Disrupting the Narrative of the New Left, its allies in Academia, Hollywood and the Establishment Media, and examining with honesty the goals of cultural Marxism and the dangers of reactionary and abusive political correctness.
THE NARRATIVE AND POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
“Threats to freedom of speech, writing and action, though often trivial in isolation, are cumulative in their effect and, unless checked, lead to a general disrespect for the rights of the citizen.”-George Orwell
There is no better metric to measure the health of American hegemony than whether trade ships enjoy unfettered access to sea lanes. Global maritime law is among the more settled concepts in international law, and its violation has universally understood consequences. American naval power guarantees the right of safe passage, and hostile powers know that they will encounter resistance if they used military force to prevent commercial ships from proceeding along their routes. At least, they knew that until Tuesday. Today, the world awakes to a new reality in which the United States has blinked.
If you're watching affairs from Moscow, or Beijing, or Tehran, or the capital of any other revisionist power, why wouldn't you believe that America's alliances are barely worth the paper on which they are written? Why wouldn't the Kremlin think it could test NATO's commitment to the defense of Eastern European states. Would London, Paris, Berlin, and Washington really risk war with a nuclear power over a sliver of territory in eastern Estonia?
It no longer seems like much of a risk to find out. Similarly, why would the People's Republic of China believe that a flotilla of "fisherman" colonialists who establish a base on the contested Senkaku Islands would be resisted with force? There is simply no evidence to suggest that would be the case. At least, not under this administration.
It's a more dangerous world today, and much of that is a result of Barack Obama's repeated displays of impotence and irresoluteness. Before this week, when it comes to America's obligations to its allies, Obama's "you're on your own" doctrine was only perceived. Today, it's precedent.
It is admittedly difficult to bear the obsequious servility that punctuates The New York Times editorial board's latest gentle attempt to convince Hillary Clinton that she has a serious problem on her hands. Viewed, however, as a window into the thinking of the Democratic Party's terrified pragmatists who are slowly coming to the realization that they backed the wrong horse, The Times' latest is clarifying. It is a desperate and helpless demand that Clinton somehow stop the bleeding.
It isn't just the scandalous revelations swirling around the Clintons that have jeopardized her political prospects either. The former secretary of state's efforts to appeal to the Democratic Party's restless left-wing have been sloppy, polarizing, and have demonstrated the extent to which Clinton's political instincts have atrophied. Rest assured, smart Democratic operatives are panicking, and they're already contemplating a Plan B.
The Times might not be outwardly panicking just yet, but this editorial is a sign that the façade of calm is crumbling. This story will survive the weekend, and it has as much potential as did the former secretary of state's email scandal to force her out of the bunker and in front of the media's cameras. The question then becomes, how many hastily assembled damage control press conferences can one hold before the public stops listening?
Hillary is going to adopt the Occupy Wall Street mentality while fundraising with hedge fund executives. The struggle is real.
— CounterMoonbat (@CounterMoonbat) April 21, 2015
RT → FreeBeacon: Oh... Obama: People Need Perspective, There’s Less Violence Around The World Than 40 Years Ago … pic.twitter.com/Np5eKdggiF
— Aaron Reagan (@reaganisahero) April 22, 2015
Gov. Scott Walker, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, is calling for Americans to join him in telling President Obama to walk away from the negotiations with Iran because it's a bad deal, will not keep Americans safe, and will endanger key allies.
He said, "These negotiations often seem highly technical, but it is important to remember why they affect the safety of all Americans."
Walker posted an online message on Facebook for Americans to deliver a strong message to President Obama – walk away from Iran.
The deadline for reaching an agreement with Iran passed Tuesday. The Obama Administration granted another extension for the talks, but according to Walker, there are new reports that officials are granting concessions to Iran that are substantial enough to harm American allies like Israel.
Walker warned that President Obama's deal could provoke a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, one of the most volatile areas of the world, causing more terrorism and aggression toward allies and America's homeland.
"Look at the worsening conflicts in Yemen and Syria, and just imagine if nuclear weapons were added to the mix. If Iran acquires nuclear weapons, it will take greater risks in the region and internationally."
"I hope the president listens to us," added Walker.
#Breaking: French prosecutors say copilot of the #Germanwings plane, Andreas Guenter Lubitz, appeared to want to "destroy the plane".
— Jessica Gonzalez (@HessicaGonzalez) March 26, 2015
.@NolteNC Can just picture the producers sitting around..."Wonder what it sounds like when a door is being pounded on? Hey! I know!....."
— L. North (@LadyLNorth) March 26, 2015
If you were wondering what someone knocking on a cockpit door might look like, CNN's got you covered pic.twitter.com/2nT5xmcjcX
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) March 26, 2015
President Obama just took unilateral executive action--again--to change immigration laws. Almost no one noticed. http://t.co/DjiM1l6tOn
— Byron York (@ByronYork) March 26, 2015
So @ggreenwald sees no difference between a targeted strike on a weapons facility to stop nuclear proliferation and a call for genocide?
— Konabianca (@konabianca) March 26, 2015
Unless you work for Obama or Dems! MT @USDOL: Batgirl teaches Batman a lesson about #EqualPay: “Same job, same employer means equal pay .
— American Elephant (@AmericnElephant) March 26, 2015
A Morning Joe panel decried Hillary Clinton's lack of a campaign message and the Democratic Party's dearth of viable candidates behind her Monday. Co-host Mika Brzezinski asked Huffington Post reporter Sam Stein to define Clinton's message as a presidential candidate in 10 seconds, something she's asked others like Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA). Like Kaine, Stein had difficulty articulating what it would be...
The Washington Post has some good reporting on the Clinton Foundation's extensive activity in the impoverished country of Haiti. These efforts, it turns out, have been met with considerable skepticism by locals:
[T]he Clintons are facing a growing backlash that too little has been accomplished in the past five years and that some of the most high-profile projects they have backed - including a just-opened Marriott, another luxury hotel and the industrial park - have helped foreign investors and Haiti's wealthy elites more than its poor.
"Bill Clinton is a good guy and well-intentioned, but the people here don't think so - they think he's here making money," said Leslie Voltaire, a former government official who worked with Clinton on post-earthquake reconstruction. "There is a lot of resentment about Clinton here. People have not seen results. … They say that Clinton used Haiti."
In January, Haitian expatriates picketed the Clinton Foundation's New York headquarters, demanding to know why more progress has not been made with the billions in international aid pledged after the quake.
It's not hard to see why this is the case. Bill Clinton, speaking at the grand opening of the $45 million Marriott hotel, praised the project for giving Haitians "the chance to show the real Haiti to the world that will come to this hotel." Right. Because what better way to experience the "real Haiti" than from the La Sirene Bar and Restaurant at luxury hotel financed by one of the most powerful political couples in the Western hemisphere?
Haiti, in many ways, functions as a sort of Clintopia. Cuba won't have its hipster charm and poverty chic motif much longer, thanks to capitalism. Fortunately, there's Haiti, where wealthy plutocrats can experience an authentic voodoo ceremony, just as the Clintons did shortly after their wedding in 1975. (The trip was a gift from a rich friend, Dave Edwards, who has since helped Bill Clinton secure more than $20 million in funding from the Saudi government for a Middle East studies program at the University of Arkansas.)
It's an ideal place for moneyed elites to visit for photo-ops and investment opportunities, but without having to experience the "real Haiti." It's a disaster area that provides convenient cover for foreign governments to donate money to a charitable foundation tied to a sitting Secretary of State, in violation of administration rules.
And, most importantly, it looks good on a presidential resume. Who cares if the actual residents of Haiti don't appreciate all the good the Clintons have done for them? Think of all the good Haiti has done for the Clintons and their associates.
President Obama argues there is no fix if the Supreme Court limits subsidies, and MSNBC makes large changes to their daytime television lineup. Plus, singer John Legend's controversial comments at The Oscars.
Rarely has a prince so keenly disappointed his trumpeters. It was announced yesterday that MSNBC's Ronan Farrow, once the sparkle-eyed wunderkind who would lead the network into broad, sunlit uplands, will be stripped of his show. His time there, it turns out, was a waste of everyone's time.
In 2013, MSNBC chief Phil Griffin had enthused breathlessly that "Ronan has established himself as a provocative, independent journalist, capable of challenging people's assumptions and empowering audiences. His show will be a game changer for MSNBC." By February of 2015, he was forced to acknowledge that Farrow had "empowered," to judge from the ratings, almost nobody at all. It was time, Griffin conceded, for some more "experimenting."
Also removed from the airwaves was insipid afternoon host Joy Ann Reid, whose particular brand of racially charged progressive orthodoxy apparently appealed to few more viewers than did Farrow. If the Daily Beast is to be believed, this will not be the end of the shake. In addition, the Beast's Lloyd Grove suggests, Al Sharpton "could eventually be moved from his weeknight 6 p.m. gig" and placed in a weekend graveyard slot, and Chris Hayes may be replaced by Rachel Maddow - who, in turn, would be dislodged by new talent. Thus, Politico's Dylan Byers proposes, does MSNBC hope to "stem its cataclysmic ratings declines and waning relevance."
Its handful of rather ordinary news anchors to one side, MSNBC's hosts do not so much exist to represent a popular viewpoint as they are put on air to play a set of dramatic roles in what has become a vast and monomaniacal piece of conspiratorial performance art, of the sort that one might see composed by the theater department at Oberlin. When Deadline Hollywood's Lisa de Moraes records that "today's buzz word at MSNBC is 'news-focused,'" she is not suggesting that the channel hopes slightly to tweak its balance between the straight-up reporting of facts and the offering of unabashed opinion; she is conceding that the station's long experiment with esoteric faculty-lounge silliness is coming, at long last, to a crashing and ignominious end.
"The goal," an anonymous source told the Daily Beast yesterday, "isto move away from left-wing TV" and to give up on the hope of a return to the "glory days during George W. Bush's administration." Thus did Air America's visual counterpart meet its own inevitable end.
Something for President Obama to consider today: An under-utilized way of "countering violent extremism?" The A-10 Warthog.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 19, 2015
ISIS thugs seem to gather for public parades, to rejoice in their atrocities, etc. Why don't we blow a bunch of them to smithereens?
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 19, 2015
@adamjohnsonNYC@DailySignal death-cult, terrorists, snuff-film merchants, kidnappers, mass murderers and child bride enthusiasts also work
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) February 19, 2015
@MelissaTweets I think he's telling us it's our fault. ISIS is what happens when we hate terrorists, rapists, & mass murderers. @markknoller
— Erin (@sqwerin) February 19, 2015
IDEA: Maybe let's avoid electing presidents who think the world's biggest problem is the United States.
— RB (@RBPundit) February 19, 2015
MSNBC: Where no matter how bad your show is, if you're white and the son of Frank Sinatra, you get to stay. Sorry, @JoyAnnReid.
— RB (@RBPundit) February 19, 2015
MSNBC cancelling Joy Reid and not Ronan Farrow would be the greatest thing in the history of things.
— Drew McCoy (@DrewMTips) February 19, 2015
JUST IN: MSNBC replacing Ronan Farrow and Joy Reid with Thomas Roberts, now anchoring the 1-3pm block
— HuffPost Media (@HuffPostMedia) February 19, 2015
*sad trombone* RT @DylanByers: MSNBC has pulled both Ronan Farrow and Joy Ann Reid's daytime shows… more details to come.
— Brad Cundiff (@bradcundiff) February 19, 2015
Pentagon plans on taking Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, back from #ISIS as early as April with fighting force of 25,000 Iraqis.
— W.J. Hennigan (@wjhenn) February 19, 2015
@johninUT@wjhenn Someone needs to get that Facebook Event page up and running asap to show them we mean business.
— Shane Styles (@shaner5000) February 19, 2015
