Displaying posts published in

June 2023

Leftist rage against courthouse artist, claiming he drew Trump too handsome By Monica Showalter

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/06/leftist_rage_against_courthouse_artist_claiming_he_made_trump_too_handsome.html

In courthouses where cameras aren’t allowed, the courthouse artist produces the image of record.

Which is why assorted leftists exploded in rage at the bland, courthouse drawings of William Hennessey, Jr., who up until now has said that his work rarely draws any attention.

According to Jack Montgomery at the National Pulse:

Leftists raged at an obscure sketch artist following Trump’s arraignment in Miami, seething that the former president looked too young and handsome in his courtroom drawings.

 “The courtroom sketch artist, William Hennessy [J]r., is far too kind to [Donald Trump],” wrote one Twitter user.

 “His pastel drawings make the pig look at least 20 years younger and 90 pounds thinner.”

 “Any chance you can whip up a quick indictment for false depiction of an indicted grifter?” wrote another, tweeting at a parody account of Jack Smith.

Some Twitter users went so far as to link Hennessy’s Facebook page and encourage others to harass him.

 “Yo Bill, why trim 70lbs off Trump? Just weird. Do you privately think of him as a trim superhero?” demanded one person on a Facebook post.

The first thing this little ragefest tells us is that leftists have too much time on their hands, using their hours here on earth to complain about somebody else’s courthouse artwork. Montgomery’s piece has the drawings here.

The second thing this tells us is that leftists set a great store on how someone looks. They’re all in on looks-ism, despite their bony finger pointed at others for the same thing.

The third and most important thing this says is that hand drawn sketches, which was all the leftists got out of this trial, are not easily manipulated the way photographs are. That the leftists raged about Trump’s pictures being too handsome for their expectations brought to mind that had the pictures been photos instead of drawings, they would have been able to manipulate them into unflattering photos, what what with a plethora of inexpensive photo editing tools on the Internet. They could have reddened Trump’s face, as 60 Minutes once did to Trump’s advisor, Steve Bannon, to make him look like a drunk. Or, they could have given Trump a five o’clock shadow and painted some sweaty beads on his face to discredit him, the way once-vice president Nixon was discredited with those features during his debates with then-politician John F. Kennedy on television. They could have made Trump dirty, or pasty-pale, or back-shadowed, or better still, upshadowed, to get the image of Trump they wanted, and of course, made him look guilty or sleazy or dishonest to the casual observer. They could have Photoshopped in handcuffs or a bright orange jumpsuit, which is what they’ve slavered for for years. They can’t do that to even a reproduction of a drawing on the Internet, because the picture would simply be not true.

Time to Get Rid of Federal ‘Disinformation’ Bureaus by Pete Hoekstra

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19745/federal-disinformation-bureaus

Recently, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines announced the creation of a new office within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI): The Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC).

Support in Congress means the money grab is on, with federal agencies vying to secure funds for the hot new topic to grow their bureaucracy, influence and power.

Other agencies already involved in disinformation are numerous…. The DHS has, or had, a Countering Foreign Influence Task Force… and a heavily criticized, ridiculed and now disbanded “Disinformation Governance Board.”

Is the threat of a new Orwellian “Ministry of Truth” as big as it is toxic?… is this function for the federal government even appropriate?

The American government is extremely capable at generating its own disinformation… Disappointingly, Americans have seen this capability firsthand. Some U.S. intelligence leaders have used their status to aggressively plant disinformation to undermine presidents and influence elections.

Consider Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and FBI Director James Comey, who used their positions to undermine incoming President-elect Donald Trump in January 2017 by leaking and hyping to the media information based on a deceptive briefing they provided to Trump to begin framing him for supposedly colluding with Russia in the disruptive, two-year pretend-investigation known inside the FBI as “Crossfire Hurricane” and outside it as “the Russia Hoax.”

The “Russia Hoax,” it turned out — as its perpetrators reportedly knew all along — had been organized and funded by Trump’s presidential election opponent Hillary Clinton — evidently to deflect attention from her extensive destruction of classified material — as well as the Democratic National Committee; fraudulently prosecuted by the FBI, and laundered by the Perkins Coie law firm.

Other recent allegations about potentially malign activities by our government abound. The FBI incidentally collected data without a warrant on U.S. citizens 3.4 million times in 2021. Thirty percent of the times the FBI did so, it acted in error or roughly one million times.

The evidence appears to be overwhelming….. When Congress has set lines, the Intelligence Community and law enforcement have been more than willing to overstep their bounds and stretch their legal authorities.

It is time to hold those responsible accountable…. Crucially, given the federal government’s repeatedly demonstrated disregard for the law, it is time to consider whether it should even be engaged in this effort. It should not. The American government, based on the First Amendment, should not be anywhere near regulating protected speech. The American government should not be deciding what speech should be regulated and what speech should not.

Recently, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines announced the creation of a new office within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI): The Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC). It would encompass “election threat work, essentially looking at foreign influence and interference in elections, but it also deals with disinformation more generally.” Legislation creating the center was passed by Congress and signed into law in 2022.

The Sunset of the West, or the Dawn of Recovery? Bruce Thornton’s new pamphlet outlines the dire crisis that America and Western Civilization face today.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-sunset-of-the-west-or-the-dawn-of-recovery/

Our new pamphlet, The Sunset of the West, or the Dawn of Recovery?, authored by Bruce Thornton, a classical scholar and Freedom Center Shillman Fellow, is a brilliant piece outlining the dire crisis that America and Western Civilization face today.

It urgently needs to be read; its message needs to be urgently heeded.

Order your copy now: https://horowitzfreedomcenterstore.org/products/the-sunset-of-the-west-or-the-dawn-of-recovery

Student Jew-Hatred at the City College of New York Worms in the Big Apple. by Bruce Bawer

https://www.frontpagemag.com/student-jew-hatred-at-the-city-college-of-new-york/

Of the number of Western anti-Semitic groups that pretend to be motivated not by the glorious vision of Jews in endless torment, but by a deep sensitivity to the supposedly unprecedented suffering of the Palestinians, there can seem to be no end. In many cases, their online self-descriptions are so deceptive as to rise nearly to the level of high art: Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, which equates Israelis to Nazis, calls itself “a broad-based, non-partisan, democratic, and charitable organization of grassroots activists and students committed to comprehensive public education on the rights of all Palestinian refugees.” Under the slogan “Justice, Equality, Dignity,” Jewish Voice for Peace, which loves Hamas, represents itself as “a national organization dedicated to a U.S. foreign policy based on peace, human rights, and respect for international law.”

And then there’s Students for Justice in Palestine, which in the constellation of Jew-hatred is a galaxy all its own. Established thirty years ago at the University of California at Berkeley, it was the brainchild of Hatem Bazian, who then, as now, was a lecturer in the Departments of Eastern and Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies at that storied institution. His website further identifies him as “a co-founder and Professor of Islamic Law and Theology at Zaytuna College, the 1st Accredited Muslim Liberal Arts College in the United States.” In addition to these activities, Bazian founded both the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project and the Islamophobia Studies Journal. (Beginning to notice a pattern?) Some time back, the respected watchdog group Canary Mission bestowed upon Bazian a title that, while perhaps not highly coveted in some circles, is surely, these days, mightily competitive – namely that of “most dangerous professor in America.” Justifying this designation is a predictable list of offenses – a repeated failure to condemn even the most barbaric acts of terrorism, a readiness to gush with praise for the Intifada, and, needless to say, a long record of utterly virulent Jew-hatred.

Less Freedom By John Stossel

https://pjmedia.com/columns/john-stossel/2023/06/21/less-freedom-n1704919

Politicians claim their bills bring us good things. Free health care! Child care! A cellphone for all!

But government isn’t Santa Claus. Government is force. Most every law takes away a little of our money or freedom or both.

The Heritage Foundation ranks economic freedom across the globe. The United States once ranked No. 4 in the world, but we’ve been in decline. This year, as my new video explains, we’re 25th.

“If you care about living a prosperous life, you should care about what government economic policies are,” says The Heritage Foundation’s Derrick Morgan.   

The foundation ranks countries’ economic freedom based on things like rule of law, regulatory efficiency, open markets, fiscal health, etc. 

The big reason the USA fell in the rankings is that Congress spends so much more money than government can squeeze out of us in taxes.  

RFK Jr. Is Really Scaring Them Now: LA Times Says He’s a Threat to ‘Our Democracy’ By Robert Spencer

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2023/06/20/rfk-jr-is-really-scaring-them-now-la-times-says-hes-a-threat-to-our-democracy-n1704885

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has the Leftist political and media elites deeply rattled, and that’s utterly delightful.

Imagine this scenario: a wildly unpopular and manifestly incapable president is running, however haltingly, for reelection. Initially he seemed like a lock, but then he encountered an unexpected challenge from a scion of an old American political family, a man who defies all the conventional categorization of political candidates and has set the establishment on its ear by challenging not only the superannuated corruptocrat in the White House but many of that establishment’s most cherished assumptions.

It would make a great novel, but it’s real life, and it’s an exhilarating reminder that America is still a republic, still a place where the elites can be challenged at all, however entrenched they may appear to be. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has not only challenged the elites, he has frightened them to the core, and that’s wonderful to see. The latest indication of how much of a threat they consider him to be comes from the Los Angeles Times, always a reliable organ for far-Left propaganda. The Left Coast Times is so scared of RFK Jr. that on Monday, it proclaimed, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a threat to your health — and our democracy.”

Now, this is absurd on its face and an insult to the intelligence of the handful of remaining Los Angeles Times readers. The Left has now become so divorced from reality that Times writer Michael Hiltzik would have us believe that a contested Democrat party primary is bad for “our democracy.” But a full-out coronation of Old Joe to serve another four years as the figurehead for the shadowy individuals who are really running things? Why, that would be “our democracy” personified. One candidate, inevitable outcome? Good democracy! Two candidates, unclear outcome? Bad democracy!

Why Our Electric Grid Is Threatened: John Hinderaker

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/06/why-our-electric-grid-is-threatened.php

America used to have stable, cheap electricity. This is really the definition of a first-world country; or it used to be, anyway. Now, for the first time in many years, we can’t safely rely on the electric grid, while at the same time the price of electricity is spiraling upward.

This video by Kite & Key Media provides a good, if simple, explanation of why our grid is now under threat and soon will be wholly unreliable. The culprit, of course, is intermittent “green” energy:

I think that over the rest of this century, the world will divide into rich and poor nations. Rich nations will be those that use fossil fuels and nuclear energy to power their economies and their lives. Poor nations will be those that go “green.”

The Great White Hunter Privilege

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/06/21/the-great-white-hunter-privilege/

Presidential son Hunter Biden got the deal of a lifetime when he agreed to plead guilty to a pair of federal tax charges and a single federal firearm offense. He will reportedly be placed on probation for the former and dodge punishment altogether for the latter.

In effect, he just has to say “sorry” for “​​owing in excess of $100,000 in federal income taxes” in 2017 and 2018 but failing to pay “the income tax due for either year.” To walk away from the charge that he lied on a form during a gun purchase (he said he did not have a drug problem), he evidently has to do no more than attend a diversion program.

Could any of us have received such a cushy arrangement for the same crimes from the Justice Department? Could a son of Donald Trump, or the son of any prominent Republican lawmaker, get off so easy?

C’mon, man. We all know the answer. It’s good to be a Biden.

Clearly it was too much to ask that prosecutors make an example out of Hunter. Federal prosecutors are throwing their books at January 6 offenders as a warning to anyone who might want to protest for the wrong side, but apparently Democratic Party status has its privileges.

Naturally, Republicans are angry. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis complained about Hunter’s “sweetheart deal.” Rep. James Comer of Kentucky called it a “slap on the wrist.” Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern said the president’s son was treated with “kid gloves.”

Which means the story now in the media will be about how the GOP is weaponizing the plea deal for political purposes. The offenses of a presidential son? Covered and smothered like Waffle House hash browns.

Meanwhile, probes into Joe “The Big Guy” Biden’s classified document stashes and credible accusations of him selling his office to foreign interests for financial gain are being slow walked – if they’re moving at all. It seems the Justice Department can investigate and prosecute only one document case at a time, the sole focus in the foreseeable future being the legal action against Donald Trump.

Bribery? That can wait until either Biden is out of office – and too old prosecute, because that would just be cruel, the same people now propping up the shell of a man will say – or the Democrats have such a tight grip on the federal government that neither man can be touched.

God save the queen, man, and Democrats save their own.

Remembering a Great American Jewish Writer, and Her Reverence for Family and Duty

https://www.commentary.org/articles/matthew-continetti/midge-decter-reflections/

In the 1970s, there were very few Jewish thinkers on the political right, and no more than a tiny handful of them were women. One was Midge Decter, who had already established her bona fides among the New York intellectuals as a journalist and editor when she, along with her husband, Norman Podhoretz, helped found the persuasion that became known as neoconservative. A year after her death, Matthew Continetti reflects on Decter’s legacy:

Midge’s Gifts
Washington Commentary
by Matthew Continetti

Keeping up with Midge Decter wasn’t easy. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1927, she never stopped taking on responsibilities: as a daughter, sister, spouse, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother; as a social critic, commentator, and author; as a book and magazine editor; as a political activist and foreign-policy maven; and as a friend and mentor.

Decter’s first adult job was as a typist at COMMENTARY during the late 1940s. Though she left the office for other pursuits, her presence continued to be felt in her many essays and reviews for the magazine and, indirectly, in the editorships of her husband Norman and her son John. Between the 1960s and 2000s, she seemed to be everywhere—writing, speaking, arguing, fighting, caring, teaching.

The Heritage Foundation was among her favorite places. It was an association Decter did not expect. She was a Jewish New York intellectual, a former liberal Democrat who, along with her husband, became part of the neoconservative movement in the 1970s. Geography as well as opinion separated the neocons from Heritage, the D.C.-based think tank known as the policy engine of the populist, Christian New Right.

Imagine, then, Decter’s surprise in the spring of 1981 when Heritage’s co-founder and longtime president, Ed Feulner, asked her to join the organization’s board of trustees. She quickly said yes, telling Feulner, “You must always join the side you are on.”

That side was well represented at Heritage on a sunny afternoon in May. A group of scholars, readers, colleagues, and admirers met to discuss Decter’s work and legacy one year after her death at age 94. The gathering served as a reminder that the confusions, problems, and dilemmas that animated Decter’s public life have not gone away. In some cases, they have grown worse. Which makes Decter’s wisdom and example more important than ever.

A few of the speakers shared anecdotes. Feulner told the story of Decter’s first encounter with conservative grassroots activist Phyllis Schlafly. These two critics of women’s liberation took to each other immediately. Decter once said that it was “easy” to get along with Schlafly: “She’s been doing my dirty work for years.”

Why civics test scores are falling in American schools For the next generation, history isn’t being rewritten. It’s being intentionally obscured: Bethany Mandel

https://thespectator.com/topic/why-test-scores-falling-american-schools-history/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_

“Imagine if flight schools had the same success rates as America’s teachers. Would anyone get on an airplane again? Would we hear the FAA telling us to just trust America’s pilots? Of course not; we’d see a full ground-stop until we could verify that planes wouldn’t fall out of the skies anymore.”
Twenty years ago, one of the most popular bits on late-night television was “Jaywalking,” where Tonight Show host Jay Leno quizzed passersby on world events, geography, history and more. He would ask random people on the street about literature, who the vice president was, or who we fought in World War Two.

The clips that made the cut inevitably involved embarrassingly ignorant answers. Today, America is a nation of Jaywalking Allstars; whereas it was once a punchline for someone to be that ignorant, ignorance is now the norm.

In early May, news emerged about record low scores for history and civics for eighth grade students nationwide. More and more students were falling short of the basic standards set out on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The New York Times reported that “about 40 percent of eighth graders scored ‘below basic’ in US history last year, compared with 34 percent in 2018 and 29 percent in 2014.” And just 13 percent of eighth graders were considered “proficient,” compared to 18 percent nearly a decade ago.

The scores match record lows in science, math and reading. The Times explained that “in history, it’s possible that reduced reading comprehension played some role in student performance.” So perhaps students can’t express a basic grasp of history because they can’t read. Reassuring, isn’t it?

The Biden administration’s education secretary Miguel A. Cardona zeroed in on the real culprit for the failures: Republicans, of course. Cardona explained that “banning history books and censoring educators from teaching these important subjects does our students a disservice and will move America in the wrong direction.”

Last I checked, Republicans aren’t running teachers’ unions, teacher-training programs, the Department of Education, textbook or testing companies. In May, Cardona tweeted: “Teachers know what is best for their kids because they are with them every day. We must trust teachers.”

Imagine if flight schools had the same success rates as America’s teachers. Would anyone get on an airplane again? Would we hear the FAA telling us to just trust America’s pilots? Of course not; we’d see a full ground-stop until we could verify that planes wouldn’t fall out of the skies anymore.