Reading list: Some quick glances at the world in which we live

Proof that some people can be offended by anything 

 

" I suspect that somewhere, there is a top-secret organization that does nothing all day but look for innovative and novel ways that society offends one group or another.
"How else do you explain this? . . .

The Port Authority is looking into bus slogans that some are calling offensive.
Officials say they’ve recently received complaints that one of its slogans, “Ziggin Zaggin,” is offensive when read backwards, seeming to spell out a racial slur.

 One person complained ; ONE.

'Dividing Americans': Potential GOP rivals assail Clinton over fiery voting law speech

"Accusing her of "dividing Americans" and political pandering, several of Hillary Clinton's potential Republican rivals fired back Friday after the Democratic frontrunner accused them of trying to make it more difficult for Americans -- particularly minorities and young people -- to vote. " . . .

Ben Carson’s campaign faces turmoil amid staff exits and super PAC rivalry
. . . " But his campaign has been marked by signs of dysfunction and amateurism, alarming supporters who privately worry that Carson’s sprawling circle of boosters is fumbling his opportunity. And, they argue, the candidate has been nonchalant about the unrest." . . .

What will Obama’s legacy be?   . . . "Obama’s approval rating is still below 50 percent, and Republican presidential candidates are all running against Obamanomics, denouncing the last six years as an era of public-sector overreach and private-sector stagnation." . . .


 
"Columbia sex-attack accuser, who carried mattress around campus to protest against her 'rapist', creates new work 'renacting' violent sex called: 'This is not rape.'"  . . . "As predicted, many of the commenters on the piece slammed her for her decision to make it, saying it was in poor taste. 'Why did you have to go and ruin a man's life if all you wanted to do was make porn?' one quizzed." . . .

Dems ‘Failed Us': Chicago Pastor Tired of Liberals Taking Advantage of Blacks . . . " Corey Brooks of Chicago says that the Democratic party has relied on black votes and their loyalty to win elections but have not given much back to black areas once they are in office." . . .

Junk Journalism

 What the MSM calls “reporting” is often just activism, careerism, and narcissism to advance the Democrat agenda.

Victor Davis Hanson

 

"Once upon a time, Dan Rather — the fallen CBS celebrity anchorman from the evening news and at 60 Minutes – was the master of “gotcha” journalism. Rather would play up his populist credentials, do ambush interviews with supposedly self-important grandees, and then pull out an unknown memo, an embarrassing quote from one’s past, or some sort of previously unexamined hypocrisy. And, presto, down went the high and mighty, as Rather grinned that he had taken down another enemy of his middle-class viewers without power and influence.
 . . . "Stephanopoulos could not just question Peter Schweizer, author of an exposé on the Clinton Foundation. He had to go for the jugular, in ironic tu quoque fashion, suggesting that Schweitzer was a partisan hack and his book political mudslinging because the author had worked as a speechwriter for George W. Bush for four months.

"That paradox was a bridge too far — given that Stephanopoulos had been no mere speechwriter or a four-month employee, but a recent donor to his old employer’s pay-for-play family foundation. The closer that Hillary Clinton got to announcing her bid for the presidency, the more, it seems, Stephanopoulos started giving money to the Clintons’ foundation and participating in their “charity.”. . .
Bottom line:   

Turn on Brian Williams, read the L.A. Times’ lead stories, catch NPR on the radio, and it is often just liberal activism, careerism, and narcissism on the part of an elite who believes that their own activism exempts them from the contradictions of their own lives, as if privilege is not privilege if you crusade 9 to 5 on behalf of the unprivileged.

 

Flashback Friday: Campus political correctness in 1988

totus-blog.blogspot.com

The Volokh Conspiracy  "Campus political correctness appears to be back.  (Perhaps it never left.)  The Kipnis kerfuffle at Northwestern is viewed by many as symbolic of a wave of illiberal attitudes sweeping college campuses.  Is this the same political correctness some of us experience on campuses years (or decades) ago? Or is it something quite different?" . . .

To be PC it does not take much effort, one simply needs to wet one’s finger and hold it to the political wind and follow the currents of hot air. One would then find oneself in favor of the shanties, the FMLN in El Salvador, Nuclear Disarmament, Animal Rights, Locals 34 and 35, and of course Mike Dukakis (although Lloyd Bentsen cannot be perceived as more than a necessary evil to attain the White House). On the other hand, to maintain one’s PC status, one would also have to oppose Robert Bork, aid to any non-socialist Latin American government, fraternities, secret societies, the CIA, red meat and anything remotely resembling a Republican. (Lowell Weicker is summarily excused.) . . .

 Jonathan H. Adler teaches courses in constitutional, administrative, and environmental law at the Case Western University School of Law, where he is the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Business Law and Regulation.

Intolerance on the Left    "Every night I see and hear the "Intolerance of the Left". I see the violence in the streets, I see conservative speakers taunted and literally run from the podiums at some of our most prestigious universities. I see the marches in Oakland in support of a cop-killers. Most of these hateful demonstrators seem to be young. To me, its a sad commentary on the youth of this country. They claim to support change and openness, but simply cannot tolerate anyone with an opposing view. They condemn a capitalism system, that has provided them with one of the worlds highest standard of living. The United States economy is the envy of the world and people are literally tearing down fences in order to get here." . . .

After the Riots, More Crime

 Are we in for another high-crime era after the response to Ferguson and Baltimore?

 

Michael Barone

"Are we seeing a reversal of the 20-year decline in violent crime in America? A new nationwide crime wave? 

" Heather Mac Donald fears we are, and as a premier advocate and analyst of the policing strategy pioneered by Rudy Giuliani in New York City and copied and adapted throughout the country, she is to be taken seriously. The statistics she presented in an article in last weekend’s Wall Street Journal are truly alarming.

"Gun violence is up 60 percent in Baltimore so far this year compared to 2014. Homicides are up 180 percent in Milwaukee, 25 percent in St. Louis, 32 percent in Atlanta and 13 percent in New York in the same period. 

"Why is this happening? Mac Donald writes, “The most plausible explanation of the current surge in lawlessness is the intense agitation against American police departments over the past nine months.”

The narrative propagated by mainstream media, the Eric Holder Justice Department, and the Barack Obama White House was that unarmed innocent blacks were being slaughtered by racist police. “Black lives matter,” read the hashtag, as if most cops believed the opposite. Read more:

EPA: Remember all that horrible stuff we said about fracking? Yeah… never mind

Infidel Bloggers Alliance

 

. . . "The Environmental Protection Agency has finished a draft copy of a long awaited study on fracking and its impact (or lack thereof) on drinking water. The folks in the green energy community who have been pushing for bans on the practice for years now are up in arms already because the results were precisely what they didn’t want to hear.

"The alarmist have been pedaling bogus science for quite a while now.

"The Environmental Protection Agency’s long-awaited report on fracking dismayed liberal green groups Thursday while pleasing the oil and gas industry — the latest episode in both sides’ fraught relationship with President Barack Obama.

"The study, more than four years in the making, said the EPA has found no signs of “widespread, systemic” drinking water pollution from hydraulic fracturing.

"That conclusion dramatically runs afoul of one of the great green crusades of the past half-decade, which has portrayed the oil- and gas-extraction technique as a creator of fouled drinking water wells and flame-shooting faucets." . . .

 Think of the PC TV shows and movies about evil fracking...

 TNT’s ‘Rizzoli & Isles’ Demonizes Fracking
 TNT continued the Hollywood practice of condemning oil and gas in its June 12 episode of “Rizzoli & Isles.” The plot featured an ex-Blackwater agent, masquerading as a yoga guru, who kills a vegan student and a professor in order to hide his drilling for natural gas from shale. This episode was a triple decker for left-wing stereotypes. 

TNT continued the Hollywood practice of condemning oil and gas in its June 12 episode of “Rizzoli & Isles.” The plot featured an ex-Blackwater agent, masquerading as a yoga guru, who kills a vegan student and a professor in order to hide his drilling for natural gas from shale. This episode was a triple decker for left-wing stereotypes.  - See more at: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-robbins/2012/06/18/tnt-s-rizzoli-isles-demonizes-fracking#sthash.BDNcxVSC.dpuf

 ABC, NBC Continue to Skip EPA Report Finding Fracking Doesn’t Harm Drinking Water

Obama’s Continuing Delusions: “Closest thing to a Jew” in White House, ever! Chip Bok update.

http://terrellaftermath.com/

 As a Catholic, I am going out on a limb to make a prediction. When Pope Francis comes to America this September, Obama will ask to be canonized. The rationale will be that he is, “the closest thing to a saint that there has ever been in the White House.” Leslie Eastman

Legal Insurrection 

Fantasy-based statement may be response to plummeting poll numbers! - See more at: http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/06/obamas-continuing-delusions-closest-thing-to-a-jew-in-white-house-ever/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LegalInsurrection+%28Le%C2%B7gal+In%C2%B7sur%C2%B7rec%C2%B7tion%29#sthash.78WCyxaH.dpuf

"What is the line between political hyperbole and utter fantasy?

"Whatever it is, President Obama has completely crossed that particular Rubicon. I recently noted that his assertions that America has become more respected internationally under his watch were not quite based in reality.

"Now, it appears he has delusions regarding his faith:

"Speaking to JPUpdates.com, top Obama confidant David Axelrod described a moment where the president expressed exasperation to him over being derided as anti-Israel by some.

 “ 'You know, I think I am the closest thing to a Jew that has ever sat in this office,” the president claimed, according to Axelrod. “For people to say that I am anti-Israel, or, even worse, anti-Semitic, it hurts.”

"Given President Obama’s treatment of Bibi Netanyahu over the years, and the troubling deal with Iran that my colleague David Gerstman reviews, I must admit to being a bit perplexed.

"However, because I am Catholic, maybe there is something I missed??? So, I went on a quest for information.

Perhaps it started in 2008, and his warm relationship with Chicago area Jews:" . . .See more here.

 

 Twitter Explodes Over Obama 'Closest Thing to a Jew' Claim 

 Obama: ‘I’m The Closest Thing to a Jew’ to Ever Be President

Bokbluster update

 

"Former Obama administration high priest David Axelrod says the president revealed to him that he’s “the closest thing to a Jew that has ever sat in this office.” It’s hurtful to him when people say he’s hostile to Israel. The president also told a young Asian group this week that he personally restored America to international respectability. And, despite missing state department emails, destroyed IRS emails, and delayed FOIA requests, he continues with the “most transparent administration in history” boast."

Why doctors quit, Chapter 2

 My argument is simple. If electronic records are such a great boon — as I believe they eventually will be — they will be adopted over time as the benefits begin to exceed costs. Let the market work. Let doctors breathe. And while you’re at it, drop the Medicare penalty.

Charles Krauthammer

 

"I rarely do follow-up columns. I’m averaging one every 10 years. And while my last such exercise resulted in a written apology from the White House (for accusing me of making up facts over its removal of Churchill’s bust), today’s is not a complaint. It’s merely a recognition that the huge response elicited by last week’s column, "Why doctors quit " warrants both rebuttal and clarification.

"Physicians who responded tended to agree with my claim that doctors are being driven out of the profession by the intrusions, interferences, regulations, mandates, constraints and sundry other degradations of their vocation that are the result of the bureaucratization of medicine. Chief among them is the imposition of electronic health records (EHR).

"I’ve also heard from people who notice how much attention their doctor must devote to filling out EHR boxes on a computer screen rather than to engaging with them during an office visit. To the point where a heretofore-unheard-of profession has been invented — the “scribe” who just enters the data so the doctor can actually do doctoring." . . .  Full article here.

Our Weasel Of The Week!!

 Nice Deb

 

"Once again, It’s time to present this week’s statuette of shame, The Golden Weasel!!

"Every Tuesday, the Council nominates some of the slimiest, most despicable characters in public life for some deed of evil, cowardice or corruption they’ve performed. Then we vote to single out one particular Weasel for special mention, to whom we award the statuette of shame, our special, 100% plastic Golden Weasel. This week’s nominees were all disgusting but one of them stood out as an almost unanimous choice. The envelope please…."

 

. . . "This man (and I use the term loosely) is William Leonard Dodson, of Charleston, South Carolina’s northside Chicora Cherokee neighborhood and he’s in much better conditions than he left a helpless animal.

"Caitlyn, a 15-month old Staffordshire Bull Terrier mix was left chained up with her muzzle taped tightly shut with electrical tape. That meant the dog was left in intense pain for what authorities estimate was 48 hours without being able to eat or drink, and her ability to cool herself was impaired.

"The dog eventually broke free and was found on a neighbor’s porch, who turned her into the local animal shelter for treatment. Because her teeth were clamped down by the tape on to her tongue and the blood flow was cut off, a large part of it may have to be amputated, affecting her ability to drink or cool herself normally by panting for the rest of her life.

"In fact, it was one of Dodson’s neighbors who turned him in:" . . .

 

Dear Liberal Media, I Didn’t Get Duped by the Noah Galloway/Caitlyn Jenner ESPY Controversy

Bristol Palin

 

"After I posted this, I started getting comments like this:

"Awkward. Like thousands of other Internet users, Bristol Palin, the daughter of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, just got duped. There’s a popular rumor circulating around the Internet that  U.S. Army veteran and double amputee Noah Galloway lost the Courage Award to former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner, but it’s just a hoax. Despite being debunked numerous times, Palin failed to do a simple Google search and wrote an ill-informed blog post about the rumor.

"Here’s the thing. I didn’t get “duped.” I know that ESPN did not publish who was considered and rejected for the award. But it is certainly obvious that Noah Galloway and Lauren Hill did not receive the award.

"Neither did any of the other athletes who deserved the award far more than Caitlyn Jenner.

"That’s all I’m saying.

"The so-called “hoax” was that he was perhaps “runner up.” Who cares? I never said he was the runner up.

"I’ll make it easy on you. Here are the two options:

1. He was either considered and rejected

2. Or — worse — not considered at all.

"The only hoax is the media’s weird inability to see the truth."


Read more on the Patheos Faith and Family Channel,

We Shall Never Surrender

. . . What we need today is another Churchill or another Reagan, but what we have is Stanley Baldwin or Jimmy Carter in the dreary visage of Obama.  The evil forces that threaten our world today – North Korea, Iran, ISIS, as well as the lurking power of Putin’s neo-tsarist empire and corrupt Red China – are not even defined as evil by Obama or his party or his flacks.

 

American Thinker
"Today, June 4, 2015, marks the 75^th anniversary of one of greatest speeches in the English language.  Churchill, facing the certain defeat of France and a desperate escape by the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk, gave the English-speaking world a remarkable declaration of moral purpose and political intention, the second and most vital of his three famous wartime addresses.

"It is hard for us today to imagine just how weak Britain was on June 4, 1940.  Hitler’s closest and strongest friend, the Soviet Union, was doing all in its power to force Britain to make peace with Nazi Germany.  American Communists like Betty Friedan and Dalton Trumbo were slavishly following the Party Line, condemning Churchill for not making peace with Hitler.  Other friends like Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan were following this line as well.

"Churchill had shaky control over Britain.  If Neville Chamberlain, leader of the Conservative Party, had not stood firmly beside Churchill, it is almost certain that Churchill would not have remained prime minister, and Britain would have made some sort of peace with Germany.  Chamberlain would be dead in six months. " . . .

 Instead, our dull and cowardly president tries appeasement, albeit with different terms.  Appeasing radical Islam or Russian aggression or North Korean paranoia is as morally bankrupt and gutless as was appeasing Hitler or Stalin or Brezhnev when those thugs sought cheap victories over moral societies. 

 Read more: 

 

 Barack Obama's White House has been forced to admit that it did return a bust of Sir Winston Churchill to British diplomats, after describing such claims as "100 per cent false". 

. . .  "Aides to Mr Obama were furious after The Daily Telegraph disclosed last week that Mitt Romney planned to restore the Jacob Epstein sculpture to its home under George W Bush from 2001 to 2009." . . .

Mr. Obama at least bowed to the image

 

Respected, Inspected and Rejected

HopeNChange

 

"In an address to 75 visiting members of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (Slogan: "We'll be your bosses before we're old enough to shave"), Barack Obama made the hilarious claim that his policies have returned the United States to the status of "most respected country on Earth."

" 'People don't remember," the president explained to our youthful future overlords, "when I came into office, the United States in world opinion ranked below China, barely above Russia." And now, of course, we're considered ranker than either of them."

 INSPECTED . . ."The context, Mr. Johnson, is freaking 9-11. Not to mention the Lockerbie Bomber, the Shoe Bomber, the Underwear Bomber, and now every other bomber who knows he can bring down a plane."

The Plumber at Obama's House

 

This came in the mail to me and I had to post it to find out what is in it. The Tunnel Dweller

Only weeks after leaving office on January 20, 2017, former President Barack Obama discovers a leak under his sink, so he calls Troy the Plumber to come out and fix it.

Troy drives to President Obama's new house, which is located in a very exclusive, gated community near Chicago where all the residents have a net income of way more than $250,000 per year.
 
 

Troy arrives and takes his tools into the house.  He is led to the guest bathroom that contains the leaky pipe under the sink.  Troy assesses the problem and tells President Obama that it's an easy repair that will take less than 10 minutes.  President Obama asks Troy how much it will cost.  Troy checks his rate chart and says, "$9,500."
 
"What?!  $9,500?!" Obama asks, stunned, "But you said it's an easy repair.  Michelle will whip me if I pay a plumber that much!"
 
Troy says, "Yes, but what I do is charge those who make more than $250,000 per year a much higher amount so I can fix the plumbing of poorer people for free.  This has always been my philosophy.  As a matter of fact, I lobbied the Democrat Congress, who passed this philosophy into law. Now all plumbers must do business this way.  It's known as the 'Affordable Plumbing Act of 2014'.  I'm surprised you haven't heard of it."
 
In spite of that, Obama tells Troy there's no way he's paying that much for a small plumbing repair, so Troy leaves.  Obama spends the next hour flipping through the phone book calling for another plumber, but he finds that all other plumbing businesses in the area have gone out of business. Not wanting to pay Troy's price, Obama does nothing and the leak goes un-repaired for several more days.  A week later the leak is so bad President Obama has had to put a bucket under the sink. Michelle is not happy as she has Oprah and guests arriving the next morning.  The bucket fills up quickly and has to be emptied every hour, and there's a risk the room will flood, so Obama calls Troy and pleads with him to return.
 
 

Troy goes back to President Obama's house, looks at the leaky pipe, checks his new rate chart and says, "Let's see, this will now cost you $21,000."
 
President Obama quickly fires back, "What? A few days ago you told me it would cost $9,500!"
 
Troy explains, "Well, because of the 'Affordable Plumbing Act,' a lot of wealthier people are learning how to maintain and take care of their own plumbing, so there are fewer payers in the plumbing exchanges.  As a result, the price I have to charge wealthy people like you keeps rising. Not only that, but for some reason the demand for plumbing work by those who get it for free has skyrocketed!  There's a long waiting list of those who need repairs, but the amount we get doesn't cover our costs, especially paperwork and record-keeping. This unfortunately has put a lot of my fellow plumbers out of business, they're not being replaced, and nobody is going into the plumbing business because they know they can't make any money at it.  I'm hurting too, all thanks to greedy rich people like you who won't pay their 'fair share'.  On the other hand, why didn't you buy plumbing insurance last December?  If you had bought plumbing insurance available under the 'Affordable Plumbing Act,' all this would have been covered by your policy."
 
"You mean I wouldn't have to pay anything to have you fix my plumbing problem?" asks Obama.  

http://s44.photobucket.com/user/Redwood39/media/TurdBurglarPumperTruck2.jpg.html

"Well, not exactly," replies Troy. "You would have had to buy the insurance before the deadline, which has passed now. And, because you're rich, you would have had to pay $34,000 in premiums, which would have given you a 'silver' plan, and then, since this would have been your first repair, you would have to pay up to the $21,000 deductible, and anything over that would have a $7,500 co-pay, and then there's the mandatory maintenance program, which is covered up to 17.5%, so there are some costs involved.  Nothing is for free."
 
"WHAT?!" exclaims Obama.  "Why so much for a puny sink leak?!"
 
With a bland look, Troy replies, "Well, paperwork, mostly, like I said.  And the internal cost of the program itself.  You don't think a program of this complexity and scope can run itself, do you?  Besides, there are millions of folks with lower incomes than you, even many in the 'middle class', who qualify for subsidies that people like you must support.  That's why they call it the 'Affordable Plumbing Act'!  Only people who don't make much money can afford it.  If you want affordable plumbing, you'll have to give away most of what you have accumulated and cut your's and Michelle's income by about 90%.  Then you can qualify to GET your 'Fair Share' instead of GIVING it."
 
"But who would pass a crazy act like the 'Affordable Plumbing Act'?!" exclaims the exasperated Obama.
 
After a sigh, Troy replies, "Congress... because they didn't read it."

  Hat tip to George Cohee up in the Pacific Northwest. Thanks, George