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August 2015

Posted by New Neo on August 16, 2015 87 Comments
Donald Trump's immigration plan is certainly guaranteed to get him even more attention than before. It's a wish list for the most anti-illegal-immigrant wing of the electorate, although it also features some workable and laudable proposals that are not unique to Trump. Reading the text of Trump's document reminds me somewhat of Barack Obama in campaign mode. Not the content, of course---that is very different from Obama's---but the process: I will do this, I will do that, while ignoring whether what he suggests is workable, how much it would cost, and how Trump would probably have to don the mantle of dictator to accomplish some of it:
The problem with Trump’s wall is that it is infeasible; the geography of the border simply does not allow for one unbroken wall. Nor would it be effective. Even if you could erect this barrier around, say, Florida, walls can be surmounted, tunneled under, and circumvented in other ways. Policing the border requires police; human capital that comes at taxpayer expense. Mexico will not be paying their salaries, but Trump has a plan for that, too: confiscate all remittances from illegal immigrants working in America and hike the fees on all Mexican tourism and work visas. Erecting the structures necessary to identify much less confiscate illegal wages would prove daunting. Even if it was legal and could survive court challenges, a dubious prospect, this is a policy that would require a dramatic expansion of government’s ability to intrude on the lives of American citizens – a principle to which conservatives were once constitutionally opposed...

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 16, 2015 26 Comments
Racial politics has not spared modern feminists. The latest "intersectionality" social justice warrior campaign rails against "White Feminism." That's right, White Feminism. Because every single bit of life, society, and culture must now be parsed into political subsections... As is typical in the Land of Social Justice, each attempt to further define the the model social justice warrior leads to the alienation of the reigning Champion of the Cause. Such is the case with this video on White Feminism. "You may have heard the term "White Feminism" lately, but what does it mean? Basically, White Feminism is feminism that ignores intersectionality. So, not all feminists who are white are White Feminists, but most White Feminists are white because white people just don't have to think about things like race on a daily basis," explains the video from the Huffington Post. Language Warning:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 16, 2015 12 Comments
California's economy is in no danger of catching fire, but its scenic beauty is. Meanwhile, Governor Jerry Brown has been busy signing bills into laws, demonstrating an intriguing set of executive priorities. First, he bans the word "alien" from the state's labor code.
Sacramento has its own Censor-in-Chief. Gov. Jerry Brown just signed a bill making the word “alien” ironically illegal. Brown signed SB 432 by Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, to remove the term “alien” from the California labor code to describe foreign-born workers. “Mendoza said removing the term ‘alien’ was an important step toward modernizing California law because it is now commonly considered a derogatory term with very negative connotations,” the AP/CBS reported. “The only vote against the bill came in the State Assembly, from Assemblyman Matthew Harper, R-Huntington Beach (Orange County), who told the San Francisco Chronicle that the bill was ‘just a way for legislators to get their names in the paper….[t]he negative connotations come from the fact that people are breaking the law. Changing the word won’t change the fact that folks are here illegally.” Breitbart reported.

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 16, 2015 23 Comments
In the newest edition of Afterburner, Bill Whittle examines the dumbing-down of American society with an eye to the causes, effects and possible solutions. Whittle opens by noting that conspiracy theories about the moon landing and 9/11 have become mainstream. He goes on to explain the difference between ignorance and a lack of education. One of the points Whittle makes, truly jumps out. He talks about a photo of Steven Spielberg on the set of Jurassic Park next to a dinosaur which went viral after the Cecil the Lion story. Some people actually believed Steven Spielberg killed a Triceratops.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 16, 2015 9 Comments
For years we have been arguing that at most there is a thin line between the Israel hatred of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and hatred of Jews. BDS was born at the anti-Semitic 2001 Durban conference, but was repackaged as a grassroots "civil society" movement in 2005, and now has duped many progressives into thinking BDS is just about Israel leaving the West Bank. Groups like Jewish Voice for Peace do BDS's bidding is perpetuating this charade. That thin line has all but disappeared in Europe, where BDS paves the was to anti-Semitism: So it is, in a sense, no surprise to hear the outrageous news that American Jewish musician Matisyahu has been banned at a Spanish Reggae music festival due to pressure from the BDS movement after he failed to sign a statement recognizing a Palestinian state. BDS has shifted from its practice of banning and attacking Israeli musicians, to Jewish musicians who fail to pledge allegiance to the BDS movement. It was a natural shift for the movement. https://twitter.com/matisyahu/status/623024234701328384 The Times of Israel reports:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 16, 2015 20 Comments
While small acts of kindness from citizens can touch the lives of police officers many miles away, police officers across the country increasingly face public aggression, disrespect, and violence.  In the wake of Ferguson and the execution of police officers in NYC and across America,  America's police face an untenable situation as they attempt to do their jobs. Watch this report on police under attack: The recent attention has brought with it a heightened awareness among police officers . . . and hesitation.  An Alabama police detective, saying that he was concerned about media attention, was pistol-whipped with his own gun last week.  CNN Wire reports:
An Alabama police detective is pistol whipped with his own gun. He says the coverage of deadly police shootings across America is partly to blame.

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 16, 2015 10 Comments
Since the beginning of fiscal year 2015, the federal government has taken in a staggering $2.6 trillion in tax revenue. Despite this record breaking haul, the United States is still operating in the red. Terence P. Jeffrey of CNS News reports:
$2,672,414,000,000: Federal Taxes Set Record Through July; $17,955 Per Worker--Feds Still Run $465.5B Deficit The federal government raked in a record of approximately $2,672,414,000,000 in tax revenues through the first ten months of fiscal 2015 (Oct. 1, 2014 through the end of July), according to the Monthly Treasury Statement released today. That equaled approximately $17,955 for every person in the country who had either a full-time or part-time job in July. It is also up about $183,397,970,000 in constant 2015 dollars from the $2,489,016,030,000 in revenue (in inflation-adjusted 2015 dollars) that the Treasury raked in during the first ten months of fiscal 2014. Despite the record tax revenues of $2,672,414,000,000 in the first ten months of this fiscal year, the government spent $3,137,953,000,000 in those ten months, and, thus, ran up a deficit of $465,539,000,000 during the period.
FOX News put the issue in perspective:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 16, 2015 134 Comments
George Will has written a thought-provoking piece over at WaPo in which he argues that the GOP should purge itself of Trump and Trump's supporters. Will explains:
When, however, Trump decided that his next acquisition would be not another casino but the Republican presidential nomination, he tactically and quickly underwent many conversions of convenience (concerning abortion, health care, funding Democrats, etc.). His makeover demonstrates that he is a counterfeit Republican and no conservative.

He is an affront to anyone devoted to the project William F. Buckley began six decades ago with the founding in 1955 of the National Review — making conservatism intellectually respectable and politically palatable. Buckley’s legacy is being betrayed by invertebrate conservatives now saying that although Trump “goes too far,” he has “tapped into something,” and therefore . . . .

Therefore what? This stance — if a semi-grovel can be dignified as a stance — is a recipe for deserved disaster. Remember, Henry Wallace and Strom Thurmond “tapped into” things.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 15, 2015 4 Comments
Jeremy Corbyn likely will be the next leader of the leftist British Labour Party. Elections are underway for party leadership. The Labour Party has fallen on hard times after being crushed by David Cameron's Conservative Party in the national elections in May 2015. The Conservative Party now holds an outright majority in parliament, but Labour still is the major political opposition in the country. Which is why there is so much concern over Corbyn's connection to so many of worst anti-Semitic and anti-Israel elements. The Jewish Chronicle in Britain gives the big picture view:
The JC rarely claims to speak for anyone other than ourselves. We are just a newspaper. But in this rare instance we are certain that we speak for the vast majority of British Jews in expressing deep foreboding at the prospect of Mr Corbyn’s election as Labour leader. Because, although there is no direct evidence that he has an issue himself with Jews, there is overwhelming evidence of his association with, support for — and even in one case, alleged funding of — Holocaust deniers, terrorists and some outright antisemites....

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 15, 2015 9 Comments
Comcast subsidiary NBC Universal recently purchased large shares of Buzzfeed and Vox Media. NBC Universal, "owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses." With NBCU sinking about $200 million into each respective media conglomeration, both Vox Media and Buzzfeed are reportedly valued at over $1 billion each. Though Buzzfeed is valued around $1.5 billion. Re/code reports:
...in addition to the NBCUniversal investment, the two companies now have a commercial partnership. That means, among other things, that they will collaborate on digital advertising, will work together on video advertising and video programming, and that you will likely see Vox Media employees more frequently on NBCU-owned networks like CNBC. (Re/code already had and continues to have a news partnership with CNBC).
Does this mean proliferation of Voxsplaining and cat gifs? Will the internet overtake television?! Is the future NOW?!

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 15, 2015 10 Comments
Plenty of people in political media are taking note of the large crowds Bernie Sanders is drawing at his events, but at the end of the day, it still might not be enough for Sanders to trounce Clinton. Philip Bump of the Washington Post recently took a hard look at the numbers:
100,000 people have attended Bernie Sanders events this month. That doesn’t mean much. Some 28,000 people attended Bernie Sanders's rally in Portland, Ore., on Sunday -- both in the venue and watching outside. The Fix's Chris Cillizza marveled at the turnout. "28,000 people! In August! Of an off year!" Cillizza wrote. "I mean, that is a lot. A LOT." It's an amount that exceeds one out of every 10 people who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 in Multnomah County, in fact. And then, the next day, Sanders pulled the same number in Los Angeles -- meaning that in seven events since July 1, Sanders spoke before 100,000 people. So what does this mean? I hate to say it -- and I hate to rain on Sanders' well-attended parade -- but: It doesn't mean a whole lot.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 15, 2015 21 Comments
While the EPA is dealing with the fallout from the Animas River spill that it created, China is responding to a chemical catastrophe of its own:
Fires shot plumes of black smoke into the sky Saturday at the site of a chemical warehouse in Tianjin, China, where explosions earlier this week killed at least 105 people. But officials denied news reports that an evacuation order had been issued for everyone within 1.8 miles (3 kilometers), with Tianjin government spokesman Gong Jiansheng calling the reports "false information." The Beijing News, citing Armed Police, had reported the evacuation order. CNN has reported that at least one disaster recovery shelter is located within the reported evacuation zone. However, photographs made it appear that vehicles in a parking lot had caught fire rather than new explosions having taken place at the warehouse, as the Xinhua news agency had reported.
The Chinese have ordered an evacuation radius of nearly 2 miles due to the presence of numerous toxic chemicals and irritating vapors. Drone footage of the port area where the detonation took place is now available, and the extent of the damage is breathtaking.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 15, 2015 66 Comments
Obama has stated that the "most frustrating part" of his presidency has been his inability to pass gun control legislation, and progressives are not going to give up on their gun grabbing goal any time soon. The Washington Post has published an article by E. J. Dionne entitled "How American can free itself from guns."  Dionne argues, much as Eric Holder did, that the key is to change the American mind about guns. Watch Eric Holder explain how we need to "brainwash" people against guns: Dionne doesn't use the word "brainwashing," but he makes the same comparison to public service messages about cigarettes.  He writes:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 15, 2015 17 Comments
Hillary still is the odds-on favorite to get the Democratic nomination because of her enormous war chest and gigantic operative staff and SuperPACs. But the Clinton Machine is not doing nearly as well as expected, and is in trouble in early states against Bernie Sanders. The crowds are turning out for Bernie, and Hillary's favorability and trustworthiness ratings are plummeting. Part of this is driven by Hillary's inherent phoniness and crony capitalism, but much of it is being driven by the email destruction and private server scandal. First, there was denial.  At her March 10, 2015 press conference Hillary denied there was a problem, and insisted that there was no classified information used on her personal email account. Second, there was anger that anyone would want to inspect the server, since it contained personal messages between her and Bill. Third, there was bargaining. We'll give you documents, but only what we want to give you, and when we feel like giving it to you. But no inspection of the server. Never. Fourth, there was depression, with the disclosure that there were Top Secret satellite and signals intelligence contained in emails, and that the Intelligence Community Inspector General had recommended an investigation into the potentially criminal mishandling of intelligence information.

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 15, 2015 16 Comments
Dr. Ben Carson appeared on Your World with Neil Cavuto this week and spoke about Planned Parenthood, calling abortion the number one killer of black people. Later in the week, he was asked about his comments on the O'Reilly Factor by guest host Eric Bolling and stood by his statement. Ken Meyer of Mediaite has more:
As Bolling asked him about abortion rates in black communities, Carson responded by saying it was a matter of deciding whether those black lives matter as much. “The number one cause of death for black people is abortion, and I wonder if maybe some people might at some point become concerned about that and ask, why is that happening,” Carson said. He went on to continue his point about Sanger’s alleged eugenics leanings, saying that if Parenthood employees learned about her, they’d be less keen to defend their practices:
I encourage people to go and read about Margaret Sanger and go and read about the beginnings of this organization so that you know what you’re dealing with. One of the ways that they’re able to perpetrate the deceit is because people are not informed. The more people are informed, the less likely these kinds of things happen.
Watch the full exchange below:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 14, 2015 7 Comments
It's been quite the news week. To cap it off and end on a cute note, might we suggest a condensed Republican presidential debate reenacted by children? Wig-clad kiddos adorned in oversized American flag pins reenact the first Fox News prime time debate and it's hilarious. Not to mention, alarming close to reality.
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