The Power of Media Ignorance

Victor Davis Hanson  "Almost two weeks ago I offered at NRO a few synopses of various theories about why California — which, for a variety of reasons, had seemed so ripe for a New York–style epidemic — had nonetheless strangely been exempt at least for a while from the virus’s spread. I included the pedestrian possibility of some previously acquired “herd immunity,” given the state’s singular exposure from November to January 31 to direct flights from China, including those from Wuhan, and initial CDC and media reports last year of an unusually early and severe assumed flu hitting the state.
"Within a few days, I was hit by media inquiries and private calls asking about my ongoing “coronavirus antibody testing studies.”
"Despite ad nauseam corrections that I had never claimed in the NRO article or elsewhere to be a doctor, much less an epidemiologist or a conductor of any such study, and that the Hoover Institution is not a medical school, the fake news still spread.
"I got dozens more calls and emails from private citizens who thought they had the virus and wanted confirmation of that supposed fact, in order to venture out and help others with antibodies. Some said they wanted “in” immediately.

"Others called saying they were scared that they had an unknown illness and wanted confirmation of what it had been." . . .

Trump campaign goes for the jugular with new ad: 'Let them eat ice cream — Nancy Antoinette'

I'm concerned that this video may have a negative impact on the Trump-Pelosi relationship. TD

Thomas Lifson  "No doubt, NeverTrumps are clutching their pearls over the visceral new campaign ad released under President Trump's imprimatur.  It certainly isn't gentlemanly the way George W. Bush was; it's primal in its attack on Nancy Pelosi and its appeal to class resentments.  It's not the sort of lose-with-dignity approach favored the last generation of the GOP establishment.

"But in an era of phony impeachment efforts and special counsel investigations and "blood on his hands" accusations, it is giving back to the Democrats exactly what they have been hurling Trump's way.
"It will require only 75 seconds of your life to savor it:"

"Best of all, it is entirely factual. Clueless Pelosi doesn't understand the way the lockdown is strangling the livelihood of Americans who don't live in $8-million mansions with $24,000 refrigerators.
"The  Democrats have been playing class warfare games for a century, even as the plutocracy has become their funders and puppet masters.  They think they have immunity.  They are very wrong."

The NFL Drops New Guidelines for Thursday’s Draft, and They Aren’t Colin Kaepernick-Friendly

RedState  "The NFL has issued new guidelines for 2020’s draft, and a kibosh is being put on politics.

"As reported by the New York Post, for Thursday’s virtual draft, aspiring athletes should “show up” to the selection ceremony sans-inappropriate-message. That is to say, the new rules prohibit shirts with sexual or violent content, garb that promotes non-NFL-affiliated brands, and clothing serving up political statements.

"From the Post:

Commissioner Roger Goodell will finally be able to announce picks this year without getting booed, but anyone thinking of still dissing him, the league or anyone else in it is out of luck. Prospects cannot wear anything that includes “disparaging depictions of the NFL” or “derogatory statements regarding the NFL, its owners, employees and/or NFL partners,” according to the memo.

"And they’re keepin’ it clean:

No racial, religious or ethnic slurs, explicit language, or libel or hate speech. And even more specifically, no “obscene, pornographic (or escort services), violent (including firearms or other weapons), or sexual imagery.” . . .

Below: which is more offensive to you?

Che and Democrats

"I just looked up the Wikipedia article on Che," Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted while she was supposed to be working. "I don't see anything about him addressing climate change and wanting to destroy an entire economy based on wild-eyed apocalyptic predictions. I might have to throw away my Guevara T-shirts, to be honest."  Babylon Bee (below)

RedState*

Really, Ethel?  "We recently saw a photo of Ethel Kennedy, the widow of the late Senator Robert Kennedy, with an image of Che Guevara in the background.  

"At first, I thought that the lady was photographed in the wrong place.  I tried very hard to give her the benefit of the doubt.  After all, she is the widow of a former attorney general and U.S. senator plus sister in law of a president who almost went to nuclear war over Cuba.

"We were later told that Mrs. Kennedy is a big fan of Che because she has a "subversive streak."

"With all due respect to Ethel Kennedy, who just turned 92 this month, Che was not exactly nice to subversives.  He usually locked or executed them.

"The lady's love affair with Che reminds me of what Howard LaFranchi of the Christian Science Monitor wrote a few years ago entitled "Bush and Che: different concepts of freedom."

"My favorite line is this:

"The admiration for El Che no longer extends to his politics and ideology, certainly not to his Marxism," says Martin Krause, dean of the Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration in Buenos Aires and a longtime analyst of Argentine society. "It's a romantic idea of one man going to battle against the windmills, he's a Quixote.

"In other words, they don't have a clue of who this man was. They love the image on the T-shirt or that he rode a motorcycle up and down the countryside.  

"Che was about tyranny and repression. There is nothing romantic about Che, unless you believe in political prisons or you don't know anything about this man's life.

"It is not fun to start an argument with a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.  However, watching people who live in freedom sharing the stage with Che is hard on the eye."  Silvio Canto, Jr.

Che even made a Babylon Bee parody that hits close to home, I'd say:
Resurrected Che Guevara Announces 2020 Run, Democrats Quickly Criticize As 'Too Moderate'

Such a sweet smile

. . . Guevara announced his run but was quickly denounced by many of his fellow candidates and other prominent Democrats."I'm just not sure Guevara is far enough left to be a viable Democratic candidate this election," said one political pundit on CNN. "He's really a centrist in the midst of this field of radical leftists, and we just don't think he's going to stand out this time."Democrats pointed out that while Guevara was a mass murderer, he really needs to specifically come out as allowing murder up to and including the moment of birth if he's going to be accepted as a mainstream Democratic candidate. . . .

*Red State: . . . "Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba at the time of the Revolution. “Guevara was jailer and executioner-in-chief of Castro’s dictatorship. As boss of the notorious La Cabaña prison in Havana, he supervised the detention, interrogation, summary trials and execution of hundreds of ‘class enemies.’”

"Hemingway once “witnessed the shooting of prisoners condemned by the tribunals under Guevara’s control. He watched as the men were trucked in, unloaded, shot, and taken away.”

"That was the real Ché Guevara.

"Yet, he became a hero in the counterculture of the 1960s. Guevara, or rather his famous photo, has become a symbol of rebellion for many in the West." . . .

Democrats Underestimate Trump at Their Own Peril

"Billy Graham’s son, Franklin, set up an emergency tent hospital, by invitation, in Central Park—and was accused by the mouthy Left (one faction for which, it really is “the city that never sleeps”) of trying to evangelize New York City. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was calling for absurd numbers of ventilators, and Trump responded at once and generously—to him and everyone else—as all conceded, including normally strident critics among the Democratic governors."

Conrad Black
The president’s enemies have not figured out how cunning he is, because he doesn’t seem cunning—at first.

"It is almost unbelievable that the Democrats have allowed themselves to be so completely out-maneuvered by President Trump in the coronavirus and economic crises. They are all calling for an indefinite protraction of the economic hemorrhage, with unemployment increasing by hundreds of thousands every day, even as the incidence of the virus declines.

"The Democrats started out with every advantage: the crisis came out of the blue and burst over the administration. As soon as there was any hint of how aggressive and dangerous the virus was, the anti-Trump press went wild—frightening the public with visions of a bubonic plague that threatened the life of everyone despite the fact that approximately 98 percent of people under 65 who get the coronavirus, survive it.

"At first, Trump was a bit blasé about “the flu.” But then, as he noted the potential scope of the problem and stopped direct flights from China on January 31, he was accused of “racism” and “xenophobia” by those pendants of the Democratic weltanschauung, likely presidential nominee Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

"As drastic forecasts of immense numbers of fatalities started tumbling out of ostensibly credible centers of epidemiology, the new refrain was that Trump was a moronic enemy of science. For a brief shining moment, his supposed complacency about the coronavirus was linked to his skepticism about the dire threat of climate change." . . . More...

John Durham investigation intensifies focus on John Brennan

Washington Examiner  "U.S. Attorney John Durham’s review of the Russia investigation is putting increased scrutiny on former CIA Director John Brennan, searching for any undue influence he may have had during 2017’s intelligence community assessment of Russian interference.
"Durham, selected by Attorney General William Barr last year to lead this inquiry, drove to Washington, D.C., in March to ensure the investigation stayed on track during the coronavirus outbreak. The top Connecticut federal prosecutor is looking into highly sensitive issues, including whether Brennan took politicized actions to pressure the rest of the intelligence community to match his conclusions about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motivations, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal.
"Officials said Durham has been interviewing CIA officials this year, zeroing in on those at the National Intelligence Council, a center within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence which oversaw the collaboration between the CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency in putting together the 2017 assessment, and looking at how the work product was finalized.
"The 2017 assessment concluded with "high confidence" that Putin “ordered an influence campaign in 2016” and Russia worked to “undermine public faith" in U.S. democracy, "denigrate" former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and "harm her electability and potential presidency,” and “developed a clear preference" for Trump. The NSA diverged on one aspect, expressing only “moderate confidence” that Putin actively tried to help Trump win and Clinton lose." . . .

Why would Russia want to hurt Clinton? She was their BFF!  . . . "As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.

"The Foundation wasn’t the only beneficiary:

And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.

"The speech was approved by- you guessed it- the Clinton State Department." . . .

Our Garbage Media

Power Line  "Want to know how you can tell when the lockdown became a new great depression? It’s when the media starts experiencing large layoffs. Glenn Reynolds has a roundup of media layoffs currently under way that makes for the feel good story of the week for sure.

"The New York Times reports that “Roughly 33,000 workers at news companies in the U.S. have been laid off, been furloughed or had their pay reduced. Some publications that rely on ads have shut down.” And it seldom gets better than this:

NPR Warns of Major Cuts Due to Coronavirus

NPR will be instituting severe cost-cutting measures as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Wednesday internal memo, with a budget deficit looming as high as $25 million through fiscal 2021. . .

"I suppose this will just free up a lot of media people to volunteer full time for Democrats, though of course they’re doing that already, so how could we tell?" . . .

"And then naturally the Huffington Post can’t help itself, because of the left’s Ahab fixation:

The White Male Is the Greatest Risk in Spreading the Virus . . .

. . . This White Male Effect will also almost certainly have played a part in how slowly the UK and the US responded to the emerging pandemic. Both the Johnson and Trump administrations have also turned to older white male experts for how to manage this crisis. . .
"This White Male Effect is caused primarily by the education system and society as a whole, which encourages white men to believe in their own superiority." . . .

AOC’s Baseless Accusation That the U.S. Is a 'Brutal, Barbarian Society'

Charlemagne Institute  "According to democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the COVID-19 pandemic is proving that the United States “is a brutal, barbarian society for the vast majority of working-class Americans.” As evidence of this, she claims that “40% of us couldn’t even afford a $400 emergency” before this crisis, and COVID-19 “is more than a $400 emergency.”

"However, her “40%–$400” statistic is false, and the facts that broadly inform this issue reveal that:

• government social programs, which AOC seeks to enlarge, depress workers’ savings, causing the very outcomes that she decries.
• the people of the U.S. lead the world in charity.
• middle- and low-income Americans are more financially capable of handling COVID-19 than the bulk of people in most developed countries, including those who live in more socialistic nations that AOC says the U.S. should emulate.

"AOC’s Allegations  "In a recent video, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–NY) declared: “This is supposed to be the richest society in the world, and I think what this crisis is showing us is that this is only a rich society for a very small amount of people, and it is a brutal, barbarian society for the vast majority of working-class Americans because 40% of us couldn’t even afford a $400 emergency before this thing started. This is more than a $400 emergency, and we’re really going to have to step up and completely change our approach to our public systems.” . . .

"Summary" 

"Contrary to AOC’s portrayal of the USA as “a brutal, barbarian society for the vast majority of working-class Americans,” the key facts that inform this matter show that:

• the lone statistic she used to support this allegation is false.
• personal savings – the subject of her statistic – are depressed by government social programs that she champions and seeks to expand.
• when it comes to charity, the people of the U.S. are the most generous in the world.
• middle- and even low-income Americans have more material resources to weather COVID-19 than the majority of people in most developed nations.

Pelosi Called Out for Visit Promoting Tourism to Chinatown in Late February

Tony Branco

The look on Pelosi’s face is priceless when Wallace asks her about the visit to Chinatown:  "Nancy Pelosi joined Chris Wallace for what she thought would be a softball interview on ‘Fox News Sunday’ this morning. She was wrong. Wallace called her out for visiting Chinatown in San Francisco to promote tourism in late February.
"It’s obvious that Pelosi wants the Chinatown visit to be ignored by the media because she deleted the video of her visit from social media last week.
"The look on Pelosi’s face is priceless when Wallace asks her about the visit to Chinatown:
"Pelosi then gets to work lying with no pushback from Wallace. She tries to push the tired narrative that President Trump is racist:

"The problem is that President Trump rightly referred to the pandemic by the name of the Chinese city in which the virus originated…Wuhan Province. He NEVER encouraged discrimination against the Asian-American community. Nancy Pelosi is lying AGAIN…"

Priceless! President Trump tweeted out the video of Pelosi after she deleted it:

Adam Schiff’s Dirty Impeachment Tactics Coming to Light

Robyn Dolgin "Rep. Adam Schiff spent months launching secret impeachment hearings, never thinking his conduct would be called into question.

"He is now caught in the crosshairs of a formidable government agent, Mr. Brendan Carr, Federal Communication Commissioner. The impeachment may be over, but Mr. Carr is formally investigating Rep. Schiff for violating privacy laws -- more like obliterating ethical boundaries -- by setting up his own surveillance state to target the president’s allies.

"Carr is currently uncovering the diabolical nature of the congressman’s “surveillance state.” At the time, Schiff resorted to such desperate measures because he didn’t have much of an impeachment case: Therefore, he issued secret subpoenas to phone carriers hoping to mine the private data of his political opponents, or in effect ransacking their private lives.

"The objective was to obtain and publish the calls of Trump’s allies.

"Much to his delight, Schiff’s subpoenas to the phone carriers resulted in their turning over nearly 4,000 pages of confidential records, in the process violating their customers’ rights to data privacy.

"None of this has escaped the notice of the top gun at the FCC. Carr is proposing a $200 million fine against the phone carriers for failing to protect their customers who have a legitimate expectation of privacy." . . .

. . . "None of this appears of concern to members of the leftist media. Many view Schiff as “the most underestimated politician” California has ever produced, according to Greg Miller, correspondent for the Washington Post. Miller, and many of his colleagues, agree that Schiff “will leave a mark on history, exceeding nearly all contemporaries.”

"It would be unfair to Schiff to say that his impeachment efforts came to nothing. The congressman cemented his rock-star status for his “dazzling” speech at the opening of the hearings, according to Jeffrey Toobin, CNN news analyst." . . .

How long have we been seeing this strangeness in Biden?

Rich Terrell

How about Biden's strange behavior during the Ryan debate in 2012?  Has anything like it ever been seen before?

Castro and Maduro must envy Bernie now

Spectator

Mike Harris