MANY THANKS TO THE DIPLOMAD for [re]stating the obvious in his inimitable fashion.

THE END: 'Indefinite' hunger strike over failed voting bill ends after 8 days.

On the bright side, we know know how long idiots can 'maintain their principles' (and get hungry).

PRESIDENT[ISH] BIDEN'S FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE

The data is from Rasmussen's Presidential Approval Index, recorded daily since his inauguration.

The approval index is the difference between those who strongly approve of the President's performance and those who strongly disapprove, usually about 30% of those polled each. Note that he has never had a positive index.

Here is the subset of those polled who approve his performance. Biden started 50-50, then mid-year started the drift down to where he is now -- about 40%. The strong approvals have declined more rapidly, from 35% or so initially to 20% today.

The bottom line is the difference between 'approve' and 'strongly approve', which has steadily increased. Not only are fewer people approving the President's performance, even fewer are strongly approving. Time's arrow is clearly moving the wrong way for the Biden administration.

Next up is the subset of those polled who disapprove of his performance. The trend is clear, up about 10%, starting mid-year. What is somewhat startling is that the difference between 'disapproval' and 'strong disapproval' is relatively constant at about 10%. For every increase in 'disapproval' there is a corresponding increase in 'strong disapproval'.

What is somewhat surprising is that the indifferent, that is, those neither strongly approving nor strongly disapproving, has slightly increased, from about 25% to around 30% today. I don't remember the originator (it was from the mid-60's drug culture) but the phrase "tune in, turn on, tune out" comes to mind.

Oh, well. It's clear that the first year of the Biden administration is a disaster; the interesting part will be whether the average American will continue to 'tune out' or the disapprovals will keep increasing. I will continue to hope for both.

DOUBLING DOWN ON CRAZY: Democrats don't have 'bad leaders', they have 'bad followers'.

MICHIGAN DEMOCRATS CRITICIZED for saying parents shouldn't tell public schools what to teach their children.

The purpose of public education in public schools is not to teach kids only what parents want them to be taught.... It is to teach them what society needs them to know. The client of the public school is not the parent, but the entire community, the public.

The arrogance of the Left knows no bounds.

COMMUNITY COMPACTS: Another excellent reason to avoid 'elite' colleges and save money.

DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST JAMES CARVILLE: Democrats whine too much… quit being a whiny party.

'Whiny' is being kind; 'crybully' is a better term.

GOOD NEWS from the Build Back Better supermarket:

Found on the Fox News cartoon page.

ALL THE MORE REASON to shut down California at the borders and lock the gates: California should abolish parenthood in the name of equity.

Serious or satire? The comments are about equally divided. Those who lean toward satire point to the Plato, Swift (A Modest Proposal) and Huxley (Brave New World) references as proof. I lean more to the Hillary Clinton's It Takes A Village side; it's always struck me that progressives read satirical books as 'how-to' manuals.

SNOWMAGEDDON IN GEORGIA:

Here's the Weather Channel report:

And here's ground truth:

Way back (way, way back) in the dark ages of my youth this was called a 'dusting'....

MORE POWERLINE Loose Ends.

WELL ... YES: Has the Omicron wave peaked?

But not to worry -- 'anothercon' is being prepped for the midterms....

FLORIDA GOV. RON DESANTIS slaps down Washington Post editor:

Washington Post editor Eugene Robinson called @GovRonDeSantis anti-lockdown stance "outrageous to say the least, & frankly it is criminal.”
@RuthlessPodcast asked the Gov for his reaction.
DeSantis: “I’m not worried about what some corporate shill from Amazon is saying about me.” — Christina Pushaw 🐊 (@ChristinaPushaw) January 15, 2022

"Don't care" is the only acceptable response to crybullies.

THE DEMOCRAT STRATEGY TO REDUCE CRIME is to decriminalize it.

Might work if you love mayhem.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES has many good ones, but this one simply stands out:

Now go see the rest.

THE LEFT CONTROLS ALMOST EVERYTHING, so why are they so afraid?

GOOD NEWS: it's snowing. The bad news is that it isn't snowing on environmentalists.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN is reportedly planning to push his police reform agenda via an executive order as early as this month.

Some (many) years ago, in reading about the Spanish Inquisition, I came across the statement "We're going to have to kill you to save your soul." More recently a similar statement, “We had to destroy the village in order to save it” was used in reference to the Vietnam war.

Both, apparently, are falsehoods which over time have a memorable phrase taken as fact, and I'm reminded of them every time the Biden administration tries to use executive orders to accomplish his destructive goals.

[Related] Sarah Hoyt has coined a new phrase in response to the Biden administration's overuse of executive workarounds: JUST GO, BRANDON.

I like it.

MIDTERMS COMING UP! U.S. Government to end daily COVID death reporting.

Any questions?

AND HOW MANY DIVERSITY FACTOTUMS? University lays off 100 professors due to COVID.