RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://swtotd.blogspot.com/

Democrats, who have failed on so many fronts in the first eleven months of the Biden Administration – immigration, inflation, COVID-19, crime, Afghanistan, China and Russia – have resurrected their nemesis Donald Trump, as a foil to promote their claim that the Republican Party “has,” in the words of Dan Kennedy of Northeastern University, “embraced authoritarianism and voter suppression” – a red herring to deflect attention from Democrats’ efforts for self-empowerment. Trump is demonized because, more than anyone, he is seen as standing athwart the federal regulatory Leviathan progressives have erected.

There is something bizarre about supposedly intelligent and well-informed columnists like Dana Milbank of The Washington Post and Jason Linkins of The New Republic, when they claim threats to democracy emanate from the Party that embraces limited government, free markets, deregulation and low taxes, rather than from the Party that supports greater regulation, higher taxes, packing the Supreme Court, nationalizing voting and (in New York City) allowing non-citizens to vote, while urging conformity, and censoring conservative speech on college campuses. The lead essay in the January 2022 issue of The Spectator concludes: “The transformation of free societies by bureaucratic stealth, corporatization, and end-of-world doom-mongering pose greater dangers to America democracy than do China or climate change.” Yet Barton Gellman of The Atlantic, in contradiction to common sense, calls Democrats “protectors of democracy.”

Partisan progressive reporters have made the ludicrous charge that current media coverage of Mr. Biden is more negative than it was of Mr. Trump in his last year in office, an allegation my youngest grandchild would recognize as absurd. The accusation is a Trojan Horse to camouflage their own biases, displayed for four years in the discredited Russian collusion story, and now in a transformation of last January 6, from a protest that got out of hand into an alleged insurrection. Political criticism should be welcomed. But in this new world, criticism of Republicans is encouraged, while criticism of Democrats is treasonous. Jason Linkins headlined an article in The New Republic: “Is Criticizing Joe Biden a Danger to Democracy?” While he did admit that “blind fealty” is a hallmark of dictatorships (which it is), he overrode that admonition when he wrote: “…the GOP is the enemy of democracy, full stop…” Trump is an easy target. He speaks Brooklynese; he is an overweight, incurable narcissist, who speaks without thinking. Republicans have supporters in the media who are unfair in their treatment of Democrats, but the situation is David versus Goliath-like, with progressives controlling most of mainstream media, big tech companies, Wall Street, schools, universities, government bureaucracies, cultural institutions and professional sports.

https://pjmedia.com/columns/david-solway-2/2021/12/27/is-western-civ-on-the-way-out-n1544855

When a civilization decides it wants to destroy itself, it seems there is no stopping it. As Toynbee wisely said, civilizations do not die of murder but of suicide. It is in its way a perversely exhilarating spectacle: not many get to see in their lifetime a civilization coming to pieces before their very eyes, like a star going supernova. But it is also, and principally, a tragic spectacle, for this is the detritus we leave our children. In On the Eve of the Millennium: The Future of Democracy Through an Age of Unreason, Irish historian Conor Cruise O’Brien generously gives us until the third century of our millennium. He may be wrong. The momentum toward self-destruction proceeds slowly, gradually accumulating velocity until a moment arrives when the collapse appears to happen overnight. As John of Patmos warns in Revelation (18:10), “for in one hour is thy judgment come.”

The omens are all around us and are unmistakable. Nations institute crippling global warming policies, restricting travel and imposing crushing carbon levies, when all the signs indicate an impending period of global cooling. The Green crusade with its arsenal of wind turbines and solar arrays has devasted the reliable energy sector, promising exorbitant costs, power brownouts, and even colder winters. The woke and social-justice movements double down on their gender-fluidity compulsion that flies in the face of biological fact. The feminist psychosis is poisoning the relation between the sexes and destroying the family. The press has abdicated its function of reporting the news and become the propaganda arm of increasingly repressive governments. The education establishment from K-12 to postgraduate study has grown decadent, politically partisan, and likely unsalvageable. Medical fascism is on the march. The absurd and counter-productive pandemic mandates have led to soaring unemployment, school closures, the shuttering of businesses, excess deaths, social division, and devastated economies, turning everyday life into a deranged parody of itself. The daftness of these measures defies understanding.

In such times of general distress, societal upheaval, intellectual vacancy, worldwide plague, and widespread hysteria amounting to a kind of universal madness, one is tempted to turn again to the Book of Revelation with its lurid imagery and prophetic imprecation—even if one is not a believer. The fit between the ancient book and the contemporary scene is too close for comfort. Is a divine prophecy about to be fulfilled? One thinks also of the four beasts of the prophet Daniel’s vision (Book of Daniel 7:1-28), representing four mighty civilizations or empires: “they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time” (7:12). Civilizations rise and fall and are always at the mercy of the irruption of the bestial. 

https://amgreatness.com/2021/12/27/is-the-whitmer-kidnapping-case-about-to-be-tossed/

The U.S. Department of Justice received an unwelcome Christmas gift from defense attorneys representing five men charged with conspiring to “kidnap” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020: a motion to dismiss the case.

The Christmas Day filing is the latest blow to the government’s scandal-ridden prosecution; defense counsel is building a convincing argument that the FBI used undercover agents and informants to entrap their clients in a wide-ranging scheme that resulted in bad press for Donald Trump as early voting was underway in the key swing state last year. What began as random social media chatter to oppose lockdown policies quickly morphed into a dangerous plan to abduct Whitmer as soon as the FBI took over.

A Michigan judge delayed the trial, now set for March 8, so defense attorneys could investigate the misconduct of FBI special agents handling at least a dozen government informants involved in the caper.

As I reported last week, the lead prosecutor recently informed the judge that three of the FBI’s top agents involved in the case will not take the stand as government witnesses. Richard Trask, the FBI special agent who signed the initial criminal complaint against six men facing federal charges—one man pleaded guilty and is cooperating with authorities—was removed from the case and fired by the FBI after he physically assaulted his wife last summer in a drunken rage following a swingers party at a hotel near their home.

The agents who managed the day-to-day activity of the case’s lead informant also will not testify. FBI agent Jayson Chambers ran a security consulting business on the side; an anonymous Twitter account claiming to represent his firm, Exeintel, dropped hints of pending arrests in the Whitmer case, calling into question his motives as a lead investigator. His partner, FBI agent Henrik Impola, has been accused of committing perjury in a separate case.

“The government does not plan to call Impola, Chambers, or Trask as witnesses,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge notified the court on December 17. “[The] government requests the Court exclude evidence relating to Exeintel, the unfounded allegations against SA Impola, and Richard Trask’s domestic assault charges or alleged social media posts.” 

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/12/reality_is_impinging_upon_the_democrats_carefully_constructed_covid_tyranny.html

Biden ran on a promise: He was going to federalize the COVID response and end COVID in America. He introduced vaccine mandates for federal employees and those doing business with the federal government and had OSHA do the same for every business with more than 100 employees. Various states, cities, and businesses, especially when it came to healthcare, followed suit. We were also told that, if we even breathed the same air as a COVID person, we had to quarantine ourselves for ten days. In the last two days, that promised federal response, COVID mandates, and quarantines have all fallen apart, thanks to the very contagious but seemingly relatively harmless Omicron variant.

Biden made a lot of promises during the campaign and the media graciously refused to demand details:

Those claims—that Biden would use the federal government to end the pandemic—went a long way with people weary of 2020’s madness. On Monday, after a COVID year more deadly and dispiriting than 2020, Biden admitted that the federal government can’t fix things:

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/12/27/ii-tipp-poll-who-are-the-real-covid-extremists/

To hear the media tell it, Americans are bitterly and broadly divided over COVID-19 and the policies enacted to mitigate its spread and save lives. But while there remain significant differences among political affiliations, the degree of agreement among Americans on COVID-19 policies is noteworthy, new data from the I&I/TIPP Poll show.

Media coverage of COVID-19 this year has often focused on the degree to which the “right” and “conservatives” have refused to heed government imposed mandates and rules to deal with the fast-spreading virus. Coverage, as numerous studies and reports have shown, has been highly politicized.

To find out if this is true, the December I&I TIPP Poll asked Americans “Generally speaking, in your opinion, how effective have the following been in controlling the spread of coronavirus?”  

Respondents rated three types of mandates: Mask mandates, lockdowns, vaccine mandates using a Likert scale — Very effective, Somewhat effective, Not very effective, Not at all effective, and Not sure.

Overall, for mask mandates, 72% of those queried said they were effective, versus 24% saying they weren’t. For lockdowns, the comparable numbers were 66% and 29%. For vaccine mandates, 63% to 31%.

The data come from the I&I/TIPP Poll’s survey of 1,301 adults, conducted online from Dec. 1-4 by TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, I&I’s polling partner. The poll’s margin of error is +/-2.8 percentage points.

The breakdown by political ideology shows some differences, of course. Opinion is never monolithic.

On the topic of mask mandates, for instance, 61% of those who call themselves conservatives describe mask mandates as “effective,” versus 35% who don’t. Among moderates, 75% call masks effective, and 20% don’t. Liberals are the real ideological outlier here: 88% see masks as working, versus just 9% who don’t.

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/12/28/build-back-betters-dead-dont-bet-on-it/

“If Republicans aren’t paying attention, Democrats will find the way. And we will be stuck with Biden’s Build Back Better monster. Forever.”

When Sen. Joe Manchin said he couldn’t vote for “Build Back Better,” it might have seemed like President Joe Biden’s multi-trillion spending spree had finally met its demise. If you think so, remember Obamacare.

Bad ideas never die in Washington, particularly when it comes to expanding the size, scope, or intrusiveness of the federal government.

And sure enough, once the dust cleared on Manchin’s announcement, rather than admit the massive Build Back Better plan was a terrible idea that would create huge new entitlements, add trillions to the national debt, and that most people believe it will do them more harm than good, Democrats immediately started plotting on how to rescue this monstrosity.

Over the weekend, for example, Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin took to the airwaves to say that his party hasn’t given up.

“There is unanimity in our caucus that we want to get a bill to the president, and we are working to see what that bill will contain,” Cardin said on Fox News Sunday. “President Biden is directly involved in these negotiations.

https://thefederalist.com/2021/12/27/its-time-for-the-black-community-to-embrace-a-post-racial-america/

This is the least racist period in the history of our country. If black Americans want to address disparity, we must start with the black nuclear family.

In some respects, I feel as if we are living through a time like Charles Dickens, “The Tale of Two Cities,” of which he wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.”

We are bombarded with messages claiming America is overflowing with systemic racism and white supremacists. Even the National Council on Family Relations now labels the traditional two-parent family an extension of white privilege. 

If you listen exclusively to the news media, the entertainment industry, and the academic-industrial complex, you will be surprised to learn this truth: This is the least racist period in the history of our country.

Having lived in the Jim Crow south, my parents and grandparents would have loved to have grown up in the America I grew up in. A large percentage of the country has been operating in a post-racial America for many years. Across our nation, people have been interacting with each other with respect, dignity, and compassion regardless of race. They have been judging people by the content of their character.

We can pass laws that allow me to enter the front door and reserve a room in any hotel in this country, but we can’t pass laws to force people to open their hearts and their homes to people who don’t look like them. But that is precisely what Americans have done for decades. So how do we explain the differences in the realities on the ground and what we hear in the media?

My family is a classic example of the “best of times – worst of times” and of the disparity between reality and rhetoric. My children, who are now adults, grew up in a two-parent family.  They had their challenges, but they also had stability, unconditional love, and clear boundaries.

Unfortunately, there is a stark contrast with their cousins on my side of the family.  Of my four siblings, my children are the only ones who grew up with both a mother and father in the home. As a result, the lives of my siblings’ children have been interwoven with trauma and tragedy. 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/never-say-die-trump-russia-collusion-theorists-strike-again

Call it the scandal that will not die. Or, more accurately, the scandalmongering that will not die. In the last few weeks, there has been a spate of new assertions that presidential candidate Donald Trump and the Trump campaign did, in fact, collude with Russia to fix the 2016 election. No matter that special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors, an aggressive bunch with a big budget and all the powers of U.S. law enforcement, investigated the collusion allegation for years and failed to establish that it ever happened.

Now, there are more and more references to something called the “Russia hoax hoax.” Anti-Trump types are unhappy that Trump, and some Trump defenders, and even some who aren’t Trump defenders, now talk about the Russia investigation as a “hoax.” Calling the Trump-Russia investigation a hoax, they argue, is a hoax in itself — thus the “Russia hoax hoax.”

“The Real Hoax” is the title of a web piece by the Brookings Institution’s Jonathan Rauch. “It Wasn’t a Hoax” is the title of an article by the Atlantic’s David Frum. “The End of the Great Russia Hoax Hoax” is the title of a Deep State Radio podcast featuring prominent Trump-Russia promoters Natasha Bertrand of Politico, Michael Weiss of the Daily Beast, Josh Campbell of CNN, and Susan Hennessey of the Brookings Institution’s Lawfare website. Lawfare also produced a podcast featuring Rauch and Frum, as well as disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok, moderated by Brookings’s Benjamin Wittes.

Why all the new activity? The Trump-Russia true believers are deeply concerned about the fallout from special counsel John Durham’s investigation of the investigation. In particular, Durham’s indictments have demolished any possibility of believing in the Steele dossier, which played a big role in the Trump-Russia investigation.

https://reason.com/2021/12/27/rip-pandemic-of-the-unvaccinated/?utm_medium=email

If you spend too much time observing the way politicians speak, you’ll pick up an almost perceptibly mechanical gear-shift in their heads when the brain-groove reminds them to reproduce an anecdote or talking point they have formulated so many times before. Occasionally the subconscious rebels against the alienating monotony with apologetic prefix clauses like, “That’s why I like to say,” or “I always tell the story that,” but the pre-sets mostly override such human twitches to deliver the desired political result.

So it was for President Joe Biden’s counterproductive “pandemic of the unvaccinated” slogan, which the White House COVID-19 Response Team introduced in mid-July, and which the president was still regurgitating inaccurately as late as December 14.

In a local TV interview with News Center 7 in Dayton, Ohio, the president was asked about whether his administration would continue fighting his contested employer vaccine mandates in court. The politician-brain quickly whirred into gear.

“This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. The unvaccinated. Not the vaccinated, the unvaccinated,” Biden emphasized, on the same day that the omicron variant produced a one-day positive-case increase of 16 percent in highly vaccinated New York City. “That’s the problem. And so everybody talks about ‘freedom,’ and not to have a shot or have a test. Well guess what? How about patriotism? How about making sure that you’re vaccinated, so you do not spread the disease to anybody else? What about that?”

What about that indeed. New York City’s one-shot vaccination rate (of 92 percent for adults, 83 percent for kids between 13 and 17) “rivals any number in the free world,” Politico’s Jack Shafer observed last week, and yet somehow my vaccinated teen and boosted self spent Christmas under quarantine. The fact-checkers over at The Poynter Institute’s PolitiFact generously rated Biden’s “vaccinated…do not spread the disease” claim as only “mostly” false, despite epidemiologist quotes like “[the] statement is not accurate,” and “vaccinated individuals can definitely infect other people.”

https://amgreatness.com/2021/12/26/surveillance-video-show-d-c-police-beating-women-on-january-6/

Recently-released surveillance video from inside the lower west terrace tunnel at the Capitol building from last January 6 confirms what American Greatness has reported for months: law enforcement officers from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police led a brutal assault against Trump supporters trapped inside that tunnel during the Capitol protest.

The three-hour clip offers one angle of what happened between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the tunnel, the site of the most violent clashes between police and protesters. It also is the location where Rosanne Boyland, a Trump supporter from Georgia, died.

One clip shows the attack on Victoria White, a Minnesota mother of four who was viciously beaten by at least two D.C. Metro officers including a supervisor:

The video supports what White told me in a series of interviews earlier this month; she was repeatedly beaten on the head with a baton and punched directly in the face numerous times by police. One officer grabbed her by the hair and shook her head side to side. Government charging documents, however, claim White—who is 5’6”, weighs 155 pounds, and had no weapon—was the aggressor: