Nobel secretary regrets Obama peace prize

BBC

"Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama in 2009 failed to achieve what the committee hoped it would, its ex-secretary has said.

"Geir Lundestad told the AP news agency that the committee hoped the award would strengthen Mr Obama.

"Instead, the decision was met with criticism in the US. Many argued he had not had any impact worthy of the award.

"Mr Lundestad, writing in his memoir, Secretary of Peace, said even Mr Obama himself had been surprised.

""No Nobel Peace Prize ever elicited more attention than the 2009 prize to Barack Obama," Mr Lundestad writes.

"Even many of Obama's supporters believed that the prize was a mistake," he says. "In that sense the committee didn't achieve what it had hoped for". . . .

Another Nobel winner was PLO chairman Yasser Arafat:

In an amusing anecdote, Mr Lundestad relates how he found Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who won the award in 1994, watching an episode of the Tom and Jerry cartoon in his hotel with other Palestine Liberation Organisation members. "It was made very clear that they intended to watch until the end," he said.

Titania McGrath: Satire in the Age of Poe’s Law

Poe's Law is an Internet axiom which states that it is difficult to distinguish extremism from satire of extremism on the Internet unless the author clearly indicates his/her intent. This notion is most frequently observed with highly polarized discussion topics, such as gender equality, religious or political fundamentalism and other social justice-related issues.  KnowYourMeme

Think of TMcG  as the Babylon Bee of current events. TD

Moonbattery  "According to Poe’s Law, “it is difficult to distinguish extremism from satire of extremism on the Internet unless the author clearly indicates his/her intent.” Visit the
Titania McGrath  Twitter page and see how long it takes before you are sure it is not on the level.

"This one almost gives it away:

All schools should be co-ed because segregating people according to their sex is a form of apartheid.

Except in mosques, where it’s empowering.

— Titania McGrath (@TitaniaMcGrath) September 2, 2018

"A good point snarkily expressed, right? Except that fans of Linda Sarsour may truly believe that Islam is empowering for the women it enslaves. Since Islam opposes Western Civilization, everything about it must be good.

"Titania proclaims that newborns should be given numbers rather than names until they have determined their own “gender identity,” that women are as physically strong as men, that men fear menstruation because women are “blood-sisters of the sacred moon witch,” and that “EVERYTHING is offensive” because this is “a heteronormative patriarchy.” None of this is too crazy to be taught in a college classroom." . . .

A reading of TM indeed makes one wonder, would a vegan breastfeed her baby?

The Climate Change Watermelon Juggernaut & The Prescience Of Michael Crichton

Bookworm Room

The late Michael Crichton figured out 15 years ago that the climate change juggernaut is a Leftist faith, intended to rework the economy, not true science.

. . . "With virtually unlimited money and power at stake, the watermelons (green outside, red inside) are pushing harder than ever to put the U.S. on a path to green Nirvana, where ostensible mitigation of anthropogenic climate change justifies every conceivable regulation, law, and tax, as well as the reordering of our economy and Constitution.

"Before starting up this post, some facts many of you might not know.  The US has been reducing carbon emissions for years, more so than any other country.  In 2017, we produced less carbon than we did in 2005.  Indeed, we produced 40,000,000 metric tonnes of CO2 less than we did even in 2016.  We accomplished that without regulation — for all those Obama regs were rolled back by 2017 — and without implementing authoritarian government.  Yet you will hear no progressive acknowledge those facts in any of the numerous links below.   Those are inconvenient facts, and the climate change push is faith based.

"The average American is not very concerned with the climate change issue.  According to NBC, climate change did not even register as a concern among voters in 2018.  But understand that the climate change movement is a juggernaut.  It is the single most important issue for progressive left politicians, both foreign and domestic, and their cronies in the private sector, public sector, and academia, all of whom stand to benefit beyond the imagining from the most lucrative scam in history.

"Within the past two weeks, once and future Speaker of the House, Crazy Nancy, announced that House Democrats will establish a “Select Committee on the Climate Crisis” as soon as they are seated as the majority.  The NYT is running near daily editorials on climate change as the world’s most pressing issue, claiming Trump is evil and everyone who does not embrace the Paris Accords, a carbon tax, and every other thing the left demands to save us from climate-ageddon is mentally and morally defective.  On his latest edition of Meet The Press, NBC’s Chuck Todd devoted the entire hour-long show to anthropogenic climate change, though the panel ONLY included those pushing the canard and demanding government action.  As justification for the completely stacked panel, Todd stated:

“We’re not going to debate climate change, the existence of it… Human activity is a major cause, period. We’re not going to give time to climate deniers. The science is settled, even if political opinion is not.”

"And the Democrat’s newest and shiniest, Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, with the support of Bernie the Red, recently published her plan for a Green New Deal, as part and parcel of reforming of our nation into a socialist utopia.   Bottom line, this is the number one issue for the progressive left, and we ignore it at our extreme peril.

"I say extreme peril because once you can tax and regulate carbon dioxide produced by man (which is only about 10% of the total amount produced naturally every year, as the earth is responsible for the rest), AND once you establish it as the greatest moral issue facing mankind, the dam breaks.  The proggies will have their hands in a bottomless cookie jar with no one to stop them from gorging short of a civil war." . . .

As For Me And My House

Noisy Room

. . . "New York city has legalized a “third gender” on birth certificates. https://bit.ly/2QUtlhM Not that long ago, over 40 states passed resolutions supporting God’s definition of marriage – between one man and one woman. According to the Public Religious Research Institute, a majority of Democrats, Republicans, blacks, whites, Latinos, Catholics and white mainline Protestant denominations support same sex marriage. https://nbcnews.to/2ri3mmD The majority of evangelical Millennials support redefining marriage.
"Years ago, LGBTQ activists claimed openly homosexual leaders admitted into the Boy Scouts had no intention to change the organization from its founding on Christian principles. As it turned out, first on the LGBTQ agenda was to remove “morally straight” for the Scout Oath. 

“ 'On my honor, I will do my best. To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.”
"We are living in a pretty sick time when morally straight is deemed hateful and offensive.
"Recently, “Boy” has been removed from the name of the organization, changed to “Scouts BSA” to appeal to girls. The Girl Scouts are in a huff. They are suing the Boy Scouts because they feel the Boy Scouts is now in competition with them for girls. https://read.bi/2RZarDJ The Girl Scouts has also been changed, infected with radical feminism – promoting transgender-ism, lesbianism and abortion. Girl Scouts of Western Washington returned a $100,000 donation, a fourth of their annual fund-raising goal, because the donor requested that their gift not be used to support transgender girls. https://bit.ly/2GrvMEO
"Leftists’ war on gender includes absurdly claiming that having separate organizations for boys and girls is hateful and discriminatory." . . .

‘Angry White People with Money’; “fascists styled as antifascists”

National Review:  "NR’s roving correspondent discusses Portland and the Antifa movement, the subjects of his latest cover story."

Pictured: how a mob with money can look.

. . . "The thing about places like Portland and San Francisco is that they aren’t nice. They have a reputation for being wooly and hippieish and silly, but they are in fact very angry places, full of very angry people. They are also highly segregated places in ways that the South and Southwest really aren’t. Angry white people with money make the world go ’round, apparently.

Madeleine Kearns: Do you think this behavior is a microcosm of polarized America? Or is it peculiar to certain environments, like what we see on college campuses?

Kevin D. Williamson: I think you get bad behavior where bad behavior is tolerated. In Portland, the blackshirts aren’t a tiny schismatic fashion. There were Democratic-campaign staffers standing out in front of Democratic-campaign events on Election Night chanting along with them." . . .

Madeleine Kearns: In what way were the anti-fascist protesters you saw fascists?
Kevin D. Williamson: They are the American Left’s answer to the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, down to the penchant for black shirts. They perform the same function: using violence and intimidation to silence political opposition and to terrorize the political opposition. “Fascist” is a notoriously difficult word to define, but they are as close to a textbook case as you are going to find.

. . . "Kevin D. Williamson: Their defining characteristic is a behavior, not an ideology or factional plumage. Violence is violence." . . . (Emphasis added, TD)

They Shall Not Grow Old Is the Movie of the Year

National Review

Yet what is most striking about They Shall Not Grow Old is how many grins there are. The vets, who were just kids at the time, say that they joked constantly. Really, what else were they going to do, except try to make the best of it? 

"What the director of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies has done with his World War I documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old, is more than restore archival film; he has restored the humanity of men caught up in one of history’s great cataclysms.

"This is an aesthetic achievement of the highest order, and a great service to history. 

"World War I has always had more than its share of historiography, novels, poems and feature films. Until now what it lacked was video (at least watchable video), the single most powerful medium of the modern era. 

"It took Jackson and his team five years to make They Shall Not Grow Old. They had to painstakingly remove scratches and other damage from old film belonging to the Imperial War Museum, and slow down the primitive footage. 

"Then it was colorized, with loving accuracy. Forensic lip readers recovered what soldiers were saying on the film, and actors provided the voices. Finally, it was made 3D.

"The effect is to transform the men originally caught on choppy black-and-white film to relatable, individual human beings, just like anyone else we watch on a screen today. 

"World War I was such an industrial-scale event that it tends to become impersonal, the men who fought it reduced in our minds to cannon fodder. " . . .

. . . This lends an astonishing cinematic intimacy to life on the front. We hear about soldiers’ preferences in cigarettes, how they fried bacon on the front line, their method of warming up water for tea via machines guns, how they went to the bathroom (the less you know, the better), and their astonishment at the prostitutes in French villages. There are plenty of hellish details. The constant smell of death. The lice that, after their eggs are meticulously burned off uniforms, return the next morning. The rats that, fat from eating corpses, infest the trenches. The sucking mud of winter that is potentially fatal with the wrong step.  . . .

The Most Memorable Leftist Hypocrisies of 2017-8

Robert Oscar Lopez  "The left is composed of horrible people.  Most sane people realize this, even if they have friends on the dark side.  I have friends on the left, so I can say, "Some of my best friends are horrible people."  The right wing has its own problems, but for now, let's talk about the first two years of Trump's presidency.  It should stun even the most cynical among us.

"From the "99%" to "Crush the Little Guy"

"Jason Wilson published a column at the reliably left-wing Guardian called "How the world has fought back against the far-right and started winning."

"It celebrates Gestapo tactics against inconsequential bad guys the left labels as racists, Nazis, or whatever.  Wilson glorifies "doxing," "counter-surveillance," and "no-platforming."  He likes pressuring governments to classify internet commenters as terrorists and deny them visas.  It exhilarates him to foment betrayals within conservative camps and devastate people like Milo Yiannopoulos."
"You get the feeling that Jason Wilson hates people." . . .

Taylor Swift: . . . "In sum, the Taylorizing of the left gives rich white women total unchecked power.  They can accuse underlings, helpless scapegoats, and human obstacles of anything from whenever and bring hellfire and destruction without having to apologize or compensate for it.  In fact, they become heroes lionized by Time." . . .
. . . I remember the party line: we should stay out of Central America's affairs.  We should not take sides or make judgments about things down there!  When I went to a model U.N. at Georgetown in 1987, the liberal consensus back then was: "asylum-seekers" are bad!  The U.S. government used refugees from communist countries like Cuba, Vietnam, and Nicaragua to make those countries look bad and justify more U.S. "imperialist" intervention.  Why, what did it matter to us what Noriega did to his people?  Why should we tell El Salvador how to run itself?" . . .

. . . "Lefties forgot their antiwar and anti-xenophobia views on the Middle East and Russia, too.  I nearly fainted when I saw so many lefty writers slamming Trump for withdrawing troops from Syria and Afghanistan, plus lathering Mattis in praise post-resignation.  And I never thought I'd see leftists say any Russian who talks to political people in the U.S. or stirs up debate on social media is colluding with treasonous Americans to interfere with our elections.

"Such inconsistency.  Yet no matter how much they contradict themselves, they are always horrible." 

Liberal (dare we hope?) Silliness

A nation gets the government it deserves and these are the voters deserving it. Weasel Zippers is always a great repository of challenged-liberal data.

Image by Oleg Atbashian of The People's Cube

CNN Runs Ridiculous Segment About Witches Offended By Trump’s Use Of Term “Witch Hunt”  Maybe they should just go back to the anti-Trump panels after all.

Pat Sajak had something to say on this as well:  Pat Sajak Has An “Easy Fix” For CNN’s FAKE NEWS Problem  . . . So what do they do? Can they really pretend to be “news” anymore? No one’s buying the “News” part of CNN….So Pat Sajak came up with a quick and easy fix!

Easy fix for CNN: change name to Current Narrative Network. My work here is done.— Pat Sajak (@patsajak) . . . 

Left Eats Left: Leftist Jewish Cafe Owner In SF Told To Get Out For Supporting Israel
. . . "You can be gay, intern in the Obama White House, work on Barack Obama’s reelection campaign, and serve as the Silicon Valley fundraising director for the Clinton presidential campaign in 2016, but if you also happen to be Jewish and support the existence of Israel, hard leftists want you gone, as 29-year-old Manny Yekutiel found out the hard way when he opened a café/bookstore in San Francisco’s Mission District" . . .

Bill de Blasio's 'Job Creation' Means Hiring People to Pick Up Junkies' Needles From NYC Parks for $350,000  Rudy, we all miss you! De Blasio is the reincarnation of the Dinkins administration.

Here's the icing on the cake: The city is spending another $450,000 a year for "specially trained mental-health workers" to go around and clean out the bins that weren't being used. Those workers will also be responsible for “providing life-saving services and connections to treatment and other care” to druggies they meet.

Not in the US, but you can be sure this is on the way: Counter-terror police brought in to help tackle militant VEGANS as threats to farms, abattoirs and factories soar

"You ain't bringin' home no bacon from here!"

Chicken memorials : pay your tribute to a much-loved hen or roo.

California: Land of 1,000 new laws  "California's Jerry Brown's crowning achievement for his 16th and final year as state governor was signing a new record of over 1,000 laws."

1. Women on Corporate Boards – S.B. 826 forces publicly traded companies headquartered in California to appoint at least one female director by Dec. 31, 2019 and requires corporations with five directors to have at least two female directors by 2021.

. . . "CALmatters reported that California governor-elect Gavin Newsom promised early this month that he, after his inauguration on January 7, 2019 and with the huge Democrat majorities elected in both houses of the state Legislature, will pass a much broader social justice agenda.  Newsom's top agenda goals include "Guaranteed Health Care for All," an affordable housing "Marshall Plan," a "Master Plan for Aging with Dignity," free college tuition, ending child poverty, and middle-class workforce strategy." . . .

Read the full Tunnel Wall blog here

Staffers of Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign allege 'sexual violence and harassment'

Donkey Hotey

NY Daily News  "The #MeToo movement is catching up with staffers on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
"Two dozen ex-Sanders staffers sent a letter Sunday seeking a meeting with the former candidate — who might run again in 2020 — to “discuss the issue of sexual violence and harassment” in the Vermont senator’s 2016 run.
" 'We — the people who worked on Bernie 2016 — know that much of the success of our campaign was due to the intense commitment, passion and sacrifice of women, people of color and LGBT staffers,” says the letter, acquired by Politico.
" 'In recent weeks there has been an ongoing conversation on social media, in texts, and in person, about the untenable and dangerous dynamic that developed during our campaign.”
"The letter did not make any specific allegations of misconduct. But one unidentified organizer told Politico that the letter “is just a start.”
" 'We are addressing what happened on the Bernie campaign but as people that work in this space we see that all campaigns are extremely dangerous to women and marginalized people and we are attempting to fix that,” the staffer said." . . .

Carrnac’s crystal ball for 2019

Howie Carr   "Comes the New Year, and time for the 2019 predictions of the almighty Carrnac the Magnificent. The envelopes, please:" . . .

Spacey

"At Kevin Spacey’s hearing next week on sexual-assault charges on Nantucket, the Hollywood actor’s lawyer will bellow: “We are outraged that these charges have been brought in this venue – the bailiwick of the Kennedys. Your Honor, if my client’s name were Kevin Kennedy, this prosecution would be a joke.' ”

(The 59-year-old Oscar winner is charged with felony indecent assault and battery in Nantucket)

"Future direction of stock markets remains cloudy, but Carrnac can predict absolutely: if market goes up, alt-left media will credit Obama. If equities tank, it’s Trump’s fault, totally.

"Some innocent person is going to end up seriously hurt – or worse – because the new DA of Suffolk County, Rachael Rollins, is planning to prosecute even fewer criminals in certain PC-protected classes than her predecessor, Dan Conley.

"And we all remember what happened when the ex-DA broomed multiple bank robbery charges against a homeless African bank robber so he wouldn’t get deported – two (immigrant) anesthesiologists in Andrew Square ended up with their throats slashed.

"Biggest 2019 scandal at Boston City Hall: new City Councilor Althea Garrison has spoken highly of President Trump!

"Eighty-six percent of state judges appointed by Gov. Tall Deval Baker will have given him campaign contributions.

"Ninety-nine percent will have given to Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito.

"Kevin Spacey’s lawyer continues: “Your Honor, I wish to inform the court that my client has renounced his American citizenship and thus appears before you as an illegal alien – as required under recent Massachusetts court decisions, we demand that all charges against him be dismissed now, or should I say ahora, in my client’s new native tongue.”

"With great fanfare, the Boston Globe will announce the hiring of its newest metro columnist – Claas Relotius, eminently qualified by the fact that he was just fired for making up anti-American stories for Der Spiegel, which is German for “Rolling Stone.” . . .  More...

Howie Carr has written two New York Times bestsellers, is a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame and has won a National Magazine Award. He hosts a syndicated daily four-hour radio show, two hours of which are simulcast on Newsmax TV. His website is howiecarrshow.com.

Dec 29th: If you think Trump cancelled his holiday plans for show, think again. Here’s what he’s been up to today.

BPR

"Whereas congressional Democrats have been frittering away their holiday time vacationing in luxury, President Donald Trump has remained at the White House, where he steadfastly continues to work day in and day out to push ahead with his agenda for America.

"The clearest evidence of this, besides for the media reports about his cancelled Christmas vacation and cancelled New Year’s party at Mar-a-Lago, are the president’s own tweets.

"Take three of the tweets the president posted Saturday morning.

"In one tweet he announced that he’d just completed a productive call with Chinese President Xi Jinping about a deal that he wrote will be “very comprehensive, covering all subjects.”

Just had a long and very good call with President Xi of China. Deal is moving along very well. If made, it will be very comprehensive, covering all subjects, areas and points of dispute. Big progress being made! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2018

 "Earlier this year Trump launched a tariff trade war with China, which he’s long maintained has been “ripping America off” via high tariffs and intellectual property theft.

"Then around the start of this month, Trump and Jinping agreed to a 90-day truce. The president’s Sunday text message suggests a permanent end to the trade war could be imminent.
"In another tweet posted Sunday morning, the president reminded congressional Democrats that he’s ready and willing to negotiate with them on border security.
"Look:

I am in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come on over and make a deal on Border Security. From what I hear, they are spending so much time on Presidential Harassment that they have little time left for things like stopping crime and our military! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2018

Dave Barry column: 2018: Year in Review

Richmond.com

Here are random bits and pieces just to whet your appetite:
. . . "So we’re very glad that 2018 is finally over. Once again we’re on the cusp of a new year, another chance for change. And once again, we find ourselves feeling stirrings of hope — hope that the coming year really will be better. Why do we feel this way? Why, despite all our past disappointments, do we believe things really can improve? Because we are morons, apparently. So let’s not get too excited about 2019. Our emotional state should be hopelessness leavened with despair, as we can see when we look back at the grotesque boof-a-palooza that was 2018, starting with ..."
. . . "In sports, the 2018 Winter Olympic games get underway in PyeongChang, South Korea, with a historic opening ceremony highlighted by the release of 25 doves, which are immediately shot down and consumed by the North Korean men’s biathlon team." . . .
. . . "This issue dominates the news cycle, especially on CNN, which puts Ms. Daniels’ extremely outgoing lawyer, Michael Avenatti, on Full Rotation, which means he is featured on every CNN news program and also handles weather and sports updates." . . .
. . . " North Korea releases three American prisoners, only to be dashed when North Korea refuses to accept, in exchange, Stormy Daniels. " . . .

. . . In sports, France defeats Croatia to win the World Cup. Jubilant Eagles fans, with nothing left in Philadelphia to destroy, lay waste to Delaware.  . . .

. . . "The Manafort/Cohen story gets massive coverage on CNN and MSNBC, with hordes of joyful panelists celebrating the now-inevitable impeachment of Trump by dancing around the studio singing “Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead.' ” . . .
. . . "For their part, the Democrats appeal to voters with a three-pronged message:

Prong One: The Democrats are the party of fairness, diversity, and inclusion.
Prong Two: Anybody who disagrees with the Democrats about anything is Hitler.
Prong Three: But more racist.

" . . .Meanwhile, the ongoing saga that is The Jim Acosta Story, Starring Jim Acosta as Jim Acosta, takes a thrilling turn when Jim gets into a dramatic struggle with a White House intern over a microphone." . . .
. . . " two turkeys — named Peas and Carrots — are summoned to the White House, where the president, in keeping with a lighthearted Washington tradition, appoints them to high-level posts in the Justice Department. Two days later he fires Peas over what insiders describe as “policy differences.” Within minutes Peas is hired as a political analyst by MSNBC." . . .

Finally: ". . . All this happens as congressional Democrats prepare to take control of the House of Representatives, where they plan to implement an ambitious agenda focused on the No. 1 concern of the American people, which of course is ...

"The 2016 elections!"