You Have to Hand It to Hillary – the Girl Can Smear

Clarice Feldman   "With the help of the DNC (broke, but forking over millions to this end), Hillary pulled off what Kimberly Strassel rightly calls “one of the dirtiest tricks in U.S. political history." She hired a smear outfit (Fusion, headed by Glenn Simpson) which put together ludicrous claims, leaked them to willing press cohorts, including David Corn at Mother Jones, hired Christopher Steele (GPS) to concoct a fairytale about Donald J Trump and had Steele give the Dossier to the FBI in July 2016. Then press megaphone Michael Isikoff at Yahoo News -- obviously tipped off by Steele -- reported, “U.S. intel officials probe ties between Trump advisor and Kremlin.”

"Having generated this nonsense, handed it off to the FBI, and shared the news of that handoff to Isikoff, Hillary “jumped all over it, spinning its own oppo research as a government investigation into Mr. Trump.”  . . .

. . . 

"And his effort to keep from turning over to Congress the bank records, which seem likely to disclose the names of journalists whom his outfit Fusion paid, has hit a bump as far as he is concerned. The Obama-appointed judge who was handling the bank records case has been removed -- perhaps because her law firm represented Huma Abedin and other Democratic insiders and a new judge appointed to hear it;

"If you, like me, prefer to remember the day when Americans were smarter and more resourceful than to be taken in by this foolishness, I draw your attention to an obituary in this week’s New York Times.

"It’s about Irv Refkin, from my hometown, Milwaukee. When he was 3 or 4 his immigrant parents died in an auto accident and he spent the next 10 years in a German Lutheran orphanage where he learned to speak German. Through a series of mix-ups while in the U.S. Army, he was mistaken for a Canadian and flown to Britain, “before the United States army knew he was missing, he had parachuted into occupied France.” He carried out three missions for the British and when the U.S. entered the war he worked for the O.S.S. as a “saboteur, assassin and courier behind enemy lines.”

"It’s good to remember that once upon a time in a country called the USA we had people with enough courage and wit to know how to do the right thing. "

Are mass murderers always insane? Researchers don't think so

UK Independent   File under "They know this because....?"  

" 'In almost all high-end mass killings, the perpetrator’s thinking evolves,' says one expert"

If what people do is any reflection of who they are, then Devin Patrick Kelley, who slaughtered 26 churchgoers on Sunday in Texas, surely was a madman.

Before the atrocity, he had attempted to sneak weapons onto an Air Force base after making death threats to his superiors, according to a local police report. In 2012, he had escaped from a mental hospital in New Mexico to which he had been sent after assaulting his wife and fracturing his stepson’s skull.

"A video of the church killing reportedly shows Mr. Kelley working his way methodically through the aisles, shooting some parishioners, even children, at point-blank range.

"But the rest of these murderers do not have any severe, diagnosable disorder. Though he was abusive to his wife, Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people in an Orlando nightclub, had no apparent serious mental illness. Neither did Stephen Paddock, who mowed down 58 concertgoers from a hotel window in Las Vegas."

"Ditto for Dylann Roof, the racist who murdered nine African-American churchgoers in South Carolina in 2015, and Christopher Harper-Mercer, the angry young man who killed nine people at a community college in Oregon the same year." . . .

"Adam Lanza, who in 2012 killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., exhibited extreme paranoia in the months leading up to his crime, isolating himself in his room."

20-Year-Old Friends Become Youngest Black Republicans Elected in Connecticut

Big Government

A pair of 20-year-old friends may have just become the youngest black Republicans ever elected to public office in Connecticut, according to reports.

"Ed Ford Jr. and Tyrell Brown, a pair of young black men elected to office in Middletown, Connecticut, have been friends since middle school. They share many things but most especially an interest in politics, WTNH channel 8 reported.

"Speaking of his friend, Mr. Ford told WTNH, “I met him playing two-hand touch football.”

"Now, these two college juniors may have become the youngest black Republicans ever to be elected to a public office in the liberal state of Connecticut. On Election Day, Ford won a seat on the Middletown school board, and Brown was elected to the Middletown Planning and Zoning Commission.

"Both young men admitted that many of their fellow millennials look suspiciously at them for being Republicans. They also note that they are serious about their politics.

“ 'If you have the will to do it, if you have the passion to do it, go do it now,” Ford told reporters of the pair’s go-getter attitude.

"Ford, a psychology major at Central Connecticut State University, and Brown, a business major at Southern Connecticut State University, hope to bring their conservative ideas to their newly won seats.

"The newly minted representatives of Middletown’s voters will be sworn in on November 14 at the Middletown City Hall." . . .

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says most in middle class will get a break under Republican tax reform proposal . . .

. . . but stops short of promising it to all

UK Daily Mail  . . . "Mnuchin pointed out Sunday that the complexity of the tax code makes predicting every scenario impossible, adding that Republicans in the House and Senate want to simplify the code with proposed legislation. 

 " 'For most people - and, again, it may not be 100 percent, but by far the majority - both the House and Senate version provide middle-income tax relief,' Mnuchin said on CNN.

" 'What's so complicated in our tax situation today is that everybody has a different situation, takes advantage of different parts of the code, it's very complicated. So by simplifying the code, we're putting everybody on a level playing field,' he said." . . . Read more 

Atheism and the Texas Church Shooter

Selwyn Duke  “ 'If God does not exist, everything is permitted,” wrote Fyodor Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov.  Mentioning this in association with Devin Patrick Kelley, the militant atheist who last Sunday perpetrated the worst church shooting in U.S.  history, is bound to raises hackles.  Of course, few atheists will descend into committing murder; in fact, I’ve known some I’d call “good people.” Moreover, note that I myself once not only didn’t believe in God, but like Kelley thought religious people were “stupid.” Yet is it possible a straight line can be drawn between atheism (the belief) and increasing crime and immorality? Ideas do have consequences, after all." . . . 
. . . 

. . . "This may take a dark form or just that of the atheistic but generally good-hearted young man I once knew who responded, when I mentioned that something he was contemplating was wrong, “But it’s not wrong for me.” The point, however, is that atheism’s implied moral nihilism can justify anything.  Rape? Kill? Steal? Why not? Who’s to say it’s wrong? This brings us to one last matter. 

"When someone points out that atheistic Marxist governments have killed 65 to 110 million people, atheists will often retort, “But atheism doesn’t prescribe that!” They’re correct.  Atheism doesn’t prescribe any behavior.

"It also doesn’t proscribe any behavior.

"And that’s the problem.  Silence on moral matters would be fine if man by nature were angelic.  But by nature, he’s barbaric — and he remains so unless some civilizing agency enters the equation.  Atheism’s mistake is one of omission. "

"A Republic, if You Can Keep It"

An argument for the Electoral College and against "popular vote"

John F. McManus  . . . "The Founding Fathers supported the view that (in the words of the Declaration of Independence) "Men ... are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." They recognized that such rights should not be violated by an unrestrained majority any more than they should be violated by an unrestrained king or monarch. In fact, they recognized that majority rule would quickly degenerate into mobocracy and then into tyranny. They had studied the history of both the Greek democracies and the Roman republic. They had a clear understanding of the relative freedom and stability that had characterized the latter, and of the strife and turmoil — quickly followed by despotism — that had characterized the former. In drafting the Constitution, they created a government of law and not of men, a republic and not a democracy.

"But don't take our word for it! Consider the words of the Founding Fathers themselves, who — one after another — condemned democracy.

"• Virginia's Edmund Randolph participated in the 1787 convention. Demonstrating a clear grasp of democracy's inherent dangers, he reminded his colleagues during the early weeks of the Constitutional Convention that the purpose for which they had gathered was "to provide a cure for the evils under which the United States labored; that in tracing these evils to their origin every man had found it in the turbulence and trials of democracy...."

"• John Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, championed the new Constitution in his state precisely because it would not create a democracy. "Democracy never lasts long," he noted. "It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself." He insisted, "There was never a democracy that 'did not commit suicide.'"

. . .  Full article here.

CNN’s Awful Week: Lies, Meltdowns, Ratings Collapse, New Discrimination Suit

comicallyincorrect.

Big Journalism
. . .

CNN Communications‏Verified account @CNNPR

Replying to @DRUDGE

CNN is pacing to have its 2nd highest year in primetime since 2008 - behind only 2016 elex year. Those are the facts.

. . . "If CNN was only in competition with itself and its own dismal ratings, that tweet would make sense. The problem for last-place CNN, though, is that it has actual competition in the form of MSNBC and Fox, both of which are shellacking The Least Trustws Name In News in every conceivable metric.

"Moreover, when compared to the same month last year, CNN’s October 2017 ratings collapsed a whopping 52 percent. Meanwhile, Fox News is only down 26 percent, MSNBC down a mere 6 percent.

"My reference to “last place” is not a specious one. Until CNN turned into a 24/7 RedBaitingAntiTrumpFakeNewsHateMachine, the left-wing network was in second place, beating MSNBC much more often than not. So not only has CNN lost more than half of its year-over-year viewers, it has lost its bragging rights over its left-wing counterpart at MSNBC.

"And things continue to get worse, primarily through unforced errors caused by CNN’s blinding hate and rabid partisanship. Without a doubt, CNN has just suffered through its worst week since those hilarious weeks back in June when CNN staffers had to be fired over hate-sprees against President Trump, and a barrage of firings occurred after the network was caught red-handed telling one audacious lie after another.

"To begin with, although CNN and its elite media brethren are covering this news up, on Thursday we learned that CNN is facing yet-another massive racial discrimination lawsuit— a class-action suit. And when you look back and remember the efforts CNN put into stirring up riots in predominantly black neighborhoods, this should surprise no one.

"CNN’s public missteps this week, however, left all kinds of bruises." . . .

Will Trump bring peace to the Middle East?

Jerusalem Post

. . . "The report says Trump's main advisors currently working on the plan are special advisors Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt. Deputy national security adviser Dina H. Powell, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and others from the State Department and National Security Council. "The team is said to consult with the consul general in Jerusalem Donald Bloom. "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complimented Trump and his advisors last week for “taking a fresh approach” and “thinking out of the box.” "Trump had said in the past that he is Israel’s “biggest friend” and that he was aiming for the"ultimate deal." "However some skeptics point out that more than a few American presidents entered the Israeli-Palestinian fry with great hopes only to emerge out of it with less success then they had hoped for. "What changed? "Saudi Arabia and other moderate Arab states seem more interested than ever before in solving the Arab-Israeli conflict in order to invest the attention and energy needed to prevent Iran from increasing its dominance in the Middle East. "Egypt had also been an important ally of those who seek stability and possibly a peace agreement by recently brokering a reconciliation deal between the Hamas government in Gaza and Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah. "It remains to be seen if the Palestinian Authority will assume control of Gaza and if Hamas will give up its’ arms. "Skeptics point out that even a strong personal commitment from a residing US President is not always enough to turn around a century of conflict and personal mistrust between the various leaders involved in the conflict. “ 'Ultimately, both Netanyahu and Abbas just have this long, long history and they’ve played this game really well,” said Foundation for Defense of Democracies scholar Grant Rumley. “ 'They don’t trust each other and I don’t think they will ever get to the point where they will trust each other.' ”

Armistice/ Veterans Day in America; Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom. Rich Terrell update

Rich Terrell update

What We Owe the War Dead  . . . "If death in war is only to be lamented, and its cause decried, then far from paying honor to the "victims" (i.e., dead soldiers), as our self-righteous lamenters claim to be doing, we are actually only absolving ourselves of the truest and ultimate honor we owe the dead, which, to paraphrase the most popular war poem from the age before the folk music leftists got at the topic, is to take the torch from their failing hands and hold it high – that is, to honor the fallen by honoring their cause and their sacrifice with similar, though perhaps never equal, moral seriousness.

"This does not mean we must support an unsound or wasteful political decision about a particular war of which we disapprove, merely because soldiers have died in that war. ("A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it," as Oscar Wilde wrote.)  What it means is that men who died, even if unnecessarily, in the name of the general cause of defending the freedoms we enjoy – or rather the freedoms upon which our societies were founded, though we have largely forsaken them today – ought to serve as reminders of the true value of those freedoms, and also as inspiration to rededicate our own lives to preserving or revitalizing them." . . .

Remembrance Day and Lessons Forgotten 

  "On this Remembrance Day 99 years later, recall that some 750,000 British soldiers, marines, and sailors were killed in WWI; nearly 400,000 more in WWII.

"The most heralded British war poets, emerging in 1915, were not practitioners of armchair verse. They were officers, and men, at the front in the trenches. Over four years their tone changed from lofty patriotic apologetics, to stark portraits of everyday horrors, and instant death within arm’s reach.

. . . 

"Who is Winston Churchill to this generation? An historical trifle, another dead white guy reeking of privilege, and toxic masculinity?  Or instead will anyone remember Churchill as the last defender of the western canon, his singing Sunday service hymns with FDR in 1941 on the deck of HMS Prince of Wales at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland? Who will remember?

"If the generation born in this decade can somehow recall the exploits of their great-grandfathers, and the reasons why those exploits mattered, they may be willing to emulate those historical offerings of a holy gift, for a noble purpose. If not, submission will lead to subjugation, and slaughter. And no one will remember."

Armistice Day: Nation falls silent to remember war dead  . . . "Among those remembering, 99-year-old Les Cherrington (pictured, right), of the Staffordshire Yeomanry Queen's Own Royal Regiment, who was the only survivor from his tank crew in the North African desert in 1943.  

"Mr Cherrington's Sherman tank was left a flaming wreck by a German field gun, but he managed to escape despite being badly burned and his left arm nearly severed by shrapnel." . . .

Asied Debly's Vintage Images Gallery

Chelsea Manning Has A Despicable Veterans Day Message

Weasel Zippers

New York church invites its congregation to bring their firearms to services after Texas mass shooting

UK Daily Mail

" 'Times are changing,' Russell told Spectrum News, noting that it is church leadership that has advocated for the ability to bear arms during services, not necessarily the congregation. 

 "' 'People say 'well, pastor, you’re talking about killing some,' and I say 'well, if I don’t protect my people, I’m being complicit,' Russell said, adding that, 'A shooting here, that’s not going to happen.'

"Outside the Lighthouse Mexico Church of God, a sign now reads, 'We say it again, we are not a gun free zone' and the church's website prominently displays a scrolling message reiterating the message and also stating 'we protect our people!' 

"Spectrum News reported that the Pentecostal church offers parishioners lessons in self-defense and identifying suspicious behavior ." . . . Read more

School District Orders Coaches to Stop Bowing Heads in Prayer

Todd Starnes

"Heaven help the coach who bows his head to pray in Coweta County, Georgia. 

The Coweta County School District issued an edict banning all coaches and other employees from participating in student-initiated or student-led prayer or other forms of worship while acting in their official capacity.

"They cannot join hands, bow their heads, take a knee or commit another act that otherwise manifests approval with the students' religious experience," school board attorney Nathan Lee wrote in a letter obtained by the Newnan Times-Herald. 

"The prayer ban stems from a complaint filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based group of disgruntled atheists, agnostics and free-thinkers. 

"They obtained video of East Coweta County High School football coach John Small bowing his head during a team prayer. 

" 'It is illegal for public school athletic coaches to lead their teams in prayer," FFRF attorney Christopher Line wrote in a letter to the school district. "Coach Small's conduct is unconstitutional because he endorses and promotes his religion when acting in his official capacity as a school district employee."

"The Freedom from Religion Foundation has an ugly history of bullying small towns into eradicating any public displays of the Christian faith. And they have spies lurking everywhere." . . .

School Marching Band Stands Up to Tone Deaf Atheists     . . . "This year’s show features renditions of among others Amazing Grace, Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.

"In addition to the religious-flavored music, the marching band’s routine includes church pews – on the football field.

"While the show is quite popular with most of the folks in town, it’s not exactly a toe-tapper for an aggrieved atheist.

"The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based group of perpetually offended atheists, agnostics and free-thinkers, fired off a letter to the school district – warning that the halftime show violates the law." . . .