Not ever a great nation, say today's Democrats

No longer the party of FDR who said America would be the "arsenal of the free world" in fighting Hitler and Mussolini

American Thinker

Cuomo: America 'was never that great'  . . . "Cuomo made the comments in reference to President Trump's popular "make America great again" slogan. 

" 'We’re not gonna make America great again," Cuomo said at the event, where he signed anti sex-trafficking bills into law. "It was never that great." 

" 'We have not reached greatness," he continued. "We will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged."

" 'We will reach greatness when discrimination and stereotyping against women, 51 percent of our population, is gone," he said. "And every woman’s full potential is realized and unleashed and every woman is making her full contribution. When that happens, this nation is going to be taken even higher.' " . . .

Trump blasts Cuomo for saying 'America was never that great'  . . . "Later, Trump's campaign weighed in, too, saying in a statement that Cuomo "showed his true, pessimistic colors when he defamed America as a country that was ‘never that great.’" . . .

Anti-Trump “Comedian” Michelle Wolf’s Netflix Show Cancelled

Legal Insurrection  "Only a few months ago, “comedian” Michelle Wolf gave a cringe-worthy performance at the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner.  During that disastrous bit, Wolf crossed several lines of decency, particularly in her personal attacks on White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.  So onerous were her remarks that even leftists commended Sanders for her dignified behavior during Wolf’s onslaught.

"That was in April, news broke yesterday that Netflix has cancelled Wolf’s show after only ten episodes.  Apparently, many of those associated with the show found out about it on Twitter.

Watch Wolf at the White House Correspondents’ dinner:" . . .

"You know it’s bad when the likes of MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski and Andrea Mitchell offer support for Sanders.

Mika Brzezinski

✔@morningmika

Watching a wife and mother be humiliated on national television for her looks is deplorable. I have experienced insults about my appearance from the president. All women have a duty to unite when these attacks happen and the WHCA owes Sarah an apology.

. . .  

Keith Ellison is no lawman

Keith Ellison‏Verified account 

At @MoonPalaceBooks and I just found the book that strike fear in the heart of @realDonaldTrump

Silvio Canto, Jr.  "Another story alleging bad behavior with women, and once again a Democrat in the middle of it.  Nevertheless, I think that Mr. [E]llison deserves a fair hearing on this and let the chips fall where they may.  Time will tell.

"My real problem with Mr. Ellison is that this man is the last person on the planet who should be a "law man," as Scott Johnson wrote:

Here some history is in order: Ellison was an active supporter and local leader of the Nation of Islam in Minneapolis before his election to Congress.  (I set forth this history in some detail in the October 9, 2006 issue of The Weekly Standard.)  Ellison has baldly dissembled about this history since 2006.  In his 2014 memoir My Country, 'Tis of Thee, for example, Ellison simply omitted it and presented himself as a critic of Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.

This past June, Ellison told Jake Tapper on CNN, "I worked on the Million Man March and I was proud to do so.  That's it."  But that wasn't it.  Ellison first sought office as a Democrat in 1998 as Keith Ellison-Muhammad, a self-avowed member of the Nation of Islam.  (Ellison-Muhammad is just one of three Nation of Islam names Ellison has used over the years.)  Fortunately for him, Ellison's 5th District constituents haven't much cared about his history and the Minneapolis Star Tribune has almost entirely let it rest exactly where Ellison wants it.

But seeking the top law enforcement job in Minnesota and running for statewide office should be a more daunting challenge because Ellison is an extraordinarily poor fit for the job.  Among the troubling threads that run through Ellison's career: support for cop killers.

"How does man look at police officers and say "do your job"?  How can any law enforcement person in Minnesota trust that A.G. Ellison would have his back?

"There is something wrong with a national political party that nominates someone like Keith Ellison for attorney general.  I don't care about his religion or liberal views.  I do care about his disregard for police officers – the same men and women who may be reporting to him next year."   (Emphases and photos added, TD)

The Best Response to Trump: Report Well

Weekly Standard  "The president’s general attacks against the press are at the least obnoxious—and at the most untrue. There is no better way to demonstrate the latter point than to place facts above all else."

. . . "It is a flawed assumption that casual news readers make a distinction between a newspaper’s editorial board and its reporters such that they won’t hold the former’s opinions against the latter’s journalism. Ultimately, it is on consumers to make such a distinction, when they take editorials seriously at all. But editorial boards across the country were begging readers to do just that in this instance—and in unison. The Baltimore Sun's editorial board addressed the problem of the coordinated campaign in its editorial: “[A] coordinated response from independent—dare we say ‘mainstream’—news organizations feeds a narrative that we’re somehow aligned against this Republican president.” To put a point on it: It’s worth pausing before calling so much attention to yourself." . . .

Overthrow the Church of Leftist Guilt

Michelle Obama famously remarked, during her husband’s first presidential campaign, that it was the first time that she was proud of her country. 

American Greatness

"For the past couple of decades, Leftists have used guilt masterfully to convince Americans to vote against the interests of their country. They set forward some lofty and idealistic vision of what justice in America should be, typically using language generic enough to be palatable to both sides. Then they focus on all of the ways we have fallen short of this goal, ignoring the fact that we have gotten much closer than almost any other country or culture in history. And then they offer an opportunity for penance and salvation—keep voting for them and you will continue to be absolved of your sins.

"But Democrats still need the vague feel-good vision of America to appeal to voters’ patriotism—it’s hard to run a country that you hate. And so they use aspirational language effectively to campaign while hiding their overwhelming disgust with the nation. They have never been proud of America. They are only proud of what America could be if everyone capitulated to their demands.

"Mainstream liberals do not advertise this fact loudly, but they don’t hide it, either. John Kerry chose the slogan Let America be America Again for his presidential campaign—a phrase from a Langston Hughes poem that describes an idealized America, laments that it’s never fulfilled these lofty goals, and finally admits that “America never was America” to him." . . .

Spoof comic claims authorship of NY Times op-ed: 'How Can I Cure My White Guilt?'

Thomas Lifson  "I don't know if the New York Times was hoaxed by a by a comedian pretending to be ridiculously P.C. about collective "white guilt," and it almost doesn't matter.  The fact that the New York Times published this op-ed is simultaneously horrifying and hilarious ("horrifarious" in the useful neologism coined by talk show host Joe Getty):

"Tom Maguire of Just One Minute spotted a tweet raising doubt of about the authorship:

... is this for real, or has the NY Times flipped the keys to The Onion?

You know what?  Go with your gut and bet 'The Onion'.  As best I can tell, the Times writers and editors are serious.  Authorship of the letter however, is claimed by a spoof comic who – take a seat, please – mocks the eternally woke.

. . . 

Democrats In Disarray: Black Dem Apologizes For Racial Slurs Against Asian Dem

Legal Insurrection

"We’re all working hard to understand the very special SJW language of the regressive left.  Apparently, this special language makes “jokes” out of racism against white people because privilege, and we just don’t get the funny.  We aren’t sufficiently “woke” to see that we are a blight on the planet.

"The regressive left has encountered an entirely new beast now: a black female democrat racially slurring an Asian female democrat.  The mind boggles.  We can almost hear them scrambling to make sense of this in their bizarre SJW-land where intersectionality is the rule of the day and racism is the purview of those “fascist” white supremacists.

"What happens when The Narrative skews? When a powerful Democrat black woman calls upon voters not to vote for the Democrat “ching-chong” Asian woman?  Democrat Bettie Cook Scott is referring to her powerful female Democrat opponent, state representative Stephanie Chang.

"The Detroit Metro-Times reports:

Rep. Bettie Cook Scott has issued an apology for her remarks.

. . . .  More than a dozen community groups have called on Rep. Bettie Cook Scott (D-Detroit) to apologize for a series of racial slurs sources say she used to describe her primary election opponent, Rep. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit).

Scott is alleged to have referred to Chang as “ching-chang” and “the ching-chong” to multiple voters outside polling precincts during last Tuesday’s election. She’s also said to have called one of Chang’s campaign volunteers an “immigrant,” saying “you don’t belong here” and “I want you out of my country.”

'Scott, in other words, has used “the language of white supremacy” to exclude and belittle Chang.  But Scott’s black and a woman, a black woman who apparently holds racist, anti-immigrant, xenophobic, exclusionist views against Democrat Asian-American women.

"The things that Scott said about Chang are objectionable by any standard.

"The Detroit Metro-Times continues:

“These comments are offensive to all Asian-Americans,” Chang tells Metro Times. “It isn’t about me. It’s about an elected official disrespecting entire populations, whether they be Asian-American, immigrant, or residents of Sen. District 1 or [Cook’s] own current house district.” . . .

John Brennan: Give It a Rest Already

Ian Macarlane

Elise Cooper  "John Brennan's security clearance has finally been revoked.  Now he is playing the victim card, but per usual, there is more than meets the eye.  American Thinker interviewed a number of former CIA directors while Obama was president.  Although they may have vehemently disagreed with policy, they did it in a civil manner, without the disgusting hyperbolic language and name-calling.  Brennan should take his own words and reflect upon them.

"The argument by a former CIA operative: "Traditionally, since 1947, former directors have kept their security clearances with the idea that the seniors could provide advice, counsel, and become red teams for the current director.  The benefit comes with the different perspectives as they sit in a room together offering a diversity of opinions about any strategic issues.  The only way they could have these conversations is having their clearance maintained." 

"Brennan served as President Obama's chief counter-terrorism adviser from 2008 until he was confirmed as CIA chief in 2013, holding that position until 2017.  Yet, since he did not do a very good job in keeping Americans safe, who would really want to consult with him?  Taking a stroll down memory lane, there were numerous terrorist attacks and attempts in the U.S. under his watch." . . .

TW offline till Friday evening, 8/17

So at least you'll get some late commentary. TD

Watch: GOP Releases Video Trolling Omarosa. Trump Finishes Her Off

I don't expect Hillary or Bill to find fault with all this. TD

Weasel Zippers "Via Daily Wire:  "The Republican Party released a video trolling disgruntled former White House employee Omarosa Manigault Newman on Wednesday and President Donald Trump wasted no time jumping in and throwing a jab at her.

"Newman, who has been trying to promote her new book about her time in the White House by making wild accusations about the Trump administration, has been widely criticized by anti-Trump figures who have called her “evil,” “a liar,” and “not credible.”

"In response to Omarosa’s claims, the Republican Party compiled multiple television clips of Omarosa expressing very different sentiments toward the Trump administration before she was fired earlier this year.   Keep reading…

Piers Morgan Says Omarosa Manigault Offered Him Sex to Win ‘Celebrity Apprentice’
. . . "I’ve met a lot of vile human beings in my life, from dictators and terrorists to sex abusers and wicked conmen,” Morgan wrote in a piece for the DailyMail on Tuesday, February 13. “But I’ve never met anyone quite so relentlessly loathsome as Omarosa; a vicious, duplicitous, lying, conniving, backstabbing piece of work.”

“ 'Which beggars the question: what the hell was she doing inside the world’s most powerful building for 12 months? The answer, as we can now see, was amassing a whole mass of damaging information to now use against President Trump and his administration on Celebrity Big Brother,” Morgan continued, referencing Manigault opening up about Donald Trump and Mike Pence on the CBS reality show on Monday, February 12." . . .

Omarosa's friend blows a gaping hole in her accusation of Trump using THAT word.

. . . "Patton said she spoke with the producer who flatly denied having such a tape. Patton went on to call the claim of the president using the N-Word a “baseless accusation and imaginary audio tape, as falsely claimed by a former friend.' ”
. . . 

"Today, the individual who Omarosa confirmed to me as having played the second-hand audio recording to her last year confirmed that they have no tape, never had possession of a tape, never claimed to have possession of a tape and never played such a tape for Ms. Manigault-Newman.

"Tonight, on the MSNBC program, Hardball, Omarosa revealed to the general public what she had told me last December: That former Apprentice producer, Bill Pruitt, was the original source of the “N-word” tape." . . .  OF COURSE, she appeared on MSNBC!

Even the anti-Trump channels condemn Omarosa for all this

Piers Morgan: Omarosa – Who Claims Trump Used A Racial Slur – Called Him A
Gay Slur  . . . "Regardless, Omarosa has her own accusations of language to deal with. Folks, I give you assertions by your favorite person…that’s right — ladies and gentlemen, Piers Morgan: 

*NEW: Omarosa offered me sex to win Celebrity Apprentice, then called me a ‘f***ing f*gg*t’, invented gay smears & threatened to punch me. Why the hell was this vile creature ever employed at the White House? http://dailym.ai/2EDuKDd” 

American Couple Believing 'Evil Is A Make-Believe Concept' Bike Through Territory Near Afghan Border. ISIS Stabs Them To Death.

Daily Wire

"A young American couple who took a year-long bike trip around the world, believing that evil was a make-believe concept, took a fatal route in Tajikistan near the Afghan border, where alleged ISIS terrorists stabbed them to death.

"Jay Austin and Lauren Geoghegan, 29, quit their jobs last year in order to make their trip. Austin was a vegan who worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Geoghegan, a vegetarian who worked in the Georgetown University admissions office.

"Austin had a personal blog on which he wrote in June 2017, “I’ve grown tired of spending the best hours of my day in front of a glowing rectangle, of coloring the best years of my life in swaths of grey and beige. I’ve missed too many sunsets while my back was turned. Too many thunderstorms went unwatched, too many gentle breezes unnoticed.”

"Their trip, which lasted 369 days, took them from the southernmost tip of Africa in Capetown, South Africa, to Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Egypt, Morocco, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Montengro, Kosovo, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and finally Tajikistan, where they were murdered along with two other cyclists, one from Switzerland and the other from the Netherlands." . . .

"The New York Times reported:

A grainy cellphone clip recorded by a driver shows what happened next: The men’s Daewoo sedan passes the cyclists and then makes a sharp U-turn. It doubles back, and aims directly for the bikers, ramming into them and lurching over their fallen forms. In all, four people were killed: Mr. Austin, Ms. Geoghegan and cyclists from Switzerland and the Netherlands. Two days later, the Islamic State released a video showing five men it identified as the attackers, sitting before the ISIS flag. They face the camera and make a vow: to kill “disbelievers.” . . .

Swedish Mass Arson Attacks — An Islamic State Connection?

Gates of Vienna

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, here’s an update from our Swedish correspondent Svenne Tvaerskaegg with more information of the coordinated mass car-burnings that took place across Sweden the night before last.

. . . "The Swedish government has been put in an extremely difficult position by the arson attacks. The general election is less than one month away, and the main ruling party, the Social Democrats, are rapidly dropping in the polls as the nationalist and anti-immigration Sweden Democrats are rapidly rising. It was already likely the Sweden Democrats would emerge as the largest party in the Swedish parliament, and the arson attacks will only increase this probability. They have brought a new dimension to the pre-election situation and presented Prime Minister Stefan Löfven with an impossible dilemma. He has to be seen as strong and taking effective measures against the arsonists, but any large-scale police action in the ghettos will inevitably trigger riots on a scale not seen since the Stockholm ghetto riots of 2013. This would make a very bad situation even worse as the world’s eyes, and Swedish voters’ eyes, are on television images of pitched battles and burning cities. This is something Mr. Löfven definitely does not want, but may have to face up to.

"It is going to be a very interesting run-up to the election in Sweden."