The NFL continues its ways

Police Union Cancels Discount Ticket Program After Miami Dolphin Anthem Protests

The start of it all

"The Broward County PBA recently offered our members discounts to a Miami Dolphins game because that franchise said they were going to honor all First Responders,” read the organization’s Facebook statement, released on Friday. “We entered into this partnership with the understanding that the Dolphins organization would require their players to stand for the National Anthem. This did not happen at last night’s preseason game against Tampa Bay.”
"As a result, the BCPBA will no longer participate in this ticket program, and we are asking all of our members, as well as members of the Dade County PBA and Palm Beach County PBA, not to participate either. If you have already purchased tickets to this game, we encourage you to call the Dolphins ticket office to request a refund because this organization obviously DOES NOT honor First Responders and the dangers they put themselves in every day." . . .

How the NFL lost my trust . . . "'I will not be lectured about my politics by Bob Costas, or any other announcer on ESPN or any other network. The players, owners and announcers need to know that my contempt for them exceeds whatever they may hold for me as Joe Nobody former football fan.

"It's not just the anthem controversy but that is the genesis of my disgust. I no longer trust the game. Let me explain. Following the Anthem protest in last season's Oakland vs. Washington game in September, 2017 it is alleged that the offensive line of the Raiders, upset  at their quarterback's failure to support their protest, allowed him to be sacked and ultimately injured." . . .

Major League Baseball has no Anthem controversy. In fact, this year's MLB All Star Game went out of its way to recognize 29 Congressional Medal of Honor Awardees and all other veterans. They honored these men. The stadium announcer introduced each of these men as the true heroes they are. Tears were shed. Players and all in the stands seemed awed and humbled. I know that I was.

10-Year-Old Crippled Boy Stands for Anthem at Tennessee Fair — NFL Still Kneeling (VIDEO)

The NFL Doesn't Actually Care About You, or Your Service  . . . "Obviously, I was wrong, because here we are again, my friends: another year, another round of protests. And all because the NFL and Roger Goodell have been subverted by the most sinister of human endeavors—politics." . . .

DOJ IG report reveals that the Clinton/Lynch tarmac meeting was planned and coordinated by the Secret Service and FBI

Powdered Wig Society  "Democrats are compulsive liars. I figure the DNC conducts a periodic nationwide lecture series on effective lying to properly train their up-and-coming candidates.

"It has now been revealed, on Page 203 of the DOJ IG report, that the infamous tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch was not an accidental, spontaneous event as they both claimed, where they discussed golf and grandchildren.

"Rather, the meeting was planned and coordinated by Bill Clinton’s Secret Service detail and Loretta Lynch’s FBI detail. Here’s hoping that those individuals are subpoenaed by Congress to find out what they know about the topic of the meeting, which isn’t a mystery (not prosecuting Hillary), but confirming an egregious injustice." From BizPac Review

. . . 

“The OPA (Office of Public Affairs) Supervisor said that he later learned that former President Clinton’s Secret Service detail had contacted Lynch’s FBI security detail to let them know that the former President wanted to meet with Lynch.”

"As BizPac Review as reported, Lynch and Clinton claimed they only discussed grandchildren and golf during their rendezvous." . . .

Hat tip to Tom Nichols.

Nine Words That Confirm California's Sharp Left Turn Toward Authoritarianism

Investors.com  "By now it's widely known that California is cracking down on plastics — bags and straws — as if they were existential threats. It's virtue signaling gone wild as cities race to outlaw plastic straws because banning plastic bags just wasn't enough. 01:01

02:26

"It was at the one of the more recent book burnings, rather, make that plastic straw bannings, that we were told what many of us already know: The "progressive" left in California won't rest until it has established authoritarian control over everyone's lives.

"The inadvertent announcement was delivered by Santa Barbara City Councilman Jason Dominguez. 

"During the July session in which the City Council voted 6-1 to ban plastic straws and allow plastic stirrers and cutlery to be used only when it is requested by customers, the Democrat said "We have to regulate every aspect of people's lives."  . . . 

. . .  This state is filled with politicians who want to regulate, manage, supervise, subjugate, and muzzle the nearly 40 million everyday people of the state. Don't think so? Consider the following evidence:

• No state restrains commerce with the same degree of enthusiasm that California does. Doing business in California is possible only the right permits, licensing, approvals, and compliance are in hand.

• Few states tax as punitively as California does.

• California has the most restrictive gun laws in the country.

• The free-speech movement began at the University of California in the 1960s, but California lawmakers today want to establish speech codes.

• The freedom to practice religion is threatened.

• Some have complained that Fourth Amendment protections are in danger.

• California's rural residents feel so strongly that they are being tyrannized by left-wing coastal elitists that many want to split off from the rest of the state.

Cartoons added by TD

• Gov. Jerry Brown is an advocate for the "the coercive power of the central state." The animating force behind that advocacy, according to Chapman University professor Joel Kotkin, is a hunger for the state "to gain control over virtually every aspect of planning and development."

• Sacramento is planning to force a full transition away from fossil fuels.

• According to the Cato Institute, only one state allows its residents less freedom than California.

Read the full article

Hillary Embarrasses Herself at the Grammys; "The awards shows are turning into Meet the Press with sequins and cleavage."

National Review, January

It’s merely unbecoming for a winner to taunt his vanquished foe. It’s pathetic for a loser to poke fun at the man who beat her.

"People with “I’m With Her” back tattoos don’t seem to get how wince-inducingly pathetic it was for Hillary Clinton to attempt to rub Donald Trump’s peccadilloes in his face at the Grammys last night, so picture this: 

"A year after blowing a 28–3 lead in the Super Bowl, Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn appears on national television, his eyes full of mockery, to read aloud that gossipy Sports Illustrated story about troubles within the New England Patriots organization. With a victorious smirk on his face, Quinn reads these words: “Brady always knew the hits were coming during Monday morning film sessions — ‘The quarterback at Foxborough High could make that throw,’ Belichick often would say after replaying a Brady misfire.” The audience guffaws in approval.

"Except Quinn would never dare do that even if he wanted to, for one simple reason: He does not get to make fun of Tom Brady, because Tom Brady beat him. You can’t do an end-zone dance if you haven’t scored a touchdown. Your trash-talk license is revoked when yours is the losing side, especially if you happen to be the teammate who fumbled the ball on the goal line. Leave aside the indignity of Hillary Clinton, a former first lady, secretary of state, and presidential candidate, appearing in a cheap throwaway gag at the Grammys during which she reads a bit from the book Fire and Fury about President Trump’s love of junk food. Leave aside the fact that her husband was also once notorious for his love of McDonald’s.

"Leave aside the fact that she and her husband have, like Trump, been the subject of scurrilous, vicious, largely made-up junk-journalism that doesn’t even pass the laugh test, much less a rigorous fact-checking process. She lost; she has no standing to make fun of the man who beat her." . . .

. . . "Clinton should take the advice of J. J. Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success: “You’re dead, son. Get yourself buried.” Every time she reappears on the national stage she simply reminds us all that she’s a bad politician — ungainly, unnatural, unctuous, forced — and that it is this lack of political skill that resulted in the Trump presidency. A Christmas-time poll by Gallup put Clinton’s approval rating at an abysmal 36 percent. You’d have to be emotionally invested in her to find stunts such as her Grammy appearance anything but woeful for her image. " . . .

Celebrity Activists Do Not Help  . . . "Genuine good will is not something to hold in contempt, even when it comes from silly people who are lecturing the great wide world from behind a wall of Gucci advertisements, but that kind of sentiment is not as useful as we imagine it is." .  .  .

Apoplectic critics can’t answer Dinesh D’Souza’s ideas

Kalman J. Kaplan  "That the political dialogue in America has become toxic is not a new insight, unfortunately, much if not most of it coming from the so-called “progressive elite.” However, for the most part, it has not centered on artistic work, which we would hope would be judged on its own terms.  However, the recent release of Dinesh D’Souza’s current film Death of a Nation has released a torrent of hate and attempts to poison people’s minds against it. 

"On the face of it, the attempt is ridiculous.  D’Souza, while quite intelligent, is controversial.  So what? we may ask.  People are free to see controversial material and judge for themselves without the creators being shunned and even defamed.  D’Souza is a polemicist, and a quite intelligent one. He is an intelligent Republican who  argues that the Democratic Party has falsified history in ways we will outline below.  If his ideas do not stand the test of scrutiny, they will fall by themselves, but if not, they will slowly enter the main stream of opinion. Is this not the way debate should work in a free society?

"However, the hysteric reaction on the left  to D’Souza’s movie is really beyond the pale. Critics do not want people to see the movie and judge D’Souza’s ideas on their merit. Rather they want to quarantine the movie and D’Souza himself as if he were a virulent toxic disease.  This of course is nothing but fascism, which is the point of D’Souza’s movie itself -- that fascism is a disease of the left.  The over the top attempt to quarantine and silence D’Souza’s movie only serves to support his point: that fascism emerged on the left.

"What does D’Souza say in the movie. Let me list a few points I took from it, all of which can be discussed rationally and calmly between people of good will." . . .

It's Sunday! Are ya ready for some FOOTBALL?

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." . . .