What You Should Know about the Socialist Causes of Venezuela’s Crisis

What on earth is wrong with the American education system that it has produced a generation of socialists such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the people who vote for her?

The American Interest  "The current Venezuela has been kidnapped by enemies of the West,” says Jorge Jraissati, a Venezuelan activist who fled the crisis-engulfed country to come to America. He’s now a student at Florida Atlantic University, but continues to advocate for free market capitalism and individual freedoms in his home country. “I still remember the moment I decided to take action and fight for political change in Venezuela. I was sixteen at the time.” Today, Jorge is twenty-two and still fighting for the brighter future Venezuela deserves by speaking about his experiences to students across America.
"Once an oil-rich, prosperous nation, Jorge told me how Venezuela descended into utter chaos after former dictator Hugo Chavez was elected. “Economically, the government has heavily regulated the private sector with currency controls, price caps, and widespread expropriations and nationalizations.”
"The country now faces an undeniable humanitarian and political catastrophe. In 2017, each Venezuelan lost an average of twenty-four pounds in weight due to a lack of food and skyrocketing inflation. To purchase basic household items like milk and eggs, Venezuelans must carry around thousands of bolivars—encouraging the continued growth of the nation’s dangerous black market. Indeed, the International Monetary Fund reports that inflation rates in Venezuela are set to top one million in 2018.
"Even so, socialist sympathisers of Venezuela continue to falsely portray dictators Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro as “heroes” and champions of the working class. But Western left-wing activists and politicians who support Bolivarian socialism—such as Jeremy Corbyn —only worsen the perilous situation that innocent Venezuelans face while fighting for their country’s freedom.' . . .

The Antifa Press

Photosnark by Rich Terrell

Don Surber  "Conservatives following the media's coverage of the caravan in Mexico are getting a flashback from the media's coverage of the Antifa attack on Israel. The terrorists and criminals use women as human shields.
"The Washington Post offered a yellow journalism headline: "These children are barefoot. In diapers. Choking on tear gas."
"What kind of mother endangers her toddlers like this? She is wicked.
"The coverage of what the New York Times called "a peaceful protest gone wrong" is sappy.
"Paragraph Three of another Washington Post story encapsulated the third-world press coverage that shrouds the story.
"Linked through a third party, the story said, "What had begun Sunday morning as a migrant protest of the slow pace of the U.S. asylum claims process devolved into a chaotic scramble in which hundreds made their way to the border hoping to cross onto U.S. soil. To block that from happening, and as some threw rocks and bottles, Customs and Border Protection officers took the rare step of firing tear gas into Mexico as well as closing all legal vehicle and foot traffic to the San Ysidro border crossing, which U.S. officials say normally has about 100,000 visitors per day."
"This is the same press that took an unverified rumor of one person calling a congressman the N-word to brand the millions of Tea Party members as racist.
"But "some" people (500 according to BBC) throwing projectiles at American officials somehow doesn't represent the "protesters," who apparently are all babies in diapers and their mothers." . . .

The caravan’s organizers also pushed women and children to the front of the clash,

Border Patrol agents revealed in interviews that the migrants storming the U.S.-Mexico border over the weekend were using women and children as human shields as they launched rocks at agents.  . . . "Judd explained that the situation at the border yesterday was “unprecedented” and that migrants had never tried before to rush a port of entry. The Border Patrol veteran explained that illegal immigrants often abandon woman and children while being chased by authorities, knowing that they will hinder officers while they abscond. " . . . 

Remember when Obama used tear gas on these people in 2013?  
(Copyright © 2018, The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Tear gas used once a month at border under Obama. No complaints here.

Ocasio-Cortez trivializes Holocaust by comparing Jewish refugees from Hitler to Central Americans

The under-educated Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is another exhibit of the encroaching third-world status America is morphing into. Not just Obama was a third-world leader, but the wretched quality of many we choose as leaders, people with no regard for the Constitution nor America's crucial role among nations. TD

Thomas Lifson  "It is by now abundantly clear that the youngest person ever elected to Congress is an ingenue ignoramus, serenely unaware of the depths of her obliviousness. For someone who grew up in New York City – oops, make that Westchester County (but it’s a suburb, so kinda counts) -- to compare fleeing systematic extermination in the Holocaust to people seeking more lucrative employment and better welfare benefits in this country is obscene. It trivializes the Holocaust, period. 
"Yet, glamour girl Ocasio-Cortez did exactly that in a tweet yesterday:

"I don’t recall Jews fleeing Hitler announcing they would violate our borders if not accorded entry on demand. And I certainly don’t recall  Jews storming the border, throwing rocks at our Border Patrol.

"But these differences, as important as they are, pale beside the comparison of the Holocaust to economic deprivation.

"The Anti-Defamation League, before it became a shill for Democrats, used to criticize those who compared the Holocaust to lesser perils.  So far, there is nothing on the ADL website concerning Ocasio-Cortez’s trivialization of it."

Alexandria, this was what a real holocaust looked like:

And this:

Post-Midterm Meltdowns

Conrad Black

"Not even a week had elapsed after the midterm elections before there were eruptions of foolishness in Washington and abroad that do not augur well for an improved climate of relations in domestic or international affairs.

"CNN has sued the president and his entourage for revoking Jim Acosta’s White House press pass. This is the perfect illustration of the presumptuousness of the fake news press. This description “fake news” was furnished by the president when CNN took the Steele dossier public and asked the president if he had participated in a festival of urination by a group of prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room because the Obamas had slept there. In those early days of the administration, Wolf Blitzer claimed immense enterprise by CNN to unearth the dossier (that the Democratic National Committee, which paid for it, was shopping desperately to the media). CNN elaborately portrayed this now infamous hack-job as the work of an eminent retired British espionage official.

"After Acosta attempted to filibuster the president’s post-midterm press conference and engage him in debate, the revocation of Acosta’s pass was an appropriate measure. CNN has many other accredited representatives and could nominate a replacement, but the network’s media director, Brian Stelter, a foaming-at-the-mouth Trump-hater, instead has sued the president.

"A moron—and presumably any lawyer the cable network consulted—could see that there is no statutory basis to a presidential press conference." . . .

Justice Sonia Sotomayor Shares How She Welcomed Brett Kavanaugh After His Confirmation

Intellectual Takeout

"Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor related one of her first exchanges with Justice Brett Kavanaugh following his bitter confirmation during a wide-ranging interview Saturday with CNN.

"In welcoming Kavanaugh, Sotomayor recounted a story about Justice Clarence Thomas’ arrival at the Supreme Court in 1991.

“ 'It was Justice Thomas who tells me that when he first came to the court, another justice approached him and said, ‘I judge you by what you do here. Welcome.’ And I repeated that story to Justice Kavanaugh when I first greeted him here,” Sotomayor told CNN political commentator David Axelrod.

"Like Kavanaugh, Thomas was accused of sexual misconduct during his Senate confirmation hearings.

"Elsewhere in the interview, Sotomayor explained that collegiality is essential to the high court’s work, particularly since the justices serve with one another for long periods of time.

“ 'When you’re charged with working together for most of the remainder of your life, you have to create a relationship,” Sotomayor said. “The nine of us are now a family and we’re a family with each of us our own burdens and our own obligations to others, but this is our work family, and it’s just as important as our personal family.”

“ 'We’ve probably spent more time with each other than most justices spend, who have spouses, with their spouses,” she added."

The justices projected normalcy and camaraderie after Kavanaugh joined the court. During his first day on the bench, the justices were unusually lighthearted and deferential to one another.

In his first and, to date, only remarks on the Kavanaugh confirmation, Chief Justice John Roberts promised to protect the integrity and impartiality of the court, approvingly quoting statements the new justice made during his ceremonial installation at the White House.

“As our newest colleague put it, we do not sit on opposite sides of an aisle, we do not caucus in separate rooms, we do not serve one party or one interest, we serve one nation,” Roberts told an audience at the University of Minnesota Law School.

The Pilgrims Didn’t Invent Thanksgiving, So Stop Blaming Them And Be Grateful

The Federalist

We should celebrate Thanksgiving as our ancestors did, a moment to reflect on the extraordinary blessings of our time.

. . . "So, sure, we can argue about whether the injustices Native Americans suffered taint Thanksgiving, or whether it’s right or wrong to remember this moment of unity at all. We can delve deep into the historical context and argue about whether the Europeans bear moral responsibility for the diseases they carried with them, and dispute whether children using paper bags to dress as Pilgrims and Indians is a charming tradition or supremely insensitive.

"Or we can celebrate Thanksgiving as our ancestors did, as a moment to reflect on the extraordinary blessings of our modern era, when hunger and disease and infant mortality, so common in the past, are now so rare that we see them as a great tragedy rather than a natural part of life.`"

Here's What Happened to the Leftist-Supported Caravan Riders Who Tried to Storm the United States Border

Beth Baumann

"Late Sunday evening, hundreds of illegal aliens attempted to rush the United States-Mexico border, something they talked about a few days ago. What the caravan riders didn't expect, however, was the Border Patrol utilizing tear gas to keep them from successfully crossing into the United States. 

"Roughly 500 caravan riders rushed past a barricade created by Mexican officials. They then went to rush the border, at which point the Border Patrol deployed tear gas to protect agents.
. . .

" 'After being prevented from entering the port of entry, some of these migrants attempted to breach legacy fence infrastructure along the border and sought to harm CBP personnel by throwing projectiles at them," Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement. "DHS will not tolerate this type of lawlessness and will not hesitate to shut down ports of entry for security and public safety reasons. We will also seek to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who destroys federal property, endangers our front-line operators, or violates our nation's sovereignty.' " . . .

Leftists On U.S. Side March To Border Crossing To Support Migrants   "Notice the Che hat and other leftist regalia. How nice supporting folks who attacked the Border Patrol." Video

Anybody hearing about just how far left the caravan organizers are?

. . . "Had enough? It just gets worse, with its list of demands, including this beauty:

3. The US government must publicly acknowledge a) its role in Honduran Coup in 2009, b) that the Honduran government is a US supported dictatorship, and c) recognize the political and social crises throughout Central America as caused by US foreign policy.

"This is nutbag, far-left stuff. That's not about moms and kids, that's about the political demands of Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. And as you read further in their "demands," you can read that they also want American officials prosecuted. This is the caravan agenda as it throws hapless women and children in front of the cameras, leaves Tijuana a humanitarian agenda area, and leaves Mexico with the prospect of a completely shut border. As they say: By any means necessarily, and those migrants are their pawns. Now is the scenario clearer?

"And are there any questions as to why the caravan migrants are overwhelmingly military-aged unemployed young men, as this Univision screengrab from Mexicali unintentionally shows? (That reporter look uncomfortable)."

John Kerry joins Hillary warning Europe of threat of immigration

Donkey Hotey

Thomas Lifson  "It’s starting to look like some members of the Democrat establishment understand that open borders is a losing issue. It would be too dangerous to take on the issue domestically, so acknowledging that Europe is being harmed by mass immigration/asylum and turning to politicians who will control the borders is a first step. When Hillary Clinton warned of the danger of Europe turning to populists in order to stop the influx, it was startling. But now, it is a trend.

John Kerry has joined fellow failed presidential nominee Clinton in warning Europe that its refugee policies have been a disaster. Ryan Saavedra reports in the Daily Wire:" . . .

. . . "Illegal immigration is currently the top concern of Americans.  While the radical wing of the Democrats is explicitly in favor of open borders, the issue drives support to Republicans in key states. It is possible that the old guard of the Democrats is citing Europe and urging border control there as a means of opening the issue for debate in choosing the 2020 nominee.

"On the other hand, there is a striking similarity in both the Clinton and Kerry announcements. Both came under the auspices of the UK Guardian, which ispushing the issue of European populists gaining victories. It is possible that after discussing the issue in interviews and other sessions with The Guardian, both Hillary and Kerry independently changed their minds. But because both of them waited until after the midterms (with the cooperation of the Guardian that withheld those comments before the vote was in), it suggest that a strategy is being implemented." . . .

Hillary Wakes Up on Immigration  "None other than Hillary Clinton has advised Western Europe "to do something to lessen the flow of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa."  

"But don't jump to conclusions. Madam Hillary has not undergone an epiphany similar to the one Saul encountered on the way to Damascus. The reason Clinton said this is not because the massive influx of these migrants has strained Europe's welfare system, increased violent crime, and seriously degraded the culture and life-styles of the countries in which these immigrants reside." . . . 

Caravan migrant who disdained donated Mexican food as fit 'for pigs' expects free U.S. health care  . . . "But for us in the U.S., the apology revealed even more undesirable things. She apologized because she said she was coming to the U.S. to get health care for her daughter, who had some expensive medical conditions? That's a rationale for ingratitude? Because it's important to make gringo pay instead? She wasn't looking to escape violence, she was coming for the free stuff." . . .

108 caravan migrants arrested for crimes in Tijuana, so far...  . . . "The Department of Homeland Security took a lot of flak for identifying 500 migrants traveling with the Central American caravan as known criminals. And President Trump was blasted in the press for saying the caravan had a lot of "rough people." But what's undercover intelligence compared to the media narrative that the caravan is just moms and kids, fleeing gangs?

"Actually, the migrants are the gang." . . .

Monica Lewinsky says Bill Clinton hinted she should perjure herself, arranged a farewell Christmas tryst before dumping her

Thomas Lifson  "Now that #MeToo has made heroines out of women accusing powerful men of sexual abuse, Monica Lewinsky is providing her side of the story of the encounters that led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment. Had Hillary Clinton won the presidency, the same array of forces that circled the first Clinton White House to dismiss her as one of the “nuts and sluts” (hat tip: James Carville, who is all but invisible in the media) would be suppressing her story. But now that Hillary is a loser and embarrassment, and Bill old, feeble, and evoking shame among those Dems that are capable of that emotion, the former intern has a platform and an audience.

"The A&E cable network is running a six part documentary series, featuring new interviews with now middle-aged Monica Lewinsky. The UK Daily Mail has a lengthy account of what is contained in the episodes broadcasts so far, including:" . . .  Daily Mail video here.
. . .
"In case anyone doubted that Bill Clinton is a cad (I know, it’s an old fashioned word in this era of Grinder and hookups), her account of his arranging a final tryst before letting her know that her services were no longer required settles the question." . . .

Intelligencer Does Puff Piece Praising Dem Senators Who Made Kavanaugh ‘Hysterical’

Weasel Zippers

"Via Twitchy:

New York Magazine’s Intelligencer section is presenting a feature on women and power, focusing on the four female senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee who asked the questions that made now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh hysterical.

There’s always time for a photo shoot, isn’t there?

Dianne Feinstein … isn’t she the one who sat on Christine Blasey Ford’s letter for a month and a half before using it as a Hail Mary when it looked like Kavanaugh’s confirmation was a done deal? Let’s never let that be forgotten whenever the story of the Kavanaugh confirmation is told

Keep reading…

Ex-CIA officer claims he’s flooded with requests from Democrats on how to take Trump down: ‘They’re going after him with a hatchet’

Raw Story  "Appearing on CNN on Friday morning to address Donald Trump’s defense of the Saudi cover-up of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an intelligence and security analyst said Democratic House members are ready to come after the president over possible financial entanglements with the Middle Eastern nation.

"Speaking with host Jim Sciutto, former CIA case officer Robert Baer said he is already being flooded with calls from the newly empowered Democrats who will chair and hold majority positions of the House committees with the power to investigate Trump.

“ 'The Saudi foreign minister already parroted back the president’s doubts about the CIA assessment [of the murder],” Sciutto began. “We are in a different situation because you have Democrats taking over the House.”

“ 'That gives Democrats powerful chairmanships of committees, and we have Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) now who will be the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee saying, among the things, that he wants the committee to investigate is whether Trump Organization has financial ties in Saudi Arabia that is influencing the president’s decision here,” the CNN host continued. “How impactful could an investigation like that be?”

“ 'Oh, Jim, it’s going to be huge,” Baer enthused. “I have already gotten e-mails this morning from Congress asking who should they put in front of committees.' ” . . .

Maybe they can investigate this Democrat. Naaaah.

The state of liberal media

Saint Michelle Cashes in, Big Time  "Michelle Obama has a new memoir out called "Becoming." Add two words: "Very Wealthy." The Obamas struck a $65 million book deal for his-and-hers memoirs, and next to it is their $50 million production deal with Netflix. They are set to cash in to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. One outlet has called them a "billion-dollar brand." None of their media sycophants find this the tiniest bit controversial. They are the royal family. They cannot possibly be compensated enough. 

"(President Trump's wealth? Wealth generated by a lifetime of work in the private sector? Unacceptable.) 

"Mrs. Obama's interviews -- entirely with women, and mostly black women -- are servile in every "objective news" venue and even worse during TV promotional pit stops. Ellen DeGeneres aired a sappy tribute video stuffed with adoration and proclaimed that Obama is "a human being that we all look up to." She said, "you inspire all of us. So, we put together a little something for you to just show you how amazing you are."

"No one asks about any Obama scandal, like the 2012 Benghazi attack. No one asks about her controversial, heavy-handed school lunch rules, which Trump thankfully threw out. And no one asks about greed. She has a 10-city stadium tour charging $300 a ticket or more for the superfans to hear her speak. Is it appropriate to cash in on her FLOTUS status this way? How much, if any, has gone to charity? These kinds of questions are unacceptable. This is Michelle Obama." . . .

6 Memorable Clashes at Presidential News Conferences