BOOKS Comments turned off

Mamet’s Wisdom A bracing essay collection from the author of ‘Wag the Dog’. Bruce Bawer

Posted By on April 21st, 2022

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/04/mamets-wisdom-bruce-bawer/

I’ve just discovered a compelling new essayist – who, as it happens, is a 74-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Glengarry Glen Ross, American Buffalo) and screenwriter (The Verdict, Hannibal). To be sure, I was already aware that David Mamet, a red-diaper baby and erstwhile showbiz lefty, had made a right turn some years ago, but I hadn’t encountered the fruits of his second thoughts until I read his just-published collection of essays, Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch. It’s a gratifying, bracing, and electrifying, read. 

What, you ask, does he write about? Answer: What doesn’t he write about? In one essay after another, he seeks to make a big point about life, or America, or human nature, or art, and in doing so he leaps from one image or story or idea to another, drawing connections across time and space in an energetic stream-of-consciousness manner. In one essay, for example, he links Sigmund Freud to the movie King Kong to the friendship between Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. In another, he strings together a childhood anecdote, a historical tidbit, a joke, a couple of lines from Kipling, and a passage from a humor book. Impatient to stay in one place for long or to overstay his welcome, he begins and ends his essays abruptly, and in between the beginning and ending may well veer from social and literary criticism to historical commentary to biblical exegesis and back.

Mamet has the same gripes about the world today that many of us have, but he serves them up in a thoroughly original way, with a spin all his own, and with a wit that should hardly be unexpected given that this is the man who wrote Wag the Dog.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Mouse that Whored Disney sets a trap for children. William Kilpatrick

Posted By on April 21st, 2022

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/04/mouse-whored-william-kilpatrick/

The Mouse that Roared is a 1959 comedy film about a mouse-sized country (the Duchy of Grand Fenwick) that decides to solve its money problems by declaring war on America, then surrendering, then reaping the financial aid that America always bestows on its defeated enemies.

“The Mouse that Whored” is a contemporary true story about a giant entertainment company (built around the character of an animated mouse) that has declared war on American parents.  The monster-sized mouse corporation has no intention of surrendering.  On the contrary it expects you to surrender your children to it.

It has a good chance of success because many American parents have already half-surrendered their children to the mouse.

In addition to its obvious sexual meaning, the word “whore” can also mean selling out one’s principles for the sake of obtaining fame, fortune, or power.  Thus, an unprincipled actor may be said to be “whoring” after celebrity.

Disney has sold-out its family-oriented principles for the sake of more money and more influence.  At first, this seems counter-intuitive.  Wouldn’t Disney lose lots of money once its family base discovered that it is actually anti-family?

ELECTIONS, IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Will America’s Open Borders Disaster Doom Dems In 2022?

Posted By on April 21st, 2022

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/04/21/will-americas-open-borders-disaster-doom-dems-in-2022/

One of a president’s clear and stated duties under the Constitution is to protect America’s states from “invasion.” In short, to protect the borders. President Joe Biden has utterly failed to do so. Now even his own political party is running scared from the policy it helped to put in place.

With illegal border crossings already at a 22-year high, the Biden administration is pondering letting the Title 42 restrictions that held back the flood of illegal immigrants during the pandemic end on May 23.

But doing so would produce a grim state of affairs, with hundreds of thousands of people illegally crossing the border in coming months and no one stopping them from doing so.

Not only would this be a nightmare for financially strapped border cities, which would be overwhelmed by the human tide, but it would pose a very clear national security risk as well.

The data are alarming. In March alone, the U.S. stopped 221,303 crossings along the Southwest border, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection released Monday. That’s a 33% jump from the month before (see chart, below).

FOREIGN POLICY, ISRAEL Comments turned off

The Temple Mount travesty and poor US policy  By Ruthie Blum

Posted By on April 21st, 2022

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-704745

After Israel’s ambassador to Amman was summoned on Monday for reprimand over the riots on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh praised “every Palestinian who throws rocks and every Islamic Wakf worker who stands tall against the pro-Zionists defiling the Aqsa Mosque under the auspices of the Israeli occupation government.”

Rather than call Al-Khasawneh to task for openly inciting violence in an official address to the Jordanian Parliament – especially during Ramadan, when Muslims are supposed to focus on faith, spiritual contemplation and self-discipline – King Abdullah II complained to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Israel was committing “provocative acts [that] violated the legal and historic status quo” on the compound.

The falsehood that Israel is storming and trying to take over the Aqsa Mosque is an ongoing antisemitic propaganda ploy with multiple aims. One involves the rejection of ancient Jewish ties to the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. Another is to obfuscate the fact that Israeli security forces were, as they always are, dispatched to the area solely to prevent the very deadly activities that Jordan’s premier is unabashedly encouraging.

A third is to fan Muslim flames within and beyond Israel’s borders whenever it suits the Hashemite Kingdom to do so. Finally, the fabrication is aimed at minimizing the enthusiasm of the Sunni states that signed or tacitly back the 2020 Abraham Accords with Israel, brokered by former US president Donald Trump.

Theoretically, this makes no sense. Jordan inked a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 and has greatly benefited from it.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Two Respected Political Sites Make Massive House Predictions By Rick Moran

Posted By on April 20th, 2022

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2022/04/20/two-respected-political-sites-make-massive-house-predictions-shift-toward-gop-n1591357

Two of the most respected political prognostication sites — Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball and The Cook Political Report — announced massive shifts in their partisan ratings for House races.

Sabato’s latest estimate shifted an astonishing 11 races toward the GOP. Five of those races shifted from “Safe Democratic” to “Likely Democratic.” It should be noted that in 2010 a dozen or more Democratic races that started in the “Safe” column ended up with a GOP victory. This is another clear indication of an increased chance for a “wave” election where 50 or more seats switch parties.

The Cook Political Report is behind a paywall, but the Hill has a summary of the eight changes made by that site.

The changes include moving three previously “likely” Democratic districts — Indiana’s 1st, New York’s 19th and North Carolina’s 1st — into “lean” Democratic territory. Meanwhile, three districts that previously leaned toward Democrats — Nevada’s 3rd and 4th, as well as Virginia’s 7th district — are now toss-ups, according to the election handicapper.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Here’s the Tweet Clinton’s Lawyer Doesn’t Want Admitted as Evidence in Durham Case By Matt Margolis

Posted By on April 20th, 2022

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/04/20/heres-the-tweet-clintons-lawyer-doesnt-want-admitted-as-evidence-in-durham-case-n1591425

Former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, who has been charged with lying to the FBI, has filed a motion requesting that special counsel John Durham not be able to use a tweet by Hillary Clinton in his upcoming trial.

Sussmann’s lawyers have repeatedly tried to get the charges against him dismissed, but those efforts have been unsuccessful. His trial is set to begin next month.

Here’s the tweet Sussmann and his lawyers are trying to prevent from being admitted into his trial:

Why is this tweet important, and why do Sussmann’s lawyers want to keep it out of his trial?

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Who’s In Charge Of America Right Now? Because It Isn’t The Man Getting Wrangled By A Giant Easter Bunny By: Kylee Zempel

Posted By on April 20th, 2022

https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/19/whos-in-charge-of-america-right-now-because-it-isnt-the-man-getting-wrangled-by-a-giant-easter-bunny/

Given the state of our grocery shelves, southern border, gas prices, job openings, foreign policy, public schools, inflation, and health care, it would be awfully nice to know who’s really running the greatest country on earth.

The White House celebrated Easter on Monday with its traditional egg roll, but the Resurrection Day festivities turned into a national embarrassment thanks to the president. His handlers, including his wife, did their best to walk him around like a pet, telling him when to sit, speak, and stay.

This all raises the obvious and alarming question: Who is in charge of the greatest country on Earth right now? Because it sure as heck isn’t Joe Biden.

If you haven’t seen any of the footage, you might think this is an exaggeration, but it isn’t. Here’s Jill Biden monopolizing a children’s book reading, with her husband announcing, “And they’re not going to let me read at all.”

“I’ll let you— here, you can start us off,” the first lady said patronizingly, letting the president read only the first page.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

4 Takeaways From Spygate Colluders’ Mad Rush To Hide Their Tracks In Court By: Margot Cleveland

Posted By on April 20th, 2022

https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/20/4-takeaways-from-spygate-colluders-mad-rush-to-hide-their-tracks-in-court/

They hope to prevent prosecutors from accessing a few dozen documents that might further reveal their role in peddling the massive Russia collusion hoax.

On April 19, a bunch of panicked participants in the Spygate scandal rushed the courthouse to intervene in the special counsel’s criminal case against former Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann. They hope to prevent prosecutors from accessing a few dozen documents that might further reveal their role in peddling the Alfa Bank hoax.

The motions to intervene came just one day after Sussmann also sought to keep the documents away from prosecutors. The special counsel has requested the trial court review the documents in camera to assess whether they are in fact protected by attorney-client privilege.

Here are the top takeaways from these filings.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Offshore Headwinds By Jonathan Lesser

Posted By on April 20th, 2022

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2022/05/02/offshore-headwinds/

Biden’s 18th-century solution to a 21st-century energy problem

Green-energy dogma is like an ocean liner — slow to change course and difficult to halt. In Europe, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has magnified the folly of Europe’s energy policies: Massive subsidies for wind and solar power coupled with bans on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), widespread shuttering of nuclear plants, and increased dependence on Russian natural gas have created a perfect energy-supply storm.

In the U.S., the Biden administration is using the Ukraine invasion as an excuse to double down on green-energy and electric-vehicle policies, while simultaneously conspiring to keep gasoline prices high and berating oil companies for not producing more. Only last fall, Democrats were berating oil companies to make them produce less.

To recount the full extent of the Biden administration’s ongoing energy follies would require a long and depressing book. But one particular facet typical of the administration’s green-energy fantasies warrants special attention: its proposal to install 30,000 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind turbines by 2030, and 110,000 MW by 2050. That’s equivalent to installing one 850-foot-tall, 14-megawatt turbine, the largest available, every 30 hours for the next 28 years.

MEDICINE AND HEALTH Comments turned off

Patients Beware: Washington Is Pushing Woke Health Care Kristina Rasmussen

Posted By on April 20th, 2022

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/04/patients-beware-washington-is-pushing-woke-health-care/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_

The sooner Americans recognize that Washington is introducing the disease of ideology into health care, the sooner we can cure it.

There’s a new front in the woke campaign to control our national institutions: health care. Largely out of sight of the American people, the federal government is pushing to fundamentally corrupt the principles and practice of medicine. Physicians and patients alike are set to suffer from woke health care. In many cases, they already are.

Every American needs to know what Washington is doing. It’s using taxpayer money and unaccountable regulation to embed “critical race theory” and “anti-racism” into every level of health care. The secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, recently made this clear when he declared that “health equity pervades everything” his department does. In making this declaration, he was following the lead of the president he serves. It sounds nice. But ensuring health equity requires taking a divisive and discriminatory approach to treating patients and providing care.

Which is exactly what’s happening. Since the start of this year, Washington has effectively bribed physicians to embrace discrimination on a day-to-day basis by offering higher Medicare- reimbursement rates to physicians who “create and implement an anti-racism plan.” That’s code for recasting everything that happens at the doctor’s office in light of race, including patients’ access to care and specific treatments. Ninety-three percent of primary-care physicians accept Medicare.