Sunday, April 30, 2017
‘We are not fake news,’ claims president of White House Correspondents Association: Two by Thomas Lifson
"There is a circling of the wagons going on here, pushing the media even farther into its self-destructive obsession with bringing down President Trump. The warning that the freedom of the press is under assault at home is fatuous. Has President Trump wiretapped reporters (and even their mothers!) the way that President Obama did? "
Thomas Lifson "Richard Nixon’s famous claim, “I am not a crook,” now has fitting company in the realm of immortal, unconvincing denials. At last night’s White House Correspondents Association Dinner, the president of that body, Jeff Mason, the White House correspondent for Reuters, adopted a somber tone, the sort of sad seriousness found when a family member reveals that she has been diagnosed with cancer. The UKDM:" . . .
. . . "Face it: the media love to dish out criticism (especially of Trump, but any non-progressive will do), but they cannot stand it when the object of their scorn hits back with his own criticism of them. Trump has criticized the media, but so far as anyone knows, he has not abused the Espionage Act to spy on them, a truly alarming use of state power, as opposed to rhetoric. "
How Trump turned media’s hatred of him into an asset
How Trump turned media’s hatred of him into an asset
Certainly they have done enough to make every newscast, written report, blog post or tweet a breathless condemnation of every step he takes. They are shocked at how unconventional he is, while people who voted for him are shocked the political class still doesn’t understand that’s exactly why they voted for him.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Leftists cannot identify fake news
Bloviating Zeppelin
The “Women’s March” wasn’t that; it was actually an anti-Trump march.
"If you can’t agree what constitutes “fake news,” how can you possibly hope to identify “fake news”?
"And trust me, Leftists cannot agree on what is fake news.
First, from the NYTimes.com:
"Billionaire George Soros has ties to more than 50 ‘partners’ of the Women’s March on Washington"
. . . "To understand the march better, I stayed up through the nights this week, studying the funding, politics and talking points of the some 403 groups that are “partners” of the march. Is this a non-partisan “Women’s March”?"
. . .
. . . "To understand the march better, I stayed up through the nights this week, studying the funding, politics and talking points of the some 403 groups that are “partners” of the march. Is this a non-partisan “Women’s March”?"
. . .
"Politifact attributes the lie to “bloggers.” The last time I checked, the New York Times wasn’t “some blogger.” Politifact’s foundational objection is that the author isn’t a Lockstep Leftist but a woman who has done her research. Please read her entire article.
"Leftists cannot even agree on the facts.
"That’s no real shock. Facts are challenged every day. Facts should be challenged every day. Hence, individuals themselves can now be, in their own small way, journalists with the video and camera options they have in their phones." . . .
Richard Dreyfus and Tucker Carlson: Six Minutes with two real American Thinkers
"There've been some good interviews on Fox News in the 8PM Eastern time slot lately now that Tucker Carlson is at the helm. His interview with Richard Dreyfus is a gem"
. . . "The first issue Dreyfus touches on in the video is not necessarily the most important, but a reminder to us all. He explains that to understand the federal judge’s ruling on the Sanctuary City Executive Order requires one to first read it. Upon doing so, one is reminded that Congress, not the Executive, controls the purse strings and thus the judge’s contention.
"Secondly he moves to the issue of the importance of dissenting opinions on campus and the need for a “battle of ideas” on university campuses.
"But Dreyfus continues to a greater issue. With a touch of John Locke and a dash of Thomas Jefferson, Dreyfus points to shortfalls in our school system regarding the teaching of civics. Dreyfus notes, a la Locke’s tabula rasa, that we are not born with an understanding of the Ten Commandments, and neither are we born with the knowledge of the Preamble to the Constitution. Both must be taught.
"We have seen the Fox News Jesse Watters interviews of people who should know certain civics basics, but don’t. Dreyfus emphasizes that this is a dangerous condition. He notes that if we do not know who we are and what we stand for, the common fabric that binds us dissolves." . . .
How Conservative “Hate Speech” Makes Our Campus Safer (UPDATED)
"Here is the exact wording of the voice mail I got from the parent who declined to leave his name: “My son was planning on attending UNC Wilmington in the fall of 2017. However, based on a column you wrote on the Internet, we are now withdrawing his acceptance per his request. Free speech is protected. But your hate speech isn’t.' ”
Mike Adams
Author’s Note: This column contains some bad language from a critic – although I don’t mind. The fact that I am receiving flak shows that I am flying over the target.
. . . "In all seriousness, the time has come for you to consider your role in encouraging these kinds of unhinged lunatics who decry “hate speech” while wishing death upon their political adversaries. It is clear that you have been stung by criticism from the political left and that now you seek to appease them whenever the opportunity arises. That is why you jumped on the antiHB2 bandwagon. That is also why you decided to attack me in public back in January.
"You need to reconsider your tactics. Experience shows that you can never appease leftists. If you give them a license to define “hate” then they will surely exempt themselves from the definition. It is far better to ignore them than to empower them. Let the sons of lunatics go to Berkeley with other fragile “warriors” who are compelled to riot every time they hear a divergent opinion. We don’t need them here in North Carolina.
"In other words, your administration needs to stop marginalizing conservative professors. You need to clone them instead. We make excellent lunatic repellent for those who call ideas hateful because they lack the intelligence to rebut them."
UPDATE: Berkeley Silences Free Speech With a Kick in the Teeth . . . "YAF is not in the business of hosting conservative gatherings that resemble professional wrestling shows. They are meant to foster thoughtful and enlightened debate and conversation.
“ 'Berkeley should be ashamed for creating this hostile atmosphere,” YAF president Ron Robinson told the Washington Examiner. “Berkeley made it impossible to hold a lecture due to the lack of assurances for protections from foreseeable violence from unrestrained leftist agitators.”
UPDATE: Berkeley Silences Free Speech With a Kick in the Teeth . . . "YAF is not in the business of hosting conservative gatherings that resemble professional wrestling shows. They are meant to foster thoughtful and enlightened debate and conversation.
"So why – you may ask – did the conservatives not proceed with Ms. Coulter’s speech?
"It turns out the university’s police department has a stand down policy – meaning they do not get involved unless there is an imminent loss of life, according to a lawsuit filed by YAF.
"In other words – liberals get a free pass to beat the living daylights out of conservative kids so long as the victims still have a pulse.
" 'All the while Berkeley administrators look the other way – while speech liberals disagree with is silenced.
“ 'Berkeley should be ashamed for creating this hostile atmosphere,” YAF president Ron Robinson told the Washington Examiner. “Berkeley made it impossible to hold a lecture due to the lack of assurances for protections from foreseeable violence from unrestrained leftist agitators.”
"It would’ve been like throwing red meat to a pack of liberal jackals.
“ 'I had the misfortune of being in a leftist riot as a student, and I wouldn’t want to put my children or anyone else’s children into that situation without assurances that law enforcement would protect them,” Robinson said." . . .
If these campus leftists and those who side with them are possessed of a conscience, they have to be asking themselves, "what have I become?". These are truly the dark ages for American society; Donald Trump has not caused it all, he only revealed it. TD
Friday, April 28, 2017
The American left and their "useful idiots"
"Useful Idiots" defined
Berkeley Didn’t Birth ‘Free Speech,’ but It Seems Intent to Bury It . . . "In 1689, the British passed a law guaranteeing freedom of speech in Parliament. A century later, French revolutionaries incorporated into law the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which established free speech as a universal right. Two years later, the Americans ratified the First Amendment, which guarantees that the state shall not infringe on the right to free speech. Roughly a century and half later, in 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which says, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. . . . ”
"I mention all of this because every time I read or hear about the pathetic state of affairs at the University of California, Berkeley — where conservative speakers and rabble-rousers alike are banned from speaking lest they be assaulted by a mob — journalists and other commentators insist on pointing out the irony that this is all happening “where the Free Speech Movement was born.' ” . . . Read more
While we're at it: Climate Bullies Take to the Streets for ‘People’s Climate March’ "Most Americans are unaware of the vicious campaign waged by climate activists against people who do not recite the strictest tenets of the manmade-climate-change creed."
From Mona Charen: Political Violence from the Left Comes to Campus — Again Quoting Jonathan Haidt:
While we're at it: Climate Bullies Take to the Streets for ‘People’s Climate March’ "Most Americans are unaware of the vicious campaign waged by climate activists against people who do not recite the strictest tenets of the manmade-climate-change creed."
From Mona Charen: Political Violence from the Left Comes to Campus — Again Quoting Jonathan Haidt:
We are witnessing the emergence of a dangerous new norm for responding to speakers who challenge campus orthodoxy. Anyone offended by the speaker can put out a call on Facebook to bring together students and locals, including “antifa” (antifascist) and black-bloc activists who explicitly endorse the use of violence against racists and fascists. Because of flagrant “concept creep,” however, almost anyone who is politically right of center can be labeled a racist or a fascist, and the promiscuous use of such labels is now part of the standard operating procedure.. . . "There’s an opportunity awaiting someone, anyone, on today’s campuses too. Stand up to the social-justice warriors, tell the truth, and you may find yourself a household name."
Populism on Pause
So what is populism? "Populists can be everything from militarists to libertarians. So what does the word actually mean?"
Charles Krauthammer
But populism’s belief that the people are always right is bad news for two elements of liberal democracy: the rights of minorities and the rule of law.That's what it said.
Charles Krauthammer
"The worldwide movement has not been halted but is temporarily on hold."
"Yesterday’s conventional wisdom: A wave of insurgent populism is sweeping the West, threatening its foundational institutions — the European Union, the Western alliance, even liberal democracy itself.
"Today’s conventional wisdom (post-first-round French presidential election): The populist wave has crested, soon to abate.
"Chances are that both verdicts are wrong. The anti-establishment sentiment that gave us Brexit, then Donald Trump, and then seemed poised to give us Marine Le Pen, has indeed plateaued. But although she will likely be defeated in the second round, victory by the leading centrist, Emmanuel Macron, would hardly constitute an establishment triumph."
. . .
"The other notable populist victory, the triumph of Trump, has also turned out to be less than meets the eye. He certainly ran as a populist and won as a populist but, a mere 100 days in, he is governing as a traditionalist.
"The Obamacare-replacement proposals are traditional small-government fixes. His tax reform is a follow-on to Reagan’s from 1986. His Supreme Court pick is a strait-laced constitutional conservative out of central casting. And his more notable executive orders read as a wish list of traditional business-oriented conservatism, from regulatory reform to the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines." . . .
Threats of Violence Shut Down Portland’s Avenue of Roses Parade
Legal Insurrection
“ 'Hateful rhetoric” and the “spreading of views” cited as reason for threatened violence"
“ 'Hateful rhetoric” and the “spreading of views” cited as reason for threatened violence"
"In disturbing parallels to the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Weather Underground of the 1960’s, we are seeing a small band of violent radicals attempt—and thus far succeed—in imposing their will on Americans. The terrorist acts that the SDS and Weather Underground engaged in are what we most remember, but it’s worth noting that they, too, started out with threats, riots, and destruction of property during their “Days of Rage.” They ultimately used violence as a means of condemning violence(?!) and of coalescing their “families” and “tribes” behind a “youth resistance,” and we are seeing this all unfold yet again as violent radicals shriek about fascism while engaging in it themselves.
"In the wake of the violent riots that shut down speaking engagements by Milo Yiannopoulos and Heather Mac Donald, the violent radicals of the fringe left have notched up further “wins” in silencing Ann Coulter and in now causing the cancellation of the Avenue of Roses Parade in Portland, Oregon." . . .
New York Times Op-Ed Denounces the Asian Salad as ‘Racist’
Next we'll discuss french toast and German chocolate cake as cultural appropriation.Weasel Zippers
"Sigh, isn’t everything? The salad doesn’t sound ‘Asian’ in any particular way except perhaps snow peas are a common ingredient in some asian dishes. But whether it is or isn’t, how is that racist? Crazy train…
"Via Free Beacon:
A New York Times op-ed published Thursday night denounced the existence of Asian salad and called on restaurants to remove the “racist” dish from their menus.“Why Is Asian Salad Still on the Menu?” asked Bonnie Tsui, complaining that the common offering was “something created in the name of Asians by non-Asians [and] has become a touchstone for non-Asians.”The impetus for the piece was when Tsui came across an “Asian Emperor Salad” on the menu at a San Francisco bar.“I thought about its grand imprecision, which irritated me as a Chinese-American. And I wondered, who cooked up this thing,” she recalled. “I was reasonably sure it wasn’t anyone Asian.”
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