Jeff Davis monument comes down after 106 years

"New Orleans city workers Thursday hauled away the forty-foot-high statue of Jefferson Davis from a downtown park. The anguish could be felt all the way to Washington. All week long the Democrats have been yelling for the president’s removal but they didn’t mean for it to be a Democrat."  Comedian Argus Hamilton

 WWLTV  "Dozens of vocal opponents and proponents of Confederate-era monuments gathered shortly after midnight as the second of the four Confederate-era monuments was being prepared to be removed from its location.

"The two factions were separated behind barricades, just feet apart from each other. Shouts, insults and profanity laced the verbal exchanges. 

"The Jefferson Davis Memorial was removed about two and a half weeks after the monument to the Battle of Liberty Place was taken down. Still slated for removal, at a time to be determined, are the statue of Robert E. Lee at Lee Circle and the statue of P.G.T. Beauregard at the entrance to City Park. There is no timetable for their removal, though Landrieu has said repeatedly that it would happen "sooner rather than later.' " . . .

AP reports on a ‘sort of boomlet’ due to Trump’s approval of pipeline

Thomas Lifson  "President Trump's leadership already is making one part of America great again: North Dakota.  The Trump administration's timely approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline already is providing a shot of adrenalin to the North Dakota economy.  Even better, the long-term benefits are substantial and will continue long after construction is completed and it is in use, in about a month.  James MacPherson of the Associated Press reports:

More than two years after the state's unprecedented oil bonanza fizzled to a lull, North Dakota – the nation's No. 2 oil producer behind Texas – is experiencing a sort of boomlet that has pushed daily production back above 1 million barrels daily.

"There is a long-term optimism that was not here just a year ago," said Williston Republican Sen. Brad Bekkedahl, whose western North Dakota district is in the epicenter of the state's oil-producing region.

Industry officials and others say the uptick comes from a bump in crude prices, regulatory certainty with the more drill-friendly Trump administration, better technology, and the prospect of nearly half of the state's crude coursing through the disputed Dakota Access Pipeline, which could open markets abroad where top prices are typically fetched.  . . . 

California Dems Take Off The Mask… Vote For Communists In Government Job

Noisy Room  "California is ripping off her mask and coming out of the red closet. They passed a bill last week that would no longer make it a firing offense for being a communist. We’ve known forever that the entire state is rife with commies… at least now, they’ve made it nice and legal to be one. You can still be fired for being part of a group that seeks to overthrow the government by force or violence, but who are we kidding? They are all for anyone seeking to remove President Trump. Considering Berkeley is ground zero for Antifa, you get my point." . . .

. . . 

"Next stop for the bill is the Senate where it is expected to pass easily. Assemblyman Voepel is right… the communists of Russia, China and North Korea are still very much a threat and are woven into our society. They are our enemies and they are among us. Most government agencies and schools are rife with them. The communists are currently winning the fight and Americans better wake up to the fact that they are being subjected to a coup from within and fast. The communists are more emboldened each passing day." Video

Progressives openly signaling the arrival of political violence as a tactic to obtain power

Thomas Lifson   "The message is being sent out loud and clear: the American left is moving toward violence as a tactic in its quest to grab the political power to which it believes it is entitled.  John Daniel Davidson is absolutely correct in his observation that the "The American Left is talking itself into Violence."  He cites a lot of examples.  Here is a sample:

Jennifer Carnahan, the new chairwoman of the Minnesota Republican Party, received a torrent of racist hate mail and at least one threat of physical violence that forced her from her home for a weekend. Carnahan, who is Korean-American, was targeted after publically apologizing and calling for the resignation of those responsible for an offensive image posted to the 7th Congressional District Republicans Facebook page.

It didn't matter that Carnahan didn't post the image, or that she did everything right. The folks sending the hate mail called her racist, and threw a few racial epithets directly at her for good measure.

Last month, left-wing activists in Oregon caused the cancellation of the 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade by threatening to drag "fascists" off the parade route – and by fascists, they meant the Republican Party of Multanomah County. In an email, the activists warned, "we will have two hundred or more people rush into the parade into the middle and drag and push those people out as we will not give one inch to groups who espouse hatred toward lgbt, immigrants, people of color or others."

. . .  "Good trouble" is a wonderful (yet horrifying) catchphrase.  It is memorable and readily defensible.  Yet in the minds of the violent factions of the left, it can be appropriated to provide blanket permission to misbehave.  The expression "good trouble" can be picked up by anyone from nonviolent demonstrators seeking "symbolic arrests" to antifa thugs to (God forbid) potential future Weathermen-like terrorists.

"From the standpoint of Lewis, it is not an explicit call to violence, of course.  He is citing nonviolent Civil Rights-era heroes, and he is one himself.  So he is bulletproof in uttering these words.  But his words exist in the context that John Daniel Davidson chronicles."

SJW Mom Triggered by Confederate Rug Shows Us How NOT to Fake a Hate Hoax

PJ Media

"This sounds like a joke and really should be a joke, but is, in fact, a real event that happened in Portland (of course). Heather Franklin, a social justice warrior (SJW) who resides in Portland, went shopping at a local store and had a full-fledged flip out over a rug for sale that had a Confederate flag on it. Then she filmed it, complete with hysterical, contrived sobbing for all of us to laugh at. The sobbing began when a man she had just accused of being a racist and of enjoying "black rape" followed her out of the store and filmed her from a great distance. One can only surmise he was filming her to make sure she wasn't doing damage to the property after verbally freaking out inside the store and trying to manufacture a hate crime.  The shameless lying in this video is absurd. See for yourself:" . . .

Chuck Schumer’s Threat To Block New FBI Director Shows Democratic Incompetence

RedState  "One of the pillars of advice in Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’ is “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” Similarly, Napoleon’s (at least it’s attributed to him) advice to “Never interfere with the enemy when he is in the process of destroying himself,” is wise counsel Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer should follow."

"As we wrote earlier, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is open to blocking whoever Trump’s nominee is to head up the FBI unless Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appoints a special prosecutor to investigate links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government." . . .

. . . "With the threat of blocking a nominee, the Democrats set themselves up to be the bad guys, particularly if Trump chooses somebody who would otherwise be a consensus choice.

"It’s fascinating to watch. Donald Trump keeps shooting himself in the foot, and instead of sitting back, allowing it to happen, Schumer is grabbing the gun from Trump and firing shots into both of his own feet.

"Odd as it may be, it is Democrats these days who are always overplaying their hand."

WND

Throwing Shade: Maxine Waters Town Hall in Inglewood, CA

"She gets lots of attention because she likes to throw shade (urban slang for constantly insulting someone) at Donald Trump, Republicans, and just about anyone else you can think of."

Townhall

. . . "A wrecking ball of stupidity, Waters has faced token opposition all her career. For all of her bluster, Maxine Waters has run the South LA, Hawthorne, Inglewood, and Gardena regions into the ground
for nearly 3 decades. What does she have to show for it? Zero.

"I have long wanted to confront Waters on her record of professional failure. Then four days ago, I got word that Waters was hosting a town hall in Inglewood. Unlike previous town halls, I took clear steps to ensure that I would be protected ahead of time. Trump supporters don’t just find themselves behind enemy lines, I have sadly found that any outcry of displeasure or disapproval means that I
get escorted out. This is the fate of the First Amendment in deep blue sections of California.

"Or is it? Election 2016 was a rousing success for Republicans across the country, and even in deep blue California, Trump did better than Romney in 2012. Where? Oakland—Governor Moonbeam’s stomping ground; Compton, which has not elected a Republican to Congress since the late 1970s.

"And Inglewood. Check this article from the Sacramento Bee if you do not believe me. How to explain this? Trump resonated with black voters because of his vocal opposition to illegal immigration, which is eviscerating black communities." . . .

Thatcher in the Rye

Mike Adams

"For the last fifteen years, I’ve been writing about the steady decline in respect for free speech on our college campuses. For those who think that dangerous trend is simply the fault of immature college students, I submit the case of Fresno State University Professor Greg Thatcher for your careful consideration. Before reading my response to Thatcher, please watch his brief sermon on the First Amendment by clicking on this link. 

"By way of background information, it was back in April that a Fresno State pro­life group received permission to chalk pro­life messages on the sidewalks leading to the university’s library. After they actually put some of the messages on the sidewalk, Thatcher, who teaches public health, confronted the pro­life students. In the confrontation, Thatcher alleged that the students could not chalk messages near the library, and could only engage in expression in the so­called “free speech area.” This is factually inaccurate as the university eliminated the speech zone in June of 2015. 

"After the president of the pro­life club explained that she had university permission to chalk messages in that precise location, Thatcher threatened to return and erase the messages. But then he did something even worse than that: He actually recruited at least seven students from his class to join him in the patently illegal enterprise of defacing constitutionally protected speech.

"Fortunately . . . "