Saturday, January 26, 2019

When News Stories are about News Stories, Something has Gone Wrong.

Intellectual Takeout


 
. . . "The regular news story supported today's primary liberal narrative, but the story about the story that ended up completely subsuming the original story, supported the primary conservative narrative.
 "The primary liberal narrative has it that Whites are privileged and racist. The primary conservative narrative is that the liberal media lies to support its narrative--what has come to be called, "Fake News."
 "When it was discovered through a full video viewing of the entire episode that the students were the ones being harassed and that the Native American had served in the Marines during the Vietnam War but did not actually fight in it, the original story crumbled, and the conservative narrative took over. 
 "The original story was White kids behaving badly. The story about the story was the media behaving badly.
 "In fact, the Covington case may become the textbook case of Fake News, the one everyone points to whenever the mainstream media abandons its self-professed principles and reports the news as they would like it to be, and student Nick Sandmann the poster child of the costs of media hate speech.
 "The original--now discredited--story originated in an anonymous Tweet that could never constitute the basis of a story by any responsible news source. But, as New York Times columnist David Brooks has pointed out, "the social media tail wags the mainstream media dog." Otherwise responsible reporters now routinely pass along stories from unvetted tweets if they have been widely retweeted.
 "A lie, when repeated often enough …"
 
The legacy of the new Democrat Party.

Sen. Lindsey Graham Perfectly Articulates The Post-Shutdown Situation For Democrats

Daily Wire


. . . "First, Graham stated that this may be the best chance for DACA and TPS recipients, and that the ball is now in the Democrats’ court:
The best way to get this thing to conclusion is opening up the government. The bottom line is the TPS recipients who have been here for decades as a result of natural disasters, wars, they're going to begin to lose their legal status this year. You have DACA folks who are in sort of legal limbo. The president is willing to give 1.1 million people a better life if he can get a secure border.
To my Democratic friends, you have voted in the past for wall funding greater than the president's requested. This is the first time in 12 years I've seen a deal where you secure your border and give a better life to the DACA/TPS population. If the Democrats do not work with us, the biggest losers, in my view, are gonna be the TPS/DACA recipients because this president will secure our border through executive action.
"Graham then slammed anyone who claims that the border is secure, given the constant illegal crossings (citing several recent and shocking examples), adding that if the Democratic leadership doesn’t take this opportunity to make a deal, the president will secure the border using "emergency" procedures:" . . .

Schumer mocks Trump as soon as the President opens the Government


Democrats like to tell us what we like and don't like. They'll be the ones to decide that for us.

The dumbest voting bloc in America?

Simon de Hundehutte"Pro-life Christians of all stripes were appalled when earlier this week the New York state legislature made abortion legal through all nine months of pregnancy.  In stark contrast to their sadness and consternation, however, the government of New York celebrated like never before: at the tip of Manhattan, the top of the Freedom Tower was lit up pink; and about 25 miles up the Hudson River, the brand new Tappan Zee Bridge (officially known as "Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge," that trophy Governor Andrew Cuomo built with taxpayer money to honor his former-governor father) was lit up in a most spectacular way, also in splashy, in-your-face pink.  The statement was clear: all women in the state -- nay, all women across America -- should be cheering and celebrating this monumental advancement for women the world over.

:But why did this so-called great achievement in human rights take so long?  Couldn't the state government have struck this blow for women much, much earlier?  The answer lies in the fact that, in the election this past fall, enough Republicans were voted out of office to make a solid majority of Democrats who could pass any legislation they dang well pleased.  And so they dang well did.". . . Read more.

*I would say "hundehutte" is German for "doghouse." Is this significant as a pen-name?


 Related post by Simon de Hundehutte:  Voting for the least of three evils
"Seems like every four years, Christians complain that they have to "vote for the lesser of two evils."  And many follow that wonky wisdom by inevitably posing the Big Question: "Whom would Jesus vote for?" When that Jesus-vote question was posited during polite conversation in the 2012 election cycle, I responded, "Oh, Jesus would definitely vote for Obama – if he wanted to punish America.  If He wanted to give America another chance, He'd vote for Romney." Since America is a "free" nation (and God is all about "free choice"), Jesus lets America decide its own fate. Now, in 2016, the cry has risen again that America has to choose between two evils, and Christians on both sides of the political fence are claiming that their candidate is Jesus's choice. However, this election cycle really is different.  There really are not just two, but now three "evils." America has been...(Read Full Post)" . . .

The Don and Nancy show: is this it?

Rich Terrell
Thomas Lifson: Why Trump went for a 21-day suspension of the partial shutdown, and what happens next . . . "I have a guess, based on the fact that Trump has not deployed insulting nicknames for either Schumer or Pelosi. I suspect that in the discussions that led to the agreement to set up a conference committee both sides agreed that another shutdown was in nobody’s interest, and that a compromise would benefit both parties. If I am wrong, the Democrats will be going to the mattresses over a barrier free border, a position that may please Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez but would not help the Dems win in 2020" . . .

National Review is much less optimistic  But they have been the most anti-Trump of conservative blogs.

Friday, January 25, 2019

The Global Failure to Teach the Truth About the Holocaust

Legal Insurrection

It’s not just the US suffering from a lack of Holocaust knowledge
 
 
"For years, there has been talking and concern about the lack of factual Holocaust knowledge and education in the United States and around the world. Education systems dominated by leftist teachers often antagonistic towards Israel are sometimes loathing to bring up the subject. It’s possible to also blame an easily accessible Internet that leads users down dark rabbit holes of Holocaust conspiracy theories.
"In “The Failure of Holocaust Education in Britain,” Rosie Whitehouse writes:
The current debate over anti-Semitism in Britain’s opposition Labour Party and the views of its leader Jeremy Corbyn have also had a negative impact on Holocaust education in the classroom and made better teacher training even more imperative. Wetherall’s students now ask about Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism. “Two to three years ago I would not have had pupils who would have heard the terms,” she said, adding that “the guidelines have not kept up with these changes, leaving teachers ill-equipped to deal with the issue.”
It’s certainly not easy to find out how it got this bad and certainly will be even harder to fix.
"The Azrieli Foundation and Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany just released a report on the lack of Holocaust education in Canada.
Among the findings:
An alarming 52% of millennials cannot name even one concentration camp or ghetto and 62% of millennials did not know that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
22% of millennials haven’t heard or are not sure if they have heard of the Holocaust.
Nearly one-quarter of all Canadians (23 percent) believe that substantially less than six million Jews were killed (two million or fewer) during the Holocaust, while another near-quarter (24 percent) were unsure of how many were killed.
Nearly six out of ten Canadians (57 percent) say fewer people seem to care about the Holocaust than they used to.
. . .
 

" I Went To The March For Life. Here's What The Left Won't Tell You"

Photo added by TD
Kassy Dillon  "I spoke to people from all walks of life." 
"Last week, I had the privilege of attending my second March for Life in Washington, D.C., and for the second time I was absolutely blown away by the crowd’s size and energy.
"I spoke to people from all walks of life. I was inspired by their stories and by what led them to travel to our nation’s capital in cold weather to march in slush to show their support for the unborn.
 
"Watch my interviews with participants of the march below:" 



 
Related below: This unborn child did clap it's hands once, and not in time to the music as represented. But it's hands did indeed work like hands.
  

Tom Fitton Threatens FOIA Lawsuit to Uncover How CNN Was Tipped Off on Roger Stone Raid

The Gateway Pundit  "CNN claimed it was a hunch that led them to Stone’s house — their gut instinct is so good that they just happened to know the FBI was going to arrest Roger Stone Friday morning.
"Even the local reporters had no clue the FBI was going to raid Stone’s house.



"At least six FBI vehicles and approximately 27 officers stormed Roger Stone’s home in Fort Lauderdale. The KGB FBI agents were dressed in tactical vests with large weapons. They were wearing night vision glasses.
"This is a new low for the FBI.
"The Judge released Stone on a very low bond which proves the FBI raid was abusive and excessive.
"On Friday, President of Judicial Watch Tom Fitton threatened a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to get to the bottom of how CNN was tipped off to the raid.

Roger Stone Indicted in Mueller Probe; CNN was there to cover it

National Review

 

. . . "Mueller’s team accused Stone of making “multiple false statements” to the House Intelligence Committee about his connection to WikiLeaks and his communications with the Trump campaign about it. During the 2016 campaign season, WikiLeaks released internal emails and documents stolen from the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee by Russian operatives.
Stone is also accused of attempting to influence another Mueller witness, Randy Credico, who communicated with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the 2016 campaign season.

“ 'They found no Russian collusion or they would have charged him with it,” said Stone’s attorney, Grant Smith. “Roger intends to fight these trumped up baseless charges that have nothing to do with the original intent of the special counsel’s investigation.”

"Smith insisted that Stone did not have access to any of the stolen materials published by WikiLeaks ahead of their release, and said Stone’s false statements were not malicious but resulted from gaps in his memory." . . .

CNN Just Happened To Show Up At 5 AM At Roger Stone’s House For FBI Raid Because Of Reporter’s ‘Instinct’
. . . "So they just happened to know they would show up then so he arrives at 4 a.m. to wait? Uh huh. Looks an awful lot like FBI leaking for political effect. This after all the other questions about the investigation to begin with, including using Democratic opposition research and Steele who was in the pay of the Democrats to help challenge the election.
"Via Twitchy:  . . ."

OK, Just how DID CNN learn about the Stone arrest?
. . . “ 'Seriously the CNN footage at Stone’s house is fishy,” John Podhoretz of the New York Post wrote.

"Tony Shaffer, a retired U.S. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, went a step further and claimed that CNN had “special access to the raid,” calling the footage a “dramatic set up allowed by the FBI' .”

While I am fully capable of sour grapes toward the anti-Trump forces, we do have ample reason to attach CNN to any efforts against this president. I fully expect this to continue against any Republican president in the future now that this is a new, vindictive Democrat Party. TD

Sarah Sanders asks the correct question after Stone's indictment:

Sarah Sanders: When Will The FBI Surround The Homes Of Hillary Clinton, James Comey, James Clapper?
"Great question. Although I think she means false statements to FBI (Clinton), false statements to Congress (Clapper, Comey)."



"Maxine Waters goes after banks. Good" Good?

I suspect Maxine's wealth will multiply greatly over these next two years.


Don Surber  . . . "Politico reported, "Big banks are bracing for their CEOs to be called to testify soon at what could be an intense House hearing led by new Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters, sources familiar with the matter said.

 " 'The details of the hearing, anticipated
to happen by this spring, have not been finalized, but lawmakers and bank representatives are expecting it.

" 'The banks that are seen as likely to be invited to participate include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Spokespeople for several of the banks declined to comment, and others didn't respond.

" 'In a preview of the kind of tone the lenders should expect to face, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) told Politico he wanted to hear from the executives 'why we bail them out and can't experience any meaningful support from them in times of trouble.'"

"The banks got in bed with Democrats. Maybe Democrats will pass laws that protect the banks from competition like they did with Dodd-Frank Act, and maybe the banks will give Waters and Cleaver cheap loans like they did with Dodd and Frank. In fact, I will bet on it." . . .


Maxine Waters' Extreme Agenda  "There's trouble ahead for banks, Wall Street, and upscale suburbs. Not to mention President Trump. Elections have consequences. One of the biggest is that firebrand Congresswoman Maxine Waters is the new head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. That gives her power over banking, the securities and insurance industries, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"Egging her on to pursue a far-left agenda will be new committee members like self-styled Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , "motherf***er"-shouting Rashida Tlaib,  Elizabeth Warren acolyte Katie Porter and radical Ayanna Pressley.
. . .
"That's Waters' distorted interpretation of what happened. In fact, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Congress used the Community Reinvestment Act and anti-discrimination laws to coerce banks into making mortgage loans to low-income borrowers with lousy credit ratings and, in some cases, no down payment. The idea was to promote minority home ownership. But when the borrowers couldn't pay, lawmakers turned on the banks, accusing them of predatory lending. Waters is poised to repeat that failed experiment." . . .

Nancy Pelosi: third most powerful in the US government

When Nancy Pelosi wins, Americans lose   "Nancy Pelosi has had an eventful week.  Wednesday, letters were exchanged between herself and President Trump, who eventually conceded to her seething demand to postpone the State of the Union address.  Left-leaning media announced this as some kind of a victory, like CNN's front-page headline, which read, "Pelosi claims win over Trump in State of the Union showdown."  It begs to be asked: what did this really accomplish?
 
"The answer is that it has given Nancy Pelosi a feeling of vindication, that she finally got payback for President Trump canceling her vacation abroad trip. But does it help the American citizens whom she is supposed to represent?  Not allowing the president to address Congress and the American people is just a maneuver so she can act as a gatekeeper between the country and its elected leader, and that is at the core alarmingly anti-American.
"By using the government shutdown as an excuse to go against the tradition of the State of the Union, Pelosi is guaranteeing that the subtext of history remembers her as a spiteful obstructionist while paving the way for future speakers to use the same tactic, perhaps against a future Democratic president." . . .  Read more

 All pictures added by TD

Trump Playing the Long Game With State of the Union Deferral " . . . massive MAGA spectacle; she’d regret the snub for sure. Other creative ideas arose: deliver it at the border; deliver it down the hall in the Senate.
"But late Wednesday night, the president decided there would be no alternative address, no high drama as he took to some other stage to hammer Democrats about the standoff that they could solve in an hour. He would in fact defer to Speaker Pelosi’s yanking of her House chamber invitation and schedule the address when the shutdown is over. “There is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber,” he tweeted, promising “a great State of the Union address in the near future.”
"The immediate question was not whether his haters would celebrate this momentary surrender; they promptly did. On the left and among his tormentors who still think they are on the right, the mockery was instant, ridiculing a supposed tough, deal-making Trump for bowing to the superior skills of Nancy Pelosi." . . .
And no matter how his maneuvers may strike any observer, one thing is certain: he does not do anything that he does not expect to accrue to his benefit.
 

Students blame Trump for shutdown...until hearing offer he made Dems

Campus Reform
Campus Reform's Cabot Phillips asked students who is to blame for the shutdown.
Students tell Pelosi to "compromise, compromise, compromise."
Students were unaware of compromises Trump has already offered Pelosi.
. . . "Wanting to know if college students would agree with Speaker Pelosi, Campus Reform's Cabot Phillips headed to George Mason University.
"I soon discovered that students nearly unanimously agreed that Trump was to blame for the shutdown, however, many of them were completely unaware of the compromise offer Trump had made earlier in the week. 
"With that in mind, I then asked them if they’d change their mind on Trump being to blame if he were to offer a compromise deal with things the Democrats have been calling for, like DACA protections and humanitarian funding. 
"Students quickly agreed that if Trump were to make such an offer, the Democrats should surely take him up on it… what they didn’t realize is that President Trump had already made such an offer. 
"Would that change their minds on who is to blame? 
"Watch the full video to find out: "