Polls are worthless, of course, but I understand the Rasmussen poll shows Trump at 46/53 approve/disapprove…which, oddly enough, is precisely what Obama’s rating was in the Rasmussen poll on 12/28/09. Honestly, I suspect that Trump’s actual approval rating is in the 53-55% range. The MSM/Social Media bubble is very distorting…one has to pull away from it and look at things from time to time. I have just not heard in real life any strong expressions of disapproval of Trump. Meanwhile, more and more people – like me – are going from qualified, I-Just-Didn’t-Want-Hillary resignation towards enthusiastic support. We’ll see how it all comes out, but I suspect that the Experts will be just as wrong in the future as they have been in the past.
This is disturbing: Don Surber picks up on a Sharyl Attkisson report that the sort of domestic spying Obama engaged in started under President Bush…and before 9/11. Do read the whole thing. This is just wrong. I don’t know, of course, if President Bush was precisely aware of what was going on (we’ve seen recently how the Deep State tends to go on its own). As you guys know, I’ve long had grave doubts about our intelligence services – both as to their effectiveness and their risk of corruption/tyranny. The bottom line, for me, is that they don’t very often pick up on the bad guy’s plans in time to stop them and that they engage in domestic spying is just flat wrong. We need a massive overhaul of our intelligence services…make them smaller, and strictly targeted at gaining intelligence in foreign lands.
NFL won’t be going with Sunday Night Football on the 31st…it would probably be a ratings disaster, if they did. New Years Eve, but also a season-long decline in viewership. The rule is: go Social Justice Warrior, go broke. Lots of reasons are given for the NFL’s mistake, but it is really quite simple: Goodell is a big, ol’ liberal and he simply couldn’t face his liberal buddies if he didn’t inject massive liberalism into the NFL. They wouldn’t have forgiven him…and that the owners ok’d a renewal of his contract shows that most of the NFL owners are more interested in Elite opinion than in what their customers want.
Liberals have taken to flinging poop to express their views…much like monkeys in the zoo. This surprises none of you.
When not flinging poop, they’ve taken to shouting at the animatronic Trump at Disneyworld. We’re not dealing with sane people.
Trump did an epic troll on Global Warming:
In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!
Some people persist in saying that Trump’s tweets are just wrong. Sorry, Trump’s tweets are things of epic beauty.
Schlichter strikes gold, again:
Trump owns his foes. They are mere satellites orbiting around him, and his gravity is all that keeps them from spinning off into space. They have willingly submitted to the reality of a Trumpocentric political universe. It’s hilarious.
Their impeachment fever dreams are fading, so they look at popularity polls and take solace at the numbers. They took solace in them on November 8, 2016, too. It’s a bit over 10 months to the midterms, and there is a growing, gnawing fear in their guts not that tax reform will be a disaster but that it will succeed. They look at their swelling 401(k)s and mourn their prosperity. They take cold comfort in the fact that with a zillion dollars they managed to beat by less than two points an accused strange-o whose campaign strategy was to ride around on his horse. But they fear that the Republicans won’t oblige them again by nominating more weirdos.
Why you’ll get more Trump:
Two professors from San Diego State University claim in a new book that farmers’ markets in urban areas are weed-like “white spaces” responsible for oppression.
Pascale Joassart-Marcelli and Fernando J Bosco are part of an anthology released this month titled “Just Green Enough.” The work, published by Routledge, claims there is a correlation between the “whiteness of farmers’ markets” and gentrification.
“Farmers’ markets are often white spaces where the food consumption habits of white people are normalized,” the SDSU professors write, the education watchdog Campus Reform reported Wednesday.
So, after Pence finishes his eight years in office, who is next? What up-and-comer is there in the Trump team who will roll into office in 2032 based upon the fact that the Democrats are still insane and waiting for the Marshall of the Supreme Court to arrest Trump?
Blogs For Victory 
Yeah, the “farmer’s market’s are white spaces” just really shows that SJW’s just hate any form of capitalism, even the most innocent and obviously positive. It’s like the Soviets rounding up all the little farmers and forcing them into collectives to starve rather than them have a tiny bit of independence. The growth of farmer’s markets is one of the most wonderful trends taking place in America that fights against massive corporations controlling everything and everyone moving to online shopping. It’s just a terrific, terrific thing for small businesses and people who like to engage other people in person rather than on the internet. (By the way, I buy my flax seed cookies in little bags from a very nice African American woman who cooks them herself and explained the health benefits of flax. I had no idea she was part of the white supremacy movement.)
LOL. We buy freshly made corn tortillas from a wonderful local hispanic lady at our area farmer market on Saturday’s and like you, I am surprised to learn she is such a white supremacist.
The poor Left. Many on the Left are vegans or vegetarians and at the very least go on and on about the need to only eat “healthful” foods, and are major proponents of organic foods. The Left is also big on the “farm to table” concept of eating locally grown foods. And they tend to be anti-corporate types. In other words, farmer’s markets are, and have been, the answers to many of the issues brought up by people who are often Lefties.
Now a few hate-driven radicals are trying to take this simple pleasure and sense of victory away from them.
It would be way too un-PC to suggest that the Left try to educate black people about the benefits of fresh food and get them away from McDonald’s and KFC. The problem, if there even IS a problem, is cultural. If in fact more white people than black people care about what they eat or are educated about the problems of mass food production, that is not a problem for and of whiteness. Interest in wholesome food is not limited to any skin color or ethnicity, and neither is farming.
BTW, I just finished an audio book called “Real Food, Fake Food” and after hearing the studies on food contamination, substitution of often harmful foods for the foods represented on labels and menus and so on, my blood ran cold. I think anyone reading this book would probably do a lot more shopping at farmer’s markets.
Sorry, Trump’s tweets are things of epic beauty.
Often times they are. Trump gets better in this role everyday. His tweets can still be terse but they are always poignant and are more and more measured.
It is fun watching the deep freeze in the northeast while we enjoy 70 degree weather. It’s also fun watching the Democrats become the party of NO.
I think the elite are getting upset that we won’t compromise with them. And by the elite, I include the NeverTrumpers
I think many of Trump’s tweets are seriously cringeworthy. I know he likes to troll the media and the hardcore Lefties, but sometimes he just tweets brain farts that are really embarrassing. When he denies saying something he said, for example. Or when he is obviously just peeved and petty and acting like a third grader because someone has irritated him or insulted him. Carefully crafted tweets that allow him to communicate with the people are fine. Carefully crafted tweets designed to get the Left howling at the moon are better. But clumsy tweets that make him look like a jerk are nothing better than clumsy tweets that make him look like a jerk.
Admittedly, he is getting better, but there are times i wish he had gotten mittens for Christmas, and put them on before getting close to a computer.
Trump is definitely living rent free in the Left’s collective (pun intended) head. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that either Trump is learning what works on Twitter vs. what just makes Conservatives cringe, and he’s adjusting accordingly. Maybe he’s doing it on his own; maybe he’s taking someone else’s advice — doesn’t matter. I suspect by the time the mid-terms roll around next November, a lot of Americans will have more money in their pockets, Trump’s approval rating will be over 50%, and the GOP will lose very few, if any House seats and probably pick up a few in the Senate.
I almost drop-kicked the radio in my den through the window the other day. The local, drive-time talk guy who comes on after Rush had a media analyst on who was claiming there isn’t really such a thing as “fake news,” only news outlets that occasionally get something wrong. The host was so incredulous, he didn’t know exactly how to respond. Too bad he didn’t just have a list of all the absolutely false things we hear multiple times a day from the likes of ABC, CBS,NBC, CNN, MSNBC (yes — even Fox), the NYT, WAPO, LAT, etc., the vast majority of which are aimed at Republicans and/or Trump.
Now that the ObamaCare individual mandate has been repealed, it’s going to be interesting to see if Democrats will suddenly find common ground with Trump and the Republican majority in Congress to actually fix it. I haven’t seen any numbers lately, but in its first 3 years less than 20,000 people with pre-existing conditions signed up through ObamaCare exchanges. For about the cost of the ObamaCare website each person with pre-existing conditions could have gotten a lump sum payment of $100,000 each, and for 1/2 of 1% of the federal budget (a rounding error), they could have continued to get that $100,000 every year. Pretty convincing evidence, IMO, that ObamaCare was never about care or about insuring people with pre-existing conditions.
Things are just not going well for Democrats lately. They always want to tax the rich, but now that the new tax bill actually does tax the rich in blue states, they are complaining. And then there’s this:
One of the most consistently under-reported economic stories of the past two decades is how millions of Americans have left high-tax, high-regulation blue states for what they believe are better lives in lower-tax, lower-regulation red states. New York is Exhibit A in this regard, closely followed by California and the fiscal basket case known as Illinois.
Blue states may be forced to downsize the number of bureaucrats they employ and lower taxes.
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tom-blumer/2017/12/28/no-coincidence-out-migration-highest-3-deep-blue-states-complaining
Yeah, the Left’s hypocrisy is being highlighted in article after article.. They whine about the rich not paying their fair share, and then complain about “their” rich having to pay too much. My response — boo frickin’ hoo. As a conservative analyst noted on Fox the other day, it’s going to put pressure on high-tax blue states to either become more efficient or risk losing a lot of rich people to states like Florida and Texas.
Oh, and don’t forget the new tax on university endowments! That is absolutely delicious. How can Harvard liberals complain about paying taxes on their huge investments. (Of course, they will.) I’m stunned that got slipped in. First tax I was fully in favor of. Hopefully they’ll raise it from 1.4% to 5% so they can keep the middle class tax cuts.
Let’s think for a moment about leadership. If the head of any organization is touted as its leader, one can assume that he or she takes this seriously and attempts to actually lead the members in the direction of the founding principles of the group.
So I am particularly unhappy with the position taken by the leader of the Catholic Church, because he seems intent on “leading” his flock into the bowels of Leftist nonsense.
Last Sunday a journalist asked him about the recent and “barbarous assassination of Fr. Jacques Hamel” in France, and how the priest was clearly “killed in the name of Islam.” To this Francis replied that he doesn’t like speaking about Islamic violence because there is plenty of Christian violence as well… [He] said that every day when he browses the newspapers, he sees violence in Italy perpetrated by Christians: “this one who has murdered his girlfriend, another who has murdered the mother-in-law… and these are baptized Catholics! There are violent Catholics! If I speak of Islamic violence, I must speak of Catholic violence. And no, not all Muslims are violent, not all Catholics are violent. It is like a fruit salad; there’s everything.”
Is the Pope really that dense? Is he incapable of distinguishing between violence committed in the name of a religion, and violence committed in contradiction of a religion?
Actually, I am appalled. I cannot imagine ANYONE equating an episode of domestic violence with state and religion-promoted terrorism that targets a religious or ethnic population. I have not thought of Pope Francis as a good leader of the Church, as he has repeatedly substituted political advocacy for religious dogma and his political leanings are definitely toward the Left. He has opined on climate change, on American immigration policies, on many things that fall far outside his scope of authority as the Pope. As a private citizen he certainly has the right to spout Leftist nonsense, but he has a responsibility—let me repeat that, a RESPONSIBILITY—to his fellow Catholics, who are taught from the cradle to respect and listen to the Pope, to expound only on matters of Catholic dogma as the Pope.
I had already lost a lot of respect for him, but until now not thought of him as an idiot. “It is like a fruit salad; there’s everything.” What a train wreck.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/263709/pope-francis-fool-or-liar-islam-raymond-ibrahim
The current Pope has spouted a rather significant amount of, let’s say “questionable responses”, both of a political nature AND in matters of faith. His response to political stuff is disturbing enough. But far too many things he talks about in matter of faith have even Catholic priest, bishops and cardinals questioning his words, which are either ambiguous, or misleading given the history of the church’s stance, or both. That seems far more destructive when millions of followers look up to the Pope for moral guidance. And, unfortunately, he’s also removed many people in high places in the church who have questioned him, replacing them with others, who’s opinions are known to be in direct opposition to what the church has always taught, up till recently.
I actually heard a homily in a Catholic Mass in which the priest encouraged the congregation to read what the Pope says because it is important to know what he is saying—and not to worry that in doing so they would be participating in heresy. I swear, my ears Spocked on me when I heard that. He said we are required to honor the office of the papacy, but there is no requirement to honor every man who holds it. I remember when his appointment was defended by those who claimed he would be a conservative Pope, yet I find him appallingly Liberal as well as appallingly political and abusive of his position.
Great article about the Constitution.
What a hot mess, an incoherent, rambling mess:
Thank you for chiming in simon. Isn’t this fun? Trump is rolling back everything Obama did and now the economy is growing at 3%+, taxes have been lowered, ISIS is gone, consumer confidence is off the charts. most Americans had the best Christmas ever, illegal immigration is way down, Obamacare now has no mandate and is dying, the coal industry is back, employment is up, Bob Mueller is finding out more incriminating stuff on Democrats then Trump, and now for the best part ……….. Trump is going to resolve one of the only issues Democrats have left ….. DACA.
Question – once immigration and healthcare are reformed …… what will Democrats use to divide the country with for political leverage?
Oh and one more Simon – over 700 deep state incompetent bureaucrats are no longer working for the EPA. How great is that?
Kind of reminds me of this guy, Simon, only better.
Okey Dokey, simon.
BTW, if there’s something in the interview you don’t understand, one of us will be happy to ‘splain it to you. We all know how easily you are confused.
Hey Simon – here’s how Cuomo, DeBlasio, and really all Democrats get things done”
The estimated cost of the Long Island Rail Road project, known as “East Side Access,” has ballooned to $12 billion, or nearly $3.5 billion for each new mile of track — seven times the average elsewhere in the world.
Apparently they were paying a lot of people for doing nothing, but according to travesty, that is an economic stimulator. Is this what Obama meant when he campaigned on “roads and bridges”??
LMAO
Hey Simon – here’s what progressive women think about you. From HuffPo editor Emily McCombs:
New Year’s resolutions:
1. Cultivate female friendships
2. Band together to kill all men — Emily McCombs (@msemilymccombs) December 29, 2017
She sounds like a dream boat. And what a great 2020 campaign message!!!
http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/29/huffington-post-editor-reveals-new-years-resolution-kill-all-men/
Band together to kill all men…
At least Simon is safe…..
LMAO
How do we know it isn’t Simone?
I think that technically, biologically, Simon may be male, but he certainly does not seem very, shall we say, “manly”, as he lurks in the shadows till there is a chance to pop out and squeak some feeble critique of the president. I get the feeling that if he does have a woman in his life, the relationship is based on him braiding her leg hair while reciting anti-Trump poems he has written down in his journal.
LMAO again …. you’re on a roll
Much of Puerto Rico still has no electricity, and while rational people know that is because of incompetent, and ill prepared government, Univision and the mayor of Puerto Rico believe it is because of misogyny:
LOURDES DEL RIO, UNIVISION CORRESPONDENT: The truth is that Yulín has distinguished herself in Puerto Rican politics by swimming upstream. She’s been accused of everything, even of being a communist. The mayor had no qualms with talking about her political positions which, according to her, have been misrepresented by those who simply do not forgive the fact that she is a woman.
This is a great example of Socialists in action !!!
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/latino/jorge-bonilla/2017/12/29/univision-news-cant-stop-promoting-radical-mayor-san-juan
Didn’t she call herself a communist? Or is she just communist lite—-a socialist? Maybe she could quote those “misrepresentations” of her political positions. Maybe she is like tryvasty and doesn’t say what she means and doesn’t mean what she says.
It sounds like all she has done is “swim upstream” if by “swimming upstream” the author means doing what she wanted to do and not what the people wanted her to.
Something I don’t understand, and perhaps Simon or Tryvasty could attempt an answer; The Democrats have been railing on about the tax bill, several claiming it will be an Albatross around Republicans’ necks, while at the same time doing everything within their power to stop it. If it’s so bad, why wouldn’t the Dems just hand the GOP an extra shovel and sit back and wait for it to result in the misery they claim it will?
You mean like we did with Obamacare?
Interesting take on the 2020 census.
Seems they may add a line asking if the person is an American citizen. Answering the question no could have ramifications on that person’s legitimacy on being in the US, and/or a multitude of other factors the census is used for. I’m guessing that not having this question would substantially help the leftist politicians by stacking the deck against US citizens. On the other hand, having the question appear in the census could dissuade illegal immigrants from answering or filling out a census questionnaire at all, thereby creating a strong potential for correcting the imbalance of political power which likely slants distinctly left due to census information entered.
Surprising this question is not already part of the questionnaire.
Those are very good points. Without padding the census figures with numbers reflecting illegal immigrants, the totals would not support the high levels of welfare and other government handouts and, more important, redistricting or adding representation to districts with growing populations.
Alright folks, we have a real issue developing:
Tehran (AFP) – Iran warned on Sunday that protesters will “pay the price” after a third night of unrest saw mass demonstrations across the country, two people killed and dozens arrested.
Videos on social media showed thousands marching across the country overnight in the biggest test for the Islamic republic since mass protests in 2009.
Back in 2009, the docile Obama shrunk in the face of Iranian protests and sided with the mullahs while Neda laid dying on the street. And yesterday, CNN became the official media outlet for the Iranian Government:
During CNN’s coverage of protests in Iran Saturday, a correspondent read a statement from the Iranian government……… “This coming out from the [Iranian] foreign ministry, not only talking about the fact that they view the government of President Trump as the greatest bearer of ill will towards Iran……….Damon then added her own thoughts, saying, “Now this, not just necessarily a rebuke of what the U.S. president tweeted, but also perhaps a reflection of just how frustrated, not just Iran but other countries frankly are, with the United States.”
Do we need any more evidence on how subversive the complicit media has become? They are acting against the best interests of the country to serve their narrow agenda.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/30/cnn-correspondent-world-thinks-that-america-doesnt-have-a-moral-leg-to-stand-on-video/?utm_content=buffer9dde2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Let’s hope our new President does the right thing and support the students and other protestors.
And as suspected, our President has an opinion:
‘The entire world understands that the good people of Iran want change, and, other than the vast military power of the United States, that Iran’s people are what their leaders fear the most….’
Don’t let up ……
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5223799/Trump-tells-Iran-oppressive-regimes-endure-forever.html#ixzz52qbh6Qmg
Now THAT is a good tweet, if tweet it was
(1) What other countries are “frustrated with the United States”, (2) what is the nature of their “frustration”, and (3) did they like and respect the United States before Trump was elected?
I think I can answer my own questions.
(1) Who cares
(2) Because we are acting proud of our country and unwilling to be a doormat for those who hate us
(3) No
And BTW, CNN is not qualified to speak for “the world”. They can speak only for the world visible to those whose heads are firmly planted in their nether regions, and we know what that view is.
Since many of the other countries of the world have different aims than us, do not have Ur best interests in mind and in fact are downright inimical to our best interest I fail to see why their frustration is of necessity a bad thing.
Ryan, in a way it’s kind of like worrying about the other team’s frustration because you have more points on the board.
Interesting article in our local paper (emphasis mine). Sure seems to give credibility to the “myth” of global warming. Certainly doesn’t do anything to boost up the warming claim.
Snow and cold –
It was a week when the precipitation was measured in feet and the temperatures were sometimes represented by negative numbers. Fortunately, Upstate New Yorkers are experienced in dealing with the dangers of frostbite and hypothermia, and the hazards of traveling in driving snow or on icy surfaces.
Unfortunately, these conditions always prompt some jokers to make wisecracks about the “myth” of global warming.
-33 The temperature at 5:56 a.m. Thursday at the Watertown International Airport. That was just one degree warmer than the coldest spot in the lower 48 states, at the peak of Mount Washington in New Hampshire.
62.2 Inches of snow recorded in a 48-hour period in Redfield in Oswego County, according to Carolyn Yerdon, the National Weather Service observer. That uncertified total beats the pre- vious Oswego County 48-hour record of 57 inches in Bennetts Bridge in February 2008.
-10 The wind chill forecast for much of Sunday in the Syracuse area. The high temperature today will struggle to reach 5 degrees and should drop back below zero tonight.
That poor author tries, you have to give him/her credit for making an effort to head off the obvious conclusion that the Earth is not warming at a dangerous rate. But snidely dismissing people who acknowledge the obvious as “jokers” and their observations as “wisecracks” isn’t going to do the job. The facts are still there, and tossing in some quotation marks around the word “myth” isn’t going to change that. If snark could actually drive real science, the Left would be in control But it doesn’t, and they aren’t. They just look increasingly silly as they wail and whine about polar bears starving and all the ice melting and cities being buried in the seas, wahhh wahhh wahhh.
This frigid cold spans at least two thirds of the nation. It is not confined to New York, in spite of New York being the center of the universe and the only place that counts.
Of course, it IS “winter” which is of course weather and not climate, so it doesn’t count. Heat in the summer, however IS climate and not just weather. We have to keep our definitions straight.
So some moron named Brett Stephens is still a NeverTrumper because:
Now look at the culture of governance. Trump demands testimonials from his cabinet, servility from Republican politicians and worship from conservative media. To serve in this White House isn’t to be elevated to public service. It’s to be debased into toadyism, which probably explains the record-setting staff turnover of 34 percent, according to an analysis from the Brookings Institution…
Conservatives may suppose that they can pocket policy gains from a Trump administration while the stain of his person will eventually wash away. But as a (pro-Trump) friend wrote me the other day, “presidents empower cultures.” Trump is empowering a conservative political culture that celebrates everything that patriotic Americans should fear: the cult of strength, open disdain for truthfulness, violent contempt for the Fourth Estate, hostility toward high culture and other types of “elitism,” a penchant for conspiracy theories and, most dangerously, white-identity politics.
The cult of strength?? Is it better to be weak Brett? I suppose in your world, “toxic masculinity” is something to fear.
Open disdain for truthfulness?? Unlike the previous administration right Bretty?
Violent contempt for the Fourth Estate?? Because entrenched, incompetent federal bureaucrats deserve respect???
Hostility toward high culture ….. ?? You mean latte sipping morons in SoHo deserve respect??
Brett, you are a special kind of stupid.
When you read the blather of Stephens you can just see the supercilious smirk on his smug face as he mentally celebrates his superiority over the proles he disdains.
In a climate where backstabbing is not only an art form, it is part of the culture, it makes sense to ask of your appointees “can I trust you?” That is common sense, which is why the Left is so freaked out about it. And in typical Leftist fashion, he has to restate it as being “debased into toadyism”. The attitude that loyalty is shameful and debasing explains a lot about being on the Left.
When Mr. Stephens was fretting that Trump demands “servility from Republican politicians” I wonder if his panties were in a similar twist when all Democrat members of Congress were expected to line up, nose to tail, and follow the lead donkey into Obamacare. Which is what they did.
I think what has poor Mr. Stephens so upset is that President Trump demands, from ALL media, basic journalistic integrity. To one so accustomed to the Complicit Agenda Media openly cheerleading Liberal causes and personalities, this is evidently quite distressing. And, projecting Liberal assumptions onto conservatives, if most of the media worshiped Obama then clearly objective (that is, not-in-the-bag) media must be acting on similar worship of Trump. The very CONCEPT of unbiased reporting is clearly so alien to Mr. Stephens that he simply has to shove it into a template he can understand, which is allegiance based on Identity Politics.
It is interesting that Mr. Stephens finds the turnover rate to be damning of President Trump, instead of identifying that culture of lack of personal ethics that pretty much identifies so much of the political class. To many of us, if 34% of the people originally in the Trump administration (and BTW I don’t accept that figure at face value, because I don’t know who is covered in that claim—–top level appointees, or all of the agency folks who have left or been asked to leave as agencies are downsized..) had to leave because they could not be trusted to work with the President to advance his agenda, that is an indictment of the integrity, or lack of same, of the political class in DC, not of the president, and it shows prudence and good judgment on his part as he weeds out the losers, the slackers and the backstabbers. Which is what a good CEO does when he takes over.
I wonder if he thinks that Eric Holder, for example, saw his position as being “elevated to public service”, or as he treated the position, which was to use his power to subvert the rule of law and advance racial resentments and disharmony. The same question could be asked of all of Obama’s appointees. Seriously, does anyone believe for even a moment that Hillary Clinton saw the position of Secretary of State as being “elevated to public service”? Anyone? My personal observation of most if not all of the Obama appointees was that they took advantage of their positions to try to advance their own personal and political agendas, and were allowed to because they shared their ideologies with the president. He did not appoint people who did not share his ideologies and determination to “fundamentally transform” the United States, and I doubt that even a partisan hack like Stephens could argue that he would have continued to work with someone who did not.
Trump is empowering a conservative political culture that celebrates everything that patriotic Americans should
fearwelcome: the cult of strength,open disdaindemand for truthfulness,violentcontempt for corruption of the Fourth Estate,hostility towardlack of reverence for self-defined “high culture” and other types of “elitism,”a penchant for conspiracy theories and, most dangerously,and rejection of race-basedwhite-identitypolitics. There. That fixes this petty little snot-nugget.I think it is very telling, by the way, that Stephens is so upset that, in his opinion, Trump is hostile toward “high culture and other types of elitism”. This tells us that thinks he and his ilk represent “high culture” and “elites”. Yes, this is how they see themselves, and each other. It clearly irks him to learn that this is not an opinion shared by everyone. This is where he exhibits that “…supercilious smirk on his smug face as he mentally celebrates his superiority over the proles he disdains.”
I agree: presidents empower cultures. So maybe we should look at the cultures empowered by our last president. Let’s see—we have the culture of rapidly escalating racial conflict, shown in the increasingly public displays of open hatred of whites by black people, we have the culture of apologizing for the very existence of the United States and shame for being Americans, we have the culture of increasing disdain for our law enforcement officers to the point of allowing open demands to have them killed, we have the culture of women abandoning any pretense of dignity as they parade around dressed as their own genitalia, we have the culture of actually promoting the pathological selfishness of butchering unborn children and selling their parts (subsidized by federal funding), we have the culture of open discrimination against those who want to freely practice their religions—it’s been quite a cascade of cultural changes empowered by our last president.
Now we have a president who openly wants to empower the culture of pride in our nation, the culture of national sovereignty, the culture of acceptance and tolerance of people with differing religions and the right to practice those religions, the culture of respect for the law, the culture of being governed according to our only national rule of law, the culture of getting off our bellies and standing up to take our place in the world, and of expecting to be respected as a nation, the culture of accepting the sovereignty of other nations when they declare their own capitals and respecting those decisions, the culture of loyalty, the culture of journalistic integrity, the culture of honoring our military men and women and allowing them to serve in armed forces adequately armed and trained to do the work they are sworn to do, the culture of calling out phonies and liars when they put themselves in the public eye, the culture of not submitting to efforts to subvert the Constitution and essentially overthrow the government—you can see why the cultures empowered by this president are so threatening to all that is the Left.
Nailed it again ….
Happy New Year everyone. Let’s make it a good one.
I am looking forward to 2018. Could be a very interesting year.
Every year of late seems to be an interesting year. The biggest problem with years is the older you get the faster they go by. I heard this explained the other day in an interesting way. When you’re 5 years old, a day is a much smaller percentage of your remaining life than it is when you’re 70, hence the days go by faster the older you get
There is real truth to that. 2017 was a blur. Domestically, I am expecting 3.5%+ GDP growth every quarter, business expansion, and growing consumer confidence. Healthcare and Immigration reforms are next. On the foreign policy side, I am hoping and praying for the nationalist uprising in Iran to be bolstered and supported to the point the Mullahs are stripped of power and democratic reforms take hold.
I hope every country follows our lead and has a nationalist and populist awakening and take back the power from the oligarchs and elites.
As I said the other day, I don’t trust the currently published numbers from the Reagan years, all of which I used to have at my fingertips, because the Left has succeeded in re-writing much of the history of that era, (remember the Left’s mantra, “nothing trickled down in the 80’s except poverty?”) but my recollection is that it took a couple years (from about 1981 to 1983) for the reduction in the top marginal rate from 70% to 50% to have a positive impact on economic growth, interest rates and inflation. Coupled with the Tax Reform Act of 1986, taking the top marginal rate down to 28%, Reagan’s policies helped set the stage for nearly 2 decades of virtually uninterrupted economic growth. I looked it up the other day, and the average annual growth in U.S. GDP from 1983 to 2000 was 3.75% with only one minor hiccup in the early 90’s. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Trump’s policies at least duplicate that, and I don’t expect it to take 2 years this time.
You’ve been a Kurt Schlicter fan so I have been reading his stuff lately and found a great article this morning. Love this paragraph:
The odds are that Robert Mueller and his team of elite Hillary donors won’t come up with Schiff, figuratively or literally. There’s no collusion, and there never was, and everybody knows it except for the gang over at Team Kook who breathlessly tweet a succession of wacky “scoops” and “exclusives” that never, ever pan out. Remember how the treason indictments of Trump, his sons, the guy driving the white CNN mystery truck, and everyone who voted for The Donald, were just hours away? They’ve been hours away for a year now, and the Stormtroopers of the Imperial Moon-Wizard of the NCAA Court of Treason and Stuff are getting tired of being perpetually poised to charge into the West Wing and frog march everybody out to the local supermax.
“Won’t come up with Schiff” !!!!! Hilarious.
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2018/01/01/i-predict-that-2018-will-either-be-a-disaster-or-it-wont-be-n2428780
Kurt does have a marvelous way with words. I laughed out loud at the “won’t come up with schiff” line as well. Adam Schiff is such a dip-schiff.
Mr. Pencil Neck is a piece of work alright. He is an accomplished butt kisser of Soros and Steyer.
I am going to leave this here, and then we can all come back and laugh at it from time to time:
Max Boot: ‘2017 Was The Year I Learned About My White Privilege.’
I don’t know about you, although I have a pretty good guess, but the accusation of “White Privilege” just rolls off me like water off a duck’s back. I can’t help but feel that I’m not unique in that respect. Being called names like racist, homophobe, sexist, bigoted, etc. never had much of an effect on me in the first place, I guess because I’m comfortable in my own skin. It’ll be interesting to see if the Left keeps digging this hole or whether they find a different tack. It’s clear that the “ridicule” strategy from Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals no longer works on mainstream Conservatives, and it doesn’t seem to me that they’ve got many more arrows in their quiver. I can’t begin to comprehend just how much it must suck to be a Liberal, but it is entertaining to see them flailing around in desperation.
“…It’s clear that the “ridicule” strategy from Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals no longer works on mainstream Conservatives,…”
I think a lot of this is due to the clumsiness of their efforts to ridicule us. On their side they have stuff like “that F-ng Donald Trump looks like a giant yellow cow s**t on his head” and we have Matt Walsh tweeting that “.. today I encountered a white, cisgendered, heteronormative mall Santa. I can’t stay silent about this outrage” in a mall where “the Jews were weeping”. They don’t ridicule, they insult incoherently with great dependence on the F-bomb or they make fun of a child or his mother’s shoes, while our side delivers devastating satire and ridicule.
What is really funny is that the Left doesn’t even understand what is being done to them. We have http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/trigger-warning-today-i-was-traumatized-by-a-racist-sexist-transphobic-mall-santa and they have some hack making fun of the way preteen Barron Trump dresses or tweeting “….President Trump‘s 10-year-old son, Barron, was going to grow up to become America’s “first homeschool shooter.”
They are just not good at ridicule, and are outclassed every time they try. On the other hand, they constantly serve up slow pitches over the middle, making it so easy to ridicule them and their safe spaces and “resist” nonsense and coloring books to help them deal with reality. When a Millennial whimpers that calling her a “snowflake” for having melt-down hysterics and feeling physically in danger because a conservative is speaking on her campus is just mean and, you know, like, hateful, the ridicule is there for the taking.
I have to agree:
https://www.redstate.com/sarah-rumpf/2018/01/01/17-things-need-die-2017/
I agree as well, particularly on Steve Bannon.
From the YCMTSU file:
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio promised Monday to usher the city into a “new progressive era” that will spread beyond the city’s “borders.”……….De Blasio has instituted a number of progressive policies in the name of health or some perceived social good during his tenure as mayor.
And what are these “big” progressive ideas:
The mayor pushed a rule in 2015 that required chain restaurants in the city to post warnings for high-sodium menu items. The ruling was upheld in a New York appeals court the following year…………….“New Yorkers deserve to know a whole day’s worth of sodium could be in one menu item, and too much sodium could lead to detrimental health problems,” de Blasio said in 2016.
Democrats – changing America one big gulp at a time. New Yorkers must be proud
http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/01/de-blasio-promises-new-progressive-era-for-nyc/
More from our very confused friend Max Boot:
“[I]t has become impossible for me to deny the reality of discrimination, harassment, even violence that people of color and women continue to experience in modern-day America from a power structure that remains for the most part in the hands of straight, white males. People like me, in other words,” Boot writes. “Whether I realize it or not, I have benefitted from my skin color and my gender — and those of a different gender or sexuality or skin color have suffered because of it.”
And there’s more:
Boot also believes that misogyny is another whole problem and now finds himself agreeing with radical feminists that we live under an oppressive “patriarchy.”
Do you think he’s just trying to get laid?
Here’s an revealing quote from “conservative” David Frum:
“Conservatism is what conservatives think, say, and do. As conservatives change—as much through the harsh fact of death and birth as by the fluctuations of opinion—so does what it means to be a conservative,”
I don’t know David, conservatism has been pretty consistent throughout my 57 years. Smaller government, decentralized power, Constitutional governance, traditional values, etc., etc. Much like Max Boot, I think Frum is confused ….. of course that is common thread with NeverTrumpers who are all showing their inner progressive.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/01/never-trumpers-check-their-white-privilege/
I’ll bet Frum also believes the Constitution is a “living document.” The only “Conservatives” who evolve on principles and values are “Progressive Conservatives.”
All Frum is doing is proving that his definition of conservative is based not on objective political philosophy but on Identity Politics.
Boot is less “confused” than simply running after the bandwagon hoping there is still a seat for him. This alleged white male “power structure” is much less based on gender or skin color than on knowing what the rules are and following them. That is, learn some basic things about finance and business and politics, fit in with dress and speech, and play by the rules. Anyone who does this can succeed. I always look at Vernon Jordan for an example of this. And Carly Fiorina. There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of women and people of color who have succeeded because they understand this.
Those who do the equivalent of wanting to play on an NFL team wearing flip flops and carrying a badminton racquet will fail, and it seems they always blame the teams instead of themselves.
It’s time for Steve Bannon to go away:
A profile of Steve Bannon indicates that the Breitbart chief is getting increasingly frustrated with President Donald Trump, and might tap into his own presidential ambitions in the coming years.
Truth be known – Trump was a nationalist long before this moron ever arrived on the scene.
https://www.mediaite.com/online/bannon-reportedly-mulling-2020-run-for-president-called-trump-an-11-year-old-child/
Bannon is truly delusional. If there are any who think highly of him, they are on the fringe. The man is a train wreck. Trump created this when he elevated Bannon to a prestigious position, and when Bannon proved to be wholly unqualified and was removed he clung to the fantasy that he really is something special. I can’t believe Breitbart has kept him on, as he is dragging that once-respected publication into the gutter.
Of course he is a darling of the Left, which may pretend to scorn him but which really loves him. The Left needs raving lunatics they can identify as Conservatives. Nothing would make the Left happier than a big battle between Bannon and Trump so I have a feeling any encouragement Bannon may get regarding a political future will continue to come from Progressives wanting to play Let’s You And Him Fight (while they sit back and watch and egg Bannon on).
Brandon Smith usually writes about economic and financial matters, but broaches a different topic today that somewhat dovetails with the discussion about about Max Boot and David Frum. No permalink, so I’m copying the whole thing.
Men embracing their masculinity and biological heritage has not been the easiest path the past few years, at least, for those who care about being labeled a “toxic” curse hanging over the history of the world. For me, frankly, I am indifferent to the gnashing and wailing of feminists and the social justice cult. They are a paper tiger and always have been. Beyond that, it’s almost impossible to live in rural Montana without being a capable man, so even if I wanted to become some kind of liberal my-little-pony metrosexual, the environment simply would not allow for it. I would get eaten alive, or I would have to leave.
It is this lesson above all else that I would like to impart here — masculinity can only be abandoned when the environment is sterilized and controlled and entirely “safe.” But put any feminist out in an uncontrolled and dangerous environment (like the wilderness) for a few weeks, and it won’t be long before they will beg for someone with all those “toxic” masculine traits to come and help them.
This is why feminism and “social justice” as ideologies instantly lend themselves to socialism and collectivism. In fact, it’s hard to separate one from the other. Socialism provides the governmental and legal bubble that helps to protect people who cannot or will not protect themselves, and collectivism forces capable people (mostly men) to do all the hard labor necessary to keep a system functioning and safe “for the sake of the group,” whether they want to participate in that group or not. In the beginning this is done through taxation and the centralizing of wages into metropolitan areas. In the end, it is done through unabashed slavery. If you want to see an example of this simply look up the end result of the Stalinist and Maoist models.
And this is how these people hope to live out their entire lives — blissfully sheltered from unpredictable environments that require technical know-how, independent ingenuity or decisive and sometimes violent action.
Feminism in particular seeks the destruction of all masculinity as a prerequisite to a supposedly safer world. To illustrate, take a look at this article published by the ever-establishment, ever-collectivist Bloomberg titled “How To Make Better Men.”
The article is typical propaganda, falsely associating masculinity first with institutions that do not define masculinity as well as attitudes that are not necessarily only attributed to men. The goal here, of course, is the demonization of men in general through association with already-established negative events and symbols. Bloomberg ties men and male behavior to the events surrounding the recent string of accusations of sexual aggression in politics and Hollywood.
To be sure, these institutions and industries in particular seem to attract a certain type of deviance, not that all the accusations made so far should be treated as fact. Prosecuting someone in the media and in the court of public opinion is not the same as prosecuting them in a court of law. The #MeToo movement is mostly a farce on par with the witch hunting displayed in The Crucible; relying solely on generating the frothing fervor of the mob rather than generating facts and evidence.
That said, the cases that do seem to be provable illustrate a pattern of narcissism and sociopathy common in the entertainment industry and in politics, and this is a problem among men and women within these cultural structures. Just look at Hillary Clinton and her treatment of the women that threatened her husband’s career.
And despite what feminists claim, narcissism and sociopathy are not inherently masculine traits. Some women display these character flaws constantly, but in slightly different ways from men.
Is it wrong for a man to pressure a woman into sexual activity through leverage or force? Of course. But is this a “masculine” behavior, or a sociopathic behavior? Bloomberg and the feminists want to condition you to assume the two are interchangeable.
Now, many other behaviors that have been wrongly attached to rape in order to demonize men are in fact masculine and are not negative. Is it an assault for a man to tell a woman on the street she looks good? No. Is it an assault to be direct with a woman or to pursue her for a relationship? No, as long as she doesn’t tell you to back the hell off then all is fair game. Is it an assault to look at a woman and think thoughts you would not share with your own mother (unless you are a freak)? No, not at all. In fact, you will find that many women prefer a man that is direct over a man that walks on eggshells and is constantly apologizing for acting on what is biological and natural. It is feminists who are complaining about these behaviors, and feminists do not represent women in the slightest.
How do feminists plan to weed out masculine behavior that has sustained civilization since the beginning of recorded time? They hope to accomplish this through public schools. First by propagandizing children (like Bloomberg propagandizes their readers) into believing that traditionally masculine behaviors are “bad.” Boys should be more calm in class, sit still, be quiet, less high strung, they should cry more and share their feelings, they should be admonished for playing violent games such as war with sticks and their imaginations, they should be taught to be vulnerable and less ambitious, they should be, for all intents and purposes, feminized.
Make no mistake, there is a highly concerted effort in the public school system to enforce the feminist ideology by sinking their fangs into the next generation of men and “training” the manliness out of them. Of course, it seems to me that if these behaviors weren’t entirely natural, then the feminists would not have to put so much effort into an agenda to condition children to their side. Why not keep ideologies out of schools completely and let the children decide what comes naturally when they are older?
Beyond the circus of sexual issues dominating the media for the past few weeks, I will say that the violence of action is indeed a predominantly masculine characteristic, and honestly, we need far more of it.
It seems to me that feminism and social justice, whether knowingly or unknowingly, feed into the establishment power structure and allow it to thrive. Encouraging men to be weak, indecisive, indirect, fearful of group condemnation and fearful of their own aggression makes a society less secure and more malleable. Masculinity is often raw and unpredictable. It makes sense that potential tyrants would seek to diminish it so that they do not have to worry about sudden rebellion. In ancient times, invading armies would target the military age males of a culture and kill them off. They would then assimilate the women and children, and young boys would be raised to defend the banner of the conqueror.
Today, this is being done in a different manner. Men are being castrated symbolically in media and film, or castigated through our educational system as a nuisance. We are being encouraged to abandon all the qualities that make us a threat to the establishment, in the name of social tranquility. But of course, in the end only the establishment benefits and “tranquility” is certainly not guaranteed once we fall on our own swords.
Believe it or not, though, I am hopeful.
The tides have been turning against the feminists and the social justice cult lately. And contrary to popular belief, this is not because of Donald Trump. If anything, Trump’s popularity is merely a reflection of the vast and growing backlash against the extreme left and the cultural Marxism they promote.
When there is a social backlash, it usually results in people immediately educating themselves on everything the offending movement originally condemned. Meaning, if the feminists hate it then it is probably good. Will this encourage men, and the millennial generation in particular, into finally pursuing technical prowess, physical and mental toughness, independence and self sufficiency, personal security and self defense and the ambition to build something better? Will our dwindling Western populations see a resurgence of child births? Will the newest Generation Z, growing up in the midst of an increasingly difficult economic environment, adhere to more masculine traits by necessity?
If there is any indication of such a return to masculine roots, it will probably be visible in 2018 as the influence of the feminist agenda continues to wane. We shall see. If not, then the Western world is in dire trouble. For if we do not make manliness “fashionable” again and soon, it might be bred out of our culture entirely. And with this loss, a cultural death is guaranteed.
To truth and knowledge,
Brandon Smith
Great article, and Rush Limbaugh has been talking about the “feminization of our society” for a long time now. I particularly liked this:
Men are being castrated symbolically in media and film, or castigated through our educational system as a nuisance. We are being encouraged to abandon all the qualities that make us a threat to the establishment, in the name of social tranquility. But of course, in the end only the establishment benefits and “tranquility” is certainly not guaranteed once we fall on our own swords.
So true. And Brandon lives in rural Montana? He has to be a good man.
Todd Herman is filling in for Rush today, and he was discussing something that I had completely forgotten. Just another example of the duplicity and intellectual dishonesty of the Obama Administration.
This has got to be one of the saddest commentaries on modern society that I’ve ever seen.
It is sad. It is also sad that so many of these children wished for a house.
This article kind of circles back to what Brandon Smith wrote about. I think the traditional father role is in danger of extinction, and children will suffer.