Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Liberal Privilege In Two Tweets

Facts don’t matter because the “white privilege” craze is just a fashion statement. What opinions do I need to have to be fashionable? I’m so busy, I go to a lot of dinner parties. Could you fix me up with some opinions? Absolutely! You want to talk about “white privilege,” “racist cops” and “systemic racism” — using these phrases will get you wild applause.
Ann Coulter  "This week, we’ll look at two tweets that encapsulate everything that’s wrong with the “white privilege” narrative consuming our nation.
The Twitter account @nowthisnews posted a video of shutdown protesters yelling at police in California, Colorado and Michigan with the heading: “What would happen if protesters of color acted this way to police?
Audra McDonald (@AudraEqualityMc) responded: “We’d all have been shot dead. Next question.”
"Unless Ms. McDonald is a time-traveler from 1965, I can’t imagine what she’s talking about. Was she at the Sharpeville Massacre?
"McDonald is an actress, and therefore I assume an idiot, but her profoundly ignorant tweet was enthusiastically endorsed by MSNBC talking heads and, at last count, had more than 16,000 “likes” and thousands of retweets.
"Are they talking about Ferguson, Missouri, where cops stood by during the 2014 riots and politely watched the city burn? In response to the police shooting of Michael Brown — a shooting that both the grand jury and Eric Holder’s Justice Department found was justified — mostly black protesters raged off and on for months, torching dozens of buildings, shooting at responding firemen, looting stores and throwing rocks at the police.
"And yet — miraculously! — no protesters were “shot dead.” No protesters were even arrested, unless they committed felonies in open view of the police.
"To the contrary, two policemen were shot by a black protester.
"It was the same thing at Black Lives Matter protests across the nation — in Baltimore, Oakland, Dallas, Baton Rouge and so on. Cops stood mutely, as water was dumped on them, their patrol cars were set on fire, rocks were hurled at them and protesters screamed obscenities in their faces. Their marching orders: Do nothing unless you see a crime being committed in front of you — and not always even then." . . .

Trump Furious After NBC ‘Apologizes’ For Chuck Todd’s Propaganda Edit Of Barr Interview

What remains is a smug cynicism reflected in the Todd segment, which NBC later shrugged off as “inadvertently and inaccurately” edited. The edit was made in obvious use to support Todd’s attack. It was in other words premeditated to fit Todd’s narrative. The fact is that some in the media would prefer to distort the facts (and, in the Flynn case, even embrace prosecutorial misconduct) if it advances what has become movement journalism.
I'd say "movement" is an apt term for MSNBC and CNN reporting. TD
Image by Timothy Bishop
Nation and State  "President Trump demanded on Sunday that NBC fire “Meet The Press” host Chuck Todd, after the network admitted to ‘inadvertently cutting short’ a sound byte from Attorney General William Barr regarding the DOJ’s decision to move to dismiss the Michael Flynn case.
"President Trump demanded on Sunday that NBC fire “Meet The Press” host Chuck Todd, after the network admitted to ‘inadvertently cutting short’ a sound byte from Attorney General William Barr regarding the DOJ’s decision to move to dismiss the Michael Flynn case." . . . 
"Trump Furious After NBC ‘Apologizes’ For Chuck Todd’s Propaganda Edit Of Barr Interview
President Trump demanded on Sunday that NBC fire “Meet The Press” host Chuck Todd, after the network admitted to ‘inadvertently cutting short’ a sound byte from Attorney General William Barr regarding the DOJ’s decision to move to dismiss the Michael Flynn case.
"Except, it wasn’t ‘inadvertently cutting short anything. It was clear propaganda.
In the original clip, CBS News’ Catherine Herridge asks Barr how history would judge the DOJ’s decision – to which Barr responds “Well, history is written by the winners, so it largely depends on who’s writing the history.
"Todd cuts the clip off there, and says that he was “struck by the cynicism of the answer — it’s a correct answer, but he’s the attorney general. He didn’t make the case that he was upholding the rule of law. He was almost admitting that, yeah, this was a political job.”
"In fact, that’s exactly what Barr said.
“ 'I think a fair history would say it was a good decision because it upheld the rule of law,” said the AG, adding “It upheld the standards of the Department of Justice, and it undid what was an injustice.”
"In other words, Todd literally stole Barr’s line about ‘upholding the rule of law’ and flipped it around in a case of blatant propaganda.
. . . As Jonathan Turley writes, such partisan advocacy and attacks are now celebrated in many circles as the coverage devolves into a modern form of yellow journalism. The bias has been positively stifling with unrelentingly negative spins and distorted analysis.  The only consistent element is the narrative from a media that seems uniformly on script in coverage.  What remains is a smug cynicism reflected in the Todd segment, which NBC later shrugged off as “inadvertently and inaccurately” edited.  The edit was made in obvious use to support Todd’s attack.  It was in other words premeditated to fit Todd’s narrative.  The fact is that some in the media would prefer to distort the facts (and, in the Flynn case, even embrace prosecutorial misconduct) if it advances what has become movement journalism.
"I have often criticized President Trump in columns and on my blog.  Yet, even raising such clear violations of journalistic values is treated as sacrilegious in today’s mainstream media.  There is an insatiable appetite for distorted legal analysis and a corresponding intolerance for any dissenting views.  The Todd segment was another hit job that misrepresented facts to feed the demand of echo journalism." . . .

That wasn't the only time Baghdad Todd hit the depths of propaganda:


Todd in his Megan Rapinoe "look at me" pose
Chuck Todd Suggests That Trump Voters 'Wanna Be Lied to' Because Noah's Ark or Something Dec, 2019   "On Sunday’s episode of NBC’s Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd plumbed new depths of journalist malpractice, essentially implying that people of faith can support President Trump because they grow up believing in fairy tales.
"After reading some bigoted nonsense that Todd says is “fascinating,” Todd piggybacks on the bigotry, saying that voters just “wanna be lied to” and are averse to being told “hard truths.”
"Making this an even more unholy convergence of all that is wrong with modern American journalism, Todd’s guests are the executive editors of The Washington Post and The New York Times, the two main architects and peddlers of the “Trump voters are unenlightened rubes from the icky parts of America” narrative.
"This condescension is the cancer that’s killing American journalism, and it’s metastasizing. Here is an example from the previous week’s episode of CNN’s Reliable Sources:" . . .

Samantha Power Implicated in Obama Unmasking Scandal

Mike LaChance
“she averaged more than one request for every working day in 2016”



"When Trump claimed months ago that his campaign was wiretapped by Obama, liberals in media scoffed. The very idea that Obama or anyone on his team would be part of anything so untoward was unthinkable.

"Then it was revealed that Susan Rice had unmasked members of Trump’s team, a fact that she previously lied about on national television. Now there is reason to believe Samantha Power, Obama’s ambassador to the UN, unmasked hundreds of people in the final months of the Obama administration.
"Catherine Herridge and Bret Baier of FOX News wrote the explosive report:
Samantha Power sought to unmask Americans on almost daily basis, sources say
Samantha Power, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was ‘unmasking’ at such a rapid pace in the final months of the Obama administration that she averaged more than one request for every working day in 2016 – and even sought information in the days leading up to President Trump’s inauguration, multiple sources close to the matter told Fox News.
Two sources, who were not authorized to speak on the record, said the requests to identify Americans whose names surfaced in foreign intelligence reporting, known as unmasking, exceeded 260 last year. One source indicated this occurred in the final days of the Obama White House.
. . . 
More...

"Collusion against Trump" timeline

Sharyl Attkisson  "It's easy to find timelines that detail Trump-Russia collusion developments. Here are links to two of them I recommend:
"On the other side, evidence has emerged that makes it clear there were organized efforts to collude against candidate Donald Trump--and then President Trump. For example:
  • Anti-Russian Ukrainians allegedly helped coordinate and execute a campaign against Trump in partnership with the Democratic National Committee and news reporters.
  • A Yemen-born ex-British spy reportedly delivered political opposition research against Trump to reporters, Sen. John McCain, and the FBI; the latter of which used the material--in part--to obtain wiretaps against one or more Trump-related associates.
  • There were orchestrated leaks of anti-Trump information and allegations to the press, including by ex-FBI Director James Comey.
  • The U.S. intel community allegedly engaged in questionable surveillance practices and politially-motivated "unmaskings" of U.S. citizens, including Trump officials.
  • Alleged conflicts of interests have surfaced regarding FBI officials who cleared Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information and who investigated Trump's alleged Russia ties.
"But it's not so easy to find a timeline pertinent to the investigations into these events.
"Related: Obama Era Surveillance Timeline
"Here's a work in progress.
"(Please note that nobody cited has been charged with wrongdoing or crimes, unless the charge is specifically referenced. Temporal relationships are not necessarily evidence of a correlation.)"
More on this here: "Collusion against Trump" Timeline

Highlights of the News

Don Surber
The TRUMP PAGE@MichaelDeLauzon
President Trump is meeting with Republican Senators at The White House. Mitt Romney was not invited.
"Mitt Romney begged Donald John Trump to endorse him in 2012. The Donald did. Mittens not only failed to reciprocate but he campaigned against him in 2016. Mittens begged President Trump to endorse him in 2018 for the Senate. The president did. Mittens voted to remove him from office.
"I see Republicans are taking my advice from before there was an impeachment." . . .
Surber lists seventeen items on this subject, one of which is item 13 here:

ITEM 13Just The News reported, "The $3 trillion corona virus stimulus bill that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released Tuesday includes  $25 billion for the United States Postal Service as well as new federal requirements that states must meet for allowing citizens to vote by mail in the November election.
"According to a roughly 1,400-page draft of the proposed corona virus stimulus legislation, the measure also includes $1 trillion in increased federal assistance to state, local, territorial and tribal governments, an additional $75 billion for corona virus testing as well as additional direct stimulus payments of $1,200 per individual and up to $6,000 for each household.
"The legislation, titled the HEROES Act, would provide $3.6 billion to expand vote by mail and ensure that "every voter can access no-excuse absentee vote-by-mail."
The story also said, "The legislation would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to 'prohibit states from requiring voter registration applicants to provide more than the last four digits of their social security numbers.'"
Why not implement Voting By Tombstone and be done with the pretense of fair elections?

The Democrats try to kill the economy, while Trump tries to save it

Andrea Widburg



. . . "Here are a few simple suggestions for getting the economy back fast:
"End all lockdowns now that we've achieved the initially stated goal of flattening the curve.
"Abolish most state and federal regulations.
"Stop most occupational licensing, except for jobs where consumers are incapable of doing market research.  Consumers can figure out if a flower-arranger or hair-braider is good and they won't be hurt if he's not.  It's different when it comes to jobs most consumers lack the data to understand (e.g., brain surgeons or structural engineers).
"Temporarily stop payroll taxes and social security taxes.
"Cut taxes, especially corporate taxes, which are, in any event, always passed on to consumers as costs.
"Make unemployment benefits a bit less appealing.  We don't have to echo the Victorian-era poor houses, which were hellish places to discourage sloth, but there is a happy medium between keeping people from sinking and enticing them away from work." . . .

Trump Call to Putin Raises Russia’s Hopes of End to Costly Oil War

http://www.terrellaftermath.com/
Putin and Trump Monday agreed that “current oil prices aren’t in the interests of our countries,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, declining to give any details on what they might do to change the situation.
Bloomberg  "U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to end the oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia is breeding cautious hopes in Moscow of a possible way out of the damaging stand-off, potentially reversing some of the collapse in crude prices.
"The fact that it was Trump who placed the call to Vladimir Putin Monday, reversing his earlier stance welcoming the drop in oil prices, was seen in Moscow as a positive sign, according to three people familiar with the matter.
"Trump’s move to appeal for Russian help in stopping the oil rout could allow Putin to appear in a stronger position even if he needs to make some concessions, according to Andrey Kortunov, director of the Kremlin-founded Russian International Affairs Council. “The Kremlin views the call itself as a kind of diplomatic victory,” he said." . . .

Black men protected most by Trump reforms to Obama-Biden campus sexual assault rules, experts say

"Jones cited a report from Center for Prosecutor Integrity, a nonprofit group that fights the “over-criminalization” of sexual activities. The report argues there are “parallels between the treatment of Black men accused of rape during the infamous Jim Crow period, and the adjudication of sexual assault cases in the current era.' ”

Just The News   "Critics say black men were disproportionately hit by Obama-Biden campus sexual assault rules denying due process and are cheering the Trump administration's reversal of those policies.
"On Wednesday, the Department of Education released new Title IX regulations that codify the obligation of schools to investigate claims of sexual assault and harassment. Previous rules under the Obama administration laid the groundwork for what exists today on many campuses: byzantine sexual misconduct disciplinary systems that investigate and punish all manner of sex-related behavior — from sexually suggestive jokes to drunken couplings to forcible rape. Critics say these extra-judicial systems often abandon the presumption of innocence and stack the deck against accused students, denying them basic due process. 
" 'Once again, the Trump administration is righting a wrong perpetrated by Joe Biden, who as Vice President spearheaded a Title IX initiative that attempted to overhaul the assumptions on which our legal system is built and undermined the ability of the accused, usually men and often men of color, to get a fair hearing," Andrew Clark, Rapid Response Director for the Trump campaign, wrote in a press statement. "Black men were disproportionately hurt by Biden’s campus sexual assault policy."

Biden’s Proposal to Woo Black Voters Falls Short  . . . " But upon examination, Biden’s proposal has no substance, misses the point, and offers nothing but the same failed liberal policies empirically known to destabilize the black community while avoiding our biggest concerns." . . .

  • First, Biden’s proposal ignores the role illegal immigration has had on disadvantaged black Americans.
  • Secondly, prosperity for black Americans is contingent on prosperity for all Americans, and Biden’s plan to raise taxes will likely kill prosperity across the board.
  • Third, this plan just reeks of, well, Joe Biden.

Silence of the Bushes: Where was George W. Bush when Republicans needed him earlier this year?

The American Spectator
Particularly given that, as Hegseth noted, Bush had nothing to say about the most partisan, stupid impeachment process in American history.
"By some of the reporting from the legacy media, you wouldn’t think there was anything wrong when, in a three-minute video released to Twitter Saturday, former president George W. Bush called for unity and not partisan politics in the face of the COVID-19/ChiCom/Wuhan virus.
“ 'In the final analysis, we are not partisan combatants. We are human beings, equally vulnerable and equally wonderful in the sight of God,” said Bush in the video. “We rise or fall together, and we are determined to rise.”
"That didn’t work on conservatives at all. Fox News host Pete Hegseth voiced what many were thinking. “Oh, by the way,” Hegseth said, “I appreciate the message from former President Bush, but where was he during impeachment calling for putting partisanship aside?”  (Emphasis mine, TD)
"That statement was amplified when, Sunday, President Trump quoted it in a tweet.
"And now Trump is the bad guy.
"Well, so be it. Trump is always the bad guy no matter what he does.
"And the fact of the matter is that George W. Bush has enjoyed his position over the past four years as the patron saint of the Never Trump movement, without much apparent consequence from Republicans, who are a lot more united behind Trump than they were behind W, particularly after his betrayals on things like amnesty for illegals and Medicare expansions authored by Ted Kennedy." . . .

. . . "Trump’s style might have its own blemishes, but one thing he will consistently do is defend himself from all comers. That’s a form of Republican politics that was long overdue, even if it sows discord the legacy media doesn’t like. At least he’ll go down fighting — the Bushes, who’ll break bread with all kinds of nefarious types in pursuit of whatever it is they’re trying to achieve, just go down.
"Trump’s approach is more effective. Let’s hear fewer “play nice” admonitions from the Bush China Foundation and its pals."

"The Barack H. Obama Freeway in Los Angeles got a hilarious makeover by a group of Trump-supporting street artists.

Wayne Dupree "This funny makeover comes on the heels of Obama being fingered as a “player” in the Michael Flynn takedown."
"The group added a much more apropos sign to the freeway.
"It reads:
Barry Soetero P.I.Illegal wiretapsFake dossiersElection insurance
"Along with a hilarious pic of Obama wearing a pair of shades."