Words Matter

The news on Sunday morning reported that the bodies of six of the hostages taken by Hamas had been recovered by the Israeli Defense Forces. Much of the mainstream media reported that the hostages had died–not that they had been murdered by Hamas.

Breitbart posted an article on Sunday about the misleading reports.

Breitbart reported:

Mainstream media outlets, including CNN, NBC, and USA Today, are facing intense backlash for what have been called misleading and “vile” headlines about the brutal murder of six hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

On Sunday, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari announced the hostages had been cruelly murdered by Hamas as Israeli soldiers closed in on their location, possibly based on intelligence provided by a hostage rescued last week.

The six hostages, whose bodies were found Saturday in a tunnel underneath Gaza — including American Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin — were discovered in Rafah, the same city that Vice President Kamala Harris had told Israel not to enter.

But mainstream media outlets, including CNN, NBC, and USA Today, covering the recovery of the bodies, sparked outrage by initially reporting that one of the victims had “died” rather than had been “murdered.” 

The cause of the hostages’ death was not clear for about 90 minutes after Hersh Goldberg-Polin was first revealed to be among the victims, which is why some outlets may have been reluctant to use the word “murder.” Mainstream media headlines currently reflect reports by Israeli authorities that the hostages were murdered. However, screen grabs of the initial headlines continued to spark outrage after reports emerged on Sunday that Hamas terrorists had shot each of the six hostages in the head before Israeli soldiers could rescue them.

The war that Israel is fighting against Hamas is as much of a public relations war as it is a kinetic war. Some Israelis who want the hostages released (assuming they are alive) are protesting to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu into a peace deal which would leave Hamas in power and pave the way for another October 7th attack. Those protests are totally playing into the hands of Hamas as are the calls for a cease-fire from some western countries. You don’t make peace with terrorists unless you want more terrorism. Israelis used to know that. I am disappointed in the Israeli leaders who are using the hostages to try to topple the Netanyahu government. You don’t do that when your country is fighting for its survival–you put personal ambitions aside temporarily at least.

Just for the record, the hostages were murdered to avoid Israel celebrating their release. That illustrates the nature of Hamas.

The article concludes:

Though some headlines have since been corrected, the damage had already been done. Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both affirmed the hostages were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists.

 

The Obvious Contrast

If you haven’t read the article here titled “Common Sense in the Courtroom,” please read it after you read this article.

On Tuesday, ABC News posted an article about some pro-Palestinian protestors who were arrested for criminal trespassing when creating an encampment at the Art Institute of Chicago.

The article reports:

Dozens of pro-Palestinian protestors walked free Tuesday, after having their charges dropped following their arrests in May.

Now, some local leaders are concerned this sends the wrong message, with the Democratic National Convention just a month away.

It was all hugs after 80 people walked out of the courthouse, free of all charges.

“None of us showed up to be arrested. I didn’t show up to be arrested,” protester Jeffery Sun said. “We’re trying everything we can because of the ongoing genocide in Palestine.”

Sun is one of the 80 protesters whose charges were dropped after being arrested for criminal trespassing when creating an encampment at the Art Institute of Chicago.

The article notes:

“No question that crimes were committed during this illegal encampment, there was criminal trespassing. There was refusal to disperse and follow lawful orders. There was vandalism; there was assault. Several police officers were physically attacked,” 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins said.

Hopkins said he’s working with the Secret Service and Chicago police to prepare for the Democratic National Convention, where many protests are expected.

“They need to be prosecuted. If we’re not willing to do that, then we as a society are saying we’re willing to let protesters do whatever they want, without regard to the damage that they cause,” Hopkins said.

The fact that the majority of pro-Palestinian protesters have not been held accountable for their actions (which were often violent) is about to come back to bite the Democrats in Chicago. It will also be a problem for the Republicans in Milwaukee, but at least the Republicans can remind people that they do not control the Justice Department.

It is going to be a long summer.

Common Sense In The Courtroom

In the past three and a half years, Americans have watched the justice system turned against Americans who were politically opposed to the ideas of the current administration. We saw S.W.A.T. teams deployed where people had agreed to show up in court or on people who were no threat to anyone. We saw January 6th protesters denied their Constitutional rights and given sentences disproportionate to their ‘crimes.’ Where was the outrage from Congress? However, it seems that occasionally there is a judge with common sense.

On Tuesday, The Daily Wire reported the following:

Paul Vaughn, a pro-life father of 11, escaped prison time on Tuesday after he was sentenced in Nashville over his participation in a peaceful protest at a Tennessee abortion facility March 2021.

The Biden administration had asked for one year of prison time, but U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger decided to impose no prison time or fine, sentencing Vaughn to three years of supervised release. Vaughn was convicted of violating the FACE Act and in participating in a conspiracy against rights.

The Biden Justice Department brought charges against Vaughn and 10 other pro-lifers present at a sit-in at the Carafem Health Center Clinic in Mt. Juliet.

Why did the FBI use lethal force on a man who was peacefully protesting at an abortion clinic?

Vaughn also talked about how his children still had nightmares from when the FBI came “with lethal force,” to his home to arrest him. He asked how such a show of force was necessary over non-violent charges. He added that he would have been “more than willing” and “would have come down at any time,” to talk to federal officials about the charges.

Unfortunately Paul Vaughn will still pay a price for his conviction:

Vaughn still faces severe penalties for his convictions. As a felon, he can no longer vote or own a firearm. Trauger also imposed restrictions on travel and where he can go. He also cannot enter or be within 100 feet of an abortion facility or participate in any planning for any future sit-in. She also placed him on home detention, but allowed him to go to work and church and for other approved reasons.

This case is an example of one of many reasons we need to clean out the swamp that is our current government.

Some Protestors Might Want To Consider This Information

One of the groups currently protesting Israel’s attack on Hamas is “Queers for Palestine.” The fact that this group exists illustrates how little some younger Americans know about Hamas, Islam, and the Middle East.

On June 3rd, The Gatestone Institute posted an article explaining what it is like to be ‘queer’ in Palestine.

The article notes:

    • Palestinian members of the LGBTQ community have never felt safe either in areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank or under the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.
    • In 2016, when Hamas commander Mahmoud Ishitwi was accused of having sex with men, he was “suspended from a ceiling for hours on end, for days in a row… [h]e was whipped and guards coasted loud music into his cell, banishing sleep.” After enduring days of torture, he was shot to death.
    • “In many countries, including my parent’s former homes and theocratic Iran, homosexuality is still sometimes punished by public hangings…. The international community must not be silent. But it is.” — Hen Mazzig, self-described “queer Israeli Jew,” named among the top LGBTQ influencers, Jerusalem Post, October 23, 2022.
    • “It is alleged that ‘harassment of gays’ is ‘practically official policy’ in the PA. The victims are frequently called collaborators and accused as such. It is also reported that the PA police regularly inflicts appalling torture on homosexuals.” — Ilka Schröder, Member of European Parliament, 2003.
    • “When it comes to Queers for Palestine, what’s richly ironic is that many LGBTQ Palestinians seek asylum in Israel – the same country these stateside protesters are rallying against… At the heart of this contradiction is the tendency within social justice movements to pick a clear protagonist and antagonist, the oppressed and the oppressor, and to proceed from there in one-size-fits-all fashion. Some progressives decided long ago that Palestine is the former and Israel is the latter, which is the seed from which everything must grow. Palestine, then, stands not only for anti-colonialism but also LGBT rights and reproductive rights, despite that those rights, in any meaningful sense of the word, do not actually exist there. Queers for Palestine is about as convincing as minks for fur coats.” — Billy Binion, Reason, October 27, 2023.

When you don’t teach children history, they engage in ignorant protests.

Barring Girls From Athletic Events Because They Don’t Want To Compete Against Boys

On Tuesday, The Conservative Review posted an article about the Harrison County Middle School Championships in West Virginia. Five girls from a local middle school refused to participate in the shot put because a biological male was competing. As a result of their actions, the girls were not permitted to compete is a scheduled track and field meet on April 27, 2024.

The article explains what caused the problem:

Blaze News reported that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals just days prior to the meet ruled in a 2-1 decision that a West Virginia law requiring every student athlete to participate in accordance with their biological sex violates the Title IX rights of Becky Pepper-Jackson — the student against whom the girls protested.

Pepper-Jackson — a biological male — has been living as a female and taking puberty blockers for years. AthleticNet said Pepper-Jackson of Bridgeport won the shot put final at the meet with a toss of 32 feet, 9 inches, easily besting the second-place finisher by more than three feet.

The shot put is about physical mechanics, but it also about upper-body strength. Generally speaking, boys have more upper-body strength than girls. It is no surprise that the male won the shot put final.

The article reports:

Parents of four of the five protesting girls filed the legal complaint against the Harrison County Board of Education.

The complaint states the girls attended an April 24 press conference addressing their protest. Attendees included Gaines and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Auditor J.B. McCuskey, along with several Republicans from the state Senate and House of Delegates, the complaint states.

The complaint also states that the next day — Thursday — the father of one of the girls “spoke with Lincoln Middle School principal Lori Scott,” who told him that the girls who protested “would not be permitted to compete in a scheduled track and field meet on April 27, 2024.”

The complaint also states that a father of another girl spoke with coach Dawn Riestenberg, who “informed him that his daughter would not be allowed to participate in the scheduled track and field meet on April 27.” The complaint adds that Riestenberg told the dad that the girls were barred from the meet because it was her job “to score points for the track team,” which the complaint says correlates to “the minor student athletes’ protest and subsequent appearance at a press conference to the decision to ban them from competition.”

This lunacy needs to stop.

 

 

Has Anyone Noticed?

On Tuesday, WXXI News posted an article about pro-Palestine protests at the University of Rochester. The protesters have set up a camp at the University. The students are calling for a cease fire in Gaza.

This is a screenshot of the picture from the article:

Notice that the tents are all the same. Who paid for the tents? Did the students just coincidentally happen to shop at the same store and all buy the same tent?

The article notes:

UPDATE: The encampment at the University of Rochester has relocated to the Eastman Quadrangle out front of Rush Rhees Library.

In recent social media and other online posts the student activists claim to have won concessions from UR to academically divest from Israel. Such action might address things like study abroad or research partnerships. However, in a statement Thursday, a university spokesperson disputed those claims, writing:

“University of Rochester leaders need to provide clarification on the details of a meeting yesterday between student protesters and University administrators regarding protester demands. The students were demanding (1) a cease-fire call and (2) divestment from Israeli institutions. University administrators in fact made no commitment to either demand, but in particular made no commitment regarding a University divestment from any academic programs or ties with Israel, as is being inaccurately reported on some social media channels. University administrators made clear that neither demand was on the table. There has not and will not be any commitments about future academic divestment of University programs in Israel.”

…By midday about 25 students were present, studying for classes on laptops, bringing cases of water bottles, and stringing up signs and banners like: “UR complicit in genocide,” and “We demand a ceasefire now.” There’s the occasional sound of a drum, sometimes music.

Most students declined to be interviewed, except Palestinian student Omar Darwesh who said the protest is a moral obligation.

“Today actually marks the 200th day of this genocide, and we’re here to say no more,” said Darwesh, a senior studying sciences and public health. His family is from the West Bank.

Why is what Israel is doing a genocide when Hamas is still holding innocent civilians as hostages and killed hundreds of innocent civilians on October 7th? Gaza was an autonomous area under its own government previous to October 7th. That was the equivalent of a two-state solution. We see how that worked out. Why would we do it again?

What We Were Told vs. The Actual Truth

On Sunday, Townhall posted an article about a shooting in Vermont in November. The story we were told by the mainstream media does not line up with the facts.

The article reports:

In November 2023, Jason J. Eaton, 48, shot and wounded three students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont. The crime was investigated as “hate-motivated.” Nothing was confirmed, but Joe Biden commented on it, along with other Democrats, despite zero confirmation that Eaton was fueled by anti-Muslim rage…

…Meanwhile, Biden was mum about the death of a pro-Israeli protester in California, who got bashed in the head by a pro-Palestinian demonstrator. As it turns out, Mr. Eaton supports Hamas. Daniel Greenfield had a lengthy article debunking the Islamophobia narrative (via Front Page Mag)

Front Page Mag reported the following:

On December 6, Seven Days, a local news outlet known for breaking stories about local politics, revealed that Eaton had tweeted, “the notion that Hamas is ‘evil’ for defending their state from occupation is absurd. They are owed a state. Pay up.” 

Responding to an article about a proposed ceasefire, he wrote, “What if someone occupied your country? Wouldn’t you fight them?”

Local politicians were aware of this which is why in December a Burlington City Council resolution from Councilman Ali Dieng, an African Muslim immigrant currently running for mayor, trying to tie the shootings to an attack on Israel failed, and so did a resolution pushing the false claim that the students had been targeted because of their identity. 

The latest Islamophobia hoax had fallen apart in Vermont, but still lingered nationally. 

The article concludes:

Yikes. Many retractions are warranted, but you know that’ll never happen. The media has yet to fully repent for spreading lies about Russian collusion. This was a serious trip-up by the media, but the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas talking points were already baked into the cake. These rabid, antisemitic leftists were going to rally, call for Jewish genocide, and harass innocent Jews on the streets. This poured fuel on the fire, but the eruption of anti-Jewish hatred from the activist and professional Left was more grounded in Israel’s existence and the IDF’s invasion of the Gaza Strip after Hamas’ heinous terrorist attack on October 7.

We are being fed lies by the mainstream media. Those lies have worked to divide us and to impede the progress of the American dream. It’s time to ignore the lies and bring the American dream back.

Did You See This In The Mainstream Media?

The following was posted on Twitter on Saturday. I totally support peaceful protest. I don’t support breaking the law, and I don’t support the unequal application of the law. It will be interesting to see exactly what happens to the people involved in this ‘protest.’ It really does not look like a peaceful protest.

Tyrants Of A Feather Flock Together

On Sunday, Front Page Magazine posted the following headline:

Trucker Protests Got Martial Law, Hamas Thugs Get Coffee From Cops Canada has fallen.

The article notes:

It wasn’t all that long ago that the Trudeau regime declared all-out war on truckers who were protesting vaccine mandates. Martial law was used to target them, their bank accounts and to beat and imprison them for blocking traffic and honking.

But when the pro-Hamas crowd blocks roads leading to a Jewish neighborhood in Toronto, the cops hand-deliver goodies to them and call it “deescalation.”

In case you have forgotten, Hamas is a terrorist group. Hamas is focused on Israel at the moment, but these policemen should remember that Hamas is not limited to terrorism in the Middle East and that they are training the next generation in Gaza to commit acts of terror.

The article includes a screenshot of a Tweet:

Are you sure that this is a group you should be welcoming into your country?

The truckers didn’t vandalize anything! They just wanted their rights respected. What does this group want for Canada?

Misinformation And A Continuing Narrative

Recently President Biden recently gave a speech where he talked about attending the funerals of police officers killed on January 6th. Just for the record, there were no police officers killed on January 6th. There were two civilians killed–one shot and one beaten and trampled during a police-caused stampede in the Lower West Terrace tunnel.

Capitol Policeman Brian Sicknick died on January 7th, after having been admitted to the hospital for a stroke on January 6th. The medical examiner ruled Sicknick’s cause of death as natural causes–two strokes. There is speculation that the strokes were a reaction to either the chemicals sprayed by the police on that day or the chemicals sprayed by the protestors that day. We will never know.

However, when was the last time that a police officer who died of a stroke was honored by flags flown at half mast and lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda? Those two things, ordered by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer were done to plant the idea in peoples’ minds that Brian Sicknick had been killed in the line of duty by radical extremists. It was all a lie. I am sure all of the police involved on January 6th were stressed. I am also sure that many of them were angry that the reinforcements that the President (Trump) had asked for were denied. There were also police that called headquarters for reinforcements and did not get a timely response.

The bottom line here is that we have been fed a lot of lies about January 6th. Many of those lies have been debunked as the videos of the day have been released. I am sure many more of the lies will be revealed as more video is released. Meanwhile, there are people in jail for simply walking through the Capitol after the police opened the doors. These defendants have been sitting in jail with no bail awaiting trial for three years. That is in total violation of the U.S. Constitution. Where are the lawmakers who have sworn an oath to uphold and defend the United States Constitution?

Slouching Toward Banana Republic Status

Evidently in modern-day America when you stand before a judge, it doesn’t matter what you did, it matters which side of the political aisle you favor.

On Sunday, Trending Politics reported:

Two far-left rioters who pleaded guilty to burning down an Atlanta Wendy’s during the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020 have been sentenced to five years of probation by a Fulton County judge.

The Wendy’s was the site of the fatal, officer-involved shooting of Rayshard Brooks on June 12, 2020. Brooks had fallen asleep in the drive thru and attacked the responding Atlanta Police Officer, Garret Rolfe, when he was detained. Brooks was shot and killed after he tried to grab Rolfe’s taser, leading to riots not long after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

Atanta’s BLM chapter, along with other chapters and far-left activists nationwide, called for Rolfe to be charged. He ultimately was charged with murder by then-Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, though charges were dropped in 2022 by a special prosecutor.

The article concludes:

On Saturday, 11 Alive reported that two suspects charged with torching the Wendy’s had accepted generous plea deals. Chisom Kingston and Natalie White were each sentenced to five years of probation, court records show.

Both Kingston and White will also be forced to complete 150 hours of community service and pay a $500 fine. A third suspect, John Wade, was indicted for his role in starting the blaze this past January.

According to an analysis from The Guardian, upwards of 99 percent of charges brought against Black Lives Matter rioters in 2020 were dropped by local prosecutors.

Meanwhile, people who did nothing more than walk through the Capitol on January 6th are rotting in Washington, D. C. jail

The Video Tapes Are Revealing The Truth

As the video tapes from January 6th are being released, it is becoming very obvious that the story we have been told about that day is simply not true. The role of the Capitol Police needs to be scrutinized carefully in view of what the video reveals.

On Wednesday, Just the News posted an article about some of what has been learned from the video tapes.

The article reports:

Congressional investigators have obtained hours of video footage from undercover officers who were dispatched by the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department to the U.S. Capitol to conduct electronic surveillance during the Jan. 6 riot, a critical new piece of evidence that could help lawmakers fashion long-delayed security reforms.

The footage reviewed by Just the News ranges from the mundane — such as chronicling moments when Capitol Police officers are impacted by tear gas fired into the crowd – to more provocative scenes that appear to show plainclothes MPD officers exhorting rioters to climb scaffolding near the Capitol or talking about being undercover with liberal fascist protesters in a crowd.

Please follow the link and read the entire article. At this point we need to know who the Capitol Police actually work for and who gave them their instructions for that day.

Turning A Blind Eye When Convenient

Yesterday Townhall posted an article about the protest in Washington that few Americans have heard about. It seems odd that few Americans have heard about the protest since 78 people were arrested for obstructing traffic and three of them were charged with assault of a police officer.

The article reports:

Leftists will point to the support for Donald Trump as the right having violated the contract and that, having done so, gave them no choice but to respond with militant resistance. The right will say that five years of violence seems like a bit of an overreaction to a guy whose biggest crime was mean tweets.

And there’s no better example of this than the way the media covers right- vs. left-wing activism. A group of people waving American flags – or parents at a school board meeting! – are labeled domestic terrorists while rioters burning down buildings enjoy the Orwellian label “peaceful protesters.” 

The hypocrisy has been sickening to watch over the last five years. 

The most recent example is the far-left group’s unprecedented five-day protest in DC last week – directly attacking the Line 3 & DAPL through Minnesota. To give their violence the air of legitimacy, the group has fatuously titled their “direct action” the People vs. Fossil Fuels, even though state courts have rightfully ruled in favor of the energy- and job-producing pipeline. 

The violent rioters laid siege to the Department of the Interior’s headquarters, demanding that Biden declare a “climate change national emergency” and end all government projects that use fossil fuels. They attempted to “occupy” the building, clashed with law enforcement, and sent security personnel to the emergency room. (All while doubtless tweeting about how wonderfully tolerant they are.) 

All told, 78 people were arrested for obstructing traffic and three of them were charged with assault of a police officer. Many more were doubtless guilty of similar crimes and slipped through the cracks.

As far of the so-called progressive left’s cultural terrorism, they vandalized the Andrew Jackson statue outside of the White House. (One imagines the vandals don’t know about how the Cherokee Indians owned black slaves before the founder of the Democrat Party sent them on the Trail of Tears, but facts are immaterial at this point.) 

The article concludes:

Furthermore, the Cult of the Woke’s article of faith that pipelines are inherently evil is wrong in every way. Pipeline infrastructure is handled ethically and with as little environmental impact as possible. Transporting fuel via pipeline is greener than with trucks and safer than with ships. And if we’re going to provide for all the social programs that the violent left demands, how will we pay for them if we cripple our commercial base? 

This level of violence by radical leftists can’t be tolerated, and the hypocrisy from our failing fourth estate can’t be forgiven. Our social contract has been fundamentally violated, and if this level of urban warfare continues, then we won’t have a society at all. 

The Democrat party began its downhill slide when it chose to ignore the riots of 2020. Ordinary Americans did not want to see their towns burned down without any police intervention. If elections in the future are honest, they will reflect the fact that most Americans want to live in an orderly society with their property rights protected by the police.

Where Are The Perpetually Outraged?

Yesterday Fox News reported that BLM protestors had stormed the Oklahoma Capitol Building on Wednesday, forcing the Oklahoma House of Representatives into lockdown.

The article reports:

Demonstrators chanting “Black Lives Matter” stormed the Oklahoma Capitol on Wednesday, forcing the state House of Representatives into lockdown, in order to protest several Republican-backed bills, including one that provides legal protections to motorists fleeing riots.

More than two dozen protesters filled the gallery on the fifth floor while the Oklahoma House in the chamber below was in session. Video showed demonstrators chanting, “Stand united against all hate,” and “We will use our voices to stand against corruption, to fight hate, to defend Black and Brown lives.” The disturbance interrupted the session for several minutes.

The demonstration was organized against what activists describe as anti-protest and anti-transgender bills advancing through the GOP-controlled state Senate and House. One bill increases penalties for protesters blocking traffic and protects drivers who unintentionally strike drivers with their cars. Another aims to protect law enforcement and their families from “doxxing.”

The article notes:

Oklahoma Highway Patrol escorted protesters from the building, and a drug dog was brought into the chamber to make sure “nothing was left behind,” KOCO reporter Dillon Richards tweeted.

I’m not sure I have seen this widely reported in the mainstream media.

It’s interesting to me that none of the bills they were protesting has anything to do with hate. The only bill that might even remotely be related to hate is the one protecting law enforcement and their families from “doxxing.”  Their problem with that bill would probably be that it protects people they don’t like. Blocking traffic should be illegal. There has been more than one incident when an emergency vehicle has been blocked by a protest and lives were at stake. The bills passed were not anti-protest–they were simply pro-common sense.

The Five Questions That Will Determine The Presidential Election In November

The New York Sun posted an article yesterday by Conrad Black. The article lists the five things that will determine who wins the presidential election in November.

These are the five things listed in the article:

    • Can the President override the Democratic press’s thunderous campaign to terrorize the country over the coronavirus?

    • Can the president successfully connect Vice President Biden’s campaign to the hooligans, anti-white racists, and urban guerrillas who effectively are being encouraged by the corrupt Democratic mayors of many of the nation’s largest cities?

    • Will the economic recovery and the decline in the unemployment generated by the COVID-19 shutdown continue at its recent pace and strengthen the economy as a pro-Trump electoral argument?

    • Will the Republicans make adequately clear to the country the authoritarian and Marxist implications of the Biden-Sanders unity document?

    • Will special counsel John Durham indict senior members of the Obama Administration over their handling of the spurious allegation of collusion between Donald Trump and the Russian government in the 2016 election and Justice Department violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and how will Mr. Biden himself come through it?

The coronavirus has given us some insight into what unbridled government authority can do. Some of the regulations put in place by governors and mayors were based on common sense–things your mother told you when you were young like wash you hands, cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, and don’t hang around with sick people. Other regulations were simply power grabs to prevent Americans from exercising their First Amendment rights–churches in Nevada restricted to a lower percentage of occupancy than casinos, protests to open businesses criticized and shut down while other protests (that included looting and riots) were allowed to continue. We have had a taste of out-of-control government in recent months. A vote for Joe Biden and whoever he chooses as his running mate will give us more of the same. Joe Biden has already stated that he wants to reassemble the Obama team–the group that gave us anemic economic growth, Benghazi where our ambassador was murdered followed by lying about it on television, ISIS, politicization of the Justice Department, and too many other scandals to mention.

The voters will choose. We need to pray for wisdom in voting and an honest election.

Losing Our Constitutional Rights

Fox News posted an article today about the Missouri couple seen defending their home from rioters on June 28th.. Although Missouri’s Castle Doctrine allows you to use deadly force to defend property, authorities acquired a warrant to search the McCloskey’s home and seized the rifle that Mark McCloskey was shown holding during the June 28 incident.

The article reports:

There was no immediate indication the McCloskeys were arrested or charged with a crime. The warrant applied only to a search for the guns, KSDK reported.

On Monday, the McCloskeys appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity” and disclosed that protesters had returned to their neighborhood July 3 – but the couple was alerted in advance and hired a private security company to protect their residence.

…In the June incident, Patricia McCloskey said, the couple was startled just before dinnertime when “300 to 500 people” entered the gated community where they live.

“[They said] that they were going to kill us,” Patricia McCloskey told Hannity on Monday night. “They were going to come in there. They were going to burn down the house. They were going to be living in our house after I was dead, and they were pointing to different rooms and said, ‘That’s going to be my bedroom and that’s going to be the living room and I’m going to be taking a shower in that room’.””

The article notes:

The couple’s attorney at the time, Albert Watkins, said in a statement that the couple did not arm themselves until after they began feeling threatened.

“My clients didn’t sit on their front stoop with guns. … No firearms were on them at the time that they, were, as property owners standing in front of their home,” Watkins said at the time. “It was not until they basically were in a position of seeing and observing violence, recklessness, lawbreaking, and knowing that the police were not going to be doing anything.”

Were they supposed to just sit there and be attacked? The police were not in sight. Until the police deal with people who are not protesting peacefully but looting and rioting, Americans need to be armed to defend themselves. There was absolutely no reason to take the rifle away. Since the house has been targeted more than once by rioters, how are the McCloskeys supposed to defend themselves? Thank God they were able to hire a security group to protect their home and themselves. The seizing of the rifle not only violates their Second Amendment rights, it puts them in danger. They are lawyers, and I would love to see them sue the person responsible for the search warrant and the seizing of the rifle.

The Independence Day Boat Parade

Today I attended an Independence Day Boat Parade. It was beautiful and ended with a man dressed in Colonial American attire reciting the Declaration of Independence. There were many patriots there cheering the boats and their many flags. There were also protestors there from Black Lives Matter. The protestors were very well behaved–noisy, but well behaved. There was no violence and no litter left behind. But I have some questions.

The chants were the usual–no justice, no peace; black power salutes and chants; and ‘what do we want? dead Trump.” I thought the last chant was a bit much since President Trump has done more for the black community than all of the Presidents before him–he has instituted prison reform, he has increased funding to black colleges, and he has increased black employment to new highs. So I guess I am not sure exactly what they want. It did cross my mind that they might not be sure of exactly what they want. At one point they were yelling something like give us what we want or we will burn everything down. That sounds more like spoiled children than a political movement.

America was in unity believing that the death of George Floyd was a horrible thing. The policeman who was responsible for that death was charged with murder. It was made clear that the policeman’s behavior was totally unacceptable. Was the looting and destruction that followed acceptable? Did the destruction of stores in black neighborhoods accomplish anything? Protest is legal in America and should remain so, but protest should have a point and a goal. We can work together to make things better. We will never be a perfect country, but we can make things better.

There are areas of unity we can build on. It is up to all of us whether we want to unify and accomplish things or simply destroy the country we have.

A Different Perspective On The Riots

Many of us have looked at the Marxist roots of Black Lives Matter (as well as the fact that they freely funnel money into Democrat coffers) and considered the current riots as a push toward social disruption that will usher in socialism as a means of equity. What is not mentioned by those who espouse socialism is that it totally eliminates the middle class and leaves two classes–the elites in charge and the equally poverty stricken. Unfortunately our schools are not teaching the lessons of history regarding socialism. However, there is another take on the current unrest that is very interesting.

On July 1st, Sohrab Ahmari posted an article at The Spectator about the current riots.

The article notes:

America is not in the middle of a revolution — it is a reactionary putsch. About four years ago, the sort of people who had acquired position and influence as a result of globalization were turfed out of power for the first time in decades. They watched in horror as voters across the world chose Brexit, Donald Trump and other populist and conservative-nationalist options.

This deposition explains the storm of unrest battering American cities from coast to coast and making waves in Europe as well. The storm’s ferocity — the looting, the mobs, the mass lawlessness, the zealous iconoclasm, the deranged slogans like #DefundPolice — terrifies ordinary Americans. Many conservatives, especially, believe they are facing a revolution targeting the very foundations of American order.

But when national institutions bow (or kneel) to the street fighters’ demands, it should tell us that something else is going on. We aren’t dealing with a Maoist or Marxist revolt, even if some protagonists spout hard-leftish rhetoric. Rather, what’s playing out is a counter-revolution of the neoliberal class — academe, media, large corporations, ‘experts’, Big Tech — against the nationalist revolution launched in 2016. The supposed insurgents and the elites are marching in the streets together, taking the knee together.

I believe the following is the most important paragraph in the article:

They do not seek a radically new arrangement, but a return to the pre-Trump, pre-Brexit status quo ante which was working out very well for them. It was, of course, working out less well for the working class of all races, who bore the brunt of their preferred policy mix: open borders, free trade without limits, an aggressive cultural liberalism that corroded tradition and community, technocratic ‘global governance’ that neutered democracy and politics as such.

The rioters do not understand that they are being used by the very people who choose to keep them in poverty by shipping jobs overseas and undercutting wages by opening  borders.

The article continues:

Does anyone seriously believe the American establishment — Walmart, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, the trustees of Ivy League universities, the major sports leagues, even Brooks Brothers, for God’s sake — would sign on to a movement that genuinely threatened its material interests? And yet these and many other firms and institutions are falling over themselves to express solidarity with the ‘uprising’, some going so far as to donate millions of dollars to Black Lives Matter, an outfit that lists among its objectives the abolition of the nuclear family.

Over the past four years, every trick in the book has been used to end the ‘nightmare’ of national conservatism and populism. The methods deployed by the elite reflect its tendencies and preferences as a class. Just think of recent skirmishes. A decisive majority of British voters resolved to leave the EU and then had to spend three years fighting a political establishment that marshaled all its vast resources to thwart Brexit. It failed. In America the liberal establishment tried harder, failed harder, but learned more. From the minute Trump won the presidential election, Democrats, elements of the security apparatus, and their media allies set out to undo the result. The marquee events were the ‘collusion’ probe and an impeachment push that was perhaps the single biggest insult ever to the intelligence of the American people. There were also countless smaller attempts to unseat Trump and destroy his entourage.

The article concludes:

Which social class most excels at politically correct manners? That would be the professional-managerial class, the laptop class. Its children learn the patois for discussing ‘issues of race, gender and sexuality’ from an early age. They’re expected to have mastered it by the time they take their entry-level jobs. It’s a skill that private schools are doubtless teaching already.

Working-class people, meanwhile, are most likely to struggle with this language. Even when they mean well they don’t always get it right, not least because the rules constantly shift with the vagaries of critical race theory and LGBTQ acronyms. By fortifying the requirements to speak and think correctly — and raising the stakes for failures — the neoliberal class has now built a repressive new mechanism for staying at the top and keeping the oiks down. Especially those who voted the wrong way in 2016.

So whatever you do, don’t call it a leftist revolution. With the flags, the protests, the kneeling and the new language, it’s a counter-revolution. The outcome remains uncertain, but the class war is well and truly under way.

This is a very interesting perspective.

I Guess They Really Are Not Interested In Tracing The Virus

Yesterday The Gateway Pundit posted an article about the people tracing the spread of the Covid-19 virus in New York City.

The article reports:

New York City officials are busy tracing those infected with COVID-19 and everyone they’ve come in contact with, but they have been ordered not to ask residents if they attended Black Lives Matter protests.

Avery Cohen, a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, told the website THE CITY that if people can volunteer such information, but “no person will be asked proactively if they attended a protest.”

De Blasio in in the process of hiring 1,000 people to map all the intersections in which a person testing positive for COVID-19 could have potentially infected others.

A slew of Democrats whined when Americans protested draconian lockdowns, but they are totally behind people rioting and looting in the days after George Floyd died on Memorial Day in the custody of the Minneapolis police.

De Blasio says the two instances are not the same, saying at a June 2 press conference that “400 years of American racism… is not the same question as the understandably aggrieved store owner or the devout religious person who wants to go back to services.”

Earlier this month, the city council’s health committee chairman, Mark Levine, tweeted, “Let’s be clear about something: if there is a spike in coronavirus cases in the next two weeks, don’t blame the protestors. Blame racism.”

This is about to get interesting. It has been three weeks since the protests began. The incubation period for the coronavirus is two weeks. Based on the theories that caused the country to lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, we should be at epidemic stages right now. Why isn’t that happening? Is it happening and the news is not reporting it? I suspect that we are about to find out that the coronavirus is not nearly as contagious or deadly as we have been lead to believe. Now that we have had three weeks of protest and no epidemic, it’s time to open up the country and get back to prosperity, which is what the Democrat mayors and governors have been attempting to avoid all along.

I’m Not Convinced This Was An Accident

The Washington Times is reporting today that three New York City police officers were served drinks laced with bleach at a Shake Shack at 200 Broadway in Manhattan.

The article reports:

The New York City Police Department found “no criminality” by Shake Shack employees after three officers drank milkshakes believed to be contaminated with bleach.

The NYPD reached that conclusion early Tuesday after a “thorough investigation” by detectives in Manhattan.

I’m sorry–I just don’t believe that. How many other people had drinks with bleach in them? How many other people got sick after ordering drinks from the Shake Shack? I am not impressed by the investigation by the detectives in Manhattan.

The article concludes:

The PBA (Police Benevolent Association) said the officer had been “on protest detail.”

The group advised all members “to carefully inspect any prepared food item they purchase while on duty.”

“When New York City police officers cannot even take meal without coming under attack, it is clear that [the] environment in which we work has deteriorated to a critical level.

“We cannot afford to let our guard down for even a moment,” the PBA advised in bold-face type.

According to WCBS, the Shake Shack employees were being questioned, but there have been no arrests.

Just last week, Shake Shack bragged about its contributions to those protesting the police around the country and calling for departments to be defunded.

“Last week, we shared the immediate actions we’re taking to become better allies, not only for our Black colleagues, but for the entire Black community. That included a $100K donation to” the Equal Justice Initiative, which the restaurant chain said it “stand[s] behind the important work” such as “ending mass incarceration + excessive punishment.”

On June 12th, The New York Post reported that two National Guardsmen who were deployed to Washington, D.C., during the George Floyd protests were delivered a pizza containing shards of glass in the dough and cheese.

There are a lot of crazies out there. Everyone needs to be careful.

 

We Can, You Can’t

Spectator USA posted an article yesterday about the resumption of Trump rallies in the coming weeks. The article illustrates the double standard being applied to large gatherings of people.

The article reports:

Are you ready for the second blame wave? As the country braces itself for an inevitable repeat surge in COVID-19 infections, we’re told red-state governors ‘opened too soon’. The next outbreak, we can be sure, will be something to do with the fact the President decided to resume his political rallies, approximately two weeks from now.

What nobody says is that individual or social behavior is the cause. It can’t possibly be the thousands of people closely together marching down city streets yelling and chanting, some with masks, some not. The guidelines fell completely by the wayside for the Democrats and much of network cable news.

In the middle of May, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser extended her lockdown order through to the June 8. Two days prior to her own lockdown order was to be reviewed, on June 6, she encouraged mass gatherings of protests, in a tweet saying ‘Let’s all meet here soon #BlackLivesMatter’, with a photo showing off her big block yellow letters painted down a DC street. In a press release about a possible spike in coronavirus cases in her city, after two weeks of protests she encouraged herself, Bowser announced that ‘DC Health has confirmed that a new peak was detected in the data, resetting the Districts Phase One count to nine days of sustained decrease.’

Florida congressswoman Val Demings, who features on the shortlist to be Joe Biden’s VP nominee, tweeted on June 8 that she had joined a ‘Healing and Hope Rally last night to speak with our community as America grieves.’ Two days later she scolded the President: planning to hold ‘mass rallies in Florida and elsewhere as we experience a resurgence in COVID cases is irresponsible and selfish’.

Wow! One set of rules for me, and one set of rules for thee.

The article concludes:

Either the funniest or most egregious behavior came from the Grim Reaper himself. Remember Daniel Uhlfelder? He is the Florida attorney who donned a Grim Reaper costume and harassed Florida beach goers with body bags, he secured through funds raised from Act Blue. Daniel was so serious about the deadly virus spreading through a state run by a Republican governor that he turned his novelty act into a traveling show. But those plans were apparently put on hold as he himself joined in and encouraged protests, as he tweeted on June 7, ‘We are here in the Florida panhandle in Deep South where hundreds have turned out for peaceful protest. No peace. No justice.’ Also, no virus, it seems.

These people want you to believe that this pandemic is caused by some magical woke virus, one which somehow skips those who have the right politics. What it actually does is raise the suspicion that Democrats and progressives have wanted to keep the economy shut down and people at home as long as possible to affect the outcome of the November election. Your job and your family or your church (also protected by the First Amendment) are not important. Our joining in large crowds to protest is.

There is almost assuredly going to be a spike in COVID cases and it will also almost assuredly be put on red-state governors and the President holding rallies. But Democratic activists and politicians themselves created this situation. They encouraged the world to disregard lockdown and people will now follow their lead, no matter how much they are scolded by the media. These people think we’re all stupid. We’re not.

What if there isn’t a significant uptick in coronavirus cases as a result of the protests? Would that mean that the past two months of lockdown was unnecessary? What kind of credibility would the CDC have if we simply see the normal increase due to reopening the economy? It’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks.

An Interesting Twist To The Story

Unfortunately we have reached the point where the truth about the actual cause of George Floyd’s death is somewhat irrelevant. George Floyd has pretty much been left behind in all the current chaos. His death was simply an excuse to commit mayhem by people who commit mayhem. I remind you of the past protests by antifa and the like at the various G-7 conferences. The anarchists have been with us for a while, and unfortunately we have generally chosen to ignore them rather than arrest them.

On June 3, a website called lawofficer.com posted an intriguing article. I am not familiar with the website, so I can’t vouch for its veracity, but it raises an interesting question.

The article reports:

And if you aren’t careful you would believe it but Michael Baden is a hired gun and he is used by attorneys to say what needs to be said to drive pubic opinion and drive the civil lawsuit settlement higher.

The truth is Michael Baden didn’t do an autopsy.

He couldn’t have because if he did, he would not have been able to give the opinion that was needed by the media and the attorneys. You see, the determination of asphyxia or strangulation is not difficult to see. It takes just a few seconds of looking at the eyes and Baden may be a hired gun but he’s not stupid and he proves that in his carefully crafted statements.

On Fox News, he spoke about the George Floyd case in terms that seem ridiculous to any professional pathologist. As he discusses what the “autopsy” showed he said “in the video” several times.

“There was compression, you can see in the video…

“The video of the pressure of the neck and back goes along with his statements that he couldn’t breathe.”

And it goes on and on and on.

There is little doubt that the actions of the police officer were a major contributing factor in the death of George Floyd. However, I do wonder if the charge of murder will stick. It looks as if this policeman had a history of excessive force and should have been fired a long time ago. He was simply an incident waiting to happen. If the murder charge against the officer (and the charges against the other officers) do not hold up, we can expect more riots. This is definitely a lose-lose situation.

Who Is Buying The Bricks?

Yesterday The Gateway Pundit posted an article showing the delivery of pallets of bricks to various cities in America. There were no construction sites in the areas where the bricks were delivered. Please follow the link to the article to see the various pictures of brick deliveries in key cities.

The article reports:

These protests are organized – bricks are being delivered uninhibited to riot sites.

In cities around the US bricks are being delivered to riot locations and used to destroy property.

The article includes the following:

The article concludes:

Find who are shipping the bricks and you find who is behind these criminal riots!

It’s Time To Find Out Who Is Giving The Marching Orders

This was posted on Facebook by a friend:

These are not spontaneous protests. They are being orchestrated with a purpose. The idea is to undermine everyone’s sense of security and hopefully insure that President Trump is not re-elected.

I have been told by a friend that the above flyer is from a previous protest and not from the current unrest. Please consider the implications of that.

For further proof that this is political, The Gateway Pundit is reporting today:

At least 13 Joe Biden staffers made donations to a radical leftist group that is raising money for the looters and rioters in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Freedom Fund has raised $20 million in the past week by leftists to bail out violent Antifa and Black Lives Matter activists after they are caught looting and rioting.

Protesting is legal. You generally don’t get arrested for that. Looting and rioting are illegal. You should get arrested for that, remain in jail, and serve jail time for that.

Just for the record, black lives do matter, babies lives matter, law and order matters, and respect for other people’s property matters.

Who Is Rioting And Who Is Providing The Bricks?

The following video was placed on YouTube today:

Breitbart posted an article that included an interview with Bernie Kerik, former New York City Police Commissioner, today.

The article reports:

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik called for the FBI to investigate the funding of “domestic terrorism” from operations such as Antifa and Black Lives Matter, offering his remarks on Friday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with host Rebecca Mansour and special guest host Ed Martin.

Riots and protests across multiple metropolitan cities are coordinated, said Kerik.

“I think the FBI has to investigate, especially this time, [when] you have enormous coordination between what’s going on in Minneapolis, then L.A., Houston, Atlanta,” Kerik determined. “There’s a bunch of coordination going on.”

Kerik added, “These pop-up riots, where they’re destroying businesses and cars and everything else, who’s paying? When these Antifa people get locked up, who pays their bail? Who gets them out of jail? How did they get there in the first place? Who pays for their communication networks?”

“I would say 10 to 15 percent of the people in Minneapolis that started protesting were from Minneapolis,” estimated Kerik. “Eighty to 85 percent of the people there were bused in. They came from somewhere else, and out of that group, you have a core group in a leadership role.”

This is an example of the need to follow the money. Who is buying and placing the bricks so conveniently? Bricks are not cheap. Who is paying for the buses to get people to these cities? People are not trashing their own neighborhoods–paid activists are doing it for them. It’s time we held the looters and their leaders accountable under RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act.