Focused Like a Loser

Biden

used notes to assist with facts about US infrastructure, a policy area Biden is focusing on during his first months in the White House.

“The United States now ranks 13th globally in infrastructure quality — down from 5th place in 2002,” read one bullet point.

But despite having the answers in front of him, Biden still slipped up, saying America ranked 85th in the world in infrastructure, before correcting himself.

— New Photos Show Cheat Sheets Used by Biden During His First Press Conference
New York Post | 3/25/21 | Kenneth Gager

The number is printed right there in front of you, and you’re literally reading it out loud. How could you mistake . . . ? Ah, never mind. It’s Joe.

CNN? Really? CNN??

Fact-Checking Biden’s First News Conference as President

cnn.com | 3/25/21

Would the following employees please report to the Human Resources department with their security badges? Daniel Dale, Holmes Lybrand, Tara Subramaniam, and Katie Lobosco.

Defending his approach to migration at the southern border, Biden claimed that “we’re sending back the vast majority of the families that are coming.”

Facts First: This was not true in February, the last month for which we have full data.

Biden claimed that there were five times as many motions to break the filibuster in 2020 than there were between 1917 and 1971.

“Between 1917 and 1971, the filibuster existed, there were a total of 58 motions to break a filibuster. That whole time. Last year alone there were five times that many,” Biden said.

Facts First: While experts on the filibuster say it is hard even for them to pinpoint the number per year, Biden’s figures are misleading. In 2020, the number of motions filed to end a Senate debate — a proxy measure for the use of the filibuster — was about double, not five times, the number from 1917 to 1971.

Addressing the recent influx of unaccompanied migrant children on the US southern border, Biden claimed that “nothing has changed” from the Trump administration — saying there had been a “28% increase in children on the border under my administration” versus a 31% increase in the same period of 2019 under Trump.

Facts First: Biden was wrong about the increase in children at the border during his own administration. He appeared to be mixing up two different statistics, one about children and one about migrants generally.

According to data from Customs and Border Protection, the number of unaccompanied children encountered on the border rose by 61% between January and February 2021, not the 28% Biden claimed. That is about double the increase between January and February 2019.

According to the Customs and Border Protection data, overall encounters with migrants on the border did increase 28% from January to February of this year. But Biden referred specifically to “children.”

What is Walrus watching?

Hello and once again we find out “What is Walrus watching?”

Exciting, I know.

If you are a WWII enthusiast, not liking the war but enjoying being informed about it, this channel fits the bill nicely. The presenter is German and presents from German sources so you get a different view of the actual military combat and equipment. He burrows down to a much more granular level of lots of little things that aren’t always addressed in the larger observations of the war.

The channel is Military History Visualized. Check it out.

Virtue Cignaling

Cigna’s Critical Race Theory Training: Don’t Say “Brown Bag Lunch” and Be Mindful of “Religious Privilege”
Washington Examiner | 3/19/2021 | Joseph Simonson

Employees say they are pressured to comply with “inclusive language” outlines that suggest replacing terms like “Brown Bag Lunch” with “lunch-and-learn” or “grab ‘n’ go.”

A bunch of sacks felt insulted? Sounds about accurate.

“No!! You used the word brown!!!11!!”

You’re kidding me, right?

. . . And the #MeToo crowd doesn’t mind you suggesting “grab ‘n’ go” as a replacment?

Other suggestions include avoiding the phrase “No can do” and replacing it with “unavailable.”

The two phrases don’t mean the same thing.

Can’t offend that no-can-do crowd, I guess. Remember to blacklist Hall & Oates, by the way. And to “cancel” those who use the word “blacklist” instead of “cancel.”

Employees are told to avoid gendered descriptions

They’ve invented fifty-seven gender descriptions and you can’t use them?

of romantic partners

“Hey, Mike, let me describe my romantic partner to you …”

“Fine with me.”

“… with a non-gendered description.”

“No. Stand over there, away from me.”

or family members,

“Well, how about my family members, then?”

“No. Farther.”

and not to use “Hip Hip Hooray” [it should be replaced by “Hooray!” or “Yay!”] at birthday parties, so others feel included.

“Hip” replacement therapy for those who just aren’t hip.

Microaggressions listed include questions such as “Do you even know what Facebook is?”

Well, how do you find out if people do?

What about “Do you even know what the Tenth Amendment is?” or “Do you even know where my left sock went?”

and “Are you a nurse?”

Listen, if I’ve been sitting alone in a paper gown in a cold examining room for over an hour, that’ll be the first thing out of my mouth to the next person I see, Cigna, and it won’t be a microagression, either!