Daily Digest

Today’s Installment in the Feinstein Countdown

Posted: 17 Apr 2022 11:59 AM PDT

(Steven Hayward)

Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, a reliable barometer of certified liberal opinion inside the Beltway, has a column up about the matter of Dianne Feinstein, which even a careless reader can make out as another loud note in chorus of coordinated voices that has determined that Feinstein needs to be forced from office.

The article breaks no new ground in terms of news value or reporting, as with one small exception it simply recycles the details of the San Francisco Chronicle story. The one small exception is this passage:

Feinstein’s handling of the 2018 Brett M. Kavanaugh confirmation hearings — in particular, her decision not to alert fellow lawmakers to the allegations by Christine Blasey Ford — prompted a near-insurrection by her Democratic colleagues.

I hadn’t heard previously that other Democratic Senators had been annoyed by being blindsided by the Blasey Ford allegations, and I am not sure I believe it.

The column pretends to be a high-minded meditation on the general problem of people staying too long in office, and here, too, there is an interesting tell. As Marcus explains it:

Feinstein is the oldest sitting senator, but she is far from the only official whose mental acuity has been called into question. . .
So one question raised by the focus on Feinstein must be whether, as some of her defenders insinuate, there is sexism at work. I think I have pretty good radar for sexism, and I just don’t see it. . . To the extent that there is differential treatment, the explanation might be less gender than ideology. Progressive Democrats long frustrated by Feinstein’s centrism are eager for a more liberal replacement.

There it is. (Never mind that Feinstein’s “centrism” is largely a myth, but it is easy to pull off that con when your fellow Senator is Barbara Boxer and then Kamala Harris.) And beyond this candid admission, we have to wonder whether this effort to drive Feinstein from office is a dry run for how the left will try to remove President Biden at some point soon.

The Bee Stings Twitter

Posted: 17 Apr 2022 11:02 AM PDT

(Steven Hayward)

Watching the left lose their you-know-what over Elon Musk’s hostile takeover bid for Twitter was one of the sublime pleasures of the last week. And thus leave it to the Babylon Bee, whose Twitter feed keeps getting suspended because of their irreverent humor, to provide the suitable (and accurate) mockery of in this three-minute sketch:

Overs

Posted: 17 Apr 2022 09:50 AM PDT

(Scott Johnson)

The pandemic is not over yet, according to the new Biden administration Covid czar Ashish Jha speaking on FOX News Sunday and elsewhere this morning. Although his manner is not grating, the message is infuriating.

Also infuriating is the lack of follow-up questions. We don’t expect any better of such Democratic enforcers as George Stephanopoulos (below), but on FOX News Sunday Mike Emanuel was equally lame while Jha blathered liberally on the various Coronavirus fronts including this one (video here).

Emanuel seems to think “Do you understand Covid fatigue” is a challenging question, whereas it is the perfect cue to keep the fog machine rolling with soothing background noise. Surely Emanuel could do better with a little preparation.

We long ago concluded that it’s not going away and we’re going to have to live with it — certain of Jha’s comments to Emanuel imply as much — yet they are perfectly happy to keep it up, as is evident in Jha’s comments to Stephanopoulos. When will they be content to warn those at risk and let us look out for ourselves?

In the words of the song, on the twelfth of never. Or in the words of another song (Paul Simon’s “Overs”): “Why don’t we stop foolin’ ourselves? The game is over, over, over.”

Quotable quote (Jha on FOX News Sunday in response to Emanuel’s question, my transcription): “I totally understand Covid fatigue. I think we all have it, right, and we all wish this thing was over and we could put it behind us. Certainly if you’re vaccinated and boosted it’s going to make an enormous difference going forward and that is essential for people to do, but at the end of the day we’re going to have to continue watching what the virus does, responding to it. I will remind all of us. We are in so much of a better shape than we were even a year ago, let alone two years ago. So while that fatigue is there and I totally feel it and appreciate it, we’re making substantial progress and we just gotta keep going.”

Biden COVID Adviser Ashish Jha: "The pandemic is not over." pic.twitter.com/lvF0IBZf6o
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 17, 2022

“And that is our job”

Posted: 17 Apr 2022 08:09 AM PDT

(Scott Johnson)

Freddie Prinze made “It’s not my job” the catchphrase of his stand-up act and television series Chico and The Man. What, you may ask, is the job of the mainstream media, and how does Elon Musk threaten it? You may have missed the explanation provided by the deep thinkers holding down the fort on MSNBC’s morning show. “She said the quiet part out loud,” as Michael Doran put it.

What more is to be said? This says it all. What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed, though not quite in the way that Alexander Pope meant.

“[Elon] could actually control what people think… that is our job” pic.twitter.com/Rz4TYJbf7s
— heidi (@HeidiBriones) April 15, 2022

Are you a QCJO?

Posted: 17 Apr 2022 07:38 AM PDT

(Scott Johnson)

I take it that certain tax benefits accrue to entities deemed a Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization under Canadian law. Are you now or have you ever been a QCJO?

National Post columnist Rex Murphy reports that Ezra Levant’s Rebel News has been weighed in the balance and found wanting, according to the recent decision of the Independent Advisory Board on the Eligibility for Journalism Tax Measures.

After mulling it over for a year, the board delivered bad news of its own: “A review found that less than one per cent of the content meets the criteria for original news content as required by the act.”

Murphy’s column decries the situation, yet it derives from Canada’s tax laws: “An organization must first be designated as a QCJO to claim the Canadian journalism labor tax credit; potentially have their subscription costs be considered as qualifying subscription expenses for the digital news subscription tax credit; and/or apply for qualified donee status as a registered journalism organization.”

Distinctions must be made before the QCJO sweet stuff can be doled out. FOX News covers Ezra Levant’s appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show last week here. Beyond the tax implications, the consequences beyond appear to be sinister, although Murphy’s column mentions none.

Of course, the power will be misused and abused. It’s not just a Canadian thing. Students of ancient history may recall that we had the Obama IRS withholding nonprofit tax status from conservative groups. And while we don’t have to contemplate the IRS defining the scope of those entitled to exercise the freedom of the press, we have a virulent syndrome raging among the high journalistic muckety-mucks who advocate the deprivation of First Amendment protections to Project Veritas in the matter of Ashley Biden’s diary.