Double Standards on Ukraine: "Democrats in Congress and the media pretend to swoon over conduct they accepted when Obama did it."

Andrew C. McCarthy

"House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff’s opening statement at today’s hearing, a grilling of National Intelligence Director Joseph Maguire, was remarkable. To begin with, he recited a parody of the conversation between President Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky that was so absurd, it would not have made it into a Grade-C mob movie. A telling decision by Schiff, a capable former prosecutor: If you have an extortionate conversation, you quote it. If you need to imagine it into something it isn’t, that means it is not an extortionate conversation.

"Also telling: Chairman Schiff came flying out of the starting block describing how overwhelmingly dependent Ukraine is on the United States and its president. Of course, this fact must be forced to the fore because it is not obvious from the Trump–Zelensky conversation — again, Schiff does not have evidence that Trump extorted Zelensky for the purpose of aiding Trump’s 2020 campaign.

"But more to the point, the relationship of dependency intensified in 2015 due to the flight to Moscow of Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovych. At that point, a new Ukrainian government more to the Obama administration’s liking, under President Petro Poroshenko, came to power. It was desperate for American help, financially and security-wise, which is why Vice President Biden was in a position to pressure it into firing the prosecutor who was conducting a corruption investigation of Burisma, the energy company that had appointed Hunter Biden to its board and was lavishly compensating him." . . .

Whistleblower complaint on Ukraine call released, alleges Trump solicited foreign 'interference' in election

Fox News Video at the link with the highly respected Catherine Herridge reporting.
"The whistleblower complaint that touched off a political tempest in Washington was released to the public Thursday, alleging President Trump used the "power of his office to solicit interference" from Ukraine in the 2020 election -- and that White House officials subsequently tried to "lock down" records of that phone call.
The rough transcript of the July call, between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was already released a day earlier by the White House. It confirmed that Trump sought an investigation from Ukraine into the Biden family, though did not show the president explicitly leveraging U.S. aid as had initially been suggested in some media reports.
"But the whistleblower complaint, released by the Democrat-led House Intelligence Committee ahead of testimony from Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, goes further, though it is not a first-hand account of the call. The whistleblower, who remains anonymous, says in the complaint that White House officials who heard the call were "deeply disturbed" by it, and that White House lawyers discussed how to handle the call "because of the likelihood, in the officials' retelling, that they had witnessed the President abuse his office for personal gain." 
READ THE COMPLAINT  
"The document is sure to fuel the impeachment inquiry formally launched by House Democrats earlier this week. Trump, though, has maintained he did nothing wrong." . . .

Greta the Angry Rallies her "Thunbergians"

Those who are befuddled and beleaguered by climate nonsense look to Greta Thunberg as if she were another Joan of Arc. Those of us who live in reality see her as being hopelessly mired in the arrogance of untruth. Yes, Greta’s childhood has been stolen from her, but it isn’t America that’s done that – it’s her parents who have allowed her to be prostituted in this manner. . . .  (All video and photos added by TD)

Greta the Angry  Comparing her to the historic Joan of 
Arc, Deana Chadwell wrote, . . . "But, alas, she knows very little and what she thinks she knows makes her very angry. She shouts, “How dare you!” at her audience as if merely staying alive in this world is something we’ve all done to offend her. She shouts about “mass extinction” as if a half a degree warming over a century will have us all choking to death in the streets. She moans about losing her childhood and missing school.  Joan once said that she would rather be “spinning wool at her mother’s side” than commanding armies, but she screamed no accusations at the French people. She merely cited her divine mission and went off to war. Even when she was burning to death she said only two words, “Blessed Jesus.”
. . . 
"These two young girls –- both highly motivated –- were set in motion by two very different forces. Greta is terrified. She seems to really believe that she will be dead in 11 years. Her fear is palpable, so much so that she is infecting thousands of other unstable young people, and fear is only useful for fleeing or fighting. Fear never produces tangible improvements –- only ill health and anger.' "

I'm sure out there somewhere many people have said of Thunberg, "and a little child shall lead them." If not yet, they will. 

Climate change and ‘neurodiversity’  . . . "This is the first time I’ve encountered the term and was astonished to learn that major international corporations use consideration of same in their hiring practices:

JPMorgan Chase’s Autism at Work program, which piloted in 2015 with four people, now includes more than 140 employees in eight countries performing mostly technology-related roles, the company says. Pilot program participants were faster and more productive than their peers, according to the company. “There are multiple factors that contribute to this, but the commonalities are strong visual acuity, attention to detail and a superior ability to concentrate,” Autism at Work global head James Mahoney said in a blog post.

"Well, I suppose neurodiversity could be climate-expert enabling or a plus on one’s resume."

"Neurodiversity"...NO! Please don't keep using that word! I can't take it anymore!

Update:  Greta Thunberg: Lisa Simpson Crossed with Bane  "Don’t indulge creepy climate-change kids or their ill-informed tantrums." 

"Like many a 16-year-old before her, Thunberg merely skimmed her assigned reading and has only a Cliff’s Notes understanding of the IPCC report on climate change, which she incorrectly characterized as giving us eleven years before the start of “an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control.” The report just doesn’t say that. The Thunbergians are to science what the Branch Davidians were to religion." 

Counterpoint: Why We Should Take Greta Thunberg Seriously   . . . "After criticizing Greta myself, several repliers have declared that I’m “afraid of a little girl.” In fact, back in March, I was fired for upbraiding the way media outlets have covered Thunberg, incidentally proving my point.

"What isn’t fair is to dismiss the Swedish teenager because of her age. We trust 16-year-olds to do many things, including hold political opinions. The fact that she has Asperger’s syndrome also does not disqualify her from being listened to, or from voicing a position. Two things can be true at once: her beliefs are sincerely held and she is being exploited by those who have vested interests and political agendas. However, the environmentalist left needs to realize that other things can’t be true concurrently. Greta cannot be simultaneously old enough to voice her views on one of today’s most important issues and be too young to be criticized for the things she says." . . .

Media Have Only Themselves To BLAME For Disbelief In Ukraine SCANDAL

Federalist Papers

Socio-Political-Journal...   "Voter distrust — hatred, really — of the media has reached record highs. And it is all your fault.
"It is all your fault because you stopped believing in the media.

"It is your fault because you read too many stories about how Donald Trump colluded with the Russian government to steal the 2016 election — only to discover that it was Hillary Clinton and the Democrats who colluded with the Kremlin to smear Mr. Trump before the 2016 election.
"It is your fault for reading stories about how Mr. Trump lies about everything and will make up anything to destroy his political opponents — only to learn that Democrats in Congress wake up every morning to do that every single day, especially when it comes to Mr. Trump.
"It is your fault before that for reading all of those stories during the 2016 election about how Mr. Trump was such a tyrannical megalomaniac for suggesting he might not accept the results of the election — only to spend three years listening to Mrs. Clinton, all the Democrats and most of the crooked media refuse to accept the results of the 2016 election.
"It is also your fault for turning to that new-fangled internet device in search of actual news that did not utterly defy logic or facts or all the details that seem plainly obvious to any rational observer.
"Credibility of the media is in a free-fall death spiral. And it is all because you have given up and walked away.
"And just when you think our world has been drained of every last drop of absurdity, along comes the media carnival peddling one more bogus story." . . .

Fox News Dominates CNN, MSNBC In Impeachment Coverage Ratings  "Fox News was far and away the highest rated network Tuesday evening, as House Democrats officially launched an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

"The network averaged 3.3 million viewers during House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement, including 551,100 viewers in the coveted ages 25-54 demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research Center. The numbers far outpaced other cable news outlets, including MSNBC and CNN. (RELATED: Fox News Dominates CNN, MSNBC In Mueller TV Ratings)"

"MSNBC averaged just under 2.4 million viewers during Pelosi’s announcement, including just 305,000 viewers in the 25-54 demographic. Meanwhile, CNN averaged just over 1.4 million viewers during the announcement, with 365,000 viewers coming from the 25-54 demographic. (RELATED: MSNBC, CNN Host 7 Times More Democrats Than Republicans)

"Fox News Channel also dominated its prime time competition, averaging nearly 3.5 million viewers with 620,000 coming in the 25-54 demographic. Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson once again had the two most watched prime time shows, with Hannity averaging 3.9 million viewers, and Carlson pulling in 3.4 million."

Ann Coulter: The Transcript We Really Want to See

Video from Russia Today.

Ann Coulter  "The transcript of President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky is yet another illustration of the rule: Never ask a question you don’t know the answer to.
"But on the basis of one drama queen’s overreaction to a rumor she’d heard about what was said on a phone call she didn’t hear (I'm assuming the whistleblower is Christine Blasey Ford), the Democrats have launched impeachment proceedings against the president. 
"I guess they figured it's easier than flying to South Dakota with picks and chisels and carving Trump into Mount Rushmore. But it will have the same effect. 
"Now that the transcript has been released, it’s The New York Times that doesn't want anyone to see it. 
"The transcript I'd like to see is the one of Nancy Pelosi reading the Trump transcript. 

F@@@@@@CK! Whose f***ing idea was it to demand this goddamn transcript?
F@CK!
F@@CK!
F@@@CK!

"The absolute worst version for Trump -- i.e. the one being repeated non-stop on MSNBC -- is that he did exactly what Obama and Biden were doing to Ukraine: intimidating an ally into giving us something in exchange for the foreign aid we were giving them. "Biden himself bragged about getting Ukraine’s prosecutor fired by threatening to withhold a big fat check from them.  'The Democrats’ argument is: No, no, no! When WE were pressuring Ukraine, we were doing it for good! Don’t you understand? We’re good; they’re bad. 'The other reason the media are going to have to bury this transcript is that Trump brought up a few items that the media have been hoping the public would never find out about.
'Trump said: “There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution, so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me.” 
'Well, that’s something the media haven't mentioned before. Ninety-nine percent of Americans will be hearing about the funny business with Biden's son, Hunter, for the first time with the release of this transcript.
'Why did Vice President Biden order the Ukrainian president to fire the prosecutor investigating the Ukrainian company paying his son millions of dollars? Are Democrats claiming that this company was clean as a whistle and it was an absolute OUTRAGE that it was being investigated?
'Ukraine was looking into the company that conveniently placed Hunter Biden on its board long before Trump came on the scene. Something must have made the Ukrainian prosecutor want to investigate Biden’s company -- and it sure wasn’t to curry favor with the Obama/Biden administration. "The second issue the media does not want anyone to think about is CrowdStrike. 

"What is CrowdStrike, you ask? That is the cybersecurity firm that is the sole source of the claim that the Russians hacked the DNC’s emails -- which launched the conspiracy theories that tied our country in knots for the past three years.
"The Russian collusion story was originally hatched by Hillary Clinton in the summer of 2016 to cover up the utter corruption revealed by the dump of Democratic National Committee emails on Wikileaks. As was her practice whenever a scandal threatened to engulf her, Hillary rushed out and told the press to investigate something else. " . . .

CrowdStrike Revises Russian Hack Into Ukrainian Artillery  The Original Report

"CrowdStrike produced its report on December 22, 2016. The company’s co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch stated that the firm found the “malware used to track Ukrainian artillery units was a variant of the kind used to hack into the Democratic National Committee.” He stressed that those who used the malware had to have communication with Russian military:" . . .

Mattel Releases Gender-Neutral Barbies In Efforts To Be ‘More Inclusive’

Daily Caller  "The company that created “Barbie” launched a new line of gender-neutral Barbie dolls released in Walmart and Target stores Wednesday.
"Mattel Creatable World released a new line of Barbie dolls in efforts to create “more inclusive” dolls, available online at Target, Walmart, and Amazon. The dolls are designed to meet the needs of children who do not necessarily identify as female or male.
“ 'Creatable World™ gives kids a blank canvas to create their own characters,” Mattel’s website says. “Switch long hair for short hair—add a skirt, pants or both. It’s up to you! Mix and match, swap or share.' ”

The power of hate: The impeachment pot is still boiling

Child-woman AOC After Transcript Release: ‘We Have No Choice but to Impeach’

Hollywood supports Tom Steyer's impeachment movement. 

What started as an online petition grew into a national movement of passionate, energetic advocates committed to removing Donald Trump from office. 

203 members of Congress support impeachment.Find out where your representative stands.  Go here to see where your member of Congress stands

Democrat demolition derby continues with Ukraine Zelensky transcript. . . "Since taking control of the House last year, watching the Democrats is not unlike watching a demolition derby.  Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff, Green, and the Squad, to name a few, all driving tired, beaten up, divisive narratives, as fresh as a demolition derby car. The question is what is driving the Democrats demolition derby of hysteria over a conversation between Presidents Trump and Zelensky?  A conversation they both know is being listened to, recorded. It is simple.
"Ukraine knows exactly what went transpired between the Obama administration – Obama, Biden and Clinton and the oligarchy of Ukraine. Hunter and Joe Biden, while actions are questionable, are nothing more than a way to distract away from the very real crimes that hurt America.  The collusion of Obama and Clinton, et al., in the creation of the Russian hoax dossier."

Trump's Acting DNI: Cut The Fake News Crap. I'm Not Quitting.  "At 2:44 PM, the Washington Post ran a story, titled, "Acting director of national intelligence threatened to resign if he couldn’t speak freely before Congress on whistleblower complaint." At 3:25 PM, Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire politely issued a statement basically calling this report absolute fake news." . . .
. . . "Swing and a miss. Here is what Maguire told Olivia Gazis at CBS: "At no time have I considered resigning my position since assuming this role on Aug. 16, 2019. I have never quit anything in my life, and I am not going to start now." . . .

WSJ Columnist Torches Every Democratic Talking Point Being Peddled In This Bogus Trump Impeachment Circus

. . . "In the publication’s op-ed section, columnist Kimberley Strassel, who has torched many of the liberal talking points peddled by the Left in their years-long crusade to impeach Trump, went on a lengthy Twitter thread dissecting the latest spate of nonsensical allegations lobbed at the Trump White House over this phone call. One, Trump was asking Ukraine for assistance in a U.S. investigation into 2016 election meddling, and it was the Ukrainians that brought up Biden. This is another “non-smoking gun.” Also, it proved that everyone got this story totally and utterly wrong." . . . 

Ukraine president confirms: ‘nobody pushed me’ to probe Biden family

Barack Obama, The Real KING of the QUID PRO QUO

Impeach THIS!  "Democrats, socialists and others with animosity toward this White House say they’ve found the smoking gun in Donald Trump’s released telephone transcript with Ukraine’s president — the supposed quid pro quo nugget of gold — and that it won’t be long now before impeach, impeach, impeach moves from message to reality.
     "Hmm. Really now. Funny how after eight years of Barack Obama quid pro quo-ing here, there and everywhere, it’s only now Democrats care.
     "It’s only now Democrats seem to have gleaned a sense of conscientiously objecting to what they perceive as abusing one’s high office to obtain political or personal favors.

"Not that Trump’s call with the Ukraine president falls under that header. Hardly."

     "House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff may be out and about, trying to make some sort of federal case over the just-released five-page transcript of the telephone conversation by wildly saying, “It is shocking. … What those notes reflect is a classic mafia-like shakedown of a foreign leader.”

     "But don’t you believe it. Read it yourself.

     "And while reading, in between yawns, consider this, a headline from Green Biz, from March of 2011: “Barack Obama, Clean Tech and the Political Quid Pro Quo.”

     "The piece goes on to recount how the Center for Public Integrity published “a long, in-depth look at how some of the Obama campaign’s most prolific fundraisers have gotten loans, grants and special access to [his] administration,” to include a “deep look at how [Steve] Westly, former California state controller and venture capitalist … landed intimate access to the Obama administration.”

     "The Westly Group funded, among other companies, Tesla Motors. And all the while he was visiting the White House, serving as a member of the Obama administration’s advisory board on energy policy, and so forth and so on, he was raking in half a billion dollars in loans, grants and stimulus bucks for his green companies. That was money from the Obama Energy Department to Westly, the guy who wined and dined with Obama et al with eyebrow-raising frequency. Corruption? Quid pro quo?" . . .Source:Socio-Political-Journal..

Why Brit Hume Thinks Pelosi's Impeachment Move 'Was Really Quite Clever'

Leah Barkoukis "Fox News’ senior political analyst Brit Hume weighed in on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement of a formal impeachment inquiry, arguing the move “was really quite clever.”

"What Pelosi accomplished, he argued, was to placate the progressive wing of the party while protecting moderates by not actually moving forward with a formal impeachment vote.
" 'It strikes me that the Speaker and the other leaders are under pressure from the left wing of the party and the leftists in their caucus -- who are numerous -- to move ahead here," he said.
" 'The loathing of Donald Trump and the desire to get him out of office is very intense. They've got constituents back home that want to see action taken against Trump in a serious way so it comes down to this."
"He continued: "I think she’s thinking that she needs to be responsive to the needs of her caucus -- look at what she did today, it was really quite clever if you think about it.'   . . .

Adam Schiff Demanded Full Whistleblower Complaint. Now He's Complaining About Its Release.

President Trump's Ukraine Call Transcript Has Been Released and Blows Up the Latest Impeachment Narrative  "The Department of Justice has released an unredacted transcript of a phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The text was taken down by note takers. The call took place in July from the White House Situation Room. It shows no effort by President Trump to pressure Zelensky into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, in exchange for military aid. This action was falsely alleged by a whistleblower and pushed Democrats on Capitol Hill into an impeachment inquiry. 

" 'There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General [Barr] would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it...It sounds horrible to me," Trump said. " . . .

Scoldilocks, Or the Story of Greta Thunberg

The American Spectator

A pair of Scandinavian leftists pimp out their Asperger’s-suffering daughter to push global warming, and chaos ensues

"Monday was the culmination of a year’s worth of programmatic, propagandistic proselytization, as a 16-year-old Swedish child with a developmental disability took to a podium at the United Nations to harangue and insult the leaders of the free world over the supposed “mass extinction” that is coming as a result of global warming.

"Sorry. “Climate change,” as though that is somehow a tragic event; never mind the fact that the climate changes four times per year in something we call “seasons.”

"The 16-year-old, whose name is Greta Thunberg, suffers from Asperger Syndrome, a condition on the autism spectrum. One wouldn’t normally expect someone with Asperger’s to be chosen as the spokesperson for a global movement, given that sufferers from that condition are characteristically lacking in nonverbal communication, struggle with empathy, are typically very uncomfortable around large crowds, obsess pathologically about subjects not under their control, and often engage in long rants without consideration for how they will be received. Thunberg appears to be a more serious case, suffering from depression so severe she once went two months without eating and had to be pulled out of school.

"And yet that’s precisely what the global warming cultists did, plucking this highly susceptible child, juicing her up with all of the bleak Malthusian auguries of an apocalypse less than two decades in the offing, and then featuring her at protest events across Europe before taking the Angry Cassandra Revue transatlantic. Congress was subjected to Thunberg’s scowling, then she addressed the idiotic Climate Strike demonstration late last week before Monday’s tour de gripe.

"And what a show!

“ 'This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean,” she said, in the part of her speech that was actually true. “Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words." . . .

Michigan woman meets Viet Cong soldier involved in husband’s death

Vietnam widow reflects on her past

American Military News "When Hattie and Jim Ford went to Vietnam in January, they hoped to learn more about the death of her first husband.
"Lt. Deane Taylor Jr. was fatally shot by the Viet Cong after his Army helicopter crashed during the Vietnam War in 1969.
"What the Fords never expected was to be standing face to face with one of the soldiers who had attacked Taylor.
"The Vietnamese soldier, found after a circuitous search, brought them to the spot where the attack had occurred exactly 50 years earlier.
"It was as if the Fords had stepped into a time machine and were transported to one of the ugliest chapters in American history.
"Surreal, said Hattie, 73, a retired math teacher from Kalamazoo.
"Unfathomable, said husband Jim, 73, a retired lawyer.
“ 'It was a million to one shot,” he said. “We would find this VC soldier, still alive, still in the same hamlet and willing to talk.”
"The former soldier didn’t offer an apology, but the Fords weren’t looking for one." . . .
Video here.