Monday Morning Breakfast For The Brain

Good morning Deplorables, it’s Monday again.

Joe Biden And Taylor Swift Embrace Bizarre U.S. Postal Service Conspiracy

Via The Federalist

Joe Biden, Taylor Swift, members of Congress, and corporate media are embracing a bizarre conspiracy theory that President Donald Trump is having U.S. Postal Service mailboxes removed in an effort to obstruct mail-in voting in the upcoming presidential election. This hoax spread after pictures of local USPS boxes being removed went viral on social media.

“They’re going around literally with tractor trailers picking up mailboxes,” Biden said at a virtual fundraiser, according to reporter Holly Otterbein. “You oughta go online and check out what they’re doing in Oregon. I mean, it’s bizarre!”

According to an investigation by KATU, the White House has had nothing to do with the removal. The local USPS is simply replacing old boxes with new ones.

Postal Service spokesman Steve Doherty told Boston.com that removing the boxes is standard procedure when they become rusted, require paint, get vandalized, or simply need to be replaced. “These trucks are on the street daily,” Doherty said of the flatbeds seen hauling the mailboxes. “They’re part of our field maintenance fleet.”

The U.S. Postal Service has also been long mismanaged. Government reports during both Republican and Democrat presidential administrations have shown the USPS, which is supposed to be self-funded instead of receiving bailouts from Congress, has been overspending for years, largely on its oversized pensions. It has for years avoided dealing with its well-known financial problems.

This reality didn’t stop celebrities, politicians, and media figures from jumping aboard this latest anti-Trump conspiracy train. Former President Barack Obama took the opportunity to swipe at the current administration, not only for the USPS’s long history of mismanagement that persisted during Obama’s tenure, but also for Trump’s handling of the Wuhan virus.

Taylor Swift, a once-apolitical artist who recently dove hard into partisanship and the culture war, went so far as to call the box removal a “calculated dismantling of USPS.”

“He’s chosen to blatantly cheat and put millions of Americans’ lives at risk in an effort to hold on to power,” Swift tweeted.

Read the entire article HERE.

Doctors lay out plan to ‘punish’ people who refuse coronavirus vaccine: ‘There is no alternative’

Via LifeSiteNews

‘Simply put, getting vaccinated is going to be our patriotic duty,’ and America should consider making it difficult for the unvaccinated to participate in society, three doctors wrote.

A coronavirus vaccine should be mandatory, and tax penalties, higher insurance premiums, and denial of many government and private services ought to be considered for those refusing the shot, two doctors and an attorney argued in USA Today on Thursday.

“[W]hile the measures that will be necessary to defeat the coronavirus will seem draconian, even anti-American to some, we believe that there is no alternative. Simply put, getting vaccinated is going to be our patriotic duty,” wrote Dr. Michael Lederman, Dr. Stuart Youngner, and Maxwell J. Mehlman.

There is no “alternative to vaccine-induced herd immunity in a pandemic,” they argued. “Broad induction of immunity in the population by immunization will be necessary to end this pandemic.”

The USA Today article, published August 6, is titled “Defeat COVID-19 by requiring vaccination for all. It’s not un-American, it’s patriotic.” Its original subhead (see screenshot below) read, “Make vaccines free, don’t allow religious or personal objections, and punish those who won’t be vaccinated. They are threatening the lives of others.” It has since been changed to “Make vaccines free, don’t allow religious or personal objections, and create disincentives for those who refuse vaccines shown to be safe and effective.”

“When a vaccine is ready,” the doctors wrote, it must be free and exemptions must only be made for people with “medical contraindications to immunization.”

But “medical conditions that prohibit all COVID-19 vaccines will be rare,” they claimed. No religious or personal objections to receiving the shot or shots should be honored, they wrote, and harsh penalties should be adopted by important sectors of society to pressure the populace to comply.

The physicians proposed, “Private businesses could refuse to employ or serve unvaccinated individuals. Schools could refuse to allow unimmunized children to attend classes. Public and commercial transit companies — airlines, trains and buses — could exclude refusers. Public and private auditoriums could require evidence of immunization for entry.”

They then outlined how a “registry of immunization will be needed with names entered after immunization is completed.” People who receive the vaccine should be issued “certification cards” with expiration dates (“the durability of protection by different vaccines may vary and may require periodic booster immunizations”).

The concept of “immunization cards” or digital vaccine records was floated shortly before the coronavirus outbreak and since the virus has spread.

Read the entire article HERE.

Where the Hell Are All the Biden Supporters In My Neighborhood?

Via American Greatness

Obama’s former vice president is the one candidate who generates zero enthusiasm.

My wife and I typically spend summers in Maryland, near Washington, D.C. Each morning and each evening, we walk our little 18-pound Schnoodle named Dusty through our neighborhood. It is a mostly quiet place—some older houses built in the 1950s and 1960s, some built in the 1980s, brand-new houses popping up on this lot or that lot, here and there. Tall trees provide shade for much of the walk, children play in backyards, dog lovers walk their pooches, bike riders whizz by. The walk takes about 45 minutes.

Montgomery County, Maryland is Biden country. Not just Biden country—it is the heart of Biden country. Montgomery County overwhelmingly voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. No less than 75 percent of the vote here went to Clinton—in Maryland, only Baltimore and Prince Charles County (just to the east of Washington, D.C.) had higher shares of the Clinton vote. In a state that Clinton won with 60 percent of the vote, over one-fifth of all her votes came from Montgomery County.

In absolute terms, Montgomery County provided more votes for Hillary Clinton—357,837—than any other jurisdiction in Maryland. In other words, this place is as blue as it gets. Biden supporters should be thick to the ground here. And yet . . .

It occurred to me the other day that, despite the election approaching, I am not seeing many Biden for president yard signs on our walk. In fact, I am seeing exactly one such yard sign. One. It’s the featured image at the top of this story—after Dusty peed on it.

Our 45-minute walk takes us past a grand total of 165 houses (I specifically counted), in a deep blue part of the State of Maryland—and yet only one person sees fit publicly to declare his allegiance to Biden. Where are all the Bidenophiles? Where are all the people who adore Old Uncle Joe and his eccentric ways? Where are all those who believe that Biden’s character and decency are so much superior to the alternative? Where are all the voters who can’t get enough of Biden and his virtual campaign from the crypt beneath his house?

This oddity got me so worked up, that I decided to expand my horizons. At 9:45 a.m., I got into my car and started driving around, looking for Biden yard signs. They must be out there, surely? Maybe the houses along our walk are statistical outliers for some inexplicable reason—but elsewhere, there stand Biden yard signs as far as the eye can see?

Nope.

More Support for “Mosquito Joe”

By 10:15 a.m., I still haven’t seen even one more Biden sign. I saw a few “for sale” signs. I saw a few “Mosquito Joe” signs. I saw many ADT alarm signs. I saw advertisements for local home improvement/construction services. I saw many signs congratulating kids on their graduation, or on finishing this grade or that grade in one of the local schools. I saw about 20 Black Lives Matter signs. I saw lost dog posters. I saw some American flags. I even saw a fencing school advertising its services.

But no Biden signs.

My daughter called me in the meantime. She is a rising senior in college who is finishing her summer internship today. And today, human resources was supposed to call her by 11:00 a.m. and tell her whether or not she is getting an offer for a full-time position for next year. So she was hopeful. But in the meantime, I am looking at deep blue America out of my car window, and still not seeing any Biden yard signs!

I drove around and past an elementary school (which my daughter attended 10 years earlier). It occurred to me that should the police notice a middle-aged man, alone in a car, driving with no discernible purpose in proximity to an elementary school, they might . . . become suspicious. Then I recalled that there is no school in the summer, and no school at all, with all the lockdowns, so I felt a little better.

The streets went by, some names familiar, some not. I was getting further and further away from my own house, and starting to despair of ever seeing another Biden yard sign. And then, at 10:20, there it was! A genuine, honest-to-goodness Biden for president sign! Finally! I found another proud Biden supporter!

I kept going. More streets, more houses. More suburbia, more cul-de-sacs. At 10:50, bingo! Another Biden sign! HR still hadn’t called my daughter but rather emailed her that the time was pushed back to noon, so she wanted to talk about politics. (She studies political theory, including Marxism—that Ivy League education is definitely worth the $260,000, let me tell you . . . )

I decided that it was a matter of honor to find at least one more Biden sign. So I drove on, and on. More graduation signs. More ADT. More BLM. A sign advertising architectural services. More “for sale” signs. More homebuilders’ advertising. A car with a Biden bumper sticker on it—so if I were desperate, I might have counted it. But, no. I decided that rules are rules, and I need a real yard sign, not a bumper sticker.

And then, finally, at long last, at 11:15 a.m., on a quiet side street, I hit pay dirt. A Biden sign, but a different one, with an all dark blue background, and red and white lettering. I was so happy, I almost cried. If the battery on my phone hadn’t died, I would have taken a picture of it.

So after 90 minutes, I estimate conservatively that I drove past at least 2,000 houses on both left and right, for a grand total of four Biden yard signs (counting the original one that got this whole epic adventure started, the one that Dusty urinated on). At best, one house out of 500—in a county that’s so blue, it is in danger of asphyxiation.

What does it all mean?

Read the entire article HERE.

Dolly Parton Weighs in on Black Lives Matter: ‘Do We Think Our Little White Asses Are the Only Ones That Matter? No!’

Via Breitbart News

Dolly Parton has weighed in on the Black Lives Matter debate, offering a politic answer that seems designed to avoid controversy over the far-left, anti police group and keep her in good graces with the media and her fans.

In a lengthy Billboard profile, the country music legend voiced sympathy for black lives while stopping short of endorsing the movement itself. “I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen,” she said. “And of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!”

Dolly Parton said she tries not pass judgement on other people.

“First of all, I’m not a judgmental person. I do believe we all have a right to be exactly who we are, and it is not my place to judge,” she told the magazine. “All these good Christian people that are supposed to be such good Christian people, the last thing we’re supposed to do is to judge one another. God is the judge, not us. I just try to be myself. I try to let everybody else be themselves.”

Parton also discussed her decision in 2018 to rename her “Dixie Stampede” dinner attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, to “Dolly Parton’s Stampede” in order to avoid offending anyone.

“There’s such a thing as innocent ignorance, and so many of us are guilty of that,” she said. “When they said ‘Dixie’ was an offensive word, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to offend anybody. This is a business. We’ll just call it The Stampede. As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it.”

“Don’t be a dumbass,” she added. “That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”

Read the entire article HERE.

HBO Max Adds Explanatory Intro to Blazing Saddles, So Watching It Doesn’t Turn You into a Racist

Via PJ Media

As Stephen Kruiser has noted, the classic Mel Brooks comedy-western Blazing Saddles couldn’t get made today. The movie shocked a lot of people when it premiered in 1974, but it has endured because you can get away with a lot when you’re as hilarious as Mel Brooks. Almost 50 years later, though, it’s unimaginable that any movie studio would even allow the script on the set. (If there were still movie sets or movies being made, that is.) But at least we can still watch Blazing Saddles, even in super-woke 2020 America.

However, we do need a bit of hand-holding if we want to watch it on HBO Max. We might get the wrong ideas from the movie. We might miss the subtle sociological commentary and nuanced discussion of race in America. We need someone to explain to us why it’s okay to laugh at funny jokes, even if they have the N-word in them.

Ryan Parker, Hollywood Reporter:

Blazing Saddles is currently streaming on HBO Max, along with a new introduction that automatically plays before the Mel Brooks classic begins…

TCM host and University of Chicago cinema and media studies professor Jacqueline Stewart provides the intro to Blazing Saddles. She also did the intro for Gone With the Wind.

A little more than three-minutes long, Stewart’s intro puts the bigotry and racist language in context, the host saying, “as the storyline implies the issue of race is front and center in Blazing Saddles. And racist language and attitudes pervade the film. But those attitudes are espoused by characters who are portrayed here as explicitly small-minded, ignorant bigots. The real, and much more enlightened perspective, is provided by the main characters played by Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder.”

The professor is near!

If you really need someone to explain to you that Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder are the good guys in Blazing Saddles, and the bad guys are racist bigots whose behavior you should not emulate — especially after a plate of beans — maybe you shouldn’t be watching this movie without adult supervision.

Remember when right-wingers were the paternalistic scolds who didn’t think you could figure anything out for yourself? But ever since Al and Tipper Gore started the Parents Music Resource Center 35 years ago, libs have been the ones wagging their fingers at the rest of us. They know what’s best for us. And if we protest, that’s just our “white fragility” talking.

You may recall that back in June, the fledgling HBO Max pulled Gone with the Wind after just a couple of weeks before putting it back up with a similar disclaimer from Prof. Stewart. Because otherwise you might watch it and enjoy it and… you’d want to bring back slavery, I guess? Is that the concern?

Read the entire article HERE.

Concerns Raised As President Xi Seen Wearing Biden-Harris 2020 Shirt

Via The Babylon Bee (Satire)

Concerns about foreign interference in U.S. elections have been raised as President Xi Jinping was seen taking a pleasant morning stroll yesterday in his brand-new Biden-Harris 2020 campaign shirt. The president walked around the city, enjoying the sights and smells and the occasional distant cry of an undesirable being loaded onto a train to a concentration camp. Later in the walk, he got hot and took off all his clothes, but the other members of the party continued to praise him for his “brilliant” and “intricately woven” wardrobe.

“We’re starting to think China might be taking sides here,” said one analyst after viewing the footage of the president clearly wearing a Biden-Harris 2020 shirt. “We’re not certain — and don’t quote me on this — but we’re thinking China may not be 100% neutral.”

The Biden campaign denied sending the swag to the communist leader, with Harris saying, “Questioning me is sexist and racist” and Biden saying, “Who’s Xi? Is Xi cute?”

Chinese journalists questioned President Xi on the apparent meddling in U.S. elections, but these journalists have not been heard from since. American journalists, of course, simply praised the president for his wise and cunning choice.

Not to be outdone, President Trump sent a bobblehead to Putin.

Check out all of the Bee’s takes on politics and culture HERE.

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