Sunday, August 30, 2020

CNN: The Worst TV Network Ever

CNN viewers weren’t informed about this, because these facts don’t fit the preferred narrative in which Blake is a victim of “systemic racism.” Instead, it appears Blake was a perpetrator of violence against women (an issue Democrats claim to care about), and police were there to protect a woman from her alleged abuser. 
CNN Hires This Is Fine Dog To Report On RiotsCNN dutifully changed its chyron to read THIS IS FINE for the entire report, as well, saying they will hold that caption for the remainder of the riots. (
The American Spectator  "Don Lemon made news this week, although he did it by accident and almost nobody noticed. CNN is the least-watched of the three cable-news networks, and Lemon’s program “CNN Tonight” typically gets a little more than a million viewers, or less than a third of the audience for most primetime hours on Fox News Channel. Very few people were watching when Don Lemon made news Tuesday night, by revealing how deeply his network is embedded with the presidential campaign of Joe Biden. Discussing the riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with fellow CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, Lemon expressed concern that mob violence would damage the Democrats’ chances in November:
The rioting has to stop. Chris, as you know and I know, it’s showing up in the polling. It’s showing up in focus groups. It is the only thing — it is the only thing right now that is sticking.
"Question: How does Don Lemon know what people are telling Democratic Party pollsters in focus groups? But asking a question like that is probably racist. Anyone who doesn’t support Biden is a racist, as is anyone who criticizes CNN.
"Such simple-minded formulae are CNN’s journalistic stock-in-trade nowadays. Mocked four years ago as the “Clinton News Network,” CNN has since then labored diligently to destroy whatever credibility they still had after Hillary’s failed campaign. Since President Trump’s election, CNN has kept busy promoting the phony “Russian collusion” hoax and went all-in on the smear campaign against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, yet still somehow found time to defame Nicholas Sandmann. One of the highlights of this week’s Republican National Convention was watching Sandmann’s victory lap after CNN was forced to settle the Catholic schoolboy’s defamation lawsuit.
"You might think four years of failure, including the humiliation inflicted by Sandmann, would teach CNN a lesson. But the problems at the third-place network seem irreparable, and they continue stumbling from one embarrassment to another. In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, the network outdid itself when CNN reporter Omar Jimenez stood in front of a burning building in Kenosha, above an onscreen chyron that declared, “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Protests After Police Shooting.” Yes, it was mostly peaceful, except for the looting and arson.
"Endeavoring to describe what’s wrong at CNN is perhaps an impossible challenge, but the briefest summary is everything. Or to put it more directly: Jeff Zucker.
"Since taking over CNN eight years ago, Zucker has done what anyone familiar with his previous career would have expected him to do, namely (a) screw it up, and (b) blame others. In case you’ve forgotten, Zucker’s previous tenure at NBC was a gigantic disaster. In 2010, one of Maureen Dowd’s sources called Zucker “the most destructive media executive ever to exist.” How he talked himself into the top job at CNN is a mystery, but no one is actually surprised by the network’s failure since Zucker took over. If you want good TV, you don’t hire Zucker, and CNN is very bad TV.
"As bad as CNN’s liberal bias is — and when Trump speaks of the media as “the enemy of the people,” it’s CNN’s Jim Acosta he has in mind — mere politics is insufficient to explain the network’s awfulness. MSNBC is blatantly left-wing, but at least they manage to be entertaining. If you’re a Democrat who believes that Trump is an existential threat to everything you hold dear, then watching Rachel Maddow engage in paranoid speculation for an hour might be your idea of fun. Watching CNN is never fun, except accidentally, as when Don Lemon leaks out Democrat focus-group findings or the chyron describes a riot as “mostly peaceful.”
"CNN is a nonstop bummer of repetition." . . .  
Keep reading. You're not even close to being finished

The media will surely not tell the truth about the end of COVID during the election

Jack Hellner  "The media, the so-called experts and Democrats have intentionally tried to scare the public for months about COVID.
For that, they've kept schools shut, put out excessive mask warnings, shut down fresh-air beaches, and refused to permit even scrupulously socially distanced operations, such as gyms and churches, to open.
"Now the facts come out:
"This story will be buried!"
...
According to The New York Times, potentially 90 percent of those who have tested positive for COVID-19 have such insignificant amounts of the virus present in their bodies that such individuals do not need to isolate nor are they candidates for contact tracing. Leading public health experts are now concerned that overtesting is responsible for misdiagnosing a huge number of people with harmless amounts of the virus in their systems.
"Most of these people are not likely to be contagious, and identifying them may contribute to bottlenecks that prevent those who are contagious from being found in time," warns The Times.
"And it's not even that big a surprise.
"It has been obvious for a long time that COVID-19 is not as contagious as we have been told, because if it were, a hell of a lot more than 2% of those who have been tested positive would have tested positive by now and that includes a huge number of people who aren't very contagious at all.
"Not a big deal to the left, because the intentional destruction of the economy continues.
"After all, an election is coming up.
"We were also intentionally lied to that COVID-19 would easily spread from surfaces for months before these same experts said it doesn't spread easily. The majority of the public clearly believes the original lies. 
"The media won't even admit how they have continually lied about Russian collusion. Why would we expect them to tell the truth about COVID-19.
"They have to lie or else the corrupt, incompetent Joe Biden wouldn't have a prayer. "

Portland BLM crowd cheers news of murder of Patriot Prayer counterdemonstrator: ‘I’m not sad that a f**king fascist died tonight!’

How much blame ought we to assign to our public schools and teacher's colleges?




Thomas Lifson "A pro-Trump demonstrator was murdered last night in Portland, as a BLM crowd cheered the news. While we will know a lot more after an official investigation, preliminary video evidence seems to indicate that the member of a group called Patriot Prayer was deliberately murdered, perhaps even hunted down. Listen for yourself to the words shouted just before shots are heard:"
. . . "The left wing propaganda media naturally are obfuscating the crime. The New York Times headlines, “Deadly Shooting in Portland After Pro-Trump Ralliers Clash With Protesters, faintly implying that responsibility lies with the pro-Trump crowd who are the subject of the verb “clash.”
"Below the headline, it took the Times 150 words of passive voice prose that failed to differentiate aggressor from victim before admitting that the deceased could have been a Trump supporter. "
. . . 
 "That a murder has finally taken place is no surprise, nor, I fear, will it be unique for long. Left wingers like BLM and Antifa have been escalating their level of violence against Trump supporters. The Washington Free Beacon has compiled a list of 7 examples of violence and intimidation this week, including the failed effort to trap and seal Seattle police officers in a precinct station and burn it. But there are others they missed, including the mob surrounding Sen. Rand Paul and his wife Kelley following the president’s acceptance speech at the White House and the harassment of other guests by members of a mob that was staying at an expensive DC hotel, and this flag burning next to sleeping children that could easily have resulted in a tragic fatal fire.
Andrea Widburg  "All socialist countries wage war on God, who is always the state’s main competitor. Nevertheless, some people still manage to believe in God but side with a socialist candidate. The most recent example is the more than 350 self-labeled ‘faith leaders’ from multiple religions who endorsed Biden and Harris, claiming that they have the “moral clarity” that will “restore the soul of this nation.” It’s becoming sadly apparent that even religious people today want to farm out their obligations to the state.
. . .
. . . "Leftists, however, farm out moral action to the state the same way that you or I might hire a housekeeper or gardener. We want our home and garden to be lovely, but we’re unwilling to do the labor ourselves and pay others to do the hard work. However, because we’re neither leftists nor are we the government, complete with its police power, we don’t make our neighbor pay or force him to hire housekeepers and gardeners. 
"An example of this leftist belief that all redemption flows from the state also showed up in a letter that an anonymous leftist wrote:"
Guy Benson
@guypbenson
·Aug 29
A friend texts me this letter. It was left on their neighbor’s home because they have a Trump sign in their yard. The bad people here are those who wrote/approved this trash. The author(s) should look at themselves


. . . "And please, don’t counter what I just said with anti-Trump “whataboutism.” The Judeo-Christian faith supports repentance and redemption. Trump is not the man he was even ten years ago. Meanwhile, Biden and Harris unapologetically support unlimited abortion and have no remorse for their past immoral or corrupt acts." . . .

Is George Soros Funding The Riots Taking Place In America?



Add caption
Clover Chronicle  "The following information was taken from a lengthy online forum post (unknown date & time). The author describes a movement called ‘Democracy Spring’ which is supposedly a domestic version of a colour revolution. (Note: Some of the text has been altered for spelling, grammar and context to reflect current events).
As many of you have suspected, the current push for a “Democracy Spring” is funded directly by George Soros [1] in an extreme act of escalation against Trump and US democracy. The name sounds suspiciously close to “Arab Spring,” but let’s put that one to the side for a moment.
What the hell is a “Democracy Spring?” Well, their stated objective is to “take out dark money from the political process.” Surely that’s agreeable isn’t it? Isn’t that what Trump is doing by self-funding? Looks deceive of course. They themselves are funded by George Soros’ “dark money.” How can they possibly stand against it? Besides, when nominees are down to two viable people per party, why is this necessary at all? The answer is it isn’t necessary and they don’t really believe in what they demand, but by mirroring Trump, they achieve invulnerability against any attacks by Trump, or any other clever maneuver.
This is about two simple scenarios involving so-called “protests”:
  1. Trump condemns the group for trying to disrupt US democracy.
  2. Trump hails them for taking up such a worthy cause.
If Trump commits to action 1, the group will point to its fake objective and declare Trump the real target of it; his opposition proving that he is scared of whatever vague proposition they are putting forward. Furthermore, it would be the best case scenario because it would put them against Trump directly which is important for later. If Trump commits to action 2, he loses his main base for supporting what is obviously a leftist “protest” aimed to disrupt the democratic process, however flawed it is. In any case, they will still declare him the target of their protest and reject his praise, damaging his credibility.
In most likelihood, he will choose to ignore it and attack George Soros indirectly. But unfortunately, that’s not going to be enough because that’s not the worst case scenario. George Soros is a specialist in “colour revolutions” [2] and so it is instructive to briefly explain how they work in order to relate it to the most likely strategy that is going to be played out against Trump." . . .  Read more...

Saturday, August 29, 2020

Welcome to ‘The Purge’: New GOP Ad Blows The Dems Out of the Water over BLM Violence

RedState    . . . "The ad shows a couple being stalked by an insane BLM person in a full hood. She screamed obscenities at them and threatened the man that she was going to “f**k him up.” It then shows a police officer being brained by a heavy trash can lid while BLM folks cheered. Finally it shows Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) being surrounded and the officer next to him being attacked by BLM people and being pushed into Paul.
"The ad says that the protesters are trying to purge police from the streets and that Joe Biden and Democrats are letting them.
"Joe Biden has said that he doesn’t want to defund the police, despite saying he would reallocate some funding to other areas, which sounds an awful like “defunding” at least in part to me.
"But he certainly has been letting them, by not condemning the Democrats behind the defunding move and not condemning the failure of the Democrats to respond and to properly prosecute the people behind these crimes.
"Not only that, but he didn’t even mention the violence at his convention with everyone, including Barack Obama, terming people as “peaceful protesters” and attacking President Donald Trump for trying to deal with the violence. Months of riots and all they tried to do was attack Trump. They also completely embraced the BLM, even having an homage musical number to them with Billy Porter and Stephen Stills. So is it any wonder when officials are not condemning it and not adequately prosecuting it, that the behavior blossoms?" . . .
The Internal Numbers That Opened the Eyes of CNN To Suddenly Oppose Riots


Yeah, well boycott THIS!

Sports are such a great exit plan for gifted young people to escape the horrors of gang-infested areas where their families must live. Those looking to a future of safety and prosperity must shudder to think what these virtue-signaling dramas can do to their prospects. TD

Boycotting Themselves Out of Business?   "By skipping games for nebulous political demands, pro athletes threaten to alienate fans and crater their own industry." . . .
"With their boycott of games earlier this week to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, athletes in the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball have crossed a bridge that they may find difficult to return from. Though professional athletes have become increasingly politicized since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began his “Star Spangled Banner” protests in 2016, the widespread cancellation of games, including NBA playoff contests, is unprecedented.
"The walkout in support of Blake, who was wanted on a sexual-assault charge and whose own girlfriend called the cops on him, hardly represents the kind of compelling case against police brutality one might build a mass movement around. If players, in the midst of a pandemic slowdown already costing professional sports billions of dollars, were willing to shut down their industry in this instance, how frequently will they feel compelled, or even pressured, to do the same in the future? Fans who were already watching less sports may react negatively to being lectured by wealthy athletes who regularly walk off the job." . . .

Empty virtue-signaling destroying sports, entertainment  "Sports leagues are now canceling and postponing games for every perceived injustice or slight.  Soon, players will boycott games if someone in the country refuses to admit there are an infinite number of genders, or if someone riding light rail in Minneapolis calls an obese person "chubby."
"In the future, "non-essential" businesses will be shut down with regularity whenever a perceived "major health threat" comes along.  Similarly, it appears sports leagues will shut down with any accusation of "injustice" — more accurately, with any accusation of injustice against the progressively protected members of society, such as non-white people and those in the LGBT community.  If a cis-gender white person in Indiana forgets to use a black American transgender person's preferred pronoun, the NBA will shut down for a month.  Because, after all, no one wants to be just a world-class athlete anymore.  Gotta be a social justice warrior.  The more ignorant you are, the more you feel the need to appear up on the issues, hip, and morally superior to the great unwashed in flyover country.
"But what if conservatives played this game, too . . ."
Soon romance novels, videogames, spas, resorts, and fishing shows will all have to toe the leftist line and aggressively push the progressive agenda or risk being boycotted, marginalized, canceled or abolished.
Stop Letting Children (aka Professional Athletes) Bully the World

Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Demands Hollywood Strike Over Shooting of Jacob Blake

Rights and Wrongs of Sports Boycotts  . . . "Over the last two days, NBA players have boycotted their league's playoff games in protest of police brutality and racism, and players in several other professional sports leagues have followed suit. NBA players have now agreed to resume playing in the near future, and I expect the same thing is likely to happen in other leagues. But the whole episode still raises the more general issue of when and if sports boycotts are justified. This situation is not the first time players or others have advocated boycotting a sports event, and it is unlikely to be the last." . . .

And Just Like That, Joe Biden and the Democrats Stopped Liking Riots

No matter how righteous and peaceful Democrat supporters may become going forward, they are forever the people who would willingly burn your home and business, who would murder any person -black, white, gay, unspecified- if they were led to do so by others and encouraged by corrupt, leftist press. The Tunnel Dweller

PJ Media  "For the better part of the past three months, neighborhoods of Portland, Oregon, Minnesota, Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago, Kenosha and other cities and states – all run by Democrats – have been on fire.
"The police killing of George Floyd started the fire, but, as an old Japanese saying goes, “Fire always makes room for itself.”
"The “fire” is spreading like a metastic cancer. It is intentionally set in places where it is allowed to flourish and spread. It runs wild and unabated under the Democrats who oversee those towns and cities.
"Seattle’s Jenny Durkan, Minneapolis’s Jacob Frey, Portland’s Ted Wheeler, Oregon’s Governor Kate Brown, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, Lori Lightfoot of Chicago fan the flames. They make excuses for murder in St. Louis and the constant assault of local and federal officers in Portland. They hate the president so much they won’t take help from him as a point of pride, salving their own egos while their cities are looted “for reparations,” pillaged for “social justice” and set on fire to leave a sick mark of “accomplishment.”. . . 


Is AOC’s ‘Squad’ Running the Rioters? One Just Called for MORE ‘Unrest In the Streets’  
"Massachusetts Democratic Congresswoman Ayanna Presley called for more “unrest” (hint)." . . .
If only the looting and burning polled well we'd be OK!
"CNN's Don Lemon said Tuesday night that Democrats "ignoring" riots in some U.S. cities represents a "blind spot" for the party, and called on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to address the problem because it is "sticking" in polling and focus groups." . . .


The anti-Trump press


Newly pardoned Alice Johnson blasts media response to her speaking at RNC as 'a huge insult to me'  . . . "Johnson added that her mission is to enact criminal justice reform and the RNC was a perfect platform for her to spread the word. She went on to address the often-repeated claim that President Trump is a racist.
" 'The people who are saying this don't even know President Trump," she said. "I don't believe President Trump is a racist. My interactions with him and the things that he said and the things that I know touches his heart, those things would not come from a racist man.
" 'They are free to have their opinions, but in my personal opinion, I do not believe he's a racist." . . .

The media can and will lie and say whatever it wants about the Democrat and Republican conventions.  "The media are among the least trusted people in America, so take what they say for exactly what it’s worth." . . .

Journalistic Malpractice On The Riots  "The Democratic Party press has done its best to suppress news about the riots that have devastated cities across the country, but it is a hard secret to keep. Sometimes their efforts would be amusing, if the subject were not so serious. Here are a couple of minor cases in point from the Democrats’ flagship newspaper here in Minnesota, the Star Tribune.
"At 8:59 last night, the Strib’s top headline was an optimistic claim that rioting in downtown Minneapolis had subsided: . . . 
"In fact, the looting and arson had barely begun. Before long, that story went down the memory hole. This morning, the Strib attempted a lame coverup of last night’s lawlessness with this still photo of rioters looting the Saks store on Nicollet Mall. Note the caption:"
"Nothing to see here! Just a bunch of “people” “gathered around a window”! The woman in the foreground with her arms full of clothes? She must have brought them from home.
"The saddest thing about the Democratic Party press’s pathetic evasions is “journalists'” unwillingness to tell the real story of the lives that have been devastated by Democrat-allied, Democrat-supported rioters. This Facebook post by a man whose family’s Asian restaurant was destroyed by Black Lives Matter rioters is–as he says–heartbreaking: . . ."

"Pressttitutes"?    " ‘Mostly Peaceful’ Mob Of ‘Over 100’ People Attacks Senator Rand Paul" 
. . . "This isn’t the first, or even the second time that Senator Paul has been on the receiving end of political violence.
"You will remember that time he was attacked (blindsided) by his neighbor so savagely that he had to have part of his lung removed as one of the complications of his injuries.
"You may NOT have remembered that he was present at the ball diamond on that day when Scalise was very nearly assassinated."

The savage immaturity of the left and their proxies in the streets

Kamala Harris delivered a spiteful prebuttal speech that was an embarrassment.  She blamed the President for Covid, as though he himself created it.  She blamed him for all the deaths despite his very early grasp of the potential seriousness of the virus.  She blamed him for the shock to our economy rather than all the Democrat governors who locked down their states in the hope it would hurt Trump.  They destroyed the economies of their own states to take out a president they hate
Patricia McCarthy   "Everyone, even Democrats, can agree that the DNC convention was an embarrassing bust, a poorly produced concoction of vapidity, anger and wrath.  They overdid the “let’s make everyone afraid of covid” bit, no audiences, masks on everyone even when alone on a stage.  It was a joke perpetrated by people who, to the core of their beings, think the American people are really stupid.  

"This core belief, that they can stupefy and manipulate us all, is why they produced a ridiculous covid-fearful four-night convention so boring no one watched it… because it was unwatchable.  John Kerry? Bill Clinton?  John Kasich?  Bernie Sanders?   Who on this planet cares about anything these corruptocrats have to say?  No one, not even the current crop of apoplectic Trump haters, especially those among the media.  The entire endeavor was a joke born of the left’s contempt for middle America.  They actually think that by making common cause with Antifa and Black Lives Matter, they can win.  
"Now that we’ve seen and reveled in the joyous tone of the RNC convention, the abyss between the two parties is writ gloriously large.  The left is angry and rattled because they’ve lost their grip on the power that they’ve always taken for granted, even when there was a Republican in the White House.  
"They are not running the show, Trump is, and his attempt to drain the swamp is making inroads, despite all their treasonous efforts to destroy the man and his presidency.  The ferocity of their hate for Trump has led them to reveal their inner souls and it is not a pretty picture.  They are an ugly bunch. The termagant Nancy Pelosi charges that Trump and his supporters are “enemies of the state”!  How is that for projection? " . . . 

Feds Swarm Seattle “Antifa” Group “Riot Kitchen” on Streets of Kenosha, Smash Car Windows and Round Everyone Up


Wayne Dupree  "When you cross state lines to riot, you’re in big trouble and the feds will hunt you down and take you in…
"That’s exactly what happened to the Seattle-based Antifa group called “Riot Kitchen.”
"It’s an anarchist group that uses a vegan food-truck as a front to hide their violence and anarchy.
"They claim they’re just out “feeding people.' ”
"Well, that’s not what the Feds think, because they just swarmed their vehicle in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and rounded all of them up."
"You can watch the video"
  . . . 
"Antifa thinks they’re so clever using a “food truck” as a beard for their violence. This is a very common move by the left. They love using marketing and slogans to hide their true agenda." . . .
"That stuff may have worked for a while, but people are hip to the “word game” now.
"Riot Kitchen “HQ” just responded to the raid and asked for “bail money”:
"Riot Kitchen HQ just learned that our bus crew was arrested in broad daylight in #Kenosha today – kidnapped by feds in unmarked vans. We are currently trying to find our friends who were just there to feed people. Please share and donate for bail via Venmo riotkitchen206

"In truth, Riot Kitchen Headquarters is probably the basement bedroom of some 30-year-old jobless vegan guy with a man bun."

"In the current chaos, I’ve come to appreciate Marcus Aurelius’s maxim that 'The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.'"

One of the most devastating lines in president Trump’s convention speech last night was this: 'Tonight, I ask you a very simple question: How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country?' AA
Althouse  "And I have to say I’m horribly conflicted on some issues. I’m supportive of
attempts to interrogate the sins of the past, in particular the gruesome legacy of slavery and segregation, and their persistent impact on the present. And in that sense, I’m a supporter of the motives of the good folks involved with the Black Lives Matter movement. But I’m equally repelled by the insistent attempt by BLM and its ideological founders to malign and dismiss the huge progress we’ve made, to re-describe the American experiment in freedom as one utterly defined by racism, and to call the most tolerant country on the planet, with unprecedented demographic diversity, a form of 'white supremacy.' I’m tired of hearing Kamala Harris say, as she did yesterday: 'The reality is that the life of a black person in America has never been treated as fully human.' This is what Trump has long defended as 'truthful hyperbole' — which is a euphemism for a lie. But here’s one thing I have absolutely no conflict about. Rioting and lawlessness is evil. And any civil authority that permits, condones or dismisses violence, looting and mayhem in the streets disqualifies itself from any legitimacy. This comes first. If one party supports everything I believe in but doesn’t believe in maintaining law and order all the time and everywhere, I’ll back a party that does. In that sense, I’m a one-issue voter, because without order, there is no room for any other issue.... One of the most devastating lines in president Trump’s convention speech last night was this: 'Tonight, I ask you a very simple question: How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country?' A cheap shot, yes. But in the current context, a political bullseye.' " . . .

About Ann Althouse
Ann Althouse has been blogging since January 14, 2004, and her blog has been called “Althouse” since January 15, 2004Born in Wilmington, Delaware, she’s been living in Madison, Wisconsin since 1984 when she began teaching at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she was a law professor for many years and is now a professor emerita. . . .