Sunday, March 1, 2020

Anti-Trump Republican mega-donor buys stake in Twitter and seeks to oust Jack Dorsey – report


UK Guardian  "A major Republican donor has purchased a stake in Twitter and is reportedly seeking to oust its chief executive, Jack Dorsey.

Bloomberg News first reported that Elliott Management has taken a “sizable stake” and “and plans to push for changes at the social media company, including replacing Dorsey”.
Paul Singer, the billionaire founder of Elliott Management, is a Republican mega-donor who opposed Donald Trump during the real-estate magnate’s run for the presidential nomination but has since come onside.
After a White House visit in February 2017, Trump said Singer “was very much involved with the anti-Trump or, as they say, ‘Never Trump’, and Paul just left, and he’s given us his total support and it’s all about unification”.
Trump famously communicates with the public largely through Twitter, at the expense of traditional media strategy.
Twitter made headlines in October when it announced a ban on political advertising. Its use and potential manipulation by politicians of all stripes, from Trump to Democratic candidate Mike Bloomberg, remains a source of fierce contention." . . .

The truth behind Bernie’s shtick that he just wants to make America like Denmark

Bookworm Room
Aside from the fact that Bernie’s lying when he says Denmark is his goal, the reality is that Denmark is not an exceptionally happy or well-run country.


"Now that Bernie’s the frontrunner, Bernie and his supporters are assuring us that he’s not a real socialist. He just wants us to be like Denmark. First of all, Bernie is lying when he says Denmark is his goal. His entire political goal, for his entire career, has been to bring true communism to America. Second — and this is the topic I cover in the post — not only are Bernie & the Bros wrong that we can be like Denmark, the important point is that we wouldn’t want to be like Denmark in any event.
Amazon*
"At the Nevada debate, when Bloomberg, in one of his few good moments, called out communism as a failure, Bernie sidestepped the accusation (a perfectly accurate one) by raising Denmark:
Let’s talk about democratic socialism. Not communism, Mr. Bloomberg. That’s a cheap shot. Let’s talk about — let’s talk about what goes on in countries like Denmark, where Pete correctly pointed out they have a much higher quality of life in many respects than we do.
"Both Buttigieg and Bernie are wrong. First, According to Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s former prime minister, Denmark’s not socialist:
I know that some people in the US associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism. Therefore I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy,” Rasmussen said.
. . .
*The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
"Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than ten years, and he has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely book he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success, and, most intriguing of all, what they think of one another.
"Why are the Danes so happy, despite having the highest taxes? Do the Finns really have the best education system? Are the Icelanders as feral as they sometimes appear? How are the Norwegians spending their fantastic oil wealth? And why do all of them hate the Swedes? In The Almost Nearly Perfect People Michael Booth explains who the Scandinavians are, how they differ and why, and what their quirks and foibles are, and he explores why these societies have become so successful and models for the world. Along the way a more nuanced, often darker picture emerges of a region plagued by taboos, characterized by suffocating parochialism, and populated by extremists of various shades. They may very well be almost nearly perfect, but it isn't easy being Scandinavian."

The leftist press purges and cancels

If you watched "Law & Order" in the nineties and 2000s, you saw many promotions given to MSNBC. This show, among many yokefellows, were leftist and anti-conservative. There may be a ray of sunshine poking through the clouds of leftism. however.TD



Left purging Comrade Matthews "The Left is purging Comrade Chris Matthews at MSNBC for being a counter-revolutionary and having impure thoughts.
"His crime was saying Democrats could not stop Breadline Bernie after the Nevada caucuses." . . .
MSNBC's Chris Matthews Suggests Four More Years of Trump Might Be Better for Democratic Party Than Sanders Winning White House

Thomas LifsonHas Chris Matthews been purged from MSNBC?
Leftists are turning on each other as their ineffective rage against Trump fails to score any victories. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit calls these circular firing squads “Annals of Leftist autophagy.” I think he has another item for his list.
"Last night, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was nowhere to be seen on that network’s South Carolina primary coverage, lending substance to Don Surber’s contention that he is being “purged” for “being a counter-revolutionary and having impure thoughts.”
"Matthews, a former aide to Speaker Tip O’Neill, triggered a cascade of denunciations from the Left after using an analogy to the Fall of France while commenting on Bernie Sanders’s Nevada caucuses victory. Via Don Surber:
Matthews said on the air, "I'm reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940. And the general calls up Churchill and says, ‘It’s over,’ and Churchill says, ‘How can it be? You got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?’ He said, ‘It's over.'"
"I think it is pretty clear that he was referring to a sudden and unexpected victory leading to the unpleasant realization that an enemy was stronger than realized, and an ally was weaker. Surber notes that analogies to France under the Nazis have been rather prominent on the Left of late:
The network -- which has promoted a French Resistance against American President Donald John Trump for more than 3 years -- made Matthews beg forgiveness on television for a very remote reference to the Wehrmacht. 
. . .

Trump’s Chances for Reelection Are Looking Better and Better

Victor Davis Hanson
Trump’s greatest advantage in 2020 may be his most likely opponent, the unapologetic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders.



Donald Trump has at least five strong historical arguments for his reelection.
One, he is an incumbent. Incumbent presidents have won 14 of 19 reelection bids since 1900.  
"The few who lost did not enjoy positive approval ratings. In a Gallup poll from earlier this month, Trump enjoyed his highest approval rating since his inauguration, squeezing out a 49 percent favorable rating vs. 50 percent unfavorable.
"Two, the public perception of the economy usually determines any presidential election — as incumbents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Herbert Hoover learned the hard way. Currently, the U.S. is enjoying low inflation, low interest rates, positive economic growth, near-record low unemployment, rising workers’ wages, and record gas and oil production.
"Three, unpopular optional wars derail incumbent presidencies.
"The quagmire in Vietnam convinced Lyndon Johnson not to run for reelection in 1968. 
"Jimmy Carter was tarnished by the seemingly never-ending Iranian hostage crisis of 1979–1981. The Iraq War drove down George W. Bush’s second-term approval ratings and helped derail his would-be Republican successor, John McCain." 
"Four, scandals also can destroy a presidency, as when Watergate forced the resignation of Richard Nixon.
"Five, the opponent matters. Barry Goldwater was caricatured as an out-of-touch extremist and made incumbent Lyndon Johnson’s election a sure thing in 1964. George McGovern’s radicalism ensured that Richard Nixon would be reelected in 1972. Ronald Reagan was assured of a second term by Walter Mondale’s anemic candidacy.
"How does Trump stack up on all such criteria?" . . .

But I can't forget this from election 2016:
HILLARY CLINTON PULLS PLUG ON ELECTION NIGHT FIREWORKS

Here's the Brutal Anti-Biden Ad Obama's Trying To Get Taken Off the Air in South Carolina

It involves Obama talking about how Democratic politicians treated the black community — and, as it plays, captions describe exactly how Biden’s treated the black community in the same disingenuous way Obama was describing.

Western Journalism  "Joe Biden and his former boss have apparently never heard of the Streisand effect. If they have, it’s one of the many things they appear to have forgotten along the way to the 2020 campaign trail.
"If you’re unfamiliar, let me elucidate. Many years ago, in the early days of the internet, Barbra Streisand was annoyed that a photo of her beachfront house had appeared on the internet as part of a study of California coastal erosion. She sued for $50 million to have it removed. Before the suit, not even 10 people had viewed the image online. After the 2003 suit, that number quickly grew to 420,000. Seventeen years later, that number has to be in the millions.
"The object lesson was clear: Don’t draw attention to stuff people weren’t likely to pay much attention to on their own.
"This isn’t a lesson the former president and vice president have taken to heart." . . .

Fool and his money: Good riddance, Tom Steyer

"Only the poor, after all, see their quality of life fall when they are told to pay for their own plastic bags, or foot exorbitant electricity bills, see their long commutes get costlier with gas hikes, and lose their straws, all so that guys like Steyer and his set can feel virtuous."
Monica Showalter   "A couple of years and $250 million later, Tom Steyer's presidential run has left him exactly where he started in the presidential race, at zero.
"The poor wretched monomaniac of greenie virtue now goes the way of Jay Inslee*, the qualified, but leftist, governor of Washington state who, like Steyer, was also global warming bore and washed out because of it. You'd think maybe Steyer would have noticed how unimportant this 'sky is falling' greenie cause was with voters by that point, but nope, Steyer continued to sell that snake oil to voters, thinking a barrage of television ads would make them catch on. He never had a clue.
"Now he has his clue, $250 million dollars later, no delegates, a pathetic third place finish in South Carolina, prompting him to finally cut his losses, and exit the race.
"Actually, he probably had some clues, given that he changed his tune to South Carolina's voters from global warming to 'racial justice,' something he claimed "not enough people" cared about but, trust him, he did, in what was an obvious pander for the black vote in South Carolina. Turns out another old white guy, Joe Biden, got there first, succeeding in that machine pol way of his, through endorsements from old-line black politicians such as Rep. James Clyburn -- gaffes, exaggerations, and all." . . .

Another fool that departed: *Jay Inslee: I'll Ask Megan Rapinoe To Be My Secretary of State Some called the US women's soccer team "ugly Americans" because of their abrasive behavior during the World Cup last year, including dragging the American flag on the ground.
. . . "Rapinoe urged Americans to treat each other with respect after a parade for the women’s national team in New York earlier this month.
Megan's love
“We have to be better,” she said. “We have to love more, hate less. We got to listen more and talk less. We got to know that this is everybody’s responsibility. Every single person here, every single person who’s not here, every single person who doesn’t want to be here. Every single person who agrees and doesn’t agree. It’s our responsibility to make this world a better place,” she said.
                            "It's a pleasure to represent the US  here in Saudi Arabia"