Thursday, March 21, 2019

Who needs Fox News?

"Feisty" no longer; Charles Krauthammer is even more sorely missed by this writer.

Rich Terrell
Don Surber  "Paul Ryan cashed in on his congressional career by joining the board of directors of Fox News.
"The channel also hired Donna Brazile, whom CNN fired for giving Hillary questions in advance of a debate. CNN never said how a commentator like Brazile got the questions.
"Finally, Fox News suspended commentator Judge Jeanine Pirro for calling out Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's anti-Semitic comments.
Well, that is three more reasons why I skip Fox News.
"Its strength was neoconservatism.

. . . 
"The once feisty channel that rebeled against the establishment has become establishment. Suspending a commentator for giving an opinion is as stupid as firing a comedian for telling a bad joke.
"And yet Judge Pirro was suspended, and Roseanne Barr fired.
"The moves by Fox News make no sense unless its purpose is to drive viewers away." . . . 


If Fox becomes CNN, then what will we do?


Donna Brazile's debut on Bret Baier's Special Report

She who must be respected by Fox News
Pollak: Donna Brazile Trashed John McCain While He Was Alive; Now She’s His Biggest Fan  "Former interim Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile was full of posthumous praise for the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Wednesday’s edition of Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier.
"The context was President Trump’s renewed criticism of McCain after a newly-released deposition showed how deeply McCain was involved in the fraudulent “Russia dossier” that has been used to attack the administration and divide the nation.
"Brazile, who Fox News recently hired as a contributor, began by criticizing the president for speaking ill of the dead. She then continued: “John McCain leaves a legacy. He leaves a legacy of sacrifice. … John McCain should be honored for his service.”
"It is heart-warming to read tributes to McCain from people who ignored his heroism and sacrifice and smeared his character when he ran against Barack Obama and, later, criticized him as president.
"In 2014, for example, Brazile tweeted a hit piece on McCain, “The Vacant Soul of Senator John McCain.” She added: “Interesting article.”
"The article was a response to McCain’s criticism of Obama for the Bowe Berghdal prisoner swap, in which the U.S. freed five major Taliban terrorists from Guantanamo Bay. McCain, a prisoner-of-war himself in Vietnam for five-and-a-half years, nevertheless criticized the deal. (Berghdal was later convicted of desertion.)
"What Brazile called an “interesting article” was a mean-spirited personal attack, with lines such as: “McCain had so much sunshine blown up his ass that his colon must have looked like Cabo San Lucas.” It referred to the war hero as a “small boy,” and accused him of handing U.S. foreign policy to corrupt “spooks and crooks.”
"When McCain was alive, and — as it happens — in the right, Brazile said he had a “vacant soul.” Now she is his number-one fan." . . .
. . . "Ms. Brazile’s integrity and credibility was shredded and even the far-left ideologues at CNN HQ were forced to fire her.  In short, she’s a liar, a proven manipulator and an unapologetic fraudYes, this cloud has now transferred over the head of all Fox media voices, pundits and contributors; Sara Carter and Dan Bongino,
 who will be contractually obligated to defend her or lose their paychecks." . . . (Emphasis mine, TD)


My Wednesday letter to Fox News Special Report regarding Donna Brazile's presence on the panel:
I'm appalled at the presence of Donna Brazile on special report today. For years we have appreciated the wise discussions on the panel, even when I did not agree with them. But your decision to add Brazile to the panel lowered the level of discourse and replaced an informed member with a political hack.
I thought Bret might have been somewhat disappointed over the low level of Ms. Brazile's contributions but instead he made her the favored guest.
One has to go back years to the presence of Sally Kohn  to find such a poor quality panel member.
I beg you as our news source of choice to be done with Brazile and those who made the choice for her.
Shame on the decision makers at Fox News.

(He that tooteth not his own horn, his horn don't get tooted. TD)

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." . . .