Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Free Felicity Huffman!

Ann Coulter   "Poor Felicity Huffman is being raked over the coals for paying a lousy $15,000 to get her daughter extra time to take the SAT. "
     "Jared Kushner's father paid $2.5 million to get him into Harvard -- and arranged for two of his beneficiary politicians, Sens. Ted Kennedy and Frank Lautenberg, to make calls on his offspring's behalf.
     "'His GPA did not warrant it, his SAT scores did not warrant it," a former administrator at Jared's private high school told Daniel Golden, author of the 2006 book, The Price of Admission. "There was no way anybody in the administrative office of the school thought he would on the merits get into Harvard."
      "Welcome to the baby boom's remaking of college admissions!
      "For decades, going to college was a matter of social class, not IQ, talent or merit. From 1900 to 1960, only a tiny percentage of Americans even went to college, about 2 to 5 percent until well after World War II.
     "It wasn't until the '60s that admission to college first began to be based on a universal standardized test, the Scholastic Aptitude Test. This fulfilled the dream of Harvard president James Conant, who believed that SAT-based admissions would redeem America's promise of a classless society.
     "Recall that England's law of primogeniture was one of the best things that ever happened to this country. If you are a small island nation and want to keep land from being chopped up every generation, it makes sense to mandate that entire estates be bequeathed to the first-born son. But that left a lot of smart second-, third- and fourth-born sons -- not to mention daughters -- out in the cold.
     "The talented, but screwed, Brits responded by hopping on boats, sailing across the ocean and creating America! In this country, status would be earned, not inherited." . . . 

Walter E. Williams: College Cheating Scandal  . . . "One gross example of administrative dishonesty surfaced at the University of North Carolina. A learning specialist hired to help UNC athletes found that 60 percent of the 183 members of the football and basketball teams read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels. About 10 percent read below a third-grade level. These athletes both graduated from high school and were admitted to UNC. More than likely, UNC is not alone in these practices because sports are the money-making center of many colleges." . . .

Ivy-League Schools Wither

Question the doctrine of radical policy changes meant to accommodate global warming, doubt that sexuality is socially rather biologically constructed, abhor partial-birth abortion and infanticide, or object that race-based admissions violate the spirit of equality under the law — and you are likely to face disruptions, protests, and verbal or even physical violence, with the wink and nod or appeasement of a terrified college administration.

Victor Davis Hanson. . . "A Yale and a Stanford, or Facebook and Google, assume — for the most part rightly — that each is so loudly progressive that the public, federal and state regulators, and politicians would of course turn a blind eye to anything questionable that these social-justice institutions did.

"And they have done a lot of quite questionable things — cynically (and in medieval fashion) using their progressive veneer to exempt themselves from the consequences of their actions, so that they may do what otherwise would earn scrutiny and worse for most other American institutions.

"Our nation’s marquee universities, such as Yale, Stanford, and Georgetown — with dozens more no doubt to be named — recently got caught selling admittances." . . . 
. . .
"The irony is rich. The offenders were not the children in Dayton or Great Falls of Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” and “irredeemables,” or of the late John McCain’s “crazies,” or of Barack Obama’s “clingers” — it was not they who were using their “white privilege” to break the law as they virtue-signaled their racialist disdain of the working classes (who were without white privilege). What a strange psychological mechanism: Wealthy white liberals apparently squared the circle of their own private and insider privilege by fobbing “white privilege” off on those who don’t have it — as they used their privilege cynically for their own children." . . .

No Rowing Experience? No Problem. Here’s a College Scholarship  "The press is ignoring the role that universities and Title IX played in the Varsity Blues scandal."


Whistleblower exposes Google’s religious bias in labeling Christian videos ‘homophobic’

LifeSite  "Whistleblower and Google software engineer Mike Wacker revealed evidence that the human resources department of the giant corporation exhibits bias against Christians, labeling Christian YouTube ads “homophobic.”

"Wacker tweeted Wednesday, "Let me give an example related to religion this time, one where HR is involved in describing sincere religious beliefs as 'homophobic.’" He referred to two videos that LGBT advocates regarded as objectionable, thus complaining to Google, which owns YouTube.

"Wacker included in his tweet a video by Christian radio host Dr. Michael Brown “Can You Be Gay and Christian?" and one by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) titled "Barronelle Stutzman's Story." Homosexualist objections stemmed from a 2018 story in PinkNews about LGBT activist and author Gaby Dunn, who had asked fans whether they had seen any “anti-LGBT” ads on her YouTube videos." . . .


"In the ADF video, florist Barronelle Stutzman explained that she was sued by the State of Washington and the ACLU when she refused to make a floral arrangement for a same-sex wedding even while she otherwise has LGBT clients in her shop.

"In retaliation for the perceived offense on the part of LGBT advocates, Google ruled that Brown's video violated its policies for advertisements on its platform. He was barred from paying YouTube to promote his video. Currently, his video does not appear as an advertisement before any other video on YouTube." . . .


Full article here.

Sen. Lindsey Graham on Electoral College: 'Democrats want rural America to go away'

The upshot of losing the Electoral College is that voters who chose the California legislature and NY Mayor De Blasio will choose your President. Every morning you will wake up, wondering what your government will do to you next. TD

Washington Times  "Sen. Lindsey Graham slammed progressives Tuesday for pushing to end the Electoral College system, suggesting they want to do away with middle America.

“ 'The desire to abolish the Electoral College is driven by the idea Democrats want rural America to go away politically,” the South Carolina Republican tweeted. 


"His comment comes in response to 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who said in a town hall hosted by CNN Monday the system by which Americans have elected presidents for the past 230 years must come to an end.  

“ 'That means getting rid of the Electoral College,” the Massachusetts Democrat said.
“ 'Everybody ought to come here and ask for your vote,” she told the Mississippi crowd.
"President George W. Bush won the 2000 election against former Vice President Al Gore via the Electoral College, as did President Trump against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. Both men lost the popular vote.
"Progressive voters, still sour over the 2016 upset, are pushing Democrats to eliminate the system laid out in the Constitution for electing the president and vice president." .  .  .

"Make every vote count", Elizabeth Warren says? If you live in a red state, don't even bother to vote; you'll never see a candidate in your area. TD




Democrats between O'Rourke and a hard place

Image by Mike Harris
Beto: 'I Think There’s a Lot of Wisdom' in Abolishing Electoral College   "Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke believes abolishing the Electoral College is a wise idea—apparently knowing better than the founding fathers.
"Responding to a question posed by MSNBC correspondent Garrett Haake about getting rid of the Electoral College, O’Rourke said he “sees a lot of wisdom in that" idea." . . . 
Bobby Francis raised $6.1 Million in 1st 24 hours, slightly topping Bernie and leaving female candidates in the dust   . . . "Question is, how long will the Democrat Party have to tolerate O’Rourke? Politico noted that O’Rourke drew in large crowds, but it didn’t go smoothly:

Four days into his presidential campaign, O’Rourke’s supporters are still stuffing themselves into coffee shops and living rooms across the Midwest to see the Democratic sensation as he motors east from Iowa to New Hampshire in a Dodge Grand Caravan. And O’Rourke by the weekend was moving deliberately to speak more specifically about policy, to hold more organized events and to mend his relationship with the media.
. . . "O’Rourke couldn’t give many straight answers when it came to policy. He also offended some when he said that he sometimes helps his wife raise their three kids. That led to an apology and him admitting he has “white privilege.”

"It doesn’t help that O’Rourke’s website is filled with merchandise and lacks his position on issues. I looked it up this weekend and found his website bland. I had to navigate news websites in order to find where he stands on issues. Those in Iowa noticed his lack of answers:" . . .

Beto-mania and Our Cult of Personality Politics   "A charismatic candidate develops a cult of personality, then uses the party apparatus as a platform not for any ideas, but rather to promote a celebrity brand."

Giant Rock Sculpture of Beto's Face Appears in Austin   . . . "The press insisted it was no big deal that Beto livestreamed a trip to the dentist, and they're already racking their brains to excuse his habit of jumping up on restaurant countertops with his filthy feet. They're projecting all their hopes and dreams onto him, and they're not going to let reality spoil the party."  . . . Worshippers gather from around the world to touch it!
To use a stupid phrase: The Democrats’ favorite privileged white male has finally found himself.
"Friends of the young Bill Clinton and Barack Obama spoke of the special glow of promise they had about them, even back in their early twenties. Angels sat on their shoulders. History gave them a wink and said, “Hey, good lookin’, I’ll be back to pick you up later.”
"Robert O’Rourke? Not so much. He was just a weirdo. That isn’t my word, it’s how his friends saw him. “You’re supposed to make friends with future secretaries of state, not weirdo musicians,” one O’Rourke pal, Adam Mortimer, told the New York Times. “It’s like, wait, one of the weirdo musicians might run for president.”  . . .

Pompeo destroys Obama’s ideological legacy in the Middle East

While Obama castigated the United States and the West collectively, he cast Islamic terrorism and other forms of Muslim aggression against the U.S. and the West as the misdeeds of mere “violent extremists,” . . . "Far from rooted in their own ideological or religious beliefs, the crimes of this small minority of “violent extremists” were, in his telling, provoked by American and Western collective malevolence and ill-treatment.

snippits-and-slappits
 Caroline Glick  "From the moment that President Donald Trump entered office two years ago, he has been stripping away his predecessor Barack Obama’s legacy in the Middle East, piece by piece.


"It hasn’t been easy.

"It took Trump a year to finally overcome the opposition of the professional bureaucracy at the State Department and the Defense Department, and overrule the opposition of his then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to recognize Israel’s capital, Jerusalem. Trump had to overcome further opposition from his senior advisors and the consensus view of the foreign policy establishment to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

"So too, to walk away from Obama’s signature foreign policy, his 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Trump had to overcome opposition from Mattis, the foreign policy establishment, the European Union, and the media." . . .
. . . 
"After demonizing America’s closest ally in the Middle East, Obama turned his attention to Iran. Far from committing himself to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Obama committed himself to appeasing Iran. He placed the blame for Iranian hostility towards the U.S. on the CIA’s role in the 1953 coup that brought about the overthrow of then-Iranian President Mohammad Mosaddegh.

"Then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak boycotted Obama’s address and refused to follow protocol and greet Obama as he alighted Air Force One at the airport in Cairo. Mubarak turned a cold shoulder to Obama because Obama insisted on inviting Muslim Brotherhood members to his speech." . . .
Obama never met an anti-American he didn't like.





Democrats Attempt to Legalize Voter Fraud (Updated)


iOTWreport  . . . "just in time for the 2018 midterm elections, the California legislature legalized a… vote-harvesting scheme and much more.  The rules changes worked so well that on election night, GOP shoe-in seats in the few remaining solidly Republican areas like Orange County evaporated.

"Per Townhall, anyone can “walk into an elections office and hand over truckloads of vote-by-mail envelopes with ballots inside no questions asked, no verified records kept.”  Democrat operatives cased nursing homes, low-income neighborhoods, illegal alien work sites, etc. to “help” people vote or to pick up and deliver their ballots.  California’s newly relaxed voting laws enabled cheating on an industrial scale that will perpetuate Democrat control.

"…the new majority-Dem U.S. House of Representatives went the state one better and, on March 8, passed H.B. 1, a near copycat “For the People Act,” by a party-line 234-193 vote.  Like California’s new rules, this seemingly virtuous bill would force early voting, automatic voter registration, same-day registration, online voter registration, and no-fault absentee balloting in all 50 states and similarly skew national election results heavily toward Democrats." . . . more
"Tom Fitton Warns About “Ballot Harvesting’"

(Update) House Dems attempt to legalize voter fraud  . . . "Seeing California’s success, the new majority-Dem U.S. House of Representatives went the state one better and, on March 8, passed H.R. 1, a near copycat "For the People Act," by a party-line 234-193 vote.  Like California’s new rules, this seemingly virtuous bill would force early voting, automatic voter registration, same-day registration, online voter registration, and no-fault absentee balloting in all 50 states and similarly skew national election results heavily toward Democrats.  

"It may not pass the current Senate, but this bill clearly reveals which party is pursuing absolute power by any means necessary while disingenuously claiming the moral high ground.  Hint — it’s not the GOP or even Russia."

'Madam Secretary' Lectures Christians: ‘Hard to Claim You Love the Creator, If You're Ignoring’ Global Warming

Newsbusters  "Like any good liberal disciple, CBS’s Madam Secretary is back preaching about the fire and brimstone of climate change during Lent. The metaphor becomes more apt when the show literally goes against religious believers who dare question the will of scientists and fear-mongering politicians. After all, we’re "past the point of no return" already.


"The March 17 episode’s title “The New Normal” refers to the so-called "new normal” of natural disasters caused by global warming. For example, a storm known as “Typhoon Blessing” begins developing across the Pacific Ocean two months before the typhoon season begins. Although it doesn’t threaten the United States, it does target the small country of Nauru. The cause, of course, is none other than climate change.

"Of course, this wouldn’t be a full defense of the Church of Global Warming without a few dissenters. The designated climate change denier for this episode comes in the form of not a politician but Pastor Eli Bragg (Jim True-Frost), the leader of a large Christian organization known as the Christian Redeemers Network. In a speech to this group, Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord’s (Téa Leoni) husband Henry (Tim Daly) quotes the Bible and beseeches the room to accept the infallible word of climate scientists as their Lord and Savior, in the name of their actual Lord and Savior." . . .

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Elizabeth Warren's call to abolish the Electoral College is part of a pernicious pattern

Monica Showalter  "Unlike, say, Beto O'Rourke, who offers nothing upstairs, or Kamala Harris, who flits with the wind with regard to what she's in favor of, Elizabeth Warren is a Democratic presidential candidate with some specific ideas.

"And they're not good ones. 

"Here's what's probably her worst, from Twitter:


Every vote matters. We need to get rid of the Electoral College so that presidential candidates have to ask every American in every part of the country for their vote, not just those in battleground states.

"It's a programmatic call from the worst of the Democratic electoral operatives' dream book: to wipe out the constitution and replace it with riggings for Democrats.  With Warren, it's now coming into the mainstream as a respectable idea.

"It's also awful, an idea clothed in the California-style slogan of "count all the votes," which is the rationale used for the open practice of ballot-harvesting there.  "Count all the votes."  "Every vote matters..."

"What it is is a bid to second-guess and smash up the wisdom of the founding fathers for the sole reason that Democrats don't like losing.  Call it the Democrat Pacifier for Permanent Power Act of 2020."

Save the Electoral College

CNN Brags About Winning Award For Much-Maligned Parkland Townhall. Dana Loesch Crushes Them.

Daily Wire


On Tuesday, CNN trumpeted that the network had won the Walter Cronkite Award, administered by USC’s Norman Lear Center and announced by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, for the Parkland Townhall in which NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch was booed and even called a “murderer.”
. . . 
Loesch expressed her feelings in her typically blunt way on Twitter, while illuminating exactly what happened at the townhall:
. . . 



Some interesting notes: CNN set this up like a WWE event. Purposefully. They allowed Scott Israel to take the stage before the cameras turned on and electioneer; he took that time (about 20 minutes) to start blaming law-abiding gun owners. Loesch tweeted later: After the broadcast ended, one of my detail had to stop a woman who rushed the stage to tackle me from behind. That is when Tapper asked me if I had an escort out. I am positive that CNN’s cameras, still operational, observed this and would like for them to release the footage.