The True North of the American Media’s Coverage of the Olympics

Love Trumps Hate? Media Swoon Over Kim's Murderous Sister

"Fast forward to today, and Turner’s impaired perception of North Korea is no different from what the Leftmedia despicably showed during Friday night’s Olympic Games opening ceremony. In fact, the Olympics were quickly tarnished by Trump Derangement Syndrome. Vice President Mike Pence, who was on hand for the ceremony, was eviscerated for his refusal to overlook North Korea’s abhorrent and tyrannical dictatorship. North and South Korea had recently — and no doubt apprehensively — agreed to show harmony at the Olympics, such as processing together for the opening ceremony and sporting a joint women’s hockey team. That’s their prerogative, and everyone hopes that something good can come out of it."

Isn't this the same look she gave Mike Pence that the liberal press loved?

National Review  "The ludicrous coverage of North Korea’s presence at the Winter Olympics suggests that for the metaphorical compass of many of the biggest institutions in America’s mainstream media, there is a new true north (no pun intended, but now that I think about it, I should have intended it): Whoever is in opposition to the Trump administration is the hero of the story – no matter the circumstances, no matter the stakes.
     "John McCain, Jeff Flake, Jim Comey, LaVar Ball, the intelligence community, corporate CEOs, kneeling NFL players, the North Korean regime – no matter what you’ve done in the past, no matter how much the media collectively previously hammered you, if you’re butting heads with the Trump administration, you will get the more sympathetic angle in the news coverage of that dispute.
     " No foreign leader has enjoyed coverage as good as North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong since Vogue profiled Asma al-Assad, first lady of Syria, back in 2011. (That was right before Assad’s regime killed tens of thousands of people and used chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war.) A sampling: 
     "Reuters: “North Korea has emerged as the early favorite to grab one of the Winter Olympics’ most important medals: the diplomatic gold.” 
     "CNN: “Kim Jong Un’s sister is stealing the show at the Winter Olympics!” 
     "Business Insider: “From her “side-eye” of US Vice President Mike Pence to hints at Korean unification, Kim has stolen the spotlight at the Winter Olympics.”  
       "Washington Post: “The ‘Ivanka Trump of North Korea’ captivates people in the South at the Olympics.” 
      "In the name of Otto Warmbier, could we avoid variations of the term “captive” in praising North Korea’s leaders during the Olympics? The New York Times wrote, “Her quietly friendly approach while in South Korea — photographers repeatedly captured her smiling — seemed to endear her to some observers.”. . . 

It was left to Buzzfeed – Buzzfeed! – to bring some sanity and perspective back to the situation: In 2015, a South Korean report said that between 2000 and 2013, almost 1,400 North Korean citizens were publicly executed, reportedly as a means to “keep the population in line. Thousands of North Koreans were required to witness firing squad executions in public stadiums in 2013, according to a South Korean newspaper.

Read more.

Barack and Michelle Obama Unveiled Official Portraits . . .Update on one artist:

UPDATE: Obama artist paints black women holding severed white heads

"While America is captivated by the newly released portraits of former President Obama and first lady Michelle, there’s something curious about Obama’s artist that’s raising eyebrows: He apparently enjoys painting portraits of black women holding the severed heads of white people.

"Kehinde Wiley, a New York artist who paints primarily African-American subjects in heroic poses, was chosen by former President Obama to create a portrait of the 44th president to be displayed at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Wiley’s portrait of Obama was unveiled Monday.

"While the New York Times and others sang Wiley’s praises, claiming the portrait showed the president as an “alert and troubled thinker,” others wanted to know: Why is he sitting in the middle of a giant, green bush?" . . .

Hat tip to Stephanie Lynne at The Libnorants

Daily Caller  "An official portrait of former first lady Michelle Obama was unveiled at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Monday morning.

"The painting was done by Baltimore artist Amy Sherald, who is known for her social justice painting style." . . .

Overused Cries of Racism Make It Harder for Us to Unite

When a coin toss is deemed racist, the charge has lost all meaning.

John Fund, NRO

"Every time you think there’s nothing left, no area or topic, where race can’t be injected into the conversation, you’re wrong. An African-American skater on the U.S. Olympic team refused to attend the opening celebration because of the results of a coin toss that decided whether he or a white female skater would represent the United States at the ceremony. 

"The skater, Shani Davis, said the coin toss was “dishonorable,” even though it was the previously agreed-upon method for breaking a tie vote among U.S. athletes. Davis included the hashtag #BlackHistoryMonth2018 in his tweet along with a list of his accomplishments that he said should have made him the flag-bearer. It seems as if Davis is alleging the first racially motivated coin toss in Olympic history." . . .

There was a time when liberals recognized just how poisonous and conversation-ending a reckless charge of racism could be. John Bunzel, a Democrat who served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, wrote that we should end the “corrupted usage” of the word “racist.” It breeds “bitterness and polarization, not a spirit of pragmatic reasonableness in confronting our difficult problems,” he wrote in 1998.

 More.

Urban Dictionary discusses "racism" here:  . . . "A term that used to mean prejudice towards one or more races. 

"In modern use, this word is used by people to explain the behaviour of people of other races, whether race is called into the issue or not. 

"Also: racism can now also include having good race relations. If you try to be friends with someone of a different race, someone will call you a racist.

Me: Dude I met this black guy when I was... 
Idiot: RACIST!  . . .

The nation for which Kim Yo Jong is Director of Propaganda

The same left that used to cheer for Ho Chi Minh. TD

Dem Senator Murphy of Connectucut Compares Not Cheering For North Korea To Disrespecting American National Anthem…. . . "But there’s another problem with Murphy’s tweet: it wasn’t a protest. The Vice President’s press secretary pointed out on Twitter that leaders only stood to applaud their own countries, and Pence sat for every country except the United States." . . . Voters should drop-kick Sen. Murphy next election, but noooo. TD

CNN's Bizarre Praise of Kim Jong Un's Sister at the Winter Olympics  "CNN ran an absurd story Saturday afternoon, seemingly praising the sister of one the world’s most evil dictators for “stealing the show” at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. 

"The piece starts off, saying, “If 'diplomatic dance' were an event at the Winter Olympics, Kim Jong Un's younger sister would be favored to win gold.” 

"Hailing Kim Yo Jong as North Korea’s “answer” to Ivanka Trump, CNN claims that “with a smile, a handshake and a warm message in South Korea's presidential guest book, Kim Yo Jong has struck a chord with the public just one day into the PyeongChang Games.' ”  . . .

Kim Yo Jong was "promoted" in 2014 to "deputy director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers' Party." Perhaps even weirder about this story is that three days earlier CNN noted that Kim Yo Jong is always "thinking that at any given time, if she is to make one mistake, her brother could have her killed."

Both Kims are children of a mistress of Kim Jong Il

American Media Can't Stop Gushing About the North Korean 'Charm Offensive' at the Olympics  "Many Americans over the weekend observed the mainstream media's fawning coverage of North Korea at the Olympics with abject disgust -- especially in light of the hostile coverage of Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence.

"The over-the-top praise of the North Korean cheer squad and Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korea's dictator Kim Jong Un, has been nothing short of disgraceful.

SalenaZito

✔@SalenaZito

I am deeply saddened by how my profession has normalized and glamorized this murderous regime.
And then we wonder why no one trusts us.

"North Korea continues to starve, imprison, torture, and murder its own people and threaten its neighbors with nuclear annihilation -- but that didn't stop Reuters from awarding the totalitarian regime with a gold medal for diplomacy."

The New York Times

✔@nytimes

Without a word, only flashing smiles, Kim Jong-un's sister outflanked Vice President Mike Pence in diplomacy

. . . 

Have you ever heard of Yeonmi Park? She's a 24-year-old woman who defected from North Korea when she was 13.  
" She appeared at the One Young World Summit 2014 in Dublin, Ireland, one day after her 21st birthday to give a brief talk about her life in the "unimaginable" dictatorship and described what happened to her and her mother after a human trafficker helped them escape to China.
"Years later, Park could barely talk about the horrors she lived through.
"Out of antipathy toward President Trump, American media outlets propped that nightmare regime up over the weekend so they could push the narrative that Vice President Pence looked weak and ineffective compared to the mighty Norks.

"Have a tissue ready because this will make you cry." . . .

". . . And with the knives, we were prepared to kill ourselves if we were going to be sent back to North Korea. We wanted to live as humans. People often ask me, "how can you help North Koreans?" There are many ways but I would like to mention three for now. One, educate yourself so that you can raise awareness about human crisis in North Korea. Two, help and support North Korean refugees who are trying to escape to freedom. Three, petition China's on repatriation. We have to shine a light on the darkest place in the world."

CNN, are you aware of this?

More at the Tunnel Wall blog

"Iran’s stealth drone used against Israel #ThanksObama"

Legal Insurrection

"Knock-off of American drone brought down in Iran in December 2011, which Obama refused to destroy on the ground before the Iranians got to it."

"More details are emerging about the Iranian drone launched from central Syria that was brought down over Israeli territory, and the resulting Israeli attack on the Iranian base near Palmyra that launched and controlled the drone.

"n that attack on the Iranian base, an Israeli F-16 was brought down, though the precise circumstances are not yet clear based on public information. Differing news accounts have the F-16 hit by shrapnel, or alternatively being ditched when the pilots realize a Russian-made surface-to-air missile (SAM) had locked on to the plane.

. . . 

"Obama rejected plans to launch a covert operation to take back or at least destroy the drone and all its sensitive military technologies for fear it would spark a larger confrontation.

. . . 

"What is not a mystery is that Obama had a chance to destroy this technology on the ground after it was brought down in Iran. Instead, he let the Iranians have it, and now it’s being used against Israel, and sooner or later, will be used against American troops."

Updated: Another wardrobe malfunction at the Olympics? Wonder why.

Monica Showalter  "Is it too much to ask Olympic athletes to wear professional costumes?

"The "wardrobe malfunction" of one of the figure skaters, Yura Min, an American citizen representing South Korea at the Olympics, was fussed and frou-froued about as something tabloid-worthy for much of the press. Oops, a wardrobe malfunction, get the camera out. It was explained by Min as: “But, as we all know, stuff happens.” It certainly overshadowed her performance, which would have otherwise gone unnoticed, coming in at ninth place.

"But seriously. Wasn't Tonya Harding's untied shoelace incident, where she had to stop and restart her program, kind of a warning to be absolutely sure about one's attire before performing that one-shot skating routine, the one that cost all those hours and all those millions?

"And more to the point, what's the point of wearing ultra-sexy skating costumes if they don't stay on during the routine? What was Min selling?" . . .

Is it really that hard to get something attractive that stays on, such as Nancy Kerrigan wore to the 1994 Olympics? Look at the great aesthetics of this costume in the picture of Kerrigan here. You can see here how it accomodates her every body move during the event. And it completely covers her up, so as not to distract from her performance.

Well, considering women's outfits in gymnastics and beach volleyball, one wonders what western culture in general is selling. How can we appreciate great athletes when struggling with our baser instincts? TD

From Earl of Taint

"Unification" as used by North Korea is scary and implies conquest.

The Norks tried this when they invaded South Korea in 1950.

Weekly Standard  "In the course of what CNN informed its viewers and readers was a gold-medal-winning diplomatic performance, Kim Yo-jong, the U.S.-sanctioned sister of Kim Jong-un, signed a guest book belonging to South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in. “I hope Pyongyang and Seoul get closer in our people's hearts and move forward the future of prosperous unification,” she wrote. It was a “warm message,” CNN said.

"Well, that’s one way to look at a threat to destroy a country.

:The key word in Kim’s missive was “unification.” It is the official policy of both Pyongyang and Seoul to prepare for unification, of course; both capitals house ministries devoted to the task. Seoul takes a peaceful view of this process, one based on relationship-building and the eventual absorption of North Korea into South Korea’s democratic, capitalist system. North Korea’s is rather more bellicose: It calls unification “final victory”—a belated end to the Korean War with Pyongyang as the victor." . . .

Yet some US media love Kim Yo Jong more than the Pence family
. . . " 'The North was still welcomed with open arms to what South Korean President Moon Jae-in called 'Olympic games of peace,'" the publication said, "and the U.S. appeared to be the one left out in the cold.' " . . .

Edited Earl of Taint cartoon

The left may want to thank her and her brother for their country's small carbon footprint.

How can Democrat and socialist voters hate America this much?
To cheer Kim's sister and hold contempt for the Pence family! 
 . . . "Kim Yo-jong is no mere spectator to her brother’s misrule of North Korea. She’s an elite member of his regime, as director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea. There she oversees the propaganda regime that constitutes a key component of the enslavement her country’s people. She’s also a member of the Politburo. But don’t just take it for me—Kim is personally sanctionedby the U.S. Treasury Department for her role in sustaining North Korea’s oppressive regime.

"You wouldn’t know that from, for example, CNN’s treatment of Kim, however. Instead, the most trusted name in news reported this weekend she is “stealing the show” at the Olympics by virtue of her “smile,” and “warm message.” CNN further said that Kim was earning a “gold medal” for her “diplomatic dance.”

"Here are a few terms that did not appear in CNN’s article: gulag; human rights; nuclear weapons; missiles. The article literally does not even mention that Kim is sanctioned by the U.S. government. Other U.S. outlets were similarly glib; Business Insider celebrated that Kim “threw a look” at the camera while standing behind Vice President Mike Pence. By the way, it later emerged that a highly paid PR firm had midwifed the Assad Vogue article. What’s CNN’s excuse?"

Kim's gallery

A Night at the Crying in Our Beer Salon

Clarice Feldman  . . . "What could I possibly provide more damaging than the admission that the party wants to erase or vastly diminish the power of white Americans from the political scene by allowing open borders to change the composition of the electorate and the American culture?"

Another piped up.  "I was aiming for a contract to write ads for the campaign in Virginia against the Democrat frontrunner for governor, Roger Dean Huffstetler, a carpetbagger from California.  And then that was blown away when he suddenly started speaking in a pretend Virginia accent in an ad called "Best I Can."  My client said, 'Forget it.  There's already a YouTube of him speaking in his real voice and his pretend one."

"Speaking of Virginia," another piped up, "there's Senator Mark Warner, who was so critical of Donald Trump, Jr. meeting in Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer  (who, it turns out, was connected to the odious Fusion GPS folks), ostensibly to get dirt on Hillary. 

"Now it now turns out he met with Russians to get dirt on Trump, taking care not to 'leave a paper trail' of their meet-up."

A third guy, deep in his cups, was actually sobbing.  "I had dozens of DREAMers lined up.  A beautiful campaign – how they were all just waiting to become brain surgeons as soon as they got their GEDs (high school equivalency certificates) when people started coming up with these videos of the very Democrats pushing for amnesty earlier decrying open borders."

Barack Obama

Chuck Schumer

Hillary Clinton

Bill Clinton

"You think my clients' opponents haven't found these?" . . .

Barack the Brick-Thrower

President Obama spent a billion dollars to fund the operation, which included the U.S. military joining jihadi rebel groups to topple and ultimately kill the Libyan leader.
As a result, Barack managed to community organize a nation and "fundamentally transform" Libya from a moderate Islamic regime, that was no longer a threat to America, into a safe haven for ISIS and al-Qaeda.

Jeannie DeAngelis  "The same Saul Alinsky-style community organizing methods that served Barack Obama well on the Southside of Chicago became indispensable tools in his quest to "fundamentally transform" the whole world from "what it is" into "the world as it should be."

Alinsky

"It was Barack Obama's friend and former chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod, who confessed to NPR that community organizers in Chicago would throw bricks through the window of Democrat campaign headquarters and call a press conference to blame the opposition.  So when Obama accused Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin of colluding to steal an election, the brick that landed on the accuser's toe was one he planted there himself.

"Let's not forget that although the International Court of Justice deems interfering in a foreign election a violation of international law, and notwithstanding the fact that U.S. regulations ban the use of tax dollars to sway foreign elections, it was brick-throwing Barack, not Donald Trump, who repeatedly defied the law on behalf of a larger global agenda.

"In 2006, U.S. senator Obama traveled to Kenya on the taxpayer's dime at a time that coincidentally corresponded with Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leaders strategizing to help Muslim-sympathizer Raila Odinga unseat incumbent President Mwai Kibaki." . . .

How Police Are Trained to Respond to Domestic Violence

Domesticshelters.org

The protocols for responding to domestic violence can help survivors know what to expect

"Domestic violence has been found to constitute the single largest category of police calls in some cities. When police officers respond, they know the situation can be volatile for both them and the abuser’s victim. That’s because the killer in almost one third of female homicides is an intimate partner, and 22 percent of officer "line of duty" deaths in recent years occurred while responding to domestic violence calls.

Day One

“ 'What the [police death] stats don’t really capture is all the law enforcement officers that are killed in the line of duty on traffic stops, serving protection orders or serving warrants [to domestic violence offenders],” says Michael P. LaRiviere, a police officer who does domestic violence training for national organizations, including the National Sheriffs’ Association.

“ 'I’ve seen a connection between offenders who murder police officers and a record of domestic violence,” LaRiviere says. “They’re dangerous people. They’re about power and control, and law enforcement officers represent the authority to take away their freedoms.”

"This explosive combination has led 95 percent of law enforcement agencies to develop policies that officers are asked to follow when responding to domestic violence calls, and 85 percent also require officers to participate in specialized domestic violence training. Nearly half of the departments now have separate units devoted to domestic violence cases.

"What Police Are Trained to Do

"While policies differ from city to city, it can be helpful for survivors to understand the common threads for how police are trained to respond. The first concept is to treat domestic violence calls as a high priority or a life-threatening situation. Because of this perspective, and importantly for survivors to know, many departments will continue to respond even if the victim cancels the request." . . .Full article...

How can weapons be kept out of the hands of unstable people if their relatives fear talking to the police about them?

1999 Florida policy models for police responding to domestic violence
"RESPONDING TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, MODEL POLICY NUMBER TWO FOR FLORIDA LAW ENFORCEMENT:" . . .

Again! Two Ohio cops, aged 39 and 54, are shot dead attending a 'domestic situation' as their colleagues arrest a gunman

Killer identified

The incident.

UK Daily Mail  "Two police officers were killed Saturday while responding to a call in Westerville, Ohio.

Officers Eric Joering, 39, and 54-year-old Tony Morelli, and were responding to a 'potential domestic situation.'

"The incident occurred around 1pm Eastern time at Crosswind Drive.

Two police officers were killed Saturday while responding to a call in Westerville, Ohio.ony Morelli, 54, (left) and Eric Joering, 39, were killed Saturday while responding to a call in Westerville, Ohio.

"After the incident, the City of Westerville's official tweet read: 'It is with a heavy heart we report a second Westerville officer has been killed in the line of duty. We will share more details here as it becomes available.' 

"Officer Joering was three times recognized with the Exceptional Duty Award. In 2013 he was recognized for his role in an investigation that led to the arrest of dealers with links to high-level drug traffickers in Mexico."

. . . 

"One suspect is in custody and reports say they were also shot but their condition was not immediately known.

"President Donald Trump tweeted his condolences by saying 'My thoughts and prayers are with the two police officers, their families, and everybody at the @WestervillePD.' "

WaPo:  “As they went into the apartment, they were immediately met with gunfire and both officers were shot,” an emotional Westerville Police Chief Joe Morbitzer said at a news conference.

No word as yet on the identity of the murderer. No news yet if Beyonce' plans to stage a tribute for the officers and their families.  TD 

Obama Knew; Obama’s Coup

"He used the IRS to target conservative and Tea Party nonprofits, along with Catholic, Jewish, and pro-Israel organizations. He brazenly lied about it. There was “not even a smidgeon of corruption” at the IRS, Obama told Bill O’Reilly on Super Bowl weekend in 2014."

Matthew Vadum  "Former President Obama wanted “to know everything” the FBI was doing in its investigation into claims that Russia was interfering in the 2016 election, a new report suggests, raising the specter of a sitting president becoming involved in a plot to rig the 2016 election.

"It was a year ago the outlines of a Watergate-like conspiracy emerged in which a term-limited Democrat president used the privacy-invading apparatus of the state to spy on a Republican presidential candidate. Watergate differed in that President Nixon didn’t get involved in the plot against the Democratic National Committee until later as an accomplice after the fact.

"But this new evidence suggests Obama may have been part of a sinister anti-democratic cabal from the beginning.

"The assertion that Obama wanted “to know everything we’re doing” came in a private Sept. 2, 2016, text message from FBI lawyer Lisa Page to FBI agent Peter Strzok, with whom she was having an extramarital affair at the time. (The exact message, time-stamped 1:50 p.m., reads "Yes, bc potus wants to know everything we are doing.") In a separate, previously revealed text message to Page, Strzok wrote something cryptic about an “insurance policy” in case Donald Trump got elected. Some have speculated he was referring to the salacious, unverified dossier the DNC paid rent-a-spy Christopher Steele to compile that purports to show Trump’s nefarious links to Russia.

"At one point, the foul-mouthed Trump-hating duo whose text messages show a visceral contempt for Republican voters, both worked for Special Counsel Robert Mueller who has been investigating the still-unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that then-candidate Donald Trump somehow colluded with Russia to throw the presidential contest his way.

"Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that released the emails between Page and Strzok yesterday, told NBC News that the texts were “totally candid, unvarnished” and “just raise an awful lot of questions.' ” . . .

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