patrick.net

omicron did not "slam labor markets." covid policy did. and it was entirely avoidable.
el gato malo 5 min ago

CNBC would appear to wish to have us believe that the drop in jobs was caused by “the variant” as though this was some act of nature instead of an act of government.

it is not. this is a deeply misleading framing intended to obscure causality rather than reveal it. ...

we’re living though needless damage to no useful effect at.

this is NOT the virus.

it’s the predictable and unavoidable output of deeply stupid public health policy.

the damage since this began has been acute and severe. “2 weeks to flatten the curve” was, as many of us were screaming right from the beginning, the commencement of the nastiest economic hit to jobs and small business per unit time in US history and probably in global history. ...

it’s really very simple: places that locked down harder got no better outcomes on covid. but they got much, much worse outcomes on economic and societal damage.

this was all known and knowable.

the base prior for pandemics was to never, never do this. ...

at this stage of the game and with this much clear data at one’s disposal, it’s pretty absurd to still be trying to blame upon a virus that which’s fault lies with public health response.

BIDEN’S INNER CIRCLE MAINTAINS CLOSE TIES TO VACCINE MAKERS, DISCLOSURES REVEAL
As concerns grow about a global “vaccine apartheid,” watchdogs worry that the Biden administration is primed to favor profits over people.
Lee FangLee Fang
March 24 2021, 11:18 a.m.

A Faction of Karens

Biden is failing because his policies are designed to appease the hypochondriac wing of the Democratic Party rather than the median voter.

Biden's choice to help with his SCOTUS pick is a BLM board member, CRT promoter and defund-the-police supporter – NONE of which he mentioned when he announced her
Minyon Moore, 63, was tapped by Biden to help him pick the first black woman justice on the Supreme Court
She sits on the board of Black Lives Matter Global Foundation, which touts defunding the police
Biden has tried to distance himself of that movement
Moore is a close friend and promoter of Kimberle Crenshaw one of the founding architects of critical race theory
She has been a political consultant for Jesse Jackson, Kamala Harris, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden
She will suspend her political consulting and work with BLM whiles she advises on the top court pick

Regular gas reaches $6.21 a gallon in Los Angeles

The Ukraine debacle showcases Joe Biden’s many failures
Thanks to his energy policy, the US is helping to fund Russia’s military adventurism

February 23, 2022

Snap quiz: who was president when Vladimir Putin gobbled up Crimea?

If you said Barack Obama, go to the head of the class.

What countries did Putin invade while Donald Trump was president?

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The invasion the West had feared
If you said “None,” you get to stay at the head of the class.

This is a harder one: who was president when Putin once again violated Ukraine’s borders, sending in Russian troops to two breakaway regions in Eastern Ukraine?

I say that this is harder because the obvious answer — “Joe Biden” — is not really, or not wholly, correct.

Joe Biden is an empty shell. On good days, he looks like a mannequin. Really, though, he is a puppet, a creature controlled by others. I have called those others “The Committee.” I am not more specific because I do not know for sure who has seats at that table. Anyway, if you said “Joe Biden” in response to the question, you get full points only if you added an asterisk next to his name.

To appreciate what we are up against, ponder Joe Biden’s performance at this roundtable about Ukraine. A reporter asks, “Do you think you may have underestimated Putin?” Biden smirks, looks vacantly about the room, and then picks at his teeth. Answer came there none. The president of the United States, ladies and gentlemen. It is an unnerving exhibition.

A few observations. First, remember that during the 2020 presidential campaign Joe Biden, or some member of The Committee, emitted this tweet: “Vladimir Putin doesn’t want me to be president. He doesn’t want me to be our nominee. If you’re wondering why — it’s because I’m the only person in this field who’s ever gone toe-to-toe with him.”

Vlad and Joe go “toe-to-toe.” Who wins?

Donald Trump often remarked that it would be “a good thing, not a bad thing” if the US got on well with Russia.

That sent some of my neocon friends into a tizzy.

“Doesn’t Trump know that Putin is a murderous thug who kills journalists, thinks the dissolution of the Soviet Union was a tragedy, and aims to restore as much Soviet territory as he can to Russia?”

Precisely. And that is why it would be important (note the subjunctive) for the US to get along with Russia.

Ronald Reagan’s mantra — “Peace through strength” — was also Trump’s, which is why he spent a trillion or two restoring the military that had been depleted during Obama’s eight years of folly and why he did everything he could to project American strength.

He did not, however, start any wars.

If you want to influence a potentially hostile foreign leader, especially one presiding over a state in demographic and economic eclipse, and double especially if that state happens to be sitting on thousands of nuclear warheads, it is imperative to keep the channels of communication open.

Speaking of economic matters, do you remember the good old days when America was energy independent, nay, when it was producing so much energy that it was actually a net exporter? Probably you do. It was was recent as 2020.

Then came the Biden administration. One of their first acts was to shut down the Keystone Pipeline, a major source of energy production, not to mention thousands of jobs in the US. At the same time, they green-lighted the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring gas from Russia to Germany. In response to Putin’s excellent adventure in Ukraine, the German chancellor Olaf Scholz, suspended certification of the pipeline, but since Germany, having shuttered its nuclear power plants, is heavily dependent on the gas supplied from Russia, it is anyone’s guess how long German resolve will last.

I bring in gas in order to present you with this cheery data point. In 2020, when Donald Trump was president, the price of natural gas was $4.36 per 1,000 cubic feet. In 2021, with Joe Biden presiding, prices more than doubled, averaging $9 per 1,000 cubic feet. Not only does that mean that it costs more to heat your house this winter. It also means means that the US is helping to fund Russia’s military adventurism.


I am not sure that most Americans could locate Ukraine on a map. And the truth is our interest in the region is negligible. It has been important to Hunter Biden’s cash flow, it is true, and it has furnished Joe Biden with an opportunity to display his thuggishness on television, but it is a thoroughly corrupt state that is teetering on the edge of economic collapse. Some cynical commentators think that the media and The Committee are riveted on Ukraine as a way of distracting attention from such things as runaway inflation, the stock market disintegration, and the institution of police tyranny in Canada. Sounds plausible.

In any event, as my friend Roger L. Simon observed, the crisis in Ukraine is entirely on Joe Biden. We’re told that Biden’s approval rating is down to 39 percent. That’s the official number. The real number, I suspect, is in single digits.