2006: Twenty-one North Korean cheerleaders imprisoned. Wait till you hear why!

Weasel Zippers: Instead of fawning over the North Koreans, perhaps media should remember this story. Their crime? Talking about what they saw in South Korea.

Taipei Times  "Twenty-one members of North Korean cheering squads who traveled to South Korea for international sports events are being held in a prison camp for talking about what they saw in the South, a news report said yesterday.

"Citing a North Korean man who recently fled to China, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper said the 21 young women had been detained about last November in the same prison camp where the man had been held.

"South Korea's National Intelligence Service didn't immediately confirm or deny the report.

"In 2002, Pyongyang sent hundreds of female cheerleaders to the Asian Games in South Korea's Busan, where their tightly synchronized routines drew worldwide attention. The North sent similar cheering squads to South Korea in 2003 and last year.

"The defector, whose real name wasn't given, said the female cheering squad apparently violated a pledge not to speak about what they saw in South Korea, the Chosun Ilbo reported.

"Citing another unnamed defector, the newspaper said the cheerleaders had pledged before going to South Korea that they would treat the country as "enemy territory" and never speak about what they saw there, accepting punishment if they broke the promise.

"Pyongyang insists it doesn't abuse human rights, but it has long been accused of holding political prisoners in camps under life-threatening conditions. It is believed to hold between 150,000 and 200,000 political prisoners, the US State Department said."

NYT CEO: Our Paper’s Cozying Up To Brutal North Korea Was Good Reporting

Tiny Teenaged Olympic Champion Cried on the Podium — And Just Put the Entire NFL to Shame With Patriotism

She did not take a knee during the anthem

Independent Journal Review  . . . "The gold was already hers when she began her third and final run, but Kim wasn't about to hold back. She delivered back-to-back 1080s — a first for women in the Olympic Games — and drove her score even higher to a nearly perfect 98.25.
"But even dragons cry, as Kim proved when she stepped onto the podium and listened to “The Star-Spangled Banner” playing for her: 

Where can one find refuge from leftist social justice movement antics?

"President Trump angered the Me Too activists by requesting due process for movie executives, politicians and celebrities who’ve been accused of long-ago sexual assault, sexual harassment, and sexually exploiting women. There’s one thing we can all agree on. Hugh Hefner died just in time."  Comedian Argus Hamilton

#MeToo is ruining the dating scene   "I genuinely feel for the single crowd out there trying to date through the #MeToo madness. Because is a date with someone who may misinterpret your flirtatiousness as rape culture worth potentially tanking your career and reputation?

"This brave new world where day after regret is conflated with sexual misconduct, rape, and harassment, singles are increasingly confused about where the line of acceptable behavior begins. And with good reason.

"The Washington Post has a horrifying glimpse into singlehood, dating, and how the #MeToo culture has ruined everything:" . . .

 How the Left Plays at Oppression and Encourages Tyrants  . . . "I’ve been seeing graying women with t-shirts proclaiming they’re resisting, watched colleges and universities fly their flag at half mast, and banged my head gently against the dashboard at cars with bumper stickers proudly proclaiming the driver a member of the resistance.  I’ve heard women proclaim they’re marching for lost rights, though no one can answer me on what rights they lost." . . .

. . . "We need to start pointing out to them that they are, in fact, children playing at being brave, and not very well at that. We need to make them at least as embarrassed to act out in public as a conservative in liberal circles. Otherwise, they continue thinking that everyone admires their “bravery” and posturing. And they’ll do more of it, enabling malefactors domestic and foreign." . . .

Gay Olympian Who Insulted Mike Pence Wishes People Would Stop Associating Him With Pence

Too late; Rippon has already made it about Pence with his self-righteous virtue-signalling

Legal Insurrection

"Gay figure skater Adam Rippon has repeatedly used his time in the spotlight at the Winter Olympics to insult Vice President Mike Pence. Now he is concerned that people are paying more attention to his thoughts on Pence than his skating.

"It all began earlier this month when he falsely accused Pence of advocating for gay conversion therapy. USA Today reported:

Openly gay figure skater Adam Rippon declined chance to speak with Vice President Pence

Vice President Pence is set to arrive here soon to lead the official U.S. delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympic opening ceremony, a delegation that is making a strong political statement against North Korea’s oppressive regime by including the father of Otto Warmbier, the student who died not long after being held in captivity in North Korea.

But on the afternoon on Jan. 17, Pence had another focus: He was so concerned about the criticism he received from U.S. Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon that his staff went to the extraordinary length of asking the U.S. Olympic Committee to set up a conversation between the two – an offer Rippon turned down.

According to two people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly about it, a member of Pence’s staff requested the conversation with the openly gay Rippon after reading the skater’s derogatory remarks about him in a USA TODAY Sports story that had been published online just an hour earlier.

Rippon, the two people said, declined the invitation…

“You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy? I’m not buying it,” Rippon said.

"Then he posed on Instagram with another gay Olympian named Gus Kenworthy. Their caption ended with the line: “Eat your heart out, Pence.' ” . . .

The Sickening Celebration of North Korea

MRC  "Every two years, Americans unite around the television to root for U.S. athletes and their dreams of gold medals come true. Unless you’re a journalist. Then the Olympics are a time to root against your country and her president on the world stage.

"At the opening ceremonies in Pyeongchang, South Korea, organizers strangely seated Vice President Mike Pence just a few feet from Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korea’s communist dictator Kim Jong-un. To American reporters who hate Trump, a star was born. Just the summaries on Twitter were enough to make you throw your phone across the room.

"Start with the wire services. The Associated Press gushed: “The trip by Kim Yo-jong is the latest move in an extraordinary show of Olympic diplomacy with Seoul that could prove to be a major challenge to the Trump administration's hard-line Korea policies.” Reuters echoed: “North Korea has emerged as the early favorite to grab one of the Winter Olympics’ most important medals: the diplomatic gold.”

"Could the North Koreans be any happier at the idiocy of the Western media?

"The newspapers also claimed Mike Pence lost to the woman who serves as the North Korean deputy director of propaganda. The New York Times headline was “Kim Jong-un’s Sister Turns on the Charm, Taking Pence’s Spotlight.” They turned to Asian history professor Alexis Dudden for the slam dunk: “The fact that he and Mrs. Pence didn’t stand when the unified [Korean] team came in was a new low in a bullying type of American diplomacy.”

"The Washington Post front page on Sunday declared they had found the “Ivanka Trump of North Korea.” She “has enraptured people in looks-obsessed South Korea with her sphinxlike smile and low-key beauty.” The story inside added her attendance at the Olympics was “a signal that North Korea is not this crazy, weird former Cold War state -- but it too has young women that are capable and are the future leadership.’” . . .

NKorean Defector: South Koreans 'Hate Kim Yo Jong . . . " Ji Seong Ho told The Daily Caller that South Koreans are not fans of Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, despite the media's fawning over her.
" 'Yo Jong's grandfather, Kim Il Sung, is a war criminal, and her father, Kim Jong Il, killed three million people by starvation," Ji said. "Kim Jong Un is responsible for human rights violations and assassination of his own half-brother.
" 'The Kim family is taking hostage of the North Korean people and threatening the world with its nuclear weapons. Therefore, South Korean people hate Kim Yo Jong and her visit." . . .

WashPost Reporter Suggests Stealth Hillary '2020 Comeback'

Newsbusters  "Shhhh! Hillary Clinton is stealthily running again in 2020. Spread it around very very quietly and be sure you only talk about the 2018 midterm elections.

"Washington Post reporter Robert Costa is sending the not so subtle signal that Hillary Clinton will be back again in 2020. However, since she has to do it on the sly, Costa portrays her as semi-secretly helping in select 2018 midterm campaigns. His focus is on 2018 but he reveals enough to let us know that it is really all about 2020 in Hillary Clinton, a favorite GOP foil, plans discreet 2018 strategy:

There was a long line for selfies with Hillary Clinton last week at a Georgetown soiree for Lanny Davis, a Clinton loyalist whose latest book blames former FBI director James B. Comey for her 2016 presidential defeat.

Clinton devotees — waiting patiently within earshot — speculated about her future. Maybe, one asked, she’d leave political winter behind and become President Trump’s foil? Another talked up a 2020 comeback.

Clinton smiled, but did not respond.

. . . 

Intel Officials: U.S. Shouldn’t Fall for North Korea’s Olympic Charm Offensive

Well, CNN buys it all.

 Free Beacon  

"DIA Director: Pyongyang's 'strategic calculus has not changed and we should not be misled' "

"Americans should not be deceived by North Korea's charm offensive at the 2018 Winter Olympics as Kim Jong Un remains intent on acquiring nuclear weapons capable of striking the United States, the nation's top spies warned Tuesday.

"In a rare open-door hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Robert Ashley cautioned that Kim's "strategic calculus has not changed and we should not be mislead by the events that are taking place around the Olympics."

"The dictatorial regime has received a bevy of positive media coverage in recent days following an appearance at the games by Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong. Several news reports published over the weekend hailed her visit to South Korea as a "diplomatic win" over U.S. Vice President Mike Pence as the regime released statements calling for reconciliation with South Korea.

"Intelligence officials said the United States needs to view North Korea's participation in the event for what it is: a propaganda campaign by the isolated nation to use the Olympics as a platform to present a reformed image." . . .

Media Bias: Hatred Of Trump Brings Disgraceful Fawning Over Kim Jong-un's Sister At Winter Olympics  
"Media Bias: Of all the many recent examples of glaring media bias, none stands out so much as the rank politicization by the U.S. media of the South Korean Winter Olympics. What should be a happy, come-together moment for all of America rooting for its athletes, instead became a hate-Trump, #Resistance moment for the far-left media. 

00:38

00:38

"The trump-hatred has metastasized so far that today many journalists have completely abandoned any pretense of fairness and objectivity in their coverage of the world, so long as what they do makes Donald Trump and his administration look bad, stupid or ridiculous.
"Sorry, but fawning over the evil representatives of a country we are still technically at war with is really too much.

Re-'Imagine'-ing the secretly bloody peace song of the Olympic Games

Stephen McGhee  . . . "If we consider Lennon's vision with any level of seriousness, we will find that the concept of no possessions is synonymous with hell.  This is why he had to use trickery to draw us in.

"In truth, you don't have to be a dreamer to know what life without possessions would be like.  You just have to know a little history.  As brilliant as Lennon was (see "Ticket to Ride" and dozens more), he wasn't the first to imagine no possessions.  Josef Stalin and Mao Tse-Tung, to name just two, imagined it decades before him, and the combined result of their imagination was the murder of 100 million souls in peacetime and the enslavement of more than a billion people.  Did Lennon not know the history of these butchers?

"While we're on the subject, are the members of the Olympic Committee also ignorant of recent world history and current events?  They must be – otherwise, they wouldn't have missed the irony of South Korean K-Pop singers fervently pleading for a life without religion or possessions when that paradise is only a short walk away – across the DMZ.

"Imagine that."

US Strikes Kill 100 Russian Fighters In Syria

Zero Hedge

Here is the proper place for the bump stock.

"Following up to last night's bombshell report  that at least two Russian mercenary fighters in Syria had been killed by US-led coalition forces, this morning Bloomberg is out with an exclusive, according to which the body count is far greater than had been disclosed: U.S. forces reportedly killed "scores" of Russian contract soldiers in Syria last week "in what may be the deadliest clash between citizens of the former foes since the Cold War", Bloomberg reported.

"According to the unnamed US and Russian sources, "more than 200 mercenaries, mostly Russians fighting on behalf of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, died in a failed attack on a base and refinery held by U.S. and U.S.-backed forces in the oil-rich Deir Ezzor region" In terms of total body count, the U.S. official put the death toll at about 100, with 200 to 300 injured.

"A few caveats: the Russian operation was not officially mandated, and the assault "may have been a rogue operation, underscoring the complexity of a conflict that started as a domestic crackdown only to morph into a proxy war involving Islamic extremists, stateless Kurds and regional powers Iran, Turkey and now Israel."

"In a bizarre deflection of responsibility, Russia’s military not only did not demand an explanation from the US for the deaths, but said it had nothing to do with the attack and the U.S. military accepted the claim. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has called the whole thing “perplexing,” but provided no further details.

“Coalition officials were in regular communication with Russian counterparts before, during and after the thwarted, unprovoked attack,” U.S. Colonel Thomas F. Veale, a military spokesman, said in a statement. “Russian officials assured coalition officials they would not engage coalition forces in the vicinity.”

. . .  

Rippon: ‘I don't want my Olympic experience being about Mike Pence

The Hill  . . . "Last month, Rippon said he disagreed with the Trump administration's values. He added that Pence — who has long been seen as a top adversary to LGBTQ rights — "doesn't really stand for anything I believe in," asserting that the vice president supporter "gay conversion therapy."

 

"Pence's office has denied the vice president believes in "gay conversion therapy."

 

"USA Today reported earlier this month that Rippon refused a meeting with Pence after the vice president's staff reached out to the figure skater following his criticism.

 

"Rippon's mother earlier this month defended her son's interactions with Pence amid the controversy. She said her son didn't "refuse" to meet with Pence, but that he preferred not to do so before the competition.

 

"Rippon also said earlier this week he would boycott a visit to the White House. He added that he would hope to do "something positive and not just stay at home" instead." . . .

At Least 17 Democratic Socialists Of America Are Running For Office In Texas In 2018

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

"Texas is in real trouble politically. The giant red state has been targeted by the left and they are dumping millions into the state to turn it blue forever. There are at least 17 Democratic Socialists of America candidates running for office in the state now. They look like just ordinary people… but these are socialists. They are communist-lite. They are Marxists and they are a stone cold threat to our way of life and our freedoms in this nation.

"As the Texas Observer put it, the revolution will be down-ballot. First up is Franklin Bynum’s campaign for Harris County misdemeanor court judge. He’s a 35 year-old former public defender and says he’s seen Houston’s criminal courts routinely railroad the poor into convictions that drive them further into poverty. Now, after nearly 10 years subject to the whims of conservative judges, he’s aiming to take the gavel for himself. I guarantee you that he will do what all liberal activist judges do… he’ll set criminals free to go back to what they were doing before. This has nothing to do with the poor. One of the primary goals of communists such as Van Jones is to empty our prisons regardless of the consequences." . . .

Why is this not obvious to liberals and their media sycophants?

Hat tip to Donna Rogers Boody at Mark Levin's Fan Club of Intelligent, Thinking Women (and Men)