Visions of 2020

https://earloftaint.com/

Althouse  . . . "I'm just checking over Trump's Twitter feed for the last week, and I don't think he took any of the bait that was thrown out from the days of McCain memorializing. Since Trump was banned from the funeral, he couldn't be criticized for failing to attend, but there was such an intense desire to attack him, and he wasn't doing anything at McCain.

"So many shots were taken at him, presumably with the expectation that he'd tweet something that could be denounced as awful. Oh! The unforgivable disrespect, they could have cried.

"Trump is so often portrayed as impulsively tweeting and so narcissistic that he just can't help himself. His Twitter feed from the last week shows that's not really true. And believing it's true can lead to missteps... like, perhaps, using a funeral as a platform for making political attacks.

"AND: I wonder what kind of funeral events we'll see when John Kerry dies. We're treating Senators now the way we've treated Presidents? Not all Senators, of course, but some. McCain, at least. So... Senator + military hero + major party presidential nominee. That's Kerry, isn't it (depending on how you fiddle with military heroism, but he served in Vietnam and there was the heroism of opposition to the war)? It's certainly Bob Dole. And then why not Al Gore too? And you can't give all them the full McCain and not extend equal solemnities to Hillary Clinton, despite the lack of military service." . . .

Aretha Franklin’s family says eulogy was offensive

The eulogist, the Rev. Jasper Williams Jr., was criticized for a political address that described children being in a home without a father as “abortion after birth” and said black lives do not matter unless blacks stop killing each other. Franklin’s funeral was on Friday.

It failed to be leftist and anti-Trump. 

How much backlash will there be to the 8 days of McCainapalooza?

Thomas Lifson  "I don’t know about you, but when the video coverage of the death of Senator John McCain began a week ago Saturday, I reached satiation well before the live coverage concluded with his burial at the United States Naval Academy. Yes, he was a brave war hero that endured years of brutal captivity in North Vietnam, and all of us honor that. But as a politician, his main legislative legacy is a failed campaign finance act, one of those bipartisan feel-good efforts that backfired and made things worse."

"So, how is it that his passing and a week’s worth of scheduled events merited wall-to-wall coverage? President Kennedy’s assassination required two days of live coverage for the death and funeral. I am hopeful that the Media Research Center  will tabulate the total hours of coverage and compare it to the live coverage of events around the death of President Ronald Reagan. My impression is that McCain received more hours." . . .

Franklin, McCain, Tibbetts: Liberals exploit death to advance an agenda  "After being subjected to stage-managed funerals coordinated solely by Donald Trump's political enemies, it's evident that in some circles, having a corpse double as soapbox far outweighs the value of memorializing the dead." . . .

Midterm election trends not looking good

We've got decades of brainwashed Americans (via the education system, media, and pop culture) who don't know the difference between liberty and tyranny, who no longer value free speech, who hold contempt for the Constitution, who don't know how to think critically, who know next to nothing about history, and who mindlessly support totalitarian ideas.

Carol Brown  "We're two months out from the midterm elections, and the trend doesn't favor our team – in the Senate, the House, or governorships.

"Despite a roster of Democratic candidates promoting socialist ideas, a lot of Americans don't seem to find the line-up of loons particularly crazy.  Many of these candidates are young, energetic, and charming, packaging socialism in a nice box with a neat little bow.

"Mmm.  I'll take two, please.

"Here's one: Robert Francis O'Rourke.  He adopted the nickname "Beto" to endear himself to the Hispanic community.

"O'Rourke appears to be a highly calculated melding of Robert Kennedy (wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up partway) and Obama, who was brilliant at masking the evil in his heart with soaring rhetoric (to the numb and mindless).

"Now, as O'Rourke crisscrosses the country, scarfing up gobs of money from coastal elites, Real Clear Politics has moved the Texas Senate race from "leans Republican" to "likely Republican" to "toss up."  It didn't take that long.  At the rate it's going, I won't be surprised if it soon shifts to "likely Dem."

"Meanwhile, in a matter of days, socialist Andrew Gillum, who's running for governor of Florida, has eclipsed Ron DeSantis in the polls.  Gillum now has a 5-point lead.  I expect that it will climb even higher." . . .

While on the subject of ignorant youth:

This is a must-see film because the ravages of the Holocaust are barely taught in American schools anymore, if at all.  . . .
"The new film Operation Finale is the story of the carefully calculated capture, trial, and execution of Adolf Eichmann, the "architect" of Hitler's final solution: the extermination of the Jews of Germany, Poland, France, the Baltics, Hungary, and what was then Czechoslovakia." . . .
 "That is the lesson, still unlearned, of history.  Until our schools, from kindergarten through university, begin again to teach the truth of history, ours and the history of every other nation, the lessons of history that have changed the world in profound and catastrophic ways will remain unlearned.  People who believe they are educated but are not will continue to wreak havoc on civil societies." . . .

How Our Vulgar Media and Political Elite Ruined Two Funerals

Big Journalism

"Ogling, groping, racists, racism, accused-rapists, mean-girl snubs, inappropriate rants, cheap shots delivered to humiliate invited guests as the crowd roars its approval… No, this was not a sorority hazing or a prison riot or the last gasp of Ancient Rome; it was how America’s establishment behaved at the funerals for Aretha Franklin and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

"Here we are in an America with a roaring economy, manufacturing jobs are coming back (without a magic wand), the War on Terror feels like ancient history, we’re not launching stupid wars, Putin’s adventurism’s been halted, and North Korea has gone from launching missiles to arguing over how quickly it will denuclearize…

"In other words, for the first time in 17 years, for the first time since those passenger planes hit the World Trade Center, we are at long last enjoying some well-deserved Peace and Prosperity.

"But how did our self-appointed media and political elite spend the last few days? Lashing out at the man primarily responsible for America’s comeback while longing for the good ol’ days when they were in charge of endless wars and managing America’s decline.

And all of this happened at the most inappropriate venue imaginable: a funeral.

"There is only one way to describe what we witnessed over the last few days. Basically, in front of the whole world, we watched those who piously lecture the rest of us about decency, decorum, and civility, bare their sorry asses." . . .

John McCain's Bitter Exit

Eagle PAC

Caricature by Donkey Hotey

"As we watch the funeral and memorial events honoring Senator John McCain, one thing enormously clear is that John McCain wanted to send a powerful message to America - one final word - as he left this earth. But is the message America received the one McCain intended?

"McCain’s memorial remembrances were filled with themes of unity, inclusion, and compromise. They stressed how McCain was someone who could reach across the aisle, find consensus, and put differences aside to bring people together for the greater good.

"It’s too bad McCain’s final actions contradicted that message.

"It was no secret that McCain and Donald Trump did not get along. In the short time that Trump and McCain had to work together, it was a very strained and contemptuous relationship.

"Ultimately John McCain banned President Trump from his funeral. For someone who was seen as Old School, with great importance placed on decorum, respect and appropriate behavior, what message does snubbing the President of the United States send to America? What happened to putting differences aside for the greater good? 

"It wasn’t just President Trump McCain slighted in his last words and edicts. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 Presidential race, was excluded from all of the memorials. Also banned were three of the most prominent members of his 2008 presidential campaign — campaign manager Steve Schmidt, senior adviser Nicolle Wallace and longtime strategist John Weaver." . . .

TRUMP GIVES MCCAIN FAMILY Permission To Use Air Force 2…Then They Bash Him [Video]  

. . . "President Trump announced earlier this week he had approved military transport for McCain, saying, “At the request of the McCain family, I have also authorized military transportation of Senator McCain’s remains from Arizona to Washington, D.C., military pallbearers and band support, and a horse and caisson transport during the service at the United States Naval Academy.”

"So you would think the McCain family would tone down the rhetoric against President Trump…that didn’t happen. Meghan McCain delivered a bitter, angry and sad eulogy that bashed President Trump.  It was ugly." . . .   Media silent about this.

Hero Who Killed Bin Laden Just Unloaded On Meghan McCain

The Truth Will Set Us All Free

Victor Davis Hanson

It’s time to stop the stonewalling, redacting, suppression, leaking to the press, and media hysteria surrounding investigations into the 2016 election.

"Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation was star-crossed from the start. His friend and successor as FBI director, James Comey, by his own admission prompted the investigation — with the deliberate leaking of classified memos about his conversations with President Donald Trump to the press.

"Mueller then unnecessarily stocked his team with what the press called his “dream team” of mostly Democratic partisans. One had defended a Hillary Clinton employee. Another had defended the Clinton Foundation.

"Mueller did not at first announce to the press why he had dismissed Trump-hating FBI operatives Lisa Page and Peter Strzok from his investigative team. Instead, he staggered their departures to leave the impression they were routine reassignments.

"But Mueller’s greatest problem was his original mandate to discover whether Trump colluded with the Russians in 2016 to tilt the election in his favor.

"After 15 months, Mueller has indicted a number of Trump associates, but on charges having nothing to do with Russian collusion. They faced inordinately long prison sentences unless they “flipped” and testified against Trump.

"We are left with the impression that Mueller cannot find much to do with his original mandate of unearthing Russian collusion, but he still thinks Trump is guilty of something." . . .

Headlock Helen - the Woman Superhero of Portland

The People's Cube

"While male superheroes are always front and center, women superheroes are laboring in the background, getting less than 75% of the overall attention. 

"Just recently, a video has surfaced of a fight in Portland between a baton-wielding Antifa man and barehanded Panman, where after two swings at him, Panman grabbed the baton and knocked out the Antifa man with a right hook (see screenshot below)."
. . . 
"While male superheroes are always front and center, women superheroes are laboring in the background, getting less than 75% of the overall attention.

"Just recently, a video has surfaced of a fight in Portland between a baton-wielding Antifa man and barehanded Panman, where after two swings at him, Panman grabbed the baton and knocked out the Antifa man with a right hook (see screenshot below)."

Dear NFL: The New Season Is Here. It’s Time To Bury This Protest Nonsense

Hot Air

. . . "We do this because we love football. We love watching football. We love talking about football. We love writing about football. But what we really love is the game itself. It represents a break each week from our daily professional grind of writing about politics. Covering the political news of the day is important work, but it can also wear you down with the endless fighting and partisan bitterness. So imagine how we feel when political protests make their way onto the gridiron on game day. This isn’t good. And we’re not alone in this sentiment. Allow me to direct your attention to a recent poll on the subject which was covered this week at the Washington Times. (Emphasis added)" . . .

Ariz. Hopeful Martha McSally Puts It Bluntly: ‘Do You Want A Protester In A Tutu, Or A Patriot In A Flight Suit?’

Weasel Zippers “ 'The contrast is very clear,” McSally said. “Do you want a protester in a tutu or a patriot in a flight suit?”
"McSally, who won Arizona’s Republican primary for Senate on Tuesday over challengers Dr. Kelli Ward and Joe Arpaio in the race to fill retiring Senator Jeff Flake’s seat, continued to point out the differences between herself and Sinema. She had hammered the Democrat in a campaign ad leading up to the primary.
“ 'While we were in harm’s way in uniform, Kyrsten Sinema was protesting us in a pink tutu and denigrating our service,” McSally, the first female combat pilot in American history, said in the video ad, highlighting Sinema’s anti-war past." . . .

BPR video:

Pope Francis's plastic 'emergency'

https://earloftaint.com/

Monica Showalter   "Reeling from a huge pedophilia, pederasty, and coverup crisis, and refusing to answer charges of participating in the latter from a former papal nuncio, Pope Francis seems to have some very screwy priorities. Here's what the Associated Press, via the New York Post, reported:

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis wants concrete action to combat the “emergency” of plastics littering seas and oceans.

Francis made the appeal in a message Saturday to galvanize Christians and others to work to save what he hails as the “marvelous,” God-given gift of the “great waters and all they contain.”

He said efforts to fight plastics litter must be waged “as if everything depended on us.”

The pope also denounced as “unacceptable” the privatization of water resources at the expense of the “human right to have access to this good.”

"Has he gone bonkers? Is this satire from his enemies? The Church is in the middle of the mother of all public relations meltdowns, the faithful are scandalized, and he's talking about the environment and capitalism as the real problems? " . . .

Labor Day under President Trump

http://www.terrellaftermath.com/

Labor Day and a strong economy  . . . "In other words, no politician can tell you that the economy is doing well when it's not or doing poorly when it is growing.   

People see it for themselves, from all of the new construction on the way to work to all of the positive talk at the plant.  

"At some point, "the doom and gloom crowd" need to do the right thing and enjoy a long weekend with the rest of us! 

"It must be really hard to wake up every morning angry about the 2016 election.  Get over it and enjoy life!

"Cheer up "doom and gloomers"! It's a long weekend and you are living in the U.S. Trust me! It does not get any better than this!"

Labor Day, the Holiday in Need of an Update  . . . "As the U.S. economy has evolved from a manufacturing to a service and information economy, it should come as no surprise that the four largest companies in terms of market capitalization -- Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft -- are all in the business of information technology. Each has greatly increased efficiencies for individuals and businesses, while also catalyzing a multiplier effect spawning the formation of a vast number of new companies and new jobs. 

"If the patterns of past economic history prevail, the development and application of automation and artificial intelligence should not be feared as they are likely to create as many new jobs as those made obsolete. For all of us, the challenge is to embrace change, recognize opportunity, and stay on game with training and incorporating technologies of a continuously changing economy. 

"So as we celebrate on the first Monday in September with that last beach party or barbecue to commemorate those who labor, let us also remember and celebrate the entrepreneurs who drive renewal and progress -- creating the new labor and employment opportunities of tomorrow."

It seems to me that Labor's influence in the Democrat Party is of more value to them than any possible benefits to the American worker. TD

AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka flounders against Trump's stellar record on labor
"President Trump's stellar economy nothing but hell on Democrats, and nowhere is it more hellish than in the offices of AFL-CIO union boss Richard Trumka, who for years has gotten the better of Republicans in claims to stand up for the conditions of the working man. Now Trump has come along, and things aren’t quite so easy.
"Trumka was called to speak on Labor Day by Fox News’s Chris Wallace about one of his old bugaboos, NAFTA, and it’s obvious he doesn’t quite know what to say:" (Video)
. . . 

"It’s also interesting that, he ignores, (and to his credit, doesn’t lie about) President Trump’s stunning record on job creation and wages, talking about other stuff instead. “Those are good, but,” he admits. Then he broadly says that workers aren’t doing well, without bringing up specifics. It was obvious from the interview that he wanted that question to go away. Maybe that’s because he’s hearing from his own union members – who in an unrelated trade pact question in a poll put on by the AFL-CIO – cited jobs and wages as their two biggie issues."

The fact that Beto had a DUI in his past is old news, but the details of the incident are new:

Power Line Blog  . . . "O’Rourke blew a .135 on the police breathalyzer; the state’s legal limit was .08. But charges against O’Rourke were dismissed after a brief “diversion” program, perhaps because his father was a judge.

"Some Democrats have argued that O’Rourke’s DUI is comparable to George W. Bush’s DUI of many years before that the Democrats unveiled the weekend before the 2000 presidential election. But that claim is ridiculous. Bush was simply pulled over and ticketed by a policeman whom he treated respectfully, and who voted for Bush in 2000. O’Rourke was so drunk that he ran into a truck, bounced across the median and tried to flee the scene. Maybe he was a spoiled young man who thought he could get away with lawbreaking–there is at least one other criminal charge on his record–because his father was a judge. In any event, Texas voters will decide whether O’Rourke is the sort of person they want representing them in the Senate.

"O’Rourke’s biggest problem, of course, is his leftism. Some months ago, Cruz’s campaign released one of the all-time great radio ads. If you’re gonna run in Texas, you can’t be a liberal man. If you don’t recognize the song–a great Alabama classic–trust me, every voter in Texas gets the reference:" . . .