Rachel Maddow Turned a Scoop on Donald Trump’s Taxes Into a Cynical, Self-Defeating Spectacle

"By playing into the network’s loyal liberal audience’s fantasy that there exists a Trump silver bullet, it instead delivered Trump a positive news cycle—the guy pays taxes! Who knew!—amidst the debacle of the AHCA, along with more evidence that the media is aligned against him."

Slate

. . . "The longer Maddow went on, ever deeper into a conspiratorial thicket, the clearer it became that whatever tax returns Maddow had, they weren’t as juicy as the ones she was talking about. If she had anything that damning, she would have shared them from the start. TV is a ratings game, but an entire episode about highly damaging tax returns is just as likely to get you great ratings as milking the possibility that you have highly damaging tax returns, and less likely to get you compared to Geraldo. Maddow even went so far as to hold the tax returns back until after the first commercial break, as if we were watching an episode of The Bachelor and not a matter of national importance—because we weren’t, in fact, watching a matter of national importance, just a cable news show trying to set a ratings record." . . .  Naturally President Trump had a reaction

More here:

Trump's Taxes: Another Exploding Cigar for the Left

Fact is, Trump pays his taxes like the rest of us. He gets no special breaks, he gets no special treatment. He shelled out for taxes at a 25% rate of income, quite comparable to what the average taxpayer pays. No wonder the average taxpayer thinks that Trump sees things the same way they do - he does, because he lives in the same world and by the same laws.

MSN Analysis | This 2005 Donald Trump tax return is a total nothingburger

. . . "For all the hoopla surrounding the unearthing of these documents, there simply was no smoking gun -- or anything close to it -- here. A brief scan of Trump's financial status a decade ago shows, roughly, what you would expect it to show. Nothing nefarious, nothing untoward." . . .

Clinton ally David Brock offers $5M for Trump's tax returns
The left never sleeps.

RedState: Donald Trump’s Tax Returns Helps The New York Times Understand How Income Tax Works

. . . "Wait. Look at that closer. What does it say on the second page there?

“Client copy”?" . . .

Professor Is “FED UP” With Anti-Free Speech Thugs On College Campuses After Raging Students Send Fellow Professor To Hospital

"Where are our youth learning such full-on hatred?"  Bob Larimer 

CONSERVATIVE ANGLE

"At Middlebury College last week, Charles Murray needed a safe space — literally.

"In a significant escalation of the campus speech wars, protesters hooted down the conservative scholar in a lecture hall and then roughed up a Middlebury faculty member escorting him to a car.

"The Middlebury administration commendably tried to do the right thing and stand by Murray’s right to be heard, but was overwhelmed by a yowling mob with all the manners and intellectual openness of a gang of British soccer hooligans.

"Sometime soon, we may yearn for the days when college students were merely childish and closed-minded. If campus protests of speech begin to more routinely slide into violence, Middlebury will be remembered as a watershed.

"First, there was the target. Charles Murray is controversial — mainly for his book, “The Bell Curve,” about IQ — but he is one of the most significant social scientists of our age.

"He is employed by the prestigious conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute, and his books are highly influential and widely reviewed.

"His latest, which was to be the topic of his Middlebury talk, is “Coming Apart,” a bestselling account of the struggles of the white working class that illuminated some of the social forces behind the rise of Donald Trump.

"Second, there was the venue. No one has ever mistaken Middlebury, a small Vermont liberal-arts college founded by Congregationalists, for Berkeley. It doesn’t have a reputation as a hotbed and training ground for rabble-rousers, and yet has given us one of the most appalling episodes of anti-speech thuggery in recent memory." . . .

Obama Audited Billy Graham, So Wiretapping Trump Tower is Not a Stretch

obamacartoon.blogspot

Todd Starnes  "The Obama Administration engaged in eight years of political payback and heavy-handed bullying that specifically targeted their "political enemies."
They used the Internal Revenue Service to wage an ugly campaign of bullying and intimidation to silence Tea Party groups and Christian ministries. In 2013 President Obama's minions sent IRS agents to bully the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association."I believe that someone in the administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us," Franklin Graham wrote in a letter to the White House. "This is morally wrong and unethical - indeed some would call it 'un-American.'"The BGEA's only crime against Obama was to urge voters to back candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles. They also supported an effort to support traditional marriage in the state of North Carolina. I believe the government used the power of the IRS to silence dissent and punish those who refused to comply.They targeted Billy Graham, America's pastor. Just let that sink in, folks.So if the Obama Administration went after Billy Graham, it's not out of the realm of possibility they wiretapped Donald Trump. The Mainstream Media believes such a charge is absurd, but is it really?" . . .

comicallyincorrect.com

Boys Named Sue

WND Cartoons  

"Sean Delonas has transgender studies participants dissing 'crazy' Trump"

Planned Parenthood VP Can’t Say If Abortion ‘Ends’ a Life

Newsbusters  “The majority of [Planned Parenthood's abortions] are after five-and-a-half weeks, that's the point at which the fetal heartbeat can be detected,” he said. “I'm just wondering, as someone who works there, what do you think of that? What is being aborted? If you can hear the heartbeat, what is that thing that's being aborted?” 

"Laguens waited for a moment before giving a non-answer.

“ 'Well, abortion is a right in this country. Women have their own views on whether or not they want to be pregnant,” she said. “That is not a viable fetus at five-and-a-half weeks, anyone knows that. And what you would do is make your own choice.” 

"But Tucker wanted to know what Laguens’ specific stance on abortion.

“[I]f you can hear the heartbeat of this thing, this fetus, what is it?” he asked again. “Is it just a piece of tissue or is it a separate human being?” 

"Laguens argued that abortion and life mean whatever an individual wants them to mean. Except if that individual is an unborn baby, that is.

“ 'I think that's up to each individual to decide what they believe,” she said, and tried to bridge into talking about cancer screenings and birth control." . . .

Trump Proven Right: US Spies Intercept ISIS General’s SICK Plan On US Soil

Mad World News  "Written by Rebecca Diserio for Mad World News President Donald Trump is getting flack from the liberal loons for his travel ban which targets several Muslim-majority countries known for breeding terrorism. Every time Trump predicts monumental trouble ahead, he is proven right, and that's exactly what's going on now as a well-known ISIS General has been caught by US intelligence, revealing his sick plan that is underway on American soil." . . .

Democrats chomping at the bit to use "Trumpcare" going forward

Wait a minute here, if Republicans do anything - anything - to Obamacare, Democrats then declare it becomes "Trumpcare"; so by surrendering victory in Iraq and abandoning them is that now called "Obama's war"? 

President Trump should go with his gut on Obamacare  "Before Donald Trump was inaugurated the 45th president of the United States, his initial gut instinct as a high-stakes deal-maker was to let Obamacare crash and burn on its own.  In early January, then-president-elect Trump said, "They [Democrats] own it right now.  So the easiest thing would be to let it implode in 2017, and believe me: we'd get pretty much whatever we wanted."

"And just yesterday, President Trump said the Republicans "are putting themselves in a very bad position" when it comes to repealing and replacing Obamacare." . . .

Obamacare civil war! Conservatives vs. the Old Guard  . . . "The only good news out of this is that the Democrats are too busy smashing themselves on the rocks of Russian conspiracy theories to do themselves any favors.  The Republicans had better wake up before the Democrats wake up first and figure out that truthful coverage of this internecine war will do the Democrats far more political good than spouting conspiracy theories." 

Photosnarks by the snark wizard Rich Terrell

American Silliness Mar 14, 2017 (Updated)

U. Minnesota drops homecoming ‘King and Queen’ — replaces with genderless ‘Royals’  . . . "Taking it one step further, University of Minnesota officials also point out that the winners don’t even have to be one biological male and one biological female, stating on its website: “‘Royals’ … can be any combination of any gender identity.” 
"Campus officials called the change a move “toward gender inclusivity” that promotes “a spirit of inclusion at the University of Minnesota.”. . . 

High-School Kids Slammed for Wearing USA-Themed Attire to a Basketball Game 
. . . "But that is kind of beside the point. After all, even if every student from a refugee family at that game hated every single thing about this country, that still wouldn’t change the fact that it is completely absurd to be in the United States and expect that you won’t have to see United States–themed attire. "

Update: About That Letter of Apology…  "A few days ago, Valley High School faced off against Des Moines North in an Iowa High School State Basketball Tournament game.

"Valley won that hard-fought game, at least, they won it on the scoreboard…but elsewhere, they lost it big-time.

"You see…it is something of a tradition at Valley High School, that when they play in the state tourney, their fans forego the school’s colors of black and orange, and instead wear red, white and blue as inspiration, cheering on their team to something greater than just a high school behind where the weathermen stands.

"It is Iowa, after all, in the heartland of the nation where patriotism grows like crops in the fields and pride in one’s country is as natural, and normal, as going to the movies on a Friday night.

"It was after their victory in that game, that Valley High School did something…odd…they wrote and sent a letter of apology to Des Moines North High School…not for defeating them in the game, but on behalf of their fans." . . .

California Elementary School Ends Father-Daughter Dance Tradition After A Few Parents Say It’s Not “Inclusive”…  . . . "Officials in a taxpayer-funded California school district have scuttled an annual father-daughter dance — as well as annual mother-son hike — because a handful of parents complained that the event is not sufficiently “inclusive.”

"The father-daughter dance and the mother-son hike had been traditions at Crocker/Riverside Elementary School in Sacramento, reports local Fox affiliate KTXL." . . .

Global warming: Fake news becomes no news

Daniel G. Jones  "For decades, we've heard the Chickens Little cry that the sky is warming.  Then, in 2009, a hack of climate researchers' emails at the University of East Anglia indicated that things weren't quite on the up-and-up, science-wise.  Climatologists had massaged global temperature records to bolster their claims of man-made global warming, and they had destroyed emails to skirt FOIA requests.  "Climategate," as it came to be called, suggested that many of the alarming reports about global warming had been fake news.

"It happened again about a month ago.  On February 4, Dr. John Bates, "senior scientist" at NOAA's temperature data center (until his retirement in late 2016), reported that his own organization had not quite been on the up-and-up, science-wise.  He alleged that Thomas Karl, director of the temperature data center (until his own retirement earlier last year), had "breached [NOAA's] own rules on scientific integrity when [he] published [a] sensational but flawed report" and rushed it into print in order to influence global leaders at the U.N. Climate Conference in Paris in 2015." . . .

In 1990, Michael Oppenheimer, Princeton professor and Al Gore adviser, predicted that by 1995, the greenhouse effect would be "desolating the heartlands of North America and Eurasia with horrific drought, causing crop failures and food riots."  No news in 1996 brought Oppenheimer's error to public attention.
In 2005, UNEP warned that by 2010, some 50 million "climate refugees" would be fleeing low-lying Caribbean and Pacific islands inundated by rising seas.  No news in 2011 calmed islanders' fears.
In 2007, Al Gore predicted that the North Pole would be ice-free by the summer of 2013.  No news in the fall of 2013 reminded readers that the North Pole was covered in snow that summer.

 

A tribute to our watchdog media

Speaking nonsense to power.

Reason TV: Remy stops by CNN to deal with "Fake News."

Via James Needham

Go figure: Obama reportedly concerned Trump will kick people off their health insurance  "This is just an NBC News quote from a “source” but it’s so packed with quintessential Obama self-unawareness that it’s difficult to doubt the authenticity:" . . .

Harvard pushes list calling conservative websites ‘fake news’   Harvard University recently established a research guide on “fake news” that identifies dozens of respectable conservative websites as “unreliable” or simply“fake.” 
"Their liberal counterparts, however, are generally given a "credible" rating, even when they are described as pushing "clickbait" content . . ."

Global warming: Fake news becomes no news   "For decades, we've heard the Chickens Little cry that the sky is warming.  Then, in 2009, a hack of climate researchers' emails at the University of East Anglia indicated that things weren't quite on the up-and-up, science-wise.  Climatologists had massaged global temperature records to bolster their claims of man-made global warming, and they had destroyed emails to skirt FOIA requests.  "Climategate," as it came to be called, suggested that many of the alarming reports about global warming had been fake news." . . .

Documentation on the Crimes & Corruption of Hillary Clinton

Freedom Outpost  "If you are wondering why we will hold President Donald Trump's feet to the fire regarding an investigation and subsequent prosecution of Hillary Clinton for her crimes, look no further than the hysteria the media and corrupt politicians are engaged in over allegations regarding a questionable "dossier" put out by Trump's enemies in the Deep State, as well as claims of impropriety over Trump's advisers meeting with the Russian ambassador, even though the Clinton campaign did the same.  Let me take time to just remind you of actual documentation we have on Hillary Clinton from Wikileaks.  These are the smoking guns that the Trump administration needs to use to bring this woman and her crime family, including Bill and Chelsea, to justice.  Failure to do so only endangers the people of the united States, as well as many people throughout the world.

"Keep in mind that Hillary Clinton never actually addressed any of the emails that were leaked that exposed her corruption and crime.  Clinton, the DNC and the media all wanted to deflect from the truth of the revelations and target those who leaked them.

"Here we go." . . .  Via James Needham

Hillary Clinton's team met with Russian ambassador, says Kremlin spokesman, as he warns against 'hysteria'

UK Telegraph

"Hillary Clinton’s team members met with the Russian ambassador during the election as well as Donald Trump’s, the Kremlin spokesman has alleged, as he set out to dismiss the “hysteria” surrounding Mr Trump’s links to Russia.

"The house intelligence committee will hold its first session on Russia on March 20, with the heads of the FBI, national security agency and CIA expected to appear, plus previous intelligence chiefs. 

"But Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for Vladimir Putin, said on Sunday that America was “self-humiliating” in insisting that Russia hacked its election.

"And he defended the actions of their ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, whose meeting with Michael Flynn, Mr Trump’s choice of national security adviser, caused Mr Flynn to lose his job. He was fired after just 24 days when it became clear that he had lied about meeting the Russian, and misled the vice president." . . .