March 26, 2021

Reading the Washington Post coverage of Biden's press conference.

There are 5 pieces lined up on the left side of the front page and more scattered about, so this is a big task. Let me get the blog started this morning with just the first headline:

"Biden prioritizes infrastructure and pandemic ahead of guns and immigration." 

On the inside, the headine makes Biden sound weaker: "Biden promises to tackle the nation’s crises, but says some may wait." Prioritizing specific issues sounds like what an active, skillful executive would do. The inside headline presents him as beset by everything and just letting us know he can't get to it all. 

The first paragraph tells us he regarded guns and immigration as "secondary." What was primary was coronavirus, infrastructure, and voting rights. 

I watched the conference, and it seemed to me that the reporters were most concerned about immigration, so WaPo is interpreting Biden's response to mean that he's minimizing the problem. 

Indeed, I remember him saying that people are just coming the way they have always come, and the surge is just because of the winter weather. The policy changes from Trump to Biden have nothing to do with it, Biden  said, so I guess there's not much value in doing anything differently from what he's currently doing, since the migrants come whatever you do. They have their own motivation, and conditions are so bad back home that they will face any adversity. In that light, we're just being cruel to put up obstructions.

In person, Biden didn't get much — or even any — push back from the press corps, and this article follows that mellow, forgiving approach. It's so absurdly different from the way the press treated Trump. There's not even the slightest pretense of making journalism seem like the same sort of thing we saw before. We're just supposed to glide along with them, greased by the mainly accurate understanding that Biden is a very different sort of person than Trump was. 

ADDED: Something is strangely missing from this WaPo piece: Immigration is a matter that Biden has handed over to Kamala Harris. That's a way of making it "secondary," but it's also a way to get things done. Here's what he said about the VP at the press conference — from the transcript:

Well, look, the idea that I’m going to say, which I would never do, if an unaccompanied child ends up at the border, we’re just going to let them starve to death and stay on the other side, no previous administrations did either, except Trump. I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to do it. That’s why I’ve asked the Vice President of United States yesterday to be the lead person on dealing with focusing on the fundamental reasons why people leave Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador in the first place. It’s because of earthquakes, floods. It’s because of lack of food. It’s because of gang violence. It’s because of a whole range of things, that when I was Vice President, had the same obligation to deal with unaccompanied children. I was able to get it slowed up significantly by working with the heads of state of those communities, to do things like, in one of the major cities, the reason people were leaving as they couldn’t walk to the street because their kids were getting beat up or shot or in gang violence.

He proceeds to talk about his own work getting street lighting installed in "those communities." He's given Harris the same job that he himself had when he was Vice President.

128 comments:

DavidUW said...

As a reminder, "journalists" gave up what little pretenses they had left of journalisming with Obama 12+ years ago.

tim maguire said...

We used to say that if you want the press to perform its watchdog role, then you need to vote Republican. But after Trump, that's not true. Now it's, if you want relentless dishonest attacks, then you need to vote Republican. If you want sleepy reporters who don't do or care about anything, then you need to vote Democrat. There's no longer an option for "watchdog."

Tina Trent said...

That was a deeply shameful spectacle.

Humperdink said...

Biden is a shell of a human being. That's the coverage that is lacking.

Earnest Prole said...

I’m beginning to suspect the press may not treat Republican and Democratic Presidents with equal fairness.

God of the Sea People said...

I was just struck by how old and out of it he seemed. I can't believe we have this guy "leading" anything.

rhhardin said...

Journalism isn't in sight. It's the business model that non-confusing narratives continue so that the audience keeps watching.

If they're down on Biden their audience will leave. It's not an interesting narrative any longer.

unknown said...

If you’re truly fleeing oppression, do you wait until the weather is pleasant to make your passage to America?

NoMook said...

Nothing more rare than actual journalism. The new day's clouds won't change that. Keep running, Ann. Maybe you will see the sun and journalism in Joe's black, dead eyes.

David Begley said...

Biden lied repeatedly. I mean real lies. Did WaPo report that? Where are the so-called fact checkers?

This is going to end badly for the USA and Free World.

The CCP must be laughing their asses off daily. They put a senile stooge in as POTUS and the media went along with it.

rhhardin said...

There's a play for the audience that wants to know what outrageous thing the left is saying now, a parasitic market on the soap opera aimed by the left at women; Taibbi and others are sliding over into it from the left to the right. A market there looks better.

Rick said...

In person, Biden didn't get much — or even any — push back from the press corps, and this article follows that mellow, forgiving approach. It's so absurdly different from the way the press treated Trump.

Don't give Biden and the Dems a pass. They led the criticism on immigration, yet now that they're in charge they throw up their hands and admit there's nothing else to be done. Adults knew this all along, which was a reason not to put the children in charge.

iowan2 said...

since the migrants come whatever you do. They have their own motivation, and conditions are so bad back home that they will face any adversity.

You misspelled 'incentives'.

The huge surge is due to incentives. O'Biden incentives.

Here is my comment from yesterday's immigration post.

Central American people are poor because the economies are poor, because the govts are corrupt. The likes of Kamala, claim the solution to a corrupt govt is to send them money. BUT. Not directly to the govt...(shhh, they're corrupt). The money is funneled through, NGO's, non profits, think tanks, and charities. In the form of grants.
Now find out who is on the payroll of those agencies charged with distributing $billions. Kamalas relatives, and donors. "The Mob" called this 'the vig' vigorish. The percentage "The Mob" skimmed off the top of every illegal transaction.

This is the only truly non-partisan activity in DC. Republicans are just as fully engaged.

Lucid-Ideas said...

Biden had notes prepared that he was reading from, and pictures from behind the dais showed they put journalist pics alongside their names so he could match the two when calling on them.

I would've paid $1 million to take a random journalist photo and put "Mr. Buck Fiden" next to it just to here him call on Buck Fiden next.

Joe Biden, our Ron Burgundy pres.

Earnest Prole said...

If you’re truly fleeing oppression, do you wait until the weather is pleasant to make your passage to America?

Winter and Spring are the only time the weather is pleasant at the border. Later the weather becomes unbearable if not deadly.

Lucid-Ideas said...

Anyone notice how lots of the migrants in the migrant Caravan are wearing "President Biden let us in" tshirts?

Nothing says desperation, poverty, and fleeing for your life to find asylum in the USA like stopping along your path at the nearest roadside shop to pick up "President Biden let us in" tshirts with the money you supposedly don't have.

Shouting Thomas said...

The entire ruling class and media in the bag for the CCP.

Hard to believe this has happened, but it has.

gilbar said...

Voting Rights HAVE TO BE the democrat's primary concern
IF HR-1 is not law; they will lose the House (and probably the Senate)

They Need to
a) move to vote on HR-1
b) decry the terrible republicans for a racist filibuster
c) acting, "more in sorrow than in anger", remove the filibuster
d) pass HR-1
e) when the courts block HR-1 as Obviously unconstitutional..
f) acting, "more in sorrow than in anger", pack the court
g) Venezuela here we come!!!

wendybar said...

Yeah...he was asked about Gun control and rambled on and on about infrastructure instead, because THAT was the question he was waiting for...and nobody asked about it.

Lucid-Ideas said...

Trump and Biden are actually very very similar in their migrant messaging, but with one crucial difference. While both have said to the migrants that they shouldn't come here, only Biden made sure to say "please".

I am not Laslo.

Shouting Thomas said...

@gilbar

You missed the reality of this post and the responses.

There is nothing to be done. The CCP is in charge.

Politicking is bullshit. It’s over.

wendybar said...

Lucid-Ideas said...
Anyone notice how lots of the migrants in the migrant Caravan are wearing "President Biden let us in" tshirts?

Nothing says desperation, poverty, and fleeing for your life to find asylum in the USA like stopping along your path at the nearest roadside shop to pick up "President Biden let us in" tshirts with the money you supposedly don't have.

3/26/21, 6:58 AM

And a lot of them have I phones. Such poverty, such desperation!!!

Danno said...

Prole, these people are leaving countries near the equator.

rehajm said...

That was a deeply shameful spectacle.

The only adjective I have is disturbing. Maybe surreal. It looked like an alien interpretation of something familiar...

David Begley said...

Biden as President is no laughing matter. This is serious stuff!

gilbar said...

stopping along your path at the nearest roadside shop to pick up "President Biden let us in" tshirts with the money you supposedly don't have.

they didn't Buy those shirts; they were given to them, by the people paying them to go
Think about the "poor little child", that Jo Biden SAID walked all the way from Honduras...
ALONE

Who Fed that kid? Who Bought that food? Who prepared that food... Alone, my Ass

clint said...

David Begley said... "Biden lied repeatedly. I mean real lies. Did WaPo report that? Where are the so-called fact checkers?"

The Washington Post Fact Checkers would like to issue you Four Pinocchios for this comment. They weren't "real lies", he just misspoke occasionally. He has a stutter you know? So insensitive.

rehajm said...

There's no footage of the border crossings because the Biden administration told the media it was off limits and when there's a tragic story unfolding real journalists fully cooperate with any and all the whims and desires of politicians.

rehajm said...

The Washington Post Fact Checkers would like to issue you Four Pinocchios for this comment.

CNN believes it might be illegal to read Joe Biden's lies.

Shouting Thomas said...

The installation of Biden by our Intel and the CCP is a deliberate demonstration of who’s in charge.

The futility and stupidity of it is the message you are intended to receive.

You are helpless. Your comments here serve no purpose except to identify you to the authorities as a non-conformer.

We elected Trump in 2016 and again in 2020. Biden is your punishment for disobedience.

donald said...

You have to be completely retarded to think there was anything positive about that abortion yesterday. COMPLETELY RETARDED.

michaele said...

Biden said with a straight face and his comment was not challenged as a bald faced lie in a follow up, that Trump, unlike any other president EVER, left the kids back across the border to "starve to death on the other side..." I'm sorry but if that was the truth...WHERE are the mass graves? There would have been endless photos of the carnage. It's unrefuted lies like that that infuriate me.

Danno said...

Earnest Prole said...I’m beginning to suspect the press may not treat Republican and Democratic Presidents with equal fairness.

Either that is sarcasm, or we may have to change your moniker to Anal Probe since you must have your head up your butt.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Althouse wrote (satyrically, I think): The policy changes from Trump to Biden have nothing to do with it, Biden said, so I guess there's not much value in doing anything differently from what he's currently doing, since the migrants come whatever you do.

Immigration levels are a result of both "push" and "pull" factors.
This is literally straight of college-level geography textbooks.

mockturtle said...

Wendybar: A local reporter noted that each migrant had to pay the equivalent of $4K to the cartels to get them across the border and were given green wrist bands to identify them as paid customers to ensure their entry. [Why would this be so?] They did not walk from Guatemala, either. They were transported by the cartels.

Kathy from Boston said...

Regarding "the mainly accurate understanding that Biden is a very different sort of person than Trump was." Yes, the one who has been in the Senate for 120 years has been a decidedly worse sort for our country.

David Begley said...

We know Biden cheated to win. Why not impeach?

At this point I’d prefer Harris as POTUS.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I can't even bring myself to care one little whit about the mythical Biden (since he doesn't really exist anymore other than as an empty shell), the decay of the United States and the upcoming world of turmoil that the Democrats are purposely and foolishly unleashing on the world.

I care about the survival of MYSELF and MY husband. About MY family and friends.

There is absolutely nothing that "I", personally, can do about anything else in the world. No one who is actually in power or even our military, which seems to be complicit in the treason, is interested in doing anything..... So...why should I bother wasting time and energy on it? Really..why?

Shouting Thomas said: You are helpless. Your comments here serve no purpose except to identify you to the authorities as a non-conformer.

And..I don't even care about that anymore either.

tim maguire said...

Earnest Prole said...Winter and Spring are the only time the weather is pleasant at the border. Later the weather becomes unbearable if not deadly.

A vast majority of them live in Central America. That's the weather whether they stay home or head North.

tim maguire said...

David Begley said...At this point I’d prefer Harris as POTUS.

If you see Harris as a ruthless pol who would do anything to get and hold power, then you have to expect her to be a moderate who will try to avoid pissing off too many people with ambitious programs.

Russell said...

So Jim Acosta wasn't trying to hog the mic and prove how racist Biden's cages are? Kids are still in 'cages' so I'm Acosta is fine with that. Or maybe its just partisan hackery devoid of principle. I know which way I would lean.

DanTheMan said...

>>Indeed, I remember him saying that people are just coming the way they have always come, and the surge is just because of the winter weather.

This would have never happened if Joe Biden was alive today.

Gusty Winds said...

I’m with Shouting Thomas. It’s over. I find Althouse’s analysis of the corrupt press quite rich. Having supported liberals throughout her career she helped get us to this place. Her denial of November’s voter fraud was more than just fear and surrender. She will soon see her lifelong dream of seeing the first woman President, installed in the most in your face and corrupt manner possible.

Perhaps via executive action, President Harris can balance out New Zealand’s injustice toward feminists, and grant paid leave for every abortion. With woke feminists like Althouse in charge, and a large spike in tax payer funded womb raking, the time off should grind the economy to a halt.

Thanks Ann. And thanks Madison, WI. Hope you are all enjoying America’s #1 place to retire. You screwed your grandkids for your own comfort.

Breezy said...

Why not a single journalist stood up shouting that the Emperor wears no clothes is quite astounding to me. They all see it, know it’s a charade, yet think it’s ok cuz it’s their team.

This man did not win the election.

Quaestor said...

...greased by the mainly accurate understanding that Biden is a very different sort of person than Trump was.

Person? That's a person? Looks like a fungal growth -- a very elderly fungal growth.

Sounds like one, too.

Greg said...

The end game for journalists and democrats will be to copy Canada. The liberal government gave $600,000,000 directly to "approved" media companies, and made it annual. They also created a tax deduction for online subscriptions, again, only for approved media providers. Your US media companies are all on the road to failure and will be advocating with the dems for something similar, I guarantee it.

Breezy said...

Imagine the fame for the one person brave enough to call this folly out on live tv. Epic!

GatorNavy said...

That shammockery of a press conference was a goal of the Long March through the institutions of America.

Shouting Thomas said...

Althouse is not responsible for this CCP takeover.

She’s kept an open forum going for over 15 years.

I disagree forcefully with her identity politics obsession, but she’s advanced even that as something to be decided via legitimate electoral politics.

Laslo Spatula said...

"We're just supposed to glide along with them, greased by the mainly accurate understanding that Biden is a very different sort of person than Trump was."

"glide" and "greased"= lubed and fucked.

I am Laslo.

Temujin said...

It was a bizarre spectacle. You had the spaced seating for the so-called Journalists! which looked eerily similar to Joe's campaign stops, although there were more journalists in the room than attendees at his campaign stops. The Journalists! then proceeded to complement Pres. Joe while asking their questions. Pretty simple questions. President Joe. You're so humane, and morally superior to that other man. Do you think that's why more people are coming here?"

Being called morally superior to anyone is a first for the Biden family. Pres. Joe was pleased that migrants are rushing in because they think he's a good guy. He seemed to get a pump in his stance when he heard that.

Watching President Joe flip through pages to find his answers on foreign policy questions, then read those notes verbatim, as if he was practicing a part for a play, reading to himself- that was awe-inspiring. I'm sure world leaders felt a tingle up their legs watching that.

Watching President Joe flip through his photo/name pages to find a journalist not from Fox News to call on- that was special. Trump never ducked anybody. Not even Yamiche- who should be ducked by everybody.

And Pres. Joe continued to pump the lie that their HR 1 is a 'voting rights' bill, making sure that people who don't know anything (i.e. people who get their news from CNNABCCBSNBSMSNBSNPR) view it as Republicans trying to stop Black Americans from voting. Really- we just want to stop anybody from voting multiple times, or having others vote for them, or allowing non-citizens the vote, or tossing ballots away that don't have the approved vote.

Our Journalists! are prepared to carry the flag for Pres. Joe. They showed it yesterday. Even when he stumbled...they remained silent, obedient- just like the did with Trump. Heh.

narciso said...

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2021/03/25/dhs-preparing-to-use-private-contractors-to-scour-public-data-and-social-media-to-compile-dissident-citizens-for-watch-list-and-no-fly-lists/

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Breezy said... Imagine the fame for the one person brave enough to call this folly out on live tv. Epic!

Yeah! Too bad they won't live long enough to enjoy it though. Sudden car crash. Suicidal falling from a hotel balconey Heart attack. Thorium stab in the leg.

You know...cruel fate.

unknown said...

Only thing that’ll make Democrats care about securing the border is if Hispanics start voting Republican.

Rick said...

The liberal government gave $600,000,000 directly to "approved" media companies, and made it annual.

Americans would never be so clumsy. Every bill passed is padded with billions for "education". This is a giveaway to their activists, funding their day jobs (typically at NGOs including Acorn's Children) with the knowledge their real job is participating in political events and related activism. If Dems want to increase their support for media they'll double the "education" funding and place ads in friendly media.

exhelodrvr1 said...

VDH on "following the science"
https://amgreatness.com/2021/03/21/follow-the-science-they-said/

MadTownGuy said...

Politico: Biden meets the press and the pandemic disappears

"During the first news conference of his presidency, Joe Biden was never asked about the issue that likely got him elected and, in all likelihood, will be the defining crisis of his time in office."

sterlingblue said...

It's so absurdly different from the way the press treated Trump. There's not even the slightest pretense of making journalism seem like the same sort of thing we saw before.

Exactly. These people shouldn't even be called journalists. They're Strategic Communications professionals for The Party.

iowan2 said...

I can't even bring myself to care one little whit about the mythical Biden

Yes its way more fun to talk about the turtle on a fence post, than examine who put him there, and who is sustaining the turtle, so outside it habitat, it would parish in a matter of days.

Who is keeping him balanced on the fence post?

John henry said...

I just finished listening to the presser.

It sounds like Joe is going to make the planes fly on time.

Benito Mussolini's Fascism actually was able to get the trains to run on time.

Let's see if Slojo can do as well as Mussolini.

In the 9 months before pedjt come back to the oval office.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that even the lady whose name I can't mention has come to believe this as well.

What a horror show that presser was to listen to.

"what are you going to do about guns, Mr president?"

"look. Look. Look Sam. I will be announcing in my big Pittsburgh speech tomorrow (fumble, mumble, fumble) my new infrastructure program!" (infrastructure. Yeah, that's the ticket)

John Henry

chickelit said...

Joe Biden said: Well, look, the idea that I’m going to say, which I would never do, if an unaccompanied child ends up at the border, we’re just going to let them starve to death and stay on the other side, no previous administrations did either, except Trump.

What a pathetic liar. But is that Biden or his earpiece talking?

Temujin said...

Joe Biden's Presidency is a reality TV show in a care home

gilbar said...

Seriously, What was with Jo Biden's eyes?
How dilated were his pupils ? Just How Much Adderall was he taking?

on a related note: when will be the next time anyone sees him? two days? four? eight?

Browndog said...

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I can't even bring myself to care one little whit about the mythical Biden (since he doesn't really exist anymore other than as an empty shell), the decay of the United States and the upcoming world of turmoil that the Democrats are purposely and foolishly unleashing on the world.

I care about the survival of MYSELF and MY husband. About MY family and friends.


This is the correct approach.

John henry said...

Something I have always found annoying about politicians is the way they want us to address them by their titles yet call us by our first name.

Dianne Feinstein had a particularly egregious example with a 3 star a few years ago "please address me as Senator".

It seemed even more pronounced than usual in Slojo's presser yesterday. Or is that just me?

When is the state of the union address gonna be?

John Henry

Sebastian said...

"Biden didn't get much — or even any — push back from the press corps, and this article follows that mellow, forgiving approach. It's so absurdly different from the way the press treated Trump. There's not even the slightest pretense of making journalism seem like the same sort of thing we saw before."

Why pretend when you are in control? Still, the meekness of the silent "reporters" was absurd even by prog standards.

"Well, look, the idea that I’m going to say, which I would never do, if an unaccompanied child ends up at the border, we’re just going to let them starve to death and stay on the other side, no previous administrations did either, except Trump."

He always was a good liar. Nasty, but good.

"dealing with focusing on the fundamental reasons why people leave Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador in the first place. It’s because of earthquakes, floods. It’s because of lack of food. It’s because of gang violence."

So, he is saying that most "asylum" claims are in fact bogus.

"He proceeds to talk about his own work getting street lighting installed in "those communities.""

Again, making a mockery of "asylum" claims. But progs want the mockery, the better to destroy the system.

rehajm said...

Joe Biden was never asked about the issue that likely got him elected...

One Pinocchio: It wasn't COVID that got him elected but COVID did open the door to the election fraud that did.

MadTownGuy said...

"rehajm said...
Joe Biden was never asked about the issue that likely got him elected...

One Pinocchio: It wasn't COVID that got him elected but CIVUD did open the door to the election fraud that did.
"

That's my thought too, but you'll never see that on Politico.

Matt Sablan said...

The last time a Democrat president handed immigration over to their vice president, we had children literally handed over to traffickers and to abusive homes. So, Harris can't do worse.

Todd said...

"Biden prioritizes infrastructure and pandemic ahead of guns and immigration."

On the inside, the headine makes Biden sound weaker: "Biden promises to tackle the nation’s crises, but says some may wait."


a) Infrastructure is NOT a crisis for Fed, it is worse case a local crisis that cities/states need to step up and solve themselves.

b) "pandemic" is NOT a crisis except for those blue (when did Dems steal the "blue" tag and stick Reps with [commi] "red"?) cities/states that felt they needed to let their fascist flags fly.

c) Guns are NOT a crisis except for blue cities/states that have elected soy-boy DAs and defunded/neutered the police.

d) Immigration is ONLY a crisis cause the Dems/#BadTouchBiden made it one. Trump had it under some control and it was getting better. Then Dems/#BadTouchBiden stole the election and immediately started undoing a working solution. Why? They WANT the country over-run with illegal aliens. Dems want the cheap lawn care and #BadTouchBiden wants more child hair to sniff.

Fritz said...

Lucid-Ideas said...
Anyone notice how lots of the migrants in the migrant Caravan are wearing "President Biden let us in" tshirts?

Nothing says desperation, poverty, and fleeing for your life to find asylum in the USA like stopping along your path at the nearest roadside shop to pick up "President Biden let us in" tshirts with the money you supposedly don't have.


Maybe they're signing bonuses from the coyotes.

Leland said...

I was able to get it slowed up significantly by working with the heads of state of those communities

Yeah and the first sentence of the next paragraph:
Well, what I was able to do is not give money to the head of state, because so many are corrupt

Instead, he supposedly paid a contractor to put up lights in the city. Because everyone knows that lights run on fairy dust and that's how they stop gang violence. I'll note but skip that President Trump was Impeached for even suggesting withholding aid to a government due to corruption.

But the next part I thought was hilarious:
When this hurricane occurred, the two hurricanes, instead of us going down and helping in a major way so that people would not have a reason to want to leave in the first place because they didn’t have housing or water or sustenance, we did nothing.

So it isn't gang violence, it is hurricanes. Remember hurricanes, because two paragraphs later:
A nine year old. I’m going to send him on a thousand mile journey across the desert and up to the United States

So it isn't gang violence, it is the hurricanes in the desert.

Skeptical Voter said...

Street lighting in Central America! That's the ticket! This Dim Bulb got street lighting in Central America. Well then he should get a Nobel Prize. He did more to earn than the last US President who got a Nobel Peace Prize for nothing.

Humperdink said...

"I care about the survival of MYSELF and MY husband. About MY family and friends."

Which is why I bought an angus heifer last spring breeding purposes.

alanc709 said...

There's a simple solution to all this: US should annex Mexico and Central America. Might as well, since we intend to steal all their citizens.

Iman said...

We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives... getting fucked. And remember my friends, events such as the Biden “press conference” will highlight that fucking of us in the future.

Big Mike said...

It's so absurdly different from the way the press treated Trump.

@Althouse, isn’t that the reason you abstained from voting? Because the press and the Democrats set out to make Trump’s administration seem utterly chaotic and you fell for it?

tcrosse said...

Street lighting in Central America! That's the ticket!

After all, they can't play Midnight Basketball in the dark.

rehajm said...

Immigration is a matter that Biden has handed over to Kamala Harris. That's a way of making it "secondary," but it's also a way to get things done

Are we so far gone as a nation that we've forgotten the concept of comprehensive legislation to address the issue? Trump tried that early in his tenure but was ignited by the left. We are completely a nation of executive orders, corrupt alphabet agencies, Hawaiian judges, sanctuary cites, standing, laches, moot...

rehajm said...

@Althouse, isn’t that the reason you abstained from voting

We pick on Ann for her ignorance and her abstention but I can see the obese, womanizing blowhard Trump just wasn't the feminists cup o' tea.

Lucid-Ideas said...

@alanc709

"There's a simple solution to all this: US should annex Mexico and Central America. Might as well, since we intend to steal all their citizens."

NO. I've said it here a million times and I've seen it elsewhere some half-joking and some not. Mexico is a failed state. It has been a failed state since Porfirio Diaz's retirement (over 100 years ago). Mexico would be the 51st state money pit that makes Illinois look tame in comparison. Mexico is filled with Mexicans and Mexicans are the reason Mexico is Mexico. They don't become American citizens with American values and American culture overnight because you annex them in the same way they don't integrate when they cross the Rio Grande.

The solution to illegal immigration is an economic, military, and political understanding that further violation of our border by their citizens will result in harsh consequences and massive degradation of monetary and receipt remittances that de facto keep their entire nation and economy afloat. And failure of their economy that results in additional border violation will precipitate a military response.

I'm fucking done with this. They don't respond to messaging, not even when Biden says "please". This is real politik here. It has to be physical response, wall or otherwise.

rehajm said...

I do wish they'd make rhhardin wrong for once...

jim said...

Gee, there are fewer "dementia Joe" comments here than I expected.

Hope you guys want to give this guy a chance to fix things, before the next republican president comes along to flush it down the toilet, again. Nah.

Shouting Thomas said...

I see no purpose in getting exercised over Althouse’s vote.

The fraud was massive and multifaceted.

Biden was deemed to be president without respect to the voting.

Matt Sablan said...

"It’s because of a whole range of things, that when I was Vice President, had the same obligation to deal with unaccompanied children."

-- https://apnews.com/article/cc07b82ec58145cca37d6ff952f334c1 <-- Just a reminder of what happened when he was Vice President. Why isn't this a front page news story everywhere? *This* is the benchmark for success Biden held for himself. The U.S. government incompetently handing children over to abusive homes and sex traffickers. That's the success Biden is claiming.

Gusty Winds said...

Big Mike said…@Althouse, isn’t that the reason you abstained from voting? Because the press and the Democrats set out to make Trump’s administration seem utterly chaotic and you fell for it?

Although I don’t believe in mind reading, it seems Althouse’s non-voting in 2020 was for plausible deniability; disguised as “cruel neutrality”. She has to know her former colleagues and current community put us on a runaway train. Soon we will crash into their utopian dream. Having spent a career inside of it all at UW, a little had wringing is in order.

I still believe her absolute denial of the 2020 Election Fraud, perpetuated in her own back yard, was for survival of this blog. It’s the truth that dare not speak its name. Think about it. A law professor that refused to address un-Constitutional changes to voting laws, and blatant in-your-face fraud. What left if she gets cancelled by both Google and Madison, WI?

Now we can pontificate and over analyze our senile ruler, and wait for the celebratory balloon drop when the Harris is installed.

mockturtle said...

Again, Buwaya warned us that our country was toast but some, myself included, insisted that it could be saved. We were wrong.

God of the Sea People said...

I think the decision not to vote is just as valid as the decision to vote. I've always hated the pressure put on people to vote, always by people who are desperate for you to vote for THEIR guy. I would much prefer that the truly ignorant or apathetic people in our society not vote, rather than be manipulated into voting for a particular candidate.

Calypso Facto said...

jim said ... "Hope you guys want to give this guy a chance to fix things..."

Illegal immigrant detention up 400%, 40,000 out of work on the Keystone, gas prices up 40%, deficit up $2 Trillion in 2 months, Syrian sympathizers shooting up shopping centers after Syrian bombing resumes, and next up, 2nd Amendment restrictions, permanently enshrining vote fraud, and punishing higher taxes ... I don't know how much more "fixing" we can stand.

gilbar said...

I still believe her absolute denial of the 2020 Election Fraud, perpetuated in her own back yard, was for survival of this blog

Yep, it doesn't Really Matter; What Professor Althouse wants... Google OWNS this blog,
and Everything written here (those darn EULAs! So Much Fine Print!!)

Our Professor has repeatedly said, that she won't (CAN'T) move to a different site,
because she'd 'lose the ability to do searches' (or some such)
What she means is: She's spent a good part of her life writing for Google, and If she doesn't want to Lose that; she'll do what they TELL Her to do

One could almost use "the ess-word" to describe her relationship with Google
One could Almost say, that Ann Althouse is Google's...

Iman said...

And dementia isn’t just for old folks. Follow teh Science...

http://patterico.com/2021/03/25/president-bidens-first-news-conference-open-thread/

Gusty Winds said...

Shouting Thomas said...
I see no purpose in getting exercised over Althouse’s vote.

You're right Thomas. I'll never vote again; just on the principle that only I get to jerk my own chain. Since 2011 as a reader of this blog I always believed Althouse did a good job riding the middle. All my opinions of her posts changed at the absolute denial and refusal to address the 2020 election fraud. The irony and stubbornness of insisting the NYTs, Wash Post, and the New Yorker were valid sources, and ignoring any alternative sources was hypocritical; as blog serves and $urvive$ as and alternative source.

Every law class she ever taught was nullified. With our installed ruler there are no laws. The cowardice of the Supreme Court, including Barrett and Kavanaugh, to address the fraud was the death nell of American democracy.

For you the blind who once could see...the bell tolls for thee.

gilbar said...

the decision not to vote is just as valid as the decision to vote.

is Wisconsin one of those states, where you can see a list of people that voted in the last election?
Kinda curious if our Professor's vote was cast (by someone?)

Dust Bunny Queen said...

jim said...Gee, there are fewer "dementia Joe" comments here than I expected.

Hope you guys want to give this guy a chance to fix things, before the next republican president comes along to flush it down the toilet, again. Nah.


Poor jim. Your delusion is sad and destructive. The belief that
'this guy' Joe Biden is in charge of anything at all.

There IS no Joe Biden as President. Joe is an empty shell of a man. He is being used by a cabal of faceless and unelected persons to accomplish an agenda. They don't want to "fix" things in the way that the American people consider fixed.

I could hate Joe Biden the person for his lifetime of corruption and self serving use of his public offices. However, today...I feel incredibly sorry for Joe Biden...the "guy". My father died last year of old age and had increasing dementia to the point at the end that basically he was a drooling shell of the fine man he used to be.

He would have occasional flashes of clarity, for a few moments. You could see the confusion, fear and sadness at those moments. I see those same flashes in Biden's eyes. Like a drowning man realizing that this moment of surfacing from the depths is only a moment and there will be nothing more than a plunging back into the deep dark depths of his own mental hell.

I wouldn't put my Father through what these "handlers" are doing to Biden. It is cruel to Joe. It is worse than that for the rest of the United States. If my father made horrible mistakes and bad decisions at the end of his demented state, it was not that irreversible. When JOE makes these mistakes...or worse the "mistakes" are made in malice and on purpose by his "handlers" to garner power for themselves....it is disaster for the world.

Of course I don't expect you to understand this or hear it since your own head is firmly ensconced in your ass.

Ray said...

"Only thing that’ll make Democrats care about securing the border is if Hispanics start voting Republican."
More and more of the native Hispanics will. We have a new set of Hispanics. Its been reported that The cartels put a little piece of paper in the pocket of each person. It is either a "family" member phone number, chosen by the cartel, or a routing number. Since most of the people can't afford the $4000 dollars, they are in obligation to the cartel, with the fear of something happening to the family they left behind. These people are now lifetime slaves to the cartel. With, citizenship and mail in voting about to be made permanent, they will need help in filling out the ballot. The last part is speculative, but since many Democrats are in with the cartels, it's not beyond reality.

mockturtle said...

DBQ: As I posted last week, my husband, pre-dementia, would have been horrified to think his family would allow him to be embarrassed like this on a public stage or even in front of his former colleagues. Jill & Co. should be ashamed that their selfish interests have priority. It's a sad situation.

Ray said...

"Now we can pontificate and over analyze our senile ruler, and wait for the celebratory balloon drop when the Harris is installed"
And many feminists will cry like they did in January 2009.

farmgirl said...

I watched w/my Mom- she’ll be 89 next month. She didn’t want to watch, but did b/c I wanted to. I never watched Trump. Her aside comments were worth it. Everything Trump put into place to work on fixing crisis’- they dismantle and cry they inherited the problems.

If policies work to strengthen the country- but you can’t stand the President because of his character: I’d say you’re a selfish bastard. That’s what all the Libs I know say about Trump. And how Europe can’t stand us....

W/Trump- the policies were working, peace in the Middle East, pipeline, welfare diminishing in trade off for earned income, etc. All for the betterment of the health of this country. Couldn’t have that-

Aren’t you sick and tired of the hypocrisy of the Leftists? It’s a never ending game of whiplash- I’m temputo quit and stick my head in the sand. But, I know I won’t.

Tom said...

There are five issues that, if passed by Democrats, increase the likelihood of civil unrest and potentially succession movements.

1 - Unsecuring elections through federal law
2 - Packing the SCOTUS
3 - Making DC a state without a constitutional amendment in order to gain control of Senate. (I don't think making Puerto Rico a state is as much of an issue because that is a territory of the US and is constitutionally eligible to be considered for statehood.
4 - End the filibuster for passing bills
5 - Gun restrictions, bans, and confiscations
6 - Unabated illegal immigration (see issue 1 and consider that combo)

For everyone of these issues the Democrats enact, there risk of a national divorce goes up.

I don't know if it's better or worse to have an inept president. I suppose it depends onto degree of alignment those who actually control the president are able to maintain. With this much power on the line, I'm doubtful they can hold the cabal together. But, Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky pulled it off.

Tom said...

Make that 6 issues.

Quaestor said...

I think Resident Biden has given me prostate cancer.

I can no longer P.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Jill & Co. should be ashamed...

Yeah I’ve been asking for two weeks now, where is the Fake Lady Jill?

hombre said...

Interesting that, according to the Epoch Times, questions were not taken from conservative news entities.

Lindsey Graham gets it right: ““With all due respect, this press conference is hard to watch. The misinformation being given by President Biden on immigration is stunning,” Graham wrote.

“It’s clear he does not have the situational awareness he needs to understand what is going on at the border or how to fix it.”

We’re toast!

Sam L. said...

I trust nothing that the WaPoo prints.

Ralph L said...

Find a new note, Sam L.

Narayanan said...

He's given Harris the same job that he himself had when he was Vice President.
--------------==================
could be that is the only job he is capable?

of taking instructions

and Xi has given him the job of being President of USA

Narayanan said...

iowan2 said...
Here is my comment from yesterday's immigration post.

Central American people are poor because the economies are poor, because the govts are corrupt. The likes of Kamala, claim the solution to a corrupt govt is to send them money. BUT. Not directly to the govt...(shhh, they're corrupt). The money is funneled through, NGO's, non profits, think tanks, and charities. In the form of grants.
Now find out who is on the payroll of those agencies charged with distributing $billions. Kamalas relatives, and donors. "The Mob" called this 'the vig' vigorish. The percentage "The Mob" skimmed off the top of every illegal transaction.

This is the only truly non-partisan activity in DC. Republicans are just as fully engaged.
----------------------================
also true cause instigators of all the wars and kinetic actions USA has waged overseas

Narayanan said...

I wouldn't put my Father through what these "handlers" are doing to Biden. It is cruel to Joe. It is worse than that for the rest of the United States.
----------------==============
instead of naked emperor you have empty-skull-President as befits a faux-Republic needing a figurehead.

Narayanan said...

gilbar said...
I still believe her absolute denial of the 2020 Election Fraud, perpetuated in her own back yard, was for survival of this blog

Yep, it doesn't Really Matter; What Professor Althouse wants... Google OWNS this blog,
and Everything written here (those darn EULAs! So Much Fine Print!!)
---------------============
I have long awaited a lawyerly analysis of EULA - >> hope Professora can oblige

Narayanan said...

Ray said...
"Only thing that’ll make Democrats care about securing the border is if Hispanics start voting Republican."
More and more of the native Hispanics will. We have a new set of Hispanics. Its been reported that The cartels put a little piece of paper in the pocket of each person. It is either a "family" member phone number, chosen by the cartel, or a routing number. Since most of the people can't afford the $4000 dollars, they are in obligation to the cartel, with the fear of something happening to the family they left behind. These people are now lifetime slaves to the cartel. With, citizenship and mail in voting about to be made permanent, they will need help in filling out the ballot. The last part is speculative, but since many Democrats are in with the cartels, it's not beyond reality.
---------------==============
Democrats have long held on to their goal of increasing voting-(slaves) from 3/5 to full ""citizen"" and Lincoln and post Civil War politics helped them along the way!!!

MountainMan said...

@DBQ at 7:18 AM. I am with you 100%. I have been actively researching several web sites of financial consultants and foreign countries and talking to my own financial adviser to determine if it's worth moving before things go completely to hell. Not many really good options unless you are ultra high net worth as most of the desirable countries require high six or even seven figure investment or tax buy-ins, and I can't renounce US citizenship without encountering FATCA and having it take a good chunk of our life's savings. But I also have family to think about here, going to be difficult to navigate the carnage that is coming. I am already assuming that HR 1, PRO Act, DC/PR statehood, the court packing, and the $3.0T "infrastructure" bill will go through. After that it is all over. Having just turned 70 I guess I don't have that many more years to worry about, and moving to another country seems daunting. I fear most for my beautiful, sweet grandchildren and the country they will live in.

Tina Trent said...

Street lighting isn’t what Biden and Obama “did” in Mexico and Central America’s barrios. The nonprofits the Obama Administration actually worked with had three ambitions: legalizing ALL drugs in the U.S. and countries south; opening America’s southern border, and using the corruption of policing in countries south of us to energize anti-police movements everywhere. The Obama administration did not care that their goals would increase chaos and violence in other countries, because that would just put more pressure on us to let more future Democrat voters cross our borders illegally. Their policy priorities were like a stupid VICE documentary about evil cops and how legalizing cocaine and meth would definitely end the cartels. Which has not been true with pot legalization, but let’s keep repeating that stupidity.

Ordinary foreign aid, which arguably included a few streetlights, continued to flow through the ordinary government channels and oligarch proxies. Meanwhile, Obama was working with nonprofits that had a few GOPe types like George Schultz and dumb Reason libertarians (who actually spent those years trying to create a “police-free autonomous city” in Honduras I think), but mostly they were hard leftists pushing open borders and no police and legalized drugs in the poorest countries in the region. It was and is sick.

The Atlantic Foundation, all the drug legalization foundations and the open borders groups are wealthy American and transnational organizations: that’s who Obama worked with in Central America. Maybe Biden thought he was bringing streetlights to Central America barrios, but that’s not what the Obama Administration was doing. Even if Biden had put up streetlights in every Central American barrio, the streetlights would just make it harder for decent people to hide from the ycartels preying on them, with no police in sight.

Narr said...

Hump, good luck with the breeding--if your wife doesn't mind I don't.

DBQ has it right--take care of your own.

O well and truly fucked are we, and yes the great revolutionary experiments of 1776 and 1789 are played out. The ideas and ideals are still valid, but our elites are as corrupt as the Bourbons and as unconcerned with anything but their own unearned privilege and power.

The problems of Latin America are many and deep-seated, but foremost is the Hispano-Catholic culture-- a real world example of Old Regime Europe imposed on the New World, despite the overlay of secularism and modernity cast by their association with the US Rev.

It's interesting to compare the wealth and standard of living of Europeans, the levels of education and general culture--even those like the Spanish who suffered terribly from French hegemony--to those of Latin America.

The divergence is easily seen, and it's not mysterious.

Now the excess humanity of failed cultures and religions are being deliberately lured to this country by criminals supplying potential serfs to the new aristocrats.

Narr
It was nice while it lasted

jim said...

re 10:47AM - Don't let the goddamn door hit you in the ass.

Narayanan said...

iowan2 said...
I can't even bring myself to care one little whit about the mythical Biden

Yes its way more fun to talk about the turtle on a fence post, than examine who put him there, and who is sustaining the turtle, so outside it habitat, it would parish in a matter of days.

Who is keeping him balanced on the fence post?
--------------=================
have you inspected the soil that holds the fence post (termite infested / hollowed out Constitution - with full help from your legal scholars)

Bruce Hayden said...

“There's a simple solution to all this: US should annex Mexico and Central America. Might as well, since we intend to steal all their citizens.”

When playing Risk, I would very often start in the US, and push out until I held N America, essentially fortifying at the Panama Canal. Then later, I would push down and annex S America. Still better for the US for centuries now, would have been to push north and annex Canada first. Most of them almost speak a civilized language (I am excluding the French speakers in Quebec, which we probably don’t want anyway - let them rejoin the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys back in France). Canada is resource rich, and population poor, just the opposite of Mexico. We see a lot of Canadians in NW MT, down shopping for the weekend. Nice people. You can almost mistake them sometimes for Americans. They would fit in well.

gilbar said...

push north and annex Canada first.

Tried that, didn't work
Tried that Again, didn't work
Tried that AGAIN!, didn't work
(A small group of American rebels from the Hunters' Lodges invaded Canada in the Patriot War (1837–1838)
and the Battle of the Windmill in 1838
The Fenian raids, based in the United States, also targeted Canada between 1866 and 1871)

Oh! and don't forget 54-40 or Fight... Didn't work

Clyde said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jim said...

3 cheers for the Fenians and that last attempt to complete our manifest destiny.

Some of my neighbors still remember the parts played by their ancestors, esp last week.

320Busdriver said...

“We're just supposed to glide along with them, greased by the mainly accurate understanding that Biden is a very different sort of person than Trump was. “

Would that different be a sort of “moral, decent” kind of man as Yamiche described?

Inga said...

“All my opinions of her posts changed at the absolute denial and refusal to address the 2020 election fraud. The irony and stubbornness of insisting the NYTs, Wash Post, and the New Yorker were valid sources, and ignoring any alternative sources was hypocritical; as blog serves and $urvive$ as and alternative source.”

Why does she do this to her loyal followers? I think maybe because she knows that rightist rags are even less reliable than NYT and WaPo. Or maybe she derives some pleasure from continually linking to NYT and WaPo and seeing the usual response from the majority of her commenters. Who knows.

Lurker21 said...

Do you seriously think "infrastructure" is a priority for Biden? Maybe he picked it because it's relatively uncontroversial. And maybe the infrastructure bills are going to be loaded with all manner of pork for the party base. Less roads and bridges and more high tech and renewable energy?

Also, it's a chance to play at being "bipartisan." If the Republicans accept the bill it's a win for Biden. If they reject it, it's also a win for Biden: he can say he was being bipartisan and the GOP wouldn't play along.

Known Unknown said...

"As a reminder, "journalists" gave up what little pretenses they had left of journalisming with Obama 12+ years ago"

I think you mean Kennedy, but ...

Jim at said...

Hope you guys want to give this guy a chance to fix things

Nope. Fuck you and yours.
You voted for this clown and you need to choke on it.

mockturtle said...

Do you seriously think "infrastructure" is a priority for Biden?

Listening carefully to his 'infrastructure' spiel, I noticed that, after the obligatory 'bridges and roads' bit, he brought up technology, including AI. It might be interesting to know what his puppet masters have in mind in the way of AI.

Big Mike said...

And maybe the infrastructure bills are going to be loaded with all manner of pork for the party base.

I've read that the current draft infrastructure bill has funding for free community college.

walter said...

Given Harris is from California, she must be well versed on illegal immigration.....

DeepRunner said...

Kamala Harris...dealing with immigration issues. Yeah, I'm gonna say no. Biden saying migrants always come here the same way they always have sorta looks past the last four years when they couldn't just cross the border. America is a magnet for immigrants. How is it that folks from West Africa can come here legally (mostly) but folks south of the Rio Grande ain't gotta?

Anyways, of course The Post (and the "press") was gonna use the rose-colored glasses for Muttering Joe that they packed away four years ago when El Naranja took office. It'll be Monica Lewinsky all over again, metaphorically-speaking.