Spare me all the pieties about Jussie Smollett

"The rush to exploit the alleged but phony hate crime was unseemly because of all the holes in the story. But blinded by hatred of Trump, and anxious to benefit themselves, people like Don Lemon of CNN and Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris sought to benefit themselves."

Thomas Lifson
"[Disclaimer: Jussie Smollett, like all defendants, is entitled to the presumption of innocence in his forthcoming trial[s].  The following analysis is based on the assumption that the evidence presented by assistant state's attorney Risa Lanier is valid and that the charges against him are true.  Registered voters in Cook County, who are members of his potential jury pool, are strongly cautioned that reading further may make them ineligible to sit in judgment at trial.]"

. . . "According to the information presented by police superintendent Eddie Johnson and prosecutor Risa Lanier, greed was one root of the hoax.  Smollett's pay per episode of Empire has been variously reported as as low as $65,000 and as high as $125,000.  Either figure puts him in the dreaded one percent at the top of the income distribution.  Progressives love to lecture us about the injustice of high incomes but always exempt their own.  Being a progressive is akin to the papal indulgences of the Middle Ages.

But there is another obvious motive: political — hatred of Donald Trump.  Drudge has been featuring a picture of him that says it all:"

. . . "While all reports of crime, including "hate crimes," deserve thorough investigation, the fact is that fake hate crime reports are epidemic — Tawana Brawley, Duke lacrosse, UVA fraternities, and many other lesser known instances.  An entire website, http://www.fakehatecrimes.org, is devoted to the epidemic, and they currently have 349 items, including Smollett.  I have repeatedly made the point that there is not enough hate to go around, because our politics and society reward people who claim to be victims." . . .

Leftist Hate Projection. Updated with reactions of students

Power Line Blog  "The left would have you believe that America is a sea of hate from deplorable Trump voters, and on campus especially we hear endlessly that dissent from the party line is “literal” violence to vulnerable peoples. Strangely, actual violence on campuses (and elsewhere) seems to be the monopoly of the left. Such as this incident at Berkeley today, where a student with a table on Sproul Plaza promoting Turning Point USA was assaulted. Notice that the leftist thug says the Turning Point person is “promoting violence,” while he is the only one throwing punches.
(Leftist language advisory)

. . . "This is hardly a unique occurrence. The Berkeley College Republicans often have a table out on Sproul Plaza, where they are frequently spit on, have their signs and printed material ripped up, and are subject to loads of verbal abuse. But as conservatives are made of tougher stuff, they roll with it rather than demanding a “safe space.' ”

Update:
The birth place of the Free Speech Movement again puts a hit out on free speech.  

. . . "Several people were happy Williams got punched.

“OH MY GOD THE MAGA PEOPLE ON UC BERKELEY CAMPUS YESTERDAY GOT PUNCHED IN THE FACE BY SOMEONE THIS MAKES ME FEEL EMOTIONALLY SO MUCH BETTER,” Yuvi Panda, who works for Berkeley Institute for Data Science, wrote Wednesday. “Thank you, random stranger for not letting it go unchallenged. Hope you aren’t in too much trouble. F*** you, Turning Point USA.”

“WHAT Is sproul here’s name!!!” Twitter user gisselle wrote. “Who socked the ugly maga guy!!! i would like to give him a gift.”

WHAT IS sproul hero’s name!!! WHO socked the ugly maga guy!!!! i would like to send him a gift

— gisselle (@LaTierraMadre) February 21, 2019

“ 'There was some MAGA guy tabling on campus today and someone punched him in the face LMFAO,” user going by the moniker i am tall tweeted.

there was some MAGA guy tabling on campus today and someone punched him in the face LMFAO

— i am tall (@judyleajackson) February 19, 2019

. . .  

In the Market for Fetal Body Parts, a Baby’s Brain Sells for $3,340

Democrats on the select panel have called the investigation a “witch hunt” by Blackburn and other Republicans who oppose abortion.

Daily Signal

"Republicans on the special House panel investigating the transfer of fetal tissue from aborted babies will present evidence in a hearing today that breaks down the price per body part.
"With release of this evidence, Republicans say, they have enough documentation to show that several abortion clinics and middleman procurement businesses may have violated federal law.
“ 'It is just horrifying,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who leads the House’s investigation of the fetal tissue industry, told The Daily Signal. “They are putting a dollar value on these organs from these children—unborn children that have been aborted. It is just beyond belief.”
"According to Republicans involved in the investigation, a researcher paid a middleman procurement company $3,340 for a fetal brain, $595 for a “baby skull matched to upper and lower limbs,” and $890 for “upper and lower limbs with hands and feet.”
"Middleman procurement businesses are companies that obtain tissue and other body parts from aborted babies and provide them to institutions or other organizations for research. Under federal law, the transportation of fetal tissue is based on a nonprofit model." . . .

Kamala’s father says ancestors are ‘turning in their graves’ after her latest stunt

Harris has endorsed other controversial topics. Late last year, Harris compared the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to the Ku Klux Klan.

The Media Equalizer

"Sen. Kamala Harris announced one month ago that she’s running for president, and her own father is already turning on her.
"Earlier this month, Harris said during an interview that she attributed her support for smoking marijuana to her Jamaican heritage.
"Donald Harris, the Senator’s father, is a Stanford University economics professor emeritus. In a statement to Jamaica Global Online, he slammed his daughter for pushing “identity politics” and said her grandparents are “turning in their graves.”
“ 'My dear departed grandmothers (whose extraordinary legacy I described in a recent essay on this website), as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics,” the professor wrote in the statement.
“ 'Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty,” he added." . . .

Harris declared she supported Black Lives Matter.

A Citizen Suing the Department of Justice Needs More than Just a Winning Legal Argument

  haryl Attkisson  . . . "Who is behind the move to use government surveillance tools against innocent Americans? Do some of these officials still work inside the government? Were some of them the very same officials now implicated in alleged surveillance abuses during Campaign 2016?

The Case

"In late January, an appeals court heard oral arguments in my federal lawsuit, now entering its fourth year. A panel of three judges will determine what happens next. Here are several possible outcomes: " . . .

. . . "For example, when it came time to print our brief to submit to the U.S. Court of Appeals, I figured I could have printed it at home for about a $20 cost in terms of ink and paper. I could have had it printed at a professional printing center for about $40.

"But in our legal system, those aren’t options. The procedures require us to have the brief professionally printed and bound in a book format. And only certain companies may be used for this service. 

"So how much was it to print the briefing in the required format?

"Instead of $20, it was $4,367.70.

"Just to print a brief." . . .

"It would be easy to give up. That’s why, I think, the government so often comes out on top, even when it’s arguably done something improper or illegal. Ordinary citizens like us don’t have the millions of dollars it takes to pursue justice against an adversary that has unlimited time and money. They have to give up.

"I’m grateful to the constitutional, privacy, civil rights and whistleblower advocates who discovered a few months ago that there were no groups assisting Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI, and started the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund to assist with the lawsuit and fight government overreach.

"If you wish to contribute to this fund, the GoFundMe page is here." . . .

WOW: Sharyl Attkisson’s story about how the DOD responded to her request for photos taken night of Benghazi will INFURIATE you   "The details Sharyl Attkisson shared about what happened when she requested photos from the White House taken the night of the Benghazi attack is absolutely infuriating. Trust us, you’ll be making the same cranky face after you read her tweets … "

Turn against the Democrat media and they will try to eat you alive, as former CBS reporter Lara Logan discovered.
. . ." Those women were universally described as “survivors,” but Lara Logan never is. Criticism of those women – even polite questions about the inconsistencies in their claims – was denounced as “attacking” them, but Lara Logan enjoys no such courtesy. The left long ago decided Logan is a “right-wing shill,” and that political identity trumps everything else about her." . . .

These people vote! The silliness of our society...

...meaning those who elect our national leadership.

Poor people not allowed in AOC's luxury apartment complex
"Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., recently moved into a luxury apartment complex in Washington, D.C. that does not offer the affordable housing units that were a key plank in the New York congresswoman’s campaign platform." . . . 

Charcoal Face Masks Deemed an Example of ‘Racism’ and ‘Blackface’  
"Apparently, wanting to draw toxins out of your skin using a charcoal mask is actually pretty problematic — because the masks resemble blackface and are therefore “racist.” Accusations of the beauty product being racially insensitive hit Twitter after Twitter user Nicole Paula Oliver tweeted about it last week:" . . .

Vandals Attack Statue Recognizing WWII Hero, Thinking It’s Confederate Monument "Not only ridiculous leftists, but historically ignorant."  . . . “I was surprised that anybody would do that to this museum statue,” Johnson said. “This is not a Civil War museum and this is not Robert E. Lee. This is General William C. Lee from United States Army Airborne from World War II, so I was hurt and surprised that somebody would actually do this.” . . .


'THANKS FOR NOTHING, AOC!': Massive Billboard In NYC Blasts Ocasio-Cortez

12 Of The Craziest College Classes In America, All Subsidized By Your Tax Dollars 
"It’s no wonder figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rocketed straight out of liberal institutions and onto the national stage with proposals like the Green New Deal—they’re doing exactly as they were taught."

California College Calls The Police…Over A Cartoon Frog 

Vandal Spray Paints #MeToo On Iconic WWII Victory Kiss Statue In Downtown Sarasota . . . "The graffiti came after news on Monday of the passing of 95-year-old George Mendonsa. He is the sailor captured in a photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt kissing Greta Zimmer Friedman, a dental assistant in a nurse’s uniform, on Aug. 14, 1945 in Times Square. Known as V-J Day, it was the day Japan surrendered to the United States." . . .

Gay Tennis Icon Martina Navratilova Slammed As “Transphobic” For Opposing Men Competing Against Women In Sporting Events…   . . . "After her statements were published in The Sunday Times, LGBTQ group Athlete Ally has severed ties with Navratilova, calling her words “transphobic.' ”. . .

Transphobic means fear of your wrestler daughter being pinned by a guy with the approval of the authorities.

While we're on the subject...Transgender Actor Asserts Existence of ‘Biologically Female Penis’  "A man’s penis becomes a female penis once a man declares himself to be transgender, says Indya Moore, one of the players in a transgender-themed TV show on FX network." . . .

If you value your career in the entertainment field, you better resign yourself to not only believing this but to exalt it publicly. TD

Where's Ilhan Omar's denunciation of anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan?

Monica Showalter  "Three days ago, Nation of Islam pooh-bah Louis Farrakhan praised Rep. Ilhan Omar's revoltingly open Jew-hating tweets and offered her some unsolicited advice: not to apologize."

"We also know that several of the vaunted Women's March organizers have ties to the famous anti-Semite.  Word getting out about Farrakhan's presence is why the march has since fallen apart.  Yet the Muslim women who were organizers of it refused to dissociate themselves from Farrakhan as well.

"This was strange.  Denouncing Farrakhan should be a no-brainer for anyone, but at a women's event, blasting him should be even easier because he has nothing to contribute to a feminist happening.  Yet for some reason, they didn't, even if their big event and all the work they put into it were lost for it. 

"Does Farrakhan have some kind of spellbinding, mesmerizing impact on these Muslim women, making them slavishly loyal to him forever?  Or does Farrakhan (and his army of thugs) scare them? 

"Does Farrakhan have some kind of political power over them?  Or could it be that Farrakhan has something blackmailable on Omar?" . . .

Lifestyles of the rich and socialist: Bernie Sanders has 3 houses, makes millions

Fox News

This single family house built on 1981 and located in Burlington, Vermont, is listed to Bernard and Jane Sanders. (Google Maps)

. . . "But Sanders has raised eyebrows over his spending and personal wealth. Notably, he owns three houses. In 2016, he bought a $575,000 four-bedroom lake-front home in his home state. This is in addition to a row house in Washington D.C., as well as a house in Burlington, Vermont.

“The Bern will keep his home in Burlington and use the new camp seasonally,” Vermont’s Seven Day’s reported in 2016.

. . . "Despite that, according to Forbes he has one of the lowest net worths among prospective presidential candidates, with an estimated net worth of approximately $700,000, according to Forbes. To compare with other Democrats, fellow left-wing firebrand Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has an estimated net worth of approximately $7.8 million.

"But conservatives have pointed to Sanders’ lifestyle as contradictory given his tax-the-rich mantras." . . .

Ranking U.S. Metropolitan Areas on the Economic Freedom Index

Reason.org

Amongst America’s largest metro areas, Houston, Jacksonville, Tampa, Richmond and Dallas-Fort Worth have the most economic freedom. Riverside, Rochester, Buffalo, New York and Cleveland have the least.

"For centuries, experts have been trying to discover why some places are so rich and others so poor. Some economists suggest that a largely unregulated system leaves individuals maximally free to pursue their own plans, spurring entrepreneurial activity and innovation.

. . . 

"That state-level index shows us how the level of economic freedom can vary across sub-national jurisdictions within the same country (e.g., Texas and Florida have less- burdensome economic policies and therefore much greater economic freedom than New York and California). However, levels of economic freedom can also vary within those subnational jurisdictions. For example, the San Jose metro area has substantially higher economic freedom than Los Angeles. The same is true for Nashville compared to Memphis. In some places, metropolitan areas straddle state borders, skewing state-level economic data. This report, the “U.S. Metropolitan Area Economic Freedom Index,”  quantifies those intra-state disparities by providing a local-level version of the EFNA, ranking 382 metropolitan areas by their economic freedom levels." . . .Charts and lists here

The Mythologies of ‘Joe Being Joe’ Biden

"Biden is hardly the sober and judicious alternative to a supposedly reckless Donald Trump."

Stilton's Place  "Recreating Obama's infamous "Apology Tour," Joe Biden traveled to Munich to disparage our nation as an "embarrassment" for our treatment of (ahem) "refugees." Apparently Old Joe hasn't really been paying attention to what's been happening to Germany now that they're drowning in hostile refugees." . . .

Victor Davis Hanson   "Some polls put 76-year-old Joe Biden as the Democratic front-runner for the 2020 presidential election. There is certainly some logic to that reckoning.

"Biden has far more experience than any of his likely party rivals — 36 years in the Senate, eight years as Barack Obama's vice president and two past presidential runs.

"He may be the only Democratic candidate who could likely win back some of the “deplorables,” “irredeemables” and “clingers” of the critical Midwestern swing states.

"But all of that said, the folksy Biden is hardly the sober and judicious alternative to a supposedly reckless Donald Trump.

"In many ways, Biden has been far wilder in his speech and decorum — despite nearly a half-century in politics.

"Could a Biden campaign withstand #MeToo-era scrutiny? Biden was widely criticized for his handling of Anita Hill's sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas during Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 1991. In 2015, New York magazine ran a photo essay showing nine instances when Biden, in creepy fashion, leaned in closely and whispered in women's ears, with several of those women appearing visibly uncomfortable with such interaction.

"Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that grilled Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork in such a crude fashion as to turn the failed nominee's name into a verb. “Borked” is now synonymous with the sort of character assassination that Biden led. His later aimless and incoherent questioning of Thomas during his confirmation hearing managed to enrage both critics and supporters." . . .

Will the left ever forgive Americans for building this nation?

Don Surber's Meme of the day