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American Thinker

Obama Foundation’s monumental rip-off

Thomas Lifson  "The Obama Presidential Center planned for Chicago is nothing more than a personal monument to Barack Obama and a center for political indoctrination in his radical views. It serves no public purpose the way that a presidential library would.  Obama’s presidential papers will not be housed there, and no scholars will be afforded the opportunity to explore the history of his presidency.

"And, this is receiving vast public subsidies, despite assurances that it would be privately funded.  Barack and Michelle Obama have been playing a major role in its design, in a fashion reminiscent of a dictator putting up monuments to himself in some third world country. As the revised design stands, it will look like a cenotaph bizarrely erected before the death and burial of its principal." . . .

Related:

Thomas Lifson: American Thinker cited in lawsuit against Obama Presidential Center

The complaint cites an "institutional bait and switch" because the original plan was for a federal entity to take possession of the land and build an Obama Presidential Library, which would be publicly owned and controlled.  That was the bait used to obtain priceless open park land that would be taken away from the citizens of Chicago.  The switch came when the presidential library plan was sidelined, and in its place was instituted a "presidential center" that would be under the control of a private foundation, with Barack Obama himself in a position to shape the center's planning, mission, and operations toward whatever ends he desires.

Illegal Immigrant Released by ‘Sanctuary City’ of Philadelphia Convicted of Child Rape

Legal Insurrection  A Honduras man who illegally entered the United States twice in the last decade was released by the “sanctuary” city of Philadelphia, which chose not to comply with a detainer lodged by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE).

... "In June, Philadelphia Mayor James Kenney was so happy about a ruling in favor of the city’s sanctuary status, that he did a little dance and high-fived his chief of staff. You may have seen the video:"

But after the above celebration...

. . . "U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain announced that Juan Ramon Vasquez, a citizen of Honduras, pleaded guilty today to illegal reentry after deportation. In May 2009, the defendant was deported from the United States. Thereafter, in March 2014, the defendant was found back in the United States by U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) officers. At that time, Vasquez was in the custody of the Philadelphia Department of Prisons.

"The City of Philadelphia thereafter chose not to comply with a detainer lodged by ICE for the defendant, who was instead released from custody by the Philadelphia Department of Prisons. After his release, the defendant was rearrested and convicted for rape of a child and unlawful sexual contact with a minor. The defendant is currently serving a sentence of 8 to 20 years in state prison." . . .

Kenney

. . . Just to be clear, Kenney assumed office at the start of 2016, two years after the rape occurred.  "Because the mayor continues to champion the kinds of policies that led to the child’s rape, however, he’s just as complicit as the city’s past mayors — if not more-so, since only God knows how many other rapes (and even murders) will occur at the hands of illegal criminals in the coming years."

Watch the Philly Mayor Literally Sing and Dance the News His City Is Still a Sanctuary City  . . . "Having sanctuary city status allows jurisdictions to refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Liberal leaders on both coasts have used their sanctuary status to harbor illegal immigrants in their cities. On the East Coast, the NYPD and the N.Y. Department of Corrections reportedly ignored over 400 ICE detainers earlier this year. Meanwhile, Oakland, California Mayor Libby Schaaf even encouraged illegals to flee ICE raids. Her public warning allowed hundreds of illegal immigrants, some of whom had criminal records, to escape. A few of those individuals even committed new crimes." . . . 

Double Standards Week in Higher Education

Legal Insurrection   "The rules on campus are always changing and if you ignore them, sometimes there are consequences.

• Christian Student Group Booted Off Campus for Requiring Group Leaders to be Christian

"Other times, there are no consequences.

• Student Union Members at UC Berkeley Occupy Dean’s Office, Issue Demands
• Prof Accused of Violent Attack on Trump Supporter With Bike Lock Gets Probation  

That was a professor whom you saw striking the student! A professor!

"Otherwise, it’s just business as usual.

• UCLA Pays Students to Promote Social Justice With Funds From Student Fees
• Employee Suing U. Georgia for Declining to Pay for Gender Transition Surgery
• University in Canada Adds Seven New Mental Health Counselors, Students Demand More

"Trump on campus.

• Prof Warns Trump Supporters Will Riot When He Leaves Office
• University Study Finds Trump Voters Are Unfairly Misrepresented

"Women’s Studies updates…

• Feminist Prof Decries ‘Hegemonic Masculinity’ of Homeless Men
• College in NY to Offer Stay-at-Home Parenting Course Based on Feminist Manifesto

"Higher education’s new religion.

• DePaul University Places Emphasis of Strategic Plan on Diversity
• Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Now Requires Diversity Statement from New Hires

"No diversity of thought is allowed.

• Study Finds Conservative Students Self-Censor for Liberal Professors

"Creepy.

• Human Remains Discovered on Georgetown Campus Kept Hidden for Four Years

"Of course she does.

• Elizabeth Warren Calls Criminal Justice System ‘Racist’ During Talk at University" . . .

An adjunct professor asks: Are Millennials Educable?

Deana Chadwell blogs at www.ASingleWindow.com.  She is also an adjunct professor and department head at Pacific Bible College in southern Oregon.  She teaches writing and public speaking.

What does public education do?  Nothing.  I've been involved, either willingly or otherwise, in half a dozen educational reforms designed to fix our problems.  They all fail.  The solution lies outside the auspices of government and teacher unions.  The responsibility for educating our young has to start with the family.  It can easily blossom into private enterprise, charter schools, and school vouchers.  The homeschooling industry is thriving, and so are the students educated at home.

American Thinker  "Picture ten-year-old Johnny, his masculinity threatened on every level, his mental and physical energy denied expression, his home life hectic and unsupportive, his continued inability to read becoming more debilitating every year, and his boredom level off any available chart.  Imagine being him.  We know that his disadvantages will not be met in 5th grade any more than they were in 1st.  We know – looking at the recent educational studies – that in seven years, he will graduate, in much the same condition, if he graduates at all.  Given the odd assumption that graduation proves effective education and the pressure schools are under to up graduation numbers, he probably will walk away with a diploma, but it will be meaningless." . . .
. . . 

"This continues until high school when the problem just blows up.  Unless the district chooses to do what my district did: we "raised the bar."  You've got to love educational jargon.  We did this by:

1. Cutting out the "D" as a grade option – which merely inflated the grades.

2. Demanding that students turn in all assignments.  I know: this doesn't seem out of line, but most students miss an assignment now and then, and no one could see that a do-or-die turn-in policy only erased the ability to insist on due dates.  We couldn't legally fail a kid for being late on an assignment.  One of my students said to me one day, "Ah, due dates, schmue dates."  Kids were turning in papers months late, and we had to accept them.

3. Forcing kids into honors-level classes whether they are capable or not.  And then when too many began failing, the administration demanded that teachers dumb down the curricula.  Then the following year, students were assigned to the next level up, and they weren't ready to do the work, because the previous curricula had been so simplified.  That was "raising the bar.". . . 

What would the intelligence community's 'insurance policy' against Trump look like?

The Hill . . . "Assume, for the sake of argument, that powerful, connected people in the intelligence community and in politics worried that a wildcard Trump presidency, unlike another Clinton or Bush, might expose a decade-plus of questionable practices. Disrupt long-established money channels. Reveal secret machinations that could arguably land some people in prison.

"What exactly might an “insurance policy” against Donald Trump look like?

"He would have to be marginalized at every turn. Strategies would encompass politics, the courts, opposition research and the media. He’d have to become mired in lawsuits, distracted by allegations, riddled with calls for impeachment, hounded by investigations. His election must be portrayed as the illegitimate result of a criminal or un-American conspiracy.

"To accomplish this, bad actors in the intel community could step up use of surveillance tools as a weapon to look for dirt on Trump before his inauguration. They could rely on dubious political opposition research to secretly argue for wiretaps, plant one or more spies in the Trump campaign, then leak to the press a mix of true and false stories to create a sense of chaos.

"Once Trump is in office, a good insurance policy would call for neutralizing the advisers seen as most threatening, including his attorney general. The reigning FBI director could privately send the implicit message that as long as Trump minds his own business, he won’t be named as a target. When the president asks the FBI director to lift the cloud and tell the public their president isn’t under investigation, the FBI director could demur and allow a storm of innuendo to build. Idle chatter benefits the plot. There would be rampant media leaks, both true and false, but none of them would benefit Trump." . . .

What sort of economic wizards want to put Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in charge of the US economy?

Ocasio-Corte[z] cornered  "Ben Shapiro, with a huge assist from Candace Owens, has cornered the current darling of the left.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez must be deathly afraid to debate capitalism versus socialism with any knowledgeable conservative.  Her embarrassing incoherence and unfamiliarity with basic knowledge that could be expected of an economics major from a respectable university have attracted major notice, even though her fans remain impervious to criticism coming from anywhere right of left-center on the political spectrum.

Socio Political Journal

"Now she has badly blundered in turning down an offer to discuss or debate socialism coming from Ben Shapiro:
. . . 

"I have no doubt that Ocasio-Cortez will at first ignore, and ultimately decline Candace Owens's offer, but she is going to have to come up with an excuse that does not rely on race or sex.  This leaves abundant opportunities to embarrass and humiliate her, such as protest signs and demonstrations at her many public appearances from now, challenging her inability to defend her views.

"It has become clear that this wonder girl of the left is the worst kind of ignoramus, the kind that remains self-confident and unaware of the huge lacunae in her knowledge and understanding.  Because she is attractive, smiles a lot, and has an approved race background, she is catnip for the mainstream media.

"She is about to become a public embarrassment."

When backed into a corner, call RACISM!

'CATCALLING' Ocasio-Cortez Thinks Debating Is A SLUR... . . . "Just like catcalling, I don’t owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions," she wrote. "And also like catcalling, for some reason they feel entitled to one."
"Shapiro responded: "Discussion and debate are not 'bad intentions.' Slandering someone as a sexist catcaller without reason or evidence does demonstrate cowardice and bad intent, however."
"Ocasio-Cortez’s unanticipated victory over veteran Rep. Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary over Crowley's New York seat put her in a national spotlight earlier this year. " . . .

Ocasio-Cortez dismisses Ben Shapiro's debate offer, compares to 'catcalling'
. . . “ 'You’ve noted that you think Republicans are afraid to debate you or talk to you or discuss the issues with you. Not only am I eager to discuss the issues with you, I’m willing to offer $10,000 to your campaign today for you to come on our Sunday special," Shapiro said on his show." . . .

The Epic Failure of Democratic Socialists on Primary Night  "Something happened on the way to the future for Democrats on Tuesday night. The democratic socialists swallowed a large dollop of reality and proceeded to choke on it.
"Every single Democratic primary candidate endorsed by the party's celebrity socialist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, lost. They not only went down to defeat, most of them were slaughtered." . . .

"Star Wars" They want to take Trump's star back? 30 more popped up today

Don Surber  "So, the West Hollywood City Council thought it would rid Hollywood of President Trump's Walk of Fame Star.
"President Trump's supporters had other idea[s]. "

Andrew Malcolm

✔@AHMalcolm

Pretty funny. If you can't beat 'em, fake 'em: Fake Donald Trump Stars Pop Up All Over Hollywood Blvd. http://www.tmz.com/2018/08/09/fake-donald-trump-stars-all-over-hollywood-blvd-walk-of-fame/ … via @TMZ

5:12 PM - Aug 9, 2018

A group of anonymous right-wing street artists has multiplied President Donald Trump’s Walk of Fame star on Hollywood Blvd., following the destruction of his real one.

"The artist told the Hollywood Reporter that he was motivated not only by the vandalism of the real star and the unanimous vote by the West Hollywood City Council to recommend the removal of Trump’s star.

"Concerned about being attacked for the art, the group kept the name on the stars covered until they were all positioned.

“I didn’t want to get hit over the head from behind. We thought Trump Derangement Syndrome was a joke, but I’m pretty sure it’s real,” one of the artists told the Hollywood Reporter. “If no one peels these off, they could last there for 10 years.”

"Sadly, it seems that they have already been peeled off, as local businesses were worried about another maniac coming by with a pick ax."

The MSM vs. President Trump

Thomas Friedman: Media should work together to hurt Trump  "Liberal New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said the news media should work together and saturate the public with negative coverage of President Trump in order to erode his popularity among Republican voters.

"Friedman said in an op-ed published Wednesday afternoon that if the media emphasize Trump's personality instead of news about the strong economy, it may discourage enough GOP voters from continuing to support the president and benefit Democrats." . . .

Friedman

"Thomas Friedman lives in some parallel universe where this isn’t already happening."  Just watch CNN and MSNBC.

Liberal Magazine To Acosta: Your 'Performance Journalism' Is Only Helping Trump; UPDATE:Says Reporters Shouldn't Be The Story  . . . "From North Korea to the recent rally in Tampa, Florida, Acosta is being trashed. He then gets his television hot, where he laments how he feels like he isn’t in America anymore when people heckle him. Not everyone is receptive to this form of “performance journalism.” Former CNN producer Steve Krakauer called his antics embarrassing, while former MSNBC host Dave Shuster pretty much told Acosta to cut it out. Acosta had tweeted he was sad that Press Secretary Sarah Sanders didn’t declare that the press wasn’t the enemy of the people after the Tampa rally. Shuster more or less said suck it up, buttercup. Oh, and you’re hurting journalism:" . . .

CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta told Stephen Colbert that reporters are "not supposed to be the story" . . . . . . "Acosta, who appeared on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" to a standing ovation earlier this year, was promoted to CNN’s chief White House correspondent in January." . . .

"Jim Acosta Tweets Photo Of His One True Love, Twitter Smacks Him Down"

The effect it all has on you when the liberal culture loves you:

How the Press Lies about Itself  .  .  . "In the same way, you can be very much in favor of the free press but against dishonest, agenda-driven reporting – i.e., "fake news."  In each set, one of these things – legal immigration and the free press – is not like the other one – illegal immigration and fake news – and that's true no matter how much somebody scruple-challenged might bleat otherwise in order to gain purchase on a fraudulent, dishonest position." . . .

Wall Street Journal peddling 'blue wave' doom  . . . "We have been told since at least 2008, when Obama won, that there is a blue wave.  People have said, repeating Democrat talking points, that the Republicans must move left and join in with Democrats on their policies or they will never win again.  Instead, the Republicans moved right with the Tea Party, advocating for smaller government and fewer regulations (which the public likes), and from 2010 to 2016, the Republicans picked up majorities in the House and the Senate and over 1,000 seats nationwide – and yet we continue to get the nostrum that Republicans had better move left and give in to illegal aliens, or else they will never win again." . . .

The collusion among the DNC, Hillary, the Obama administration, the Justice Department, the State Department, and the media to protect and elect Hillary and to destroy Trump and Republicans is much more dangerous than anything the Russians or other countries have ever done or could ever do.

CNN being CNN way back in the Gulf War:

The Case for Banning Alex Jones

TD tried several times to post a jpeg photo of Jones but the server rejected it every time, even the photo that came with this Weekly Standard article. It finally accepted this political "cartoon".

Weekly Standard  

"There's no reason for conservatives to be defending this guy.

"One of the downstream effects of Trumpism is that the fact of having a President Trump has given conservatives a hair-trigger on defending every marginal figure, no matter how stupid or malicious. It’s easy to understand why: Trump is close to these people in form and substance, so allowing them to be attacked can be seen as a proxy argument against Trump. No conservatives would have felt duty-bound to defend Milo Yiannopoulos had Mitt Romney been president.

"But we are where we are, so various conservatives have risen to defend Alex Jones in the wake of Facebook, YouTube, and Apple kicking him off of their platforms. Their defenses come across three vectors, each of which is flawed.

"(1) It’s a First Amendment issue. Let’s dispense with this one off the top: No, it’s not. And conservatives used to understand the difference between having the right to say something and having the right to say something without consequences.

"None of the tech companies that have de-platformed Jones are impinging on his right to speech. He can still record and disseminate podcasts and videos. He can still publish whatever conspiracy theories he wants. No one is threatening him with violence or jail or a fine or denying him a license to carry on as he pleases. No arm of government touches this case in any way.

"All that is happening is that privately owned companies are declining to allow him to use their resources to broadcast his speech. There is no First Amendment case—none at all.

"(2) It’s an equal-access issue. You might recall a couple months ago when conservatives celebrated the Masterpiece Cake Shop decision. (Rightly, in my view.) The nub of their argument was that privately held businesses ought to be allowed to refuse certain kinds of services to certain customers, provided that (1) the refusal was based on reasonable, non-discriminatory grounds and that (2) the person being refused had reasonable recourse to an alternative remedy.

"That’s precisely what has happened here. Jones is being denied access based on his behavior and actions, not who or what he is. And he has an enormous, obvious, and reasonable remedy: The Internet." . . .

'Russian agent' Trump slaps more sanctions on Russia

http://www.terrellaftermath.com/

Rick Moran  . . . "Congress is considering even more severe sanctions for Russian meddling in the 2016 election.  The president and the State Department have not signed off on new sanctions, however, citing the damage new sanctions would cause U.S.-Russia bilateral relations.

"This proves, of course, that Trump is not Putin's "lap dog," nor is he being "run" by Russian intelligence.  Trump's mild reaction and expressed disbelief regarding Russia's clear interference in the 2016 election is troubling to many but hardly "proof" of collusion.

"It's a shame that the left didn't display this kind of suspicion of President Obama, who enabled the terror state Iran to expand its influence in the region by lifting sanctions after negotiating a one sided, ineffective agreement on Tehran's nuclear program."

Some Dare Call It Treason  "Trump’s Helsinki remarks impugned his judgment, not his loyalty, and the idea that disagreement with the intelligence agencies constitutes treason is profoundly disquieting."

TRUMP WINS AGAIN: Germany's Central Bank Stops $400 Million Cash Delivery To Iran

Daily Wire

"President Trump has won another victory: Germany’s central bank has terminated a $400 million cash delivery to Iran.

"Deutsche Bundesbank has previously worked with the Iranian-owned European-Iranian trade bank (EIH) to end-around sanctions the United States has placed on Iran. As Fox News reports, “The U.S. and the European Union previously sanctioned the EIH for its role in advancing Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. The sanctions on the EIH were lifted after the world powers reached an agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program in 2015.”

"In July, it was revealed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government was trying to circumvent the sanctions that were implemented this week. U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell urged Merkel to terminate the $400 million cash delivery." . . .