Empty allegations of “lies” are telling (projection?)
Don’t Be Mad at Wolf’s Sanders Jokes if You’ve Never Been Mad at Trump by Katherine Timpf – “He has gone just as low, but she’s a comedian, not president, so she does deserve a bit more leeway when it comes to making jokes.†This is the typical apologia for the White House Correspondence Dinner – Trump does it so it’s OK. The problem is not President versus comedienne but rather one of accuracy in perceptions and an inability to make critical distinctions in tone, tenor, context, and accuracy. Then there’s the moral preening on top of logical fallacies.
“You don’t have to like all of her jokes, and you can think that some of them were too mean. You cannot, however, only have a problem with jokes when they’re making fun of the other side and consider yourself to be logically sound.
My Take on the “Comedy†Routine at the White House Correspondence Dinner Is Simple by Patterico illustrates the social problem – “I enjoyed watching Sarah Sanders called out for lying, on account of her being a paid liar.†He misses the hate and vulgarity and commits the ‘both sides do it’ fallacy in casting a judgment that is not supportable in any meaningful sense.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner Is Everything Wrong With The Media by Daniel Greenfield – “The free press has been tied up and locked in the basement by the crooked media.â€
“The Dinner is, in theory, a charity event. But the only people who know that are reporters and Jeopardy trivia champions. In between the celebrity appearances and the obscene taunts aimed at women who work in the Trump administration, the media orgy is supposed to be fundraising to send kids to college.
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The Dinner does much better when the president shows up. That’s why the media is fuming that Trump stood them up twice. If the President is a Dem, he merits a bootlicking. If he’s a Republican, then his daughter gets compared to a box of tampons.
The WHCD and the WHCA have the same relationship to good journalism that vampires have to sunlight.
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The crooked media of a corrupt party knows its business. Smear the opposition and get feted.
Trump chose wisely, ignoring the White House Correspondents Association hatefest by Patricia McCarthy – “As everyone knows, the night is meaningless, an open-mic night for anti-Republican jokes that are really just insults. But the jokes have become cruder and ruder year after year.â€
“One thing about the left is certain, written in stone: they are vicious, malicious and filled with hatred for all things not radically leftist. This year was, as last year, a doubling down on the vulgar.
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Nothing Michelle Wolf said last night can be quoted here. She should not be quoted anywhere. Her verbal abuse of the President and the people in the room was nothing short of degenerate. The left has always been caustic when attacking conservatives, but with this event they crossed a line into gutter obscenity. Ms. Wolf is an embarrassment not only to the left but to all of America.
Dickens pretty much summed up the political mess that is the American scene today. While Trump was raising the spirits of his supporters in Michigan, Michelle Wolf was hoping for a winter of despair and a season of darkness. Only when Americans are desolate, is the left happy and proud.
For the sake of journalism, stop the White House correspondents’ dinner by Margaret Sullivan – “It never has been a particularly good idea for journalists to don their fanciest clothes and cozy up to the people they cover, alongside Hollywood celebrities who have ventured to wonky Washington to join the fun.†Sullivan has a point although she shows her anti-Trump bias (“Trump rarely sets a good example for anyoneâ€) and blindness (“Journalists do not present false stories. When they get something wrong, they correct it.â€) so her point on the WHCD misses the mark. Again, excuses absent reality: “They are simply trying to do their jobs of informing the public, a job often made difficult by the obfuscation from the briefing room podium and the president’s own lies.†She thinks “are in the trenches digging out the truth. Not schmoozing in the swamp while the president hustles the heartland.†and that rather misses the WCHD vulgar hatefest demonstration that destroys the credibility of the media. Glen Reynolds, in response to a Glenn Greenwald ‘Trump v media’ Tweet says “All they have to do to be immune to Trump’s attacks is to not be preening, brazenly partisan, and openly crazy. And they can’t even do that.â€
The New York Times’ Hatchet Job On Devin Nunes Is Riddled With Errors By Mollie Hemingway – “The New York Times article is riddled with errors that multiple sources publicly deny. It fails to include information easily found in the public record.†This is another example of the blindness Sullivan illustrates above. Hemmingway provides a case study of digging out the truth by dissecting a MSM report that was more about ignoring and obfuscating truth to provide propaganda support. Compare and contrast this analysis and its support with what you see from the likes of Margaret Sullivan.
“Jason Zengerle publicly announced his profile of Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., in today’s New York Times Sunday Magazine with the snarky tweet, “My latest for the @NYTmag on Devin Nunes, who’s been propagating, not to mention falling for, conspiracy theories since before the Deep State was even in a gleam in Donald Trump’s eye.â€
It’s an accurate summation of the hit he attempted to place on Nunes, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). The only problem is the case he attempts to make is riddled with errors and full of embarrassing and deliberate material omissions
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Not only did Nunes not come up empty-handed in his dogged pursuit of transparency with the bin Laden cache, he was completely vindicated about the need to not bend the knee to intelligence officials when they claim to know better than their congressional overseers about transparency.
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The campaign against Nunes by the media and Democrats can be traced to his announcement that the Obama administration had engaged in worrisome collection and distribution of information on the Trump team during the transition.
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Many in the media responded by downplaying or denigrating his news, distracting with process complaints or quickly thrown-together stories from anonymous sources with no evidence claiming more breathless wrongdoing with Russia.
Showdown builds between Comey, House: Just what did FBI director say about Michael Flynn? by Byron York – “so far, the intelligence community has prevented that proof from seeing the light of day.†This is related to the objections about the redactions that were made to the House committee report. It may also be related to the recalcitrance to comply with FISA requests and Congressional subpoenas.
“In addition, Republicans pointed out that the intelligence community quickly removed proposed redactions from the House Intel Democrats’ counter-report. “The Democrats got all the redactions on their minority views lifted within a day,” said House Intel spokesman Jack Langer Sunday evening, “while we’re still struggling to get our concerns addressed.”
Now, in light of what Comey has said in recent interviews, Republicans are particularly eager to remove the blackouts. If that happens, the public will finally learn just what Comey said to the committee in March of last year.
Campaign 2018: Nevada Dems file 5th complaint against Heller by Ramona Giwargis – “Nevada Democrats filed another ethics complaint against U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, alleging the Republican is exploiting his official position to boost his campaign for re-election.†It’s a lot easier to smear and slander than it is to persuade and win elections.
“This latest frivolous complaint shows just how weak Nevada Democrats perceive their anointed candidate, Jacky Rosen,†Heller spokesman Keith Schipper said. “If Rosen respected our tax dollars, she would demand her political party quit wasting them in shameless attempts to distract Nevadans from the fact that she has been a complete failure in Congress.â€
It also illustrates how Democrats assume guilt and go to any extreme to prove their point no matter how petty.
Here Are Three Scary FBI Scandal Factors You Must Know by Mark Tapscott – “There’s an old Washington maxim about being careful because ‘what goes around almost always comes back around‘â€
“During the three years between Holder’s blatant subversion of the 1978 Inspectors General Act and passage of the 2016 law, James Comey succeeded Mueller as FBI chief. He continued, however, to wall off Horowitz’s access to documents essential to doing his job until the new law was passed.
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As more facts are uncovered about the lengths to which former FBI Director James Comey, his then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and a half-dozen other pro-Hillary Clinton bureau insiders went to protect the Democratic nominee in her email scandal, the least discussed element is Obama’s role in the affair.
A David Horowitz Hillsdale lecture Rules for Radicals: What Constitutional Conservatives Should Know About Saul Alinsky (YouTube February 2014)) identifies the nature of the conflict. He notes that conservatives accept the fallen nature of man and seek government that will limit human faults. Heaven is left to the hereafter. Liberals thinks government can avoid human frailties and bring about heaven on earth. The implication that the end is ‘heaven on earth’ justifies any means to achieve it and that separates the two camps in this social conflict.