Mar
6
2024

Me No Like Cookie Monster Anymore

Because he's in the tank for President Dotard:

Notably that brought some huzzahs from government figures who would greatly prefer to point their shaky fingers at their designated scapegoats in the private sector…

… instead of accepting responsibility, admitting "shrinkflation" is just another symptom of government-caused inflation. Their media allies also quickly fell in line. But not everyone was pleased:

All this via David Strom at Hot Air. Cookie Monster Gets Political, and Frank Oz is Angry About It.

Not to mention that Sesame Street happens to get government funding, and it's rather unseemly to have a kids' show funded by the government endorse the president-in-power's messaging. Shrinkflation and corporate greed are part of Biden's campaign messaging.

Any suggestions for further things Sesame Street could do? Perhaps Elmo could decide he's trans, change his name to "Elma" and Big Bird could use the wrong pronoun…

Also of note:

  • An unexpected glimmer of seacoast sanity. And to think it happened on Junkins Avenue. As reported at NHJournal, a Portsmouth Stunner: 7-2 Council Vote Shoots Down 'Ceasefire' Resolution.

    A late-night vote saw an overwhelming majority of Portsmouth city councilors conclude a controversial resolution backing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was “not germane” to city business, delivering a blow to pro-Palestine progressives who had passionately lobbied for it.

    That sanity did not extend ten or so miles to the northwest, where the Durham town council fired up the Virtue-Signal, and passed its resolution 6-2.

    “It was a thoughtful and respectful conversation with points of view aired on all sides of the issue,” [Town Administrator Todd Selig] said.

    The Town Council “thoughtfully listened to all of that and worked hard to integrate different perspectives into the discussion,” Selig said.

    He described the process as “the very best of an open transparent and Democratic process … where residents were able to express their strongly held views in a safe environment.”

    Everyone was thoughtful, and listened thoughtfully.

    It's unclear whether Selig capitalized the "D" in "Democrratic", or that was something reporter Jeff McMenemy assumed.

  • Urgent, urgent, emergency! Check to make sure you've taken your blood pressure medication before you read Emma Camp: Congress Wastes Billions With Bogus Emergency Declarations in Spending Package.

    What constitutes an emergency? According to Congress' new spending package, research equipment and facilities for the National Science Foundation is an emergency. So are the 2024 Democratic National Committee convention and the Republican National Committee convention. So is NASA space exploration.

    By classifying all these line items as emergencies, Congress can get hundreds of millions of taxpayer funding for them with reduced oversight.

    Congress' latest spending package, released this week, is hardly the first time obviously nonemergency projects have been given this special funding designation. According to a January report from the Cato Institute, Congress has approved over $12 trillion in spending for emergencies over the past three decades, making up around 1 in 10 federal budget dollars spent—more than both Medicaid and veterans programs combined.

    Congressman Lepetomane no doubt carried the day when he demanded "We have to keep our phony baloney jobs here, gentleman!"

  • Maybe double up on those blood pressure meds… Eric Boehm looks at a … well, he calls it a "gimmick", but that's kind of insulting to gimmicks: Congressional Budget Deal Includes $12 Billion 'Cut' That Doesn't Actually Cut Anything.

    As part of a new budget deal working its way through Congress this week, lawmakers have proposed to cut $12 billion of spending that would never occur—and then use the "cuts" to offset new spending in another part of the budget.

    Clever magic trick or massive budget gimmick? The answer probably depends on whether you're a member of Congress or a taxpayer.

    On Sunday, House and Senate leaders announced a deal to fund about half the government's discretionary budget through the end of the fiscal year, and lawmakers are now working to pass that agreement into law before the March 8 deadline. (The other half of the discretionary budget is good to go until March 22.) Because Democrats and Republicans have previously agreed to cap the discretionary budget this year, the 1,000-plus-page bill unveiled Sunday includes a lot of cuts to planned spending—known as rescissions—that are being used to offset spending increases in other areas.

    One of those rescissions, however, is an illusion.

    Will "this one weird trick" balance the budget? No, of course not. Not even close. But it does demonstrate the rank dishonesty involved in spending taxpayer money.


Last Modified 2024-03-06 1:22 PM EDT