Tunnel Wall

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Beto bombs bigly in long interview with the Washington Post

Thomas Lifson "When a CNN[!] anchor warns that “It’s a fine line to walk between being a blank canvas and an empty vessel,” a pretty boy, Kennedyesque empty suit progressive candidate, already recognizable by his first name alone, is in trouble.

Could the American electorate be this shallow? Video added by TD

"Beto looks like a beta, if we are to judge by the Washington Post’s account of his “lengthy” interview with their writer Jenna Johnson. The title gives away the verdict: “Beto O’Rourke’s immigration plan: No wall but no specifics.” The lead paragraphs are no kinder. Jenna Johnson wrote:

In a digital ad that recently went viral, Beto O’Rourke tore into President Trump’s desired border wall with soaring footage of the Rio Grande Valley and an explanation of what the wall would do: cut off access to the river, shrink the size of the United States and force the seizure of privately-held land.
It noted that most undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States in the past decade came not over the border but on visas that then expired.
So what should be done to address visa overstays?
“I don’t know,” O’Rourke said, pausing in a lengthy interview.

"The vacuity was so obvious that even CNN anchor Brianna Keilar felt compelled to raise the alarm. The segment is embedded below, but Tommy Christopher of Mediaite cuts to the chase:

Keilar brought up O’Rourke’s recent interview with The Washington Post‘s Jenna Johnson, during which O’Rourke seemed to have trouble answering several questions. . . .

Picture elite US Troops lining up to present arms for this guy.

When it comes to the border, 'Beto' doubles down on dumb "Just when you think politics cannot get any stupider in this country, in skateboards Robert Francis O’Rourke."That would be the same Robert Francis O’Rourke of privileged upbringing and expensive boarding school pedigree who today goes by “Beto” because it sounds Hispanic now that he has decided to get into electoral politics.

"Whatever happened to all the outrage over “cultural appropriation”? You cannot say it is only a problem when conservatives or Republicans do it. Just look at wacky left wing Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whose national political ambitions have been crushed by her shameless smash-and-grab at trying to be “Pocahontas” for electoral purposes.

Next Gillette Should Target 'Toxic Femininity'

Why not pitch an ad that chronicles the U.S. death toll for war, which has 52 million fewer fatalities than the 53-plus million babies who died during the female war on life that commenced in 1973? And then, instead of chastising men by lining them up behind barbeques, why not offer an incentive for change to the next generation of Venus razor-users by lining up 3,000 aborted babies on a garbage heap?

Jeannie DeAngelis "Recently, Gillette, the company whose razors have shaved the faces of many a male, as well as the legs of many of a male identifying as a female, officially crossed over to the lassies' side by launching a marketing ploy that portrays men as salivating troglodytes who alternate between patting women's heads and behinds

"After rendering most men as louts, the Gillette ad asks America the question: "Is this the best a man can get?"

The Earl of Taint

"Granted, on the surface, encouraging anyone to be a better person is a worthy endeavor. However, a problem arises concerning who it is that gets to determine what a man's "best" actually is. Furthermore, Gillette must have forgotten that setting benchmarks for how others should act undermines the foundational argument of the women they defend. After all, doesn't the right-to-choose crowd quell its guilt-ridden consciences by espousing that there is no absolute moral truth and that what's right for a person hinges solely on personal reality and conviction?

"Besides, what right does the crowd that tortures unborn males have to criticize men for harassing women? In any event, if setting an example is the goal of the Gillette ad, the logical place to start might be for the razor magnate to inspire female accusers to refuse to participate in behavior far more toxic than the activities they condemn.

"Yet despite the presence of those glaring inconsistencies, Gillette chose instead to glean its inspiration from the #MeToo movement, whose women pride themselves on aborting the offspring of men who have zero say as to whether or not their children get to live or die." . . .

The Social Justice Warrior Women Behind Gillette’s Men-Shaming Ad . . . "Tell all men they’re responsible for the sexism and chauvinism of a few and step on a self-righteous pedestal when the backlash ensues, that’s about pitch perfect for what passes as modern feminism." . . .

A History Lesson on the Shifting Political Stances on Illegal Immigration

In his 1995 State of the Union address, President Bill Clinton said: "All Americans … are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public service they use impose burdens on our taxpayers."

By Walter E. Williams at Intellectual Takeout

"Here are a couple of easy immigration questions—answerable with a simple “yes” or “no”—we might ask any American of any political stripe: Does everyone in the world have a right to live in the U.S.? Do the American people have a right, through their elected representatives, to decide who has the right to immigrate to their country and under what conditions?

"I believe that most Americans, even today’s open-borders people, would answer “no” to the first question and “yes” to the second.

"There’s nothing new about this vision. Americans have held this view throughout our history, during times when immigration laws were very restrictive and when they were more relaxed.

"Tucker Carlson, host of Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” gives us an interesting history lesson about immigration at Prager University. It was prompted by his watching a group of protesters who were denouncing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. They were waving Mexican flags and shouting, “Si, se puede!” (“Yes, we can!”)

"Unbeknownst to the protesters, the expression “Si, se puede” was a saying of Cesar Chavez’s. When Chavez, the founder of the United Farm Workers union, used the expression “Yes, we can,” he meant something entirely different: “Yes, we can” seal the borders. He hated illegal immigration.

"Chavez explained, “As long as we have a poor country bordering California, it’s going to be very difficult to win strikes.” Why? Farmers are willing to hire low-wage immigrants here illegally. "Chavez had allies in his protest against the hiring of undocumented workers and lax enforcement of immigration laws.

"Included in one of his protest marches were Democratic Sen. Walter Mondale and a longtime Martin Luther King Jr. aide, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy." . . .

Now what will the left do with all those street signs that say "Caesar Chavez . . ."?

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Some Freshmen Dems Getting Upset With Schumer And Pelosi For Stonewalling Trump On Border Security, Immigration

H/t to Weasel Zippers

Daily Caller "While Democratic leadership holds the line, apparently refusing to come to the table to negotiate, the resolve of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in holding out might not be trickling down into the freshman class.
"A number of newly sworn-in Democrats have reportedly voiced frustration with the leaders within their own party. Some are suggesting that they might be willing to at least negotiate and see what kind of a deal could result. (RELATED: Democrats Rebuff Trump At Every Turn During Shutdown Negotiations)
"Democratic New York Rep. Max Rose says he’s ready to get to work, and his first order of business is to reopen the government. Toward that end, he has called for serious negotiations from both sides — making it clear in an interview just days after he was sworn in that he was willing to go toe-to-toe with the leadership in his own party if necessary." . . .
. . .
“ 'Today, the President offered both Democrats and Republicans the chance to meet for lunch at the White House. Unfortunately, no Democrats will attend,” the White House announced." . . .

The New, New Anti-Semitism; "Old stereotypes resurface among today’s woke progressives."

Victor Davis Hanson

"Old stereotypes resurface among today’s woke progressives.

The old anti-Semitism was mostly, but not exclusively, a tribal prejudice expressed in America up until the mid 20th century most intensely on the right. It manifested itself from the silk-stocking country club and corporation (“gentlemen’s agreement”) to the rawer regions of the Ku Klux Klan’s lunatic fringe."While liberals from Joe Kennedy to Gore Vidal were often openly anti-Semitic, the core of traditional anti-Semitism, as William F. Buckley once worried, was more rightist. And such fumes still arise among the alt-right extremists."Yet soon a new anti-Semitism became more insidious, given that it was a leftist phenomenon among those quick to cite oppression and discrimination elsewhere. Who then could police the bigotry of the self-described anti-bigotry police?"The new form of the old bias grew most rapidly on the 1960s campus and was fueled by a number of leftist catalysts. The novel romance of the Palestinians and corresponding demonization of Israel, especially after the 1967 Six-Day War, gradually allowed former Jew-hatred to be cloaked by new rabid and often unhinged opposition to Israel. In particular, these anti-Semites fixated on Israel’s misdemeanors and exaggerated them while excusing and downplaying the felonies of abhorrent and rogue nations."Indeed, evidence of the new anti-Semitism was that the Left was neutral, and even favorable, to racist, authoritarian, deadly regimes of the then Third World while singling out democratic Israel for supposed humanitarian crimes. By the late 1970s, Israelis and often by extension Jews in general were demagogued by the Left as Western white oppressors. Israel’s supposed victims were romanticized abroad as exploited Middle Easterners. And by extension, Jews were similarly exploiting minorities at home." . . . . . . "Soon it became common for self-described black leaders to explain, to amplify, to contextualize, or to be unapologetic about their anti-Semitism, in both highbrow and lowbrow modes: James Baldwin (“Negroes are anti-Semitic because they’re anti-white”), Louis Farrakhan (“When they talk about Farrakhan, call me a hater, you know what they do, call me an anti-Semite. Stop it. I am anti-termite. The Jews don’t like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler. Well, that’s a great name. Hitler was a very great man”), Jesse Jackson (“Hymietown”), Al Sharpton (“If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house”), and the Reverend Jeremiah Wright (“The Jews ain’t gonna let him [Obama] talk to me”)." . . .

White Supremacists Ate My Homework

I long ago grew sick of Female Supremacists. TD

Ann Coulter "By finally returning to the issue that won him the election, President Trump once again has a winning hand. That’s why we’re hearing so much about “white supremacy” this week.
"Liberals lie all the time, but when they know they’re vulnerable they lie even more than all the time. They’re vulnerable on immigration. Even heroic, nonstop lying doesn’t help — as CNN has discovered.
"So, naturally, the media have turned to their larger project of relentlessly trying to discredit conservatives as “white supremacists.”
"Unfortunately for them, apart from a few crackpots — whom I assume exist in a country of 320 million people — there are no “white supremacists.” There were white supremacists 50 years ago, and they were all Democrats. (See my book Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama.)
"Today, “white supremacy” is nothing but a comfortable fantasy the left developed to explain its sick preoccupation with white people.
"Talk about a manufactured crisis! The same people who love to snicker about Fox News viewers worrying about Sharia law sweeping the country are convinced that mythical “white supremacists” are hiding under every bed.
"The whole concept is bogus. In my life, I’ve encountered a number of white people — some of them are my best friends. I’ve never heard any of them suggest that whites should rule over other races. None of them has argued that a substandard white person should get a job over a more competent person just because he’s white — you know, what every other group openly advocates for itself." . . .

Victims Of Illegal Immigration Storm Pelosi’s Office, Chant 'Build The Wall'

Ryan Saavedra "Families who have been impacted by crimes committed by illegal aliens stormed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office on Tuesday, demanding that the California Democrat "build the wall."

"Pelosi reportedly refused to meet with the families, who have lost family members to illegal aliens, which comes as Democrats have refused to work with the Trump administration to provide national security funding to secure the southern border." . . .

. . . "An ad from the pro-Trump group America First Policies this week highlighted Mary Ann Mendoza, whose son Brandon was killed when he was hit by an illegal alien who was driving intoxicated.
" 'I want to have the border wall funded," Mendoza said. "We need to have border security."
" 'The system absolutely failed Brandon, failed myself, and is failing America," Mendoza continued. "I just feel like we’ve become collateral damage."

"On Tuesday, Mendoza said while in Washington, D.C., with U.S. lawmakers: "It’s not a matter of if you’re going to be affected by illegal alien crime, it’s when you are going to be affected' ."

Twenty Things You Probably Didn’t Know about Kamala Harris

Pronounced Kah-ma-la, if that is important for us to not seem ignorant.

National Review

A trip through the life and career of the California senator as she gears up for a probable presidential run

. . . "11. Some have asked tough questions about whether Harris, as San Francisco district attorney, did everything she could to root out abuse in the local Catholic churches. Prosecutors had obtained personnel files from the Archdiocese of San Francisco dealing with sexual abuse going back decades. But her office did not prosecute any priests, and she argued that those records were not subject to public-records laws:

In 2005, while she was San Francisco’s district attorney, Harris rebuffed a public-records request by SF Weekly to release personnel files from the Archdiocese of San Francisco. (Her predecessor had planned to make them public after prosecuting criminal priests, but the California Supreme Court stopped those cases when it declared unconstitutional a 2002 law that lifted the criminal statute of limitations.) Similar archives in Boston had exposed the scope of the scandal there. “We’re not interested in selling out our victims to look good in the paper,” Harris told SF Weekly in a statement — this, even though many of those victims pleaded with her to release the documents.

. . .

"16. Starting in 1993, Harris began dating Willie Brown, then the speaker of the California Assembly and later a candidate for mayor of San Francisco — a relationship that brought her in contact with many of the city’s political and financial movers and shakers. Early in 1994, Brown named her as his appointee to the state’s Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, a job that paid $97,088 a year. Six months later, he named her to the California Medical Assistance Commission, a post which paid $72,000 a year.
"Into 1994, press accounts described Harris as Brown’s girlfriend. He was still married, and in his early 60s; she had just turned 30. The relationship had a surprising and tumultuous end, as James Richardson describes in Willie Brown: A Biography:

Columnist Herb Caen all but predicted two days after the election that Brown would wed Kamala Harris, his constant companion throughout the campaign. “Keep an eye on these two,” Caen wrote. No mention was made of what Brown would do about Blanche, to whom he was still married. But the day after Christmas, Brown stunned his friends by announcing that he was breaking up with Kamala. Brown invited Blanche to appear with him on stage for his swearing-in and to hold the Bible. A television reporter from KPIX caught up to Blanche, who had kept a low profile throughout the campaign, and asked her what it was like to live with the future mayor.
“Difficult,” was her one-word answer.

. . .
Kamala Harris’s Outrageous Assault on the Knights of Columbus

More on males and that creepy* Gillette ad

*Creepy: "1. Of or producing a sensation of uneasiness or fear, as of things crawling on one's skin: a creepy feeling; a creepy story. 2. Annoyingly unpleasant; repulsive" . . .

Surprise: Genius behind man-hating Gillette ad is a radical feminist . . . " 'The guy at the ad agency" is actually philosophically unpleasant feminist Kim Gehrig. Hiring her to court the male market is like expecting to accrue impressive rainbow flag sale numbers with spiels from Farrakhan. " . . .

The UK Daily Mail loved it.

. . .'Boys will be boys . . .' The air is thick with charcoal smoke, the smell of burgers and testosterone as a line of men watch two boys scrap. But later, when the mood of the ad changes, an enlightened male breaks up the fight, saying: 'This is not how we treat each other.' . . .

However...Gillette's ad on toxic masculinity: A social and marketing disaster . . . "True, one can watch the ad and, from the standpoint of behavior, say the ad promotes good things among men. But against the backdrop of strident feminism, the mocking and marginalizing of men in media, academia, and government, the subtext is clear: you guys are just rotten; listen to us, and we'll show you what to do." . . .

Who approved this garbage Gillette ad? . . . "Fourth, fatherless homes are a crisis that most of the left does not want to admit. They prefer to blame slavery or racism rather the absence of responsible men in boys' lives.
Please spare me the PC lecture and let's get real about the problems with young men in the U.S. They need fathers or strong male mentors rather than nonsense about "toxic masculinity."

What Have the Men Ever Done for Us? . . . "Nor do I see the Us versus Them conflict of the sexes so vividly catalogued in the Guardian or HuffPost. In general, men and women get along pretty well because we need one another. We forgive one another’s failings. If a dude mansplains something around a conference table, or if a woman shuts down a man with “You just don’t get it” when he dares to supply a thought, I don’t see much cause for anger. Whether I see a guy manspreading on a subway, or a woman taking up two seats with her enormous collection of tote bags and handbags, I think of these as individual acts of rudeness, not systematic assertions of gender privilege." . . .

Forget the Gillette Ad, This Is What an Attack on Masculinity Looks Like . . . "By striking through manly virtues, Harry’s liberates no one. Instead, a brand designed to cater to men attacks the aspirational ideals of its customer base. Masculine virtues are virtues, and any message to the contrary contributes (in however small a way) to the challenges facing all too many men and boys in modern America.". . .

Ben Shapiro: "We need more masculinity — genuine masculinity — not less"
. . . "The vast majority of violent criminality comes from males; the vast majority of sexual misconduct comes from males. But we’ve made a mistake in blaming the presence of males for that issue. It’s a massive mistake to blame “toxic masculinity” rather than recognizing that toxic masculinity is often the result of a dearth of genuine masculinity — the kind of masculinity that leads men to stick around and father their children in the first place. The alternative to masculine presence is no masculine presence — and lack of masculine presence leads to toxic masculinity, deprived men acting out of hurt and anger." . . .

Stupid White Man TV Commercials Had enough of these?

Salon and other liberals covered for Obama after his "sweetie" remark.

"Longest in history"!

Tony Branco

Don Surber "Day 25 of the partial shutdown of government continues to have as little effect on the citizenry as the world curling championship in Lethbridge, Canada, will.
"Nevertheless, the media continues to huff and puff about the shutdown as if we are reduced to eating grass and sucking icicles in order to survive 25 days without a full bureaucracy.

"Politico reported, "The president urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to end the partial government shutdown, now the longest in history and in its 25th day. Talks to end the shutdown appear to remain at an impasse, with Democrats unwilling to meet the president's demands for border wall funding and Trump signaling an unwillingness to accept anything less than for what his administration has asked."
" 'The longest in history"!
"13 business days of a partial shutdown of government resulted in:
"The trains running on time.
"Libraries remaining open.
"Schools, fire department, and city parks also are open, as are grocery stores, barber shops, funeral parlors, drug stores, and hospitals.
"Televisions are on. Radios too. And of course, the Internet remains up and running.
"Bartenders still pour bourbon. Singers still hold concerts. The show must go on.
"Drivers still stop for stop signs and red lights.
"We really do not need this much government. What went on for the longest period in history was the myth of the need for so much government." . . .

CNN Hiring John Kasich Is Another Never Trump Payoff

Breitbart "If a restaurant already has more than enough cooks, why hire another cook? If a car dealership is already overflowing with cars, why buy another car? If a construction site already has more than enough day laborers, why hire another day laborer? If a far-left news organization already has a massive pile of Never Trump voices, why hire John Kasich?
"CNN announced Tuesday that it has added former Ohio Governor John Kasich to its crack team of analysts…

"Why?

"The anti-Trump news outlet is already jammed up with Never Trump voices, with a countless number of bitter Republicans who hate Trump. In fact, on Monday, the fake news outlet announced it hired two anti-Trumpers who helped to drive the Weekly Standard into the ground.
"Why?
"What can these guys, what can a 66-year-old John Kasich add to a last-place cable channel already overflowing with the only thing Kasich has to offer? Just off the top of my head, CNN is already filled with useless and uninteresting Never Trump deadwood: SE Cupp, Max Boot, Amanda Carpenter, David Frum, Anna Navarro, Mia Love, Margaret Hoover…
"What can Kasich possibly add?" . . .

. . . "What I see is a big political payoff, not only a direct payoff to Kasich, but a way to send a message to other Republicans that if they sell out, if they betray their own, CNN and the Washington Post and the New York Times and the rest of the media will pay you off, will create an unnecessary job for you as a reward, and do so regardless of your talent, popularity, credibility, or conservative credentials.
"Obviously, this is a terrible business model. But the media are not about the business of journalism or even the business of business. This is all about a political agenda, and if that means creating a lucrative slush fund for Never Trump losers as a means to create more Never Trump losers, so be it.

NCAA Champion Hits Back at Media for Criticizing Trump's Bic Mac Buffet

Townhall "It wasn't the media's finest moment. On Tuesday, the press was up in arms over President Trump's decision to offer up a fast food smorgasbord for the NCAA champions the Clemson Tigers when the team visited the White House Monday night. Some angry reporters accused Trump of disrespecting both the athletes and the presidency with the choice in delicacy.

"Lord help us some reporters even fact checked the president over how many burgers he really served and how much it all cost. Trump previously tweeted that he paid for the burgers himself." . . .