The Sovietization of California...

...and the cartoonization of Gavin Newsom:

meyertoons.com

 Dennis Prager  "I am writing this column upon returning home to California after five days in Florida. For the first time since my first trip to Los Angeles in 1974 and moving there two years later, I dreaded going to California.

"That first trip, as a 25-year-old New Yorker, I experienced the palpable excitement looking at the American Airlines flight board at JFK airport and seeing “Los Angeles.” For most Americans, the very name “California” elicited excitement, wonder, even envy of Californians, and most of all … freedom. While America always represented freedom, within America, California exemplified freedom most of all.

"Yet, here I am, sitting in a state where corruption reigns (one of the leading Democrats of the last half-century told me years ago that politicians in California are window dressing; the real power in California is wielded by unions) and where, for nine months, normal life has been shut down, schools have been closed and small businesses have been destroyed in unprecedented numbers.

"During these last five days in Florida, a state governed by the pro-freedom party, I went anywhere I wanted. First and foremost, I could eat both inside and outside restaurants. At one of them, when I stood up to take photos of people dining, a patron who recognized me walked over and said, “I assume you’re just taking pictures of people eating in a restaurant.” That’s exactly what I was doing. I even took my two grandchildren to a bowling alley, which was filled with people enjoying themselves playing myriad arcade games as well as bowling.

Newsom

"None of that is allowed almost anywhere in California. It is becoming a police state, rooted in deception and irrationality.

"Restaurants have been shut down (except for takeout orders), even for outdoor dining, for no scientific reason. After ordering Los Angeles county restaurants closed, the health authorities of Los Angeles county acknowledged in court that they had no evidence that outdoor dining was dangerous; they ordered restaurants closed, even to outdoor dining, solely in order to keep people home.

"The left’s claim to “follow the science” is a lie. The left does not follow science; it follows scientists it agrees with and dismisses all other scientists as “anti-science.”

"Science does not say that eating inside a restaurant at least six feet from other diners, let alone outside a restaurant, is potentially fatal, but eating inside an airplane inches from strangers is safe.

"Science does not say mass protests during a pandemic (when people are constantly told to social distance) are a health benefit, but left-wing scientists say they are — when directed against racism. In June, Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, tweeted: “In this moment the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus.” She cited the former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tom Frieden: “The threat to Covid control from protesting outside is tiny compared to the threat to Covid control created when governments act in ways that lose community trust. People can protest peacefully AND work together to stop Covid. Violence harms public health.” . . . More

The Hardest Time of Year; Grieving Pain and Loss at Christmas

Vaneetha Rendall Risner  "The Christmas season carries heavy expectations. Expectations that often more closely resemble Hallmark images than the quiet expectancy of celebrating Christ’s birth. We picture festive gatherings with family and friends, brightly wrapped gifts under decorated trees, and delicious meals around tables with loved ones.

"Yet for those who have experienced loss, the holidays often bring a sense of dread. I remember the cloud that hung over me as I approached the first Christmas after my son’s death. " . . .

. . . Receiving Immanuel in the Valley    Full article here.

"How do we enter this Christmas season, when loss feels ever present, without giving in to despair? How do we find joy when little is as it used to be, and our lives feel thin and empty? How do we celebrate the birth of Christ when nothing around us feels celebratory?"

Vaneetha Rendall Risner is the author of Walking Through Fire: A Memoir of Loss and Redemption. Vaneetha and her husband Joel live in Raleigh, NC, where she writes at her website, encouraging readers to turn to Christ in their pain.

Stunning and Brave: 'Journalist' Writes Letter Patting Colleagues on Back, and It Backfires Big Time

Sister Toldjah   "If I had a dime for every time I’d seen a journalist on social media, television, or elsewhere talk about how stunning and brave it was to be a reporter under a Republican administration — especially the Trump administration — I could retire, hire some cabana boys to do my bidding, and buy a private island in the Pacific where I would plot a takeover of America first, and then the world." . . .

. . . "Fusilli Spock’s second to the last tweet was especially on point. Considering how the MSM pushed fake news story after fake news story this year about President Trump and other Republicans, effectively became front men and women for the Biden campaign by downplaying or suppressing much of the news that made him look bad (the Tara Reade allegations and Hunter Biden story come to mind), and deliberately undermined Trump’s touting of the vaccine in the run-up to the election, I don’t see where much if any congratulating and back-patting are in order for the media here.

"If anything, what 2020 reaffirmed for us about the media is that they’ve gotten worse in their nakedly partisan behavior, with recent examples demonstrating in no uncertain terms that state-run TV will be alive and well — and celebrated in the usual elite journalism circles — in 2021 under a Biden-Harris administration.

"While there have been some diamonds in the rough this year, this is nevertheless not the time for media figures to be high-fiving each other. It’s a time for them to be reflecting on what went wrong, why so many continue not to trust them, and how they can do better in the new year. Most won’t, however, because as history has shown us time and time again, these people simply never learn from their mistakes — probably because they don’t think they’ve done anything wrong in the first place." ....

UPDATE: Why an Editor's Open Letter to Journalists Got Totally Wrecked in a Single Twitter Thread

...In the words of Livia Soprano, “oh, poor you.” What is this? Journalists were rightfully mocked for the last four years for being outright terrible at their jobs. the bias was always there. During the Trump administration, it reached absurd new heights. There wasn’t even a half-assed attempt at hiding it. Journalists should get a pat on the back for doing their job. What job? Burying the shoddy and reportedly corrupt dealings of the Biden family, how Hunter Biden got rich off his daddy’s name because he’s a perpetual screw-up, how he didn’t report $400,000 from an unethical arrangement in Ukraine, and how he’s under investigation for tax fraud. Oh, and Joe is involved too. Some of these deals, like the one in China, were being hashed out when Joe was still VP under Obama. It’s enough of a story that 17 percent of Biden voters said they wouldn’t have voted for Corrupt Joe in the 2020 election if they had known about this pile of dirty laundry.  ... 

Is There a Vaccine Against Pandering?

. . . First, it was racist not to put black Americans at the head of the line for the vaccine. Once again, black people have to go to the back of the bus! Then the CDC decided minorities would get it first, before the elderly. True, those over 70 make up the lion’s share of COVID deaths, but they’re mostly white, so screw them. Oh wait — black people are getting the vaccine first? You see! They’re using us as guinea pigs! . . .

 Ann Coulter  "It now appears that the greatest threat to black Americans isn’t COVID, it’s being pandered to death.

"As the distribution of vaccines got underway last week, the Centers for Disease Control was trying to ensure that black people would get the vaccine before the elderly (too white!), while the media were focused on rationalizing black people’s opposition to taking the vaccine at all.

"— NPR “Weekend Edition”:

"Scott Simon: “Help us understand why many black Americans may be skeptical of a vaccine.”

"Liz Walker: “Well, Scott, you know, black people have been traumatized by a betrayal of the system forever for generations. … We have all now talked about the experiment that used people with syphilis in Tuskegee. We all know about Henrietta Lacks.”

"— ABC’s “Good Morning America”:

"Zachary Kiesch (voiceover): “From the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, where scientists deliberately infected men and withheld treatments, to Henrietta Lacks, a young black mother of five who, in 1951, unknowingly had cells taken from her that biomedical research led to breakthrough cancer treatment.”

"— MSNBC “The Reidout”:

"Joy Reid: “And then the other piece is, when it comes, particularly in our community, black people, they might be like, I don’t trust science, the science. We — Tuskegee experiments, etc. There’s just not a lot of trust. And it was developed during the Trump era.”

"Yes, because black people have a long track record of trusting the government …

"A New York Times/WCBS-TV poll found that 70% of African Americans believed that “the government deliberately makes sure that drugs are easily available in poor black neighborhoods to harm black people.”

"A CNN/Essence poll found that 88% of African Americans think the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. was part of a “larger plot.”

"A survey of more than 1,000 black church members by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference showed that 35% believed that AIDS was a form of genocide, and another 30% were unsure." . . .

Donald Trump Pardons Fifteen Americans Including George Papadopoulos

 Breitbart  . . . "Trump also pardoned Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard, four military veterans who were serving as military contractors for Blackwater in Iraq who were prosecuted for the deaths of Iraqi civilians. The pardon was supported by Fox News host Pete Hegseth and many other Republicans in Congress.

"President Trump also pardoned Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were charged and convicted of assault after shooting an illegal immigrant whom they believed was armed and resisted arrest. President George W. Bush previously issued commutations for both men during his final days in office, but Trump extended a full pardon." . . .

Trump pardons Steve Stockman  "President Trump has ended a terrible injustice by fully pardoning Former Representative Steve Stockman. Steve was one of 20 people who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted yesterday.  Naturally, the Trump-hating mainstream media are enraged. Consider the snide New York Times story:" . . .

Yes, It Was a Stolen Election; You’d have to be blind not to see it.

John Perazzo

"As Americans continue to watch the 2020 election controversy unfold, the very same publications that spent years lying about President Trump’s “Russia collusion” are once again telling us what we are dutifully supposed to believe. The Los Angeles Times, for instance, assures us that Trump’s “baseless” and “dangerous” claim “that the election was rigged to benefit Joe Biden” has been thoroughly “debunked.”[1] The New York Times proclaims that “Trump’s false election fraud claims” are founded upon nothing more than a “torrent of falsehoods.”[2] Sneering at “how Trump drove the lie that the election was stolen,” The Washington Post mocks Republicans who “are still pretending that there was election fraud.”[3] And CNN.com warns that “Trump's obsession with overturning the election” has now begun to spiral “out of control.”[4]

"But so much for what the comic books have to say. What follows is a compilation of vital facts that will demonstrate, to anyone interested in following the truth wherever it may lead, that the 2020 presidential election was indeed rife with fraud, and that Joe Biden, if he should in fact be sworn into office next month, will be an illegitimate president from the very start.

"Before the Election: How We Got Here" . . .

While President Trump was granting interviews on a daily basis to friendly and hostile media outlets alike, and was holding campaign rallies that drew tens of thousands of passionate supporters, Joe Biden, for the most part, remained locked away inside his basement, rarely even agreeing to give brief video interviews. On the few occasions when Biden did take part in interviews, he was typically disoriented, incoherent, and seemingly exhausted. And when he held “rallies,” they were invariably awkward, uninspired events mired in pessimistic rhetoric and attended only by tiny handfuls of people.[10] Common sense tells us that no candidate so pathetically inept and so deeply unappealing, could possibly have inspired 15.4 million more people to vote for him, than had voted for Democrat icon Barack Obama in 2012.[11] . . .

 This photo literally captured the horror of the Biden campaign on caregiver Jill's face...   This photo tells me that the real “campaign pressure” is on Jill.

"She’s the one trying to hold this whole “dog and pony show” together.  She, better than anyone, knows how bad-off her husband is, and yet, she’s still out there trying to portray him like a “strong leader.”  It has to be emotionally draining and absolutely terrifying of her. Lying is not easy, is it?

"One wrong move and her entire house of cards will come tumbling down.

"And then there’s Joe – just lost – completely unaware of all that’s going on around him, stumbling around like a bull in a china shop knocking over Jill’s house of cards without even realizing what he’s doing." . . .

Even as Democrats become more anti-Israel, the Middle East is changing

At this rate, the American Democrat party is soon going to be an anti-Semitic backwater, clinging to its prejudices as the Muslim world embraces Trump’s Abraham Accords. What the Democrats, who are invested in hate, don't understand is that the Accords are good for everyone, Jews and Muslims alike.

The flag of Israel

 Andrea Widburg  "Over the past few years, Democrats, from Obama on down, have escalated their fetid mixture of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic rhetoric. In the Middle East, however, the Trump administration's peace efforts have resulted in an extraordinary de-escalation of those same sentiments.

"On the American left, there can’t be any doubt that Democrats are increasingly hostile to Israel. For example, among those strong enough to read Obama’s 768-page homage to himself, several have noted his hostility to Jews and to the Jewish state, views that Obama has long held, going back to his time in Rev. Wright’s anti-Semitic church or attending a party for Rashid Khalidi, Yassir Arafat’s former spokesman -- an event so vile that the Los Angeles Times still refuses to release the video of that event.

"Robert Spencer noted that Obama, as he did in 2009 with his Cairo speech, still believes that the Palestinians are indigenous to the land and that Jews are the interlopers. He’s got it bass-ackwards of course. The modern Palestinians drifted into the land beginning in the early 1830s, while the Jews’ tie to the land extends back well over 3,000 continuous years. Likewise, Henry Ergas noticed that Obama managed to use classic anti-Semitic imagery to describe former French President Nicholas Sarkozy.

"Farrakhan-supporter Raphael Warnock got support from Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Linda Sarsour, all three of whom are known for openly anti-Semitic remarks. There was also the spectacle of Rashida Tlaib, Peter Beinart, and Marc Lamont Hill, all of whom insist that they’re not anti-Semitic, getting together to spin antisemitic tropes.

"In the Middle East, things are different. Although the Saudis have not yet signed onto Trump’s Abraham Accords, which create a new paradigm of peace in the Middle East, they are trying to reduce anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist content from their textbooks:" . . .

The BDS Democrats     . . . "While circulating a letter among Democrats that threatens Israel with the elimination of military aid, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) touted the support of leading anti-Semitic groups that push for boycotts of Israel. At the time she was circulating it, the letter had yet to be made public.

"This means Rep. Ocasio-Cortez intentionally sought endorsements for her letter from some of the most poisonous and extreme groups on the far left, including American Muslims for Palestine, a leader of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement that celebrates Hamas, and Defense for Children International Palestine, which is credibly seen as an nongovernmental organization front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.- and European Union-designated terrorist group. This rogue's gallery of hate and violence merchants aren’t groups that just happened to support Ocasio-Cortez’s letter—they are the groups she sought out." . . .

National Anthem of Israel - Beautiful Version (English Subtitles)

Of Merit and Melanin: Identity Politics and the Balkanization of America

Identity Politics strips away the idea that we are all Americans first. It places race, religion, creed, sexuality, and most importantly, skin pigmentation at the forefront of one’s identity. . . .

  Caren Besner  "On May 22, 2019, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams gave a speech at the Center for American Progress. Ms. Abrams spoke out strongly in her defense of Identity Politics, stating that “Identity Politics is exactly who we are and exactly how we won,” and arguing that Identity Politics “brought new folks to the process.” That is untrue.

"America is based on the idea of pluralism, the notion that, regardless of our race, religion, creed, or national origin, we would all co-exist within one nation. Countless millions migrated here from every continent and continue to do so. They retained their ethnic, religious, and cultural identity, but regarded themselves as Americans. Most worked and studied hard, going to school in the evening to master English and prepare for the difficult citizenship exam. Many have said that the proudest moment of their lives was when they were sworn in as American citizens.

"To this day, many families still retain old and worn naturalization certificates as part of their family heirlooms. To them, and for hundreds of millions around the world, America was and is, a source of hope and inspiration. This is the reason why protesters in Hong Kong wave American, not Chinese flags. It is why, from Central America to China, families give all they have to smugglers, sometimes having to resort to selling themselves into virtual slavery to get here. Probably, half the world’s population would emigrate here right now if they had the wherewithal to do so.

"Identity Politics strips away the idea that we are all Americans first. It places race, religion, creed, sexuality, and most importantly, skin pigmentation at the forefront of one’s identity. It maintains that America is a horrible place, filled with racists, sexists, and xenophobes, and is, in fact, the source of most of the world’s problems. This is a reversion to tribalism. It repudiates everything that America stands for and could ultimately have catastrophic consequences.

"Just ask the former citizens of what used to be called Yugoslavia. That nation devolved into civil war and anarchy with various ethnic and religious groups, mainly Serbs, Muslims, and Croats, competing for power and control. It ruined the city of Sarajevo and, ultimately, the nation of Yugoslavia and introduced two new terms to our language: “Ethnic Cleansing” and “Balkanization.”

"It took the direct intervention of NATO to restore a semblance of order. Ultimately, seven separate nations evolved out of the carcass of the former Yugoslav Republic, most of which remain hostile to one another."  . . . Read more

Joe Biden advises 'our darkest days are ahead of us'

Now he's saying that President Trump's supposed "failure to lead," in his words, "landed at my doorstep." Anybody want to place money on the idea that Biden could have come up with an Operation Warp Speed? Or, sent naval ships to big city ports to relieve hospitals, all in record speed? Biden, of course, would spend a couple years consulting "the experts." 

 Monica Showalter " 'President-elect" Joe Biden, is constantly nattering on about light and darkness. Plagiarizing Peggy Noonan, he did it throughout his presidential campaign: 

• Biden vows to end 'season of darkness' as he accepts Democratic presidential nomination -The Guardian, August 20, 2020
• Joe Biden Frames Election As Battle Of Light And Dark As He Accepts Democratic Nomination -Forbes, August 20, 2020
• Biden vows to defeat Trump, end US ‘season of darkness’ -Associated Press, August 21, 2020
• DNC 2020: Biden vows to end Trump's 'season of darkness' -BBC, August 21, 2020
• "We're about to go into a dark winter": Biden says Trump has no plan for coronavirus -CBS News, Oct. 23, 2020
• Biden Warns of ‘Very Dark Winter’ as U.S. Approaches 10 Million Coronavirus Cases -U.S. News & World Report, Nov. 9, 2020
• Biden Calls for Stimulus Ahead of a ‘Dark Winter’ for the Country -New York Times, Nov. 16, 2020
• Joe Biden warned of a ‘dark winter.’ Now it's here (headline since altered but still visible on Google) -Washington Post, Dec. 20, 2020

"Now that he's so-called 'president-elect,' he's focusing on just the 'darkness' part.

"Here's how bad it is, according to Deadline Hollywood:" . . .

Obama Invents 'Office of the President-Elect'  . . . “ 'Once again, [Obama] can’t wait to invest himself with the trappings of office.”

"Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin wondered: “What other make-believe offices are they going to invent between now and Inauguration Day? I can’t ever recall in my lifetime any mention of such an office.”

"Technically speaking, Obama may not even be the President-elect, according to the American Sentinel Web site.

“ 'Megalomaniac Obama’s ego grows even more insufferable,” a weekend posting reads.

“ 'Yes, he will be [president-elect]. But he’s not officially yet, until the Electoral College votes." . . .

No, Joe, We’re Not in a ‘Climate Crisis’

 Rich Lowry

He doesn’t want to get us thinking about climate change, but rather to suspend all rational thought about the issue.

 "Former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel’s famous axiom is that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. It’s an even worse thing to manufacture.

"Although President-elect Joe Biden obviously disagrees. Creating an unwarranted sense of drama and urgency around climate change is central to his approach, in order to catalyze action unsupported by the facts or common sense.

"In announcing his climate and energy team the other day, Biden declared climate change a crisis requiring a “unified national response.” Going even further, he called it “an existential threat of our time,” a frankly preposterous claim if taken literally, or even seriously.

"To maintain that increasing global temperatures are a threat to human existence itself entails believing that human beings — an endlessly adaptive species that has dramatically increased its own lifespan over the past century — will be snuffed out if the planet gets a few degrees hotter."  . . . 

Biden spoke of “a feeling of dread and anxiety” over climate change, but this isn’t a sentiment that, to the extent it exists at all, he wants to address or assuage. Instead, he seeks to stoke it, and if that requires frankly distorting the scientific consensus to paint catastrophic scenarios, so be it.

Putin Will Laugh In The Face Of Biden’s Obama-Style ‘Red Line’ Threats

Obama, the vindictive darling of TV hosts, rock musicians, Hollywood, and miseducated generations is once again king of the talking heads. TD

Daily Wire

. . . "Indeed, Obama’s inaction was the only consistent variable in his strategy for Russia. During his time in office, with Biden by his side, “Russia annexed Crimea, invaded eastern Ukraine, intervened in Syria, and hacked the Clinton campaign and the DNC.” And who can forget the Obama’s insipid arrogance during his 2012 debate with Mitt Romney, saying “the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”

"While Democrats applauded this “zinger,” Mitt Romney was right and Obama was wrong, and we are still paying the price. As we stand on the eve of a Biden administration, what does this mean in practice for the ongoing struggle with Russia, and more broadly, our foreign policy?

"Biden’s return to the White House means a return of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. This means apology tours, Iran deals, and popularity tests. What matters most when it comes to Putin and his government is the return of Obama-style “all talk, no action.” Dictators like Putin measure and judge their competitors on the global stage by one metric: strength. Through this lens, naive western career politicians like Obama and Biden are the weakest of them all.

"In 2012, Obama famously drew a “red line,” saying that the use of chemical weapons would “change my calculus.” When that red line was crossed by the Assad regime, Obama did nothing, and America’s enemies noticed. Biden is coming close to drawing a red line with Russia regarding cyber warfare. The only question that matters is whether Putin thinks Biden would ever have the guts to enforce it. History suggests otherwise."

BLM Crash and Disrupt a Christmas Cancer Fundraiser for Kids

 RedState   "The people in West Allis, Wisconsin have a lovely holiday tradition.

"They have a neighborhood they’ve dubbed “Candy Cane Lane” from just after Thanksgiving to just after Christmas. Everyone decorates up a storm so it’s quite the sight to see, people come from all around just to visit." . . .

. . . They chanted “Black lives matter!” “No justice! No peace!” “Whose lane? Our lane!” “Whose streets? Our streets!” One of their members on a livestream said they were “as loud as can be. Waking up each block with holiday cheer, screaming “NOJUSTICE, NO PEACE”, until all around hear” and that they were “giving the gifts of our demands for Black and Brown lives.”

"Seriously? Who thinks this is a good idea to do this, not only just to a Christmas event for kids but a cancer charity no less?"

Black Lives Matter Protest on Street Decorated in CHRISTmas Lights for Kids With Cancer

. . . "According to Candy Cane Lane’s website, this is what the street is all about…

In December, 1984, a wonderful group of neighbors living in West Allis, Wisconsin, joined together to collect donations for the MACC Fund – Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer, Inc., in honor of a neighbor’s child diagnosed with cancer. The neighbors worked in concert in decorating their homes and encouraged visitors to make a small donation as they drove through the festively enhanced neighborhood. All of the money raised went to supporting research, treatment, and the eventual discovery of a cure for childhood cancers and related blood diseases.

 "So these folks with BLM think the way to gain awareness for their cause is to crash a street in Wisconsin dedicated to kids with cancer decorated in CHRISTmas tree lights and make a ton of noise? I have to give their PR firm oodles of credit for that stroke of non-brilliance. The problem we have here is that we have devolved into this society that we are now openly calling for only some lives to matter, not all. That you have this mindset that is flourishing in this country currently that the way to remedy previous injustices is to inflict more based on the color of one’s skin. This is 180 degrees from where the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was in his speeches and sermons and it is somewhere we need start heading back to ASAP." . . .