Melania Trump, first lady and role model, rises above Democratic pettiness

Washington Times  

"Despite the efforts of a miserable American media and liberal establishment to malign her, first lady Melania Trump continues on with work that endears her to the American public.

"Her agenda as first lady is expansive, focusing on children and the importance of all aspects of their lives, from self-esteem to education to health care. Our nation has a first lady who is smart, beautiful and a person of faith. She is committed to her family and to this nation.

"Her sense of self-worth is not reliant on whether or not she’s on the cover of Vogue or invited to certain cocktail parties. She is her own woman — strong, independent, and won’t be bullied.

"And for today’s liberals and Democrats, that is her crime.

"Mrs. Trump has suffered ignominious insults and attacks, first as candidate Donald Trump’s wife, but inexplicably even more so as the first lady. Yet, it is her reaction to the critics that sets her apart and highlights just exactly how ugly others become when jealousy and envy take root.

"For two Christmases now, we’ve enjoyed her sense of style, which has transformed the White House into a dazzling reminder of the beauty of the season." . . .

Kamala Harris Shows Her Anti-Catholic Bigotry

Reagan McCarthy

"In the true spirit of the holiday season, Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) showed their true colors of bigotry and bias against Catholicism in a recent judicial confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill. 

"Before the committee was Omaha lawyer Brian C. Buescher, nominated by President Trump to represent the District of Nebraska on the United States District Court. Buescher is also a long-time member of the Knights of Columbus, an iconic service group of nearly two million Catholics, worldwide, that recruits members for volunteer work and fundraising for charitable causes. The Knights of Columbus have a distinguished reputation for selfless public service, charitable work and the promotion of Catholic values both within and outside of the church. Buescher’s membership did not sit well with Harris and Hirono, although the pair of potential 2020 contenders do not seem to actually understand the function of the Knights of Columbus society.

. . . "As anyone with a basic knowledge of the Catholic faith could easily confirm, the Knights of Columbus are, indeed, opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage, as the Catholic Church constitutes. However, as Americans saw in the confirmation hearings for then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and many other federal court nominees, Senate Democrats insist that any remote tie to a religious or Conservative organization is nothing short of a disqualifier. This vendetta against President Trump’s judicial nominees is attributed to the Senators’ anti-Conservative bias, but also a fundamental misunderstanding of the function of the courts and what a qualified judge truly looks like. A qualified nominee’s judicial intellect is derived from his or her years of studying the law, which builds their individual perspective on and interpretation of the law. Although ideology has potential to cloud judgement, impartiality, emotion and passion are not mutually exclusive; a judge’s ability to be impartial is completely dependent on their inclination to uphold the rule of law, however they see fit.

Leftist NY Mag Reporter: Wall Support Based on ‘Hateful’ ‘Breitbart Type Worldview’

Rich Terrell

Breitbart "New York Magazine‘s Olivia Nuzzi — a regular CNN guest and alumnus of the Daily Beast — repeatedly denied that ideologically left wing or partisan Democrat politics shape her professional conduct as a reporter during a Saturday interview on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal with Steve Scully. Four of five of the show’s callers-in, however, rejected Nuzzi’s pretense of political objectivity and non-partisanship in her ostensible reporting.
"Jeffrey from Michigan said, “This lady is saying that Donald Trump has gotten nothing done. Tax reform, record low unemployment for a lot of people, a lot of people are getting more money in their pocket, and I think the country is safer, now. I don’t know where this lady is coming from.”

Our family used to be lifelong Democrats, but people like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have just destroyed the party, and it seems like even this young lady here, she’s damning the president, and it seems like he is the first person that has ever tried to help us, the people. Now, if the Democrats would get back to basics, find somebody decent to run, maybe somebody with a little common sense instead of [wanting] to fight … They want to downgrade people. Ma’am, you really need to think about what you say.

. . .
But wait! There's more!
You've Got to Read What This Small Town Said About the Ex-CNN 'Journalist of the Year' Who Fabricated Stories About Them

Some of his more entertaining embellishments about Fergus Falls included how there was a sign next to the town's welcome sign that read, "Mexicans Keep Out.” No, that sign did not exist. He also described how most high school students at the John F. Kennedy high school chose Donald Trump as their "role models for the American Dream." That wasn't true either. He also wrote a profile on Neil Becker, a coal mine worker who does not exist. 

'Me too' on the verge of making a mockery of itself

Silvio Canto, Jr.

We are turning into a silly nation, and that's not good for a superpower.  Our enemies are watching us and can't be impressed with what they are seeing.

"First, it was "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and all of the silliness related to that.  We've been singing that song for 50 years, and no one got angry.  Suddenly, the man in the story is trying to rape the woman.  Really?  I think some of the people offended by that song need to find someone to stay warm with during these wintry nights.

"Second, it's this story by Brian Flood and Santa Claus chatting with your kids:

WashPost gender and family issues reporter Samantha Schmidt penned the feature headlined, "Should crying children sit on Santa's lap for photos?  Here's why some parents are saying no." 

The story appeared in the Social Issues section of the paper's website.

Schmidt opened the piece by painting a picture of a two-year-old girl who was reluctant to sit on Santa's lap during a recent trip to the mall – which frustrated the toddler's mother.  Schmidt asked, "If her daughter was crying and resisting a photo on Santa's lap, should she make her go through with it?"

The reporter notes that a "photo with Santa is still a childhood rite of passage for many Americans," but some parents have "begun questioning the way the culture approaches photos with Santa amid the #MeToo movement and a national conversation over how to teach young children about consent and physical boundaries."

"Okay.  Where do we start with this?  How did the nation that put a man on the Moon and defeated Nazism and Communism end up like this?" . . .

The President’s Enemies and Their Confected Drama

Conrad Black

"It is astonishing to see the ferocity, and breathless, stertorous rage of the Trump-hating media over Michael Cohen’s flip. Because the whole issue is such nonsense, it is also reassuring to see Trump’s enemies place their heads on the block with such determination, beseeching by their outrageous falsehoods the executioner’s stroke to expose their lies and hate. There they are since there is no case against the president sufficiently serious to threaten his completion of his term.

"I am one of the last people who would claim any standing to opine on the motives and tactics for the Trump-haters to push in all their chips on this charge about payments to an amiable porn star and a Playboy bunny emerita. The president’s most strident enemies in the media have cranked themselves up to a fever of simulated moral superiority many times: it is a mnemonic feat to recall their innumerable charges to the barricades these last two years. Almost no one now remembers Michael Wolff’s inane book, or even Bob Woodward’s pastiche of fabrications and malicious gossip. But this is a home run.

"Apart from its extreme vehemence, what is most striking about this latest oceanic heaving of obloquy on the president is that the Democrats have called in their heaviest serviceable units. The Clintons, and former intelligence chiefs John Brennan and James Clapper are too vulnerable and have a great deal more exposure to legal problems than the president does, and their comparative discretion is tactically wise.

"But now Doris Kearns Goodwin, a respected, if very partisan, historian has thrown her hat in on the side of impeachment. In doing so, she told the faithful devotees of CNN that the atmosphere at the White House was worse than at any time since the 1850s, and reminded the viewers that that decade culminated in the Civil War. . . ."

Iraqi Christians Celebrate Hopeful Christmas After Defeat Of ISIS

Weasel Zippers

Via JPost:

Christians filled churches in the city of Qaraqosh, southeast of Mosul, on Christmas eve to celebrate the holiday for the second year after their community was liberated from ISIS. At the Grand Immaculate Church, the hall was packed with worshipers and priests conducted prayers. It was one of many Christian communities in Iraq and throughout the Middle East celebrating the holiday with hope that the wave of extremist anti-Christian violence had subsided.

Iraq’s Christian community has faced difficulties in recent years, with waves of Islamist extremist terror and kidnappings, especially after 2003. Many emigrated. When ISIS attacked in 2014, the Christian towns of Nineveh were destroyed and their residents forced to flee to the Kurdish autonomous region, where many then decided to search for a life elsewhere. However, a glimmer of hope appeared in October 2016 when ISIS was driven out of Nineveh plains and Christian cities like Qaraqosh, once home to some 50,000 people, and smaller towns nearby, were retaken. Last year, some Christians returned to Qaraqosh to conduct holiday services. Qaraqosh is an important symbol because it was the largest Christian majority urban area in Iraq. In other cities, such as Baghdad, Christians are a small minority, but Qaraqosh is a bellwether for the possibility that Christian communities in Iraq can rebuild and thrive.

This year, the Fraternite en Irak, an association that helps religious minorities who suffered violence in Iraq, and which has helped rebuild Christian sites, celebrated in Qaraqosh. Santa Claus drove down the streets at night. “Thanks to your donations, we have been able to restore 300 apartments, hundreds of people have returned,” the organization said.

At Mar Yohanna Church, the bells rang out for the holiday. Qaraqosh suffered terribly under ISIS control. Homes were looted and burned. ISIS tore down the crosses and steeples of the churches. It sprayed graffiti and even transformed one of the church compounds into a bomb-making factory, evidence of which I saw in March 2017 during a visit. ISIS beheaded images of the Virgin Mary and even beheaded statues of horses commemorating St. George.

In Ainkawa, three mostly Christian suburb of Erbil in the Kurdish region, Syriac Catholics filled a more modern church and sang and celebrated. In Mosul, few Christians have returned after ISIS. One priest said that challenges, such as reconstructing churches, is just one part of the problem. Christians don’t feel secure and are concerned about instability. The blog Mosul Eye, which documented Mosul under ISIS occupation and after liberation, posted hope for peace and freedom on Christians. Ali Y. Al-Baroodi, a local photographer and academic, posted a message of “merry Christmas from Mosul.”

Keep reading…

Day 4 of no government

Don Surber
"The effects of the government shutdown have gone from bad to worse. Last night was eerily silent. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

"Facing starvation, people are getting desperate. Some people dreamed of snow falling today so they could have something to melt and drink." . . .

"Children hung stockings out in hopes that a strange benefactor would magically appear, and fill them with food.

"Others put some of their milk and pastry rations out on the table in the hope of attracting the food-bearing stranger. It was a gamble taken because of hunger.

"We went to bed early, but soon out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. I tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

"When what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

"I shouted from the window, "Get. Off. My. Lawn."

"But in a world without a federal government, people lose respect for private property rights. I think some of the reindeer left calling cards.

"This morning, I drove out. The streets were barren. All the shops and the restaurants were closed, even Tudor's.

"I was literally shaking.

"Everyone senses the anarchy that lurches like a troll on Twitter. The shutting down of the government has imperiled the nation like nothing before. This is worse than 9/11 or Pearl Harbor Day or Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.

"Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reported that shutting down government means the government is not collecting money.

"The news service quoted Gordon Gray, director of fiscal policy at American Action Forum, who said, "Museums are closed, so the government doesn’t sell freeze-dried ice cream."

"No museums! No freeze-dried ice cream!

"We are doomed."

https://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2018/12/20/162162

Dem senators flirting with a religious test for judicial nominees By Thomas Lifson

Brian Buescher 

Thomas Lifson  "The ugly specter of religious bigotry reared its disgusting head during Senate confirmation of the nomination of Brian Buescher for a federal judgeship. The Constitution’s Article VI, Clause 3 clearly specifies that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,” but that must be news to Senators Mazie Hirono and Kamala Harris.

"Ed Condon of the Catholic News Agency reports:

 A judicial nominee faced questions from Senators this month about whether membership in the Knights of Columbus might impede his ability to judge federal cases fairly. The Knights of Columbus say that no candidate for public office should have to defend his membership in a Catholic service organization.Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) raised concerns about membership in the Knights of Columbus while the Senate Judiciary Committee reviewed the candidacy of Brian C. Buescher, an Omaha-based lawyer nominated by President Trump to sit on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.Senators also asked whether belonging to the Catholic charitable organization could prevent judges from hearing cases “fairly and impartially.”In written questions sent to Buescher by committee members Dec. 5, Sen. Hirono stated that “the Knights of Columbus has taken a number of extreme positions. For example, it was reportedly one of the top contributors to California’s Proposition 8 campaign to ban same-sex marriage.”Hirono then asked Buescher if he would quit the group if he was confirmed “to avoid any appearance of bias.”“The Knights of Columbus does not have the authority to take personal political positions on behalf of all of its approximately two million members,” Buescher responded.“If confirmed, I will apply all provisions of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges regarding recusal and disqualification,” he said.

"This is another indication of the severe leftward realignment of the Democratic Party, jettisoning a century-long alliance with Catholics. When I was raised in a Democrat family, I was taught that only Democrats were tolerant enough to nominate a Catholic for president. First Al Smith of New York, who was defeated, and then, when I was a teen, the election of John F. Kennedy solidified the notion that Democrats were the tolerant party.

"That was then, this is now. This is not your father’s or mother’s Democratic Party. And is certainly not mine."

Some visual comparisons

Jason Samuel Burleson‎The Libnorants

Grubergate Part 2: Gruber Admits ObamaCare Is One Giant Deception From Beginning To End

But first: Grubergate Part 1: 'The Stupidity Of The American Voter' 

This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure [the Congressional Budget Office] did not score the mandate as taxes. If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies. Okay? So it’s written to do that.  In terms of risk-rated subsidies, if…you made explicit that healthy people pay in and sick people get money, it would not have passed… Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. 

Naturally, this revelation did not affect the love relationship between Barack Obama and all media.

Forbes, 2014  "When health economist and Obama advisor Jonathan Gruber said the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed only because of a “lack of transparency” and “the stupidity of the American voter,” he did more than insult millions of people. He admitted (1) if voters had understood what the PPACA does, the opposition would be so great that it would not have passed because even Democrats would have abandoned it, (2) the law’s authors knew this, and (3) because of this, they consciously sought to deceive voters about the enormous taxes the law imposes on millions of Americans, both at the law’s inception and at every turn during the public debate. In short, Gruber admitted ObamaCare is and has always been one giant deception from beginning to end, and its architects achieved by deception what they could not have achieved honestly.
. . . 

"Jonathan Chait writes:

Gruber was surely referring to the non-transparent mechanism of regulating insurance companies, causing them to charge less to the sick and more to the healthy, without Congress having to carry out those transfers through direct taxes…

Suppose Congress had decided not to regulate insurers but instead charged higher taxes to healthy people, and wrote checks directly to sick people. People would have hated it…

. . .

Santa Claus and the Mythology of Centralized Systems

"The real process, though perhaps less mystical, is no less enchanting."

https://spectator.org/cartoons/

The Foundation for Economic Education

Like other centralized economic schemes, we can only continue to believe in the myth of Santa Claus if we also believe in magic.

You Can't Suspend the Laws of Economics  "Last year, the USDA satirically issued an APHIS permit to Mr. Claus to be able to freely move his reindeer in and out of the country as necessary, but this flippant gesture sheds light on the countless regulatory hurdles that are characteristic of centralized authority. 

"Try as we may to suspend the laws of governments in order to enable Santa Claus to complete this impossible project, we simply cannot suspend the laws of economics (or physics, for that matter). Resources are scarce and have alternative uses. Preferences are subjective and not always easily understood or communicated. Knowledge is distributed, but prices established through trading in the market can help communicate relative preferences for more optimal resource allocation. Like other centralized economic schemes, we can only continue to believe in the myth of Santa Claus if we also believe in magic.

"The real process, though perhaps less mystical, is no less enchanting. To the extent that each person around the globe is relatively free to pursue their interests, through specialized labor and voluntary exchange in the marketplace an order emerges. It matters not if we share a common mythology, language, culture, or even if we desire the same ends; order emerges. It certainly isn’t perfect, but it is just perfect enough that we are able to give the credit to a mythical figure and his multitude of magical makers, and wide-eyed children see plausibility in that story. 

"But just as children grow from believing in Santa Claus to playing an active role in being Santa Claus, so too do we grow to look beyond the myth of magical central planning and to play a part in the distributed system of the market, for that is where the magic of Christmas is repeated every single day." . . .

International Women's Day Protester Suddenly Realizes She's Reinforcing Harmful Social Construct Of Gender

Babylon Bee

Pictured: liberal with bullhorn.

NEW YORK, NY—"A protester yelling into a megaphone on International Women’s Day suddenly realized she was reinforcing the “oppressive and harmful” social construct of gender by promoting a day that implies gender is inherently meaningful, sources confirmed Wednesday.

"Midway through screaming the phrase “Down with the patriarchy!” into the loudspeaker, the woman suddenly stopped and thought about how her presence at the protest suggested that the concept of womanhood represented something more significant than an arbitrary social construct foisted upon females.

“ 'Wait a minute, think about what we’re suggesting here,” the woman said to her fellow demonstrators as she lowered her megaphone, according to witnesses. “By participating in this protest, aren’t we suggesting that ‘man’ and ‘woman’ are ideals that transcend culture and subjectivity?”

“ 'What have we done?!” she added.

"The woman then called for the protest to be paused in order to rationally discuss the perceived inconsistency in the protesters’ deep-seated beliefs, but was quickly shouted down with her own megaphone, according to sources."
You do catch the Babylon Bee, don't you?  So what is the BB?