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Friday, December 13, 2024

A Global “Vibe Shift”

That’s what we’re watching unfold … catalyzed by the Trump win and the “Palm Beach Rat Pack.” From an essay by Niall Ferguson: “Fundamentally,” (Santiago) Pliego wrote, “the Vibe Shift is a return to—a championing of—Reality, a rejection of the bureaucratic, the cowardly, the guilt-driven; a return to greatness, courage, and joyous ambition.” To be precise:

The Vibe Shift is spurning the fake and therapeutic and reclaiming the authentic and concrete.
The Vibe Shift is a healthy suspicion of credentialism and a return to human judgment.
The Vibe Shift is living not by lies, and instead speaking the truth—whatever the cost.
The Vibe Shift is directly facing our tumultuous times, refusing to blackpill, and choosing to build instead.

The vibe shift hit American politics on the night of November 5. What no one foresaw was that it would almost immediately go global, too…. One catchphrase that sums it up: It’s like Trump’s already president. If the vibe shift in culture is about founder mode versus diversity, equity, and inclusion committees, the global vibe shift is about peace through strength versus chaos through de-escalation. It’s Daddy’s Home—not the fraying liberal international order…. “A Vibe Shift Is Coming,” wrote (Allison P.) Davis in 2022. “Will Any of Us Survive It?” It is a good question. The vibe shift has gone from the world of the fashionistas to the world of four-star admirals by way of the tech bros and the Trump–Musk campaign. It began as a revulsion against pronouns and piercings; it is culminating in a global repudiation of the liberal international order that inspired two generations of Democrats. Yale Law School is out. The world is going to look a lot more like Gotham City from here on (Free Press). Peggy Noonan: Donald Trump hasn’t overshadowed Joe Biden; he has eclipsed him. A former senior official in Mr. Trump’s first term told NBC News a few days ago that Mr. Trump “is already basically running things, and he’s not even president yet” (Wall Street Journal).

The Big Loser in the Vibe Shift: Barack Obama and the Obama Vision of a New World Order

After all, Obama and his coterie orchestrated so much of the fundamentally undemocratic moves of Democrat politics in recent days. Victor Davis Hanson: Barack Obama had long been rumored as the catalyst for the 2020 Biden nomination—and thereafter played the whispering puppeteer behind the subsequent lost Biden administration years. As such he and his coterie proved the virtual architects of the Biden administration, one of the most unpopular and failed presidencies in American history….The Obamaites then got their wish for four years of enacted hard-left directives that they could only have dreamed of while in actual power. But their radical menu since 2021 had divided and nearly wrecked the nation—hyperinflation, 12 million illegal aliens, a ruined border, spiraling crime, a shattered foreign policy of appeasement, the popular backlash against DEI/Woke/trans chauvinism, partisan lawfare, and weaponization of the government. And the ruling radicalism beneath the Biden facade eventually cost the Democrats nearly everything—the presidency, the House, and the Senate. An inert Biden is departing office with a 36 percent favorability rating in a recent Emerson poll (Blade of Perseus). It’s a repudiation on the world stage as well. Again, Niall Ferguson: The reality is that we are witnessing the complete and total unraveling of the disastrous foreign policy that began under Obama and was picked up again by Biden, the perverse effect of which was to strengthen both Iran and Russia (Free Press).

Confirmed: January 6 Episode Included FBI Agents in the Crowd and in the White House

That, according the report from the Overview and Review Division of the DOJ. Vice President-Elect J.D. Vance: For those keeping score at home, this was labeled a dangerous conspiracy theory months ago. (X). Before we quote the report, let us note: CHS here is “Confidential Human Sources” and WFO here is the “Washington Field Office” of the FBI. From the report: We determined that of the 26 CHSs who were in DC on January 6 in connection with the events of January 6, 4 entered the Capitol during the riot; an additional 13 entered the restricted area around the Capitol, which was a security perimeter established in preparation for the January 6 Electoral Certification; and 9 neither entered a restricted area nor entered the Capitol or otherwise engaged in illegal activity. None of the CHSs who entered the Capitol or a restricted area has been prosecuted to date (Justice). Charlie Kirk: Was this entrapment? Why did it take us four years to learn this? (X) Katie Pavlich: During congressional testimony last year, outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray refused to confirm — multiple times — whether confidential sources were used on or in the lead up to January 6 (Townhall).

Biden Administration Auctioning Off Federal Government Border Supplies

Charlie Kirk: This is pure sabotage by bureaucrats who want to deliver a last minute “screw you” to Donald Trump and the 76 million Americans who elected him to protect our border. Their time in power is coming to an end, and whoever is responsible for this will be held accountable (X). From the Daily Wire: The Biden administration is using its final weeks to haul a massive amount of border wall materials away from the southern border to be sold off in a government auction, an apparent effort to hinder President-elect Donald Trump’s effort to secure the border, The Daily Wire has learned. Videos obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire from a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent show unused sections of the wall being hauled away on the back of flatbed trucks from a section of the border just south of Tucson, a hotspot for illegal crossings during the Biden administration. The agent estimates that up to half a mile per day of unused border wall is being moved (Daily Wire).

After Destroying Syrian Air Defenses, Israel Sees Open Route to Iranian Nuclear Sites

Times of Israel: The Israel Defense Forces believes that following the weakening of Iranian proxy groups in the Middle East and the dramatic fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, there is an opportunity to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, military officials said Thursday. The Israeli Air Force has therefore continued to increase its readiness and preparations for such potential strikes in Iran. The IDF also believes that Iran — isolated after the fall of the Assad regime and the weakening of its main proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon — may push ahead further with its nuclear program and develop a bomb as it scrambles to replace its deterrence (Times of Israel). Israel has focused on clearing the air space over Syria: According to the IAF, about 80% of Syria’s air defense array, including the lethal SA-17 and SA-22 systems, has been destroyed. This includes hundreds of Sukhoi and MiG aircraft, attack helicopters, missile launchers for Raad and Scud types, cruise missiles and chemical weapons systems. Assad’s firepower suffered a massive blow, with 90% of its key surface-to-surface missile batteries neutralized. The IAF also destroyed 44 radars and jammers, 390 launchers and missile components, 27 fighter jets, 24 attack helicopters and 12 cruise missile launchers. The destruction of most of Syria’s densely packed air defense systems has opened the skies for IAF pilots in the northern fronts, allowing unimpeded operations over Damascus for the first time in over 50 years. “Our UAVs can now fly as far as eastern Syria and our fighter pilots circle Damascus freely. This is unprecedented,” a military official said, adding that the withdrawal of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officials and initial signs of Russian troop pullbacks, including S-300 batteries, have further bolstered confidence (YNET).

Prime Minister Netanyahu Addresses the People of Iran

As the dominoes continue to fall, the mullahs in Tehran have to be wondering if they are next. From Netanyahu’s video: I know that just as we want peace with you, you want peace with us, but you suffer under the rule of a regime that subjugates you and threatens us. You know what this regime is truly terrified of. It’s terrified of you, the people of Iran. And one day I know that one day this will change. One day Iran will be free. Women life freedom, zdi. That is the future of Iran. That is the future of peace. And I have no doubt that we will realize that future together. A lot sooner than people think I know. And I believe we will transform the Middle East into a beacon of prosperity, progress, and peace. Thank you (X).

Biden’s Massive Act of Clemency Dwarfs Any in Our Nation’s History

And he’s promising more. Politico: President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of almost 1,500 people and pardoned another 39, the most ever in a single day, the White House announced on Thursday. Left wing groups are pressing him for more: The progressive group Popular Democracy in Action struck a similar tone, praising Biden’s decision but also telling the president “do not stop now.” “This is just a first step,” said co-executive directors Analilia Mejia and DaMareo Cooper. “Thousands more of our people who have been wronged by an unjust system are still waiting for freedom and compassion. In President Biden’s final days in office, he must grant clemency for the nearly nine thousand petitioners remaining, many who are aging, chronically ill, have young children and families depending on them, and/or have already served significant time” (Politico).

Included in Biden’s Clemency Move: Chinese National Peddling Child P*rn

Operating with an inverted moral compass: Jin Shanlin. A Chinese spy found with 47,000 files of child p*rnography (X). Newsweek: Jin was a doctoral student at Southern Methodist University when he was arrested in 2021 and later sentenced to 97 months (or just over eight years) in federal prison after pleading guilty to possession of child p*rnography before a U.S. magistrate judge in July 2022, according to court documents. His sentencing also required him to pay $30,500 in restitution and $100 in assessment. Jin has family connections to China’s Communist Party, according to reports (Newsweek). From the Dallas Express in 2022: Jin pleaded guilty to possessing child p*rnography in December 2020 after a forensic investigation discovered he had downloaded more than 47,000 images and videos onto his computer… However, officers also found child p*rnography playing on the defendant’s laptop when they entered the house to execute the search warrant (Dallas Express).

Also Included in Biden’s Clemency Move: Brother of Senior Hamas Leader

Raylan Givens: Arab channels report that after 20 years in an American prison, Mofid Abdel Kader Mashal, the brother of senior Hams leader Khaled Mashal, has been released (X).

10.

Democrats Abandoning Marriage Fidelity Norm

From the Institute for Family Studies at the University of Virginia: … it’s actually Democrats who have become more accepting of extra-marital sex in recent years. This trend has been especially pronounced among Democrats since what Matt Yglesias called the “Great Awokening” (circa 2014), when many Democrats lurched hard to the cultural Left. Since this hard left turn, which included growing progressive support for polyamory, a large minority of Democrats, including Democratic husbands, have abandoned the classic fidelity norm. Just a decade ago, three quarters of ever-married Democratic men aged 18-55 believed that having sex with someone besides your spouse is “always wrong,” according to the General Social Survey (GSS). Today, only half do. By contrast, four-in-five ever-married Republican men (18-55) embrace the classic norm that extramarital sex is “always wrong,” with no signs of change over the same period (Institute for Family Studies).