Anti-Trump crusader dishonestly reports anti-Semitic 'scoop' and runs young Trump appointee out of his job

Regardless of what happens, an incident like this is certain to sour the public just a little bit more on the press with all its double standards (hellooo, Ilhan Omar!) — and throw fuel to the already growing public support for the backatcha doxxing of journalists as righteous payback.

Monica Showalter  "There's nothing like the power of dishonest journalism, and don't think the mass media don't know it.

"One of the people Ben Rhodes probably meant when he spoke of 27-year-olds "who know nothing," named Ben Penn over at Bloomberg, has come up with a dishonest story claiming to prove that a young Trump official named Leif Olson at the U.S. Department of Labor is an anti-Semite.  His big scoop (Penn's word, not mine) concerned some doxx-style digging of his on (or maybe an activist tip against) the low-level staffer, followed by an irony-

Babylon Bee

challenged claim that a Facebook post the young man made was his presented evidence of anti-Semitism.  It wasn't true — it actually was the opposite of true — and wiser heads pointed it out.  But Olson nevertheless resigned.

"Philip Klein at the Washington Examiner wrote a column exposing just how disgusting the whole story was, noting:

. . . And yet Bloomberg used this to tear him down. Ted Frank, a lawyer and friend of Olson (who happens to be Jewish), has a Twitter thread on this disgrace. Frank also notes that "a good man who just moved his family from Texas to engage in public service has his life disrupted." Even liberal Jonathan Chait, no fan of the Trump administration, acknowledged this was "terribly unfair."

"Has that served to chastise Ben Rhodes's finest?

"Not in the least.  He's doubling down to defend his dishonest story because he's happy he got his scalp:" . . .

. . . Mollie Hemingway pointed out that Penn has a pattern of this kind of obsession.

After that, Penn played the victim:

Mollie‏Verified account @MZHemingway

More

Mollie Retweeted Janet Jackson

Bloomberg's Ben Penn @benjaminpenn has a history of public bigotry against supporters of religious liberty, which he keeps framing falsely as nefarious. He also was upset that Olson supports the First Amendment's religious liberty protections. This is an interesting pattern.

. . . "Along with Klein, Mollie Hemingway wrote a piece blasting the travesty.  So did Rod Dreher, calling it "a revolting smear" and noting its resemblance to communism.  So did the Tablet's Yair Rosenberg.  Update: So did National Review's Michael Brendan Dougherty, calling it "bad faith."  So did Will Chamberlain at Human Events.  So did, hold your socks...Vox of all places.  And get ready to lose your wig: Matthew Gertz at Media Matters.

To cave on this slimy effort to slime an innocent man is very un-Trumpian behavior, raising questions about the competence of the Labor Department's bosses who caved so quickly.

Whoopi Goldberg warns Debra Messing about those 'lists' targeting Trumpers

Goldberg can be pretty impressive when she wants to be. Pity she's not leading the Democrats instead of the hydra-headed monster the Democrats and their broader left have become. She's kind of the grand lizardlike old Yoda they really need.

Debra Messing

Dianny of Patriot Retort

Monica Showalter  "Making herself the left's voice of reason, and not for the first time, Whoopi Goldberg has stepped in once more to try to end another leftist meltdown. The academy award-winning actress on Tuesday warned Hollywood T.V. star Debra Messing that her call to create Joe McCarthy-style lists of campaign donors was bound to backfire. Messing, as I noted here, was out crazy-tweeting a few days ago about the need to doxx Republicans who support Trump in a bid to target President Trump as he gets ready to attend a fundraiser in Beverly Hills on Sept. 17.

"Goldberg had a response to that, according to a report in Mediaite:

“This is not a good idea, okay?” Goldberg said. “Your idea of who you don’t want to work with is your personal business. Do not encourage people to print out lists because the next list that comes out, your name will be on, and then people will be coming after you!”

"No sheet Sherlock, to speak the Whoopi-ese. She continued:

“We had something called a blacklist, and a lot of really good people were accused of stuff. Nobody cared whether it was true or not. They were accused. And they lost their right to work. … In this country, people can vote for who they want to. That is one of the great rights of this country. You don’t have to like it, but we don’t go after people because we don’t like who they voted for. We don’t go after them that way. We can talk about issues and stuff, but we don’t print out lists. I’m sure you guys misspoke when you said that because it sounded like a good idea. Think about it. Read about it. Remember what the blacklist actually meant to people and don’t encourage anyone, anyone, to do it.” 

. . . Full article

Seinfeld Star Rips ‘Will & Grace’ Actors for ‘Embarrassing’ Actions Against Trump Supporters  As Mr. Peterman would have said, "That would be grounds for dismissal".

Biden Claims He Was There 3,000 Years Ago When Isildur Took The Ring And The Strength Of Men Failed

Babylon Bee (You did catch that this is from the Bee, didn't you? The Babylon Bee; BABYLON BEE. The conservative CNN you know)

"HANOVER, NH—At a New Hampshire campaign stop, presidential candidate Joe Biden claimed he was at Mount Doom 3,000 years ago when Isildur decided to take the Ring instead of destroying it.

" 'I was there," he said, his voice trailing off as some long-forgotten memory flashed before his eyes. "I was there 3,000 years ago... when Isildur took the Ring. I was there the day the strength of men failed." Biden said that "the time of white men is over" and that "the time for us to listen to minority voices instead has come," though he was quick to clarify that he should still be the one to wield the Ring of Power.

"Biden seemed not to have a very strong recollection of the events, however, claiming that Harry Potter then flew in on a broom and took the ring in order to drop it in an exhaust port on the Death Star to stop the Borg.

" 'I remember it like it was last summer," he said wistfully. "The summer of '69.' "

Would a spineless beta president be what we need in dealing with forces that hate our country?

Do we really need another national leader like this?

The former mayor Mike Bloomberg says he decided not to run for president, in part, because he would have had to apologize for “being male, over 50, white.”  . . . “ 'It’s just not going to happen on a national level for somebody like me, starting where I am, unless I was willing to change all my views and go on what CNN called ‘an apology tour,’” he said, referencing some of his would-be opponents. “Joe Biden went out and apologized for being male, over 50, white. He apologized for the one piece of legislation which is actually a pretty good anti-crime bill, which if the liberals ever read it, most of the things they like is in that bill,” he said. “They should have loved that. But they didn’t even bother to read it. You’re anti-crime, you must be anti-populist.”

"The trend, he added, is not confined to Biden. “Beto, whatever his name is, he’s apologized for being born,” Bloomberg said to laughter from the audience." . . .

Beto Apologizes For Being White & Male After The Woke Trash Him Over A Joke About His Wife  . . . "The woke are watching, and they’re in a mood. Just ask Debra Messing: She recently rankled their ranks by claiming women have vaginas (here). They’re a freight train of justice, and don’t mess with their toot toot.

"Subsequently, Beto’s far too cool to be cool with his coffee house cut-up of gross misogyny and…racism(?).

"On the Political Party LIVE podcast just two days after announcing his 2020 presidential candidacy, he got right with it, apologizing for his masculine shame and systemically racist white disposition:

“Not only will I not say that again, but I’ll be more thoughtful going forward in the way that I talk about our marriage.”

"Additionally, he promised to be more mindful in the way…let’s see…what was it again?

“…the way in which I acknowledge the truth of the criticism that I have enjoyed white privilege.”

"Oh yeah. That." . . .

Morning Joe To Beto O’Rourke: Stop Apologizing For Being White — And For Everything Else  . . . "I made the same point as Scarborough last night about the sorry spectacle of O’Rourke’s apology tour. Which voters are supposedly being won over by endless professions of regret about his white, male, cishet, rich-guy “privilege”? To anyone who views that privilege as a major problem, Beto’s contrition won’t be enough to appease them." . . .

Rosanna Arquette shouldn't apologize for being white  . . . "Does a privileged background make a person guilty of anything? If so, then all Americans are guilty, when compared to the other 6 billion people on this planet. But this too is silly nonsense. Our background is our background. It carries no moral stigma nor does it carry a badge of honor." . . . 

As expected, the UK Daily Mail offers much on this same subject.

. . . " 'Do not apologize for being on Vanity Fair. Own it. Do not apologize for having a very rich father-in-law. Own it,' Scarborough continued. 'Do not apologize for being white, do not apologize for being privileged, do not apologize for being a man. And also, Beto, do not apologize for getting great press coverage, because what you want is great press coverage.'

"The Democratic candidate appeared on The View Tuesday and told the roundtable that he regretted launching his campaign in April on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine." . . .

Beto Complains About His ‘Privilege,’ Agrees Vanity Fair Cover was ‘Elitist’

"Oh for the love of everything in this world. Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Robert O’Rourke put his tail between his legs and became a beta male on the set of The View as a way to relaunch his campaign.

"How? Just that horrible white male guilt that every white male has to feel because feelings. Instead of giving credit to hard work for where he is now, he “acknowledged that his background and position of white male privilege has helped him advance in his career.”

. . . "Leftist co-host Joy Behar asked O’Rourke if his Vanity Fair cover came off as “elitist,” even though I’m pretty sure President Barack Obama had his face plastered all over magazines in 2008 and 2012."
. . . "Something tells me this will not help O’Rourke “relaunch” his campaign. I do not know about you, but I do not want a spineless male or female to lead this country."

You left WHAT in San Francisco?

Trey Gowdy is Responding to James Comey's Demands For an Apology

Katie Pavlich  "Last week Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz released an 83-page long report confirming fired FBI Director James Comey repeatedly violated FBI rules, protocol and the law by leaking official memos to the media. The memos contained details about his conversations with President Trump. 

" 'In a country built on the rule of law, it is of utmost importance that all FBI employees adhere to Department and FBI policies, particularly when confronted by what appear to be extraordinary circumstances or compelling personal convictions. Comey had several other lawful options available to him to advocate for the appointment of a Special Counsel, which he told us was his goal in making the disclosure. What was not permitted was the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive investigative information, obtained during the course of FBI employment, in order to achieve a personally desired outcome," the IG report states. 

"Despite these facts, Comey demanded an apology from those who accused him of being a leaker.
. . .

 "Now, former House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy is responding to Comey's demands and isn't mincing words. "I never said Comey would or should go to jail. I'm certainly not going to apologize to anyone who violated FBI and Department of Justice policy, who violated an employment agreement, who shared sensitive information about an ongoing investigation, who sent classified information to an unauthorized person and then had amnesia when the FBI came to his home to try to retrieve government property. I'm not going to apologize," Gowdy said during an interview on Fox News. "What temperature is it in hell right now? Is it snowing? When it snows in hell, you let me know." . . .

Memo to Joe Walsh: Primary Challengers Never Win, And Neither Does Their Party

Issues & Insights "Any Republican supporting a primary challenge against President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020, if it is successful or even if it just hampers the primary process, is virtually guaranteeing the next president will be a Democrat.

Joe Walsh, friend of the Democrats

"And with it, Democrats will once again have all the trappings of the presidency, including nominating the next Supreme Court justices, signing laws and conducting foreign relations.

"In modern U.S. history of presidential elections since the nation’s first political primaries in 1912, no sitting president has ever been denied his party’s nomination at a nominating convention whilst standing for reelection. 2020 will be no different, wherein the Republican nominee for president will almost certainly be Donald Trump once again.

"Here’s another feature of those contests: Every single one of the one-term presidents of the 20th Century — William Howard Taft in 1912, Herbert Hoover in 1932, Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1992 — all faced strong primary challenges.

"Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson both withdrew their candidacies from the elections of 1952 and 1968 respectively in the face of a strong primary challengers. Truman lostthe 1952 New Hampshire primary and Johnson barely won the 1968 New Hampshire primary. One can quibble about whether these count as being ousted or not but they were not on the ballots at the conventions because they were not contesting the conventions at that point. They forfeited. Both conventions ended up being brokered, with none of the prime vote getters in the primaries obtaining the nomination.

How to Spot a Serious Gun-Crime Proposal

National Review

There is not much cause for a panicked crackdown on the legal sale of firearms through firearms dealers. But demagogues benefit from panic.

"There was another massacre, this one in Midland and Odessa, Texas. As usual, tragedy was followed by stupidity. 

"The New York Times, in its poetical mode, observed that the crime “clashed with the typically serene and dusty rural landscape of the region.” In reality, Odessa is the most dangerous city in Texas, with a murder rate about twice the national average. So much for “serene.” It is not particularly rural, either, though you pass through a good deal of rurality on the way there: Midland and Odessa effectively run together to form a city about the size of Madison, Wis., or Buffalo, N.Y. So much for “rural.” 

"It is dusty. 

"The killer was — see if this sounds familiar — well known to police, and well known to his neighbors as a raving lunatic who lived in a commercial shed without running water and at night fired his rifle into the darkness. 

"The usual ghouls were on their usual soapboxes before the blood had even dried. “Background checks!” they cried. Federal authorities then revealed that the killer already had been denied during an earlier attempt to purchase a firearm; our background-check system works when we work it. Which we do not always do: Sometimes, sales are approved when they should not be, as the result of delays in the background-check system; when the authorities become aware that such a sale has been wrongly approved, they make no effort at all to recover the firearms. It just is not done. Why? Bureaucratic inertia. 

"After the Midland-Odessa shootings, Joe Biden brought to bear his trademark alloy of dishonesty, sanctimony, and stupidity, insisting that only scheming special-interest groups had prevented us from taking the obvious measure of banning “magazines that can hold multiple bullets” — which is to say, magazines, categorically, inasmuch as holding multiple bullets is what magazines do. A proposal such as Biden suggests would mean an effective ban on nearly all modern handguns and most rifles, along with a goodly portion of shotguns."  . . .

Demagogues love nothing better than a population that is ignorant and terrified, one that needs only someone to blame. Joe Biden, in his nearly pristine ignorance, is ready to supply whatever — whomever — suits on that front. Most Democrats and some Republicans are ready to go along with him. 

Seinfeld Star Rips ‘Will & Grace’ Actors for ‘Embarrassing’ Actions Against Trump Supporters

The Seinfeld star said that he found the entire notion that Hollywood can not accept a difference of opinion, as demonstrated by McCormack and Messing’s temper tantrum, to be “obscene.”

The Political Insider  "John O’Hurley, an actor best known for his role as Elaine Benes’ eccentric boss J. Peterman on the legendary NBC sitcom “Seinfeld,” tore into a pair of ‘Will & Grace’ actors calling for Trump supporters to be shunned and doxxed.

Eric McCormack, a Canadian actor who played the character Will Truman, called for a boycott of Trump supporters in Hollywood while Debra Messing, who played Grace Adler in the same series, called for donors to the President to be outed.

“ 'Please print a list of all attendees please,” Messing wrote in response to a Hollywood Reporter story on a Beverly Hills fundraiser for the President. “The public has a right to know.”

"That was shortly after McCormack demanded, “Hey, [Hollywood Reporter], kindly report on everyone attending this event, so the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t wanna work with.”

"O’Hurley praised both McCormack and Messing as actors before shredding their actions as “lunacy” and revealing he felt “embarrassed” by what they had done.

. . . 

“Let me just say I’m embarrassed for both of them because I know them both, I’ve worked with Debra before,” O’Hurley explained. “They’re both smart people … they do wonderful work.”

“But, they’re pushing a case that falls apart from the sheer weight of its lunacy, as though the Hollywood community needs to be purged of this social and intellectual hygiene problem called conservative thinking,” he added."

. . . 

"O’Hurley, one of the few outspoken conservatives in Hollywood, says it’s frustrating to work in an industry where your opinions are shunned.

“ 'It’s very difficult to be a conservative in Hollywood,” he said. “Even though there are many of us, you do feel you are an island fighting the storm.”

"He did, however, point out other famous actors such as Bryan Cranston and Michael Richards, whom he says have differing viewpoints than he does, but enjoy an actual intellectual conversation debating the issues." . . .

On Beto's F-Bombs and Tyranny

One must fear those American voters who cannot recognize what a silly man O'Rourke is.

Townhall  On Saturday, the United States witnessed another public mass shooting event. Exactly four weeks after the attack in El Paso, this shooting was Texas’ second in the month of August. When police stopped a car between the cities of Odessa and Midland, the gunman reportedly began firing at random, killing at least seven people and wounding over 20, including a 17-month-old girl.
. . . 
Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas Congressman who is struggling to gain traction in the Democratic 2020 primary race, is one such politician. To demonstrate the depth of the emotion he shares with those mourning, he dropped the infamous “F-bomb” on two occasions while discussing the shooting.
. . . 
"As opportunistic politicians such as Beto O’Rourke stand on the graves of tragedy and applaud the notion of unleashing governmental control to destroy individual liberty, they are attempting to usher in such a tyranny. Tyranny which the Second Amendment was written to defend against. 
"We should mourn the tragic deaths in Texas together, but we must remain vigilant of those who hope to use our tears in their ultimate pursuit of power."

Are any Democrats at all embarrassed by Bobby (Beto) Francis O'Rourke? (Language advisory.)

Expect O'Rourke to drop a couple of F-bombs in the debates; it gets cheers from youthful voices. I see no sigh of Democrats being capable of shame or embarrassment over anyone. Not Beto nor Auntie Maxine. TD

"Swearing doesn't make you sound hip or passionate. It makes you sound like you're trying too hard to sound hip and passionate as you're exploiting the deaths of shooting victims, whose bodies are still warm, for political purposes." *

Desperate for Attention, Beto Drops 'F-Bombs' All Over the Place to Describe Shootings in Midland-Odessa

Maybe Beto is trying to sound "working class"  . . . But let's face it, Beto doesn't look or sound "working class." He looks and sounds like a nerdy folk singer -- which is exactly what he was.

Beto's toilet mouth
. . . "But one thing stands out that's getting even more tiresome than that: Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke's reflexive use of foul language in his public statements. Here is what he tweeted for all to see:" 

Beto O'Rourke‏Verified account @BetoORourke

We don't know how many have been killed. We don't know the motivation. But here's what we do know: This is fucked up.

 . . . "Then he went on to spew the F-word on national television:

"It's far from the first time he's done it. See here, here, here, and here.

"Way to expose the kids, Beto.

Now, there's no need to be a prude about the use of the f-word on all occasions. Sometimes the use of the f-word as an intensifier is acceptable, within certain well-defined contexts.

"If a first-responder in an emergency, for example, or a military man in combat, or a firefighter fighting a monster wildfire, or an airline pilot in distress, uses that word, nobody considers that a problem. If a thug or a rabid leftist uses it, it's not good, but it's perfectly par for the course because it's expected. If a computer hacker uses it, O.K., because some of those people talk like that all the time (and Beto is a hacker whose f-bombs were nothing compared to his hacker record as a repulsive poet). If a writer for The Atlantic or some other high-quality literary organ uses the word, fine, so long it's within a carefully chosen context of words and their rhythms, precisely and sparingly used. Sometimes even a politican can use it, if the intensifier is the only word for to describe the situation or perhaps the word is heard in a private context, such as here, but once again, very sparingly and exceptionally.

"But here we have a guy who's on the national stage, presenting himself as presidential material, openly and publicly and copiously using that word, his mouth going like an overflowing toilet.  . . ."

Beto is just a 4-letter word . . . "So Beto is down to using four-letter words to express his anger.  Watch for Beto to drop another one at the debate.  It's all that he has left in the tank!"

*Beto Campaign Exploits Mass Shooting By Selling Obscene T-Shirt
. . . "As PJMedia's managing editor Paula Bolyard noted, "Swearing doesn't make you sound hip or passionate. It makes you sound like you're trying too hard to sound hip and passionate as you're exploiting the deaths of shooting victims, whose bodies are still warm, for political purposes." Apparently Beto didn't get the message because his campaign is now selling shirts with "This is f**ked up" on them in response to the shooting." . . .

Democrats often attack Trump for not acting presidential enough, so it is curious that Beto is taking what could have simply been explained as a single passionate moment of anger and turning it into merchandising opportunity. 

Edgy Beto Now Selling F-Bomb T-Shirts, Fundraising Off of Shooting Victims
"The comment elicited applause and laughter [from Democrats], distasteful to say the least." . . .   More here,

Why Harris, Booker, and Klobuchar (nor hopefully any other Democrat) will never be President

But it is clear that not one of them feels any shame over their wholly unfair condemnation of Kavanaugh.  They are proud of their talent for the politics of personal destruction; Democrats invented it, perfected it.  People like Harris, Booker and Klobuchar have existed since the founding era and will always be with us, but they should be shunned for their amorality, their willingness to grind their opponents into dust.

Patricia McCarthy  "The calculated Russia hoax devised to bring down a presidential candidate, president-elect and then president, is the most serious and egregious political scandal in US history.  Second may be the Kavanaugh hearings.  So determined to not let Brett Kavanaugh be seated on the Supreme Court, the demented Left decided to invent an equally monstrous lie to prevent the confirmation of Trump's choice for the Justice to replace Anthony Kennedy. I think that every Democrat on that committee had to know that the accusations against Kavanaugh were false, that Blasey-Ford was a plant, a willing dupe in the Democrat scheme to destroy a good man for their political purposes.  The entire fiasco was so unspeakable that in a just world, all the perpetrators would be in prison for fraud, Diane Feinstein among them."
. . . 
. . . "There is little doubt that had Biden, Warren, O'Rourke, and the rest of the Democrat candidates been on that judiciary committee, they would have been equally vicious toward Kavanaugh.  They too would have relished devastating a good man for political purposes.  This emptiness of soul is why Harris, Booker and Klobuchar, will all lose.  They are a menace to America as is the rest of the left. "
Emphasis mine, TD

Ariel Dumas, a writer for CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” declared that “Whatever happens, I’m just glad we ruined Brett Kavanaugh’s life.”

HuffPost and Senior Reporter Sued Over Kavanaugh Story  . . . "Evans insists that there were no sources to support that story and that HuffPo’s conduct was so egregious that it satisfies the higher standard of New York Times v. Sullivan. That standard requires a showing of “actual malice,” or either knowledge that a representation is actually false or reckless disregard of the truth of the representation." . . .  Jonathan Turley