California Earthquakes Can’t Do As Much Damage As Progressive, Blue State Government

Issues & Insights  "The strongest earthquakes to hit California in decades struck last week, leaving behind a few messes and fears of more to come. The most destructive force in the state, though, is not a quivering Earth but the lawmakers who are wrecking what was once a land of promise.

"California has a tragic history with earthquakes." . . .

"Nothing herein is intended to minimize the loss of life and the property damage that has been wrought by California quakes. But as cruel as they are, a steady stream of progressive public policy has the potential to inflict even deeper, and more long-term negative effects.

"Here’s where California is today after two decades of progressive, Blue State governance:

• Executive magazine has named California the worst state for business for 15 straight years.
• California imposes the heaviest regulatory burden on small businesses in the country.
• The business tax climate is worse only in New Jersey.
• Businesses of all sizes continue to flee the state.
• Property rights are being violated at an alarming pace. Just ask the “Central Valley farmers who’ve had their land seized in the name of high-speed rail” and are still waiting to be compensated by the state.
• People are leaving in large numbers, and many who haven’t yet are desperate to escape.
• That is if they are able to leave, because many of the roads and highways leading out are so cracked up they’re hard to navigate. Forty-one states have better systems.
• The state’s unofficial “road diet” means that motorists have to spend more time on the crumbling tracks than they should because the state has the worst traffic congestion on Earth.
• Liberty continues to be crowded out by growing government authority. The Cato Institute ranks California 48th in freedom among the states, a position it has occupied since 2011.
• The state has had the highest poverty level in the country in recent years.
• While California’s public education system is failing, the state has gone to war with charter schools, which are not only popular with parents and students, they raise student achievement.
• The highest average gasoline price is found in California, which not coincidentally also has the highest gasoline tax in the nation.
• Even though it accounts for only 12% of the U.S. population, 25%-30% of the nation’s homeless live in California.
• The runaway public employee pension system threatens to devour the state.

Civilizational Suicide: Qatar’s Vision Shapes American Classrooms

Clarion Project

"Qatar’s vision for America is now being peddled through our children’s classrooms, targeting a pliable population and one with a long shelf life.

"Beyond its media empires and bought-off D.C. influencers and think tanks, Qatar has set its sight on the next generation of Americans. 

"In the last 10 years, Qatar has given over $30 million to public schools and over $1.4 billion to universities.  " . . . "Those universities include:" . . .

"Funding universities isn’t just about charitable giving that trickles down to the benefit of academia. Although we might like to think that academia is more insulated from political pressure  than other sectors of American society, in fact, college campuses have become a breeding ground for irrational emotional outbursts that only tolerate the pre-scripted narrative of political correctness.

"However, even that is a generous description. In truth, the problem began much earlier. 

"In The Closing of the American Mind, author Allan Bloom discusses the 1969 incident at Cornell University involving the guns-on-campus crisis, narrating the events in a way that help us understand how Qatari money into schools not only shapes policy and planning but dictates which behaviors will be tolerated: . . ."

How Bureaucrats Ruin Everything From Dishwashers To Gas Cans To Cars

Issues & Insights  "Have you ever wondered why dishwashers today take twice as long to do a worse job of cleaning dishes? Or why it’s so much harder to get gasoline out of a new gas can? Or why cars made decades ago always turn heads, while today’s are drab in the same way?

"There’s a simple answer to these modern-day mysteries: Government regulators.

"Take the dishwasher. Earlier this month, the Department of Energy announced that it would revise its rules regarding dishwasher efficiency. Why? Because the existing rules — which set limits on how much electricity and water a dishwasher may use — are forcing manufacturers to build machines that are worse than ever.

(More here: DOE Regulations Mandate Dishwashers that Don’t Wash Well)

. . . 

"Today, the government dictates nearly every single aspect of a car’s design. Big fronts for safety, low tops for fuel economy, tiny windows, high belt lines, etc. That’s just the exterior. Almost every feature of a car’s interior is also regulated by government.

"One car designer noted that “I know of at least one vehicle … that was discontinued entirely because changing curtain airbag regulations would have meant the entire shape of the vehicle had to be redesigned.”

"There are plenty of other examples like this of regulators making products worse. Toilets that don’t flush, showerheads that don’t allow sufficient water flow, and other modern product failures, are courtesy of the nanny state.

"And all of this, mind you, is just the tip of the regulatory pyramid, with decades upon decades of rules, mandates, and regulations now affecting nearly every aspect of our economy. Has this monstrous regulatory state improved the quality of our lives?  If the above is any indication, the answer is most likely no."

The prestige and power of the United States on display before the world.

Ian Macfarlane pretty much lets the Democrats write their own satire.

Ian Macfarlane

'GENIUS! Beto O’Rourke: “In My Administration We Are Going to Make Sure No One Is Criminally Prosecuted for Being a Human Being' ”

US Congress, greatest deliberating
body in the world.

Introducing the United States Secretary of State!

This tells me much more about the American voter's culture and education than some foul-mouthed soccer player:  Poll: Megan Rapinoe Beats Trump in Hypothetical Presidential Race. TD

Gov. Jay Inslee makes a strong bid to be craziest member of the Democrats' presidential field

Much respected Britt Hume indicated subtly in 2012 that candidates like Trump were "zany". You want zany? How about this? TD

Thomas Lifson  "The "clown car" that the Democrats are offering as their presidential field has some actual clowns inside.  Washington State governor Jay Inslee faces some serious competition for the title of nuttiest Democrat candidate for president, but he has just made a strong bid for the trophy that ought to be named "The Bozo" and awarded in televised ceremony.

"Even with Michael Avenatti and Eric Swalwell out of the race, there is still Marianne Williamson to contend with.  But over the weekend at the Netroots convention, Inslee, whose platform mainly consists of economic suicide to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, offered a truly deranged promise.  Rachel Frazen reports in The Hill:

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said Saturday that if he is elected president, he will ask soccer player Megan Rapinoe to be his secretary of state. 

He said at the progressive Netroots Nation conference that one of his first acts as president would be to get a secretary of State who embraces world unity and "love rather than hate" as he rebuked President Trump's foreign policy. 

"My first act will be to ask Megan Rapinoe to be my secretary of State," he said. "I haven't asked her yet, so this could be a surprise to her."

"I actually believe this because what I think what she has said that has inspired us so much is such an antithesis of the president's foreign policies," he added. 

"I represent the United States of America!" (added by TD)

 "Yep, kicking around a ball is good preparation for the responsibility of guiding America's foreign policy.  And disdain for our flag embodies just the kind of attitude that will instill respect for our country overseas.

"This is deranged.  Specifically, Trump Derangement Syndrome.

"It's real, and it is going to drive voters to Trump and the GOP candidates for Congress."

Of Progressive Carnivores and Cannibals

Victor Davis Hanson

"The Obama-era Democratic Party bears little resemblance to the themes embraced just 11 years ago by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the 2008 primaries.

"The parameters of marriage, in Obama’s words “between a man and woman,” has now transmogrified beyond gay civil unions to legal gay marriage to transgendered fixations.

"Obama once protested that he was no king who could open the border and grant amnesties by fiat. Yet his view of immigration has metamorphosed well beyond DACA and Dreamers into Democratic candidates going into Mexico to escort aliens unlawfully into our country, and 500 sanctuary jurisdictions in which federal immigration law is all but null and void. An American citizen convicted of using a fake Social Security Number and phony ID is a felon who is all but unemployable; an illegal alien who commits the same crimes learns quickly that these are not deportable offenses and mostly never prosecuted.

Babylon Bee cartoon added by TD

"In a nanosecond, Betsy Ross’s iconic colonial flag, which once emblazoned the backdrop of the 2012 Obama inauguration ceremony, have become racist icons—or so Nike pitchman Colin Kaepernick has decreed, ordering his corporate bosses to remove them from commemorative sneakers.

"Obamacare has abruptly morphed into “Medicare for All”—including illegal aliens who are to be eligible the moment they cross the border, despite never having paid a dime into the system.

"The old affirmative action protocols designed to accommodate the historical grievances of blacks and Mexican-Americans have been reinvented with revolutionary speed as “diversity”—loosely defined as anyone “not white.” Thus, the vast new rubric is inclusive of wealthy Chinese-Americans, recent South American middle-class immigrants, well-off Punjabi arrivals, upscale Middle Easterners and almost anyone else, including those who fake a nonwhite identity in the manner of Elizabeth Warren or Ward Churchill. Suddenly the “woke” nonwhite were no longer 15-20 percent of the population, but comprised a supposed 30-40 percent powerful “constituency,” all united by their loathing of supposed “white privilege” and victimization from “white supremacy.' ” . . .

Add to all this, one Democrat candidate has proposed making a woman who has contempt for this nation and walks on it's flag to represent it's interests as Secretary of State.

Pastor formerly imprisoned in Turkey 'astounded' by mounting hostility to Christian faith in U.S.

Washington Times  "DENVER — Andrew Brunson, the U.S. pastor who spent two years in a Turkish prison, said Friday he was “astounded” by the escalating hostility toward Christians in the United States, saying they have become the “target” of activists.

“ 'I’m really astounded at the speed at which the U.S. is imploding,” said Mr. Brunson at the Western Conservative Summit, held annually by the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University.

"Mr. Brunson, who was released from Turkish custody in October 2018 in response to pressure from the Trump administration, said it was “no longer enough” for Christians to get along with others with whom they disagree.

“ 'It seems like there’s much more of a demand that people of faith approve of, that they validate, that they celebrate things they actually disagree with,” he said.

"Mr. Brunson, a pastor in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, cited pressure from the media, celebrities and academia, saying “there’s an effort to marginalize and silence and shame Christians.' ” . . .
. . . 
“ 'Activists are demanding that businesses and schools. . . punish those who don’t agree with them,” he said. “I think it’s especially Christians who are in the cross-hairs of these things. They’re the target.”

"The same pressure hasn’t been applied to believers of other faiths, he said.

“ 'For example, you don’t get an LGBTQ activist going to a Muslim bakery in Dearborn, Michigan, demanding that this Muslim create a cake celebrating a wedding that he disagrees with, according to his belief in the Koran,” said Mr. Brunson. “I don’t think that Muslim should be pressured. I want them to have freedom of religion here, but the Christian is being pressured." ” . . .

Devin Nunes Has a Warning for AG Bill Barr: Without Prosecutions None “will trust the FBI or DOJ for generations”…

The Last Refuge  "HPSCI ranking member Devin Nunes has a deliberate warning to U.S. Attorney Bill Barr, and the Department of Justice should take it very seriously.

"In a 30 minute podcast interview last week [Listen Here] Representative Nunes rightly warns of massive political consequences if Justice Department officials don’t face jail time for their conduct during the Russia investigation.  I strongly urge everyone to listen to the podcast." . . .

BEWARE: ‘Lion King’ Is ‘Fascistic,' 'White Supremacist,’ Says WashPost

It is the dedicated purpose of the left to seek out any trace of joy and crush it into dust. TD

Newsbusters  "Well, it was bound to happen. One of the woke writers at The Washington Post found something political to nitpick about Disney’s remake of The Lion King. Rather than let everyone enjoy one of childhood’s great classics, Dan Hassler-Forest tried to burst the bubble, pointing out how it’s a “fascistic story” that “incorporates the white supremacist’s worldview.”

"Good grief.

"Hassler-Forest claimed that the very fact that there is a lion king, is a problem. It means there is a whole strata of animal subjects under his rule, and that is just not ok. On Wednesday, the world’s biggest Negative Nancy wrote, “But as nostalgic as ‘Circle of Life’ may make us feel, this bombastic scene is also a painful reminder of the film’s ideological agenda: It introduces us to a society where the weak have learned to worship at the feet of the strong.”

"At least in The Lion King Mufasa actually protects the fauna he rules over. If Hassler-Forest’s got a problem here, wait til he watches a Nat Geo special on the hierarchical murderous goings-on in the animal kingdom … wait … “animal kingdom?” My word, there’s no escape.

"He continued, saying that “‘The Lion King’ offers us a seductive worldview in which absolute power goes unquestioned, and where the weak and the vulnerable are fundamentally inferior.” In the budding socialist, all-inclusive culture that our author seems to want so bad, the fact that Simba or Mufasa have any authority is a no-go. Forget the fact that their peaceful stewardship of Pride Rock is the only thing that keeps the hyenas at bay." . . .

Michael Carre

If any other human had uttered the patent nonsense that has emanated from this person’s mouth, they would have been given the Dan Quayle treatment long ago.

Diogenes Middle Finger  . . . If any other human had uttered the patent nonsense that has emanated from this person’s mouth, they would have been given the Dan Quayle treatment 
long ago. But because of the effortless and pseudo-lucid way in which she spouts stunningly stupid statements, people claim she’s smart. Much of this is pushed by sexually frustrated hipsters who thin[k] if they White Knight her that she may notice them. Seriously, when was the last time you heard a member of Congress praised for a high school science fair project? Or being called a “scholar” because you have a bachelor’s degree?

"But what happens when she goes up against someone who actually understands the subject matter, who is smart, and who recognizes that AOC compares unfavorably to your random bag of clawhammers? We now have the answer to that. " . . .

Inslee says he'll ask soccer player Megan Rapinoe to be secretary of State

Not from The Onion or the Babylon Bee, even though it quotes Rapinoe as saying, "We have to love more, hate less. We got to listen more and talk less," Her words. TD

The Hill "Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said Saturday that if he is elected president, he will ask soccer player Megan Rapinoe to be his secretary of state. 

"He said at the progressive Netroots Nation conference that one of his first acts as president would be to get a secretary of State who embraces world unity and "love rather than hate" as he rebuked President Trump's foreign policy. 

" 'My first act will be to ask Megan Rapinoe to be my secretary of State," he said. "I haven't asked her yet, so this could be a surprise to her."

" 'I actually believe this because what I think what she has said that has inspired us so much is such an antithesis of the president's foreign policies," he added. " . . .

"So how and why did a twenty-eight-year-old former bartender who might have had to sit down at the second word in a spelling bee become a U.S. representative, anyway?"

How did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ever get elected?  "I don't want to be unkind, but almost every other week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offers up another are you serious? moment.  Her defeat of the incumbent, and key Democrat member, Joe Crowley, in the primary a year ago June was the big surprise, and she has not ceased to distinguish herself ever since as a complete absurdity.  With now a year's worth of brash inanities on record, Democrat U.S. rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would have done so much better once elected just to have observed an old saying — it's better to remain quiet and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt — than to persevere in spouting flapdoodles while never, ever being in doubt." . . .

Pelosi’s House of Pain  . . . "It was the dawn of a new era. House Democrats had returned to power after eight years. And these Democrats were remarkably diverse in age, ethnicity, race, and gender. Ideology, too: Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib belong to the Democratic Socialists of America. “Our nation is at an historic moment,” Pelosi said in January. “Two months ago, the American people spoke, and demanded a new dawn.”
"Well, the sun has set. And fast. Whatever Pelosi’s plans might have been, they’ve been lost in a fog of anti-Semitism and left-wing radicalism. If Ilhan Omar isn’t causing Pelosi trouble, Ocasio-Cortez is. And vice versa. One day the speaker has to respond to the charge that Jewish money controls American foreign policy. The next she has to downplay flatulent cows. It’s enough to make one pity her. Almost."

The long knives are now out for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

. . . "Is there any single element anywhere in there where the racism-hurling Ocasio-Cortez acts as an asset? Can she help keep the majority when so many voters despise her? Can she help grow the majority now that voters and even Democrats have had a bellyful of her ilk? Can she help a Democrat win the presidency? She's a walking ad for the opposition and President Trump can't stop snickering.

"Meeks's warning is clearly a signal that the long knives are out and the money is amassing. Either Ocasio-Cortez shapes up or word is out now from the Democratic machine pols: She's going to be shipped out."