California Dems Show Us the Future. Run For Your Lives.

We're horrified by people who commit violence with firearms. They're horrified by people who haven't committed any violence and never will -- but who engage in speech displeasing to Democrats.

Ann Coulter   "In this column, I will prove that Democrats: 1) Don't care about "Russians," (Ukrainians?) or anyone else interfering with our democracy; and 2) they also don't give a crap about guns.
"Let's begin by looking at the Democrats' Platonic ideal of a democracy: California!
California is wholly controlled by the Democratic Party. The governor is a Democrat. The lieutenant governor is a Democrat. The attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer are Democrats. All these positions have been held by Democrats since the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger (who was a Democrat). The state Senate is just under two-thirds Democratic, while the assembly is more than two-thirds Democratic. Both U.S. senators are Democrats, as are 46 of 53 members of Congress.
"And what a paradise they've created! For the last several years, with a direct pipeline to the fifth-largest treasury on the planet, California has been waging war on decent people in favor of drug addicts, the mentally ill, criminals, the homeless and transgenders.
"Big political movements used to begin in California. Proposition 13's cap on property taxes led to President Ronald Reagan and a nationwide tax revolt. Proposition 209's ban on affirmative action was followed by Supreme Court rulings restricting the government's ability to discriminate on the basis of race. California's anti-crime rebellion, including a massive prison expansion and the voters' removal of liberal lunatic Rose Bird from the state's highest court, foreshadowed an anti-crime pushback across the country.
"These days, the only California-originated idea to sweep the nation is: banning plastic straws. The state is a calamity. Its optimism and vigor are gone. Instead of "The Golden State," California is now "The Human Excrement State."
"Let's just pray that California is no longer a window into our future." . . .

Bernie loves Ilhan and Ilhan loves Bernie

Where, exactly, is the “Western imperialism” in Omar’s story? It is a Communist cliche going back generations, used most often by the people who enslaved Eastern Europe and starved millions of Ukrainians to death while establishing a communist economic system there.

. . . "The Star Tribune covered the rally in anodyne fashion, focusing mostly on the horse race between Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. It reported none of Omar’s incendiary remarks–her views, like her various frauds and possible crimes, apparently being in the category of things voters are better off not knowing.

"I don’t know Omar personally, but if I did, I would like to sound her out further on the subject of “Western imperialism.” How, exactly, do her own experiences coincide with her Marxist world-view? Omar comes from Somalia, which is one of the worst places on Earth, in part because Western powers have left it alone. Its disintegration into tribal warfare is entirely self-induced. Her family fled Somalia for fear of being killed by members of rival clans, and lived for years in a refugee camp in Kenya. Who supported them in Kenya? The Western democracies, in large part. U.N. aid to refugees in Kenya runs to more than $200 million annually. In 1992, Omar came to the United States as a refugee and became a U.S. citizen at age 17." . . .

Ilhan Omar only got around to marrying husband Ahmed Hirsi last year, but yesterday she she was legally divorced from him.  . . . "Under the decree the parties go their separate ways with respect to their financial assets. Omar is the breadwinner and she’s got the money, honey. Earlier this year Omar received a substantial cash advance — Forbes pegs it in a range from $100,00 to $250,000, but I’m told it was $300,000 — for a book someone is writing on her behalf. Hirsi is broke. I have to think that there is a side agreement paying off Hirsi to assure his continuing silence. As the Star Tribune notes, “An attorney for Hirsi said he has no comment.' ” . . .

ABC News' spiking of Epstein story draws scrutiny toward Clinton ally George Stephanopoulos

Fox News  "The bombshell claim that ABC News "quashed" a story on allegations against Jeffrey Epstein has drawn new scrutiny on the controversy's ties to its own star anchor, George Stephanopoulos.
"Project Veritas, whose controversial founder, James O'Keefe, has described himself as a "guerrilla journalist," published the footage that featured ABC News anchor Amy Robach claiming the Disney-owned network refused to air an interview she conducted with one of Epstein’s accusers and even suggesting she'd uncovered new information about Epstein's ties to former President Bill Clinton as his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was running for president.
"I've had the story for three years... we would not put it on the air," Robach said on the hot mic. "It was unbelievable what we had, Clinton, we had everything." 
"Stephanopoulos, ABC News' chief anchor on "Good Morning America" and the Sunday program "This Week" who's overseen the network's political coverage, has had deep ties to the Clintons. Before he became the face of ABC News, he made a name for himself as a senior adviser to President Clinton back in the '90s. Ahead of the 2016 election, he pulled out of moderating debates after his $75,000 donation to the Clinton Foundation drew criticism."  . . .

Word that ABC News spiked a story on Jeffrey Epstein, left, shined a spotlight
on chief anchor George Stephanopoulos' ties to former President Clinton.

. . . "However, what's really raising eyebrows is a 2010 report of a party Stephanopoulos attended that Epstein had hosted. 
"Page Six reported that the convicted pedophile held an event in honor of Prince Andrew, who was one of the high-profile figures implicated in the scandal, in his New York City townhouse, and on the guestlist were several members of the media, including Stephanopoulos." . . .

Mexican cartel massacre: Suspect with 2 hostages, assault rifles, bulletproof SUV arrested in border town

Fox News  "A suspect was arrested near the Arizona border with Mexico in connection with the deaths of nine U.S. citizens - six children and three women – Monday who were living in a Mormon community about 70 miles south of Douglas, Ariz., investigators said early Wednesday.
"The victims’ convoy came under fire during the day in an ambush by gunmen believed to be affiliated with a drug cartel in Mexico." . . .

. . . "Officials have said that the gunmen may have mistaken the group's large SUVs for those of a rival gang amid a vicious turf war*
"Eight young children - including babies - survived the attack by hiding in the brush and even though they were wounded some walked miles to get help. Five badly wounded children were transported to hospitals in Arizona for treatment.
"A relative of 13-year-old Devin Blake Langford, who was uninjured in the attack, said he took charge of the group and ended up walking 14 miles for help." . . .


*Really? But what of this? One mother reportedly hid her baby inside her car before she got out with her arms raised and was killed by the cartel."

Big Daddy Baghdadi, a Hero to the Deep State, Is Dead at 48

The Shrug

Paul Dowling  " 'Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at the helm of Islamic State, dies at 48" —The Washington Post's second of three headlines announcing the death of a terrorist in terms befitting a hero, causing many to realize al-Baghdadi was a hero to the Deep State media complex." . . .

"Securing the ISIS Oil Fields

"Mark Esper, Trump's defense secretary, has said the securing of the ISIS oil fields is a top priority: "At the height of Baghdadi's reign, these oil fields provided ISIS with the bulk of financial resources used to fund its terror.  U.S. troops will remain positioned in this strategic area to deny ISIS access to those vital resources and we will respond with overwhelming military force against any group that threatens the safety of our forces there."  Loss of these oil funds, as a result of al-Baghdadi's death, potentially spells the doom of ISIS while, simultaneously, striking a disabling financial blow to the entire Deep State.

"Four-Dimensional Chess

"So, in taking out al-Baghdadi, has President Trump succeeded in beating the Deep State in a brilliant round of 4-D chess (where the human pieces are manipulated into moving themselves)?  While they were in the Middle East, were Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff maneuvered unawares into outing al-Baghdadi's position?  President Trump is not talking, but this much is known: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a hero to the Deep State, is dead at 48.

"Correction: Washington Post "austere religioius scholar" headline was not the first used by the newspaper, but the second."

Mexican blood is on liberal hands

Don Surber  . . . "Drug abusing Americans have turned Mexico into a narco-state. Last night, a drug cartel murdered nine Mormons in Mexico in an attack that should shame America's potheads, meth-heads, and coke users. The blood of the LeBaron family is on their hands." . .

. . . "The victims were members of La Mora, a decades-old settlement in Sonora state founded as part of an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about 70 miles south of Douglas, Arizona.
"The mothers were driving from Bavispe to a wedding in LaBaron, a community in the state of Chihuahua, when their three vehicles loaded with children were hit by gunfire. One of the vehicles exploded in flames.
"All of the victims were apparently related to the extended LeBaron family in Chihuahua, whose members have run afoul of the drug traffickers over the years. Benjamin LeBaron, an anti-crime activist who founded neighborhood patrols against cartels, was killed in 2009 in a watershed moment in Mexico's drug war.
"The attack happened Monday near Rancho La Mora on the border between Sonora and Chihuahua in a remote, mountainous area where the Sinaloa cartel has been engaged in a turf war with another gang. The ambush scene stretched for miles." . . .
. . . "Eight children were found alive after escaping from the vehicles and hiding in the brush; several had bullet wounds or other injuries.
"Staddon said her brother discovered the smoldering, bullet-ridden vehicle.
" 'It's devastating," she said. "It's incomprehensible, the evil. I don’t understand how someone could do that." 
"Another relative, Julián LeBaron, identified one of the victims on his Facebook page as Rhonita María LeBaron.
"Staddon gave her name as Rhonita Miller, 33. She said Miller's four children who died inside the car were ages 8, 10 and 4-month-old twins, a boy and a girl." . . .
Suspected drug cartel gunmen kill nine members of a family in ambush in Mexico

. . . There is more to the story that will unfold over the next few days. "But people breaking the law to get high are the silent partners in this evil. It is satanic and it has been for decades. Some of the same people who decried "separating" families use the illegal drugs that paid for the bullets that killed the LeBaron family."  Don Surber

Retired Army Officer Remembers Lt. Col. Vindman as Partisan Democrat Who Ridiculed America

The bottom-line is LTC Vindman was a partisan Democrat at least as far back as [2013]. So much so, junior officers & soldiers felt uncomfortable around him. This is not your professional, field-grade officer, who has the character & integrity to do the right thing. Do not let the uniform fool you…he is a political activist in uniform. I pray our nation will drop this hate, vitriol & division, & unite as our founding fathers intended!

Lt. Colonel Jim Hickman 

American Greatness  . . . "Hickman said he decided to come forward because Vindman “disobeyed a direct order from the commander-in-chief, his boss,” made his testimony “about his foreign policy opinions versus facts,” and “wore his Army service uniform to make a political statement” against the president.
“Then right on cue, the mainstream media began calling him a war hero with a purple heart, and completely beyond reproach,” Hickman wrote in a statement to American Greatness and another journalist. “Knowing his political bias, backed by his somewhat radical left-leaning ideology, it was my obligation, indeed my duty, to come forward with this information. I couldn’t go to the same mainstream media to put it out, nor could I go to the Army, as they’re backing Vindman, so I took to Twitter, a source for getting the truth out,” he added.
"According to Hickman, Vindman was the Defense Department attaché at the Russian embassy in Germany when he met him in 2013. He told American Greatness that he also met Vindman’s twin brother Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman while he was stationed in Germany." . . .

Dems’ ‘Star Witness’ Never Had Direct Contact with Trump, Had ‘Concerns’ About Ukraine Phone Call  . . . "The Federalist’s Sean Davis suggested in a tweet that Vindman may have maliciously leaked details about the Trump-Zelensky phone call to help spark the “inquiry.' ” . . .

Rocket ship Beto flames out upon leaving the pad

Beto, the biggest one-hit wonder since Question Mark & The Mysterians

. . . "Why did Beto fail so miserably?
"First, Beto really fell for the idea that the 2018 election was about him rather than a massive effort to defeat Senator Ted Cruz.
"Second, and as they say in show business, Beto really believed his own press clippings.  He bought the whole idea, especially the nonsense about the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy look.
"Third, he chose to run to the left of everybody on the stage.  It was a strategic mistake because the party is looking for someone closer to the middle.
"Finally, Beto did not stand for anything specific except confiscating AR-15s.  His agenda was a medley of ideas generated by others, and his goals were lofty nonsense.  Beto's exploitation of the El Paso shooting was obscene.
"O'Rourke got away with it in 2018 because he "skateboarded" from rally to rally.
"He was never forced to explain to Hispanic audiences his position on abortion after 20 weeks.
"Beto also never got a question about how President Trump's tax plan benefited his wealthy father-in-law.  Beto called it a gift to the rich but was never asked if that included his wife's family." . . .
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Ian Macfarlane

O’Keefe Strikes Again! Anchor Admits ABC News Spiked Clinton-Epstein Story

Rush Limbaugh  "RUSH: I haven’t had a chance to get to it yet, but Project Veritas uncovered secret video of Amy Robach at ABC News. Three years ago, she had the goods on Epstein. She had the goods on Epstein and Clinton, and ABC spiked the story, and she was frustrated as all hell.

"They wouldn’t run the story because it was Epstein and Clinton. So they run that story at Project Veritas, and she responds to it, and they’re trying to backtrack.

“ 'Well, we were just being extremely careful.” So the point is, they didn’t wait for one shred of evidence on Kavanaugh, and they were in trying to wipe him out. Meanwhile, they had the evidence and the goods on Epstein and the fact that Clinton was one of his frequent travelers, and they spiked it at ABC News."

"Jeffrey Epstein, we’re talking about here. The pedophile. Is gonna go down in history as perhaps the biggest pedophile in American history, before it’s all said and done."

ABC’s Excuse for Failing to Report on Jeffrey Epstein Makes Absolutely No Sense . . . "Robach now claims, through a network statement, that she was caught “in a private moment” of frustration over the lack of progress on a story. “I was upset that an important interview I had conducted with Virginia Roberts didn’t air because I could not obtain sufficient corroborating evidence to meet ABC’s editorial standards about her allegations.”
"Sorry, but Robach’s response to the firestorm doesn’t square with her initial comments, in which she states that “Roberts had pictures, she had everything . . . it was unbelievable what we had. [Bill] Clinton, we had everything.”
“ 'Everything” sure sounds like sufficient corroborating evidence. Even if employing the most scrupulous journalistic standards, a giant news organization wouldn’t need three years to substantiate — or dismiss — a story with pictures, dates, and a credible witness.
"We certainly know that ABC didn’t need “everything” — or much of anything, for that matter – when it was running scores of pieces online and on television, highlighting every risible accusation against then–Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh." . . .

‘We Had Everything’: ABC News Host Caught on Hot Mic Venting About Spiked Epstein Story . . . " Robach may be one of the first journalists to suggest on video that “Epstein didn’t kill himself.”

“So do I think he was killed? 100 percent, yes, I do…He made his whole living blackmailing people… Yup, there were a lot of men in those planes. A lot of men who visited that Island, a lot of powerful men who came into that apartment,” she said of the suspected pedophile’s death on August 10.
“And they made it sound like he made that ‘suicide attempt’ two weeks earlier but his lawyers claimed he was roughed up by his cellmate around the neck. That was all like—to plant the seed,” Robach added. “That’s why I really believe it.”
"She went on to say that Epstein’s madam, Ghislaine Maxwell should be very careful because she could be next." . . .

ABC News Ridiculed Over It's 'Journalistic Standards' Excuse For Covering Up Epstein Crimes

It was unbelievable what we had, Clinton, we had everything. I tried for three years to get it on to no avail, and now it’s all coming out and it’s like these new revelations and I freaking had all of it. I I’m so pissed right now. Like, every day I get more and more pissed because I’m just like, ‘Oh my God!’ We — it was on what — what we had was unreal.”

Does Catherine Herridge Leaving for CBS News Portend a Left Turn for Fox News?

Peter Barry Chowka  

. . . "It’s now thirteen years later, and Herridge has two teenage children including a son, now thirteen, who at one time was gravely ill. Her schedule at Fox News recently has been grueling, including not only on camera news reports during the day but live appearances well into the evening hours on prime-time opinion programs like Hannity, Tucker Carlson Tonight, and the Ingraham Angle. One possible explanation for her leaving Fox News is that a less-demanding job at CBS News – which like the other alphabet channels rarely covers breaking news anymore – will afford her a more flexible and less demanding work schedule.

"People outside of the breaking news business often fail to realize the exhausting nature of reporting the news today – really reporting, that is, which has been Herridge’s stock in trade. This is why most of the reporters you see on the cable television news channels are young, and not only for their youthful good looks; it tends to be a young person’s game.

"So, it’s entirely plausible that Catherine Herridge, after almost four decades in the trenches reporting breaking news, has reached a point in her career of wanting to wind it down a notch or two. One is hard pressed in these times to maintain one’s job on the day-to-day, crazy news cycle schedule forever. And not only that. As essentially a mainstream, non-ideological news person, Herridge might understandably at this point be looking to spend the next few years in a media environment that is perceived as less controversial and ideologically-driven. The facts, of course, are that Fox News is, in fact, the most fair and balanced mainstream news media source but that is far from the almost universally skewed perception of it in major media and academic circles.

"A tenure at CBS News, which is part of what used to be called the “Tiffany Network,” will likely burnish or restore Herridge’s reputation as a mainstream reporter of the top tier, positioning her for a rewarding post-broadcast future in academia, writing, public speaking, or serving on corporate boards.

"CBS News No Longer Murrow’s and Cronkite’s Boys’ Club

"The long-running era of CBS News as the stomping ground for Edward R. “Murrow’s Boys” and their decades of male successors, including in top management positions, is no more.

"A more hospitable and welcoming environment for a female news person than CBS News would be hard to find today. Under its current management, CBS News has become an especially friendly shop for women. " . . .

She's running: Hillary Clinton finally notices the electoral college matters

Monica Showalter  "After years of deriding the electoral college and touting her own success in winning the popular vote, Hillary Clinton is talking another story.

"According to a report in The Hill:

Hillary Clinton on Monday urged Democrats to choose a nominee who can win the Electoral College in 2020.

 "We have to hope that whoever ends up nominated can win the Electoral College," she said at a discussion of her book, "The Book of Gutsy Women," in Denver.

 "I think several of our candidates could win the popular vote but as I know ... that's not enough," added the 2016 Democratic nominee. 

 "I don't think we have a choice; we have to win" in 2020, she said, speaking alongside her daughter and co-author Chelsea Clinton at a sold-out event. 

"That intense focus on doing what it takes to actually win an election, instead of just count on solid-blue cities and states to carry the tally and yell victory, which she did earlier, insisting the whole thing was proof she really won the 2016 election, does signal some kind of change in thinking. As recently as Halloween, she was touting the importance of the popular vote. Something happened in the last five days while she's been out on book tour, touting some dreary book called "Gutsy Women about the importance of being left wing seems to have seeped into her frame of mind.

"Might it be that Joe Biden is flailing in the general election, the ooze of corruption from his son Hunter's doings, seeping closer and closer to Biden's own podium? Might it be that Wall Street is giving a Bronx cheer to the Democrats' reportedly best hope, Elizabeth Warren? Hillary Clinton never had problems shaking down that crowd. Might it be the spirited rallies and extreme enthusiasm seen at Trump rallies, way out in the deplorable flyover country, that place Clinton has long derided as not quite as good as her beloved blue cities? Most every hard-nosed observer of the political scene thinks Trump can beat every face on the Democrats' remaining roster. It could explain her sudden awakening to the importance, if not value, of the electoral college. 

"In any case, as her convenient book tour goes on, it appears she's getting warmer to the idea of running for president again. She's obviously convinced she could do it because she's now looking at practical ways of winning, the ones she ignored back when she was refusing to go to Wisconsin. Townhall has a pretty good writeup with some choice tweets here.

"She's running. Ready for Hillary, again?"

Clinton Unites Democrats — Against Her  . . . "Hillary Clinton keeps flirting with running for president again, and the Democrat Party keeps rejecting her advances. You cannot blame Democrats for dismissing a candidacy the only rationale for which is hubris. And you cannot blame Republicans for desiring a candidacy that would take Democrats’ current chaos to another level.
"Welcome to the Clinton conundrum. On one hand, Hillary’s ominous omnipresence would signal an impending run if she were anyone else. On the other, Hillary’s two national election losses would signal a permanent retirement if she were anyone else.
"As they have been for almost three decades, Democrats are still trying to solve the Clinton riddle. Currently, they have their hands full with a fractured field that refuses to yield clarity. Four months in, and no closer to choosing next year’s nominee, the nominee from three years ago resurfaces." . . .

How Big-Government Regulation Contributed to California's Wildfires

American Thinker  . . . "If, according to the proponents of big government at the Sacramento Bee, a random explosion at a fertilizer plant in West must signify the failures of small-government policies and low regulation, why do the persistent catastrophic wildfires in California's forests not represent the failures of comparably big-government regulation?
"In truth, there was nothing, then or now, to suggest that more regulations upon industry at the federal or state level might have prevented the calamity in West.  It was, in fact, later determined to have been caused by a criminal act, therefore it was a horrifying anomaly.  There is, however, plenty to suggest that the irresponsibility of bloated federal and state government bureaucracies' impositions of regulations has led to the destructive extent of the wildfires in California.
"Fires are nothing new in California, and there's something of an interesting history to them that used to not be nearly as tragic as we see today.  Chuck DeVore, vice president of national initiatives at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, reminds his readers at Forbes that as "a citizen soldier in the California National Guard for two decades, I often heard the gallows humor that California's four seasons were: flood, fire, earthquake, and riot."
"DeVore takes to task the editorial board at the Sacramento Bee for their commentary around the Carr Fire of 2018, in which they suggested that the recent fires are the result of "climate change, for real and in real time." . . .

"Excused from this conversation? Who the heck talks like that?"
         Gavin Newsom

You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation. https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1190995034163892226 …

. . . "What the reply served to tell Trump was that Newsom wasn't prepared to defend his bad policy positions, probably because he was still feeling the voter heat. Instead of defend himself, he told Trump to shut up. He apparently knew that anything of substance that he might say would be held against him by the state's angry voters. If he tried to blather on about global warming while his constituents' houses were burning, he'd be in a world of trouble." . . .