It’s an Alliance that’s Sinking Itself

The Wall Street Journal spilled a lot of pixels and ink in an opinion piece masqueraded as news that purported to answer its question of whether loose lips can sink an alliance.

[Republican Primary Presidential candidate Donald] Trump’s recent broadsides against European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for not spending sufficiently on defense raised the question of whether shaming allies strengthens or weakens the alliance.

And this, an opinion masqueraded by the article’s writer as fact—all too typical in this article:

Trump’s recent comments crossed a line, even if they were inflated with campaign-trail hyperbole.

No CR

The House Freedom Caucus wants House Speaker Mike Johnson (R, LA) to attach a House-passed border security bill that’s sitting in the US Senate to the next spending bill that Congress must pass to avoid a government shutdown. Freedom Caucus member Bob Good (R, VA):

I think we ought to be willing to have a fight over securing the border. I think we ought to refuse to fund the government if the administration continues to be unwilling to secure the border, then we ought to tie the funding of the government to border security implementation where some funds are held back until the measurables are met, the performance metrics that demonstrate that the border is being secured. And we do it to through Sept. 30 at the FRA levels[.]

Why Wait?

House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R, NC) has subpoenaed multiple leaders at Harvard University for their failure to produce documents the Committee has been trying to get through more cooperative channels for some time. These docs are related to Harvard’s performance in correcting antisemitism that’s rampant at the school.

The subpoena requires that documents in 11 key areas, show what actions the university has taken, or will be taking, to ensure that Jewish students “feel safe and welcome on campus,”  be produced NLT 5 pm on March 4.

My question is why the long deadline?

Freed Hostages

Israeli forces—the IDF, Shin Bet, and a police counterterrorism unit—successfully raided a specific target in the Gaza Strip southern edge city of Rafah and rescued two hostages that were being held by the terrorist Hamas.

This came while Progressive-Democrat President Joe Biden stepped up his pressure on the Israelis to not go into Rafah, unless they have a plan to protect the civilians, even though Biden has no evidence that the Israelis aren’t already taking extreme measures to protect civilians, measures that include telling civilians where the Israelis intend to strike next and when—measures that also give the terrorists time to leave the target zone. Nor does Biden have any evidence that the Israelis haven’t been taking such measures all along in this war that the terrorists have inflicted on Israel.

A Progressive-Democrat is Offended

Just before Sunday’s Super Bowl kickoff, Andra Day sang Lift Every Voice and Sing, then Post Malone sang America the Beautiful, and then Reba McEntire sang our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.

A Progressive-Democrat Congressman from Tennessee, Steve Cohen, took umbrage that fans stood only for our national anthem and not for Day’s performance.

Very very few stood for “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The Negro National Anthem. Not a pretty picture of Super Bowl crowd.

Not All It Can Do

Progressive-Democrat Mayor Eric Adams’ New York City government has a new way to spy on American citizens resident in that city, or even just visiting.

New York City drivers buckle up because Big Brother (aka the MTA) is keeping a watchful eye on you by installing cameras along New York City streets to track you. But why? Well, it all boils down to money, of course. The MTA is rolling out a controversial $15 per day congestion fee for all drivers venturing south of 60th Street. They’ve even given this area of Manhattan a snazzy name: the toll congestion zone.

Denver Isn’t That Furious

Denver’s Progressive-Democrat Mayor Mike Johnson is upset that the Federal government didn’t solve his biggest civic problem. When the Senate voted down the Federal bill in question, he posted on Instagram,

Today is a day the residents of Denver should be heartbroken. And they should be furious because we know we have a humanitarian crisis in this city[.]

Aside: Caldwell and Hackman had this in their piece at the link:

This city of 713,000 people has absorbed nearly 40,000 migrants in a little over a year, more per capita than any other US city.

The Hur Report

Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on Progressive-Democrat Joe Biden’s years long mishandling of classified documents—with classification ranging from Confidential through Top Secret and many of them NOFORN (not releasable to foreign entities regardless of underlying classification) or HCS-O (a human intelligence classification control, whose violation endangers the lives of those who would talk to our intelligence personnel)—concluded in part that Biden had them illegally, moved them around illegally, and hung onto stored them illegally. Then, shockingly, he declined to refer Biden for criminal prosecution: Biden, Hur claimed, was too sympathetic and mentally feeble a figure, and it would be difficult to get a conviction.

Joe Biden’s Classified Documents

These images are from the Hur report:

This is the quality of Biden’s “storage” in his locked garage. The protecting Corvette automobile is not present.

This is another look angle at some critical, and exposed, boxes.

Biden Administration’s Monthly Job Numbers

Peter Earle, American Institute for Economic Research Senior Research Fellow, has the tale.

In 28 years, I’ve never seen 11 of 12 months where job numbers came out looking very strong, and then they were revised downwards.

Which raises the question in my pea brain: are Progressive-Democrat President Joe Biden and his economic staff and his bureaucrats at the Labor Department really that incompetent, or are they manipulating the initial numbers for their political benefit?

These aren’t rounding errors that happen to be overstatements rather than understatements or balancing out over the months, either. According to the Daily Caller: