Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Will Trump's only lasting Legacy be the not-yet-built border wall?

Open Border Wish List

Ann Coulter  "For those of us who were ecstatic the night Donald Trump was elected president, who watch election night videos over and over again, it used to be easy to defend him against the charge that he is just a BS-ing con man who would say anything to get elected. 
"It's getting harder. 
"Trump was our last chance. But he's spent two years not building the wall, not deporting illegals -- "INCREDIBLE KIDS!" -- and not ending the anchor baby scam. 
"Within 10 seconds of Trump's leaving office, there will be no evidence that he was ever president. Laws will be changed, executive orders rescinded, treaties re-written and courts packed. 
"Trump will leave no legacy at all. Only a wall is forever. 
"We had no choice. No one else was promising to save America. 

"On day one, we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful southern border wall. We will use the best technology, including above- and below-ground sensors, that's the tunnels. Remember that: above and below. Towers, aerial surveillance and manpower to supplement the wall, find and dislocate tunnels and keep out criminal cartels ..." -- Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump 
"But then he signed a spending bill expressly prohibiting him from building any part of the wall. 
""I will never sign another bill like this again. I'm not going to do it again." -- President Trump, after signing a spending bill that blocked any funding for a wall. 
"Today, eight months later, Trump is about to sign another spending bill that will give him no money for the wall. 

. . . 
"Is it Paul Ryan's fault that Trump did a 180 on "Dreamers," called them "INCREDIBLE KIDS" and tried to give them amnesty? 
"Every day that Trump does not keep his promises on immigration, thousands of immigrants turn 18 and start block voting for the Democrats, while thousands of traditional Americans die off. 
"Florida and Texas are about five years away from turning solid blue. Trump was our last chance. "After this, the country is never going to elect a Republican president again. 
"So the next time you watch one of those election night videos, remember: If Trump doesn't keep his immigration promises, Hillary might as well have won. 
"Trump will leave no legacy whatsoever. Without a wall, he will only be remembered as a small cartoon figure who briefly inflamed and amused the rabble. " . . .


Political Cartoons by Bob Gorrell

You know Trump's recovery is real when Obama wants credit for it


Obama Touts Paris Agreement, Proceeds to Take Credit for Booming U.S. Oil and Gas Production  . . . "Obama spoke in Houston at an event hosted by Rice University’s Baker Institute, where he praised his administration's commitment to the Paris climate agreement before taking credit for the United States being the biggest producer of oil and gas during his administration." . . . 
"Obama has not been viewed as a friend of the oil and gas industry, but during his administration U.S. oil production did rise in each of his first seven years in office, according to Forbes. While natural gas production increased by 50 percent between 2009 and 2016, the production boom took place almost solely on state and private lands, where the Obama administration had very little control.
"While Obama signed legislation in November 2015 ending a long-term ban on crude oil exports, he would go on to impose environmental regulations and would later pursue international agreements like the 2016 Paris Agreement to fight global warming.

Rush Limbaugh is incensed over Obama's remarks: "You tried to shut down oil production everywhere you could! You wouldn’t authorize pipelines! You’re building stupid windmills and solar panels everywhere! What do you mean, the oil boom is you?"
There is no honor deserved by others that Obama will not inject himself into; the photobomber-in-chief.
. . . "Obama can run around and talk about nope, nobody on my team was indicted. That’s because nobody had the guts to investigate! Nobody had the guts to criticize this administration! Obama had a boundary around him that never was gonna be permeated. It wasn’t even gonna be approached. It’s called race. This permitted the media to act like Obama was a straight arrow and a moderate, mainstream guy with the sharpest crease in his slacks any president had ever had.
"No accountability, constant platitudes, slobbering, fawning, favorable coverage. And now they get to hear about Obama talk about his scandal free presidency with zero pushback. They don’t even talk about what happened in Benghazi. And if you don’t, you’re the problem. So now let’s go to the – (interruption) is there one more to this? No, he did say about the oil that he was responsible for the boom. Suddenly America’s the largest oil producer. “That was me, people. Say thank you.' ” . . .

More articles at The Tunnel Wall

Report: Anti-Trump ‘Murphy Brown’ Reboot Cancelled After One Season

Breitbart  "CBS is cutting bait with its re-booted, President Trump-bashing sitcom, Murphy Brown, announcing it will not renew the show after its first 13 episodes, according to reports.
"The Candice Bergan-fronted comedy came back with much fanfare as a full-throated attack on President Donald Trump, but lackluster ratings dogged the show from its very first episode."

This was all as originally planned
For Murphy Brown, the rebooted series was always intended to be a closed-ended order of 13 episodes. The multicamera comedy, featuring the return of star Candice Bergen and from original creator Diane English, has underperformed (6.2 million total viewers and a 0.9 in the key 18-49 demo) in its prime Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. slot and remains in consideration for a renewal. Fellow multicamera comedy Fam, starring Nina Dobrev and Tone Bell — which has already changed showrunners — will take over Murphy Brown's slot starting Thursday, Jan. 10.
Hollywood slams ICE via Murphy Brown. Naturally, the illegal immigrants are sweet, loveable victims and the ICE agents only reluctantly "follow orders". Hollywood provides the courageous, compassionate champion. I'm sure this was a hit with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez voters.

Our southern border under assault

Dark Angel


MSNBC’s Own Reporter Kills Their Caravan Narrative  . . . "Can you get owned by your own reporter? Because MSNBC anchors just got owned by their reporter covering the migrant caravan.
"In an attempt to debunk Trump’s claim that the migrant caravan was comprised of mostly men, an MNSBC anchor really stepped in it. She suggested the caravan was full of women and children without the resources or know how to cross the border. But the MSNBC reporter on the ground in Tijuana had a different story.

“ 'From what we’ve seen, the majority are actually men and some of these men have not articulated that need for asylum,” said reporter Gadi Schwartz." . . . The Twitter feed.

Winning: Caravan gives momentum to Trump's last shot to fund border wall

"With Sunday's defeat of the Charge of the Migrant Brigade on the Tijuana border Sunday, it's pretty obvious that President Trump has won the round, at least, and now stands tall.  The migrants are packing up and going home, and the lefties are appealing to the United Nations to do their activism for them.

"But there's something additional coming up: sudden momentum in Congress for the funding of a border wall, something the House has been dithering about for two years and quite possibly got itself thrown out for." . . .0000000

7 Times Migrants Assaulted Border Patrol Agents with Rocks in Past Year  
. . . " The force of the impact forced the ATV to flip over on top of the agent, officials explained. The agent suffered breathing difficulties, dizziness, and possible broken ribs from the attack.
“This is an all too common occurrence,” said San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Rodney Scott. “In Fiscal Year 2017, San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents were assaulted 83 times in the performance of their duties. 52 times in Fiscal Year 2016. The safety and well-being of our agents remains our top priority.' ” . . .

The migrant caravan just ruined its close-up  "The caravan was not ready for its close-up.
"Protests turned into riots on Sunday as hundreds of Central American migrants rushed a border fence and tried storming their way into the United States. They waved flags from their country while trying to enter this one illegally. They chucked rocks at U.S. Border Patrol. They chanted “Yes We Can. ' ” . . .
These optics weren’t lost on the Mexican government., which condemned the protesters for “violently” attempting to enter the U.S. Anyone following their example won’t find refuge in the U.S., Mexico's interior secretary warned, but will instead be deported out of Mexico. What’s more, they will ruin the chances for anyone trying to enter legally.
"These acts of provocation, far from helping achieve their objectives, are in violation of legal migration and could result in a grave incident at the border," the statement said.
President Trump has only toyed with the idea of closing the Southern Border, and so far only traffic at the San Ysidro border crossing south of San Diego was temporarily halted. But as soon as the next “grave incident” occurs, the consequences will be more permanent. The violent caravanners made certain of that on Sunday.
It isn’t that the United States isn’t sympathetic to those fleeing tyranny. It’s that most Americans view asylum as an act of generosity, as something they are far less likely to offer migrants who resort to violence. By bull rushing the border in the middle of the day, while cameras rolled, they made themselves that much easier to dismiss.

Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Epstein, and the Lolita Express

Flight logs show Bill Clinton flew on sex offender's jet much more than previously known  "Former President Bill Clinton was a much more frequent flyer on a registered sex offender’s infamous jet than previously reported, with flight logs showing the former president taking at least 26 trips aboard the “Lolita Express” -- even apparently ditching his Secret Service detail for at least five of the flights, according to records obtained by FoxNews.com.
"Clinton’s presence aboard Jeffrey Epstein’s Boeing 727 on 11 occasions has been reported, but flight logs show the number is more than double that, and trips between 2001 and 2003 included extended junkets around the world with Epstein and fellow passengers identified on manifests by their initials or first names, including “Tatiana.” The tricked-out jet earned its Nabakov-inspired nickname because it was reportedly outfitted with a bed where passengers had group sex with young girls." . . .


. . . Police in Palm Beach, Fla., launched a year-long investigation in 2005 into Epstein after parents of a 14-year-old girl said their daughter was sexually abused by him. Police interviewed dozens of witnesses, confiscated his trash, performed surveillance and searched his Palm Beach mansion, ultimately identifying 20 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 who they said were sexually abused by Epstein.

"In 2006, at the request of Palm Beach Police, the FBI launched a federal probe into allegations that Epstein and his personal assistants had “used facilities of interstate commerce to induce girls between the ages of 14 and 17 to engage in illegal sexual activities.”

"According to court documents, police investigators found a “clear indication that Epstein’s staff was frequently working to schedule multiple young girls between the ages of 12 and 16 years old literally every day, often two or three times per day.' ” . . .

The paper located 60 of those victims, and eight of them agreed to be interviewed, either on or off the record. Four were willing to speak about their experience on video.
This does not mention Clinton, so he could rightly say of this article. "There was no evidence..." 

Sadly, President Trump has ties to Epstein as well.  . . . "One Twitter user once asked me, “Is it too much to hope that *one* of our parties would pick someone with no links to a pedophile sex-slave island?”
"Apparently, it is too much to ask for." . . .

More on Trump: Sorry Lib Media: Bill Clinton Took 26 Junkets with Deviant Epstein — Trump Banned the Perv From Mar-a-Lago
. . . "But sources at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida said the billionaire banned him from the premises years ago after he was seen hitting on a teenage girl" . . .

Cops worked to put serial sex abuser in prison. Prosecutors worked to cut him a break
Michelle Licata climbed a narrow, winding staircase, past walls covered with photographs of naked girls. At the top of the stairwell was a vast master bed and bath, with cream-colored shag carpeting and a hot pink and mint green sofa.The room was dimly lit and very cold.There was a vanity, a massage table and a timer.A silver-haired man wearing nothing but a white towel came into the room. . . .

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

The NY Times: That was then, this is now


Ocasio-Cortez: A New Depth of Stupidity?

Rich Terrell
Power Line  "Newly-elected Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the gift to conservatives that keeps on giving. Her ignorance is so profound that it still surprises us, even when we thought we had fully plumbed the depths of her vacuity. This tweet, with Candace Owens’s response, is a classic:

Candace Owens
✔
@RealCandaceO

Imagine comparing the slaughter of 6 million Jews, plus the mandated murders of 1 million Rwandans— to immigrants who just want an upgrade and don’t want to follow any rules to get it.
This is an abhorrent, disrespectful tweet and your low-IQ is an unacceptable excuse for it.
. . . 

Dinesh D’Souza
✔
@DineshDSouza

Until now I thought Joe Biden was the stupidest person elected to public office. Not anymore!

The Daily Caller
✔
@DailyCaller

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Compares Migrant Caravan To Jews Fleeing Holocausthttps://trib.al/ixavwhg 
View image on Twitter
35.4K
6:34 AM – Nov 26, 2018
"It is remarkable that Ocasio-Cortez has made such a fool of herself without even taking office! I can’t recall anything like it. It would be hard for a single person to discredit the entire Democratic Party, but Alexandria is giving it the old college try." . . .

When Democrats lose the feminists and their leftist kindred, the game should be over

Why progressives have finally had it with Lena Dunham and Hillary Clinton



"This has been a rough week for women on the left."It began with Hillary Clinton, the zombie candidate who just won’t die, giving an interview to “CBS Sunday Morning” for a story about the post-#MeToo “pink wave” of younger women running for political office, many for the first time."Guess who became the star?"Yes — as usual, Hillary herself, who spent a good part of that interview defending her husband’s sexual predation while disavowing her key role in what Clinton aides, back in the ’90s, cheerfully called the “nuts-and-sluts” shaming of any and all of Bill’s female accusers. One of those women, Juanita Broaddrick, credibly accused Bill Clinton of raping her in 1978 and has never wavered."Yet during the CBS interview Hillary would hear none of it, deploying the old scoundrel’s defense: You-say-he-is-but-what-about-Trump?"The party that demanded a thorough accounting of Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual history, that insisted Kavanaugh’s accuser be heard and, by the way, forced Al Franken from the Senate for far less is finally reckoning with the Clintons. And the feminists, progressives and party loyalists who have spent decades making excuses for their hypocrisies and profiteering while sympathizing with Hillary’s self-created mythology as the Greatest Victim of Sexism in History have had it. They have come to realize that Hillary and her “slithery rhetoric,” as the late Christopher Hitchens so perfectly put it, are dead weight."So have the left-leaning institutions that long championed her." . . . Read the list: . . .
Will ‘The Clinton Affair’ finally end the family’s stranglehold on the Democratic Party?
If Bill Clinton — and, by extension, Hillary — get their true #MeToo reckoning, but the mainstream media largely ignores it, has it actually happened?
Last week, the A&E channel premiered a stunning six-part documentary produced by the estimable Alex Gibney and directed by Emmy winner Blair Foster. “The Clinton Affair” opens as Clinton’s own presidency did: hailed by women, the left and the media as the first ostensible feminist president, one who appointed Janet Reno as the nation’s first female attorney general, who made Ruth Bader Ginsburg the second woman in history to sit on the Supreme Court, and who made clear that his wife, for better or worse, would not be relegated to ceremonial duties but would lead the charge for health care reform.
Then came Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey.
Before going any further, let’s acknowledge the obvious: Our current president has been accused of sexual harassment by 22 women. He has cheated on his wives. He has been caught saying vile and indefensible things, and he too should be held to account. Yet the mainstream media’s excoriation of Donald Trump for these wrongdoings — some alleged, others acknowledged — exposes their hypocrisy when it comes to the Clintons: one standard for the guy whose politics are roundly despised, another for the liberal hero.
The Clintons have long been a drain on the Democrats, but somehow the party hasn’t the guts to deliver the message directly. Rather than hoping Bill and Hillary quietly go away — as if the couple hasn’t already telegraphed intentions to the contrary — the Dems need to have a true reckoning with the Clintons.
It begins with the women. . . .

Obama Used Tear Gas At Least 80 Times at Border

Breitbart Border
Despite media reports to the contrary, CBP officers and agents operating under the Trump Administration responded the same way they did during the Obama Administration when, in 2013, migrants rushed the same stretch of border, Breitbart News’ Neil Munro reported.

"Under the Obama Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) law enforcement officials, including Border Patrol agents, utilized tear gas against migrants at or near the border at least 80 times between FY2012 and early FY2017.

"CBP officials reported the use of tear gas and pepper spray to push back “assaultive” caravan migrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally on Sunday. The agency began using these particular sprays during the Obama administration in 2010.
"Breitbart News confirmed the CBP began using tear gas (2-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile – CS) in 2010, though the available usage data initiates in FY2012.
CBP Use of Tear Gas Report - FY2012 through FY2018
CBP Use of Tear Gas Report – FY2012 through FY2018 (Source – U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
"The agency also reportedly began using pepper spray (Pava Capasaicin) at about the same time.
CBP Use of Pepper Spray Report - FY2012 through FY2018 (Source - U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
CBP Use of Pepper Spray Report – FY2012 through FY2018 (Source – U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
“CBP takes Sunday’s employment of use-of-force very seriously. CBP reviews and evaluates all uses of force incidents to ensure compliance with policy,” a CBP spokesman told Breitbart News in response to an inquiry. “Over 1,000 individuals who were part of the so-called caravan attempted to cross illegally into the U.S. by breaching sections of the fence and using vehicle lanes in and near the San Ysidro Port of Entry. This group ignored law enforcement agencies in Mexico and assaulted U.S. Federal Officers and Agents assigned to respond to the situation in San Diego.”

If We Want Unity, Barack Obama Has to Go Away

The Resurgent

If you loathe President Trump's childish petulance but pretend it isn't Obama's defining characteristic, you're a fraud.

"These days I find myself less inclined to bicker over politics than ever before. I truly and honestly want to find as many points of agreement, points of unity, and common ground as possible with my fellow countrymen. It may seem counterintuitive then that I don’t feel overly inclined to defend President Trump when he’s maligned by the left. Some of it is unfair, to be sure. But finding common ground means I also have to be intellectually honest enough to realize that President Trump thrives on controversy, so he intentionally provokes it. No one can look at his conduct, his word choice, his Twitter feed, and come to any other conclusion than Trump stokes the fire because he loves the fight. Some on the right may be convinced that is the best way forward for our extraordinarily divided country. I am not.

"But the only way I can be right is if there are folks whose politics runs counter to mine, that is, those on the political left, who are willing to renounce the voices of division on their own side as well. This can’t be a one-way admission of needless division. That’s largely how we got Trump in the first place. The reason so many on the right are thrilled with Trump is because they feel as though they have been subjected to left wing Trumps for years, and now the real Trump is giving the left a taste of their own medicine.

"I’m of the belief that Presidents who seek to pit one group of Americans against another based on ideological or philosophical differences are a danger to the thinning moral fabric of our republic. Certainly not everyone will agree on everything, and anyone in leadership will have to take positions on issues that will be opposed by a significant portion of the population. But taking such positions doesn’t require sticking one’s finger in the eye of those who disagree or portraying them as buffoons, immature, or evil.

"So it’s long past time for honest brokers on the left to disavow such conduct, and cut ties with those who indulge in it regularly. Like Barack Obama. If it’s unhelpful when Trump does it, it is unhelpful when Obama does it. And he does it. All. The. Time.

"Most recently:" . . .
Pictures added by TD

Oh, Good Grief! Lord of the Rings Slammed for Perpetuating Racism through Depiction of Orcs

National Review

Apparently, J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved fantasy series could have ‘dire consequences . . . for society.’



"On a recent episode of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast, sci-fi author Andrew Duncan argued that the depiction of the orcs in Lord of the Rings is racist and will have “dire consequences . . . for society.”

“ 'It’s hard to miss the repeated notion in Tolkien that some races are just worse than others,, or that some peoples are just worse than others,” Duncan said. “And this seems to me — in the long term, if you embrace this too much — it has dire consequences for yourself and for society.”

"First of all, I think that it is important to point out that orcs are A) not people and B) not real, so starting some sort of social-justice movement over their treatment is probably the biggest, most idiotic waste of time that I’ve ever seen — and this is coming from an adult woman who spends time playing a game called “Pet Shop” on her phone.

"Second of all, the idea that The Lord of the Rings’ daring to have an army of villains is going to have “dire consequences . . . for society” is absolutely bananas. I’m not much of a betting gal, but I’d bet everything I own that not even a single person has ever seen or read The Lord of the Rings and become racist as a result. Nobody is honestly sitting there thinking, “Man, all those orcs were bad. I guess that must mean that X race is bad! I’m a racist now!” I honestly refuse to believe that this would describe even a single person, let alone so many people that our whole society is going to suffer because of it." . . .


Rich Terrell cartoon added by TD

Several States Have Found Ways To Mitigate Obamacare’s Damage To Their Health Insurance Markets

Galen Institute


"A few states have found a key to undoing some of Obamacare’s damage to their individual health insurance markets by redirecting some federal funding to help sick people. These states are providing separate assistance to those with the highest health costs, thereby reducing premiums and increasing enrollment for healthy people driven out of the market by soaring costs.
"In a new paper published by The Heritage Foundation, scholars Doug Badger and Ed Haislmaier detail how several states have successfully used Obamacare’s Section 1332 waiver authority to begin to revive their non-group health insurance markets with better risk-mitigation strategies.
"They explain in State Innovation: The Key to Affordable Health Insurance Choices that Obamacare’s rigid and centralized federal regulation of the nongroup market has driven premiums up, choices down, and forced millions of people out of the individual health insurance market.
"Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act permits states to seek waivers from certain federal health insurance requirements if they believe they can do a better job as long as their program doesn’t cost the federal government more money. But the rules the Obama administration subsequently issued were so strict that they make it very difficult for states to get approval for the broader innovative reform proposals envisioned by the provision’s authors.
"Alaska, Minnesota, and Oregon have received waivers from the Trump administration for targeted reform initiatives that have been successful in lowering premiums for individual health insurance by separately subsidizing those with the highest health costs. And the lower premiums also mean increased enrollment.
"According to the paper:
“Alaska was the first state to obtain a section 1332 waiver to implement this type of approach. The state sought a waiver of Obamacare’s “single-risk-pool” requirement, under which people who are likely to file large medical claims must be pooled with those who might never see a doctor. This Obamacare mandate had touched off a vicious cycle, in which insurers charge ever higher premiums, repelling the healthiest customers but not the sickest, resulting in premiums that are increasingly affordable only to those who receive federal subsidies.
. . .