'Squad' drama frustrating some House Democrats

CNN, of all sources!  "House Democrats were united in their vote to condemn President Donald Trump's racist tweets this week, but some Democratic lawmakers are quietly expressing concern that far-left progressives have outsized influence in their caucus.

"Several Democrats -- from across the ideological spectrum -- are growing tired of the repeated headlines involving four progressive congresswomen as the caucus tries to push its agenda. In conversations that took place before the President hosted a rally in North Carolina Wednesday night where the crowds chanted "send her home" in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Democrats said they want to keep the spotlight on the issues that got them elected, not a fight with the President.

" 'The President's words and actions speak for themselves. We need to focus on the issues that got (Democrats) here: jobs, health care ... instead of the issues the President brings up deliberately," said one House Democratic lawmaker, who asked for anonymity to speak freely. "Anything that takes away from bread-and-butter issues is playing into his hands."

" 'The President won this one," said another House Democratic lawmaker of the showdown. "What the President has done is politically brilliant. Pelosi was trying to marginalize these folks, and the President has now identified the entire party with them." . . .

And there will be plenty of provocations from the President, whose attacks on the "squad" only appear to be escalating. . . .

Off the record, House Dems tell CNN's Tapper that Trump was 'brilliant' snookering Dems into letting The Squad become their symbol
. . . "Kudos to Tapper for getting the truth out of the Dems, and for publishing it on Twitter.  It takes some guts for an employee of Jeff Zucker's CNN to tell the public things that don't support The Narrative that the Left continues to peddle." . . .

BUSTED! Twitchy Uncovers #DeportMelania Used by Known Democrats and Journalists  "Twitchy has uncovered massive fraud being perpetrated on America right now. Apparently, no one thought #DeportMelania was racist or deplorable when it was being used by verified Democrats and journalists (is there a difference?) on Twitter just a short time ago." . . .

First Lady, Melania Trump

. . . 
"Isn't it interesting how Democrats can say whatever they want and no one accuses them of racism? This is even worse than what Trump said because he suggested "#TheInsufferableSquad leave voluntarily. In the case of #DeportMelania, it seems that these verified Democrats were asking for ICE to step in. Of course, that’s what I would say if I were a humorless moron, but clearly, they were joking.

"It’s telling that the right can tell a joke when they see one and let it go while the left calls for heads to roll and even charges brought for fictitious crimes like Joy Behar, who thinks she's already living outside America, demanding that law enforcement charge Trump with “hate speech” crimes. LOL"  . . .

False Racism Accusations Don’t Excuse the Real Thing

Mona Charen at NR

Our leaders use and abuse race for their own purposes.

"On a high wall overlooking the central court of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., the words of novelist James Baldwin are etched in stone: “The great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it. . . . History is literally present in all that we do.”

"Baldwin’s words are particularly apt this week, as our leaders, for the millionth time, use and abuse race for their own purposes, committing sins against the past and the present. 

"Before Mr. Trump entered the fray, the Democrats were engaged in the sort of tussle that couldn’t help but bring a smile to the lips of their opponents. Nancy Pelosi was attempting to corral her wayward members — the so-called “Squad” of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Alyssa Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar. Pelosi, clearly worried that four extremists were becoming the face of the Democratic party, thus diminishing the likelihood of Democratic success in 2020, had rapped their knuckles in a closed-door session last week. Pelosi warned the newcomers not to tweet against fellow Democrats, and added, “All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world. But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.” Zing.

"In a different era, the smack of the speaker’s ruler would have cowed the upstarts. Speakers could determine what committees members sat on, whether projects were funded in their districts, and indirectly how much money they could raise. But in the Internet age, parties and leaders have lost influence. Social media allows members to reach their niche audiences and keep the money flowing. The more performative they are on Twitter, the more secure. 

"And so, the freshmen did what progressives so often do — they reached for the accusation of racism. " . . .

Georgia Tech Climatologist Chooses 'Career Suicide' to Keep Her 'Scientific Integrity'

"It may be worse than a joke, but liberal political orthodoxy demands it. No matter how many climate alarmist predictions fail, they keep pushing the same ideology, with the same agenda — increased government regulations. The solution is always the same, and it involves handing over power to the government.The struggles of scientists like Curry illustrate just how dangerous this ideology is— to scientific integrity, as well as personal freedom."

PJ Media

"A climatologist at Georgia Institute of Technology resigned from her post because she could no longer navigate the stifling political orthodoxy on climate change.

Former chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech Judith Curry announced her resignation in a blog post on Tuesday. While her resignation is technically "a retirement event," and she is "cashing out" to get her pension, Curry explained that "the deeper reasons have to do with my growing disenchantment with universities, the academic field of climate science and scientists."

"Curry is known for her scientifically astute explanations of the uncertainties in climate science. Indeed, she has been attacked as "anti-science" by other researchers who repeat the rote "scientific consensus" that man-made global warming is a catastrophic threat to humanity. In a cruel sort of irony, the universities — ostensibly the bastion of academic freedom — have become unsafe for those who, using good scientific methods, are skeptical of the received wisdom on climate change.

" 'A deciding factor was that I no longer know what to say to students and postdocs regarding how to navigate the CRAZINESS in the field of climate science," Curry wrote. "Research and other professional activities are professionally rewarded only if they are channeled in certain directions approved by a politicized academic establishment — funding, ease of getting your papers published, getting hired in prestigious positions, appointments to prestigious committees and boards, professional recognition, etc." (emphasis added)" . . .

Libertarian Group Demands NASA Remove False '97 Percent Consensus' Global Warming Claim
Science's Untold Scandal: The Lockstep March of Professional Societies to Promote the Climate Change Scare

Report: CNN Reaching Full Panic Mode as Ratings Collapse, Credibility Questioned

DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall said CNN should stop pretending Lemon is an unbiased news anchor.

Western Journal  . . . "CNN recently announced that anchor Don Lemon — who uses his show to promote his anti-Trump opinions — will be a moderator at the July Democratic presidential debate that the network is hosting.
"Conservative strategist Chris Barron called that decision “a disservice to voters all across the political spectrum” because Lemon is so openly biased.
“They are more interested in the political version of a church revival than an actual debate,” Barron told Fox.
"DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall said CNN should stop pretending Lemon is an unbiased news anchor.
“ 'He is a host of an opinion-driven show in which his opinions are front and center. Thus, he is a host rather than a news anchor,” McCall told Fox. “His show does discuss news topics, but it is not designed as an objective news show.” 
"Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor thinks Lemon’s selection was no accident.
“ 'He says so many things that even liberals are embarrassed by him,” Gainor told Fox.

“ 'But in reality, we know why he was chosen. He was picked so CNN can remind its audience of liberals that it is part of the resistance."

Don Lemon Labels Trump as Racist, Claims It’s His ‘Obligation as a Journalist’

Lib Don Lemon thinks it’s his obligation as a journalist to call Trump a racist. Don Lemon is not a journalist, he’s a political hack working for the democrat party. Don Lemon is a racist, he hates white people, it’s so obvious. CNN is just a faction of the democrat party.

— Mike (@mike_Zollo) May 5, 2018

Omar to Introduce Resolution Declaring Support for Anti-Israel BDS Movement

National Review

"Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) will introduce a resolution this week declaring support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to elevate the Palestinian negotiating position vis-a-vis Israel through an international pressure campaign.
“ 'We are introducing a resolution . . . to really speak about the American values that support and believe in our ability to exercise our first amendment rights in regard to boycotting,” Omar told Al-Monitor. “And it is an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support a nonviolent movement, which is the BDS movement.”
"The announcement comes on the same day that the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on which Omar sits, plans to vote on another non-binding resolution explicitly condemning the BDS movement as an attempt to “undermine the two state solution” by demanding “concessions of one party alone and encourag[ing] Palestinians to reject negotiations in favor of international pressure.”
"The anti-BDS resolution further notes that the movement’s founder, Omar Bharghouti, has openly dismissed the possibility of reaching any settlement that allows the state of Israel to retain its sovereignty.
"Omar is expected to cast the lone vote against the anti-BDS resolution, further highlighting the divide between herself and the panel’s older, more-established lawmakers, who have condemned her comments about Israel in the past.
"Representative Elliot Engel (D., N.Y.), the committee’s chairman, accused Omar of “invoking a vile, anti-Semitic slur” earlier this year after she suggested that pro-Israel American lawmakers’ loyalty to the country was suspect. However, he resisted Republican calls to remove Omar from the panel in the wake of her comments." . . .

She comes by all this honestly, being from Somalia:

"Amid fears for his safety, Abdullahi Dool, a senior Somali diplomat who was fired last month for publicly advocating the establishment of formal relations with Israel, was forced to flee his country.

On the same day, Abdinur Mohamed, a spokesman for President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, took to Twitterto declare that as long as Israel holds on to to “Muslim lands” and Jerusalem and continues to deny Palestinians their rights, Somalia will never have diplomatic relations with Israel. Anyone who says otherwise, the tweet continued, cannot work for the Somali government.

"It's Going to Be Staggering, The Amount of Names": As the Jeffrey Epstein Case Grows More Grotesque, Manhattan and DC Brace for Impact.

Vanity Fair thinks more highly of Beto O'Rourke than it does of President Trump, so they will all be digging for all anti-Trump references with the help of CNN. TD

Vanity Fair  "The Jeffrey Epstein case is an asteroid poised to strike the elite world in which he moved. No one can yet say precisely how large it is. But as the number of women who’ve accused the financier (at least, that’s what he claimed to be) of sexual assault grows to grotesque levels—there are said to be more than 50 women who are potential victims—a wave of panic is rippling through Manhattan, DC, and Palm Beach, as Epstein’s former friends and associates rush to distance themselves, while gossiping about who might be ensnared. Donald Trump’s labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, architect of the original 2007 non-prosecution agreement that let Epstein off with a wrist slap, has already been forced to resign.

"Likely within days, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will release almost 2,000 pages of documents that could reveal sexual abuse by “numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister, and other world leaders,” according to the three-judge panel's ruling. The documents were filed during a civil defamation lawsuit brought by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a former Mar-a-Lago locker-room attendant, against Epstein’s former girlfriend and alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell. “Nobody who was around Epstein a lot is going to have an easy time now. It’s all going to come out,” said Giuffre’s lawyer David Boies." . . .

More on this at Reddit

The War Over America’s Past Is Really About Its Future

"If progressives and socialists can at last convince the American public that their country was always hopelessly flawed, they can gain power to remake it based on their own interests. These elites see Americans not as unique individuals but as race, class and gender collectives, with shared grievances from the past that must be paid out in the present and the future. We’ve seen something like this fight before, in 1861—and it didn’t end well."

Victor Davis Hanson

"The summer season has ripped off the thin scab that covered an American wound, revealing a festering disagreement about the nature and origins of the United States.

"The San Francisco Board of Education recently voted to paint over, and thus destroy, a 1,600-square-foot mural of George Washington’s life in San Francisco’s George Washington High School.

"Victor Arnautoff, a communist Russian-American artist and Stanford University art professor, had painted “Life of Washington” in 1936, commissioned by the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration. A community task force appointed by the school district had recommended that the board address student and parent objections to the 83-year-old mural, which some viewed as racist for its depiction of black slaves and Native Americans.

"Nike pitchman and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick recently objected to the company’s release of a special Fourth of July sneaker emblazoned with a 13-star Betsy Ross flag. The terrified Nike immediately pulled the shoe off the market.

"The New York Times opinion team issued a Fourth of July video about “the myth of America as the greatest nation on earth.” The Times’ journalists conceded that the United States is “just OK.”

"During a recent speech to students at a Minnesota high school, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) offered a scathing appraisal of her adopted country, which she depicted as a disappointment whose racism and inequality did not meet her expectations as an idealistic refugee. Omar’s family had fled worn-torn Somalia and spent four-years in a Kenyan refugee camp before reaching Minnesota, where Omar received a subsidized education and ended up a congresswoman." . . .

Victor Davis Hanson is an American military historian, columnist, former classics professor, and scholar of ancient warfare. He was a professor of classics at California State University, Fresno, and is currently the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He has been a visiting professor at Hillsdale College since 2004. Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 by President George W. Bush. Hanson is also a farmer (growing raisin grapes on a family farm in Selma, California) and a critic of social trends related to farming and agrarianism. He is the author most recently of The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict was Fought and Won (Basic Books).

Ten Questions for the ‘Squad’ (Also called by Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana "whack jobs").

National Review
Now that they’re doing interviews again, journalists should get some crucial information.

From left to right: Ayanna Pressley (D, Mass.), Ilhan Omar (D, Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D, Mich.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, N.Y.)

"Democratic infighting reached a fever pitch last week with bickering and personal attacks between members of the “Squad” and other House Democrats. During that period, Squad members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley mostly avoided doing interviews. However, that all changed after Donald Trump’s deplorable tweet thread aimed at the freshman members.

"That attack united House Democrats in condemnation and redirected the press’s focus. As a result, those members have suddenly agreed to do interviews again. While it makes sense that those interviews cover the Trump attack, one would think the press would also ask these members some tough questions that have otherwise gone unanswered. That hasn’t happened thus far, but here are ten suggestions for journalists actually interested in accountability from those in power, including those with a D by their name:" .  .  .

Trump and the ‘Racist Tweets’. "What does “racist” even mean anymore?"

"There’s a difference between racist and just stupid."

Tony Branco

Andrew C. McCarthy  "Racism is the headline on President Trump’s Sunday tweets — the media-Democrat complex assiduously describes them as “racist tweets” as if that were a fact rather than a trope. I don’t think they were racist; I think they were abjectly stupid.
"Like many Americans, I am tired of being lectured about racism by racists and racialists, individuals whose full-field explanation for all life’s issues is this matter of genetic happenstance that should be increasingly irrelevant in a pluralistic society.

"Is it “racist” to tell people who have contempt for the country — who abhor the common culture that makes us American — that they ought to go back to where they came from? It has nativist and reactionary overtones, but I don’t think it is racist. I’ll grant this much, though: It is closer to actual racism than the Left’s usual demagogic claim: I am a racist if I extend to a non-white nincompoop like Ilhan Omar the courtesy of taking her seriously as an individual and a public official, as if it were her race rather than the idiocy of what she says that moves me to dissent.

"It would be racist to tell the progressive “Squad” that they don’t belong in our country because of their race or ethnic roots. I don’t understand Trump to have done that. He is attacking their radicalism, which they wear like a badge of honor.

"I don’t believe Trump is a master strategist who did this to force Speaker Pelosi and other mainstream Democrats, at their electoral peril, to embrace the radicals. That’s just the lemonade that Trump supporters are trying to make of the president’s never-ending supply of lemons*. In any event, while it is beneath a president to carp in Trump’s juvenile way, I have less heartburn in principle with a president’s attacking radicalism than I do with a congresswoman’s claim that any criticism of her is an implicit criticism of immigrants, women, black people, etc. 

"The real problems here, in 2020 terms, are the stupidity and insensitivity of the president’s Twitter twaddle." . . .
*In contrast, Rush Limbaugh thinks Trump is brilliant for this.:

Off the record, House Dems tell CNN’s Tapper that Trump was ‘brilliant’ snookering Dems into letting The Squad become their symbol
. . . "Kudos to Tapper for getting the truth out of the Dems, and for publishing it on Twitter. It takes some guts for an employee of Jeff Zucker's CNN  to tell the public things that don't support The Narrative that the Left continues to peddle." . . .

When everything is "racist", then nothing is racist

Looks like we need to think of a new term for the Jim Crow Laws, black lynching, dragging African-Americans behind trucks, exclusion from society, bombing churches, to name a few. Using the term "racism" has no significance anymore; it has been rendered silly by the likes of Maxine Waters, Bobby "Beto" O'Rourke, Al Sharpton, et al. along with the help of CNN.  The Tunnel Dweller.

 Biff Spackle of Director Blue  via American Thinker

An Angry Old White Guy on 'AOC Plus Three'  . . . "So, let me say, as someone who has lived with this nonsense for more than forty years, I no longer give a damn, nor do most white people I know.

"My white privilege means that I can’t blame any other race for the decisions I make. It means that there will be no federal auditors to make sure that no matter how mediocre my performance, I will be guaranteed a position to fulfill a quota. It means that celebrating diversity means excluding people that look like me." . . .

Accusations of bigotry shut down all honest commentary.  . . . "Very often, when liberals are questioned, they term the challenger a bigot.  That not only silences the challenger, but all supporters of the challenger and any other potential challengers.  Thus, we have the likes of John Kasich and Mitt Romney, who do not dare contest any such abhorrent utterances.  In fact, they seek validation of liberals by attacking their own.  The reason Trump won in 2016 was owing to his fearlessness in taking the fight to the opposition.  Luckily for his voters, he hasn't changed an iota after being elected to office.

"The robust economy, the defeat of ISIS in the Middle East, and a focus on curbing illegal immigration will help President Trump get re-elected.  But it is this ethical act of challenging blatant immorality on this occasion and several others that is the reason why he has an unbreakable bond with his supporters."

Facebook Labels St. Augustine Quote as ‘Hate Speech’

Legal Insurrection

"Facebook is going overboard in an attempt to make sure nobody gets their feelings hurt on the platform.

"Pro-life activist Domenico Bettinelli claimed that Facebook deleted a quote from St. Augustine because it violated the platform’s Community Standards on hate speech.

"From The Catholic Herold:

"The quote says:

“Let us never assume that if we live good lives we will be without sin; our lives should be praised only when we continue to beg for pardon. But men are hopeless creatures, and the less they concentrate on their own sins, the more interested they become in the sins of others. They seek to criticize, not to correct. Unable to excuse themselves, they are ready to accuse others.”

"In a post on Facebook, Bettinelli said the quote “is just a reformulation of Jesus’ own words from Matthew 7:3 “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?” Is the Gospel hate speech by Facebook’s standards?”

"Bettinelli posted the quote after he saw that two priests had posted the excerpt from the Office of Readings and that it had been flagged by Facebook. They believed that an algorithm was flagging the content.

"After his post was also removed, Bettinelli requested a human review appealing the decision and later received notice that his appeal was rejected.

"HOW is that quote hate speech? Bettinelli refused to accept Facebook’s explanation:

"In his response to the failed appeal, Bettinelli wrote: “I still don’t understand why this is hate speech. It’s a quote from a Catholic saint who expresses the opposite of hate speech. He is essentially restating the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospels to stop worrying about what the other guy is or isn’t doing and worry about your own flaws. Is Facebook saying that the Gospel is hate speech? But what’s worse is that I have no more understanding now of what is a violation of your community standards than I did before. I cannot for the life of me figure out why you label this hate speech.”. . .  

Omar goes silent on condemning al-Qaeda, Antifa

The bottom line here is that it ought to be easy for any congresswoman to condemn any violent terrorist attack, whether by Antifa or al-Qaeda, particularly as a representative of rule of law.  Omar and her squad colleagues can't bring themselves to do it.  Apparently, no terrorist group quite outrages them enough to make them condemn terrorism, even if, incredibly, it would shut President Trump up.

Tony Branco

Monica Showalter  . . . "According to the Washington Examiner:

Rep. Ilhan Omar responded with silence to a reporter asking her if she condemned the Saturday attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Tacoma, Washington, by an anti-fascist.

"Will you condemn the antifa attack in Washington over the weekend?" The Rebel reporter Keean Bexte asked Omar as she left a Monday press conference with fellow Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

"It's easy to condemn terrorism. Will you condemn it?" Bexte asked when Omar doesn't respond. "Antifa firebombed a facility in Tacoma over the weekend — it's an ICE facility — will you condemn them for that?"

Omar continued to ignore Bexte as he questioned whether Omar thought it was "laudable" to bomb an ICE facility if they are indeed concentration camps, as some have claimed.

"In what must have been the same day, she also went mute when given a chance to condemn al-Qaeda:" . . .