the Democrats and the media have so stoked this story that their base believes it. And the Democrats on this committee and the Democrats in the Senate, the Democrats everywhere, are literally scared to death of the day when it will be officially announced that there was no collusion, when this Comey investigation ends and they can’t prove any collusion between Trump and the Russians.Read more here.
They are scared to death of that day, of what their base is gonna do.
They need their base continuing to donate money. They need their base continuing to remain engaged, and they have used this story — that Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the election. They have used this story to excuse the fact that they lost. They have used this story to excuse the fact that they had a lousy candidate, to excuse the fact that she ran a lousy campaign, to excuse the fact that she’s very unlikable, to excuse the fact that they were so arrogant and condescending in assuming they were gonna win that they didn’t even really make a serious effort.
...Again, I want to remind everybody — the truth of this has not been mentioned yet — Podesta was not hacked. Podesta fell for a phishing scam. Now, you might, on a loose definition, call it a hack. But it’s not a hack in the sense that you and I think of hacks. Nobody got into Podesta’s computer. He let them in. He invited them in, unknowingly. Russia did not deal directly with WikiLeaks, Comey said. They had a cut-out, which is an intermediary. Well, who was that? WikiLeaks has insisted that they didn’t get anything from Russia, that Russia was not their source, and Comey confirmed that today.
...But I’d like to know: Who initiated the FBI’s investigation of Trump?
We’ve been hearing all along that there is one. Who initiated that, and why? When did it begin? Any Obama holdovers involved in this? Any Obama embeds in the bureaucracy involved in this? What about Clinton campaign members meeting with Russians? Is any of that being investigated? We know that a lot of people that work for the Democrats met with Russians. We know that Bill Clinton worked with a guy in Canada to basically give — well, sell to the point where the Clintons profited — a great portion of the U.S. uranium supply.
What about coordination between CNN and Hillary Clinton? What about the Democrat National Committee rigging their primary against Bernie Sanders? Is there any investigation of that? What about the investigation of the Clinton Foundation? We’re told that there was one. Well, we don’t know; nobody’s officially said so. Influence peddling to foreign countries? Obama’s ransom payments to Iran?
...There hasn’t been one, not one indication of Trump going soft on Russia, not one. Nikki Haley at the U.N. speaks out against Russia in no uncertain terms.
...The big news of these hearings is not even being reported! The big news of these hearings is that the Russians did not, could not, would not, have not, don’t know how to tamper with votes. They didn’t do it. I mean, there wasn’t even any hemming or hawing in the answers. Both Comey and Admiral Rogers definitively said in one-word answers “no” to all kinds of questions about whether or not the Russians had anything to do with votes, either the way they were cast or the way they were counted. Nope, nope, nope, nope. We even know that this Jill Stein babe, the Democrat, the Green Party candidate, whatever, she did this recount, Trump ended up getting more votes in some of these states than what he ended up with in the official count.
There is no evidence. That, to me, is the news of these hearings. But that’s not what’s being reported. That’s in fact being ignored. So if you’re Trump and you’re working with the Russians anyway, even though there’s no way to sabotage the vote, wouldn’t you go out of your way in public to scorch Putin every chance you got, scorch the Russians, instead of talking about how much you admire Putin, what a great guy Putin is, and how much you appreciate Putin complimenting you, which Trump did?
...But again, all of this, see, this is the frustrating thing, folks. The big news of the day is, no evidence whatsoever that the Russians hacked voting. No evidence whatsoever. It’s not possible. They’re not investigating whether any of that happened. It just didn’t because it couldn’t. Obama has said so. Any number of people before all this heated up the way it is said so. But that’s not the news. Because the purpose of all of this is to permanently damage Donald Trump and make it impossible for him to govern.
That’s all this is about. There’s a secondary aspect of it with the Democrats on the committee having to service their lunatic base, which has been led to believe that Russia did hack the election and that Trump was part of it. That story has been around for so long, it’s been added to for so long and it’s been amplified, they believe it now. The expectations have been raised to the point here that the truth, the Democrats are scared to death of the day their base learns that none of this happened.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Rush Limbaugh tries to figure out what is going on with the Comey/Rogers hearings
Rush Limbaugh discusses the alleged collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign.
Connecting with his friends
Richard F.Miniter writes at The American thinker,
...Liberals describe President Trump as a “failed billionaire.” The man flew everywhere in his own 757, he owned golf courses and hotels all over the world and before he moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, lived in a gold-encrusted four-story penthouse atop the gleaming skyscraper he owned overlooking Central Park.
So just what does “failed” billionaire mean? And how do I become one?
...The simple Anglo-Saxon terms Donald Trump used to describe Hillary – “liar,” “corrupt,” “crooked,” “nasty,” resonated with middle America where the East and West Coast Liberal inside-the-bubble-talk that Hillary and her advocates used to describe Trump drew a blank. And so went the election.
...And while President Trump has nowhere near the mastery of the language of someone like Churchill or Reagan, he’s brilliant in keeping his message simple and Anglo-Saxon: bad, good, amazing, huge, sad, great, jobs, deal, wall.
And so connects with his friends.
Tweeting goodbye to Islam
A Saudi woman and her husband take to Twitter to announce (from Canada) that they are leaving Islam.
Fox News getting rid of Napolitano?
Sundance reports at The Conservative Treehouse that Fox News has pulled Judge Andrew Napolitano off the air. Napolitano is the one who reported that Obama used British intelligence to wiretap Trump. I saw Napolitano give that report, and I remember that he said he had three sources. Normally, Napolitano would have been a part of Fox's coverage of this week's Gorsuch hearings, but he has not been included.
Sundance surmises that Murdoch may be getting rid of Napolitano so that he can convince British authorites that he practices "high standards." You see, Murdoch is attempting to purchase a pay t.v. network called Sky in Britain.
Read more here.
Sundance surmises that Murdoch may be getting rid of Napolitano so that he can convince British authorites that he practices "high standards." You see, Murdoch is attempting to purchase a pay t.v. network called Sky in Britain.
Read more here.
Faux-Controversy
At The Last Refuge Sundance teaches us how the press manipulates us. This time it has to do with the itinerary of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during the month of April. Read the whole thing here.
"Do you think he is going to run out of vodka, or have to move into a motel?"
Do you think this Congressman from California realizes Tucker Carlson is mocking him mercilessly?
And Comey? Tucker says Comey is "oddly selective about which investigation he is willing to talk about! He confirmed they were investigating the Trump team, but refused to say whether the FBI is investigating felony leaking by government officials who destroyed General Michael Flynn."
Tucker Carlson at his best!
And Comey? Tucker says Comey is "oddly selective about which investigation he is willing to talk about! He confirmed they were investigating the Trump team, but refused to say whether the FBI is investigating felony leaking by government officials who destroyed General Michael Flynn."
Tucker Carlson at his best!
Illusions
At The Last Refuge, Sundance shows us that the current intention of the Senate Intelligence Committee
Sundance provides us with this video of freshman Congresswoman Elise Stefanik from New York asking FBI Director Comey what the protocol is on these investigations, and why the protocol was not followed (Comey did not brief senior Congressional officials until this month, even though the investigation began in July 2016, and the protocol required quarterly briefings of senior congressional officials).
“Because of the sensitivity of the matter” ~ James Comey's reply. It throws Stefanik off her line of questioning. She goes off in a different direction, and then comes back to it a few minutes later.
is not to actually investigate, but rather to give the outward illusion of investigation.
At one point in his political life Comey may have been a White Hat, but there’s no doubt his behavior is exactly what a black hat operative would be doing to shield his connection to the black hat activity of the prior administration.
Summary: Hillary Clinton political operatives manufactured the illusion of a computer connection between Russian entities (financial banks) and the Trump campaign/organization. Those manufactured points of evidence were then passed along to White House entities who used the political intel community (Clapper to Comey) to open an investigation of nothingness – to nowhere. The mere existence of that investigation was then used as the originating point for a series of media intel leaks (the narrative) intended to cloud and damage the Trump campaign/organization. FBI Director James Comey, as head of one of the investigative agencies, became part of that political apparatus. Now, usefulness exhausted and with the media engaged, it’s CYA time all around for the originating entities.
Sundance provides us with this video of freshman Congresswoman Elise Stefanik from New York asking FBI Director Comey what the protocol is on these investigations, and why the protocol was not followed (Comey did not brief senior Congressional officials until this month, even though the investigation began in July 2016, and the protocol required quarterly briefings of senior congressional officials).
“Because of the sensitivity of the matter” ~ James Comey's reply. It throws Stefanik off her line of questioning. She goes off in a different direction, and then comes back to it a few minutes later.
Monday, March 20, 2017
Are your yoga pants contaminating seafood?
AP reports,
Yoga pants, Patagonia’s cozy jackets, sweat-wicking athletic wear and other garments made from synthetic materials shed microscopic plastic fibers — called “microfibers” — when they’re laundered. Wastewater systems flush the microfibers into natural waterways, eventually reaching the sea.Read more here.
Thief who was a member of the media stole Super Bowl jerseys from Brady and a helmet from Von Miller
Did you know that Tom Brady's Super Bowl jersey was stolen? Also another one from a previous Super Bowl? Also Von Miller's helmet from Super Bowl 50? They have all been found, thanks to an FBI investigation. A Mexican media person had them. Read about it here.
What did you learn from your parents?
Jeff Sanders writes in PJ Media, Six Lessons my Depression-era Parents Taught me. I also had Depression-era parents, so his lessons rang true to me. How about you?
The contempt of the experts
Glenn Reynolds writes in USA Today about the Suicide of Expertise.
...It was the experts — characterized in terms of their self-image by David Halberstam in The Best and the Brightest — who brought us the twin debacles of the Vietnam War, which we lost, and the War On Poverty, where we spent trillions and certainly didn’t win. In both cases, confident assertions by highly credentialed authorities foundered upon reality, at a dramatic cost in blood and treasure. Mostly other people’s blood and treasure.
And these are not isolated failures. The history of government nutritional advice from the 1960s to the present is an appalling one: The advice of “experts” was frequently wrong, and sometimes bought-and-paid-for by special interests, but always delivered with an air of unchallengeable certainty.
In the realm of foreign affairs, which should be of special interest to the people at Foreign Affairs, recent history has been particularly dreadful. Experts failed to foresee the fall of the Soviet Union, failed to deal especially well with that fall when it took place, and then failed to deal with the rise of Islamic terrorism that led to the 9/11 attacks. Post 9/11, experts botched the reconstruction of Iraq, then botched it again with a premature pullout.
On Syria, experts in Barack Obama’s administration produced a policy that led to countless deaths, millions of refugees flooding Europe, a new haven for Islamic terrorists, and the upending of established power relations in the mideast. In Libya, the experts urged a war, waged without the approval of Congress, to topple strongman Moammar Gadhafi, only to see — again — countless deaths, huge numbers of refugees and another haven for Islamist terror.
...And you know what makes you less persuasive? The kind of contempt displayed by Foreign Affairs. If expertise is dead, it’s because those who claimed it overplayed their hands. It’s not the death of expertise, so much as a suicide.
Can we move beyond our cultural self-loathing?
Bookworm writes,
About one-fifth of all crime committed in Japan is done by the elderly. Most of it is petty theft and shoplifting.Read more here.
As crime rates among the elderly rise, prisons have effectively turned into nursing homes. Guards are made to bathe the inmates and help them get dressed, and experts say living conditions are too good to keep recidivism rates down.
Normally, younger relatives would take care of the inmates once they’re released. But in some cases the costs (and loneliness) are simply too much to bear in a troubled economy, and seniors look to prison as the better alternative.
It’s not just that the Japanese have stopped having children. Lots of economically advanced nations cut back on making babies. The difference with Japan is that they’ve entirely stopped having sex. Japan is becoming a simulacrum of a country, rather than a real country. So far, Japan has resisting Europe’s decision to invite in Muslims from Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa in order to make up for a serious demographic slump. At some point, though, the Japanese are going to have to do something.
Americans are holding level, but just barely. Our demographic slump can easily be cured by allowing more legal immigration from Latin America. I would do so, though, only if we have moved beyond our cultural self-loathing. Immigration works when the immigrants assimilate in their new country. It does not work when they don’t. And it’s a bloody freaking disaster, as we see in Europe, when the immigrants insist that their new country assimilate to them.
The unmasking and the leaking
More on the Intelligence Committee Hearing today from Sundance at The Last Refuge:
Gowdy asks Comey hypothetical questions about intel officials leaking to the press. Comey replies, "Somebody told them who shouldn't have told them!" Gowdy asks about the unmasking process.
...not a single congressional panelist asked Director James Comey or NSA Mike Rogers if they personally were the person who unmasked the identity of General Mike Flynn in the “intelligence intercepts”.Trey Gowdy gets Comey to admit that some Obama political appointees had the ability to "unmask" the names of US citizens.
Yes, that’s correct. There is only ONE KNOWN Factual and CRIMINAL activity currently identified: the unmasking and leaking of Mike Flynn’s name to the media.
Yet not a single congressional intelligence committee member would ask Rogers or Comey -under oath- if they were the source of: A) “The Unmasking”, and/or B) “The Leaking”.
Stop for a moment and think about that glaring an intentional non-inquiry against the expressed intention of the purpose of the committee.
Gowdy asks Comey hypothetical questions about intel officials leaking to the press. Comey replies, "Somebody told them who shouldn't have told them!" Gowdy asks about the unmasking process.
Putin does not like Hillary, and wanted Trump
Today at the House Intelligence Committee hearing, a Congressman from Texas named Conaway questioned FBI Director Comey about Putin trying to help Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton in the US election. Comey and NSA director Admiral Rogers both agreed Putin did not like Clinton and preferred Trump.
Congresswoman Sewell from Alabama vigorously and emphatically questioned Comey and Rogers about General Flynn. Most of the time they could not answer her specific questions about Flynn. She alleged that Flynn received $35,000 from RT, the Russian government propaganda organ, and was paid half a million dollars representing the government of Turkey.
She says Flynn lied and failed to register as a representative of a foreign government, and should be criminally prosecuted.
Congresswoman Sewell from Alabama vigorously and emphatically questioned Comey and Rogers about General Flynn. Most of the time they could not answer her specific questions about Flynn. She alleged that Flynn received $35,000 from RT, the Russian government propaganda organ, and was paid half a million dollars representing the government of Turkey.
She says Flynn lied and failed to register as a representative of a foreign government, and should be criminally prosecuted.
Gorsuch hearings begin
I turned into the Gorsuch hearings, and right away Senator Blumenthal from Connecticut threatens nominee Gorsuch. Interestingly, whenever Blumenthal raised his left hand off the table, the hand shook uncontrollably. I didn't notice it so much with his right hand. There is no way Blumenthal will support this nomination.
Blumenthal was followed by senators from Idaho and North Carolina, both of whom were supportive to Gorsuch.
They were followed by a senator from Hawaii who talked about protesting a war (Viet Nam)? She is worried about Trump. She also alleged that Gorsuch rarely rules on behalf of the little guy.
After she was finished virtue-signalling, a senator from Louisiana spoke. He supports Gorsuch. "I'm looking for a judge, not an ideologue. I want a cross between Socrates and Dirty Harry."
Senator Gardner from Colorado was next. He strongly supports Gorsuch, and he said John Elway also supports Gorsuch. Oh well, then, he must be confirmed!
Senator Bennet from Colorado was next. He attacked Trump and whined about the Senate's failure to confirm Judge Garland. He needs to be defeated in the next election.
Next was the Neal Katyal, Acting Solicitor General under Obama. He is a part-time Coloradan. He whined about the failure to confirm Garland, but he supports Gorsuch. Gorsuch supports rule of law. Gorsuch has humility and ability.
Now Gorsuch raised his right hand and was sworn in by Senator Grassley from Iowa. Then, an emotional moment in which he thanked and hugged his wife Louise. Then a salute to his two daughters back in Colorado, another to his mom and dad and grandparents. Good sense of humor shone through his testimony. Several mentions of courage, Byron White, Justice Kennedy, Scalia, Justice Jackson. The rule of law in America is the envy of the world. In the west, we seek consensus. My daughters tell me that putting on a robe does not make me smarter!
Judges should be neutral and independent. Not legislate! Only thing that is relevant: the law and the facts before the court.
Blumenthal was followed by senators from Idaho and North Carolina, both of whom were supportive to Gorsuch.
They were followed by a senator from Hawaii who talked about protesting a war (Viet Nam)? She is worried about Trump. She also alleged that Gorsuch rarely rules on behalf of the little guy.
After she was finished virtue-signalling, a senator from Louisiana spoke. He supports Gorsuch. "I'm looking for a judge, not an ideologue. I want a cross between Socrates and Dirty Harry."
Senator Gardner from Colorado was next. He strongly supports Gorsuch, and he said John Elway also supports Gorsuch. Oh well, then, he must be confirmed!
Senator Bennet from Colorado was next. He attacked Trump and whined about the Senate's failure to confirm Judge Garland. He needs to be defeated in the next election.
Next was the Neal Katyal, Acting Solicitor General under Obama. He is a part-time Coloradan. He whined about the failure to confirm Garland, but he supports Gorsuch. Gorsuch supports rule of law. Gorsuch has humility and ability.
Now Gorsuch raised his right hand and was sworn in by Senator Grassley from Iowa. Then, an emotional moment in which he thanked and hugged his wife Louise. Then a salute to his two daughters back in Colorado, another to his mom and dad and grandparents. Good sense of humor shone through his testimony. Several mentions of courage, Byron White, Justice Kennedy, Scalia, Justice Jackson. The rule of law in America is the envy of the world. In the west, we seek consensus. My daughters tell me that putting on a robe does not make me smarter!
Judges should be neutral and independent. Not legislate! Only thing that is relevant: the law and the facts before the court.
Virtue signaling results
Sundance writes at The Last Refuge, 
According to a report in the Seattle Times, Howard Schultz, the current CEO of Starbucks, will step down from his role at the coffee chain next month. This comes following the collapsing brand image as a direct result of Schultz’s political virtue signaling to hire 10,000 refugees and avoid hiring Americans.
"Consolidate and shut down departments"?
At The Federalist, Ned Ryun writes,
h/t CBD
...It’s time for Republicans to have a reality check: do you really think that fewer than 5,000 appointees can win against 2.8 million federal government employees who have a vested interest in absolutely nothing changing? Maybe, if an administration had 20 years, but it doesn’t. It has four, maybe if they’re lucky eight, years, and as history has shown us, the odds of any party getting three straight terms of a single party in the White House are fairly slim. We have already seen bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Justice, and State Department not only promise, but also begin to resist any reforms from the Trump administration.Read more here.
...All government employees, which numbered nearly 4 million in 1939, number over 22 million today, with nearly three million federal employees and the rest state and local (and that excludes military).
But it’s worse than simply having millions of federal government employees trying to outlast a Republican administration. The overwhelming majority of those federal employees who donated to a presidential campaign, more than 95 percent, gave money to Hillary Clinton. Ninety-nine percent of contributions from State Department employees went to Clinton in the 2016 elections. You can be sure they aren’t excited to be working for Trump.
So my advice to President Trump is this: don’t play the game by the current rules. Change the rules by which the game is played. It’s time to cut the leviathan of government down to size. Trump’s hiring freeze is a good step in the right direction. It stops one of the reinforcing loops. But he needs to reverse the loop and cut the federal workforce by no less than 25 percent in four years. Trump should then consolidate and shut down departments.
...Philosophical changes take time. Structural changes can spur those, and Trump can put his mark on American history by truly changing the rules by which the game is played. The administration and Republicans in power must see the pitfalls previous administrations failed to avoid. Those administrations decided government really wasn’t so bad once they got the reins, and if we’re not careful, the swamp might start to seem like a hot tub.
...President Trump and the GOP have a chance to conserve the original principles of the country, that government is limited to protect the rights of the people, not provide them everything they want or need. If Trump can change the rules, he’ll change history.
h/t CBD
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Are you hate-filled? Just cite the Southern Poverty Law Center as the source of your information about the person you hate!
At Real Clear Politics, Carl Cannon writes about the hate group that incited the Middlebury melee.
...Dees also started a nonprofit, which he named the Southern Poverty Law Center. But he gave up neither the high life nor the direct-mail business. He lives in luxury with his fifth wife and still runs the SPLC, which has used the mail-order model to amass a fortune. Its product line is an unusual one: For the past 47 years, Morris Dees has been selling fear and hate.Read more here.
...Today, the center boasts a treasury of more than $300 million, the richest civil rights group in the country.
But with the Ku Klux Klan literally out of business, how was the SPLC able to frighten people into still donating? That’s where the AEI’s Charles Murray reenters our story, along with many other mainstream conservative groups. Scaring the bejesus out of people requires new bogeymen, and lots of them.
In recent years, you can find yourself on the SPLC’s “hate map” if you haven’t gotten fully aboard on gay marriage — or the Democratic Party’s immigration views. In other words, the Dees’ group classifies individuals and organizations as purveyors of “hate” for holding the same view on marriage espoused by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton until mid-2012.
...Before Charles Murray’s abortive visit to Vermont, several hundred Middlebury alums signed a letter opposing his visit. They and the numerous professors and students who protested all cited the SPLC as their sole source for various slanders against Murray:
Join us. We're having a good time!
Why is it so hard for the Left to lose? Is it the consequences of delayed adulthood? The five stages of crazy:
1. Superior and calm
2. Emotional wrath
3. The world is ending
4. Losing your mind
5. Acceptance: Join us. We're having a good time!
1. Superior and calm
2. Emotional wrath
3. The world is ending
4. Losing your mind
5. Acceptance: Join us. We're having a good time!
"The temporary discomfort of a terrorist doesn't outweigh my moral obligation to save lives!"
Mark Steyn interviews psychologist James E. Mitchell, who waterboarded Khalid Sheik Muhammed, the mastermind of 9-11. Did you know that the terrorists who pulled off 9-11 had planned to follow up with a nuclear attack on one of our largest cities? They thought George W. Bush would follow in the footsteps of Bill Clinton!
He has endured 8 years of persecution from Obama and Obama's justice department!
"Now the mall cop has more choices about what interrogation techniques to use than the CIA!"
We assume it is important for them to like us. If they only understood that we want to live in peace with them, then everything would be okay. But, it is exactly the opposite. There will be peace when there is no longer any opposition to them!
When they slaughter people who are helpless to prevent it, that is the way they show their love for Allah!
Our decision makers in foreign policy do not understand how jihadists think!
"Islamophobia" is something the Muslim Brotherhood has made up to keep people from saying what is actually occurring!
They think our civil liberties are gifts from Allah that they can take advantage of!!
The day Obama took office, he fired the interrogators of the jihadist killers. There was even talk of abandoning us in war zones to find our own way home.
The media tried to anesthetize people.
"If the people on Flight 93 can give their lives, then I can give up my professional preciousness."
"Maybe Senator Feinstein can trade places with me the next time there is an attack." "Or maybe reporters can go get the information necessary to save lives!"
"Most of the time I recognize it's not the Americans who are doing this to me; it is the political class!"
He has endured 8 years of persecution from Obama and Obama's justice department!
"Now the mall cop has more choices about what interrogation techniques to use than the CIA!"
We assume it is important for them to like us. If they only understood that we want to live in peace with them, then everything would be okay. But, it is exactly the opposite. There will be peace when there is no longer any opposition to them!
When they slaughter people who are helpless to prevent it, that is the way they show their love for Allah!
Our decision makers in foreign policy do not understand how jihadists think!
"Islamophobia" is something the Muslim Brotherhood has made up to keep people from saying what is actually occurring!
They think our civil liberties are gifts from Allah that they can take advantage of!!
The day Obama took office, he fired the interrogators of the jihadist killers. There was even talk of abandoning us in war zones to find our own way home.
The media tried to anesthetize people.
"If the people on Flight 93 can give their lives, then I can give up my professional preciousness."
"Maybe Senator Feinstein can trade places with me the next time there is an attack." "Or maybe reporters can go get the information necessary to save lives!"
"Most of the time I recognize it's not the Americans who are doing this to me; it is the political class!"
Fascist political thought police
Shari Goodman writes at American Thinker,
The mainstream establishment media, which is no longer an unbiased source of information, has become the mouthpiece for the Democratic Left. They give voice, legitimacy, and cover while Conservatives are smeared as bigots, homophobes, racists, and fascists. It advances a narrative which it hopes will lead to the delegitimization of President Trump and his eventual impeachment.Read more here.
Thus, it is Conservatives who are blamed and smeared for ruining the environment, for Wall Street greed, for maintaining Judeo/Christian biblical values, and for seeking to preserve our culture, language, and sovereignty. Conservative speakers are no longer welcome on college campuses much as Jews were no longer welcome at German universities decades ago. Conservatives have become caricatures and are subjected to ridicule on American television and in newspapers. The marketplace of ideas is verbotten among many of the institutions that are now controlled by the Left. Instead of a free marketplace of ideas, we have a fascist political thought police that takes Conservatives to task for crossing the acceptable political and social gibberish designed by the Left.
Our institutions, media, and Hollywood define our culture. They have created a climate of hate that threatens the exercise of free speech for Conservatives as well as for their safety. Given the hostile environment created by the Left with the aid of the media, is it any wonder that elderly Trump supporters were recently beaten up at a Trump rally in California or that Conservatives are afraid to wear any memorabilia that would identify them as Trump supporters. In today’s America, Conservatives are branded, targeted, ridiculed and punished for their beliefs much as the Jews were targeted and persecuted in pre-Holocaust Europe.
The past should have taught us the danger of vilifying fellow citizens. But in today's America, Conservatives are the new Jews to be ridiculed, shamed and ostracized. We know where that road led to in the past. Do we really want to go down that road again?
Lynch mobs
James Lewis writes about lynch mobs of the Left at American Thinker.
The Democrats have a long, long history of mob agitation. In the Civil War, they defended black slavery, as conservatives know very well, and not a single liberal will confess today. The KKK was a Democratic Party front group to keep blacks cowering in fear after Republican President Abe Lincoln signed the Emancipation Declaration of 1863 and the Reconstruction began at the Civil War's end.Read more here.
Segregationist Democrats called themselves Dixiecrats, another word for KKK enablers. They accomplished by lynching and terrorism what federal and state laws could not: Keeping black people shaking in fear.
"Fear" is what agitators aim to create.
I second that question!
Ann Althouse asks,
Why is the security around Trump so bad?
1. "A California man who climbed over the White House fence last week managed to roam undetected on the grounds for about 17 minutes, as Secret Service agents appeared to ignore several alarms, officials said Friday," the NYT reports.
2. There's that laptop computer that was stolen that contained floor plans to Trump Tower among other important things. It was stolen from a car that Secret Service agent Marie Argentieri parked overnight in a driveway in Brooklyn. I wouldn't treat my laptop that way even if it had absolutely nothing sensitive in it.
A Secret Service “employee was the victim of a criminal act in which our agency-issued laptop computer was stolen,” spokesman Shawn Holtzclaw said in a statement.
That's not good enough! The Secret Service is supposed to protect the President from criminal acts. It can't play the victim card! And by the way, how do I know Argentieri was just a hapless victim?
Promised Land?
You have probably heard about the death of Chuck Berry. Here is a song he wrote about traveling across the country to get to the Promised Land in L.A.
hat tip Ann Althouse, who has a tribute to him here.
hat tip Ann Althouse, who has a tribute to him here.
"...the number of births in the Medicaid program would increase by several thousand"
Here is how the Congressional Budget Office analyzes the proposed cuts to Planned Parenthood.
By CBO’s estimates, in the one-year period in which federal funds for Planned Parenthood would be prohibited under the legislation, the number of births in the Medicaid program would increase by several thousand, increasing direct spending for Medicaid by $21 million in 2017 and by $77 million over the 2017-2026 period. Overall, with those costs netted against the savings estimated above, implementing the provision would reduce direct spending by $156 million over the 2017-2026 period, CBO estimates.Read more here.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Why funding for NEA, National Endowment for Arts, should cease to be in the federal budget.
At Heritage, Laurence Jarvik gives ten reasons why funding for NEA, National Endowment for Arts, should cease to be in the federal budget.
1. The Arts Will Have More Than Enough Support without the NEA
2. The NEA Is Welfare for Cultural Elitists
3. The NEA Discourages Charitable Gifts to the Arts
4. The NEA Lowers the Quality of American Art
5. The NEA Will Continue to Fund Pornography
6. The NEA Promotes Politically Correct Art
7. The NEA Wastes Resources
8. The NEA Is Beyond Reform
9. Abolishing the NEA Will Prove to the American Public that Congress Is Willing to Eliminate Wasteful Spending
10. Funding the NEA Disturbs the U.S. Tradition of Limited Government
Jarvik goes into great detail backing up each of these ten reasons here.
1. The Arts Will Have More Than Enough Support without the NEA
2. The NEA Is Welfare for Cultural Elitists
3. The NEA Discourages Charitable Gifts to the Arts
4. The NEA Lowers the Quality of American Art
5. The NEA Will Continue to Fund Pornography
6. The NEA Promotes Politically Correct Art
7. The NEA Wastes Resources
8. The NEA Is Beyond Reform
9. Abolishing the NEA Will Prove to the American Public that Congress Is Willing to Eliminate Wasteful Spending
10. Funding the NEA Disturbs the U.S. Tradition of Limited Government
Jarvik goes into great detail backing up each of these ten reasons here.
Two illegal immigrants charged with raping a girl in sanctuary county in Maryland
Sundance has the story of a horrific rape in a Montgomery, Maryland school. Two males, ages 17 and 18, have been arrested in the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl. One of the males was from El Salvador, and the other was from Guatemala.
Montgomery County Maryland is a sanctuary county where U.S. immigration laws are intentionally not enforced by the local public officials.Read more here.
Friday, March 17, 2017
Communications intercepts in DC
Ace has this story: Surge of Suspicious Cell Phone Activity Sparks Fear of Massive Communications Intercept Op Being Run in Washington, DC.
"All options are on the table!"
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visits South Korea to discuss North Korea's grave threat.
“Purifying the Land of the Pure,”
That's the title of a new book on Pakistan, reviewed by Clifford May in the Washington Times.
What went wrong? In an excellent new book, “Purifying the Land of the Pure,” Farahnaz Ispahani both recounts and laments Pakistan’s “descent” into what it has become today: unfree, undemocratic, intolerant and both a sponsor and victim of terrorism.Read more here.
A critic of the Deep State gets run into in a hit and run
I know. It's InfoWars. Alex Jones says a lot of people are talking about killing Trump. That is actually true. There are kids in our daughter's middle school who brag that they are going to do that.
"Patients lose their eyesight after stem cells are injected into their eyes."
It seems like every time a blogger quotes from a science article, it is always about the promise of some great leap forward. Not so on this one. The New York Times has the story.
hat tip Glenn Reynolds
hat tip Glenn Reynolds
"If as a child I had known that “senior fellow for Laser and Sensor Systems” would become a real job, my education might have followed a much different path."
So writes Stephen Green at Instapundit, as he links to this CNBC story.
Lockheed Martin
A rendering Lockheed Martin’s 60-killowatt laser mounted to a U.S. army truck. The laser beam would not be visible in real life.
"We have shown that a powerful directed energy laser is now sufficiently light-weight, low volume and reliable enough to be deployed on tactical vehicles for defensive applications on land, at sea and in the air," said Robert Afzal, senior fellow for Laser and Sensor Systems at Lockheed.
According to Afzal, the Lockheed Martin team created a laser beam that was near "diffraction limited," meaning it was close to the maximum limit for focusing energy toward a single, small spot.
Lockheed believe the laser will act as a complementary weapon on the battlefield and will prove particularly effective in disabling drones or incoming rockets.
In 2015, the company used a 30kW laser weapon, known as ATHENA, to disable a truck sited a mile away.
Solid state laser technology is seen as a cheap option to defend against incoming attacks.
A Patriot missile, usually priced at about $3 million was recently used to shoot down a $200 quadcopter drone, according to a US general.
Conversely, in 2015 the Navy estimated that a solid-state laser can be fired for less than one dollar per shot.
Lockheed says it is now preparing to ship the "combined fiber" laser to a U.S. Army Command center in Alabama.
Lockheed Martin
A rendering Lockheed Martin’s 60-killowatt laser mounted to a U.S. army truck. The laser beam would not be visible in real life.
"We have shown that a powerful directed energy laser is now sufficiently light-weight, low volume and reliable enough to be deployed on tactical vehicles for defensive applications on land, at sea and in the air," said Robert Afzal, senior fellow for Laser and Sensor Systems at Lockheed.
According to Afzal, the Lockheed Martin team created a laser beam that was near "diffraction limited," meaning it was close to the maximum limit for focusing energy toward a single, small spot.
Lockheed believe the laser will act as a complementary weapon on the battlefield and will prove particularly effective in disabling drones or incoming rockets.
In 2015, the company used a 30kW laser weapon, known as ATHENA, to disable a truck sited a mile away.
Solid state laser technology is seen as a cheap option to defend against incoming attacks.
A Patriot missile, usually priced at about $3 million was recently used to shoot down a $200 quadcopter drone, according to a US general.
Conversely, in 2015 the Navy estimated that a solid-state laser can be fired for less than one dollar per shot.
Lockheed says it is now preparing to ship the "combined fiber" laser to a U.S. Army Command center in Alabama.
Expanding the coverage of the First Amendment to citizens of other countries
Tucker: "How does the First Amendment of the Constitution apply to people who have never been here?
The decline in sexual frequency among married or cohabitating American adults
Chateau Heartiste reports on a recent study that found
that there was a decline in sexual frequency among married or cohabiting American adults from 1989-2014.Chateau Heartiste humbly suggests that the sex frequency declines
...American adults had sex about nine fewer times per year in the early 2010s compared to the late 1990s. This was partially due to the higher percentage of unpartnered individuals, who have sex less frequently on average. Sexual frequency declined among the partnered (married or living together) but stayed steady among the unpartnered, reducing the marital/partnered advantage for sexual frequency. Declines in sexual frequency were similar across gender, race, region, educational level, and work status and were largest among those in their 50s, those with school-age children, and those who did not watch pornography.
In analyses separating the effects of age, time period, and cohort, the decline was primarily due to the birth cohort (year of birth, also known as a generation). With age and time period controlled, those born in the 1930s (Silent generation) had sex the most often, whereas those born in the 1990s (Millennials and iGen) had sex the least often. The decline was not linked to longer working hours or increased pornography use. Age had a strong effect on sexual frequency: Americans in their 20s had sex an average of about 80 times per year, compared to about 20 times per year for those in their 60s. The results suggest that Americans are having sex less frequently due to two primary factors: An increasing number of individuals without a steady or marital partner and a decline in sexual frequency among those with partners.
primary causes are female obesity, female economic self-sufficiency, and the multigenerational drop in testosterone.
Female obesity: men are visually stimulated to bedroom action, and men really are disgusted by the sight of a female fatbody.
Female economic self-sufficiency: women are aroused by powerful men with resources to spare on them, and they are turned off by powerless cash-strapped men. Women who are in less need of a man’s resources are also less sexually interested in men who don’t make substantially more than they make (or have other compensating traits). If husbands’ incomes have decreased relative to wives’ incomes, then there will be a shift toward wives desiring less sex from their husbands. It’s biomechanics all the way down.
Testosterone decline: this one is self-evident. Lower T means lower libido, for men but also for women. Since men are the initiators of sex (especially within the confines of a long-term relationship), a low libido man will initiate less frequently, and his woman won’t take up the slack (women have a lot of pride in their ability to passively rouse their men to ardor, which is why they don’t like making the first move). If there’s lower T in women as well (a small amount of testosterone does affect female libido), then that would kill the passion just as quickly. Finally, low T men are just a plain turn-off to women. I have read studies which found women preferred the musky scent of sweaty shirts of men with high T.
"This is the most fundamental challenge to democracy in our lifetimes."
John Hinderaker writes at Power Line,
Derrick Watson, a Democratic Party activist who was appointed to the federal bench in Hawaii by President Obama in 2012, has issued a purported injunction barring implementation of President Trump’s travel order. I have not yet read Watson’s opinion, and will comment on it in detail when I have done so. But I have read Trump’s order, and the idea that it somehow can be blocked by a federal judge is ridiculous. The order is absolutely within the president’s constitutional discretion.
What we are seeing here is a coup: a coup by the New Class; by the Democratic Party; by far leftists embedded in the bureaucracy and the federal judiciary. Our duly elected president has issued an order that is plainly within his constitutional powers, and leftists have conspired to abuse legal processes to block it. They are doing so in order to serve the interests of the Democratic Party and the far-left movement. This is the most fundamental challenge to democracy in our lifetimes.
The battle lines are clearly drawn. What Watson has done has nothing to do with the law. It is a partisan coup, and must be resisted.
No more rule of law?
Obama makes a trip to Hawaii. 48 hours after his arrival, the federal judge he appointed there issued a ruling blocking Trump from implementing his Executive Order temporarily banning immigration from six Middle Eastern nations. Bookworm has an excellent discussion of this issue here.
Thursday, March 16, 2017
"Thanks #TheResistance. You made it do or die, so enjoy it when this guy picks “do” for conservatism, and “die” for liberalism."
Kurt Schlichter is feeling optimistic at Town Hall.
Say goodbye to the regulations that impoverish our miners, to the codes that skyrocket our electric bills in the name of the weird liberal weather religion, and to rules declaring that puddle in your backyard one of the “waters in the United States” and allowing some bureaucrat with a clipboard and a sneer to tell you where you can and can’t build a tool shed. Slowly but surely, it’s all going away.Read more here.
...When you go at a guy like Trump locked and loaded, with the volume turned to 11, howling for blood, then you can’t expect him to ask for, or give, quarter. Softboy Jeb would’ve folded and whimpered under your onslaught, sobbing and begging to submit, but not Trump. He fights, and you fools left him with no choice but to go for your throats or lose. You made it a cage match, the Thunderdome, so that’s how he’s fighting. Two men enter; one man leaves. There’s no room for mercy – you saw to that – so your beloved liberalism won’t get any.
You gave Trump the excuse he needed to be the most conservative president since Calvin Coolidge, and now he’s doing it. He couldn’t not do it – you left him no way to compromise, and you made sure that any act of magnanimity or graciousness would be rejected. Even if he wanted to moderate his policies, that would just create an opening we all absolutely know you would exploit. So there won’t be any détente with the liberal elite, no peace accords with the snooty left.
Thanks #TheResistance. You made it do or die, so enjoy it when this guy picks “do” for conservatism, and “die” for liberalism.
Did Obama wiretap Trump?
Ace of Spades writes about the Trump/Russia collusion story:
Clinton Ally and CIA Benghazi Talking Points Massage Therapist Mike Morrell: There's Smoke But "No Fire, At All" In Claims of Russia-Trump Collusion
—Ace
That should be the end of the matter, but then, Clapper's statement that there was absolutely no evidence of such a deal also should have been the end of the matter, but wasn't.
As some wag -- maybe a commenter here -- hinted, the media is going to go through an endless cyle:
Pound the Russia drum.
When that fails, pound the tax drum.
When that fails, pound the Russia drum.
Occasionally mix in a Pussy March and then repeat.
On Trump's counter-suit (feels like a counter-lawsuit, anyway) that Obama wiretapped him:
Ryan and the Senate Intel committee say there's no evidence of surveillance at Trump Tower.
But that's Trump Tower. Trump's accusation was broad and sloppy, but I notice these denials are very specific and very precise.
For his part, Trump doubles down and promises that "evidence" will be coming soon, maybe in the next two weeks.
Meanwhile, Judge Napolitano claimed on FoxNews that three sources had told him that people in the Obama Administration had asked Britain's NSA, the GCHQ, to do the spying.
That's a routine and plausible practice -- it's well known that the US cannot spy on its own citizens, so it occasionally (and illegally) asks the British to do it for them, who are not barred from spying on US citizens. And the US performs the same favor in return for them.
Whether that happened here, who knows. But the general practice of "you spy on the ones we're not allowed to, and we'll spy on the ones you're not allowed to" isn't a well-kept secret. (See section titled "Concerns."
I have no idea on these claims. I do know, without a doubt, that Obama changed the rules regarding "minimization" (blacking out) of the names of US citizens "incidentally" caught in surveillance captures, and then disseminated this information all around the government. I also know that that information was subsequently leaked -- which I surmise was the plan all along.
The strident belief held by some that this didn't happen seems to rely chiefly on a belief that Obama wouldn't do something like that -- an opinion I don't share in -- and the claims of Obama's top ranking spymasters who say they wouldn't do something like that.
A claim I also don't put much stock in.
I'm increasingly baffled by what the rules are concerning propagating suspicions for which there is "no evidence" -- apparently one is officially a member of the Smart Set for propagating evidence-free suspicions about Trump collusion with Russian intelligence, but one is an unhinged conspiracy monger lunatic for entertaining evidence-free suspicions about Obama collusion with British intelligence.
Help me out, fellas -- what is the basis for this distinction, other than some of you seem to like Obama a lot more than Trump?
Trump submits budget to Congress
The Conservative Treehouse has President Trump's budget, agency by agency, that was submitted to Congress today.
College students have been taught to hate Betsy DeVos, but they like her policies!
hat tip Bookworm, who writes that this video could be used to persuade the country to change the minimum voting age to 45.
Craving shade!
It is 72 degrees, and these guys are already craving shade! What are they going to do when it's 92 degrees?
"Unfortunately, masculinity was short-lived!"
Have you seen the Greg Gutfield show? It's funny! Here is his latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rktPFAm044E
Part one of President Trump's interview with Tucker Carlson last night
"Healthcare has to come first, but I want to get to tax reform. We'll never get a Democrat to vote with us. The hatred is so bad. Obama is a smart guy; he knew 2017 would be the worst year for Obamacare, and he would be out before it implodes!
Wiretapping. Hacking of CIA during Obama administration. January 20 New York Times, Brett Baier discussed wiretapping. I think you are going to find somevery interesting things coming out about wiretapping in the next two weeks."
Wiretapping. Hacking of CIA during Obama administration. January 20 New York Times, Brett Baier discussed wiretapping. I think you are going to find somevery interesting things coming out about wiretapping in the next two weeks."
What to do about North Korea?
Tillerson: "We welcome Japan's increased commitment to a relationship that is fair for both of our countries. The United States calls on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missiles program. We have twenty years of a failed approach to North Korea. The level of spending the State Department has undertaken in recent years is simply not sustainable. As time goes by there will be fewer military engagements that the US is involved in. China has long stated that it also wants North Korea to develop a different approach regarding nuclear and missile programs."
In Celebration of Holidays
Guest post by Suzann Darnall
Tomorrow is Saint Patrick’s Day. It is a cultural and religious celebration surrounding the patron saint of Ireland. However, it is not just an Irish holiday. It is celebrated in many parts of the world. And, it has, most assuredly, become an American tradition for many citizens and numerous communities.
It is one of the many holidays that I like to acknowledge. Not for any religious purposes, but just ‘cause it is part of our past and a fun portion of our present. I like holidays. I like to make note of their passing through my day, my week, my month, my year.
Depending on the holiday, my efforts in acknowledging it go from small to huge. While there are literally hundreds and perhaps even thousands of “holidays”, from National Donut Day to Christmas, I choose to usually stick with the most traditional that I grew up celebrating.
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day generally get lost in the shuffle and hoopla of Christmas. Not much in the way of special decorations, meals, or festivities. We usually stay home on New Year’s Eve and spend New Year’s Day watching sports. Food is usually simple to make and easy to eat. Sandwiches, finger foods, snacks, and desserts. But, I do have a couple of computer generated stationery designs I made for use around the first of the year and I usually decorate my table with a set of wooden “firecrackers” that I made during a Pinterest craft day with my daughter.
Valentine’s Day is a favorite. I admit to being a bit of a romantic. I have window clings, computer generated stationeries, and a supply of Valentine’s Day card on hand. I use red, white, and pink table linens through just about the entire month. I change my table decorations more than once ‘cause I have lots of options to express love and romance. I like to let my husband know he is loved and cherished. Usually to a red, white, and pink dinner. Once in awhile, we do a Valentine date night.
St. Patty’s Day is fun, but rather low-key. I have stationeries and table decorations. When my grandchildren were living with me I did St. Patrick’s Day treats on the table for morning and left leprechaun footprints going across the kitchen floor and out the window.
Easter is a biggie! Mostly ‘cause it is a holy day for me. Christ the Lord is risen! But, while I try to keep Christ at the center, I do also acknowledge the fun aspect of the Easter bunny. I have an enormous collection of Easter decorations, mostly bunnies, baskets, and eggs, that get put all around the living room. There are several pages of window clings and lots of Easter stationeries. Usually do a special Easter Sunday feast, too. At some point in the season we generally try to have a family get-together and I provide cascarones (confetti filled eggs) for the grandkids (and those adults wishing to also play) to have the closest thing to a snowball fight we usually get this far south in Texas.
Independence Day is also special. I even have a few movies that go with this one. I go all out patriotic. Red, white, and blue on the tables. Wooden fireworks, eagles, and the like are my tablescape preferences for the month. Being raised as an Air Force brat and then becoming an Air Force Wife, patriotic is sort of an ingrained way of life. I always say my blood runs red (for my American Indian ancestry), white (for my European ancestry), and blue (‘cause I spent most of my life following the Air Force across the country and around the world)!
Then, there is Halloween! One of our family favorites. It has always been a special holiday in my family, but it has taken on a life of its own since Pete and I had children and now grandchildren. We have the equivalent of a walk-in-closet-size space in our shed filled with Halloween decorations. We do a “haunted house” each year for the family to attend. It has a theme every year that we keep secret and mostly takes place outdoors. Our daughters usually do the food. We start with a maze (sort of a pumpkin version of an egg hunt), then do dinner, visit the “haunted house”, have dessert, and sometimes end the evening playing games or just visiting.
Next is Thanksgiving. Most definitely one of the big three for our gang. For us, it is rather sacred, patriotic, and very much about family. We love a big turkey feast and spending time together. Sometimes it is at our home and sometimes at our daughter’s place. Occasionally we cannot all be together, but it is still a special day. And, let us not forget the football games!!! Family, food, and football. Can it get more all-American than that???
Finally, there is Christmas. The holy-day of holidays, for sure. My heart is filled just thinking about it. The birth of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. A time to remember Him. A time to rejoice. A time for family. Again, we like to do the whole family feast if it is possible. We usually have a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day gathering. Usually do a family gift exchange somewhere along the way. Christmas Eve food is most often of the Mexican variety. A family tradition that got started after we moved to Texas. Christmas Day almost always involves a turkey and sometimes a ham is added in as well. I have almost as many decorations for Christmas as I do for Halloween. Cards, computer stationeries, window clings, and table linens enough to last the entire month. Quite the to-do. I love it! And, yes, I thoroughly enjoy the Santa Claus and Christmas tree parts of the celebration just fine.
While there are other holidays and celebrations, these are the ones that most often stir my emotions and cause me to break out the decorations. Most of them make me think of family. I celebrate most of them with family. Whether it is just my husband or my children and grandchildren are involved, holidays for me are mostly about my loved ones. It is about making the people I love feel special and know that I care for them. That I want to celebrate them. And, sometimes, an easy way to do that is by celebrating what are, for me, American holidays. ‘Cause I think each of these holidays is a very American holiday for many of our nation’s citizens. Mostly since we have taken these holidays, as well as many others, and given them our own kinda twist.
Most of America seems to be a land of people looking ways to celebrate life. Many of the people I know look for ways to make each and every day a little bit special. We are willing to take a lil bit from various cultures that are part of America’s history, mix them together, and come up with something that ofttimes becomes an American or family tradition. Holidays may be one of the most interesting melting pot aspects of our country and our society.
I know I enjoy it! Just as I will enjoy St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow. Might even watch John Wayne’s “The Quiet Man” . . . one more time! America really is much more inclusive than some people might try to make you think it is. Just look at our calendar.
Sayonara,
Suzann
http://www.suziezoo.com
http://www.woolymammoth.org
Tomorrow is Saint Patrick’s Day. It is a cultural and religious celebration surrounding the patron saint of Ireland. However, it is not just an Irish holiday. It is celebrated in many parts of the world. And, it has, most assuredly, become an American tradition for many citizens and numerous communities.
It is one of the many holidays that I like to acknowledge. Not for any religious purposes, but just ‘cause it is part of our past and a fun portion of our present. I like holidays. I like to make note of their passing through my day, my week, my month, my year.
Depending on the holiday, my efforts in acknowledging it go from small to huge. While there are literally hundreds and perhaps even thousands of “holidays”, from National Donut Day to Christmas, I choose to usually stick with the most traditional that I grew up celebrating.
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day generally get lost in the shuffle and hoopla of Christmas. Not much in the way of special decorations, meals, or festivities. We usually stay home on New Year’s Eve and spend New Year’s Day watching sports. Food is usually simple to make and easy to eat. Sandwiches, finger foods, snacks, and desserts. But, I do have a couple of computer generated stationery designs I made for use around the first of the year and I usually decorate my table with a set of wooden “firecrackers” that I made during a Pinterest craft day with my daughter.
Valentine’s Day is a favorite. I admit to being a bit of a romantic. I have window clings, computer generated stationeries, and a supply of Valentine’s Day card on hand. I use red, white, and pink table linens through just about the entire month. I change my table decorations more than once ‘cause I have lots of options to express love and romance. I like to let my husband know he is loved and cherished. Usually to a red, white, and pink dinner. Once in awhile, we do a Valentine date night.
St. Patty’s Day is fun, but rather low-key. I have stationeries and table decorations. When my grandchildren were living with me I did St. Patrick’s Day treats on the table for morning and left leprechaun footprints going across the kitchen floor and out the window.
Easter is a biggie! Mostly ‘cause it is a holy day for me. Christ the Lord is risen! But, while I try to keep Christ at the center, I do also acknowledge the fun aspect of the Easter bunny. I have an enormous collection of Easter decorations, mostly bunnies, baskets, and eggs, that get put all around the living room. There are several pages of window clings and lots of Easter stationeries. Usually do a special Easter Sunday feast, too. At some point in the season we generally try to have a family get-together and I provide cascarones (confetti filled eggs) for the grandkids (and those adults wishing to also play) to have the closest thing to a snowball fight we usually get this far south in Texas.
Independence Day is also special. I even have a few movies that go with this one. I go all out patriotic. Red, white, and blue on the tables. Wooden fireworks, eagles, and the like are my tablescape preferences for the month. Being raised as an Air Force brat and then becoming an Air Force Wife, patriotic is sort of an ingrained way of life. I always say my blood runs red (for my American Indian ancestry), white (for my European ancestry), and blue (‘cause I spent most of my life following the Air Force across the country and around the world)!
Then, there is Halloween! One of our family favorites. It has always been a special holiday in my family, but it has taken on a life of its own since Pete and I had children and now grandchildren. We have the equivalent of a walk-in-closet-size space in our shed filled with Halloween decorations. We do a “haunted house” each year for the family to attend. It has a theme every year that we keep secret and mostly takes place outdoors. Our daughters usually do the food. We start with a maze (sort of a pumpkin version of an egg hunt), then do dinner, visit the “haunted house”, have dessert, and sometimes end the evening playing games or just visiting.
Next is Thanksgiving. Most definitely one of the big three for our gang. For us, it is rather sacred, patriotic, and very much about family. We love a big turkey feast and spending time together. Sometimes it is at our home and sometimes at our daughter’s place. Occasionally we cannot all be together, but it is still a special day. And, let us not forget the football games!!! Family, food, and football. Can it get more all-American than that???
Finally, there is Christmas. The holy-day of holidays, for sure. My heart is filled just thinking about it. The birth of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. A time to remember Him. A time to rejoice. A time for family. Again, we like to do the whole family feast if it is possible. We usually have a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day gathering. Usually do a family gift exchange somewhere along the way. Christmas Eve food is most often of the Mexican variety. A family tradition that got started after we moved to Texas. Christmas Day almost always involves a turkey and sometimes a ham is added in as well. I have almost as many decorations for Christmas as I do for Halloween. Cards, computer stationeries, window clings, and table linens enough to last the entire month. Quite the to-do. I love it! And, yes, I thoroughly enjoy the Santa Claus and Christmas tree parts of the celebration just fine.
While there are other holidays and celebrations, these are the ones that most often stir my emotions and cause me to break out the decorations. Most of them make me think of family. I celebrate most of them with family. Whether it is just my husband or my children and grandchildren are involved, holidays for me are mostly about my loved ones. It is about making the people I love feel special and know that I care for them. That I want to celebrate them. And, sometimes, an easy way to do that is by celebrating what are, for me, American holidays. ‘Cause I think each of these holidays is a very American holiday for many of our nation’s citizens. Mostly since we have taken these holidays, as well as many others, and given them our own kinda twist.
Most of America seems to be a land of people looking ways to celebrate life. Many of the people I know look for ways to make each and every day a little bit special. We are willing to take a lil bit from various cultures that are part of America’s history, mix them together, and come up with something that ofttimes becomes an American or family tradition. Holidays may be one of the most interesting melting pot aspects of our country and our society.
I know I enjoy it! Just as I will enjoy St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow. Might even watch John Wayne’s “The Quiet Man” . . . one more time! America really is much more inclusive than some people might try to make you think it is. Just look at our calendar.
Sayonara,
Suzann
http://www.suziezoo.com
http://www.woolymammoth.org
At the Bookworm Room today
As usual, Bookworm covers some really interesting stories today. In addition to the story about Egypt offering the Palestinians land, there are stories about CRTV ending its relationship with Mark Steyn, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn refusing to be intimidated by the ACLU, Greenpeace admitting that it just tells lies, a report revealing “More than 330,000 households in Germany have seen their electricity cut off over the past year alone.”
Bookworm seconds the Ann Coulter Obamacare Repeal Plan. It doesn’t have to be complicated –a one-year transition period and then let the free market do its work.
There is a piece about troubled homes and transgender confusion, followed by an introduction to Praxis, a 9-month startup apprenticeship program for 17-28-year-olds who want to take a gap year or skip college entirely. After completing a professional bootcamp, participants work 6 months at a growing startup, develop marketable skills and experiences, and receive a full-time job offer upon completion.
Lastly, she links to an article on why mature people support the Second Amendment. Do you see why the Bookworm Room is one of my favorite blogs to read?
Bookworm seconds the Ann Coulter Obamacare Repeal Plan. It doesn’t have to be complicated –a one-year transition period and then let the free market do its work.
There is a piece about troubled homes and transgender confusion, followed by an introduction to Praxis, a 9-month startup apprenticeship program for 17-28-year-olds who want to take a gap year or skip college entirely. After completing a professional bootcamp, participants work 6 months at a growing startup, develop marketable skills and experiences, and receive a full-time job offer upon completion.
Lastly, she links to an article on why mature people support the Second Amendment. Do you see why the Bookworm Room is one of my favorite blogs to read?
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Saudia Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and Israel against Iran?
Bookworm reports,
There’s land if the Palestinians want it. Did you know that President al-Sisi in Egypt has offered the Palestinians a state that would include Gaza plus 618 adjacent square miles in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula? This offer reflects the fact that the Egyptians, like the Jordanians, Saudis, and every other Sunni Arab state around can’t stand the Palestinians.
With Iran looming on the Iranian, the Sunni nations are becoming more aware that Israel is their bulwark against Iran. If they can get rid of the Palestinian issue — and get the troublesome Palestinians out of their countries — they can unite to face off against Iran. You can read more here.
Another John McCain temper tantrum today
Remember John McCain? He was the guy who did not want to talk about Reverend Wright or Bill Ayres, when he ran against Barack Obama in 2008. But now he accuses Senator Rand Paul of working for Vladimer Putin, because Paul objected to McCain's motion to prevent debate and allow NATO to expand by including Montenegro.
Daniel Larison writes at The American Conservative,
Daniel Larison writes at The American Conservative,
If bringing Montenegro into the alliance is worth doing, it should be properly debated and members should vote on the record. McCain wants to avoid that debate, because there is very little for his side of the debate to say other than to engage in fear-mongering and baseless accusations.Rand Paul issued this statement:
Currently, the United States has troops in dozens of countries and is actively fighting in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen (with the occasional drone strike in Pakistan). In addition, the United States is pledged to defend 28 countries in NATO. It is unwise to expand the monetary and military obligations of the United States given the burden of our $20 trillion debt.
"Does that sound familiar?"
Does the word "Hermitage" mean anything to you? It does to President Trump. Hermitage is the home of Andrew Jackson in Nashville, Tennessee. Here is President Trump today at Hermitage, explaining some similarities in the opposition both Trump and Jackson faced among the elites.
March 14 Tucker Carlson show
Segment one: NBC leaks video tape to Washington Post to try to derail the Trump candidacy. NBC lied to the public. What do you think played a bigger role in the campaign, the Russian government or the Access Hollywood tape?
Segment two: Rachael Maddow tries to grab ratings by releasing (illegally) Trump's tax returns for 2005 (he paid $38 million in taxes).
Kimberley Guilfoyle adds beauty and common sense to the that segment.
Segment three: Joe Concha, who reports on the media at The Hill, looks at how "traditional media" seeks to take down politicians with whom they disagree.
Ned Price was an intelligence officer, who has now resigned. Carlson makes the point that some intelligence officers are trying to undermine Trump.
Next a California Congressman who is trying to say Trump has ties to Russia.
Last segment: Bernie Sanders paid taxes at a 13% rate, President Obama paid a 19.6 rate, Trump paid 25%. Tucker doesn't say what year Obama and Sanders returns were for, but Trump's is for 2005.
Segment two: Rachael Maddow tries to grab ratings by releasing (illegally) Trump's tax returns for 2005 (he paid $38 million in taxes).
Kimberley Guilfoyle adds beauty and common sense to the that segment.
Segment three: Joe Concha, who reports on the media at The Hill, looks at how "traditional media" seeks to take down politicians with whom they disagree.
Ned Price was an intelligence officer, who has now resigned. Carlson makes the point that some intelligence officers are trying to undermine Trump.
Next a California Congressman who is trying to say Trump has ties to Russia.
Last segment: Bernie Sanders paid taxes at a 13% rate, President Obama paid a 19.6 rate, Trump paid 25%. Tucker doesn't say what year Obama and Sanders returns were for, but Trump's is for 2005.
"Governors who cannot build a reservoir have little business fantasizing about 200-mph super trains. And dense celebrities who cannot open the right envelope should not be sought for cosmic political wisdom."
Victor Davis Hanson notices something about progressive politicians.
...When they are unwilling or unable to address pre-modern problems in their jurisdictions — crime, crumbling infrastructure, inadequate transportation — they compensate by posing as philosopher kings who cheaply lecture on existential challenges over which they have no control.Read more here.
In this regard, think of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel’s recent promises to nullify federal immigration law — even as he did little to mitigate the epidemic of murders in his own city.
Former president Barack Obama nearly doubled the national debt, never achieved 3 percent economic growth in any of his eight years in office, and left the health-care system in crisis. But he did manage to lecture Americans about the evils of the Crusades, and he promises to lower the seas and cool the planet.
Jerry Brown warned of climate change and permanent drought and did not authorize the construction of a single reservoir. Now, California is experiencing near-record rain and snowfall. Had the state simply completed its half-century-old water master plan, dozens of new reservoirs would now be storing the runoff, ensuring that the state could be drought-proof for years. Instead, more than 20 million acre-feet of precious water have already been released to the sea. There is nowhere to put it, given that California has not built a major reservoir in nearly 40 years.
The crumbling spillways of the landmark Oroville Dam, the tallest dam in the United States, threaten to erode it. Warnings of needed maintenance went unheeded for years, despite the fact that some 20 million more Californians live in the state (often in floodplains) than when the dam was built. Meanwhile, the state legislature has enacted new laws regarding plastic bags and transgendered restrooms.
...We have become an arrogant generation that virtue-signals that we can change the universe when in reality we cannot even run an awards ceremony, plow snow, fix potholes, build a road or dam, or stop inner-city youths from murdering one another.
Do our smug politicians promise utopia because they cannot cope with reality? Do lectures compensate for inaction?
Do we fault past generations of Americans — who drank too many Cokes and smoked too many cigarettes — because we are ashamed that we lack their vision, confidence, and ability to build another Oroville Dam or a six-lane freeway, or to stop criminals from turning urban weekends into the Wild West?
Governors who cannot build a reservoir have little business fantasizing about 200-mph super trains. And dense celebrities who cannot open the right envelope should not be sought for cosmic political wisdom.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
"The UN, as now configured,increasingly compels us to a cataclysm"
Claudia Rosett is my favorite journalist who covers the UN beat. She writes at PJ Media,
This week brings fresh reports that the Trump White House wants to slash funding to the United Nations, possibly by as much as 50%. That would be a wise move, and if that's what actually happens, it would be a good start and a welcome signal -- the first from an American president in many years -- that it is time for the UN to stop treating Washington as a moronic sugar-daddy. It is way past time for the UN (and Washington itself) to stop treating U.S. tax dollars as a multi-billion-dollar annual entitlement for the bigots and thug governments that so amply populate Turtle Bay. It is time for the U.S. to stop shelling out roughly $10 billion per year for the benefit of a UN in which, for instance, the member states have just elected -- I'm not kidding -- the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, as head of the largest voting caucus at the UN assemblies in Vienna.Read more here.
...My argument is, if the UN is all we've got, then it is way past time to come up with something else.
And while it happens fairly often that columnists here and there (myself included) will call for defunding the UN, replacing the UN, supplanting the UN, and so forth, there is very little in the public domain that actually explores, in serious ways, in detail, with the benefit of real expertise, exactly how America might divorce itself from the UN, and avail itself of arrangements more appropriate to the 21st century.
...The UN is swift to tout its own achievements, real or imagined. But there is plenty in the record to suggest that the more we understand about the real workings of the U.N., the stronger the case for consigning it to the heap of failed collectivist experiments of the 20th century and for designing better alternatives. Either this task gets done in the not-so-distant future because men of vision and good will put their minds to finding ways to do it. Or it waits upon the aftermath of some cataclysm, toward which the U.N., as now configured, increasingly impels us.
"Under attack from both the right and the left, free enterprise and free trade increasingly are ideas without a party."
At National Review, Kevin Williamson asks,
Read more here.
Given that progressives profess to hate corporations, why are our corporate leaders so progressive?
...Far from being agents of reaction, our corporate giants have for decades been giving progressives a great deal to celebrate. Disney, despite its popular reputation for hidebound wholesomeness, has long been a leader on gay rights, much to the dismay of a certain stripe of conservative. Walmart, one of the Left’s great corporate villains, has barred Confederate-flag merchandise from its stores in a sop to progressive critics, and its much-publicized sustainability agenda is more than sentiment: Among other things, it has invested $100 million in economic-mobility programs and doubled the fuel efficiency of its vehicle fleet over ten years. Individual members of the Walton clan engage in philanthropy of a distinctly progressive bent.
In fact, just going down the list of largest U.S. companies (by market capitalization) and considering each firm’s public political activism does a great deal to demolish the myth of the conservative corporate agenda. Top ten: 1) Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, is an up-and-down-the-line progressive who has been a vociferous critic of religious-liberty laws in Indiana and elsewhere that many like-minded people consider a back door to anti-gay discrimination. 2) When protesters descended on SFO to protest President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration, one of the well-heeled gentlemen leading them was Google founder Sergey Brin, and Google employees were the second-largest corporate donor bloc to President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. 3) Microsoft founder Bill Gates is a generous funder of programs dedicated to what is euphemistically known as “family planning.” 4) Berkshire Hathaway’s principal, Warren Buffett, is a close associate of Barack Obama’s and an energetic advocate of redistributive tax increases on high-income taxpayers. 5) Amazon’s Jeff Bezos put up $2.5 million of his own money for a Washington State gay-marriage initiative. 6) Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has pushed for liberal immigration-reform measures, while Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz pledged $20 million to support Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Democrats in 2016. 7) Exxon, as an oil company, may be something of a hate totem among progressives, but it has spent big — billions big — on renewables and global social programs. 8) Johnson & Johnson’s health-care policy shop is run by Liz Fowler, one of the architects of Obamacare and a former special assistant to President Obama. 9) The two largest recipients of JPMorgan cash in 2016 were Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Democratic National Committee, and the bank’s billionaire chairman, Jamie Dimon, is a high-profile supporter of Democratic politicians including Barack Obama and reportedly rejected an offer from President Trump to serve as Treasury secretary. 10) Wells Fargo employees followed JPMorgan’s example and donated $7.36 to Mrs. Clinton for every $1 they gave to Trump, and the recently troubled bank has sponsored events for the Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, and other gay-rights groups, as well as donated to local Planned Parenthood franchises.
Even the hated Koch brothers are pro-choice, pro-gay, and pro-amnesty.
You may see the occasional Tom Monaghan or Phil Anschutz, but, on balance, U.S. corporate activism is overwhelmingly progressive. Why?
For one thing, conservatives are cheap dates. You do not have to convince the readers of National Review or Republicans in Valparaiso that American business is in general a force for good in the world. But if you are, e.g., Exxon, you might feel the need to convince certain people, young and idealistic and maybe a little stupid in spite of their expensive educations, that you are not so bad after all, and that you are spending mucho shmundo “turning algae into biofuel,” in the words of one Exxon advertisement, and combating malaria and doing other nice things. All of that is true, and Exxon makes sure people know it. The professional activists may sneer and scoff, but they are not the audience.
And that is significant, because a great deal of corporate activism is CEO-driven rather than shareholder-driven or directly rooted in the business interests of the firm. Like Wall Street bankers, who may not like their tax bills or Dodd-Frank but who tend in the main to be socially liberal Democrats, the CEOs of major U.S. corporations are, among other things, members of a discrete class. The graduates of ten colleges accounted for nearly half of the Fortune 500 CEOs in 2012; one in seven of them went to one school: Harvard. A handful of metros in California, Texas, and New York account for a third of Fortune 1000 headquarters — and there are 17 Fortune 1000 companies in one zip code in Houston. Unsurprisingly, people with similar backgrounds, similar experiences, and similar occupations tend to see the world in a similar way. “A new breed of chief executive is emerging — the CEO activist,” wrote Leslie Gaines-Ross, of Weber Shandwick, a global PR giant that advises Microsoft and had the unenviable task of working with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the ACA rollout. “A handful of CEOs are standing up and standing out on some of the most polarizing issues of the day, from climate change and gun control, to race relations and same-sex marriage.” Hence chief executives’ joining en masse the great choir of hysteria on the question of toilet law in the Tar Heel State.
The old robber barons were far from being free-enterprise men: J. P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie, like many businessmen of their generation, believed strongly in state-directed collusion among firms (they’d have said “coordination”) to avoid “destructive competition.” You can draw a straight intellectual line from their thinking to Barack Obama’s views about state-directed “investments” in alternative energy or medical research.
It is not difficult to see the temptations of that approach from the point of view of a Bill Gates or a Warren Buffett: The decisions they have made for themselves have turned out well, so why not empower them, or men like them, to make decisions for other people, too? They may even be naïve or arrogant enough to believe that their elevated stations in life have liberated them from self-interest.
Populists of the Trump variety and the Sanders variety (who are not in fact as different as they seem) are not wrong to see these corporate cosmopolitans as members of a separate, distinct, and thriving class with economic and social interests of its own. Those interests overlap only incidentally and occasionally with those of movement conservatives — and overlap even less as the new nationalist-populist strain in the Republican party comes to dominate the debate on questions such as trade and immigration. Under attack from both the right and the left, free enterprise and free trade increasingly are ideas without a party. As William H. Whyte discovered back in 1956, the capitalists are not prepared to offer an intellectual defense of capitalism or of classical liberalism. They believe in something else: the managers’ dream of command and control.
Read more here.
What's wrong with California?
hat tip Ed Driscoll, who links to an article by Michael Snyder entitled 16 Reasons not to live in California
Because of the obesity epidemic?
Jean Twenge reports at Psychology Today that Americans are having sex less often. Glenn Reynolds wonders if that is because of the obesity epidemic.
Tucker Carlson's show last night
Democrat Bob Beckel: "It would be a problem if a presidential candidate didn't try to make contact with major foreign powers around the world!" Hillary supporters are reaching too far, trying to justify their loss without looking at themselves and their candidate.
Second segment: What makes a nation? The Netherlands are holding an election tomorrow. Kurt Wilders advocates pulling the Netherlands out of the European union and halting Muslim immigration. Steve King advocates the rule of law and assimilation.
Segment three: Planned Parenthood's number two executive refuses to answer Tucker's "What is that thing that has a heartbeat?" question. Tucker summarizes, "That was a uniquely shallow conversation, Dawn, but thanks for joining us!"
Segment four: Rod Dreher writes a book alleging America is now hostile to Christian believers.
Segment five: Is Congress doing anything?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym7Duhgfq30
Second segment: What makes a nation? The Netherlands are holding an election tomorrow. Kurt Wilders advocates pulling the Netherlands out of the European union and halting Muslim immigration. Steve King advocates the rule of law and assimilation.
Segment three: Planned Parenthood's number two executive refuses to answer Tucker's "What is that thing that has a heartbeat?" question. Tucker summarizes, "That was a uniquely shallow conversation, Dawn, but thanks for joining us!"
Segment four: Rod Dreher writes a book alleging America is now hostile to Christian believers.
Segment five: Is Congress doing anything?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym7Duhgfq30
"Grasseaters"
Emily Fairbairn reports at the Sun,
Japan’s birth rate is ranked 222 out of 224 countries.Read more here.
The government estimates that by 2060 the population will have fallen from 127 million people to just 87 million, with 40 percent aged 65 and over.
...Professor Masahiro Yamada, a sociologist at Tokyo’s Chuo University is a specialist on Japan’s marriage crisis.
He warned: “The falling birthrate will probably have a very severe impact on the Japanese economy.”
“Japan’s social security system will probably collapse.”
No wonder the government wants to get people interested in real-world sex — but it is quite a task.
One of the biggest problems is the rise of a generation known as the “grass-eater men.”
They are defined by being very shy and uninterested in sex. Surveys suggest 60 percent of men in their 20s and 30s identify as being grass eaters.
...Yet, perhaps not surprisingly, prostitution is rampant.
It is thought that 37 percent of Japanese men have paid for sex at least once, compared with just seven percent of British men.
...In Tokyo there is even a street known as Schoolgirl Alley, home to dozens of cafes where men pay to hold hands with teenagers in school uniforms.
A woman in a maid costume serves customers at the Maid Coffee Shop in the Akihabara District in Tokyo.Getty Images
TV host Stacey Dooley recently made a BBC3 documentary about the cafes, and found girls as young as 13 are paid to go for romantic walks with their middle-aged clients.
She said: “These cafes are perfectly legal. The men seem completely unashamed.”
“But in my mind, these young girls are clearly employed as objects of sexual desire. You have to ask what this says about Japanese culture.”
Talking diversity, but practicing groupthink!
Thomas Sowell writes at The American Spectator,
So long as academia talks demographic “diversity” and practices groupthink when it comes to ideas, we have little reason to expect better of student mobs that riot with impunity.Read more here.
Schumer threatens government shutdown if Trump proceeds to build wall
At Front Page Magazine Matthew Vadum reports that Chuck Schumer is threatening to shut the government down and stop the building of a wall on our southern border.
After Democratic lawmakers’ years of shrieking and televised temper tantrums over how shutting down the federal government somehow approximates treason, Democrats have suddenly embraced the tactic in their quest to keep the nation’s borders wide open for Muslim terrorists and illegal aliens.Read more here.
Democrats are threatening to force a shut-down of the government after it runs out of operating funds after April 28.
Trump's first cabinet meeting, minus four cabinet members that Democrats are still obstructing.
Trump's first cabinet meeting, minus four cabinet members that Democrats are still obstructing.
What is Mattis thinking?
Opposition is mounting to General Mattis's recommendation To Trump to pick Anne Patterson as Undersecretary of Defense for policy. Under Obama, she supported Muslim Brotherhood bad people.
If Mattis convinces Trump to pick her, it will not sit well with Middle Eastern allies, such as Egypt or Jordan.
UPDATE: That was fast! The Washington Post says Mattis has withdrawn his recommendation!
If Mattis convinces Trump to pick her, it will not sit well with Middle Eastern allies, such as Egypt or Jordan.
UPDATE: That was fast! The Washington Post says Mattis has withdrawn his recommendation!
Seeing things that are not there
Martha Mac Cullum proves again that she is one of the best journalists. The filmmaker is anything but calm. "None of them are, are, are indictable?"
Cutting funding to UN programs
Here's one I like. President Trump has told T Rex to cut more than 50% of US funding to United Nations programs!
Repeal and replace!
The go-to place to read intelligent discussion of the Republican battle to repeal and replace Obamacare is The Last Refuge.
Monday, March 13, 2017
Trump listens to Americans talk about their experiences with Obamacare
Today President Trump led a listening session on healthcare.
Stirring up racial anger again
hat tip The Last Refuge, which has an investigative report here on Democratic political interests stirring up racial anger again.
Victor Davis Hanson saw it coming!
Victor Davis Hanson reminds us of the importance of the rule of law. "Sanctuary cities have been terrible for the American worker. It is elite versus the mass. The Democratic and La Raza elite want an unassimilated constituency that is replenished every year that ensures the demographics change, and that they can be spokesmen for group grievances rather than individual accomplishment. Employers want access to cheap labor, and then they dress it all up with utopian caring. In fact, it is one of the most amoral, uncaring phenomenon in the world! It is bad for the American poor. It destroys the rule of law. Who is to say when you start destroying the sanctity of the law that you can pick and choose which other laws people have to follow?"
If Americans do not believe they are better than the alternative, nobody else will either! For immigration to work in this country, it traditionally had to be legal! It had to be a melting pot, with assimilation, integration, and intermarriage.
To Eric Holder, the law was secondary. He politicized the Justice Department in favor of those he decided were oppressed. Obama tried to influence the Trayvon Martin jury by saying "Trayvon looks like the son I never had." The Left got everything they wanted: the House, the Senate, and a president very skilled in teleprompted rhetoric.
Can we be brave and be triumphant? Point out the hypocrisy! Obama says we have to watch out for CEOs, but he doesn't think that applies to him! Al Gore sells his failed cable news station to an anti-Semitic Middle Eastern authoritarian government that enriches him because of profits from fossil fuels, and, he does so in haste to beat capital gains tax increases!
Hanson finishes this July 2016 program by pointing out that the Republican party now is populist, and the Democrat Party is the coastal blue blood elitists! How prescient can he be?
If Americans do not believe they are better than the alternative, nobody else will either! For immigration to work in this country, it traditionally had to be legal! It had to be a melting pot, with assimilation, integration, and intermarriage.
To Eric Holder, the law was secondary. He politicized the Justice Department in favor of those he decided were oppressed. Obama tried to influence the Trayvon Martin jury by saying "Trayvon looks like the son I never had." The Left got everything they wanted: the House, the Senate, and a president very skilled in teleprompted rhetoric.
Can we be brave and be triumphant? Point out the hypocrisy! Obama says we have to watch out for CEOs, but he doesn't think that applies to him! Al Gore sells his failed cable news station to an anti-Semitic Middle Eastern authoritarian government that enriches him because of profits from fossil fuels, and, he does so in haste to beat capital gains tax increases!
Hanson finishes this July 2016 program by pointing out that the Republican party now is populist, and the Democrat Party is the coastal blue blood elitists! How prescient can he be?
"World War II happened because of American isolationism, British appeasement, and Russian collaboration."
How much do you know about World War II? Victor Davis Hanson knows more than anyone I know of. I hope you can find time to listen to him.
"The Axis countries lied to each other. Britain and the United States went to war for principle. We trusted each other. Unfortunately, Britain was flat broke when the war was over. Because of their deprivation, they began to socialize their transportation, their healthcare, their iron and steel industries, their power, and they lost their empire.
Germany and Japan, having been decimated by the allies, came back to become industrial powers. Britain was the most admirable and idealistic of all the allies.
Japan was the most vicious. The United States achieved all of its goals. We lost 425,000 people, only 3% of our military. Yet, when the war was over, we helped rebuild Germany and Japan.
War is a laboratory, a measuring device. Two sides have differences. War tells you in the end who is stronger. Nobody knows sho is going to win. World War II happened because of American isolationism, British appeasement, and Russian collaboration."
"The Axis countries lied to each other. Britain and the United States went to war for principle. We trusted each other. Unfortunately, Britain was flat broke when the war was over. Because of their deprivation, they began to socialize their transportation, their healthcare, their iron and steel industries, their power, and they lost their empire.
Germany and Japan, having been decimated by the allies, came back to become industrial powers. Britain was the most admirable and idealistic of all the allies.
Japan was the most vicious. The United States achieved all of its goals. We lost 425,000 people, only 3% of our military. Yet, when the war was over, we helped rebuild Germany and Japan.
War is a laboratory, a measuring device. Two sides have differences. War tells you in the end who is stronger. Nobody knows sho is going to win. World War II happened because of American isolationism, British appeasement, and Russian collaboration."
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