam Serwer of The Atlantic writes about the complete absurdity of the “Great Replacement” theory at a time Republicans can field Vivek Ramaswamy for the Republican presidential nomination.

Right-wing apologism for January 6 is no longer shocking, not even from Republican presidential candidates. Trumpists often vacillate between denying it happened, justifying and valorizing those who attempted to overthrow the government to keep Donald Trump in power, or insisting that they were somehow tricked into it by undercover agents provocateurs. But the basic facts remain: January 6 was a farcical but genuine attempt to overthrow the constitutional government, which many Trump supporters think is defensible because only conservatives should be allowed to hold power. [...]

Since Trump’s election, in 2016, the Great Replacement has gone from the far-right fringe to the conservative mainstream. After a white supremacist in Texas targeted Hispanics, killing 23 people in 2019, many conservatives offered condemnations of both the act and the ideology that motivated it. But over the past several years, a concerted campaign by conservative elites in the right-wing media has made the theory more respectable. By 2022, after another white supremacist murdered 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, some prominent voices on the right were willing to claim that there was some validity to the argument that white people are being “replaced.” [...]

Arab American voters, both Christian and Muslim, are withdrawing support from Joe Biden over his thus-far unconditional support for Israel’s conduct in its war with Hamas. This shift, along with a drift to the right that had already begun among more conservative segments of the Muslim community over LGBTQ rights—is an obvious example of how religious and ethnic minority groups can realign politically in unanticipated ways. Muslim voters were a largely pro-Bush constituency in 2000, prior to the GOP embrace of anti-Muslim bigotry after 9/11. So  were Hispanic voters in 2000 and 2004, and Trump showed similar strength with such voters in 2020, as well as making gains with Black voters. Many immigrants who fled left-wing or Communist regimes in Asia and Latin America—Vietnamese, Venezuelans, Cubans—lean right, much as the influx of Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union in the 1990s did. Immigrants from West Africa are often highly religious and socially conservative. And even within particular groups, there are tremendous regional, cultural, class, and educational differences—Puerto Rican voters in Chicago will not necessarily have the same priorities and values as Tejano voters living in Laredo. The far right and its admirers are too busy railing against diversity to understand that diversity is precisely why “the Great Replacement” is nonsense.

Charles Blow of The New York Times looks at some of the reasons that too many Americans are thirsty for authoritarianism.

Confidence in many of our major institutions — including schools, big business, the news media — is at or near its lowest point in the past half-century, in part because of the Donald Trump-led right-wing project to depress it. Indeed, according to a July Gallup report, Republicans’ confidence in 10 of the 16 institutions measured was lower than Democrats’. Three institutions in which Republicans’ confidence exceeded Democrats’ were the Supreme Court, organized religion and the police.

And as people lose faith in these institutions — many being central to maintaining the social contract that democracies offer — they can lose faith in democracy itself. People then lose their fear of a candidate like Trump — who tried to overturn the previous presidential election and recently said that if he’s elected next time, he won’t be a dictator, “except for Day 1” — when they believe democracy is already broken.

In fact, some welcome the prospect of breaking it completely and starting anew with something different, possibly a version of our political system from a time when it was less democratic — before we expanded the pool of participants.[...]

And while these authoritarian inklings may be more visible on the political right, they can also sneak in on the left.

The former chair of the board of trustees at the University of Pennsylvania, Scott L. Bok, writes about the negative influence of donors on university decisions for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

I advocate for free expression and the right to demonstrate, but I am deeply troubled by the hurtful rhetoric sometimes used at demonstrations.

I despair at the ability of social media to mislead, distort, and amplify such rhetoric.

But there are limits to what universities can do to address such matters. Physical safety concerns must come first, so at Penn, we dramatically stepped up our police presence — that campus has never been more closely watched. And if you walked across campus as I did numerous times this semester, most often you would have been struck by how normal life seemed. [...]

Penn has repeatedly condemned hateful speech and appropriately investigated all acts of antisemitism, pursuing every remedy within its power. In particular, it has acted aggressively in response to any vandalism, theft, violence, or threats of violence on the campus.

The challenge all universities face — and always have faced — is how to balance the desire to allow free speech with the desire to maintain order and allow all students to flourish free from bias or harassment. Chaos and violence are bad, but so are McCarthyism and martial law.

Jeannie Suk Gersen of The New Yorker asks an interesting hypothetical question: should American colleges and universities have affirmative action for men?

Despite efforts to dampen their success in admissions, women have, since the nineteen-eighties, been a majority of undergraduate student bodies. Today, they constitute nearly sixty per cent of students enrolled in college nationwide, at private and public institutions. The freshman classes of nearly all Ivy League schools are majority female. Female applicants consistently have higher high-school grades than male applicants, have completed more credits and more challenging courses, and have done more extracurricular activities. Male applicants reportedly have more trouble getting their application materials submitted (which has led Baylor to launch a “males and moms communication campaign” to help keep male applicants on track). Women also perform better than men in college, being more likely to graduate and to do so with honors. Women outnumber men in college applications by more than a third, and there are more qualified women than men in the applicant pool. [...]

At oral arguments in the S.F.F.A. [Students for Fair Admission] case, more than a year ago, Justice Elena Kagan stated aloud the open secret that, if selective colleges were to admit applicants without considering gender, the student bodies would be majority female. Justice Kagan asked the lawyer for S.F.F.A., who argued against using race in admissions, whether he thought it was lawful for schools to use gender in admissions and “put a thumb on the scales” for men in order to serve the health of university life and of society. He replied that the use of gender in admissions may be lawful even though the use of race is unlawful, because the Court does not subject gender to the same level of scrutiny that it subjects race to. Kagan observed that it “would be peculiar” if “white men get the thumb on the scale, but people who have been kicked in the teeth by our society for centuries do not.”

In equal-protection analyses under the Fourteenth Amendment, the Court has indeed allowed more leeway for using gender, but, in order to be constitutional, the use of gender must be substantially related to an important interest. The question, then, would be whether colleges’ interest in having a gender-balanced student body is so important that it justifies holding women to higher admissions standards than men. If a plaintiff brought an equal-protection challenge to the use of sex in admissions, colleges would surely have to do better than to invoke students’ desire to be on a gender-balanced campus, which may reflect their assessment of dating or marriage prospects. (Susan Dominus reported this fall in the Times that at Tulane, where last year’s freshman class was nearly two-thirds women, female students felt that “the gender ratio left them with fewer options, in sheer numbers and in the kinds of relationships available to them.”) Alexandra Brodsky, a civil-rights lawyer at Public Justice and the author of “Sexual Justice,” told me, “I’d be curious, in an equal-protection suit, what reasons a school would give for wanting a sex-balanced class. Relying on the desires of customers is not usually a justification for discrimination.” It’s also doubtful that the Court, which doesn’t consider racial diversity a compelling interest for schools to pursue, would conclude that gender diversity is an important one.

Marianne Lavelle of Inside Climate News says that, with the help of U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry and his team, COP28 wasn't the total disaster that it might have been.

The United States may not have entirely won over its critics when COP28 ended Tuesday with the first statement on fossil fuels in the history of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. But the summit’s cautious final compromise text—which the United States clearly had a key role in helping to craft, say those familiar with Kerry’s team—was enough to ensure that the gathering did not blow up and end without a deal. And that, in itself, was a victory both for the United States and the much-maligned U.N. process, say a number of close observers of climate talks.

To the extent that the U.S. contributed to keeping the process alive, it was able to ensure continued progress would come out of its intensive pre-summit diplomacy with China. The world’s two largest greenhouse gas polluters worked together at Dubai to include in the summit’s final statement a number of items from the agreement they reached in November in Sunnylands, California, including language on addressing potent greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide, especially methane.

Univision news anchor Enrique Acevedo pens an essay for The Washington Post defending his Univision interview with Number 45.

Joaquin Blaya, a former president of Univision who left the network 32 years ago, told The Post, “This was Mexican-style news coverage,” casting a shadow of corruption over my interviewing style and overlooking how journalists in Mexico, where I’m based, are killed more than anywhere else in the world for doing their jobs. Some Latino celebrities employed the same nativist rhetoric they decry from the far right to say “the Mexicans” were importing unscrupulous practices to meddle in U.S. elections. Never mind, I’m American, and have been working more than 20 years for some of the most prestigious news outlets in the world, my record speaks for itself.

Outdated prejudice about Mexico and its news media poses significant dangers, validating decades-old perceptions that fail to reflect the modern, vibrant and open society that defines the country today. Moreover, it underscores a striking absence of humility in the face of our own democratic challenges. Given this broader context, the irony of such false claims is glaring and concerning.

Amid intense partisanship with clearly delineated camps, my interview with Trump wasn’t crafted to convince Democrats or my colleagues in the press that Trump is an unsuitable choice. Instead, its purpose was to afford conservative Latinos the opportunity to hear directly from him without confrontation or hostility.

I didn’t even consider watching Mr. Acevedo’s interview with Number 45 until last night, which basically consisted of Acevedo asking a question and then allowing Number 45 to gish gallop his answers. That’s my problem with the interview as opposed to Mr. Acevedo or Univision wanting to create a “safe space” for conservative Latinos that admire Trump.

Finally today, Fred Kaplan of Slate reports on the possible consequences of Republicans holding Ukraine aid hostage.

The Ukrainian president had flown 5,000 miles to patch up his fraying relationship with Washington legislators. On his previous two trips, they’d practically hoisted him on their shoulders, cheering him as democracy’s great brave hope. But this time, in a series of meetings on Tuesday, the Republican lawmakers brushed him off, shrugged that the romance was over, then tacked on that hoariest of evasions: It’s not you, it’s us.

It was among the most shameful episodes of a sordid political season—and it could have dangerous consequences worldwide.

Taken by itself, the cause of Ukrainian independence—which requires arming Ukrainian troops to fight off Russia’s invading army—enjoys broad, bipartisan support. But the cause has hit a dire moment. The troops are running out of ammunition. President Biden has asked Congress for $60 billion in emergency supplemental funding to keep them going. But Senate Republicans are telling him: We won’t give you the money—we’ll block the 60-vote majority needed to pass the supplemental funding—unless you let us pass a radical immigration bill that all but locks down America’s southern border and makes it nearly impossible for migrants to apply for asylum.

Biden says he’s willing to meet the Republican demand for border tightening halfway. But the Republicans want no compromise; they demand a Senate version of a bill that the House passed earlier this year—a bill so extreme that it garnered not a single Democratic vote. And they are willing to do this even if it means the collapse of Ukraine’s defenses against Russia.

I didn’t even need to read that story, just the look on Zelensky’s face in the photo…

Everyone try to have the best possible day!

DOJ prosecutor accused of limiting questions on Biden during Hunter probe expected to appear for deposition

The assistant U.S. attorney who is accused of limiting questions related to President Biden during the federal investigation into Hunter Biden is expected to be deposed at the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning, all while the whistleblowers who made the allegations against her testify at a separate committee.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf was subpoenaed last month for a deposition. She is expected to sit behind closed doors at the House Judiciary Committee at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATORS LIMITED QUESTIONS ABOUT 'DAD,' 'BIG GUY' DESPITE FBI, IRS OBJECTIONS: WHISTLEBLOWER

Over at the House Ways and Means Committee, the whistleblowers who put Wolf's work under the microscope will sit for a closed-door hearing during the committee’s executive session on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. Gary Shapley, who led the IRS’ portion of the Hunter Biden probe, and Joseph Ziegler, a 13-year special agent within the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division, are expected to speak to the panel.

Shapley and Ziegler have alleged political influence surrounding prosecutorial decisions throughout the Hunter Biden investigation, which began in 2018.

Shapley alleged that Wolf sought to block investigators from asking questions related to President Biden throughout the years-long federal investigation into his son, Hunter Biden.

Specifically, Shapley alleged that Wolf worked to "limit" questioning related to President Biden and apparent references to Biden as "dad" or "the big guy."

Wolf allegedly said there was "no specific criminality to that line of questioning" relating to President Biden, which Shapley said "upset the FBI."

COMER, JORDAN DEMAND HUNTER BIDEN APPEAR FOR DEPOSITION, SAY HE WILL NOT RECEIVE 'SPECIAL TREATMENT'

In October 2020, Wolf reviewed an affidavit for a search warrant of Hunter Biden’s residence and "agreed that probable cause had been achieved," Shapley testified. However, Shapley said Wolf ultimately would not allow a physical search warrant on the president’s son.

Shapley said Wolf determined there was "enough probable cause for the physical search warrant there, but the question was whether the juice was worth the squeeze."

Wolf allegedly said that "optics were a driving factor in the decision on whether to execute a search warrant," Shapley said, adding that Wolf agreed that "a lot of evidence in our investigation would be found in the guest house of former Vice President Biden, but said there is no way we will get that approved."

Wolf also allegedly tipped off Hunter Biden’s legal team ahead of a planned search of his storage unit.

The whistleblowers’ testimony before Ways and Means and Wolf’s deposition at Judiciary comes as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., are leading the investigation as the House gathers evidence and considers whether to draft articles of impeachment against President Biden.

COMER DEFENDS PRIVATE DEPOSITION OF HUNTER BIDEN, VOWS TO RELEASE TRANSCRIPT AND HOLD PUBLIC HEARING

The committees are investigating the alleged politicization of the federal probe into Hunter Biden. They are also investigating the Biden family’s foreign business dealings and whether the president was involved or benefited directly from those ventures.

President Biden has repeatedly denied having any involvement in his son’s business dealings.

Hunter Biden defied his subpoena to appear for a deposition at the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. Instead, he made a public statement on Capitol Hill, blasting the Republican impeachment inquiry and saying his father was "not financially involved" in his business dealings.

Comer and Jordan have threatened to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress.

Hunter Biden's public statement Wednesday came just days after he was charged out of Special Counsel David Weiss' investigation.

Weiss alleged Hunter Biden was engaged in a "four-year scheme" when the president's son did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports. Weiss filed the charges in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The charges break down to three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that were since paid.

Weiss also indicted Hunter Biden in September with federal gun charges, to which the president's son has pleaded not guilty. Biden's defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, this week moved to dismiss those charges altogether.

Weiss's investigation is ongoing.

First lady Jill Biden blasted over ‘bizarre’ White House Christmas video: ‘United States of Bananas’

First lady Jill Biden was blasted Wednesday night after posting a video to X showing dancers tapping around the holiday-decorated White House, whose theme this year is "Magic, Wonder and Joy."

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the first lady shared the video from the official @FLOTUS account, along with the caption. 

"A bit of magic, wonder, and joy brought to you by the talented tappers of Dorrance Dance, performing their playful interpretation of The Nutcracker Suite. Enjoy!" the first lady's post read.

But social media observers didn't seem to be enjoying the musical content.

SUPPORT FOR BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY GROWS WITH A NOTABLE LEVEL OF DEMOCRAT BACKING: POLL

"The United States of Bananas," one viewer posted.

"Imagine thinking this gives America the Christmas spirit," another wrote. 

"You are so strange. Bizarre. Freaky," one said.

One comment even shared Melania's video when Donald Trump was in office, saying how it was tasteful, seasonal, appealed to everyone and was absolutely breathtaking and gorgeous, unlike Biden's, which they said was "utterly tacky, tasteless, and ANTI Christmas." 

"Looks like the WH switched from cocaine to acid," one viewer posted, an apparent reference to the discovery of cocaine at the executive mansion earlier this year. 

The video was filled with smiling dancers in brightly colored costumes, prancing and tapping all over the White House, but many viewers described the video as nothing remotely close to a Christmas theme.

POLL SHOWS BIDEN HITTING RECORD LOW APPROVALS, FALLING BEHIND AGAINST TRUMP IN 2024 MATCHUP

"I wonder what that cost taxpayers," another wrote. 

"ABSOLUTE GARBAGE," another viewer said.

Some asked if the video was a joke, adding it was embarrassing and inappropriate for children. 

Other viewers asked what the cost of the video was and how much it was costing taxpayers. 

'DEEP, DEEP TROUBLE': DEMS REPORTEDLY BRINGING IN HILLARY CLINTON TO HELP WITH BIDEN'S RE-ELECTION

The White House was not immediately available for comment on the video.