Reckoning.

Larry O'Connor

reck·on·ing (noun) - the avenging or punishing of past mistakes or misdeeds.

"When one writes a regular opinion column, one is often faced with multiple major stories in the news that deserve further analysis and context that inspire thought and even passion from one's readers. Today, those of us in this noble trade are faced with a serious quandary: Where to begin?"

"Do we celebrate the partial justice delivered to American patriot Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as the Justice Department properly withdrew criminal charges against him?

- Do we focus on the nefarious actions of the Comey FBI and Lynch Justice Department under Barack Obama that led to the vengeful vendetta against the general?- Do we discuss the duplicity and corruption of the Mueller investigators in using the FBI's dirty work to threaten Flynn's family and basically coerce a false guilty plea from him?- Do we pivot to the other major news item of the day and delve into the voluminous House Intel testimony that was finally released thanks to the herculean efforts of Acting ODNI Richard Grenell?- Do we explain how Rep. Adam Schiff has been fully exposed as the lying, defamatory charlatan that he truly is as the testimony proves that he never saw the direct evidence proving Trump/Russia collusion as he has claimed for the past several years?

"President Barack Obama is at the center of all of this. Indeed, Obama oversaw it all, from the start.
"The investigation of Flynn. The surveillance of Carter Page and George Papadopolous. The Steele Dossier infection of the FISA courts. The Kangaroo Court hearings. The Special Counsel investigation built on known fictions.
"None of it happens without Obama." . . .

Vicious racism permeates the Democrats

Ilhan Omar Slams Michael Flynn's Charges Being Dropped: 'White Privilege at Work'

. . . "Despite the obvious reasons for the charges being dropped, however, Rep. Omar claims, without evidence, that the Justice Department abandoned its case against Flynn because he is "white" rather than innocent.Omar took to Twitter on Thursday to falsely claim that the charges were dropped because of "white privilege.' " 

U.S. Media Long Carried Putin's Water - Odd, Given Facebook Uproar

Trump: The ‘So-Called Journalists’ Who Received Pulitzer Prizes for The Russia Hoax Should Be Forced to Give Them Back

2018; Real Clear Investigations  "With special counsel Robert Mueller’s latest indictments of alleged Russian trolls, Facebook is facing heavy fire from prominent critics at the New York Times, Washington Post, and other legacy media for uncritically spreading Russian misinformation. But the probe's newly lengthened chronology, stretching back well before the 2016 campaign, suggests social-media mischief was only part of a deeper Russian propaganda effort in which those same news organizations were also willing and paid participants.

"In 2007, state-owned publisher Rossiyskaya Gazeta launched Russia Beyond the Headlines, a multi-page full-color broadsheet laid out just like a newspaper and distributed, typically monthly, as an insert by some of the most prestigious names in newspaper publishing, including London’s Daily Telegraph, Le Figaro in France and the Italian daily La Repubblica, reaching an audience estimated at nearly 6.5 million readers.
"In the United States, the Russian-state media entity partnered with the Washington Post until 2015 and with the New York Times, which confirmed it still bundles the insert into its regular paper. Angela He, manager of corporate communications for the Times, sent an email “confirming that we do run these ads” and that they conform to Times advertising acceptability standards, but declined to elaborate.
"Russia Beyond, as the insert was renamed in 2017, serves as a “gateway for all things Russia -- from culture, travel, education, language, ways to do business, and much more.” Only a small disclaimer right below the masthead, in light typeface, explains that it’s an advertising feature.
"Russia Beyond paints a picture of a normal country, with normal concerns, including reviews of Moscow’s trendy restaurants and reports from the latest ComiCon. The Russia depicted in its pages isn’t working with Iran and the Syrian regime to slaughter civilians and gas children. Rather, it’s a global actor in good standing, whose citizens don’t understand why the United States and European Union placed sanctions on their country in response to the invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea." . . .

CNN Is Not a News Network; "And Jim Acosta is no reporter"

I should post this every six months.
National Review

     "When ThinkProgress announced that it was going out of business, a few observers wondered aloud, “Why didn’t anybody buy it?” But why would they have, when we have CNN?

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     "As a child, I was aware of CNN in part because its introductory bumper featured the sinister voice of Darth Vader, and in part because it was both the prototype and the stereotype of the 24-hour news channel. CNN showed up in movies, either as itself or in parodies that imitated its role. It was on in the airports and the hospitals and the hotel lobbies, and in the waiting room at the dentist’s office. When something bad or exciting was happening, you would tell your friends, “Turn on CNN.”
     "CNN was careful and self-consciously nonpartisan — or, at least, it was keen for viewers to believe that it was. Its slogans were “This is CNN” — well, yes — and “The most trusted name in news,” and it cultivated its position within the firmament in much the same way as does Wikipedia today. It could be sensationalist and intrusive at times, but it was sensationalist and intrusive in the way that the paparazzo is rather than in the way that protesters who bang drums in your face and insist that you give up gasoline are. In short, it was what it said it was: a news network.

     "It is no longer that. These days, CNN is a peculiar and unlovely hybrid of progressive propaganda outlet, oleaginous media apologist, sexless cultural scold, and frenzied Donald Trump stalkerblog. When news breaks, it is no longer useful or appropriate to tell someone, “Turn on CNN,” because if he did, he would be as likely to be presented with a wall of advocacy and obsession as with the headlines of the hour. Today, CNN does not broadcast the news; it broadcasts what it wants you to think the news is. At long last, it has become Fox." . . .

Over time, CNN has followed this self-referential instinct to its logical conclusion, and thereby convinced itself that its staff are as much a part of any story as the story itself. Which is why, among the vital pieces of news we have been brought by the network this year, are “CNN reporter gets emotional over his story,” and why one can find multiple stories and videos under headlines that start with “CNN host shuts down panelist” or “CNN anchor shuts down commentator” or “CNN anchors slam . . .” — all of which would, for most of American history, have seemed odd things for a news network to boast about. So self-indulgent has the organization become, in fact, that when I learned this year that it was starting a “CNN Hero of the Year” award, I half-expected to see Brian Stelter tearfully giving it to himself. 

Hat tip to Adrien Verdier at CNN The FAKE NEWS NETWORK

The Five Worst Types of Virtue-Signaling

"an attempt to show other people that you are a good person, for example by expressing opinions that will be acceptable to them, especially on social media:" . . .

Pictures added by TD; text has been cut and pasted to make an overview of the article. Please read the article for the entire context. TD:

American Thinker

"Virtue-signaling is a shallow practice for the lazy and deceitful. If you want to feel good about yourself with minimal effort, virtue-signaling is right for you."

"Virtue-signaling is one of the lowest forms of opportunism, but not all attempts are equal.  Here are the five worst types:" (Excerpts here:) 
1. Virtue-signaling the implausible, for cheap applause (As we see so often on TV talk shows, with - one has to suppose - an applause sign or designated cheerleader)

If anyone confronts Cuomo for his specious assertions, virtue-signaling has a built-in defense system of their superior motives to neutralize criticism about facts.

  

 2. Virtue-signaling their battle against invisible enemies 

Stacey Abrams complaining that she lost the Georgia election because of racism and voter suppression was a complete lie, but her "refusal to give up" still makes her a civil rights hero.

  3. Virtue-signaling for policies they don't support — and doubling-down

For months, Democrats glorified the Green New Deal. Any opposition was only the result of greedy capitalists who didn't want people to have clean air or water.
Everyone saw how Democrats really felt when precisely zero of them voted in favor of the legislation.

 4. Soliciting the applause for their virtue

When Corey Booker insists that Congress has a "moral obligation" to impeach Trump, he is executing the strategy to perfection. 

5. Virtue-signaling for free  

Democrats professing their altruistic motives without any expectation of having to change their behavior is what makes being a Democrat so great!Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he sympathizes with Bernie Sanders' view on billionaires and agrees that "no one deserves to have that much money."  NBA champion Andre Iguodala, actors Jim Carey and Mark Ruffalo, and even millionaire filmmaker Michael Moore openly voice their support for Socialism. There is still no evidence any of them have given away their wealth for the greater good.

. . . "Virtue-signaling is a shallow practice for the lazy and deceitful.  If you want to feel good about yourself with minimal effort, virtue-signaling is right for you."

Kayleigh McEnany Shows She’s Really Good at Being Press Secretary, Roasts Media After Gotcha Question

RedState   "Kayleigh McEnany has brought back in-person briefings now that she’s been appointed to Press Secretary and her first few stabs at the job have not been uneventful. On her very first day, the media were labeling her a “liar” for saying the Mueller report cleared Trump of Russian collusion. I guess we are going to split that hair from here unto eternity.

"Today, McEnany was hit with a ridiculous gotcha question that tried to hold a statement she made on Fox Business months ago over her head. Some reporter posited that she said Trump “would not allow” coronavirus to come to our shores and asked if she’d like to retract that statement. Little did he know that she’d be loaded for bear." . . .

Here she hands it all back to the press

. . . "She’s really good at this and it shows. We’ve missed this kind of whit with a smile in the press room, and it’s a very effective way to shame the media for their ridiculousness." . . .
. . . with these reporters, but his coronavirus briefings likely hurt his formerly rising approval ratings. He needs to let his Press Secretary take the lead, study up, and hit these people with facts every time she stands up there. If this continues, it’ll be very good for Trump’s re-election chances."

California Sheriff Defies Gavin Newsom: I Refuse to Make Criminals out of Business Owners and Moms

RedState

"Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco isn’t about to begin harassing the American people for doing what they should be doing, and that’s going back out and earning a living, producing goods, and generally creating a healthy society. As such, he told the Riverside County Board of Supervisors that he and his department will not be enforcing Governor Gavin Newsom’s overreaching orders.

Sheriff Chad Bianco

"Bianco began by noting that it wasn’t that long ago that the government “ordered residents into their homes, closed their businesses, made them wear masks, forbid them from going to church, and eliminated constitutional freedoms put in place over 200 years ago” in the name of curbing the public health crisis.

"Bianco admitted that it worked, but that while the curve was flattened, there were other numbers not being emphasized.

“ 'What isn’t being emphasized is that 2,000 of the 4,300 people who have tested positive have already recovered and returned to work,” said Bianco. “What that means is that out of two and a half million people in Riverside County, we have only 2,300 residents positive with this virus. Statistically, that is less than a tenth of one percent.”

"Bianco also noted that the tragic loss of 181 lives due to the virus, but also threw out the stat that this was 7/1000 of one percent." . . .

Russian collusion emperor Adam Schiff about to be exposed today and it won't be pretty

Dare we hope so?

Now it's Schiff's turn on the hot seat. Which is appropriate, given that he's the principle liar. The emperor of collusion is about to be exposed as having no clothes and it's not going to be a pretty picture.

Monica Showalter  "Adam Schiff, the fanatic who from the begining launched probe after probe of President Trump, is about to see the 2017-2018 Russia collusion transcripts he's been sitting on all these months released to the public, all 6,000 pages, with 73 witnesses stating there was no Russian collusion in 53 transcripts. National Intelligence Director Richard Grenell did the job Schiff wouldn't do, releasing the transcripts, and now Schiff is expected to be looking more bug-eyed than usual. 

"According to Fox News:

 Transcripts of House Intelligence Committee interviews that have been cleared for release show top law enforcement and intelligence officials affirming they had no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, senior administration and intelligence community officials told Fox News on Wednesday.

This would align with the results of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation — which found no evidence of illegal or criminal coordination between President Trump, the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016 — but the numerous transcribed interviews could raise further questions about committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s past statements saying that there was “direct evidence” of collusion. . . .

. . . "As for Schiff, it was all about covering up the evidence and then lying about it to the fawning media. He told lies all right, and the bad part was they had consequences. Schiff's claims were among the reasons why a naive attorney general, Jeff Sessions, went ahead and appointed a Special Counsel to investigate President Trump, which, as with the congressional investigation, came up empty." . . .

Hillary ready to swoop in 'as Biden stumbles'

Sky News Australia    "Joe Biden's evasive answers after he was credibly accused of sexual assault by a former staffer raises the prospect Hillary Clinton will replace the former Vice President at the top of the Democratic ticket, according to Sky News host James Morrow.
"The former Vice President Biden has been accused of assaulting former employee Tara Reade in 1993 when she worked in his senate office, a claim he flatly denies. "Mr Morrow said Vice President Biden's recent struggles puts the Democrats "with a naughty problem." " 'They have a candidate who stands credibly accused of sexual assault and who seems to be stonewalling the investigation. " 'I'm finding it harder and harder to imagine the Democrats sticking to Biden all the way to November rather than playing with the rules to swap someone else more electable in. "And for over a year now on this problem I have been saying throughout this entire mess of Democratic process Hillary Clinton has been sitting on the sidelines looking for the opportunity to avenge her loss in 2016.' "

Huh? Don Lemon Says Trump Is Jealous Because Michelle Obama Is "Better Looking" than Melania

CNN: The channel we were glued to non-stop during the Gulf War because of its excellent reportage; how has it become so silly? Watch Don Lemon and tell me, is this your source for current events? TD

The News Commenter posted on this: . . . "CNN anchor Don Lemon went on a disturbing rant slamming First Lady Melania Trump’s looks while asking why President Trump is obsessed with his predecessor Barack Obama.
"In a clip that went viral on social media, Lemon claimed not only is Obama better educated than Trump, but that his wife Michelle is also more accomplished than Melania – and better looking!"

The Gateway Pundit

"No Don. That’s not the issue here."  Via Infowars.

CNN anchor Don Lemon went on a disturbing rant slamming First Lady Melania Trump’s looks while asking why President Trump is obsessed with his predecessor Barack Obama.

In a clip that went viral on social media, Lemon claimed not only is Obama better educated than Trump, but that his wife Michelle is also more accomplished than Melania – and better looking!

"Don Lemon decided to blast First Lady Melania’s looks and accomplishments on CNN"

This Newsweek reporter must be a Don Lemon follower: Misleading title to follow:

Observe how the title of the article is worded? The left can share it by simply cutting and pasting the first half of the title only. TD

"Melania Trump is lonely and obsessed with Michelle Obama. At least in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's version of events anyway." 

. . . "Adichie's fictional account also portrays Trump as envious of her predecessor's natural ease in the role of first lady. Mrs T shows Janelle a video she's been watching on YouTube of Michelle Obama visiting a classroom. She also reveals a folder full of pictures of Obama on her laptop. "Look at this. I always look at them for the inspiration," she says."In this fictional world, Mrs T's only source of joy comes from her 11-year-old son, Barron. The first lady perks up speaking to her son, who is described as "sweetly shy and polite, dependent on his mother for his sense of self.""But Adichie's imagined Trump also exhibits a casual racism that her husband, President Donald Trump, is often accused of sharing." . . .

Babylon Bee finds a way to satirize shameful reportage:
CNN Announces Daily 'Two Minutes Hate' Segment

"CNN has announced a new "Two Minutes Hate" segment airing every morning.
"The segments are mandatory viewing for anyone trapped in an airport or hotel lobby. Enraged hosts will drum up hate against whatever draws their ire that particular day, though usually it will be Trump and his supporters.
"Viewers will be worked up into a frenzy through subliminal messaging and the energy of the crowd. Hosts will use provocative imagery and mocking to get everyone really angry and make them hate their political opponents. Triggering images such as people in red baseball caps and politicians with orange skin will flash across the screen until the crowd's rage is built up to a sufficient level.
" 'Be angry! Be very upset! Be outraged! Everything is terrible!" Don Lemon cried at the crowds dutifully assembled around CNN telescreens across the nation. "Repeat after me: Trump voters are sheep!' "  . . . More, even about Fox.

The lockdown's heavy foot

Rich Terrell

Nearly 3.2 million US workers seek jobless aid; coronavirus has put 33.5 million out of work

Coronavirus latest news: UK airports to order passengers to wear face masks and gloves (Right)   "Passengers travelling through some UK airports will be required to cover their faces and wear gloves from Thursday. " . . .

What will this mother's children become?
Angry Customer Opens Fire At Oklahoma McDonald's Over COVID-19 Restrictions
. . . "Authorities said the shooting happened around 6:00 p.m. Wednesday (May 6) following an argument between a female patron and a crew member of the fast-food chain."

As reported by ABC News, the female crew member informed the customer that the restaurant's dining room was off-limits due to social distancing, a preventive measure observed worldwide to curb the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

More here:   “The suspect left the restaurant briefly and returned with a handgun and fired multiple shots,” said Capt. Larry Withrow of the Oklahoma City Police Department in a statement. “One male employee was shot in the arm. Another male employee was hit in the neck and shoulder area by what is described by police as bullet shrapnel. A third male employee also suffered from bullet shrapnel in his side.”

UPDATE: Single suspect, Gloricia Woody, was forced out of the restaurant by employees.

Dennis Miller: Biden will never debate Trump

Youtube  "Why Biden will avoid the discussion with Trump. What is the conclusion of Trump's presidency? Dennis Miller (Talk Show Host and Comedian) about the current state of politics and comedy. Dennis gives his thoughts on the current political divide in America."