Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Whatever happened to "Journalism" as a true profession?

Ratings for CNN and MSNBC continuing to crash, as viewers migrate to Fox News prime time  "Karma has come calling at CNN and MSNBC, the avid broadcast-
Cartoon added by TD
promoters of the Russia hoax.  Viewers who deserted the conspiracy theorists after it turned out that Mueller reported no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia are staying away and — even worse! — migrating to Fox News.

. . . 
"The culpability of these two cable news networks in promoting a hoax, employing former intelligence officials — John Brennan at CNN and James Clapper at MSNBC — to pretend to offer inside intelligence data convicting President Trump of treason, is serious.  Lee Smith, in a long and thoughtful article at Tablet Magazine, calls it "an extinction level event."  If they were independent businesses, it might be, but both are owned by huge, wealthy conglomerates that have many other business lines to generate cash and can use the influence ownership of a cable news network provides to protect and enhance those other businesses.  Neither is likely to go the way of the dinosaurs, much though they deserve that fate."

CNN Host Asks If FBI Should Have ‘Shut Down’ Trump Supporters Chanting ‘Lock Her Up’ . . . "CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour called "lock her up" chants by Donald Trump supporters "hate speech" in a new interview and asked James Comey if he wished he had "shut down that language" in his capacity as FBI Director at the time." . . .
Leftists chanted "Lock him up!" at General Mike Flynn as he walked into a courthouse hearing.

Jim Acosta doing his best to prove Trump is right about CNN as 'fake news'
. . . "CNN called the incident "a non-story." Actually, it was the story, and not just because CNN got negative coverage for its suppression - it's actually the story that CNN is belatedly reporting right now." . . .
"His credibility as a newsman is shot.  He's nothing but a narrative boy, doing the bidding of his Democratic Party masters.  Fake news is the only thing to call him because there's nothing believable about him."

American press more concerned about avocado shortage than invasion


Legal Insurrection  "We have been covering the migrant caravans and the immigrant invasion supported by social justice activists for many months.
"After the recent launch of the largest of these caravans from Central America, President Donald Trump is now threatening to close the southern border with Mexico.
In remarks from the Oval Office, Mr. Trump reiterated his threat to shut the border if Mexico, America’s third largest trading partner, cannot restrict a flow of asylum seekers trying to cross into the United States. But the president’s economic team, concerned about the damage from such a move, said it was looking for ways to limit the fallout if Mr. Trump does do so.
“Sure, it’s going to have a negative impact on the economy,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “but security is most important.”
“Security is more important to me than trade,” he said.
"It is quite clear to most Americans  prefer security over  trade, so Trump’s priorities are correct.
"However, it appears that our press is more concerned about their specialty salads and sandwiches. The focus of many reports on the impending closure center on the potential of shortages of that life-essential food substance, the avocado.

Speaking to Reuters, Steve Barnard, president and chief executive of Mission Produce, the largest distributor and grower of avocados in the world, said Americans would run out of avocados in three weeks if imports from Mexico were stopped.
Last week, Trump said here was a “very good likelihood” he would close the border if Mexico did not stop migrants from reaching the United States.
The U.S. imports about $137 billion in food through the border with Mexico, and that includes about 90 percent of the imported avocados purchased by American consumers.
"Other fruits and vegetables could be impacted as well." . . .

Why do the least-bright people rise to the top? Could it be the "Peter Principle"?

That the greatest nation on the planet has to suffer fools like Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, Maxine Waters, Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, every anchor at CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC, Bill Maher, all the late-night not-comics . . .

Patricia McCarthy  "For over two years, we have been tormented or delighted, depending on one's political preference, by the opinions and or declarations avowing President Trump's guilt with regard to collusion with Russia.  It was all a made-up scam from the beginning, but the media and the leftist loons have beaten this dead horse relentlessly in the fervid hope it would see Trump forced from the office he legitimately won.  
"Our horrific media who has long worked hand in glove with the Democrats, has spent hundreds of hours, over 500,000 columns, articles and op-eds asserting Trump's guilt.  It was all a hoax from the outset, fabricated within a few days of Hillary 's loss to Trump.  Most of those who got on board the Russia collusion hoax knew it was a lie from day one.  But they embraced the lie wholeheartedly.  
"Anything, any plan, any course of action, any sacrifice of one's moral sense, was on the table, worth the risk, worth the selling of one's soul to the devil.  Trump should not have won so the forces in positions of power worked together to undo his candidacy, then his election, then his inauguration, and then his presidency.  Who did all these things?  The people who rose to power in the principal law enforcement agencies in America. " . . .



The Peter Principle  (Originally satire)   . . . The Peter principle states that a person who is competent at their job will earn promotion to a more senior position which requires different skills. If the promoted person lacks the skills required for their new role, then they will be incompetent at their new level, and so they will not be promoted again. But if they are competent at their new role, then they will be promoted again, and they will continue to be promoted until they eventually reach a level at which they are incompetent. Being incompetent, they do not qualify to be promoted again, and so remain stuck at that final level for the rest of their career (termed "Final Placement" or "Peter's Plateau"). This outcome is inevitable, given enough time and assuming that there are enough positions in the hierarchy to which competent employees may be promoted. The "Peter Principle" is therefore expressed as: "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." This leads to Peter's Corollary: "In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties." Hull calls the study of how hierarchies work "hierarchiology."

Top Democrat calling for full Mueller report had different view when Bill Clinton was investigated. Sleazy politicians.

Smear Machine Jerry Nadler Pushes to Release Confidential Grand Jury Material in Mueller Report

Washington Examiner  "Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is the leading Democrat demanding the release of the Mueller Report “in its entirety” without redactions.


"His committee is planning to subpoena the Justice Department for the full report.
"But back in 1998, as a member of the same committee, he vociferously opposed the release of the full Starr Report, saying that “as a matter of decency and protecting people’s privacy rights, people who may be totally innocent third parties, what must not be released at all.”
"Then, the president was Bill Clinton. Now, it is a Republican, Donald Trump.
"Ken Starr, the independent counsel investigating then-President Bill Clinton, delivered his report to Congress on Sept. 9, 1998. That night, Nadler went on Charlie Rose's show to push back against the Republican demand that the voluminous report should be made public. “It’s grand jury material. It represents statements which may or may not be true by various witnesses," Nadler said. "Salacious material. All kinds of material that it would be unfair to release,”
"What Nadler, 71, said in 1998 echoes what Attorney General William Barr told Congress last week. Barr, 68, wrote that he might redact grand jury testimony, information related to ongoing investigations, sensitive or classified information, and “information that would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties” from the report that he provides to Congress and the public.
"In a New York Times op-ed Monday, Nadler wrote: “We — the members of the Judiciary Committee, the House of Representatives, and the entire American public — are still waiting to see that report… We have an obligation to read the full report, and the Department of Justice has an obligation to provide it, in its entirely, without delay.' ” . . .

2020 presidential election: Joe Biden advisers smell a conspiracy

Axios, via Nikki Lund: "Joe Biden advisers believe coverage of allegations of inappropriate behavior is being stoked by rival Democrats — a dynamic that could actually fire up the vice president at a time when others see success as increasingly improbable.
Cartoon added, TD
"Why it matters: Several around Biden think advisers to Bernie Sanders are at least partly behind the anti-Biden campaign. One prominent backer thinks Biden will run, and "is ready to kill Bernie."
"I got this text last night from a source close to Biden:
"VP directed staff this evening to reach out to supporters and donors with a simple message — full steam ahead."
"Why you'll hear about this again: A second woman went on the record Monday to say that a past display of affection by Biden had made her feel uncomfortable.
  • Amy Lappos of Connecticut told the Hartford Courant that Biden rubbed noses during a 2009 political fundraiser in Greenwich when he was vice president: "It wasn't sexual, but he did grab me by the head."
  • Biden spokesman Bill Russo blasted "right wing trolls" from "the dark recesses of the internet" for circulating misleading photos of Biden embraces.

Can you imagine Democrats doing such a thing? Let's see...JFK: no problem there; Ted Kennedy: can't think of a thing. Bill Clinton called the best president since Lincoln - by Democrats. Suddenly the left digs up all these accusers who finally decide Joe made them feel creepy. This current crop of Democrats are what make me feel creepy along with their voters and the education system that has spawned them. TD

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Where were the protests during Obama's years?

mahsti25
Jack Hellner  "George Clooney is calling for a boycott of Brunei-owned luxury hotels because that nation has an anti-gay death penalty. Did I miss all the protests against Iran for having similar laws? Nope, Hollywood, almost all the media and other Democrats actively supported Barack Obama when he and his administration gave Iran hundreds of billions while they continually pledge death to America.

"Why aren’t Clooney and other Democrats supporting Trump for his boycotts and sanctions of Iran instead of condemning him for pulling out if they are so concerned about LBGT rights?  
Homosexuality is against the law in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Sharia, the Islamic legal system, condemns homosexuality as a crime worthy of death . The Iranian criminal threatens gay individuals with lashes and the death penalty. Men always face the death penalty if they were the "passive" partner in a homosexual act. According to the underlying logic, such men behave like women, making them all the more unnatural.  The "active" partner faces the death penalty under certain conditions, and otherwise receive 100 lashes. Women receive a sentence of 100 lashes in all cases. 
"After President Obama issued executive orders forcing schools to allow boys and men to invade girls’ and women’s safe space, North Carolina passed sensible bathroom laws that most Americans would support.  Democrats throughout the U.S. protested and demanded boycotts. Somehow, they didn't also boycott Iran, Cuba and other countries that would never allow same sex bathrooms.
"If Obama and Democrats cared so much about same sex bathrooms, why didn’t they run it as a campaign issue in 2012 and introduce legislation.
"Somehow, Democrats support states’ rights when sanctuary cities and states willingly ignore laws Congress passed, but do not believe in states’ rights when a state like North Carolina passes a law to go against a dictatorial edict.
"President Obama and other Democrats talked tough on illegal immigration, called the situation at the border a crisis, passed laws funding border barriers, separated children from parents at the border -- and journalists and immigration groups rarely protested. Obama and other Democrats were not repeatedly called racists and xenophobes.
"Illegal aliens in custody also died at the same rate during Obama’s eight years as during Trump’s first two years -- and there was no outcry or protests. The media did not blame Obama for the deaths." . . .

Families In Small Michigan Town Want Sex Ed Focused On Abstinence Rather Than Gender Identity Issues

Daily Wire


"A small school district in Michigan is pushing back against those who would alter its sex ed program by incorporating discussions of sexual and gender identity.

"In Allendale, Michigan, a town of roughly 26,000 people, the sex ed program has been titled “Willing To Wait,” and holds fast to the "benefits of abstaining from sex until marriage." Allendale School District Superintendent Garth Cooper stated, "It doesn't matter what your sexual orientation is. The bottom line is that abstinence is the best and only proven way to keep yourself from getting a sexually transmitted infection or from getting pregnant. And so whether you're straight or trans or bi, the message is the same."

"But last spring, some parents decided they wanted the school district to change the program so students would discuss LGBTQ issues; a teacher named Tiffany Harp who taught a class titled "Family and Relationships" had spoken with the class about sexual and gender identity. Harp asserted:
I would explain to them how gender identity is your internal sense of what it is to be male or female. And then, for some people, their gender identity sometimes doesn't align with their biological sex. And kids — when they asked those questions — they were like, “Oh!” Like it made sense to them.
 "The situation engendered anger among parents, many of whom wanted the sex ed message to champion abstinence until marriage. " . . .

Pete Buttigieg's father was a Marxist professor who lauded the Communist Manifesto

The People's Cube
Washington Examiner  "The father of Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg was a Marxist professor who spoke fondly of the Communist Manifesto and dedicated a significant portion of his academic career to the work of Italian Communist Party founder Antonio Gramsci, an associate of Vladimir Lenin.

"Joseph Buttigieg, who died in January at the age of 71, immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s from Malta and in 1980 joined the University of Notre Dame faculty, where he taught modern European literature and literary theory. He supported an updated version of Marxism that jettisoned some of Marx and Engel's more doctrinaire theories, though he was undoubtedly Marxist.


"He was an adviser to Rethinking Marxisman academic journal that published articles “that seek to discuss, elaborate, and/or extend Marxian theory,” and a member of the editorial collective of Boundary 2, a journal of postmodern theory, literature, and culture. He spoke at many Rethinking Marxism conferences and other gatherings of prominent Marxists.
"In a 2000 paper for Rethinking Marxism critical of the approach of Human Rights Watch, Buttigieg, along with two other authors, refers to "the Marxist project to which we subscribe."
" 'In 1998, he wrote in an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education about an event in New York City celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Manifesto. He also participated in the event.
" 'If The Communist Manifesto was meant to liberate the proletariat, the Manifesto itself in recent years needed liberating from Marxism's narrow post-Cold War orthodoxies and exclusive cadres. It has been freed," he wrote." . . .
And then there were six: Gillibrand adds her name to growing list of 2020 Dems who oppose the Electoral College The list includes Pete Buttigieg , Cory Booker and Kamala Harris among others.

WATCH: CNN Reporter Gets Snide While Asking Independent Voters About Trump

All cartoons added by TD
Daily Wire  "In a typical display of CNN’s incredible bias against President Trump, one CNN correspondent interviewed eight supposed independent voters and colored her questions in such a way that she disparaged Trump without even a pretense of objectivity. Randi Kaye interviewed eight voters from Pennsylvania, a key swing state, and her snide attitude was something to behold. 
 . . . 
"One man answered, “I feel more supportive. I think it was an exhaustive investigation.” A woman replied, “I think it was a sham from the beginning.”

"That was the last time in the clip shown by CNN that a voter leaning toward Trump was allowed to speak at any length in the clip.  


"A voter who opposed Trump before the Mueller investigation snapped, “My mind hasn’t changed one iota. I had a pretty firm opinion of him and I didn’t need their help.”

"Kaye asked if the Mueller investigation would impact the panel’s vote in 2020. The answer was uniformly negative.

"Kaye tested the waters to see which way the voters leaned, asking how many of them gave credit to Trump for the strong economy; only three answered yes.

"Kaye, eschewing even a patina of objectivity, asked patronizingly, “Despite everything the president has been criticized for, his lies, now further investigations with the Southern District of New York, the government shutdown, we could go on and on, despite all of that, could you still vote for him if the economy is strong?"

"The three Trump supporters answered yes, but the clip then ignored them as Kaye turned to one young woman who answered “Absolutely not,” and asked her, “You say, ‘Absolutely not.' Why not?”

"The woman answered, “It’s not specifically him; it’s not specifically those investigations; it’s not specifically that, it’s just like every tiny little piece like, of the open, like, I want to say racist or bigotry, the openness of that, for me, of course that’s number one.”

"Kaye kept diminishing Trump’s economy, turning to a voter who was not one of the Trump supporters, sniping, “You look at what’s important: the ‘pocketbook issues’, you know, ‘the stock market is booming,’ ‘unemployment is at historic lows,’ ‘the economy is strong,’ they say; that still wouldn’t change your mind?' "  . . .


Who kneecapped Biden?

Michelle has made it plain that she wants a Woman of Color as the nominee. And John Boehner made it clear that Barack does what she wants him to do. ("He's scared to death of his wife. Scared. To. Death.")
Joe's reputation has endured; notice this cartoon is from the 2016 race.TD
Don Surber  "Five years after the fact, Nevada Democrat Lucy Flores came forward with a story that Joe Biden gave her an unwanted kiss.

"She was the Democrat nominee for lieutenant governor. Biden was vice president and he flew to Vegas to rally for her three days before the election.


"Flores wrote, "I found my way to the holding room for the speakers, where everyone was chatting, taking photos, and getting ready to speak to the hundreds of voters in the audience. Just before the speeches, we were ushered to the side of the stage where we were lined up by order of introduction. As I was taking deep breaths and preparing myself to make my case to the crowd, I felt two hands on my shoulders. I froze. 'Why is the vice-president of the United States touching me?'

" 'I felt him get closer to me from behind. He leaned further in and inhaled my hair. I was mortified. I thought to myself, 'I didn’t wash my hair today and the vice-president of the United States is smelling it. And also, what in the actual f**k? Why is the vice-president of the United States smelling my hair?' He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head. My brain couldn’t process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused. There is a Spanish saying, 'tragame tierra,' it means, 'earth, swallow me whole.' I couldn’t move and I couldn’t say anything. I wanted nothing more than to get Biden away from me. My name was called and I was never happier to get on stage in front of an audience."
"How odd that she chose to tell her story now.
"Democrats have known about Biden's improper behavior for decades and were silent about it.
"But 32 years after his first run for president, Biden actually has a shot because he was Obama's veep.
"Somebody wants Biden out of the race. Hence, Flores told her tale and Matt Drudge linked it.
"I am guessing this is the work of the Obamas. They saw Plugs up close for eight years. They know him. They know he is too impulsive to be president, which would stain Obama's legacy. That was why the Obamas supported their arch-enemies, the Clintons, last time." . . .

The Virtuous Can Never Be Guilty

"Virtue-signaling is now the refuge of scoundrels."


Gary Varvel
Victor Davis Hanson  "Since ancient times, it has always been scary when moral auditors audit their own. Or as the Roman satirist Juvenal put it of male guardians entrusted to shield chaste girls from randy males, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (“Who will watch the watchmen?”)

"When humans sense that there’s neither an earthly nor divine deterrent between them and social acceptance, power, riches, or their appetites, what follows is a foregone conclusion.

"Such exemption is precisely the problem with modern American progressivism. It currently enjoys almost a captive mainstream media. It assumes the lockstep approval of the university. The movies that come out of Hollywood pound progressive themes. Most foundations fund race, class, and gender agendas. Popular culture has defined cool and hip as left-wing. In sum, all the secular dispensators of moral approval are hard left.

"The result is that progressive actors and institutions understand that even their bad behavior will be contextualized rather than audited. Such medieval-style exemption gives them a natural blank check to overreach and to act unethically, crudely, and even unlawfully — as they might not have if they had expected ramifications.

"After all, Johnny Depp, Peter Fonda, Robert de Niro, Madonna, Snoop Dogg, and other exhibitionists factored into their obscene presidential vituperation that the powers that matter to them — movie moguls, film critics, media hosts, neighbors in their tony zip codes, universities — would award their hate or at least nod at it. Far less vitriol aimed at President Obama would have earned social and career ostracism, whether one was an erstwhile birther like Donald Trump or a Missouri State Fair clown wearing an Obama mask. Had Mike Pence hugged, kissed, squeezed, and blown the hair of women and girls in the serial fashion of good old liberal Joe Biden, he would have likely been asked to step down from his vice presidency." . . .

Joe Biden's 2020 Ukrainian nightmare: A closed probe is revived

The American left should never be allowed to get their hands on the foreign policy of this nation. Think Obama-Biden made a mess of things? Wait till Spartacus, AOC or Bobby O'Rourke take over. Bernie's entire philosophy is shaped by the old Soviet Russia and his admiration for them and their economic policy. Read here about Obama/Biden's collusion with them.TD

The Hill  "Two years after leaving office, Joe Biden couldn’t resist the temptation last year to brag to an audience of foreign policy specialists about the time as vice president that he strong-armed Ukraine into firing its top prosecutor.

"In his own words, with video cameras rolling, Biden described how he threatened Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in March 2016 that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, sending the former Soviet republic toward insolvency, if it didn’t immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.

“ 'I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.’ I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,’” Biden recalled telling Poroshenko.

“ 'Well, son of a bitch, he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time,” Biden told the Council on Foreign Relations event, insisting that President Obama was in on the threat.

"Interviews with a half-dozen senior Ukrainian officials confirm Biden’s account, though they claim the pressure was applied over several months in late 2015 and early 2016, not just six hours of one dramatic day. Whatever the case, Poroshenko and Ukraine’s parliament obliged by ending Shokin’s tenure as prosecutor. Shokin was facing steep criticism in Ukraine, and among some U.S. officials, for not bringing enough corruption prosecutions when he was fired.

"But Ukrainian officials tell me there was one crucial piece of information that Biden must have known but didn’t mention to his audience: The prosecutor he got fired was leading a wide-ranging corruption probe into the natural gas firm Burisma Holdings that employed Biden’s younger son, Hunter, as a board member.

"U.S. banking records show Hunter Biden’s American-based firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC, received regular transfers into one of its accounts — usually more than $166,000 a month — from Burisma from spring 2014 through fall 2015, during a period when Vice President Biden was the main U.S. official dealing with Ukraine and its tense relations with Russia." . . .  UM...wouldn't this be collusion?

NY Times, hat tip to Monica Showalter: Ukraine Ousts Viktor Shokin, Top Prosecutor, and Political Stability Hangs in the Balance 
Thanks to Joe Biden, this will make his son richer.

"Creepy Joe Biden has some creepy Ukrainian problems, too" 
. . . "So the guy was out bragging and praising himself to some friendly swampers in the foreign policy community, telling them what a big corruption fighter he was by getting a Ukrainian prosecutor fired ... and didn't mention that that same Ukrainian prosecutor had Biden's own rapacious kid, Hunter Biden, under investigation? The hypocrisy here is positively 'creepy,' at least as creepy as Biden's hand-gropings." . . .

. . . "Did Joe Biden amount to Hunter Biden's added value? If so, it suggests that Biden was selling political favors out of his office - and expected no one would notice." . . .