America Needs Elites … But Not the Kind That We Think

 Intellectual Takeout

 . . . "Above all, they were informed by the moral and political lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They constantly invoked these sources when framing arguments about liberty, virtue, and republican government."  

“I am obliged to confess I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University,” William F. Buckley Jr. once quipped. It was likely a fair judgment when he said it, and if you can still find a phone book, it might even hold today. Still, one may reasonably wonder how much common sense remains among the inhabitants of Boston or Manhattan.

"Yet Buckley’s remark points to something deeper: an enduring American preference for the common man. This instinct animates the MAGA movement and underlies the familiar call to “drain the swamp.” In the Trump era, candidates feel compelled to present themselves as political outsiders, regardless of how educated or well-connected they may be. It is possible, after all, to become so educated that one loses touch with common sense.

"But the more pressing question is whether elites are a problem in themselves or whether our present elites have failed in a distinct and meaningful way. To understand this tension, it is worth returning to the founding fathers, where America’s faith in the common man began.

"The founders established a government of and for the people because they believed ordinary citizens were capable of self-rule. Thomas Jefferson believed that a republic of yeoman farmers – living virtuous, independent lives – offered the surest foundation for liberty and human flourishing. This was a new and controversial idea, not without critics. In response to those who doubted the capacity of farmers to govern, Jefferson noted that American farmers “are the only farmers who can read Homer.” . . . More...

Elijah Newcomb is a graduate of Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He aspires to advance and defend religious liberty in public life.

Uh-Oh — The Kids Aren’t Reading the NYT!

 Ann Coulter 

" . . . a 23-year-old YouTuber, Nick Shirley, posted a video titled, “I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal,” that exposed fake Somali “daycare” centers as empty buildings being used to collect millions of dollars in government child care subsidies. It quickly racked up millions of views. The only thing the major media could do was carp about his investigation and sneer that he was “right-wing.” 

David Hitch

"Social media has been blamed for transmitting social contagions, which is ironic because the main social contagion right now is the idea that social media is bad for you. Even people who are happily online 14 hours a day feel the need to apologize, as if they’re admitting to being a heroin addict.

"The New York Times recently published an op-ed titled, “The Way to Get Kids Off Screens” that entirely dispensed with the “Why should we?” part of the argument. Times readers, not exactly free thinkers, were right on board. From the comments section: “Mom and Dad: get off your screens”; “Give the kids flip phones only. No surfing ability and no internet, period”; “Take the phone from your child. Dispose of it responsibly.”

"Scolding kids for their social media use is today’s fashionable position. Get your kids off social media, don’t wear white to a wedding, and always wear a mask or grandma dies of COVID. [RECORD SCRATCH!]

"Actually, universal masking accomplished almost nothing to prevent the spread of COVID. You’d have known that at the time, except, under pressure from Democrats, social media companies suppressed true information about COVID in the name of “safety.”

"In fact, every single thing the major media, from CNN and MSNBC to The New York Times and NPR, told us about COVID was a lie. The officially sanctioned directive was that we had to shut down the country, wear masks, socially distance, close schools, and get vaccinated (because there’s no such thing as “natural immunity”!) to prevent the spread of a virus that was going to spread everywhere no matter what we did.

"If you did know the truth, you most likely got it from social media. You sure didn’t get it from the Times.

"Consider that the progressive zealots running the Biden administration checked off nearly every item on the hard-left’s to-do list. Not surprisingly, one of those items was to crack down on social media, and demand sweeping censorship of unapproved facts.

"Similarly, long before the first presidential debate, it was mostly social media that exposed the MSM’s fairy tale about President Biden’s mental fitness. They’d assure us that the president was fit as a fiddle — and then we’d see videos of him wandering about, drooling, disoriented, and shaking hands with world leaders only he could see." . . . More...

Speaking of Ann Coulter: The Problem isn't health insurance, it's OBAMACARE!  (Video)

"Me discussing Luigi Mangione on Dan Abrams' show"

Fetterman Torches His Own 'Anti-American' Party — and He's Naming Names

RedState  

 "If you’re not going to join the right side, John, how about you at least go independent? By siding with that poisonous team, you are aiding and abetting them, despite your spot-on criticism of their antics. #WalkAway."

"The case of Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. John Fetterman has been the subject of endless fascination because he’s turned out to be so different from what numerous pundits — and many of his own voters — thought he would be. No, he’s not suddenly on the conservative team, and no, most of his policies aren’t things we’d endorse, and yes, he is still firmly a Democrat at his core.

"But all too often lately, he sounds like the only Dem in D.C. who hasn’t lost their mind. Not only has he not performed as the far-left extremist many expected, but he’s also taken to occasionally siding with the GOP on crucial issues while heavily criticizing his comrades." . . .

. . . "It’s interesting to me that he’s calling out the dangerous zaniness of the Marxist wing of his party because if even he sees it, you know it must be bad — really bad.

"Speaking on The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie in a video posted Wednesday, Fetterman said it’s not that he has changed so much — it’s that the party around him has morphed into something unrecognizable and has become “increasingly anti-American.”

"He wasn’t afraid of naming names, and boy, did he:

"I think the extremism is driving it without a doubt," Fetterman said in a Reason interview. "Look at the primaries, you know, all across in the Senate and in the House and look at the kinds of people that have already been elected.

"Like, for example, the mayor in Seattle. She's an absolute socialist, if not more, how people [go] 'Hey, I'm leaving' and she's like, ‘bye’ and just describe that kind of thing."

Fetterman was referring to Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, who last month laughed off the idea of millionaires leaving the state based on her support for a progressive tax.

 More...  Did you catch the reference to "Walkaway"?

Tennessee Republicans show how to handle Dem reps who foment chaos - Monty L. Donohew

"In a refreshing display of backbone, Tennessee House speaker Cameron Sexton delivered a clear message to the Democrat caucus: Political terrorism will not be tolerated in the Volunteer State.  As Sean Davis of The Federalist reported Tuesday, every single member of the House Democratic Caucus has been stripped of all standing committee and subcommittee assignments following their disgraceful conduct during last week’s special session on congressional redistricting.  The offenses?  Coordinated disruptions inside the Capitol, including setting fires, attacking law enforcement officers, and turning the legislative chamber into a circus." . . .  As was said: Walkaway! 

Kinocide! Hamas forced sexual torture between family members on Oct. 7

Kinocide as a Strategy of Terrorism: Legal Frameworks, Case Law Analysis, and the Need for Global Legal Recognition - GLOBAL LAW TODAY  

"The civil commission’s “Kinocide: The Weaponization of Families” report documents Hamas’s deliberate targeting of families during the October 7 attack—murdering parents in front of children, abducting family units, and broadcasting these atrocities through social media (New York Post, JNS.org)."

  NY Post  

"That included young women being threatened with marriage to their captors — and, unspeakably, family members held captive together being forced to commit sexual acts on each other."

These products of ignorance and liberalism are just fine with it.

"Hamas waged a widespread campaign of rape during the Oct. 7 massacre — including sexual torture designed to destroy entire families — and in the months following, a horrific two-year investigation released Tuesday concluded.

"The terror group left behind a trail of evidence of its horrifying acts, with the Israeli nonprofit Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children unearthing over 10,000 photos and nearly 2,000 hours of footage of the atrocities during its investigation.

"Over 430 witnesses were also interviewed, who told terrifying tales of terrorists raping and mutilating women both alive and dead, humiliating them sexually, and executing women while violating them and then parading their bodies as trophies.  

"The men pulled a woman from the vehicle … forcibly removed her clothing, and raped her … They repeatedly stabbed her, killing her … They continued to rape her after her death,” Nova music festival survivor Raz Cohen told the commission.

“You hear it. It’s right next to you. You hear the screams,” said another survivor, Darin Komarov. “And then you hear silence.” . . .

Some of the worst crimes described by survivors were labeled “Kinocidal sexual violence” — which the commission described as “crimes deliberately aimed at torturing and destroying the family as a cohesive social and emotional unit.”

UPDATED: James Talarico Feels the Heat for Helping Tank Texas Bill That Targeted Criminal Illegals

 Jennifer Oliver O'Connell

In the midst of the former President's praise, Obama pronounced Talarico's last name as "Turico," butchering the state representative's last name.

Turico following n the back

"Barack Obama brought charisma, warmth and star power to the Texas campaign trail as he joined James Talarico for a series of candid interactions with voters in Austin, Texas, on May 12. From laughing with supporters to holding a child and greeting diners, the former president’s presence seemed to resonate with the public years after leaving office." . . .

"Obama and James Talarico moved from table-to-table speaking with patrons as supporters gathered around them inside the Austin restaurant. Obama spent nearly 30 minutes moving from booth to booth in a classic display of retail politicking, chatting with voters about issues ranging from data centers to voting rights while posing for group photos with an overwhelmingly younger crowd that erupted with excitement when the former president walked in.

"The images reinforced Obama’s continuing influence within Democratic politics as candidates seek to tap into his popularity and public appeal. The former president, however, did not make any public remarks or formally endorse either Democrat." . . .

Texas Democrat wins Obama's support despite name blunder

Why Won’t Barack Obama Go Away?   Unfortunately, the American people are suffering the consequences of Obama’s insatiable desire to insert himself into the national conversation. He has been vocal in criticizing the Trump-era GOP and boosting Democrats on the campaign trail ever since making the two-mile trek from the White House to Kalorama. Obama soared to the top of the political world after his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech vowed there was not a liberal America and a conservative America, but a singular United States of America. It’s a poignant sentiment. But once in power, Obama ruled as divider-in-chief.

"All these years later, he’s still acting the same way." . . .

Again; we will miss Obama...whenever.

Mayorkas: Man, Somebody Shoulda Done Sumpthin' About That Border

HotAir  

"Now we know he was just another dumb cluck ideologue dutifully carrying out the orders of the glitterati who ruled over him. Technically, he was the Director of the Department of Homeland Security. We just know him as Ray; Ray Mayorkas."

"So, I always feel heartened when I can end the evening on either a high note or one so insanely ridiculous that you can't help but laugh.

This is one of those.

And please don't cry.

Once upon a time in the legendary years of the reign of POTATUS, there was a man. As we now know, he was a very, very simple man.

At the time, we were all convinced he was a super ee-ville genius.

Now we know he was just another dumb cluck ideologue dutifully carrying out the orders of the glitterati who ruled over him.

Technically, he was the Director of the Department of Homeland Security.

We just know him as Ray. Ray Mayorkas.

He was perpetually beaten up once Republicans gained the House back.

Kash Patel Called Out This Sheriff Over the Nancy Guthrie DNA as Investigation Hits Critical 100-Day Mark

 Patriot Pulse 

Kash Patel Says the Sheriff Blocked the FBI From Nancy Guthrie Evidence

Kash Patel publicly embarrassed a sitting county sheriff over botched DNA evidence in a kidnapping case watched by the entire nation.

Now the FBI has the evidence the sheriff's office sat on for weeks – and 100 days later, Nancy Guthrie is still missing.

The question isn't whether the DNA will crack this case open.

Patel went on Sean Hannity's podcast May 5 and didn't mince words about Democrat Sheriff Chris Nanos' handling of the Nancy Guthrie abduction.

For the first four days after Guthrie vanished from her Tucson home on February 1, Patel said the FBI was shut out entirely.

"For four days we were kept out of the investigation," Patel told Hannity. "The first 48 hours of anyone's disappearance are the most critical."

When federal agents were finally let in, they immediately delivered – recovering doorbell camera footage by working directly with Google that showed a masked, armed man tampering with the camera the morning of the abduction.

"We could have gotten it days before," Patel said.

Then came the DNA.

Investigators recovered a strand from Guthrie's home that doesn't match her or anyone known to have been there – a potential gold-standard lead in a case that has produced virtually none.

Patel said the FBI offered to fly it to Quantico immediately.

"I had a fixed-wing aircraft on the ground ready to move it immediately through the night," Patel said. "And they said we're sending it to Florida."

The Florida lab held the evidence for weeks before it was finally transferred to the FBI." . . .

A RedState Photo Odyssey: The Devastation of the Pacific Palisades Is America's Wake-Up Call

 Bob Hoge

"The California Dream has turned into a dystopian nightmare. Karen Bass, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Xavier Becerra, Tom Steyer, and all their union cronies want to bring this socialist hallucination to you, the American people." 

. . . "We here at RedState have extensively documented the disastrous failures of the one-party Democrat rule here in the Golden State, helmed by the governor with the worst record of failure arguably in the history of the United States, Gavin Newsom. Meanwhile, LA Mayor Karen Bass jetted off to Ghana despite being warned that a looming catastrophe was on the way, a key reservoir above the Palisades was left empty by highly-paid, inept Department of Water and Power (DWP) officials, the LA Fire Department was more concerned with DEI and LGBTQ than fire prevention, the forestry service told firefighters to stand down because they cared more about plants than people… the list goes on, and on… and on.

"The notable increase in construction gave me hope, but there’s a caveat: there are many stories and rumors about foreign interests and investment bros snapping up properties and planning on radically changing what once were leafy, family-friendly neighborhoods. Some theorize that the real “progressive” plan is to turn the whole area into high-density urban housing — nothing like it once was.

"I’d say all that they were all just tinfoil hat conspiracy theories, except that the two links I provided in the above paragraph show that they are most certainly not. Meanwhile, I’ve lived in the formerly Golden State long enough to know that, however devilish you think the Left’s plans are for the failing West Coast progressive juggernaut, the reality is always worse. My fear is that the Palisades will never again be the idyllic, wonderful area that mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt grew up in. He watched as his own house and his parents' were incinerated beyond recognition, and that trauma has inspired his once unlikely but now increasingly viable run for mayor."

More ...

Spencer Pratt ad brilliantly trolls LA’s lefty leaders with hilarious City Hall stunt

Jamie Paige  "The viral anti-Mayor Karen Bass video that lit up social media is rolling through the streets of downtown Los Angeles in what may be one of the boldest political stunts yet in the city’s increasingly chaotic mayoral race.

"Two massive billboard trucks circled City Hall for hours Tuesday carrying the now-famous “Spencer, take out the trash” campaign message tied to Pratt and his rapidly growing online political movement.

"The phrase plays off the Spanish word “basura,” meaning “trash,” while taking direct aim at Bass and her administration." . . .

"Supporters behind the campaign have used the slogan to frame City Hall as bloated, corrupt and failing on homelessness, crime and basic city services.

"The trucks looped around government buildings and busy downtown streets while displaying graphics tied to the viral campaign that has already spread nationwide across TikTok, Instagram and X.

"The campaign’s videos have leaned heavily into aggressive internet-style political messaging, mixing AI-generated imagery, animation and rapid-fire attacks on City Hall leadership.

"Several clips depict dystopian scenes of Los Angeles collapsing under homelessness, graffiti, trash and crime while portraying Pratt as an anti-establishment outsider promising to clean up the city." . . .  More...

Hilarious viral AI ad depicts Karen Bass as Darth Vader

"Sky News host Rita Panahi claims Spencer Pratt has gained momentum in the Los Angeles mayoral race after supporters released a viral AI-generated campaign ad. “The Spencer Pratt campaign to be Mayor of LA got another book when supporters put together this latest ad,” Ms Panahi said. “He seems to be closing the gap very quickly with the incumbent Karen Bass.” "The AI artists turned Spencer Pratt into a Jedi sent to save a destroyed and burning city run by an AI depiction of Karen Bass as Darth Vader." . . .

Douglas Murray: Tech firms must crack down on mad conspiracy theories destroying society

 Douglas Murray  

"The traditional media would be in a whole world of legal pain if we ran and boosted claims that were knowingly untrue. Yet Meta, Facebook, X, YouTube, TikTok and the rest of them actually make money off this model. They incentivize people by rewarding those who advance the wackiest claims imaginable."

"If you need more proof of how deranging our times have become, just consider this: the number of times the word “staged” was used in the hours after the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner shooting last Saturday.

"This isn´t only a problem for social media companies. It is a problem for our democracy. And it is one we need to tackle.

"While hundreds of journalists were sheltering in place on Saturday evening, and the entire chain of command of the United States was being raced out of the room in DC, social media platforms were having a field day.

"Analysis shows that in the hours after Saturday´s attack, the term “staged” (as in that the latest attempt on the life of President Trump was “staged”) appeared in more than 300,000 posts on X (formerly Twitter). Other platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube were filled with the same claims. Many of these claims were unnaturally boosted — some by foreign accounts.

"In case there’s anyone reading this who does think that the most recent attempt on Trump´s life was “staged,” let me try to nip that in the bud. If anyone was going to try to fake an assassination attempt on the president, where would be worst place to do it? I would think it would be in a ballroom literally filled with the world´s media: outlets that compete with each other, vehemently disagree with each other, and that come from every spot on the political spectrum. All of which couldn’t wait to let their readers know if there was something suspicious going on." . . .More...

One is amazed at the professionalism of the plotters at Butler, Pa. Trump needed a shooter so skilled that he knew the gunman could come so close to his head yet only skin the ear, missing the head. Then he told Crooks after that to just shoot anywhere for effect. "I don't care if you hit someone else". You need good professionals to fake an assassination. TD

How Biden and Obama Failed in the Middle East

Democrats have been the wimpy kid who gave their lunch money to the school bully every morning so he wouldn't disturb them. TD

Victor Davis Hanson

" . . .Ten, the Obama and Biden teams -- Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Susan Rice, Leon Panetta, Jake Sullivan, Antony Blinken, and Lloyd Austin -- were force multipliers of their presidents' naivete and incompetence."

"The short answer to why both the Biden and Obama administrations failed to achieve peace in the Middle East is that they took actions opposite to President Donald Trump's current efforts, which have led to a ceasefire.

"First, consider Iran.

"Iran was flush with cash, on a trajectory toward a nuclear weapon, and arming Israel's "ring of fire" enemies: Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

"The radical Islamic world of the Middle East was convinced that Israel would be doomed eventually.

"Yet both Democratic administrations let Iran profit from oil sales.

"They talked of delaying, but not ending, Iran's nuclear program. And they feared that Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis were indomitable terrorist threats.

"Thus, the disruptors of peace were appeased rather than deterred.

"Two, both former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden pressured Israel in general and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular to make constant concessions.

"But neither offered any plan for how Israel was to survive when Iran sought its destruction, and Tehran's terrorist triad aimed to bombard it with missiles, rockets, and drones.

"Worse, once the larger Middle East saw Democratic presidents appeasing Iran and its terrorist appendages, they concluded it was unsafe to take risks by allying with a delusional United States.

"Three, both Obama and Biden despised and personally insulted Netanyahu, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and the Saudi royal family." . . .  More...

The Thing That Works

 John Stossel

They listen to people like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who says, "Capitalism ... is the absolute pursuit of profit at all human, environmental and social cost. That is not a redeemable system."

. . . "For thousands of years, everyone but the nobility was poor. Then, when some countries tried capitalism, wealth skyrocketed.

"When people are allowed to buy and sell things freely, everyone is better off.

"Socialists don't get that. AOC insists: "No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion."

"But no billionaire showed up at my door demanding I give them money. Under capitalism, they can only get rich by offering people something we think is better than what we bought before.

"Yes, Amazon's founder is now absurdly rich, but consumers didn't lose. Jeff Bezos got rich by inventing a way for us to shop efficiently and pay less.

"And as Forbes points out, most billionaires weren't born rich.

                 Video: AOC "is why there are directions on a shampoo bottle"

. . .  "Maybe, but capitalism also lifted more people out of poverty, created more opportunities and improved more lives than any other system.

"Economist Thomas Sowell said, "I don't ask, 'What is the cause of poverty?' Everybody is born poor and ignorant. The question is, what factors allow some groups to get from that position?"

"'Sowell put it well," concludes Forbes. "What is the difference between people today and people in the Stone Age? Difference is -- we know more. That's how you get a higher standard of living, from experiments in the marketplace, the laboratory, always trying to find new things. That's why planning doesn't work, because if we already knew it, we'd already be doing it!"

"Only capitalism allows the experiments that create better lives." . . . More...

Humor: How many Democrats does it take … - Eric Utter

"How many Democrats does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

(Trick question. Many Democrats don’t know how to screw in a lightbulb and most have their servants do it. It should be noted, however, that hundreds of them in Washington, D.C. will debate what kind of bulbs should be legal, their maximum wattage, etc., etc.)" . . .