RUTHFULLY YOURS

ttps://www.jns.org/opinion/publishers-beware-banning-books-isnt-good-for-freedom-or-business/

 In an open letter posted last week to his website, young-adult novelist Barry Lyga called for like-minded colleagues in the industry to join him in blocking the publication of bodies of work written by anyone associated with the outgoing administration in Washington.

Titled “No Book Deal for Traitors,” the letter begins, “We all love book publishing, but we have to be honest—our country is where it is in part because publishing has chased the money and notoriety of some pretty sketchy people, and has granted those same people both the imprimatur of respectability and a lot of money through sweetheart book deals.”

It goes on, “As members of the writing and publishing community of the United States, we affirm that participation in the administration of Donald Trump must be considered a uniquely mitigating criterion for publishing houses when considering book deals.

“Consequently, we believe: No participant in an administration that caged children, performed involuntary surgeries on captive women, and scoffed at science as millions were infected with a deadly virus should be enriched by the almost rote largesse of a big book deal. And no one who incited, suborned, instigated, or otherwise supported the Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt should have their philosophies remunerated and disseminated through our beloved publishing houses.

https://nypost.com/2021/01/18/joe-bidens-risky-rush-to-undo-every-trump-action/

The Joe Biden era officially begins Wednesday, and from the looks of it, his much-ballyhooed calls for “unity” are out the window.

Notably, he intends to rejoin the Paris accords on climate change and end President Trump’s ban on travel from several nations that have serious problems with terrorism-promoting extremism. Sources say he’ll also rescind Trump’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. All are big symbols for the left — but with potentially big practical impact.

The prez-elect still has time to rethink what looks to be a blanket reversal of every Trump policy. Consider immigration, where Biden has made it clear he’s going to loosen Trump’s restrictions on asylum claims and decrease deportations; he’s even talked of ending the successful cooperation with Mexico to counter the surge at the southern border.

But, lo and behold, caravans are already on the way, with some 8,000 Honduran migrants in Guatemala. How many other crises could come from an ill-considered rush to “trump Trump” on every front? There’s certainly not a lot of common sense in many of those Day One executive orders.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/dozens-arrested-eleven-cops-injured-in-nyc-during-mlk-day-protest/

Dozens were arrested Monday night in New York City when Black Lives Matter protesters clashed with police outside City Hall during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day march.

Hundreds of demonstrators marched peacefully from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to City Hall in Manhattan, where they were met with a heavy police presence.

The demonstration turned violent around 8:30 p.m. in City Hall Park, and police began making arrests after demonstrators started throwing projectiles, blocking traffic, and vandalizing property. Videos posted on social media show police urging the crowd to disperse before starting to make arrests.

At least 29 people were arrested near Chambers and Centre streets and eleven officers were injured, including a captain who was hit in the head with a glass bottle. None of the officers are in serious condition. It is unclear how many protesters were injured during the clashes.

In another video, police can be seen shoving several protesters as well as wrestling one person to the ground. Protesters can be heard shouting obscenities at officers.

Last week, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the New York Police Department over the “excessive enforcement” used against protesters calling for racial justice over the summer, including using pepper spray and batons on protesters and “kettling” or trapping demonstrators.

James is calling for federal oversight of the NYPD. The federal government is already monitoring the NYPD to ensure that it retires its stop-and-frisk policy, which was found in 2013 to have been used in an unconstitutional manner.

Last summer, riots broke out in New York City following the police custody death of George Floyd in May. About 450 businesses across the city were damaged and in many cases looted over May and June, according to the city’s Department of Small Business Services. More than 2,000 people were arrested at those demonstrations over the same period.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/janice-dean-cuomo-covid-response-celebrity-leader

Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean called out New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for how the state has handled the coronavirus pandemic on FOX Business’ “Making Money with Charles Payne.”

Dean has been a vocal critic in the past months, specifically about how New York has treated the elderly while virus cases were surging in nursing homes – Dean’s husband’s parents both died after contracting the virus in a New York nursing home.

Recently, Cuomo’s office responded to Dean’s latest criticisms and claimed “she’s not a credible source on anything except maybe the weather.”

JANICE DEAN: I think I’m an expert on grief. I think I’m an expert on what’s happened in nursing homes. I think I’m an expert on this governor, having covered him for the last 10 months and his atrocious leadership – from putting COVID-positive patients into nursing homes for 46 days, and the fact that he doesn’t take any responsibility and he’s actually refusing to answer to lawsuits. The Justice Department is looking into why he’s covering up the total number of seniors that we lost in nursing homes. My mother-in-law died in the hospital, but her number doesn’t count because the governor does not count those who died outside of the nursing home, but contracted the virus inside of it. And some of those totals are, in some cases, double what they are officially reporting. So that’s why I’ve been very critical of this governor. And, you know, he’s a bully. I’ve learned that over the last several months.

In the middle of a pandemic, he had the time to write a memoir of his leadership and how he flattened the curve. The curve right now is on the rise. And then he missed 17 meetings at the White House, Charles, for coronavirus response in all of the states because he was promoting his book.This governor wants to be a celebrity. He likes to hang out with Robert de Niro and actors like Ben Stiller. He had a birthday party for himself where you could join virtually by signing a check to the Andrew Cuomo campaign for $1,000. He wants to be a celebrity. And my response is: go be a celebrity. Please go to Hollywood and join your fellow governor, Gavin Newsom. We need somebody who actually wants to rule this state.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/01/19/hillary_clinton_and_nancy_pelosi_agree_trump_and_putin_probably_coordinated_capitol_riot.html

Hillary Clinton@HillaryClinton
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@SpeakerPelosi
and I agree: Congress needs to establish an investigative body like the 9/11 Commission to determine Trump’s ties to Putin so we can repair the damage to our national security and prevent a puppet from occupying the presidency ever again.

During a visit to Hillary Clinton’s podcast this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed with the suggestion that “we should have a 9/11 commission” to investigate “Putin puppets” behind the riots on Capitol Hill.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/01/by_dems_logic_couldnt_obama_and_biden_be_impeached_and_convicted_for_their_actions_in_2016_so_they_can_never_hold_office_again.html

Isn’t it pure abuse of power and obstruction of justice when an administration is so consumed with maintaining power that it uses the massive personnel and taxpayer resources to destroy their political opponent while protecting their chosen successor from prosecution no matter how many crimes she committed?

For some reason, I have never seen Pelosi, Schumer, Hoyer, Durbin, AOC and other Democrats asked the following questions no matter how many times they have been interviewed the last 4 1/2 years:

Is it OK that the DNC and Hillary paid a foreign national over $10 million to create a fictional dossier to take out Trump?
Is it OK that the DNC and Hillary campaign committed fraud by lying to the FEC that the money paid to a foreign source was for legal fees instead of telling the truth. (And Democrats say they are the party of truth over lies)
Is it OK that several FBI swamp creatures used this fake dossier when they continually lied to the FISA court in order to spy on people surrounding Trump as they allowed Hillary and her aides to get off scot free? (and the Democrats say that under them, the Justice Department operates independently and no one is above the law)
Is it OK that so many people in the Obama administration, including Biden himself, spent the two months after the 2016 election unmasking people and seeking to destroy people like Flynn instead of helping the Trump administration and having a peaceful transition of power?

Image credit: Daniel Schwen CC BY-SA 4.0 license

As a matter of fact, I don’t remember Obama, Biden or Hillary asked these same obvious questions no matter how many times they have been interviewed and kissed up to the last several years as to how great they are and were.

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2021/01/marginalising-conservatives-until-we-vanish/

Recently, miffed by its coverage of the US election and its aftermath, I wrote to The Australian:

Dear Editor, a suggestion: The cabal of your anti-Trump correspondents should get together each evening to stick pins in an effigy of Donald Trump. That might get the bile out of their systems and allow them to produce decent copy fit to read.

If you’ve noticed the newspaper’s drift to the port side of politics, you guessed it — The Australian didn’t publish my comment but, of course, I had zero expectation it would. The paper is becoming a left-of-centre rag. True, it has some decent writers. I enjoyed reading Gerard Henderson and Caroline Overington this morning. True, too, it is better than the alternatives, which is why I reluctantly still buy it.

It will also be interesting to see where the paper goes when Trump isn’t around for the hacks to get stuck into. What is clear is that it is on a pathway to leftism with the occasional dissident voice for appearances sake. Once leftists have infiltrated and reached an influential level they hire their own. That has been the history of universities, schools, public broadcasting, most of the mainstream print media and public services. The Australian, I fear, is just one more domino. Rupert won’t live forever.

By the way, I am not convinced that socialism per se is behind the movement to close down conservative voices. Socialism in practice produces an intolerance for counter views. First comes socialism then comes fascism. Right now, it seems as though the process has been short-circuited. I put it down to post-modernism and its attendant disregard for the concept of objective truth.

When there is no objective truth, my agenda can become the truth and your opposition lies. And, lies cannot be allowed to pollute the air waves. Liars can be cancelled in good conscience.

Thus, those who express the view that women must have XX chromosomes are liars and should be shunned. Those who don’t accept that free speech becomes hate speech when it offends someone of a minority group are liars. Those who believe it is discriminatory and racist to favour someone because of their skin colour are liars; unless the skin colour is white, in which case they are in good standing.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/01/day-hypocrisy-daniel-greenfield/

The University of Oregon celebrated Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, but four years ago it came within a hair of canceling him for being politically incorrect on his previous birthday.

The offending issue had been King’s speech at the Lincoln Memorial, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Putting character ahead of race has long since become unfashionable among a radical leftist movement obsessed with identity politics.

Today children are indoctrinated with critical race theory in kindergarten. Four-year-olds who barely have any concept of race are told that they must divide each other by color, and to feel proud or guilty of their race. They must forget character and think only about skin color.

That’s how the Democrats who claim to celebrate King and his legacy have tainted his dream.

Around the 57th anniversary of King’s speech, Al Sharpton, an illiterate bigot at the center of a racist riot, and a powerful kingmaker whose golden ring every single Democrat presidential candidate bows to kiss, held his own 2020 rally at the Lincoln Memorial. Sharpton’s most famous quote has a somewhat different message than that of Martin Luther King Jr.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/01/mutant-social-growths-revisited-lloyd-billingsley/

“With such an addled China-compliant politician in charge, Americans might wonder if entire “classes” of people such as deplorables, Christians, and elderly people of pallor might be targeted for violence. For leftist Democrats, these are the equivalent of those mutant social growths that need to be uprooted if society is to progress in a socialist direction.”

“China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man. I mean, you know, they’re not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They’re not competition for us.” Long before Joe Biden’s 2019 proclamation, American leftists engaged in a competition for best defender of genocidal Communist dictators.

“One must not make a god of Stalin, he was too valuable for that” wrote Anna Louise Strong in her 1935 I Change Worlds. Stalin was then busy collectivizing agriculture, and the independent farmers known as kulaks stood in the way. Stalin decreed it was time to abolish the kulaks “as a class,” and his planned famine, covered up by Walter Duranty of the New York Times, claimed more than a million lives.

“Stalin had merely authorized what farmhands were already instinctively doing,” wrote Strong, who later moved on to Communist China and defended Mao Zedong. After a life “extolling the virtues of Communism,” as the New York Times reported, Strong died in Beijing on March 30, 1970.  Two years later, when Mao’s Cultural Revolution was still going on, American socialists Janet Goldwasser and husband Stuart Dowty took a trip to China.

The result was Huan-Ying: Journey Through Workers’ China, published in 1975. “We wrote it to combat misinformation,” Goldwasser explained in 2019, “China had a different way of setting priorities in terms of healthcare and working conditions, so we intended to get information to readers who weren’t able to visit themselves.” Stuart Dowty showed up in China: People-Questions, published by the National Council of Churches (NCC) in 1975, while the Great Helmsman was still in power.