How Hollywood-style propaganda can wreck a country

Bob Weir  "People often ask, Why are Democrats and media so vicious toward President Trump if he's doing so much to improve our country?  After all, they reason, they're Americans, too, so what do they have to gain by trying to stop him?  That leads them to conclude that there must be something wrong with a person who is constantly criticized by a large segment of the body politic.  Therein lies the modus operandi that makes propaganda so useful in manipulating public opinion.  It's like the 4 Rs of institutional learning: repetition, reinforcement, retention, and recall.
. . . 

"Hollywood is arguably the most prolific propaganda machine on the planet.  That ultra-radical gang of drug-addled thespians has enormous influence over the culture because it can select scripts that impel moviegoers toward politically correct conclusions regarding any issue supported by the left.  Moreover, recognizing their ability to influence their audience, those who act for a living have now decided they are intelligent enough to comment on topics that have national and international implications.  We've all seen them standing at the podiums during award ceremonies as they accept the plaudits from their equally venal cohorts, just before sticking a knife in the back of the country that gives them the opportunity to live luxurious lives.

"When a dirtbag like De Niro steps up to the mic and says he'd like to punch Trump in the mouth, he's preaching to the choir in that ballroom filled with liberal elites, clapping like trained seals.  Sadly, he reminds me of the guy who's become so wrapped up in the roles he's played that he now believes he's the emperor, pacing the room with one hand inside his coat.  When British comedian Ricky Gervais admonished those phonies at the recent Golden Globes Awards show, some of the screen shots caught them wearing frowns and rolling their eyes at the audacity of someone exposing their rank hypocrisy." . . .

Trump Marches for Life

On the wall of the Jefferson Memorial are the words: “God who gave us life gave us liberty.” The two are inseparable. Slaves were once considered something less than human, as the unborn currently are. The Supreme Court, which gave us Roe V. Wade, once gave us the Dred Scott decision. A Trump court may soon correct another gross injustice.

Daniel John Sobieski  . . . "The media will no doubt minimize the crowd size and characterize it as part of a racist president’s war on women. Never mind that a disproportionate percentage of abortions are of black babies and that Planned Parenthood is responsible for more black deaths than the KKK. Never mind that the Democrats make war on unborn women in their mother’s womb. Equal rights for unborn women, anyone?

"Certainly House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is Catholic like Judas was an apostle, won’t go for that, and neither will her abortion-until-birth-and-even-after Democrats. "As LifeSiteNews reported during a recent abortion-funding battle:

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi blasted Catholics for fighting for the right not to perform or fund abortions, describing their abhorrence for supporting abortions as “this conscience thing,” in remarks to the Washington Post.      

Last month, during a debate in the House over a bill to stop abortion funding in the health care bill and to strengthen conscience rights on abortion, Pelosi had described the bill as “savage,” claiming that it would allow doctors to let women “die on the floor” because they could refuse to perform an abortion.

In her remarks to the Post, Pelosi, who says she is Catholic, defended her statements against the Protect Life Act. While some “may not like the language,’’ she said, “the truth is what I said.”

“They would” let women die on the floor, she said. “They would! Again, whatever their intention is, this is the effect.’’

“I’m a devout Catholic and I honor my faith and love it ... but they have this conscience thing [about abortion],” added Pelosi.

"Apparently this “conscience thing” may be invoked in the name of open borders, sanctuary cities, and states coddling murderers of American citizens, but not when you are someone who believes life begins at conception and ends at natural death and not at the point of an abortionist’s scalpel." . . .

Democrats will joyfully remind us that Trump was once pro-choice .

In Royal Family Drama, Harry and Meghan Look Worse and Worse

Let's see...the prince chooses an American, a Californian - from Hollywood, an actress as his wife; what could go wrong? TD

American Thinker  "As the drama of Harry and Meghan unfolds, it becomes ever clearer that Harry is a figure not of tragedy, but of self-interested hypocrisy.  The prince is not only dull, but the cause of dullness in others, more a figure of betrayal than of sacrifice.

"The psycho-drama of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is one of spoiled individuals shedding crocodile tears over their fate.  In his final speech on January 18, 2020 in London, Harry delivered what was in essence an address about himself, mentioning as always the impact of his mother Diana on him but never mentioning his father, Prince Charles, who has been financing him. 

"Eighty years ago, King Edward VIII explained his abdication by saying he could not be king without the support of the woman he loved.  In similar fashion, Prince Harry explained why he was "giving it up" for the woman he loved.  But unlike the consequent action of King Edward in leaving the country, it is not clear that Harry is as direct and straightforward.  Harry said, "What I want to make clear is we're not walking away.  We both do everything we can to fly the flag and carry out our roles for this country with pride.  The U.K. is my home and a place that I love.  That will never change."  However, he did walk away and immediately left for Vancouver Island, where Meghan is residing with son Archie, accompanied on the flight from London by at least three Met protection officers.

"Harry defended himself: "I haven't always gotten it right, but as far as this goes, there really was no other option."  But in fact there were a number of other options: at one extreme, fulfilling royal obligations in a life to which he was born, and at the other retiring completely from public life and becoming a private citizen.  His chosen option is to have his cake and eat it, retention of some privilege and continuation of financial support, at least from his father for at least a year, without fulfillment of official obligations or military duties.

"For her part, Meghan, still formally duchess of Sussex, issued a bizarre, curious statement, saying quitting the royal family was the best thing that could ever happen to Harry.  In the royal family, his spirit, and hers, was being crushed.  Her love for him made their new life possible." . . .

Liawatha: No Wampum Back for You

Warren Can't Answer A Father's Tough Questions About Her Student Loan Cancellation  . . . "Warren probably couldn't think of a lie fast enough, so instead, she just chuckled as the father tore into her. 

" 'Of course we [get screwed]," the father continued. "My buddy had fun, bought a car, went on vacations. I saved my money," the father said. "He made more than I did. But I worked a double shift, worked extra -- my daughter worked since she was 10. So, you're laughing.' " . . .

The American Catholic  "If Fauxcahontas is the Democrat nominee, the Trump campaign should run the above exchange non-stop in campaign videos.  This hits home.  My son, for example, recently finished paying his sizable student loans off in a two and a half year time period.  (It took my bride and I after we graduated 18 years to pay off our student loans, back when the law mines were newly opened and struggling.)  He did it by taking almost every dime paid to him by the law mines in salary and sending it off to his student loan servicer.  This took considerable fiscal discipline on his part.  I am currently paying our daughter’s student loans, as librarians are not noted for having large salaries.  I am happy to do this for her.  As I told her, I gave consideration to having a Viking Funeral with my money burning me into the next life, but I decided that might be a tad ostentatious.

"There are endless people across this great land of freedom who have made considerable sacrifices to pay their student loans and/or the loans of their kids.  I doubt if they will like to have Chief 1/1024 stamp Chump on their foreheads."

Interesting things are happening in Iran following Soleimani’s death

Andrea Widburg  When President Trump ordered the military to strike Qassem Soleimani, a legitimate military target responsible for the deaths of hundreds of troops, Democrats were up in arms. How dare Trump bait the Iranians by striking someone so close to Ayatollah Khamenei? They were certain that Trump had just ignited World War III.

"Republicans were more confident that the strike would, at the very least, remove a dangerous character from the Iranians' forty-year-long war against America and, at the best, topple the regime. This last belief was based upon the fact that the Iranian regime is fragile now that Trump walked away from Obama’s terrible Iran Plan and reinstated sanctions. The economy is collapsing and people all over Iran are coming out in protest. After forty years of a repressive theocracy, the Persian people, a people accustomed to beauty and life, have had their fill of Islam's cruel puritanism.

"Michael Ledeen, an experienced foreign policy observer, thinks that the Republicans may have been correct because there are strange doings in Iran – all good if one wants to see that abysmal regime collapse: . . .

Soleimani, despite being truly evil, was also a very gifted general. This means that the vacuum his death creates forces Iran to retrench, rather than continuing its push into the greater Middle East. This retrenchment matters because the Iranian people, according to Banafsheh Zand and Harold Rhode, two Iran experts, are very sensitive to trends. If they see that the Mullahs are weak, they will push harder against the regime: . . .

Trump team’s Iran strategy – Pompeo lays out ‘confront and contain’ vs underwrite and appease

"Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave new insight on Tuesday morning on what’s been sorely missing in the US-Iran confrontation: the US strategy.

“ 'We put Iran in a place it’s never been before,” Pompeo said.

The Obama administration chose to underwrite and appease. “We chose to confront and contain,” Pompeo said. What a contrast.

"Confront and contain. Seen in this light, the strike on Soleimani marks a new tactical step. Both the strike and the recent military deployments fit a much bigger, active U.S. strategy. That strategy is now using military forces to put the lid on Iran’s terror “Axis of Resistance” across the Middle East and to counter Iran’s escalations.

"The goal is to box in Iran. Striking Soleimani was a huge part of this move. Iran had trained between 75,000 and 145,000 Iraqi paramilitary forces for Soleimani to use at will. Removing Soleimani’s leadership sets back those plans.

"Pompeo’s remarks Tuesday further indicated the U.S. is willing to constrain Iran in other ways.

“ 'Iran will not get a nuclear weapon,” Pompeo pledged. …

"Pompeo also revealed that economic pressure is working. Iran has a bad budget shortfall and is struggling to figure out how to make it through 2020, according to Pompeo." . . .

Unhappy campers on the left want to put a stop to this and bring back an Obama foreign policy.

‘American Hero’: Hollywood Sold On ‘Rockstar’ Schiff’s Impeachment Screenplay

Gabriel Hays  "Impeachment circus ringleader Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) may find his Hollywood screenwriting aspirations fulfilled after all.

"Many of tinseltown’s leading players have been so enamored with Schiff’s fictional impeachment arguments in the Senate trial that they are calling him a “rockstar,” an “American Hero,” and the key man for such an “historic moment.”

"Rabid Bernie supporter and once-relevant actor John Cusack revealed he’d drank the entire kool-aid punch bowl, heaping lavish praise on Schiff for taking a stand against GOP corruption. He tweeted, “@RepAdamSchiff I applaud you - the tremor in your voice matches the historic moment your describing - he’s angry - and rightfully so - We need to make the gop afraid of us - they are trying to coronate a king while killing the rule of law.”

"He added, “go straight to hell gop.” Whatever, John. Maybe you should worry about the establishment Dems who want to tank your guy for a more electable candidate. By the way, put your money where your mouth is. Use some of your $50 million net worth to pay off some student loans.

"Pro-abort activist and Charmed actress Alyssa Milano couldn’t resist some emotional leftwing grandstanding. She provided a resounding declaration on how well Dem Impeachment managers are presenting the farce. She tweeted, “This trial is a ‘great’ campaign ad for the 2020 Democratic ticket. If the @SenateGOP were smart, they would allow evidence and witnesses. Trump’s defense team can’t compete with what’s going down on record.' ” . . .

Hypocritical ‘News’ Media Have Done a Complete Flip-Flop on Impeachment
. . . "Do we really need more witnesses?" . . .

FLASHBACK: Today’s Impeachment Cheerleaders Hated It Back in ’98

Texas women’s program lost funding for kicking out Planned Parenthood. The Trump administration just restored it.

The Statesman  "The Trump administration Wednesday restored federal funding to the state’s women’s health program. A previous version of the program lost the money seven years ago after Texas officials had excluded Planned Parenthood.
" The $350 million boost to Healthy Texas Women, which provides certain health services, including family planning to low-income women at no cost, will be distributed over five years. The Obama administration withheld funding in 2013.
"State officials had said taxpayer money shouldn’t go to abortion providers or affiliates. Planned Parenthood at the time was the largest provider of women’s health services in the program, and it did not provide abortions in the program.
"The program has relied on state money in the meantime. 
"Gov. Greg Abbott celebrated the restoration of the federal funding, which comes from Medicaid. 
“ 'The Lone Star State is once again in partnership with the federal government to provide meaningful family planning and health services while fostering a culture of life,” Abbott said in a statement. “I am grateful to President Trump and his administration for approving this waiver, and for his commitment to protecting the unborn while providing much-needed health resources to Texas women.”  . . .Keep Reading

On the Bidens, Schiff Opened the Door

Andrew C. McCarthy: If they have to testify, they have the Democrats’ chief impeachment manager to thank.

"You opened the door"
"Trial lawyers live in fear of that phrase.
"When a trial starts, both sides know what the allegations are. Both have had enough "discovery to know what the adversary will try to prove. Just as significantly, both know what their own vulnerabilities are. A litigator spends his pretrial time not just laying the groundwork for getting his own evidence admitted by the court; each side works just as hard on motions to exclude embarrassing or incriminating testimony — evidence that would be damaging to that side’s position but that a court may be persuaded to exclude because it is not clearly relevant.

Do you care to make a statement, Mr. Biden?

""For an advocate, it is a coup when the judge rules that harmful testimony is excluded. But such rulings always come with a warning label: Don’t open the door. That is, don’t do anything that makes the otherwise irrelevant evidence relevant."President Trump’s impeachment trial has a Biden door. Adam Schiff has thrown it wide open.
"Not content to quote from President Trump’s actual call with President Zelensky of Ukraine, Schiff insisted on presenting a “parody” that, he maintained, conveyed the unspoken essence of Trump’s message: “I want you make up dirt on my political opponent, understand? Lots of it.”
"In sum, the House’s chief prosecutor represented to the American people that President Trump had asked his Ukrainian counterpart to fabricate a false case against Biden. In any court in America, that would open the door to the Trump defense team to show that this was not the president’s intention at all; he was simply asking Zelensky to look into a situation that cried out for an inquiry." . . .  Full article here.
Toons added by TD

A Year Ago, the Media Mangled the Covington Catholic Story. What Happened Next Was Even Worse.

Reason, via The Volokh Conspiracy

Journalists and pundits who frantically doubled down on their initial bad takes deserve more criticism.

"On the weekend of January 18, 2019, a short video appeared on Twitter that purported to show a group of Catholic high school boys—one young man, Nicholas Sandmann, in particular—harassing a Native American elder named Nathan Phillips on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
"One year later, the media's reckless mishandling of the story stands as an important warning against the kind of agenda-driven, outrage-mongering clickbait that unfortunately thrives in the world of online journalism.
"But no less noteworthy was the news cycle that followed the initial flawed coverage, which featured a host of ideologically-motivated partisans doubling down on their initial assumption, digging for new information to justify it, and reassuring themselves that they were right all along. Sandmann and his MAGA hat-wearing friends had identified themselves as members of Team Trump, and thus the national shaming they endured was deserved, this thinking went. Indeed, those who had defended the boys by disputing some aspects of the encounter—including me, in an article for Reason that changed many people's minds about what had happened—were engaged in "gaslighting": trying to make people think that something they saw hadn't really happened.
"Sandmann's subsequent lawsuits have kept the Covington-sympathetic public focused on several of the outlets that misreported the initial story: CNN, The Washington Post, and others. Indeed, these publications certainly deserve criticism, independent of the merits of the individual lawsuits. But these outlets' Covington-related sins pale in comparison to those who continued to malign the teens long after the additional video footage was available." . . .

Barbie and Ken's life under socialism

The People's Cube  "Teach your kids socialist values with this play kit. Includes Barbie and Ken in the kitchen of a Soviet communal apartment, with a realistic look and feel of the era, circa 1970s or 1980s.
"Guaranteed to turn all children into Bernie-voting socialists when they grow up.
"Just tell them that in Soviet Russia, dolls play you!"

. . . "Yekaterinburg-based artist and photographer Lara Vychuzhanina takes Barbie and Ken on a trip through time, back to the U.S.S.R.
"A stern Ken never stands up from the table. Barbie hangs laundry, sips coffee and daydreams. The young couple’s cat keeps a laser focus on the wall. Each scene reveals a new detail of Barbie’s journey overseas — even the food is Soviet."
Much more here.
Via The Moscow Times;  created by Lara Vychuzhanina, doll photographer

Bernie's Iowa team on lockdown after embarrassing video goes viral

WND  "Several of Bernie Sanders' Iowa state directors locked their Twitter accounts after the conservative activist organization Project Veritas leaked a video of a Sanders campaign field organizer named Kyle Jurek making threats of political violence.

"Some have unlocked their accounts since then."
From the Project Veritas site.

BREAKING: Iowa  @BernieSanders State Directors ALL LOCKING THEIR ACCOUNTS:

An Iranian Comments On The Rage of the Democrats

In short, America is on a precarious path to lose its freedom and our Constitution we have cherished for over 200 years.  We must accept that the current Democrat Party is no longer the party of Kennedy.  It has become the greatest threat to our national security and our survival as a nation.

Amil Imani  "What underlies the rage of the Democrat Party and of the leftist Democrat Establishment vis-à-vis President Donald Trump?

"Over forty years ago, during my high school years in Iran, my father and I had a conversation.  He was an avid Republican, even though he lived on the other side of the world.  Right before I prepared to leave Iran for the U.S., he gave me some fatherly advice.  He explained why the Democrat Party was bad for America, bad for Iran, and bad for the world.  He advised me that if I ever became a US citizen, I should never vote for Democrats.  After all these years, I now understand what he meant by those words of wisdom.

"For over twenty years, I did not vote simply because I was not a U.S. citizen.  Even after I became one, I was not fully aware of the depth of this party's evil ideology, although eight long years of Obama's presidency was enough to make me realize where America was headed and what brand of Democrats were in charge.  But it was not until the election of President Trump that exposed just how corrupt the Democrats and every government institution were.  Now that that genie is out of the bottle, they cannot put it back in.  Public trust is out the door — all because it was Hillary's turn to be president." . . .