UPDATED: Hating The President Is Not a Strategy, As Bill Kristol Just Learned

Townhall

On cable TV, one network in particular has abandoned decades of journalistic tradition and ethics, devoting its resources to a relentless, nakedly partisan crusade to savage President Trump: CNN. Its ratings, predictably, are in the tank — in October, CNN fell behind both the Hallmark Channel and Home and Garden Television.

"Going all in on attacking President Trump isn’t proving to be a particularly effective business strategy for media outlets. 
"The Weekly Standard, a 28-year old neoconservative institution, is reportedly headed towards dissolution after its founder, Bill Kristol, devoted almost three years of work to attacking the President and his supporters.
"It’s not just Kristol. The entire world of clickbait Trump-hate seems to be in jeopardy, including sites that cater to the liberal base. " . . .
"What’s actually crumbling are Kristol’s reputation and legacy. Happily, it appears that the bulk of the late Standard’s funding will be reassigned to its thus far fair-to-Trump sister publication, The Washington Examiner. 
"It turns out that trying to build resistance credentials by demonizing President Trump isn’t just lousy for journalism, it’s terrible for business."

CNN mourns the end of the Weekly Standard  . . . "The Weekly Standard was founded in 1995 by Kristol, Fred Barnes, and John Podhoretz. It was initially published by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation before being sold to Clarity Media Group in 2009. During the presidency of George W. Bush, it was widely considered to be aligned with the administration and with neoconservatism broadly.
"Under Hayes' leadership, The Weekly Standard has remained steadfast in its criticism of Trump. Trump's supporters have lashed out at The Weekly Standard and its influence in Republican circles has dwindled.
"But while The Weekly Standard's influence in Republican politics has declined, its web traffic has increased, people familiar with the data said." . . .  

UPDATE by Thomas Lifson: The Weekly Standard a casualty of Trump Derangement Syndrome

The person most identified with the brand is Kristol, by far.  He stepped down as editor at the end of 2016, but his public persona still defines the magazine: his bitter, flippant, or sarcastic tweets about Trump and Trump supporters are the Weekly Standard's brand in the public's eye.  Few people look at the masthead of a magazine closely enough to realize when a prominent editor such as Kristol has been replaced by a less prominent once [sic] such as Steve Hayes – and because Kristol remains on the masthead as editor-at-large, ordinary readers have even more cause for confusion.  ('Editor-at-large' sounds a lot like 'editor' to most people, but in fact usually means 'ex-editor.')
Fairly or not, Bill Kristol is the brand.

I understand where TWS was coming from as I disliked Trump considerately in the primaries, finding many of his statements most distasteful. Most offensive to me was his insult of Carly Fiorina's looks (which I consider most attractive), then on to "Little Marco" and "Lyin' Ted", to name just two. (Full disclosure: I could tolerate "Crooked Hillary", but in William F. Buckley's words, "some of my instincts are reprehensible").
But it must be said that Trump is a bulwark standing between us and the likes of Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters, Bernie Sanders, (pretty much any TV talk show host) and those we saw scowling at the President during his State of the Union address along with their propaganda sources at CNN and MSNBC.  The Tunnel Dweller.

Tulsi Gabbard Will Remind Voters What a Democrat Foreign Policy Looks Like

As is often the case, the quasi-isolationist views of the “America First” wing of the GOP align with those of the left’s appeasement caucus.

By Noah Rothman in Commentary

The very definition of quixotic .

". . . On paper, Gabbard seems like a good fit for her party. The first Hindu to serve in Congress, a female combat veteran, and a progressive in good standing—she checks most of the boxes the next Democratic presidential nominee will need. But there will be a lot of progressive women and minorities running for the presidency next year, and most of them will be doing so with more political experience than Gabbard. What makes the congresswoman stand out from the field are her views on foreign affairs, and those views are no asset.

"Gabbard’s staunch opposition to American intervention abroad in combination with her fierce antipathy toward radical Islamist terrorism might seem on its face to fit squarely within the mainstream of the Democratic Party. The problem for Gabbard is that those two beliefs often manifest in overt support for some of the world’s most atrocious and bloody authoritarian regimes.

"Near the end of Barack Obama’s presidency, Gabbard sponsored legislation that would defund the covert American mission to support insurgent groups inside Syria to fight both the Bashar al-Assad regime and ISIS, insisting that these funds essentially support al-Qaeda and al-Nusra. She didn’t just dismiss the fact that both Damascus and Moscow have repeatedly made the same claim; she leaned into the unity of purpose between herself and the Assad-Putin nexus." . . .

. . . But [the appeasement] caucus has lost much of its influence over the Democratic Party in the age of Trump. Those on the left who could once be counted on to endorse a more humble and conciliatory approach to Russo-American relations have abandoned that perennial campaign plank, leaving Gabbard out on a limb. Maybe Gabbard thinks she can command the fealty of that forsaken Democratic constituency in a presidential campaign, and she might. But it’s more likely that Gabbard will stand as a painful reminder to voters about what Democratic stewardship of Russian-American relations and crises like the Syrian civil war looks like. That’s the last thing Democrats want.

Some Democrat foreign policy highlights: 

DHS Report On Death Of 7 Year Old: Father Didn’t Identify Issue When Asked

Weasel Zippers

DHS Report On Death Of 7 Year Old: Father Didn’t Identify Issue When Asked  "But left is blaming Border Patrol anyway. Maybe blame the parent and smugglers that put the child through this and didn’t feed her or give her water for days? This is why this endangers lives."

Department of Homeland Security statement of regret for the loss of the child. 

. . . "Her death is incredibly tragic. The entire DHS family offers her family their prayers and thoughts. Unfortunately, her death is not unique. Each year, the Border Patrol identifies hundreds of people who either die attempting to illegally enter the United States, are injured in the attempt, or have to be rescued by Border Patrol. This past year alone Border Patrol rescued 4,311 people in distress. While rarely reported, this flood of injured or sick persons encountering our Border Patrol has resulted in the Border Patrol cross-training 1300 agents as EMTs. In this case, unfortunately, we did not encounter the child sooner.     As we have repeatedly said, traveling north illegally into the United States is extremely dangerous. Drug cartels, human smugglers and the elements pose deadly risks to anyone who attempts to cross the border illegally. Once again, we are begging parents to not put themselves or their children at risk by attempting to enter illegally. Please, we are begging you, present yourselves and your children at a port of entry and seek to enter legally and safely.     Below is a more in depth timeline of the event on December 6, 2018, prior to the child’s death on December 8, 2018." . . .

Democrats Try to Use Dead Child as ‘Martyr for Open Borders’

. . . Instead of defending themselves with cold facts and dry logic, administration officials must put the emotional blame for the child’s death where it belongs, he said.“The father is the chief culprit — anybody who is using his child as a get-out-of-jail card and is dragging her through the inhospitable desert is a dirtbag,” he said, adding; . . .

Liberal anguish for children applies only to those who can serve their purposes. Cases in point:

 The left is in high dudgeon and venting piously over the Border Patrol's part in the loss of the child. I suggest they vent their self-righteous venom over the Democrat treatment given to the Kavanaugh family and their children causing them to be escorted from the presence of Democrats in that committee room, their excited smiles wiped from their faces. 

Then there was treatment meted out to families passing through areas where Antifa thugs were assaulting anyone not them. Who has not seen the reports of terror-stricken faces on children with the targets of Democrat mobs watching as their families were verbally abused and threatened by Trump-haters?
Compassionate children- loving liberals? Give me a break.
The Tunnel Dweller.

Venezuelans regret gun ban, 'a declaration of war against an unarmed population'

Fox News

"CUCUTA, Venezuela/Colombia border – As Venezuela continues to crumble under the socialist dictatorship of President Nicolas Maduro, some are expressing words of warning – and resentment – against a six-year-old gun control bill that stripped citizens of their weapons.

“ 'Guns would have served as a vital pillar to remaining a free people, or at least able to put up a fight,” Javier Vanegas, 28, a Venezuelan teacher of English now exiled in Ecuador, told Fox News. “The government security forces, at the beginning of this debacle, knew they had no real opposition to their force. Once things were this bad, it was a clear declaration of war against an unarmed population.”

"Under the direction of then-President Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan National Assembly in 2012 enacted the “Control of Arms, Munitions and Disarmament Law,” with the explicit aim to “disarm all citizens.” The law took effect in 2013, with only minimal pushback from some pro-democracy opposition figures, banned the legal commercial sale of guns and munitions to all - except government entities.

"Chavez initially ran a months-long amnesty program encouraging Venezuelans to trade their arms for electrical goods. That year, there were only 37 recorded voluntary gun surrenders, while the majority of seizures - more than 12,500 – were by force.

"In 2014, with Nicolás Maduro at the helm following Chavez’s death but carrying through his socialist “Chavista” policies, the government invested more than $47 million enforcing the gun ban – which has since included grandiose displays of public weapons demolitions in the town square." . . .

Shut the government down

Don Surber  "Face it, we deplorables would love to see the federal government shut down for a month or so. A battle for funding the wall is as good an excuse as any.
"Imagine a month without Congress. Well into the 19th century, Congress took summers off. Then Willis Haviland Carrier invented modern air conditioning, and the swamp critters could stay all year round.
"No FBI would be fun. No one to entrap you. No one to raid your lawyer in a pre-dawn attack.
"No IRS to harass legitimate conservative charities while giving the Clinton Fake Charity a pass.
"The military would continue to protect the country. And President Trump -- who gets to pick and choose what agencies gets shut down (thanks, Obama) -- would keep the border patrol on.
"I am pretty sure the Social Security checks would continue since it is a self-funded agency. But why worry? President Trump would sooner open up the prisons than piss off all us old people.
"Conservatives are very patriotic people, but they are not very happy with the government.
"Liberals love the government but hate the country.
"Here's an idea: How about we get a government that actually serves the country. That way, liberals can hate both."

Remember Obama's vindictive shutdown of monuments and memorials to "make it hurt"?  (Video added by TD)

2013: Obama Wants to Make the Shutdown Hurt Ordinary Americans

 . . . "During the Obama administration the memorials were “weaponized” for the purposes of political optics:

The Trump Administration is leaving the National Mall and monuments open in a shutdown. Remember when Obama shut them down to get PR out of WWII vets pushed away from the WWII memorial? Good times.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 19, 2018

"Among the defining images of that [obama] shutdown were children locked out of parks and veterans protesting at barricades in front of the World War II Memorial" https://t.co/gJtCncYnrW

— Ryan (@alwaysonoffense) January 20, 2018

Never forget how Obama tried to inflict as much pain as possible on the American citizen when the govt shutdown under his watch. He closed every park unnecessarily and erected barriers in open air spaces. Patriots tore them down! Make Dems pay for #SchumerShutdown https://t.co/JMc1dN3ceS

 "Valor: Another wounded warrior carried Barrycades; Searcy: 'Best damn tweet ever!' "

Students Walkout to Protest Firing of Teacher Who Refused to Use Transgendered Student’s Preferred Gender Pronouns

Legal Insurrection  (Video) "French Teacher Peter Vlaming was fired from West Point High School in West Point, Virginia for refusing to use a transgendered student’s preferred pronouns.

"Vlaming attempted to accommodate the student by using her preferred name instead of any pronoun; an accommodation the school board found insufficient. “Mr. Vlaming was recommended for termination due to this insubordination and repeated refusal to comply with directives made to him by multiple WPPS administrators,” said Superintendent Laura Abel.

"Less than 24 hours after Vlaming was fired, students held a walkout to protest the firing of Vlaming.

“ 'I  feel like everyone should have the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion as well,” said Junior Zachary Gonzalez, speaking to local news.

. . . 

"From the Christian Post:

Less than 24 hours after the West Point, Virginia school board unanimously voted to terminate high school French instructor Peter Vlaming, a large group of students walked out of their classes to protest the decision.

“He’s an amazing man,” student Wyatt Pedersen told WWBT News. “I think he really was going with what he believed was right and it’s really unfair that he’s being punished for that, especially in such a dramatic way.”

“I feel like everyone should have the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion as well,” said Junior Zachary Gonzalez.

Forrest Rohde, the West Point High School junior who organized the walkout, emphasized that the protest was not about the transgender student. Rather, he said students took issue with the school board “trying to force the teacher to conform to their ideologies with the threat of removal from the school.”

“The child is going through a lot,” Rohde said. “We shouldn’t be directing this towards her, we should be directing this towards the school board.”

Jerry Brown Says Dems Are Becoming Too Extreme — Ocasio-Cortez Proves Him Right

American Thinker

Investors.com  "Left-Wing Extremists: Things must be pretty bad in the Democratic Party if outgoing California Gov. Jerry Brown thinks the party is out of touch with mainstream America. But then again, look at what the party's new socialist darling, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is now successfully pushing.
"In a radio interview this week, Brown said that the Democratic Party has gone "further out than I think the majority of people want." Brown was talking mostly about his own state's Democrats, which now completely dominate the state government and might go off the deep end.
"But the observation applies equally to Democrats outside the Golden State. As IBD has been observing for years, the Democratic Party has lost its mooring and has been drifting steadily to the extremist left.

Green New Deal
"Now the far left is the "mainstream" in the Democratic Party. Even if their ideas are radical by every else's measure.
"Just look at how the party is quickly buckling under pressure from socialists like Ocasio-Cortez.
"Before taking office, Ocasio-Cortez has convinced many Democratic colleagues to sign on to her economy-wrecking Green New Deal (GND) agenda. That resolution would establish a goal of having the country shift to 100% renewable energy in a decade. It would decarbonize all industries. And it promises to upgrade "every residential and industrial build for state-of-the-art energy efficiency.' " . . .

"Rockstar" Wilson

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ramps up the teacher's-pet act   "Out of the blue, socialist congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, has started something with outgoing White House chief of staff John Kelly, calling on him to apologize for the "he-said, she-said" scrap he had a while back with Florida Democratic congresswoman Frederica Wilson   over the sensitivity of an official phone call to a slain serviceman's grieving family.  Talk about a baseless argument.

"And talk about a useless fight she has nothing to gain from.  She's not going to get the apology she wants from Kelly, who is unlikely to have been lying, as Wilson claims, and what's more, she wouldn't benefit politically even if she did.  Just taking the side of the clownish posturer Wilson with her many sequined cowboy hats over the ramrod-straight Kelly, who lost a son in Afghanistan, makes Ocasio-Cortez look like a fool." . . .

Fox Mocks Vox:  "Vox mocked for seeking constitutional overhaul so Ocasio-Cortez can run for president" 
"Liberal political website Vox is getting accused of jumping the shark after publishing an appeal to “fix the Constitution ASAP” so that 29-year-old incoming Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can run for president – claiming “there’s no time like the present to start working to abolish arbitrary qualifications.”
"Wednesday's lengthy piece, “It’s ridiculous that it’s unconstitutional for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for president,” declared that everyone from immigrants to recent college grads should be eligible." . . .

Nancy and Chuck meet in the Deal-Maker's house

http://www.terrellaftermath.com/

Strasbourg 'Gangster-Jihadist' Makes Nancy and Chuck Seem Clueless  "One wonders if Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have any concept how pathetic and clueless their politically motivated, anti- border wall clichés look in light of the latest terror attack in Strasbourg. Their insistence, in Tuesday's meeting with Trump, that the wall by itself would not be a panacea--whoever said it was?--and that we don't have the Islamist threat the Israelis or even the Europeans do to justify its construction now seems extraordinarily simple-minded.
"In fact it always was. Under the radar and barely remarked upon by our media, that cross-border terror threat has already done something even worse than 9/11.  It has reduced the life expectancy of the American people.
"But more of that in a moment. First, Strasbourg.  It has introduced a new term in the terror lexicon that can be instructive for all of us:

French investigators call them the “ gangster-jihadists” – young men, often from poor immigrant backgrounds, who start with petty crime, drug dealing and robbery and graduate to terrorism.

David Limbaugh: Pelosi and Schumer Show Their Colors

. . . It's undeniable that Pelosi and Schumer initiated the aggressive exchanges, that they personally insulted Trump and were rude and condescending to him, that they openly objected to transparency, and that they misrepresented their own position on border security. 

"Say what you want about Trump, but he very honestly said that he was determined to get a border wall, that he preferred to have this discussion in front of the entire world and that he would be willing for the government to shut down over it. Pelosi and Schumer are just as willing to shut down the government over it but unwilling to be honest about it.

" I applaud President Trump for bringing this issue front and center and exposing the fraudulent and reckless position of the Democratic leadership on border security."

Vogue Editor Had the Audacity to Criticize Melania Trump’s Attire!

Comically Incorrect  Sometimes in this modern age, the incomprehensible surrounds us with a living “fact that is stranger than fiction” model.

"Lynn Yaeger, native New Yorker and a contributing editor at Vogue, is a person who is stranger than fiction. Her clothes, her makeup, her hairstyle all defy the imagination. Indeed, Yaeger’s persona is, I’m sorry to say, the stuff of nightmares.

"If clowns are evil — and many people and many of my own friends assert they are — what would you call a “woman” who purposely dresses like Lynn Y.?. . . 

. . . "This highly esteemed Vogue editor dared to criticize First Lady Melania Trump’s attire…or to be precise, her stilettos." . . .

And why, oh why, can’t this administration get anything, even a pair of shoes, right?

Starbucks’ new bathroom policy not working out as hoped (However, it is working out as expected.)

Legal Insurrection

"It has been 7 months since the famous purveyor of caffeinated confection, Starbucks, declared their bathrooms “open to the public” without the need to purchase their products.

"Data suggests that the virtue signaling isn’t working out as well as hoped by the corporate leaders. A New York Post team investigated several Manhattan bathrooms and found that there wasn’t an open stall.

…A half-dozen toilets were locked or barricaded for no clear reason. Others were closed for prolonged “cleaning,” which an insider said was needed after extreme soiling caused by drug-using, incontinent vagrants.

“Letting everybody in has resulted in nobody getting in,” an employee at one branch fumed.

“Rest Room closed,” declared signs at 399 Seventh Ave. (entrance on West 32nd Street) and at a branch at Pearl Street and Maiden Lane. At 252 W. 31st St., the road to relief was blocked by garbage cans. Furniture and boxes formed a barrier at 61 W. 56th St.

A rope and traffic cones barred the way at 38 Park Row. When a desperate visitor asked if the loo would reopen any time soon, a barista directed him to a Dunkin’ Donuts nearby.

"Why would the bathrooms need “prolonged cleaning”? Perhaps the experience of the Seattle shops provides an explanation:

You Are Here San Francisco Creates First Transgender District

From 2017: Intellectual Takeout

"San Francisco created a special cultural district for transgender persons, marking the first legal transgender district created anywhere in the world.

"San Francisco’s Tenderloin district is now home to “Compton’s Transgender Cultural District,” The Daily Beast reported Tuesday.

The Tenderloin is a triangular neighborhood located a few blocks from San Francisco’s City Hall. It is also San Francisco’s most notorious drug district, according to authorities, Vice reported in 2014.

It is one of the most dangerous districts in the city, authorities say.

Mahogany

Hyde Street’s 300 block is regarded as the city’s grossest block. Human waste lying in the streets is a norm, reported The New York Times in October. The block is part of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.

The district was created in order to create a safe space for transgender persons and to aid those who identify as transgender being pushed out of their own neighborhoods, according to Compton’s district manager, Honey Mahogany, the Beast reported. 

The district will also teach San Franciscans about the history of transgender evolution, Mahogany said, according to the Beast.

“The Tenderloin has always held a really special place in my heart as a trans person with the way the community is accepting of gender variant and trans people of color,” Mahogany said, the Beast reported.

Is There Anything Environmentalists Won't Blame On Climate Change?

They also know that the climate is always changing. (Take a trip to the Grand Canyon if you don't believe it.)  And the public knows that not everything bad that is happening today can possibly be the result of a less-than-1-degree Celsius increase in average global temperatures over the past 100 years.

Investors  "Climate Change: CNN this week published a huge story saying the source of the migrant caravan wasn't so much corrupt Central American governments, violence or lousy economic policies. It was climate change. This is just the latest attempt by environmentalists to blame any and all bad news — even acne — on climate change.

"The CNN story, complete with pictures, videos and charts, claims that climate change is responsible for the drought in parts of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua that forced thousands to flee for the U.S.

"Well, not "responsible," exactly. The author admits part way through that "Studies have not definitively tied this particular drought to climate change." 
. . . 
"In other words, the entire premise of story is pretty much bunk. The best the CNN reporter could come up with is that "computer models show droughts like the one happening now are becoming more common as the world warms."

"Why would you need computer models to tell you what is supposedly happening right now? Probably because in the U.S., at least, there's been no increase in droughts since the 1890s.

"Unfortunately, playing fast and loose with the facts and jumping to wild conclusions is now the standard operating procedure when it comes to global warming." . . . Full article here: 
 https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/environmentalists-climate-change-blame/