News of the Week for Febuary 22nd, 2015
- Obama Scandals
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Obama Scandals
Texas Federal Court Issues Injunction to Stop Obama’s Executive Amnesty
Texas Federal Judge Andrew Hanen issued a temporary injunction halting the Executive Amnesty program announced last year by President Barack Obama. Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton responded to the late night decision by the judge.
Federal court issues injunction against Obama’s illegal amnesty.
Full text of the Judge’s opinion
Obama: Pass a bill or I’ll rip up the Constitution
When Republicans challenged Obamacare in the courts, they had to overcome the hurdle of persuading the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a program enacted by Congress and signed by a president. The legal challenge by Texas and 25 other states to the administration’s executive actions on immigration is different. Congress never passed a Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (or DAPA) to grant legal status to some 5 million undocumented immigrants. President Obama himself never signed what his aides call an “executive action”; Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson takes that honor. Thus DAPA is a scary power grab that claims the president — and even his bureaucrats — have the power to override duly enacted federal law. Federal Judge Andrew S. Hanen of Brownsville, Texas, was right to issue a temporary injunction against it.
Gun Rights
Charged or Not? MA Woman Shoots Attackers Who Kicked in Door
In rare event, user of deadly defensive force not charged and prosecuted.
Retribution? ATF Bans Common Rifle Ammo
A sudden decision from BATFE
Gun rights groups await judge’s ruling on California’s “microstamping” law
California’s gun laws are among the nation’s strictest, but a looming decision in a federal lawsuit could effectively ban handguns altogether in the Golden State, according to plaintiffs who want a judge to toss out a state law requiring all new handguns to be equipped with technology that “stamps” each shell casing with a traceable mark.
A Pincer Movement on Ammunition
The ATF is one side, and the EPA is the other.
Reminder: Democrats Hate Guns and Gun Owners
Several months ago my colleague streiff covered the story of a single mother from New Jersey who made the mistake of carrying her legally purchased, registered, and permitted gun from Pennsylvania into New Jersey, believing that her Pennsylvania concealed carry permit was valid in NJ. Anyone who has ever been through a concealed carry permit class knows that they tell you if you get pulled over to immediately notify the officer in question that you have a gun in the car, and show them your concealed carry permit. As streiff noted at the time, this woman followed that advice, and as a result, faces three years in prison, despite the fact that she has no criminal history whatsoever, and did not use the gun in the commission of a crime of any kind.
A Mushy-Headed, Incoherent Attack on Concealed Carry Reciprocity
The NY Times is a self-styled champion of civil rights, with the conspicuous and illogical exception being the 2nd Amendment’s guarantee of our inalienable right to keep and bear arms.
Hide the Decline
Environment &
“Green Energy”
The sun has gone quiet again during the weakest solar cycle in more than a century
The main driver of all weather and climate, the entity which occupies 99.86% of all of the mass in our solar system, the great ball of fire in the sky – has gone quiet again during what is likely to be the weakest sunspot cycle in more than a century. For the past 5 days, solar activity has been very low and one measure of solar activity – its X-ray output – has basically flatlined in recent days (plot below courtesy NOAA/Space Weather Prediction Center). Not since cycle 14 peaked in February 1906 has there been a solar cycle with fewer sunspots.
Inverness to Insanity
Roger Lewis reviews the life and times of Dylan Evans, a global warming fanatic whose demented beliefs led him to abandon civilisation
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Democrats seek relief from health law penalties
The official sign-up season for President Barack Obama’s health care law may be over, but leading congressional Democrats say millions of Americans facing new tax penalties deserve a second chance.
Socialism 101: Cornell Students Revolt Against Obamacare-like Health Fee (#FightTheFee)
Irony that Cornell fee for NOT purchasing university plan mirrors Obamacare penalty, which most students support.
Anger has hearing aids are rationed by the NHS: Hard of hearing patients given only one device to be worn on left OR right ear
Health authorities have begun giving patients just one hearing aid
Why the Federal Court Blocked Obama’s Executive Amnesty, in One Sentence
In sum, this Court finds, both factually based upon the record and the applicable law, that DAPA is a “legislative” or “substantive” rule that should have undergone the notice-and-comment rule making procedure mandated by 5 U.S.C. § 553.
War & Terror
ISIS Beheads 21 Christians, Promises To “Conquer Rome, By Allahs Permission”
The Islamic State terror group released a video on Sunday showing the Islamic jihadis beheading 21 Egyptian Christians who were previously kidnapped in Libya.
Avoidance behavior: Could this NYT headline about alleged Copenhagen terrorist get more PC?
The media has identified the suspect in the Copenhagen, Denmark shootings that targeted Jews and critics of Islam as Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, who was reportedly born and raised in Denmark.
Egyptian Warplanes Bomb ISIS Targets in Libya
After 21 Egyptians murdered, Sisi did more than take selfies.
State Dept. Spox on ISIS: “We CANNOT win this war by killing them”
State Department Spokesperson Marie Harf told Chris Matthews tonight that we cannot win this war with ISIS by killing them. She said we have to get to the root cause of why people are attracted to Jihad — you know like poverty, jobs, etc…
Italy Fears ISIS Invasion From Libya
As ISIS makes inroads into Libya, officials in Rome are panicking about an Islamic State just across the sea—but have no idea how to combat the crisis.
Five Middle East Blunders
The underlying causes of chaos in the Middle East are indigenous. But Obama hasn’t helped.
Egypt Battles ISIS and Sharia Supremacism
How does Egypt differ from Saudi Arabia and Qatar? Two ways: (1) It was not invited to join President Obama’s ballyhooed “coalition” of Arab Muslim states fighting against ISIS, and (2) it is actually fighting against ISIS.
State Department: “We Can Not Kill Our Way Out of This War” with ISIS, We’ll Stop Them with “Jobs”
State Department Spokesperson Marie Harf was a guest on Hardball with Chris Matthews last night to talk about the Islamic State. Here’s what she had to say
Denmark’s Jihadi Rehab Program
It should come as no surprise that Denmark is falling prey to expansionist Islam. It already succumbed to moonbattery, voluntarily sealing its own fate.
Muslim Group Cites Biden as Referring to Extremist Violence “in the Name of the Bible”
A U.S. Islamic advocacy group says that Vice- President Joe Biden, addressing a White House summit on “countering violent extremism (CVE)” on Tuesday, referred to right-wing extremists and supremacists committing violence “in the name of the Bible.”
ISIS threatens to send 500,000 migrants to Europe as a ‘psychological weapon’ in chilling echo of Gaddafi’s prophecy that the Mediterranean ‘will become a sea of chaos’
Italian press today published claims that ISIS has threatened to release the huge wave of migrants to cause chaos in Europe if they are attacked
U.S. Won’t Back Egypt’s Attacks on ISIS
Two longtime allies are attacking ISIS—and growing frustrated with one another. That’s good news for the so-called Islamic State.
ISIS creates Twitter hashtag #We_Are_Coming_O_Rome
Jihadists gaining ground, says Tobruk PM
Egypt Commandos Strike ISIS Hard in Libya
Only jobs program involves the funeral industry
Ten Reasons Why China Will Have Trouble Fighting a Modern War
The introduction of new weapons and platforms into the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has captured the attention of much of the world for well over a decade. However, new equipment is only one element of the PLA’s long-term, multi-dimensional modernization process. There is much to be done and no one understands this better than the Chinese themselves. Based on what PLA commanders and staff officers write in their internal newspapers and journals, the force faces a multitude of challenges in order to close the perceived gaps between its capabilities and those of advanced militaries.
National
Teen Who Survived Botched Abortion Now a Successful Wrestler
Nik Hoot is part of an exclusive club. No, it’s not the wrestling club at his local high school, where he excels to the point of finishing as one of the top competitors in his weight class.
Law & Order: SVU Takes On #GamerGate
What could go wrong? Pretty much everything
Feminist, LGBT orgs threaten to ‘take action’ when Christian group invites them to debate
A female student was threatened by feminist and LGBT organizations after she sent the groups personal invitations to attend a pro-life event.
Three maps that explain the West Side of Los Angeles
Check out the similarity between this map indicating the presence of unvaccinated children on the West Side of Los Angeles (hat tip: Instapundit) with this map of medical marijuana dispensaries on the West Side of Los Angeles, which, by the way, doesn’t seem to include data for the separate incorporated city of Santa Monica. Quite some similarity, eh? The enlightened folk on the West Side seem to believe that marijuana is good for you and vaccinations aren’t.
Exclusive — Nigel Farage of UKIP Crosses the Pond to Speak at CPAC
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage will cross the pond at the end of February to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU) just outside Washington, D.C., Breitbart News has learned exclusively.
Leading Gay Rights Activist Peter Tatchell Persecuted by Trans Lobby and Intersectional Left
A hundred and thirty darlings of the British political Left signed an open letter at the weekend decrying a “worrying pattern of intimidation and silencing” on university campuses. The response? Intimidation and attempts to silence them from the increasingly shrill and intolerant transgender lobby.
Alzheimer’s breakthrough as scientists discover how to stop disease in its tracks, paving the way for “statin-like” drug
Study is “starting point for drug that stops Alzheimer’s in its tracks”
Yale Study: Canine Minds Far More Complex Than Originally Thought
Researchers at Yale are using cognitive interactive studies to learn more about how dogs’ minds work.
New SecDef Sworn in; Biden Gets Creepy with Carter’s Wife
Ashton Carter was sworn in as secretary of Defense today with a pledge to help guide President Obama in a wise national security direction and with a little creepiness from Vice President Biden.
Wisconsin College Republicans called “c*nts,” “ignorant” for defending Walker
A plea by College Republicans to keep an open mind about Gov. Walker and his budget plan elicits vulgar assault against them
“I recently assisted a young man who was subjected by administrators at his small liberal arts university in Oregon to a month-long investigation into all his campus relationships…”
“… seeking information about his possible sexual misconduct in them (an immense invasion of his and his friends’ privacy), and who was ordered to stay away from a fellow student (cutting him off from his housing, his campus job, and educational opportunity) — all because he reminded her of the man who had raped her months before and thousands of miles away.”
New High-School Physics Curriculum Includes Lessons on White Privilege
A Seattle science teacher was concerned students “weren’t learning about their own privilege.”
California voters want Condoleezza Rice for Senate: poll
She’s been out of public life for years, she’s never run for office and she’s a Republican, but Condoleezza Rice is now the first choice of California voters to replace Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2016.
President Bullworth Truthbomb: When Terrorists Murder Innocent Citizens, They Have “Legitimate Grievances” For Doing So
The three scariest words in the English language are: IT’S ALL TRUE
Major League Soccer takes a pass on Las Vegas, ending downtown stadium dreams
It’s game over for big-league soccer in Las Vegas and for the controversial proposal for a subsidized soccer stadium in Symphony Park.
Look for stadium fallout to linger for months
City officials spent some media face time last week downplaying Major League Soccer’s decision not to award Las Vegas a franchise to go with its controversial downtown stadium development.
Poll: Condoleezza Rice, Kamala Harris top 2016 Senate field
Californians like the sound of “Sen. Condoleezza Rice” — but apparently more than she does.
US senator mum on reported payout deal with staffer amid VA scandal
Even as Sen. Tammy Baldwin calls for the U.S. Department of Justice to launch “an immediate” investigation into allegations the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tomah overprescribed opiate-based pain medication, the Madison Democrat has yet to disclose details on the reported firing of one of her top state aides in the wake of a growing scandal.
Judge orders Andrew Cuomo to… ah, “pick a date” for NY-11 special election.
There’s a slang phrase that fits this situation – basically, Gov. Andrew Cuomo was dragging his heels on announcing a date for the vacant seat – but it’s a rather vulgar one, so I probably shouldn’t use it. Anyway: “Expressing impatience with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a judge said Tuesday he’ll set a date for a special election to replace convicted former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm unless Cuomo does so by noon Friday.” The NY-11 seat (Staten Island, and parts of Brooklyn) has been vacant since Michael Grimm resigned after pleading out on tax fraud, and it is a measure of just how badly the NY Democratic party is doing right now that the Democrats are still considered the underdogs for that seat.
J-Lo Movie Sparks Rush for Iliad “First Editions”
Shortly before high-school teacher Claire Peterson, Jennifer Lopez’s character in the just-released thriller The Boy Next Door, hops into bed with her 19-year-old neighbor and soon-to-be stalker, Noah (Ryan Guzman), the seductive youngster presents her with a gift.
WaPo’s “Anti-Muslim” Hate Crime Headline Hoax
For those wondering how the leftwing media negotiates the common conflict between acceptable narratives and some semblance of the factual truth, the Washington Post offered a tutorial yesterday in its coverage of a multiple stabbing that took place last weekend in Detroit.
Congressmen Jump Into The Fray In Georgia’s Religious Freedom Fight
Six member of Georgia’s congressional delegation have come to the aid of Atlanta’s former fire chief, who was sacked over a book he wrote.
Close encounters of the starry kind: Red dwarf passed within just 0.8 light years of our solar system
Scholz’s star was discovered in 2014 but appeared to have an odd motion
The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System
Passing stars can perturb the Oort Cloud, triggering comet showers and potentially extinction events on Earth.
Billionaire Mark Cuban Says Net Neutrality Will “F**k Everything Up”
Billionaire investor and ABC “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban unloaded on the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to fundamentally change how it oversees the open Internet.
NRCC Looking for ‘Do-overs’ in CA Districts it Ignored in 2014
While Republicans performed well in the 2014 elections, bolstering their numbers in the House of Representatives to a modern-era high of 247 seats, they had a dismal performance in California. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) came up short in the few California seats where it committed significant resources, while in a host of other seats where it didn’t spend a dime, the GOP candidate narrowly lost.
Cocaine-Snorting Oscar Statuette Appears on Hollywood Blvd.
This Oscar statue is definitely a hard partier.
ENGLISH PROFESSOR Gives Students Extra Credit For Attending Rally Against Scott Walker’s Budget
A literature professor at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater has offered students in her courses extra credit for attending a Thursday evening rally against budget cuts to the University of Wisconsin System proposed by Gov. Scott Walker.
Rudy Doubles Down: Refuses To Apologize For Anti-Obama Comment, Repeats It
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was feisty on “The Kelly File” Thursday night, doubling down on his comment that Barack Obama does not love America.
Feds: America Should Adopt “Plant-Based” Diet
Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee calls for taxing dessert, “electronic tracking” of time spent watching TV
Wisconsin Set to Pass Right to Work
Elections have consequences
Scopes Faulted for Hospital ‘Superbug’ Outbreak Were New, Cleaned Properly, Officials Say
A California hospital apologized today to patients who became infected with an antibiotic-resistant bug, and said it has identified the source of the infections: two contaminated endoscopes that were cleaned according to manufacturer instructions but retained the bug anyway.
Texas Supreme Court Blocks Issuance of Additional Gay Marriage Licenses
On Thursday, February 19, the Texas Supreme Court granted an emergency motion requested by Attorney General Ken Paxton to stay two Travis County court rulings declaring the state’s law banning gay marriage unconstitutional. This action followed a Travis County clerk issuing the first gay marriage license to two Austin women. Texas voters banned same-sex marriage a decade ago via a constitutional amendment on the ballot.
UC-Davis anti-Israel divestment resolution overturned by student judicial panel
Exceeded Student Senate’s jurisdiction since it was primarily political, not involving “student welfare”
State Says 70-Year-Old Flower Shop Owner Discriminated Against Gay Couple. Here’s How She Responded.
A judge in Washington state ruled this week that a 70-year-old florist who declined to make flower arrangements for a gay couple’s wedding violated the state’s anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws.
“Caveman” blogger wins right to blog advice about food and fitness without a state license
North Carolinian Steve Cooksey had gone through an intense personal journey he wanted to share with the world. He had been obese, diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, and almost keeled over, but emerged from his near-death experience to adopt a simple, “Caveman” or paleo diet of meat, nuts, and veggies along with exercise. He lost a lot of weight, felt great and healthy, and wanted to share with the world, so he started a blog, wherein he dispensed advice about food and fitness. Recipes, grocery lists, general advice.
The DNC 2014 Autopsy
The Democratic National Committee has released the 2014 Autopsy. It is nine pages long. In 2013, the GOP released its autopsy. It was 100 pages long, mocked by the left, and in 2014, the GOP handed a historic spanking to the Democrats. The DNC report details what went wrong and what they need to do to fix it… Well, they did half of that. They never admitted what really went wrong. In fact, they acknowledge their losses in government since 2008, but don’t say what caused them. At all.
Obama Tells Faith-Based Groups they Must Refer Refugee Children for Abortions
The Obama administration is getting ready to issue new rules requiring charities to provide abortions to child refugees entering the US without their parents. Faith-based groups say this is a contravention of the rights of parents and a violation of the conscience rights of faith-based groups helping resettle the children.
Former Democratic Chairman Contacted Hit Man to Murder Little Girls He Molested
Democratic chairman Michael Gardner is accused of assaulting a family member who was under 13 at the time of the assault, officials said. He also reportedly molested two little girls at his daughter’s sleepover.
Giuliani Receives Death Threats After Saying Obama Does Not Love America
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told CNN he has received death threats after he accused far left President Barack Obama of not loving America.
Economy & Taxes
DOOM: Hating on the poors since before hating on the poors was cool
Step right up, my groovy friends, and take a gander at the show that never ends. We’ve got DOOM here in the big tent, and it’s a standing-room-only crowd.
Cal High Speed Rail Confiscating Farms for Development Profits
Breitbart reported in November that in the six years since California legislature approved the High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA), just 7% of the 1,100 pieces of land needed for the first leg to travel 130 miles across farm country had been acquired.
In praise of tax avoidance
Here are some ways to reduce the amount of tax you pay. Tell me which of them you think constitute sensible tax planning, and which amount to tax avoidance. (The examples I give are British, but most developed countries have equivalent mechanisms.)
The Economy’s Worst 8-Year Run in 62 Years
With two more rough years on the horizon.
International
Study: Areas Where Fish & Chips Are Popular More Likely to Vote UKIP
Ed Miliband is increasingly under threat from UKIP according to two separate studies by the Economist and by Labour itself. The Economist says that UKIP are popular wherever traditionalists live, whilst Labour have calculated just how ‘Ribena’ each of their seats are.
“Hate Speech” Hysteria Spreads to Japan
“(These demonstrations are) not the exercise of freedom of expression, but constitute an act of violence that incurs grave pain and wounds to Korean residents in Japan”, says a resolution from South Korea demanding that Japan crack down on “hate speech” demonstrations against Korean residents. The demonstrations against Korean residents in Japan that South Korea speaks of have been organized by a fringe far-right group called Zaitokukai – a motley group of ultra-nationalist extremists whose rallies tend to attract around 20 people at the most. The group’s rallies are exceptionally small and unpopular, being widely condemned by mainstream Japanese society at large.
Israel to CENSOR Netanyahu speech to Congress
The head of Israeli elections wants to ensure that Netanyahu’s speech doesn’t give him any boost, so they are going to censor it to ensure he doesn’t make ‘partisan’ statements
Prince Harry: I might experiment with gay men if my relationship doesn’t work out
Prince Harry has said he might try relationships with men if he “changes his mind” about women, while on a night out with his current girlfriend.
Controversy as Putin lays wreath on “illegal” memorial to 1956 Soviet invaders
Russian President Vladimir Putin waded into an unusual controversy soon after his arrival in Budapest today by laying a wreath on a Soviet monument that is allegedly in violation of Hungarian law.
Indian Prime Minister vows to protect Christians
The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a commitment to protect Christians and other religious minorities, after a spate of recent attacks in the capital New Delhi.
Five-Year-Olds To Get Sex Education To Stop Child Grooming Gangs
Five-year-olds could be given sex education if proposals from the Deputy Children’s Commissioner are adopted. Sue Berelowitz, Deputy Children’s Commissioner, was tasked with looking at the aftermath of Pakistani grooming gangs, and her conclusions was that parents right to remove their children from some elements of sex education should be removed.
Columnist resigns over Telegraph’s “fraud”
The former chief political commentator for the UK newspaper the Daily Telegraph has resigned after claiming to have discovered that advertisers held immense power over the newspaper’s editorial division.
Ed Miliband: “Facebook and Twitter must help counter anti-semitism and Islamophobia”
Ed Miliband today called for social media giants to join in the fight against anti-semitism and Islamophobia online.
ISIS morality police arrest a woman wearing full burkha and face veil… because her EYES were “too exposed”
Woman attacked and two men arrested in Syria, Al-Merced NGO reports
A Glimmer of Hope for Turkish Democracy? Their Parliament Had a Brawl YesterdayShare article on Facebook
Here at National Review, we’re big fans of parliamentary brawls. In fact, I’d like to think legislative violence (there’s a Wikipedia page) represents some sign of hope for a democracy — that serious disputes are still being settled on the floor, even though relations between political factions have grown incredibly tense. Whether that might apply to Turkey right now, I’m not sure: The brawl broke out during debate over a measure to increase police power over violent demonstrations, pushed by the majority party, President Erdogan’s AKP. The three big opposition parties, which don’t share political leanings, are trying to push off debate of the measure with a variety of parliamentary delaying tactics, but the Turkish state’s power to manipulate political movements, the media, and just about everything else is already pretty formidable.
Guardian “changed Iraq article to avoid offending Apple”
Guardian facing series of allegations from insiders over its relationship with advertisers, including suggestions that it changed an article on Iraq amid concerns that Apple would object
Judge slams ‘social engineering’ by council that took baby away from his father over ties to racist EDL and teenage sex caution
Boy was placed in care at birth when council branded his father ‘immoral’
Muslim mayor resigns over support for grooming gang sex offender’s family
Slough’s mayor has resigned after attending a court sentencing to support the family of a child sex offender.
A New Theory on How Neanderthal DNA Spread in Asia
In 2010, scientists made a startling discovery about our past: About 50,000 years ago, Neanderthals interbred with the ancestors of living Europeans and Asians.
Groups of men are still targeting young girls for abuse in Rotherham, town’s Labour MP claims
Girls are still being targeted in Rotherham despite abuse scandal revelation
Baghdad’s first female mayor set to take the reins
A woman has been named as mayor of Baghdad for the first time, a government spokesman said Saturday, amid widespread corruption and rampant violence
“Racist” bird names banned by Sweden
Sweden’s Ornithological Society has banned several names for birds following concerns that they sound racist, after completing the first official guide to bird names in Swedish.
“Democratic Union for French Muslims” set to Contest Elections in France
A Muslim political party will be contesting seats at next month’s regional elections in France, standing on a platform which includes promises to expand the halal industry and allow girls to wear the burqa. Critics have called the Democratic Union for French Muslims a “catastrophe”, claiming that it flies in the face of France’s secular history, but it’s founder insists that his party promotes religious tolerance.
This African Country Was Once the World’s Third Poorest. Here’s How It Turned Things Around.
Western governments, well-intentioned NGOs and good-old-fashioned profit-seeking capitalists have been trying for decades to help bring development and prosperity to Africa, often unsuccessfully.
Opinion
The Hugo Wars: How Sci-fi’s Most Prestigious Awards Became a Political Battleground
Few walks of life are today immune to the spectre of political intolerance. At universities, speaker disinvitations and censorship campaigns are at an all-time high. In technology, there are purges of chief executives with the wrong political views and executives who make the wrong sort of joke. In the world of video games, petitions are launched against “offensive” titles, and progressive journalists wage smear campaigns against conservative developers.
Scott Walker’s national education effect
The college dropout governor may bring reality back to an Ivy League-suffocated government.
There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one. — Alexis de Tocqueville
Despite gains in the movement for marriage equality in the United States, such as the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Proposition 8 by the Supreme Court of the United States in 2013 and the repeal of Amendment 1 in North Carolina by a U.S. District Court in 2014, resistance rooted in cynical appeals to populism and the tyranny of the majority rears its head in Alabama.
To win in 2016: The voters Republicans forgot
The GOP 2016 pack is off on a 16-month war for the nomination, which means performing for the party’s base and the money men. Yet whoever comes out on top won’t take the White House unless he starts now on connecting with an entirely different class of people.
Scratch a young Progressive; find an old-time fascist
One of the things Nazis understood is that, if you get them young enough, you own them.
Feminists Are Useful Idiots, And Doomed
Feminists and other leftists are useful idiots who serve only to destabilise the society. When the goal is reached, they will be “lined up against the wall”.
1920: The Year of Six Presidents
On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Allysen Efferson are joined by David Pietrusza to discuss the pivotal election of 1920, how six once and future Presidents were involved and what parallels can be drawn from that election to 2016.
The Queering of Feminism
A few recent headlines from EverydayFeminism.com
Obama Alone In Ignoring Roots Of Islamist Terror
Monday’s White House statement on ISIS’ beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya, which failed to mention the victims’ faith as the reason for their murder, was practically unique among world leaders’ reactions for its omission.
Using Doublespeak To Describe Islamist Terrorism Blinds Us To Reality
One can’t be an extremist about nothing. That’s why calling Islamist terrorists “violent extremists” constitutes a dangerous attempt to hide from reality.
An Infinite Rainbow of Oppression
Sarah Deragon (@identityproj) is a feminist and a lesbian, but I repeat myself. Tuesday, I posted a series of “Queer Feminism” headlines from EverydayFeminism.com to illustrate the extent to which the feminist movement has become obsessed with perverse sexuality.
Destroy the myth, destroy the culture.
Our myths and legends define us. This isn’t exactly a new revelation, a few books have been written on the subject, including “the Samurai the Mountie and the Cowboy” among others, but all of them explored other things (like gun control).
The Line Between Islamic Extremists and Gay Rights Extremists
We have another life targeted for destruction by the gay rights community. Barronelle Stutzman, an evangelical Christian, declined to provide flowers for the homosexual wedding of a long time customer of hers. The customer was gay and, again, a long time customer. Barronelle Stutzman is now going to lose her business, her life savings, and possibly her own home for putting her faith into practice. Both her customer and the State of Oregon are taking everything she has for not bowing at the altar of sexual sin.
“We have a problem”
“Islam is innocent” is an incomplete sentence. Introspection is needed, for, if we shy away from reality, the alternative will be more images like those we witnessed last Tuesday night, when brave Lt. Muath Al Kasasbeh was burnt to death in a cage.
Young, Attractive, and Totally Not Into Having Sex
It’s Friday afternoon during finals week, and two undergrads at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville are lounging together on a battered couch in the student center, watching cartoons. They’ve only met twice before, but they’re all over each other. Rae, a tiny pixie of a sophomore wearing a newsboy cap, nuzzles up against Sean, a handsome freshman. He’s got his arm draped across her. They giggle and tease each other, and she sprawls into his lap. Their friend Genevieve, perched on the arm of the couch, smiles and rolls her eyes.
Barack Obama doesn’t even like America.
Rudy Giuliani is in the stocks for saying that he does not believe that President Barack Obama “loves America.” He said this at a small, private dinner for Scott Walker, who probably will not be inviting Giuliani to very many events in the near future.
Arkansas hands Western Civilization a small victory
One cheer for Governor Asa Hutchinson
Sexual Disorientation, Part II
Caitlin Stasey (@caitlinstasey) is a former child star who has gotten widespread attention for her feminist website Herself.com. In her own profile at the site, Ms. Stasey described having “vivid dreams about other women” as an adolescent, “masturbating in secret,” saying she has “known I was mostly gay ever since I can remember” and calls herself a lesbian, even though she currently has “a male partner,” another former child star named Lucas Neff.
Fundamental Concepts
So much of leftist thought is magical thinking – the idea that because they wish something to be so then it will be so. That’s Obama’s entire foreign policy right there. Unfortunately, reality has a way of insisting upon itself, but this doesn’t stop them from trying to reshape it to their desired ends. It never works, and nowhere is this as obvious as in leftist economic theories.
Practicality Vs. Utopia In 2016
Writing at USA Today, Glenn Reynolds looks at liberal snobbery toward Governor Scott Walker and predicts the Wisconsinite’s potential 2016 presidential run could “lay to rest the absurd belief that you’re a nobody if you don’t have a college degree.” It would be a revolution in the way Americans look at higher education that “might even cut into the surprisingly recent takeover of our institutions by an educated mandarin class, something that just might save the country.”
The progressive ideas behind the lack of free speech on campus
Is an academic discussion of free speech potentially traumatic? A recent panel for Smith College alumnae aimed at “challenging the ideological echo chamber” elicited this ominous “trigger/content warning” when a transcript appeared in the campus newspaper: “Racism/racial slurs, ableist slurs, antisemitic language, anti-Muslim/Islamophobic language, anti-immigrant language, sexist/misogynistic slurs, references to race-based violence, references to antisemitic violence.”
When political speech gets you fired
This seems to be an issue which crops up every election cycle and 2016 will be no different. It used to be considered bad form to discuss politics at work (or family dinners for that matter) and if you did so it could lead to problems. But since the internet ruins everything it touches, now you can get in trouble for things you say outside of work, blog or post to Facebook as well. When your boss catches wind of it, if they happen to subscribe to a different political ideology, you may wind up feeling the pressure or even being shown the door. Alina Tugend offers a few examples from the past.
Maximum Acronym
After years of struggle, the Rainbow Alphabet — LGBT — has been extended to maximum inclusivity at Wesleyan University
Progressives’ Peculiar Sense of Patriotism
The best thing Obama can seem to say about the country is that it elected him into office.
You Will Be Made To Care Chronicles: Religious speech in the crosshairs
coming soon to a place near you
Unpatriotic voters elect unpatriotic leaders
Should the electorate have to pass a patriotism test?
Freedom of Speech Under Attack On Campus!
The University of Michigan took some pretty big steps toward stifling free speech on its campus this month with its “Inclusive Language” program. They’ve even gone as far as to create a list of “unacceptable words”. Just how important is the 1st amendment to students today. I’m pretty sure that after watching the video, you’ll feel more compelled to protect the 1st amendment than ever before!
Some Minorities Are More Equal Than Others?
If you break into admission statistics to elite colleges and universities you discover a pattern of “disparate impact” (as the civil rights term of art goes) against Asians. It appears Asians are being actively discriminated against just as Jews were for decades.
