Immigration is what ISIS needs to defeat America.
Source: Muslim Immigration is Exactly What ISIS Wants | Frontpage Mag
Immigration is what ISIS needs to defeat America.
Source: Muslim Immigration is Exactly What ISIS Wants | Frontpage Mag
Filed under Culture Wars, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Islam, Military, Politics, Terrorism, Uncategorized
The Washington Post kept it classy with an editorial cartoon that mocked Ted Cruz’s children, portraying them as political monkeys for their father. But standing with the tradition that children are off limits when it comes to political pot shots, Cruz hit back with a cartoon of his own with a more appropriate subject matter:
Source: Ted Cruz Hits WaPo with Cartoon of His Own | Truth Revolt
Filed under Culture Wars, General Interest, Humor, Politics, The Media
In today’s Washington Post a new American citizen, Carlos Lozada, offers sage advice for every American, in a piece that offers a fresh perspective on our unique political experiment, quoting a very old source – “The book every new American citizen — and every old one, too — should read: To mark my first year of U.S. citizenship, I read Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America.” Turns out, it explains everything”. Lozada explains:
“My first full year as a citizen of the United States was also the year Donald Trump made nativism a viable political project. It was the year college activists battled racism with their own peculiar intolerance. It was the year Rachel Dolezal was redefined, Atticus Finch rewritten, Caitlyn Jenner revealed. It was the year police shootings became viral, mass shootings became daily and same-sex marriage became law. It was a year America did little else, it seemed, than fight over values, identity, premises.
It’s exhausting, being American. Seriously, do you folks do this every year?
I’m not a recent arrival. I graduated from college here, got married here, built a family here. But only with citizenship did I grasp the distance I’d always kept. I left my native Peru behind 27 years ago, but whenever this country seemed too painful or complicated, I’d shake my head sagely. Estos gringos locos. Except now everything about the place — its virtues and excesses, its history and future — is all mine, too. For the first time, I feel the glorious burden of being American.
To carry it, I’ve realized I need help. Sure, I passed the citizenship test, even practicing the list of 100 questions with my kids. (They’ll ace elementary school civics now.) But for the advanced coursework, my instinct was to turn to a book. What could I read that would guide me through the chaos that is democracy in America?
Fortunately, there’s this little book called “Democracy in America” — written 175 years ago by, of all people, some know-it-all foreigner.”
Democracy in America is also available free online at http://www.gutenberg.org:
Vol 1 here
Vol 2 – here
Donald Trump is not a conservative—he’s a reality TV star thoroughly in tune with the passions and dynamics of mass publicity and social media. No matter how much he denounces them, he’s still a product of victim-based identity politics.
Filed under Culture Wars, General Interest, Politics
In numerous previous posts I’ve chronicled Donald Trump’s candidacy for President as a Republican ( here, here, here, here). In a post “He never means anything serious till he talks about justice and right”, there’s an analysis of the populist appeal of Trump. All that said, and with it being stated numerous times, that I will never support or vote for Donald Trump, let me explain that the people supporting Trump aren’t uneducated idiots, fools or white trash Walmart shoppers, as yesterday’s David Frum’s uppity commentary, “Donald Trump’s Walmart Candidacy”, at the Atlantic asserts:
“Which leaves the Republican race looking like American retailing: many specialized stores to serve the various wants and wishes of the well-heeled—and one vast Trump super-store dominating the down-market all by itself.”
Let’s talk about class in America. In our supposedly egalitarian republic, media elites, Hollywood elites, political elites and academic elites routinely dismiss Americans in the blue collar and below income bracket as trash, ignorant, as beneath notice. Finally, voters in the “Walmart class” as Frum labeled the less well-heeled, decided to take their business elsewhere and he can denigrate them with snide social snobbery, but frankly they’ve had enough.
The reason Donald Trump’s gained traction can be traced directly to decades of the GOP’s loyal conservative base being promised support for conservative issues, only to be repeatedly betrayed by the GOP political elite. Yesterday, after weeks of the House drama in late October over the speakership, where Ryan pretended to be a fiscal conservative to gain the support of the Freedom Caucus, he supported a $1.1 trillion dollar spending bill, that funded the Obama wish list. The GOP base betrayed again by its own party leadership and then GOP elites wonder why the GOP base is sick of the party elites and insiders??? Rush Limbaugh fumes;
“This was out-and-out, in-our-face lying, from the campaigns to individual statements made about the philosophical approach Republicans had to all this spending. There is no Republican Party! You know, we don’t even need a Republican Party if they’re gonna do this. You know, just elect Democrats, disband the Republican Party, and let the Democrats run it, because that’s what’s happening anyway. And these same Republican leaders doing this can’t, for the life of them, figure out why Donald Trump has all the support that he has? They really can’t figure this out?
Repeated stabs in the back like this — which have been going on for years — combined with Obama’s policy destruction of this country, is what has given rise to Donald Trump. If Donald Trump didn’t exist and if the Republican Party actually does want to win someday, they’d have to invent him. It’s just mind-boggling when you figure out everything that has been granted Obama. All the money, the tax increases, the Cadillac plans in Obamacare. All kinds of punitive things in Obamacare, delayed yet again so that people will not be made aware of the pain and suffering Obamacare’s gonna cause.”
Here’s a clue for the elitist snobs in America, who belittle, mock, denigrate and underestimate the millions of hard-working Americans, many of whom shop at Walmart – Americans, by the millions, are fed-up with Washington! While all of the GOP elites who chat amongst themselves at their fancy cocktail parties, but also hobnob amongst the Democrat elites in New York, LA, DC and the Hamptons, the base of the GOP has risen in revolt. These elites recoil in horror at the anger and disdain directed their way and wander around dazed and confused, while the Democratic Party elite celebrates, but beware, the Democratic Party is not immune from the same populist anger as the BLM and other economically disadvantaged in their party foretell. America has lost faith in its leadership. And for the media – America does not trust you to report the truth!
I got sick of the Boehners and McConnells and McCains of the party years ago, so I commend those who stuck it out longer. And to David Frum, former GWB speechwriter, well, we, the peons, although lacking your Harvard education, your keen intellectual insights, and being mere lowly, uneducated Walmart shoppers, still know that in America, WE are THE PEOPLE and WE get the last word to say, “YOU’RE FIRED!”
Filed under Culture Wars, General Interest, Politics
Sorry don’t have time for a thoughtful blog post, but I’ve read a few interesting pieces that I would like to throw up the links to share them.
Here are two excellent foreign policy analyses by G. Murphy Donovan:
John Derbyshire dissects PC culture:
Andrew McCarthy at National Review dismantled the Obama administration flimsy rationale for not looking at social media content of prospective immigrants:
Tashfeen Malik’s Jihadist Social-Media Posts Were Deliberately Ignored by the Feds
And last, an interesting piece Malcolm Pollack posted on his waka, waka, waka blog, which brought back memories of the Cold War era analyzing photos and broadcasts of Soviet leaders. This article looks at how Putin and several Russian leaders walk:
Filed under Culture Wars, General Interest, Islam, Military, Politics, Terrorism
Time to gauge where I’m at with the GOP primary, other than wishing it was over and done with. Very tired of the manufactured drama, starring Donald Trump. As I’ve written many times, I will never vote for him and I do harbor suspicions that he is a dupe (not a plant) of the Clintons, because as I’ve watched Hillary Clinton go from the stiff, robotic candidate in the Spring, to the smiling hipster, cracking jokes and yukking it up on late night TV, it’s obvious dramatic changes took place within her campaign. I believe that unlike her 2008 campaign, where she kept one of America’s true political geniuses at bay, in the early months of this campaign, where it looked like she might not survive to the Fall, in desperation she turned to him. I strongly suspect that he set in motion the strategy that has worked miracles for him over the years. Yes, I see the Bill Clinton triangulation strategy playing out, with far-left kook Bernie on the left, Trump sounding more and more like a fascist on the right and there’s “love and kindness Hillary, appearing as moderate and centrist. I’ve mentioned my suspicions many times ( here, here, here).
In the GOP camp, Donald Trump creates drama, chaos and endless controversy. Assuredly, on the big issues he champions, he mouths many home truths that are inconvenient for the DC cocktail party crowd to hear and acts like gasoline tossed on the liberal press and pundits’ self-righteous, politically correct pieties. He’s reduced their arguments to a heaping pile of ashes and for that alone, we should all cheer. However, there are several “buts”, like, but he doesn’t have a clear grasp of The Constitution and his cures often come without clear plans and overstep constitutional bonds. Of course, those who believe in his great business acumen, don’t harbor the doubts that I do – they see the great American success story, while I see the yuge glowing red warning sign of toxic leadership.
I left my job at a retail store earlier this year, where I worked for a man, whom I believe was the most talented merchandiser I have ever seen. Along with that talent came a huge ego and the worst people skills I have ever seen in my life, that is, until I’ve watched Donald Trump brag, insult, bash and mock his GOP rivals. This man threw anyone under the bus to make himself look good and he bragged as much as Trump. He loved to fire people, very much like Trump. One tirade too many right on the sales floor and I decided to put in my two-week notice, after working there many years. He was my 8th store manager and I had never had a single problem with any of the others. YUGE relief is what I feel not having to deal with him anymore!
The only team The Donald is on, is his own. He does not care about the GOP party or causes per se, they’re just the vehicle he is driving to become President, where he believes his dynamic business acumen will single-handedly “make America great again”. He’s right on many issues – even in his latest kerfuffle about Muslim immigration, on the main points he’s right – it doesn’t make sense to be bringing in Muslim immigrants from several countries that are hot beds of Islamist terror and where the collapse of government in many of these regions makes adequate vetting impossible. And he nailed the alarming truth that the Obama administration doesn’t know what the hell is going on with their own immigration policies. A pause makes perfect sense.
Time will tell if the Carville/Begala campaign modus operandi, that I strongly suspect is playing out in the Trump campaign, is true or just a nutty conspiracy theory. For me, it doesn’t take much imagination to envision Bill Clinton calling Trump when he caught wind that Trump was considering running. Trump and Bill Clinton golf together and have known each other for years. Trump was a yuge Clinton supporter. So, the phone call could have been as simple as this:
Bill Clinton calls Trump : Hi Donald, I hear you’re thinking of throwing your hat into the 2016 race?
Trump: Yes, I am.
Bill Clinton: Well, you know I believe Hillary is the best candidate for 2016, but I wish you good luck and you know, Donald, the one bit of advice I’ll give you is you’ll need great political advisers. A national race is really complicated.
Trump: Well thanks for that advice. I am still putting a campaign staff together.
Bill Clinton: No problem Donald, you know I am already taken (laugh, laugh), but the best political advisers are Carville and Begala. Those GOP political advisers don’t have the guts to run a tough race.
Trump: Thanks, you know me, I want the best political advisers. You know I’m going to fund my own campaign, if I jump in. Do you think Carville and Begala would work for a GOP candidate.
Bill Clinton: I can’t speak for them, but you know, business is business, so you’d have to talk to them yourself.
Set-up done. It could have been that easy for Bill Clinton to manipulate the downfall of the GOP primary. Carville and Begala easily could have advised Trump to keep the business relationship secret, because Republicans go into derangement mode about them. It’s obvious Bill Clinton threw his weight around and called in all sorts of favors within the Democratic party to bury this email server scandal and the Benghazi committee investigation to get her campaign on track.
The other GOP field, except for Rubio and Cruz, lies like dying fish washed up on shore, gasping their last breath. Fiorina seemed to have so much potential – smart, well-prepared, excellent public speaking skills, but then she turned into a scorned feminist, who played the victim card at every turn – whining her way to main debate stage. Her “well-prepared” quickly became boring repetitive, rehearsed diatribes and there didn’t seem a hairbreadth’s difference between her shrill, angry “I am woman, hear me roar” harangues than Hillary’s. The rest of the GOP field, many having crystal clear conservative principles and records, due to The Donald’s monopoly of the press and pundits attention, fell to the wayside. Dr. Carson, the other outsider, still seems like a very nice man, who wants to make a positive change. Unfortunately, his contemplative pauses, lack of foreign policy cred and string of odd remarks have doomed his chances.
I could happily vote for Ted Cruz, even though I doubt he can win in the general election. His pitfalls are he always appears as if what he’s saying now is a careful tactical move in some political grand strategy , which on an intellectual level, I admire, but on a more human level, it comes across as cold and calculating. His other main drawback centers on how he speaks with such overblown rhetoric that it feels as if he’s talking down to people. Rubio has boyish good looks and an engaging personality, but I feel he’s misguided on foreign policy and easily led by “military and think tanks experts”, unfortunately it sounds like all of his are neocons, whom I disagree with on most policy issues. I still like him, but it would take a lot of soul-searching for me to support him. Chris Christie comes across well in debates, but here again, as a conservative, I have a hard time with Republican-lite candidates
Filed under Culture Wars, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Politics, Terrorism, Uncategorized
Here’s what President Obama should have said on Sunday night. Sen. Ben Sasse from Nebraska articulates who we’re fighting and what we are fighting for. (H/T Truth Revolt.org)