Embracing the Permanent: William F. Buckley and Populism

 Embracing the Permanent: William F. Buckley and Populism › American Greatness (amgreatness.com)

In embracing the permanent, one may be unfashionable, but one is never out of date.

"I never heard my friend William F. Buckley, Jr., opine about the merits or deficiencies of “populism.” But I often heard him discourse about the virtues of liberty and the political, social, and moral liabilities of the Left-liberal consensus. In my view, what we call “populism” was an important ingredient in liberty as WFB understood it. That was the point of one of his most famous mots. “I’d rather be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston telephone directory,” he said, “than by the 2,000 people on the faculty of Harvard University.”

"Was this wealthy and sophisticated gadfly pulling our leg? Was this Yale man just guying his rivals in Cambridge?

"I don’t think so. Buckley, who died in 2008 at 83, did as much as anyone to make conservatism intellectually and (just as important) socially respectable in the United States. He was too urbane and too verbally nimble to be dismissed as another troglodytic tobacco-chewing throwback. (For one thing, Bill took his tobacco in elegant little cigarillos.)

"Nevertheless, he had an abiding appreciation of the wisdom of the people and a corresponding suspicion of the elites, especially in their overbearing, Potomac-fever incarnation. “I rejoice in the influence of the people over their elected leaders,” he said on that same occasion, “since I think that they show more wisdom than their leaders or their intellectuals.” 

"The fact that a man of Buckley’s pedigree could prefer a promiscuous sampling of the census rolls to the educated tony-ness of Harvard not only offers us insight into his own political filiations: it also offers us some lessons about some contemporary political controversies. 

"What would Bill Buckley have thought about Donald Trump and his “America First” platform?". . .

CNN's Brian Stelter about to get the boot?

 Monica Showalter

SOURCE(S): "Brian Stelter's days are numbered with the network." Discovery management "very much considers him a Zucker henchmen and embarrassment" and believes he is "a negative partisan lighting rod and distraction going forward"

"It should have happened a long time ago.

"But, well, it's happening now.

"Brian Stelter, the television "journalist" who's the suck-up's suck-up in an industry full of stenographers, prevaricators, and teacher's pets, may now be on his last legs at CNN.

"According to USSA News:

After the Warner Brothers/Discovery merger, there was a focus on what partisan crap Fake News CNN has become. One of the people who makes Fake News CNN the least trusted name in news entertainment is our favorite genderless Potato head content creator Brian Stelter. Rumor has it his days are numbered. At least, according to reporter Jon Nicosia.

Nicosia's past credentials include Mediaite and Washington Examiner. His sources are the ones breaking the bad news, stating Discovery management "very much considers him a Zucker henchman and embarrassment" and believes he is "a negative partisan lighting rod and distraction going forward.". . .

. . ." Now that there's no Cuomo to make into the billy goat, Stelter is grasping for straws, sucking up to someone, anyone, within his vicinity, particularly Jen Psaki, who will now be working soon at MSNBC.  Can you imagine Stelter not wanting a piece of that, too, particularly with his job on the line at CNN?  It certainly would explain his latest round of suck-up behavior.  CNN will benefit from his absence."

 BRIAN STELTER FLAILS AS COLLEGE FRESHMAN CONFRONTS HIM ON CNN’S ‘DISINFORMATION’ ON HUNTER BIDEN, RUSSIA HOAX

"They push the Russian collusion hoax, they push the Jussie Smollett hoax, they smear Justice Kavanaugh as a rapist, and they also smeared Nick Sandmann as a White supremacist. And yes, they dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop affair as pure Russian disinformation," Phillips said.

Brian Stelter fails to ask The Atlantic journalist about their controversial Hunter Biden comments | Fox News  

"The CNN host ignored the topic, after he was also shamed by students at a ‘disinformation’ forum". . .

People are focused on Hispanics’ low approval of Biden, but take a look at the real outlier: +65 Americans.

Thread Reader at Revolver

"Biden is + with +65 yos with his highest approval number of any age bracket at 48%. This is insane if you consider the race cross tabs here. Only 23% of seniors are non-white so being at 48% with seniors blows out demographic expectations.

"His white approval rate is in the low 30s. It’s possible they crammed Ds into the +65 segment to lift that approval number up. Could have done the same with whites w/degrees. This was a favored tactic for Florida polling in ‘20 that showed Biden up +5%. Eagles 

"Overall disappointment on the left for Biden not being ‘left enough’ (only held back by Manchin) and no Green New Deal explains general dissatisfaction across younger ages that should support him. 76% from Ds is weaker than Obama ever had. They’ll vote D even if mad at Biden. 

"Black approval rate isn’t high enough to make up for it either. It’s such an outlier that polling shenanigans is the likely culprit. There is another possibility. The +65 crowd might have seen the world pass them by. Biden’s play for normality in ‘20 might work due to no tweets 

"The +65 crowd will swallow that covid is better. It’s not, but there’s no death ticker on tv and no nonstop psyop. Biden is awful but a known quantity. These people can think ‘90s Biden is a return to normal. They don’t have kids in schools. Their homes are paid for. They have $. 

"They aren’t working. DEI doesn’t affect them yet. The age skew isn’t as bad as in France where Macron enjoys amazing support from the elderly ‘68ers. It’s still bad if not a function of poll chicanery. We shouldn’t be surprised by the last gen that watches TV & believes its lies 

"These are the civility types. These Boomers likely rank JFK as a top 5 president because of vague memories curated by the media and his handsome smile. They hated Trump because the media & what he reminded them of themselves. 

"Biden offers a better (in their mind) reflection of a declining old man who has kids that look out for him (for corrupt deals) and younger minorities pat his back & praise him for being hip to their wants (a good white). ". . .

Silence is no longer golden: The left demands woke words

 Left demands woke words from corporations (nypost.com)

"Examples of this virtue-signaling abound: Think of every horrible video with endless Hollywood celebrities profoundly and sincerely decrying whatever the outrage du jour is. The issue here isn’t really “cancel culture,” it’s whether we can have entertainment and corporate spaces that are free of politics. 

SEE ALSO

Oh, to be as privileged as a Black Lives Matter leader

"This is part of a weird larger trend in corporate America in which it is no longer enough for companies to sell us soap and smartphones; they also must be saving the world, leading the way for cultural change or standing up to this, that or the other thing. Why? Why can’t they just sell us a widget and shut up? 

"The answer, until recently, has been that progressive public-relations stunts bought companies cred with the hyper-left at little cost. You could throw “love is love” into a commercial, throw on a colorful ribbon at the Oscars, and feel smug as you collected a paycheck. 

"Now that’s not enough. Activists and the Twitter mobs won’t accept it when businesses and cultural heroes don’t take a stand. You denounced that law in Kentucky, why won’t you do the same in Texas? 

"It’s hypocritical, of course, because the loudest voices in the room are screaming about Republican governors, but never call for a boycott of, say, Myanmar. And progressives are never happy with bland slogans of unity — they are increasingly pushing companies to oppose laws that most Americans agree with, including the Florida school curriculum one. ". . .

Conservative shareholders target 'woke' corporate boards - Washington Times  "Conservative investors are becoming shareholder activists to battle what they call the “woke” gender and race policies of America’s corporate boardrooms."

Will Conservative Investors Now Become Shareholder Activists and Battle 'Woke' Boardrooms? – RedState   . . ."In the wake of Elon Musk’s hostile takeover bid to acquire 100 percent of Twitter and take the leftist, conservative-censoring Big Tech giant private, investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald — the best in the business in my not-so-humble opinion — made the following observation:

Yesterday was a flagship day in corporate media. It was the day they were forced to explicitly state what has long been clear: they not only favor censorship but desperately crave and depend on it.

Even if Musk doesn’t buy Twitter, never forget what yesterday revealed.

Busted MTA cameras failed these subway violence victims, too

 NY Post

“The MTA has work to do to ensure riders feel safe. At a minimum, that means making sure existing security measures are working. New Yorkers are resilient and will persevere, but they deserve peace of mind that comes from a transit system that puts their safety first,” DiNapoli said in a statement.

 

. . ."Rebecca Lamorte, 30, a disability activist and former City Council candidate, recounted twice being assaulted on the subway — and both times authorities said cameras were out of service.

"In 2013, she said, she was getting off the 6 train at 51st Street when — “a woman pushed me.”

“ 'I thought I was putting my left leg on the platform and it was the gap, actually, between the train and the platform. my leg went in, it was crushed between the train and the platform,” she told The Post.

"The next morning, she couldn’t walk. Her left leg’s nerves are now “completely ruined,” causing her daily pain and forcing her to walk with a cane, she said.

“ 'I wanted camera footage. I was told that the cameras don’t work there. They’re either broken or there’s no tape in them to record anything,” she said. “I want to know what happened to me. … My life is forever shaped from this moment.' ”

Psaki Says Fox News ‘Provides Questions’ That Make ‘Anyone Sound Like a Stupid Son of a B*tch’

 Legal Insurrection

"The arrogance and snobbish attitude displayed by these people never fails to blow me away."

"Aren’t you so glad that decency has returned to the White House? Aren’t you so glad that we have an administration that doesn’t attack the press?

"Biden called Fox News’s Peter Doocy a stupid son of a b*tch when he asked the president about inflation.

"The issue came up on Thursday night when Press Secretary Jen Psaki appeared at a live recording of Pod Save America, which is run by a bunch of former Obama people.

"Doocy asks Psaki a lot of hard-hitting questions. He irritates her and the whole administration.

"So the hosts of the podcasts asked if Biden addressed Doocy correctly. Psaki used it to take a swipe at Fox News.

"Fox News issued this statement: “In his role as White House correspondent, Peter Doocy’s job is to elicit truth from power for the American public. His questions are his own, he is a terrific reporter and we are extremely proud of his work.”

"Then Psaki said Doocy “was gracious after President Biden called him and apologized.”. . .

Reporter asks if Trump will apologize for January 6th and crowd reacts negatively pic.twitter.com/Ikm9L3O4xe

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 30, 2021

New York Times Attacks Christians on Easter Weekend, Demands America Gets Rid of God

 New York Times Attacks Christians on Easter Weekend, Demands America Gets Rid of God | Neon Nettle

"The failing New York Times has marked the Holy weekend of Easter by attacking Christians and demanding that America gets rid of God.

"The left-wing newspaper published an op-ed on Good Friday arguing that faithful Christians should eliminate their belief in God.

"The article, titled “In This Time of War, I Propose We Give Up God,” shamelessly claims that God is responsible for “war and violence.”

"It continues by blaming God and Christianity for the world's “oppression and suffering.”

"It then suggests that people should be banned from teaching children about Him.

"The author concludes by declaring: "Killing gods is an idea I can get behind.' ". . .

Biden’s Late Brezhnev Period

 The American Conservative   "The president attempted to shake hands with someone who isn’t there, then stumbled around confused before finding his way off the stage. Take a look at this clip from Barack Obama’s recent visit to the White House. President Biden wandered around disoriented, and again tried to give a greeting with his hands to someone who wasn’t there.". . .

"This is not funny. This man is the Commander in Chief, and he is clearly not in full control of his faculties. The other day he called Russian war crimes in Ukraine “genocide” — a term that has specific meaning in international law, and that commits the US to certain acts in its face. As horrible as what Russia is doing is, it’s not genocide, and it cheapens the term for the sake of scoring political points against the Russians. The point is that the President of the United States is not in control of his mental faculties enough to stop himself from running off at the mouth in a time of war. You’ll remember how in Poland, he called for regime change in Russia — a radical statement that White House aides had to walk back.

" I’ve been thinking about Biden as a Jimmy Carter, in terms of his weakness at the polls. But he is also late-period  Leonin Brezhnev

" He’s not the only possibly senile politician in Washington:

 Dianne Feinstein's 'memory is rapidly deteriorating,' colleagues reportedly say (yahoo.com)

 Some colleagues of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are concerned she’s no longer fit to serve in Congress, according to a new report. . . .

 Full article here 

Media that gleefully pilloried the Catholic Church over pedophilia charges averts their eyes over much larger schoolteacher pedophilia problem

 Thomas Lifson

Imagine if 7 separate charges of pedophilia against Catholic priests had surfaced in one day.  The progressive media would have blared the total on front pages and in newscasts all day long 

Grooming? Woke Schools Brainwash Kids Using the Same Tactics Deployed
by Pedophiles (westernjournal.com)  Added by TD

. . ."I am not complaining that the Catholic Church’s problems should have been ignored by the media.  The institutional failure of the Church to confront its pedophile priests caused great suffering among innocent children.

But that suffering and institutional failure apparently is dwarfed by the magnitude of the pedophilia and grooming problem (they are closely related) in government schools. In both institutions, people entrusted with leadership responsibilities failed their young charges, and used them for their own perverse sexual gratification.  The media highlighted pedophilia cases in the Church to the point that pedophile priests became a cliché because of its hostility to  the Catholic Church for its unwavering commitment to unchanging moral standards given by God (including the sanctity of human life). But now that government schools have become indoctrination camps, dominated by left wing teachers’ unions and boards of education that do their bidding, the media usually limit coverage of teachers’ pedophilia to local media, if that. (The sole exception seems to be hot, young female teachers who have posed for pictures in provocative outfits.)

"OF COURSE, not all teachers are pedophiles. Just as was true for priests, many people selflessly devote themselves to the cause of helping others. But there needs to be strict scrutiny of those who seek to be put into the classroom, and awareness, as David Mamet recently pointed out, that pedophiles gravitate towards occupations that put them in contact with vulnerable children."

Don Surber: 7 pedo teachers in 1 day  . . ."The people who oppose the new law aid and abet these crimes. They don't want to be called groomers. That's an easy title to lose. Stop grooming and stop enabling groomers."

Not up for Debate: The RNC Votes Unanimously to Withdraw From the Commission on Presidential Debates

 Not up for Debate: The RNC Votes Unanimously to Withdraw From the Commission on Presidential Debates – RedState

The RNC took far too long in doing this. They should have voted to withdraw after the CNN Candy Crowley/Mitt Romney 2012 debate debacle.

. . ."Republican nominees have often cried foul over the bias existent in the commission, including former President Donald J. Trump. So, the fact that the RNC is now kicking the commission to the curb is no big surprise. Legacy media has been slipping into irrelevancy for years, hastened further by their collusion with the Democrats and government in pushing pandemic lies. Why watch a debate on a channel you do not trust with moderators whom you cannot stand? Free of the formalities of this commission, any presidential candidate can simply go on Joe Rogan’s podcast or Bill Maher’s HBO show Real Time, reach way more people, and be done with it.

"In January, the RNC wrote a letter to the Commission asking them to commit to certain parameters:

• To hold a debate before the start of early voting.
• To not hold any matchups after the deadline for mailing absentee ballots to military personnel and overseas voters.
• To enact term limits for the commission board members.
• To ban partisan political activity by officials and staffers of the commission.

"Former Missouri Sen. John Danforth is the poster child for these last two points. A so-called Republican, in 2020 Danforth famously took to The Washington Post, CNN, and other outlets to denounce then-sitting president Donald Trump and decry that he was not a Republican.

"Danforth has been on the Commission on Presidential Debates for 26 years.". . .

Joy Behar ridiculed as 'dumbest person in media' for saying SCOTUS 'poised to pass a bill' on open carry

 BPR  ABC’s “The View” is a very strange program.

"As New Republic senior correspondent Jim Geraghty wrote in a very pithy tweet: “‘The View’ is a show about current events, hosted by several celebrities who don’t know much about current events, and who adamantly refuse to learn anything new about current events.”

"That pretty much sums it up, and it’s a well-made point that was underscored on Wednesday when host Joy Behar made some peculiar comments in the wake of the Brooklyn subway mass shooting that injured at least 23 people earlier this week. Amid a generally inane and thoroughly pointless anti-gun conversation, during which a guest claimed that most gun owners shoot themselves (perhaps a case of wishful thinking, but not actually true,) Behar decided to weigh in and give vent to her considered opinion on the matter.

"First, she saw fit to open her opinions with a quick observation about the number of mass shootings that have occurred in the country so far. “So, we are 103 days into 2022,” she said, “and there have already been more than 130 mass shootings in America this year alone.”. . .

Joy Behar may the dumbest person in media. Here she argues the Supreme Court is poised to pass a bill on gun rights. pic.twitter.com/dgnJIT7VW0

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 13, 2022

WHO are that thirty-three percent? Celebrities?

 Bruce Springsteen for sure; The ladies of The View and their Applause sign guy; Late-night TV hosts; Mitt Romney and Adam Kinzinger? Hollywood? 

Oh, My … the Group That Hates Biden the Most Is … – PJ Media

"The next time some leftist robot tells you only racists could be against Biden’s open border, you can show them this poll. Why, it’s almost as if people who played by the rules and came here legally don’t really want every scumbag from their old homeland rolling into their new homeland and helping themselves to taxpayer goodies. Hispanics apparently pay taxes, too — who knew? 

I’m going out on a limb here and suggesting that people who uprooted their lives and left their homes to escape corrupt socialist countries didn’t go to all that trouble just to land in yet another corrupt socialist country.

This is even funnier when you remember that Democrats have been crowing for decades about how they are deliberately changing the demographics of America so that white voters will be canceled out because they thought Hispanic people would monolithically vote for them. Such is the danger when you are so racist that you can only see other human beings as members of skin-color groups to which you have assigned your own values.. . .

. . ."The next time some leftist robot tells you only racists could be against Biden’s open border, you can show them this poll. Why, it’s almost as if people who played by the rules and came here legally don’t really want every scumbag from their old homeland rolling into their new homeland and helping themselves to taxpayer goodies. Hispanics apparently pay taxes, too — who knew?"

After Biden finished his speech, he turned around and tried to shake hands with thin air and then wandered around looking confused pic.twitter.com/ZN00TLdUUo

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 14, 2022