Take Back Your Brains

Naturally, ignoring the impossibility as a practical matter of repealing the Second Amendment, and the ineffectiveness of gun control measures, the usual culprits called for more gun control. Nick Gillespie at Reason took them on, arguing “policy cannot be therapy.”

Clarice Feldman  "Today, with ample evidence that young students are no longer taught critical thinking in school, and a tsunami of fake news, we have more reason than ever to take back our brains and critically analyze what we are told is happening and why. This week’s news underscores this point.

"It’s Not who we Are

"Did you believe, like Hillary, that the country was divided into a smart set who deserves to rule and unwashed, ignorant deplorables? 

"Two stories show how untrue this is:

"Las Vegas

The horrible slaughter in Las Vegas has unleashed the kind of wild speculation that seems to always follow seemingly inexplicable events. What we did learn was that a well-educated, high-ranking CBS official expressed publicly on Facebook that she had no sympathy for the victims attending the country music show: “I’m actually not sympathetic [because] country music fans often are republican gun toters.” She was fired and in the usual left-wing dodge when caught out engaged in reprehensible behavior claimed it was not reflective of “my actual beliefs.” . . .More at the link

"Hollywood’s Harvey Weinstein

. . . "Do you get the idea that the soi-disant* “champions of women” are their champions only when women are accusing the right, and spokesmen and politicians merely use this as a political cudgel against those they oppose on policy? I do. Compare the silence about Weinstein over decades with the non-stop coverage of one untoward remark by Trump ages ago." . . .

*"usually disparaging". Why not just say that? But I digress.

. . . Byron York examined the Russian meddling hoax, focusing on the claim -- much exaggerated -- that the Russians used ads on Facebook to sway the election for Trump. (This after claims of hacking vote totals, and collusion proved unsupported by fact.)

. . .  Day after day the media is forced to retract and make corrections -- sometimes doing so only online and not in newsprint. My favorite fake news correction this week was this one, from Politico.But there were more, of course. The NYT, for example, falsely reported that the Administration blocked Puerto Ricans from using food stamps to buy prepared food when, in fact, they waived the rule as soon as they could in the aftermath of the hurricane. 

. . . "Those with religious objections to contraception will no longer have to provide contraception insurance coverage for their employees; the Iran (non) deal likely will  be decertified this week; the market is booming; the number of employed rising; the hurricane-hit cities and islands are being repaired; Obama’s clean power plan energy restrictions are being lifted; NATO’s kicking in more of its share of the costs of that organization; ISIS is folding in Iraq under new rules of engagement; the sage grouse protection plan rules which are constricting Western state economies are about to be overhauled." 

Yes, we are making America great again."