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
I'm not going to beat around the bush here. It is time for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to resign.Yesterday's assassination of two of New York City's finest was only the latest and most devastating brush stroke on a canvas which has been coming into focus for months. When you are the mayor of a city you have many responsibilities, but one of the most vital (in terms of maintaining a functional societal structure) is the mandate to enforce the laws and maintain social order. It is the same for mayors everywhere, as well as governors and presidents. But currently, the state of relations between City Hall and the New York Police Department has devolved to the point of complete dysfunction, and criminals are well aware of this state of affairs. The fault for the creation of this toxic atmosphere is essentially found solely at the feet of Mayor de Blasio.
Former Governor George Pataki summed up the situation correctly:
Sickened by these barbaric acts, which sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric of #ericholder & #mayordeblasio. #NYPD
— George E. Pataki (@GovernorPataki) December 21, 2014
So caustic is the current state of relations between the Mayor's office and the police that a shocking and dismaying scene took place in the wake of the horrific assassinations. When de Blasio arrived at the hospital yesterday, the uniformed officers literally turned their backs to him as he walked by. And this was at a moment when, in more normal times, they should have been rallying to the leadership of the executive.
The Mayor can not pretend that he has failed to see what was going on in the streets leading up to this horror. While he has been cloistered with those fomenting violence and rebellion against law enforcement, we know that he has been made aware of this video. In it, he has seen his own citizens marching in the hundreds and chanting, "What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!"
The Mayor must surely be aware that this is not constitutionally protected free speech any more than shouting "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater. That is incitement to riot and mayhem. When chants like that are erupting in the streets, you do not tell your cops to put on body cameras. You tell them to put on body armor. You do not hear those calls to tear down the fabric of civilization and tell your cops to get out of the way. You tell them to get out the water cannons.
You do not hold secret meetings with the protest leaders to tell them how sorry you are that your police officers are so awful. You hold public meetings with your police officers and tell them that the executive branch of the city government has their backs and that they have the full support and resources of the city in doing the dangerous and necessary work they do every day.
You do not remind those calling for the murder of police officers that you feel their pain. You reassure every citizen that they will be protected and that they not only live in a nation of laws, but a city of laws as well, and that those laws will be enforced regardless of whatever social unrest is taking place. And if that means that the laws are enforced at the end of the baton, the riot shield, the tear gas canister or even the gun, so be it.
In short, you stand up for the men and women who enforce order and keep intact the thin veneer of civilization. You remind the public that without proper order and respect for the rule of law, our civil society degenerates into chaos and no citizen will have any measure of protection from those who would set themselves up as criminal lords, ruling over the weak and the innocent by means of terror and murder.
The Mayor has utterly failed in this duty. As a result, law enforcement has lost faith and trust in City Hall and the system has veered dangerously toward the type of dysfunction which opens the door to anarchy. We saw that anarchy yesterday on a street corner in Brooklyn, and Officers Ramos and Liu paid for it with their lives. It is difficult to see how any amount of apologies, platitudes or carefully crafted speeches will heal this rift. The Mayor should step down and let someone else shoulder this responsibility.
Only 753,039 voted for Comrade Bill, out of 8,405,837 residents. Do the math Howie. Shame on those who couldn't be bothered. @HowardKurtz
— Moira Fitzgerald ن (@Moira1987) December 23, 2014
For all of you mouth breathing, devolved global warming deniers out there, apparently there is finally hope that you'll be brought out of the darkness. Mega-wealthy hedge fund manager Tom Steyer (who has long since made his own bundles of Benjamins and now has the leisure to devote all of his time to sticking his nose in other people's business) is terribly worried about your lack of education on settled science matters and is seeking to set matters to rights. Speaking at a recent climate conference held in Aspen, Colorado (and really… where else would this happen but Colorado?) Steyer explained – or possibly Voxsplained – how much work remains to be done in terms of converting the hoi polloi to his cause.
Steyer is also displaying more than a bit of hypocrisy here. He's still personally invested in those nasty, carbon producing fossil fuels himself, even as he chides others to pull their financial support. And those billions of dollars he's sitting on didn't come from investing in wind farms. And yet his entire personal agenda these days is to regulate coal-based electricity out of existence if he can manage it. (If you want to see the real world effects on the regular people Steyer is trying to reach and how his favored regulations are "important to them and their families" you can read about the results in Alabama here.)
@chrislhayes You ever stop to think about why he lost his job you sanctimonious prick? Here's a hint: you voted for him.
— Deanna Troi (@CounslrObvious) July 31, 2014
Totally normal for a potential presidential candidate to demand her critics take a live, televised polygraph, right? http://t.co/np7rMVBduG
— jimgeraghty (@jimgeraghty) July 31, 2014
To clarify, the UN's human rights chief has condemned the U.S. for helping Israel protect its citizens against rockets meant to kill them.
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) July 31, 2014
The White House had egg on its face today. The news about the accidental outing of the name of the CIA station chief in Kabul, Afghanistan seemed to be just one more instance in a long list of incompetent episodes in a second term that is proving to be as problematic as even President Obama's sternest critics predicted. But the story of how the name of the station chief - which is, obviously, classified material, and was sent out in an email to thousands of journalists as one of a number of people briefing the president during his Memorial Day weekend trip to Afghanistan - should not be dismissed as merely the latest episode of the real life situation comedy that is Obama's second-term West Wing staff.
Coming as it did from an administration and a political party that has often sought to successfully criminalize the leaking of such information in the recent past, we have a right to ask where's the outrage about this colossal error? But more than that, this absurd tale also speaks volumes about the hypocrisy and selective prosecution policies pursued by the same people now telling us to move along because there's nothing to see.
The EPA recently announced new regulations limiting the carbon produced by power companies as part of a greater effort to curb climate change. However, on the 346th page of the 463-page report, under a section entitled "Impacts of the Proposed Action," the EPA admits that it doesn't think the new rules will reduce emissions of CO2, a major greenhouse gas, in any major way.
According to the report, "The EPA does not anticipate that this proposed rule will result in notable CO2 emission changes." They released a press statement the same day the report was made public announcing their decision to "cut carbon pollution from new power plants in order to combat climate change."
Last month, President Obama directed the EPA and the EPA's new chief administrator, Gina McCarthy, to make climate change their top priority.Regulations the agency itself thinks won't help are an interesting start.
Yes, the official subtitle of "President Obama's Plan to Cut Carbon Pollution" is "Taking Action for Our Kids." That should give you plenty of clues about the policies proposed therein.
The policy centers around three areas of executive action: killing coal-fired power plants, setting tough efficiency standards for homes and appliances, and generating more renewable energy on federal lands. Oh, and he's also going to stop any aid to the developing world that would be used to build coal power plants.
Taking these in order, killing coal-fired power plants is the culmination of the president's War on Coal. Coal provides more electricity than any other single power source in the U.S. however, and it does so at half the price of its nearest competitor, natural gas. Killing coal without making it far easier to extract natural gas (by, for example, lifting regulatory restrictions on fracking) will massively increase the nation's energy costs as well as putting thousands of coal miners out of work in some of the nation's poorest areas. The war on coal is a war on jobs.
Four years ago today, President Obama took to the podium to pressure Congress into supporting his job-killing national energy tax known as "cap-and-trade."
The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.
When the Heritage Foundation did its analysis of Waxman-Markey, it broadly compared the economy with and without the carbon tax. Under this more comprehensive scenario, it found Waxman-Markey would cost the economy $161 billion in 2020, which is $1,870 for a family of four. As the bill's restrictions kick in, that number rises to $6,800 for a family of four by 2035.
Note also that the CBO analysis is an average for the country as a whole. It doesn't take into account the fact that certain regions and populations will be more severely hit than others -- manufacturing states more than service states; coal producing states more than states that rely on hydro or natural gas. Low-income Americans, who devote more of their disposable income to energy, have more to lose than high-income families.
A cap-and-trade bill did pass in Nancy Pelosi's House on June 26, 2009. The legislation ultimately died in the Harry Reid's Senate. Now, four years later, Dear Leader has decided to bypass Congress with a scheme that Obama himself once admitted would cause electricity rates to "necessarily skyrocket."
The House Republican Conference today released a new video, "Don't Try It Again," highlighting the Dear Leader's plan to announce a series of new energy taxes and EPA regulations to combat climate change. While the regime's excessive EPA regulations have already resulted in significant job loss, Dear Leader has now called for more. His energy plan will hurt families, manufacturing, and job growth – and it will destroy a growing coal industry that is responsible for 760,000 American jobs.
Daniel P. Schrag, a geochemist who is the head of Harvard University’s Center for the Environment and a member of a presidential science panel that has helped advise the White House on climate change, told the New York Times that he hoped the presidential speech would mark a turning point in the national debate on climate change.
"Everybody is waiting for action," he said. "The one thing the president really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants. Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they're having a war on coal. On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what's needed."
Mitch McConnell responded to it yesterday and referenced the quote:
"It is an astonishing bit of honesty from someone that close to the White House, but it really encapsulates the attitude this administration holds,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
"Declaring a war on coal is tantamount to declaring a war on jobs. It's tantamount to kicking the ladder out from beneath the feet of many Americans struggling in today’s economy, and I will be raising this issue at the White House with the president later today."
Many news organizations linked to the article in the Times because of the newsworthy statement by an Obama adviser but by the end of the day the "war on coal" quote, indeed all references to Schrag had been scrubbed.
Ever since current editor Jill Abramson famously said in 2011, "In my house growing up, The Times substituted for religion. If The Times said it, it was the absolute truth." — only to have that quote airbrushed out hours later, it seems like the Times' touch-up artists have gone into overdrive, removing doubleplusungood crimethink remarks, even after they've been quoted by dozens of blogs and Websites — and in this case, the Drudge Report and Instapundit — before the Gray Lady has tossed the original quote down the Memory Hole. But then, each time they airbrush an article, the original quote becomes magnified that much more, much like the Barbra Streisand Effect.
