"If Megan Rapinoe is the new face of women's soccer, I'm sticking to baseball.

Look at me!

Newsweek  "Someone needs to remind Megan Rapinoe that when you play for America's team, you play for America. She seems to have forgotten that and, for this regular American, it's getting embarrassing.

"The U.S. women's recent victory over the Netherlands in the finals of the World Cup is one among a series of accomplishments of which we should all be proud. Instead, the focus has been on Rapinoe, who has consistently and perhaps deliberately gone out of her way to distinguish herself from the other players on America's remarkable national soccer team.

The Comical Conservative

"That's not the way it should be. There's no "I" in team—and it has been her off-screen antics, rather than her accomplishments on the field, that have made her stand out. That's an insult to all the other members of the team, even if they have the grace not to say so.

"Someone should say something because Rapinoe, as a member of America's team, represents us all. She's a symbol of the nation, just not a very positive one. It's not the purple hair or the fact that she's out and proud that's disturbing to most—despite what some people have claimed. Nor is it her propensity to inject profanity into her remarks, such as when she dropped the mother of all "F-bombs" Wednesday on live television. It's not even her repeated dissing of President Donald Trump that has my hackles standing on end. No, what bothers me most is the way she has consistently shown little respect for the nation she opted to represent as a member of the U.S. team.

"The national anthem is America's song. When it's played, she takes a knee. The American flag is the symbol of "the republic, for which it stands." During the victory celebration on Sunday, she carelessly let it drop to the ground, which, even if by accident, is considered profoundly disrespectful. If she's not proud to be an American, and if she said she is I missed it, she shouldn't have signed up for the team. She's not able to handle the responsibility." . . .

From the Babe’s Mouth  . . . "There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, of a coach (perhaps John McKay) giving a speech to his team before a big game: “Men, just remember, no matter what happens out there today, there are going to be about a billion people in China who won’t give a damn.' ” . . .

Kneeling Rapinoe asked by Chuck Todd: ‘What do you tell a Trump supporter who loves watching you?’  "Twitter users were equally disgusted with Todd’s questions as with Rapinoe’s responses on “Meet the Press.' ”

@chucktodd I wouldn’t like to see her visit the White House. You obviously do not understand American patriots at all! We demand respect of our country & will NOT give respect to this woman who is disrespectful to our country, our @POTUS & our Flag. STOP asking fake questions.STOP asking fake questions.— Nancy Burridge (@NancyBurridge) July 15, 2019

After Dissing the Flag, Rapinoe Shows America Her REAL Priorites  . . . "Now about Pervert Rapinoe and her protest and hate of all things America. Are gays being made to sit in the back of the bus? Do they have a separate bathroom? Are they unable to vote, own property, own a business, attend schools of their choice, sleep with who they want and eat in any restaurant they want? In fact, for every baker and florist and photographer that won’t perform at their wedding, there is an equal number that will. They can now even have a wedding ceremony in church with a Pastor." . . .

Cartoons from The Comical Conservative

Trump Calls Antifa Cowards: 'Ever Notice They're Never at Bikers For Trump?'

PJ Media  

"When attorney Harmeet K. Dhillon -- who represents journalist Any Ngo, who was recently beaten up by violent Antifa protesters -- was done speaking at the White House Social Media Summit, President Donald Trump used the opportunity to slam Antifa for being cowards. "Did you ever notice," he asked, "that they are never there when we hold a Bikers For Trump rally?"
"Ms. Dhillon thanked those present for listening to her. President Trump immediately approached her, shook her hand, and took over her position at the microphone. "Another thing," he told her, "I believe that you're representing a young man who just got slugged, viciously slugged, I think it's a disgrace. Did you ever notice they pick on certain people? I mean, he would tell you he's not the toughest person in the world, right? They don't go after Bikers For Trump. Did you ever notice that? They don't go after our construction workers, who love us."
" 'They," the president went on referring to Antifa activists, "live in the basement of their mom's home, their arms are this big, look like this, but they have the black masks on. And they have sticks and they hit people. They hit people in the face, in the head, this Antifa."
" 'But have you never noticed Antifa is never there when we have a bikers rally?" he correctly pointed out. "They're never there when the construction workers and unions are honoring the president. They're never around. They're always there when you have a single guy.' " . . .

Obama-Era DHS Officials Implore Democrats to Pull Back from Border Decriminalization Positions

Legal Insurrection

"Top DHS officials from President Barack Obama’s administration have taken a strong stand against the border decriminalization positions held by 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.

The Hill reports:

In an op-ed in The Washington Post this week, former Obama Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said that decriminalization would attract hundreds of thousands of new migrants to the southern border. He described the proposal as “tantamount to declaring publicly that we have open borders.”

Several of former President Obama’s top homeland security officials interviewed by The Hill went on the record to express shock and dismay after eight of the 10 Democratic presidential contenders on stage at the second night of the debate raised their hands when asked if they support the decriminalization of border crossings.

“We can’t go too far to the left for what people could describe as open borders,” said Marsha Catron, a former deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security during the Obama administration.

“I think all of those people onstage who raised their hands will have to walk it back if they make it to the general election or the White House. I understand the emotion involved, we want for people to be treated humanely and with respect, and that’s not happening with the Trump administration. But Jeh Johnson, [former Homeland Security Secretary] Janet Napolitano, these people who have worked in these situations understand, you just can’t have it this way. It’s unworkable.”

[…]

Pelosi vs AOC

National Review  "The tiff between Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is interesting. And, for many on the right, surely delicious. Ocasio-Cortez and her crew have gotten under Pelosi’s skin. Pelosi was once the leftward edge of the Democratic House caucus. (Did you ever see this Saturday Night Live sketch, when Pelosi became speaker in 2006? One for the ages.) Now, however, she seems almost a fogey, telling the kids to tone it down. Ocasio-Cortez rapped Pelosi for “the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.” 
"Ouch. I had a memory — of 2008, the Democratic primaries. Team Obama actually played the race card against the Clintons. Which had to be a dizzying experience for them. Rich Lowry said to a prominent Clintonista, “Now you know how it feels to be a Republican.” He said, quick as a flash, “You’re right.” . . .

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez turns the 116th Congress into Thunderdome

Well, the sun has set. And fast. Whatever Pelosi’s plans might have been, they’ve been lost in a fog of anti-Semitism and left-wing radicalism. If Ilhan Omar isn’t causing Pelosi trouble, Ocasio-Cortez is. And vice versa. One day the speaker has to respond to the charge that Jewish money controls American foreign policy. The next she has to downplay flatulent cows. It’s enough to make one pity her. Almost.Pelosi’s bind began on election night. As Republicans learned from 2011-2015, holding one chamber of Congress isn’t worth that much. The president and the upper chamber block legislation. Frustrated by inaction, the majority turns inward. Divisions grow. The more extreme members target leadership. The speaker spends more time negotiating with her own party than with the president and Senate majority leader.

Tony Branco

California Earthquakes Can’t Do As Much Damage As Progressive, Blue State Government

Issues & Insights  "The strongest earthquakes to hit California in decades struck last week, leaving behind a few messes and fears of more to come. The most destructive force in the state, though, is not a quivering Earth but the lawmakers who are wrecking what was once a land of promise.

"California has a tragic history with earthquakes." . . .

"Nothing herein is intended to minimize the loss of life and the property damage that has been wrought by California quakes. But as cruel as they are, a steady stream of progressive public policy has the potential to inflict even deeper, and more long-term negative effects.

"Here’s where California is today after two decades of progressive, Blue State governance:

• Executive magazine has named California the worst state for business for 15 straight years.
• California imposes the heaviest regulatory burden on small businesses in the country.
• The business tax climate is worse only in New Jersey.
• Businesses of all sizes continue to flee the state.
• Property rights are being violated at an alarming pace. Just ask the “Central Valley farmers who’ve had their land seized in the name of high-speed rail” and are still waiting to be compensated by the state.
• People are leaving in large numbers, and many who haven’t yet are desperate to escape.
• That is if they are able to leave, because many of the roads and highways leading out are so cracked up they’re hard to navigate. Forty-one states have better systems.
• The state’s unofficial “road diet” means that motorists have to spend more time on the crumbling tracks than they should because the state has the worst traffic congestion on Earth.
• Liberty continues to be crowded out by growing government authority. The Cato Institute ranks California 48th in freedom among the states, a position it has occupied since 2011.
• The state has had the highest poverty level in the country in recent years.
• While California’s public education system is failing, the state has gone to war with charter schools, which are not only popular with parents and students, they raise student achievement.
• The highest average gasoline price is found in California, which not coincidentally also has the highest gasoline tax in the nation.
• Even though it accounts for only 12% of the U.S. population, 25%-30% of the nation’s homeless live in California.
• The runaway public employee pension system threatens to devour the state.

Civilizational Suicide: Qatar’s Vision Shapes American Classrooms

Clarion Project

"Qatar’s vision for America is now being peddled through our children’s classrooms, targeting a pliable population and one with a long shelf life.

"Beyond its media empires and bought-off D.C. influencers and think tanks, Qatar has set its sight on the next generation of Americans. 

"In the last 10 years, Qatar has given over $30 million to public schools and over $1.4 billion to universities.  " . . . "Those universities include:" . . .

"Funding universities isn’t just about charitable giving that trickles down to the benefit of academia. Although we might like to think that academia is more insulated from political pressure  than other sectors of American society, in fact, college campuses have become a breeding ground for irrational emotional outbursts that only tolerate the pre-scripted narrative of political correctness.

"However, even that is a generous description. In truth, the problem began much earlier. 

"In The Closing of the American Mind, author Allan Bloom discusses the 1969 incident at Cornell University involving the guns-on-campus crisis, narrating the events in a way that help us understand how Qatari money into schools not only shapes policy and planning but dictates which behaviors will be tolerated: . . ."

How Bureaucrats Ruin Everything From Dishwashers To Gas Cans To Cars

Issues & Insights  "Have you ever wondered why dishwashers today take twice as long to do a worse job of cleaning dishes? Or why it’s so much harder to get gasoline out of a new gas can? Or why cars made decades ago always turn heads, while today’s are drab in the same way?

"There’s a simple answer to these modern-day mysteries: Government regulators.

"Take the dishwasher. Earlier this month, the Department of Energy announced that it would revise its rules regarding dishwasher efficiency. Why? Because the existing rules — which set limits on how much electricity and water a dishwasher may use — are forcing manufacturers to build machines that are worse than ever.

(More here: DOE Regulations Mandate Dishwashers that Don’t Wash Well)

. . . 

"Today, the government dictates nearly every single aspect of a car’s design. Big fronts for safety, low tops for fuel economy, tiny windows, high belt lines, etc. That’s just the exterior. Almost every feature of a car’s interior is also regulated by government.

"One car designer noted that “I know of at least one vehicle … that was discontinued entirely because changing curtain airbag regulations would have meant the entire shape of the vehicle had to be redesigned.”

"There are plenty of other examples like this of regulators making products worse. Toilets that don’t flush, showerheads that don’t allow sufficient water flow, and other modern product failures, are courtesy of the nanny state.

"And all of this, mind you, is just the tip of the regulatory pyramid, with decades upon decades of rules, mandates, and regulations now affecting nearly every aspect of our economy. Has this monstrous regulatory state improved the quality of our lives?  If the above is any indication, the answer is most likely no."

The prestige and power of the United States on display before the world.

Ian Macfarlane pretty much lets the Democrats write their own satire.

Ian Macfarlane

'GENIUS! Beto O’Rourke: “In My Administration We Are Going to Make Sure No One Is Criminally Prosecuted for Being a Human Being' ”

US Congress, greatest deliberating
body in the world.

Introducing the United States Secretary of State!

This tells me much more about the American voter's culture and education than some foul-mouthed soccer player:  Poll: Megan Rapinoe Beats Trump in Hypothetical Presidential Race. TD

Gov. Jay Inslee makes a strong bid to be craziest member of the Democrats' presidential field

Much respected Britt Hume indicated subtly in 2012 that candidates like Trump were "zany". You want zany? How about this? TD

Thomas Lifson  "The "clown car" that the Democrats are offering as their presidential field has some actual clowns inside.  Washington State governor Jay Inslee faces some serious competition for the title of nuttiest Democrat candidate for president, but he has just made a strong bid for the trophy that ought to be named "The Bozo" and awarded in televised ceremony.

"Even with Michael Avenatti and Eric Swalwell out of the race, there is still Marianne Williamson to contend with.  But over the weekend at the Netroots convention, Inslee, whose platform mainly consists of economic suicide to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, offered a truly deranged promise.  Rachel Frazen reports in The Hill:

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said Saturday that if he is elected president, he will ask soccer player Megan Rapinoe to be his secretary of state. 

He said at the progressive Netroots Nation conference that one of his first acts as president would be to get a secretary of State who embraces world unity and "love rather than hate" as he rebuked President Trump's foreign policy. 

"My first act will be to ask Megan Rapinoe to be my secretary of State," he said. "I haven't asked her yet, so this could be a surprise to her."

"I actually believe this because what I think what she has said that has inspired us so much is such an antithesis of the president's foreign policies," he added. 

"I represent the United States of America!" (added by TD)

 "Yep, kicking around a ball is good preparation for the responsibility of guiding America's foreign policy.  And disdain for our flag embodies just the kind of attitude that will instill respect for our country overseas.

"This is deranged.  Specifically, Trump Derangement Syndrome.

"It's real, and it is going to drive voters to Trump and the GOP candidates for Congress."

Of Progressive Carnivores and Cannibals

Victor Davis Hanson

"The Obama-era Democratic Party bears little resemblance to the themes embraced just 11 years ago by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the 2008 primaries.

"The parameters of marriage, in Obama’s words “between a man and woman,” has now transmogrified beyond gay civil unions to legal gay marriage to transgendered fixations.

"Obama once protested that he was no king who could open the border and grant amnesties by fiat. Yet his view of immigration has metamorphosed well beyond DACA and Dreamers into Democratic candidates going into Mexico to escort aliens unlawfully into our country, and 500 sanctuary jurisdictions in which federal immigration law is all but null and void. An American citizen convicted of using a fake Social Security Number and phony ID is a felon who is all but unemployable; an illegal alien who commits the same crimes learns quickly that these are not deportable offenses and mostly never prosecuted.

Babylon Bee cartoon added by TD

"In a nanosecond, Betsy Ross’s iconic colonial flag, which once emblazoned the backdrop of the 2012 Obama inauguration ceremony, have become racist icons—or so Nike pitchman Colin Kaepernick has decreed, ordering his corporate bosses to remove them from commemorative sneakers.

"Obamacare has abruptly morphed into “Medicare for All”—including illegal aliens who are to be eligible the moment they cross the border, despite never having paid a dime into the system.

"The old affirmative action protocols designed to accommodate the historical grievances of blacks and Mexican-Americans have been reinvented with revolutionary speed as “diversity”—loosely defined as anyone “not white.” Thus, the vast new rubric is inclusive of wealthy Chinese-Americans, recent South American middle-class immigrants, well-off Punjabi arrivals, upscale Middle Easterners and almost anyone else, including those who fake a nonwhite identity in the manner of Elizabeth Warren or Ward Churchill. Suddenly the “woke” nonwhite were no longer 15-20 percent of the population, but comprised a supposed 30-40 percent powerful “constituency,” all united by their loathing of supposed “white privilege” and victimization from “white supremacy.' ” . . .

Add to all this, one Democrat candidate has proposed making a woman who has contempt for this nation and walks on it's flag to represent it's interests as Secretary of State.

Pastor formerly imprisoned in Turkey 'astounded' by mounting hostility to Christian faith in U.S.

Washington Times  "DENVER — Andrew Brunson, the U.S. pastor who spent two years in a Turkish prison, said Friday he was “astounded” by the escalating hostility toward Christians in the United States, saying they have become the “target” of activists.

“ 'I’m really astounded at the speed at which the U.S. is imploding,” said Mr. Brunson at the Western Conservative Summit, held annually by the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University.

"Mr. Brunson, who was released from Turkish custody in October 2018 in response to pressure from the Trump administration, said it was “no longer enough” for Christians to get along with others with whom they disagree.

“ 'It seems like there’s much more of a demand that people of faith approve of, that they validate, that they celebrate things they actually disagree with,” he said.

"Mr. Brunson, a pastor in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, cited pressure from the media, celebrities and academia, saying “there’s an effort to marginalize and silence and shame Christians.' ” . . .
. . . 
“ 'Activists are demanding that businesses and schools. . . punish those who don’t agree with them,” he said. “I think it’s especially Christians who are in the cross-hairs of these things. They’re the target.”

"The same pressure hasn’t been applied to believers of other faiths, he said.

“ 'For example, you don’t get an LGBTQ activist going to a Muslim bakery in Dearborn, Michigan, demanding that this Muslim create a cake celebrating a wedding that he disagrees with, according to his belief in the Koran,” said Mr. Brunson. “I don’t think that Muslim should be pressured. I want them to have freedom of religion here, but the Christian is being pressured." ” . . .