Cannon Fodder: The Inaugural Edition
Posted By: Moritz55, 1/21/2025 6:45:35 PM
Good afternoon. This is the first of my twice-weekly columns under a new format. The “Morning Note” lasted more than a decade, so it was time for a change. For starters, this newsletter will appear on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. I previously focused on meaningful dates in U.S. history (and got a book out of it), and also used the format for a “quote of the week,” which was also usually a blast from the past. “Cannon Fodder” will be timelier. I will still highlight stories and columns from RealClearPolitics and our sister sites, but the list will be more selective. So here we go
Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Moritz55"
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Most Recent Articles posted by
Moritz55"
Reverend who urged President Trump to
'have mercy' says his criticism of her
was 'respectful' 15 replies
'have mercy' says his criticism of her
was 'respectful' 15 replies
Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde responded to President Donald Trump's criticism of comments she made during her sermon at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday. On Trump's first full day of his second term, Budde, of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, delivered a sermon focused on "unity," also targeting specific comments directly at Trump on issues like illegal immigration and LGBTQ youth. Trump and Vice President JD Vance sat stone-faced as she urged Trump to "have mercy," and the president indicated to reporters afterward he didn't care for the remarks.
Top EU foreign affairs official Kaja Kallas on Wednesday issued a call for EU member states to "wake up" when it comes to defense spending.
"Russia is not the problem for some, but for all of us. Europeans need to wake up," Kallas told the annual conference of the European Defense Agency in Brussels. "Europe's failure to invest in military capabilities also sends a dangerous signal to the aggressor. Weakness invites them in," Kallas said. "There is nothing that cannot be weaponized against us today."
The final corruption of Joe Biden
4 replies
With only 15 minutes to go as president, Joe Biden snatched infamy from the jaws of obscurity.
With record-low polling and widely viewed as a “failed” president, Biden completed his one-man race to the bottom of ethics by issuing preemptive pardons to members of his own family. The pardons were timed to guarantee that the media would not focus on yet another unethical act by this president. He need not have worried. For four years, the media worked tirelessly to deny or deflect the corruption scandal surrounding the Biden family.
The pardoning of James Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John Owens and
Cannon Fodder: The Inaugural Edition
2 replies
Good afternoon. This is the first of my twice-weekly columns under a new format. The “Morning Note” lasted more than a decade, so it was time for a change. For starters, this newsletter will appear on Tuesday and Friday afternoons.
I previously focused on meaningful dates in U.S. history (and got a book out of it), and also used the format for a “quote of the week,” which was also usually a blast from the past. “Cannon Fodder” will be timelier. I will still highlight stories and columns from RealClearPolitics and our sister sites, but the list will be more selective. So here we go
Shortly after taking the oath of office, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a cable to every U.S. diplomatic and consular post worldwide. The stark message from the new diplomat: Sweeping changes are coming to a department that had mistakenly emphasized “ideology over common sense” and “misread the world.”
The lengthy cable was sent shortly after Rubio arrived at his new post in Foggy Bottom and was obtained exclusively by RealClearPolitics. It signals a fundamental shift in foreign policy and a realignment of all diplomatic efforts toward putting American needs first.
Toward this end, President Trump’s new diplomat promised to focus on mass migration, terminate DEI policies within the department, end the
After more than half a century of brandishing the Biden family moniker to trade access to the federal government in exchange for cash, the Biden Crime Family has finally cashed out.
As a parting gift to his grifting kinsmen, Joe Biden exited his historical disgrace of a presidency by granting an eleventh-hour categorical pardon to his siblings, Jim Biden, Frank Biden, and Val Biden Owens, and their spouses for any and all nonviolent crimes “they may have committed or taken part in” during the decade-plus since January 1, 2014. Only the “full and unconditional” pardons the former president issued to his son Hunter and then to former National Institute
Hello, "revolution of common sense." Goodbye, "America's decline."
I have never liked President Donald Trump's manner of speaking, which is usually a stream-of-consciousness sea of platitudes, promises and partisan smears. He's often boastful and incoherent, but not Monday.
On Monday, he was bold and subdued, ambitious and contemplative. In Trump's inaugural speech, his first as the 47th president of the United States, he painted a picture of America on the rise, one where working-class Americans prosper again, the nation's borders are secure and the woke agenda of the past four years is erased.
"Our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud, prosperous and free," the new president said.
Just as fate brought Donald Trump improbably back to the presidency, there is cosmic irony in the last-minute change of venue for his swearing-in today.
The polar vortex that brought snow and arctic temperatures to Washington meant the official moment of Trump’s comeback triumph had to be moved into the Capitol Rotunda, the very scene of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that Democrats and the media catastrophized to try to destroy him and his America First populist nationalist movement.
Who would have thought back then that Trump would be taking the oath of office in the same sacred place that Democrat Machiavelli Nancy Pelosi used and abused for her devious political games?
Which is the bigger cover-up—Biden’s frailties or Bidenflation?
The so-called experts, Nobel laureates, and leftist media elites have the chutzpah to hoodwink Americans into believing inflation is ‘under control’ just because CPI dropped from its 9.1% peak under Biden. But ask any hardworking family, and they’ll tell you the truth—prices didn’t go back down; they just stopped rising as fast. Americans are still hurting and will continue to hurt in the coming years. That’s the disconnect. Wages haven’t kept up, grocery bills are still painful, and homeownership is a pipe dream for millions. While the experts cheered a “cooling” inflation rate, voters felt the real cost of Bidenflation
Journalist Matt Taibbi spoke to Brian Kilmeade about Mark Zuckerberg coming out against government censorship of social media and revealing the pressure he faced from the Biden administration to censor content on Facebook and Instagram.
"On the whole, it is a net positive," Taibbi said. "Zuckerberg coming out and saying all this confirms a lot of what I reported and a lot of the information that came out from Jim Jordan's committee investigation into the Facebook Files. Even if it is not 100% sincere, it confirms some things and suggests that maybe these tech companies are afraid to continue doing this kind of thing."
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Friday Lt. Governor Jon Husted as his pick to fill the Senate vacancy left by Vice President-elect JD Vance ahead of his inauguration on Monday. The announcement was made during a press conference in Ohio.
Husted was first elected to be lieutenant governor in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022. He previously served in several other capacities, including as Ohio Secretary of State, the speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives and as an Ohio state Senator.
He is married to his wife Tina and has three children; Alex, Katie and Kylie.
The Evolution of Marco Rubio
5 replies
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sees the Middle East on fire, and he considers it an opportunity. That was the bottom line of his kid-gloves Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday for his nomination to be secretary of state.
During the hearing, Jim Risch, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a Republican from Idaho, announced that a three-phase ceasefire deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas—and Rubio had a reply:
“We don’t know yet for sure, but there are opportunities available now in the Middle East that did not exist 90 days ago,” he said. “Whether it’s what’s happened in Lebanon, whether it’s what’s happened in Syria, whether
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
If you have to be somewhere you don’t want to be — like, say, the inauguration of Donald Trump — you may as well make it known you’re not down with the program. At least, that’s what it seems Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson did. Yesterday, during the inauguration, while Mark Zuckerberg was yucking it up with Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez and Elon Musk simply could not hold himself back from throwing a thumbs-up to the camera, Justice Jackson sat quietly. With her judicial robes, she wore a collar and a pair of earrings made up of cowrie
Recall Mark Milley to Service And Humiliate
Him; UPDATE: Milley Portrait Gone From Pentagon 28 replies
Him; UPDATE: Milley Portrait Gone From Pentagon 28 replies
All of Joe Biden's preemptive pardons for the worst political malefactors in recent years are an insult to the rule of law, but one in particular sticks in my craw: Mark Milley.
Why?
I expect bureaucrats like Anthony Fauci to be ass-covering snakes with a lust for power and disdain for accountability, and I am confident that he will burn in hell and be remembered as the mass murderer that he is.
I expect politicians like Liz Cheney, Adam Schiff, and the sc*mbags of the January 6th Committee to be liars who would sacrifice their souls for an extra minute on TV and an additional campaign dollar.
Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) slammed freshly sworn-in President Donald Trump’s remarks from his inauguration ceremony, calling him a “liar” for calling out the House Select Committee on January 6 and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D), right after she received a preemptive pardon from outgoing President Joe Biden.
During his speech in front of dignitaries and family members in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Trump lamented how he offered Pelosi “10,000 soldiers” to mitigate the risk of unrest on January 6, 2021, “but she rebuffed them”:
(X Video)
Trump’s DOJ reassigns several career
officials, including one who pushed for
Mar-a-Lago raid: report 24 replies
officials, including one who pushed for
Mar-a-Lago raid: report 24 replies
The Trump administration has reportedly reassigned more than a dozen career Justice Department officials, including one who played a central role in pushing for the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago.
The new assignments – given to at least 15 longtime officials – will see the federal employees remain within DOJ but in the roles where they are expected to wield less influence on the department’s major decision, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
Some officials were notified they were being transferred just hours after President Trump was sworn-in on Monday, according to the outlet.
President Donald Trump was left in disbelief as he was forced to listen to a woke bishop deliver a stunningly negative sermon calling for him to show 'mercy' to illegal immigrants and transgender children. On the first full day of Trump's presidency Marianne Budde, the left-wing Episcopal Bishop of Washington, unleashed a wild lecture claiming trans kids were 'fearing for their lives' due to him being in the Oval Office.
Trump sat stony-faced in the front row, next to First Lady Melania Trump, as the prelate told him illegal immigrants were not criminals and he shouldn't deport those with children.
Greg Gutfeld Just Took His Fox Co-Host
to the Cleaners Over Trump and Birthright Citizenship 21 replies
to the Cleaners Over Trump and Birthright Citizenship 21 replies
Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld apparently had enough of co-host Jessica Tarlov’s shenanigans about the second Trump presidency and the slew of executive orders that have virtually undone everything Joe Biden did over the past four years. In 36 hours, an entire presidency was revoked. Tarlov asked Gutfeld about birthright citizenship, which led to Gutfeld unleashing an epic tirade against liberal America being incapable of understanding this moment.
First, on the immigration questions, Gutfeld aptly noted that you don’t need to like everything in a restaurant to like the establishment. That’s the typical authoritarian tendency of the Left—you must like or comply with everything they say, including candidates.
MSNBC’s Rev. Al Sharpton called on all Americans to boycott companies eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, claiming they are trying to send Black people to the “back of the bus.”
Sharpton made the announcement at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C., during a rally in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday. He said this call to action would be done in the spirit of King’s legacy as a civil rights activist.
“Why do we have DEI? We have DEI because you denied us diversity, you denied us equity, you denied us inclusion.
One of Donald Trump’s first acts as president was to commute the sentences of or pardon nearly every single Jan. 6 prisoner, setting them all free. But multiple prisons and halfway houses have resisted complying, with the D.C. gulag holding multiple prisoners hostage and refusing to release them.
Trump’s historic order commuted the sentences of about a dozen individuals and pardoned “all individuals convicted of offenses related to event that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.” It ordered that those “currently held in prison are released immediately.” But the thugs who have so abused and trampled the rights of the J6ers
The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington gave an insultingly political speech that excoriated President Trump for...being President Trump, basically.
Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde took the opportunity to slam President Trump at the National Prayer Service, where he sat among many of the nation's leaders. The idea of the Prayer Service is to unify the attendees and remind them that we are all one nation under God.
It was appalling in every way, no doubt coming from a leftist who speaks endlessly about love, compassion, and unity. She implied that Trump was an enemy of gay and lesbian people, criticized him for wanting to deport
An Open Letter to the Left-Wing Bishop
Who Lectured Trump and Vance at the National
Prayer Service 20 replies
Who Lectured Trump and Vance at the National
Prayer Service 20 replies
This morning, while people were still sweeping up confetti and collecting empty champagne flutes from the inaugural balls, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and their wives attended the National Prayer Service at the National Cathedral. For the more liturgically-minded readers and those wayward Episcopalians, the order of service can be found here.
A certain amount of ecumenicism is to be expected and appreciated at such a service. Jesse J. Swann, Jr., chief of the Piscataway Conoy Tribe, gave the invocation. Rabbi Susan N. Shankman read from Deuteronomy 10:17-21, and cantor Susan Bortnick offered the Jewish call to prayer. There were the requisite high-ranking members of the Episcopal Church
Donald Trump quickly made good on his pledge to sever diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the federal government as he is set to fire all DEI hires by tomorrow.
The new Trump administration sent a letter to all heads and acting heads of government agencies on Tuesday, informing them all federal employees in DEI roles must be placed on paid leave by 5pm Wednesday.
All DEI offices in federal agencies are also being shuttered in the move, which comes after Trump signed an anti-DEI executive order in front of a cheering crowd at his inauguration on Monday.
The inaugural festivities continued for President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday, with both men finding themselves sitting in the National Cathedral for an "interfaith" prayer service. But while most of the speakers acquitted themselves well, a female Episcopalian "bishop" decided to fulfill the far-left's wildest dreams by directing a woke tangent at the president. During Mariann Budde's "sermon," she ranted about "transgender children" and asked Trump to have "mercy" on those who are "scared" of his administration, including those who "pick our crops." Here's the final few minutes of what she said. BUDDE: Let me make one