If you cherish reason these past 10 days certainly have been challenging for those of us who cherish reason and logic.
It's been a clusterfuck of hysterical hyper-hypocrisy and plain dead-beat intellectualism.
But that's how things are in a dark age.
The superstitious among us have taken to 'Facts make America great' lawn signs in their doubling down of stupid.
The slow descent into shrill mental breakdowns has been nothing short of remarkable.
The best we can do is hold the line and keep doing our bit to keep things in proper perspective.
We may see four years of faux-righteous blathering indeed. We just have to let them speak as we would a person over coming drug addiction.
It will pass.
I promise.
Know how I know?
History.
Age of Reasons come and go and we will return to one soon.
****
I'll bite.
In a nutshell with a dash of hyperbole? He's resetting the trajectory of Western civilization.
My advice? Try to enjoy it. Find a sane place (mine is Reason magazine) and settle there. Keep reading the mainstream press to a minimum - journalists and editorialists are laggards not leading indicators of civilization - and don't even bother watching the news.
Most of the country - and world - don't give a shit about what amounts to really, an inconvenience. No matter how much virtue signalling coming from the left-wing ranks.
****
And just to show how ridiculously arrogant one of the most mediocre minds I've seen is Obama recently weighed in on Trump's actions.
Think about that.
It's been the basic etiquette and protocol of Western leaders who exit to, you know, shut their mouths.
Not with this pompous ass. It's double-shocking because he played a role in all this.
ABC report in 2011:
”As a result of the Kentucky case, the State Department stopped processing Iraq refugees for six months in 2011, federal officials told ABC News – even for many who had heroically helped U.S. forces as interpreters and intelligence assets. One Iraqi who had aided American troops was assassinated before his refugee application could be processed, because of the immigration delays, two U.S. officials said. In 2011, fewer than 10,000 Iraqis were resettled as refugees in the U.S., half the number from the year before, State Department statistics show.”
Go fly a kite and take your sycophant cultists with you. You're irrelevant and Trump just KO'd you.
Every time Trump makes a move you can hear the agonizing moans, yelps and (croc) tears (see that idiot Schumer) of his enemies.
It's gotten so blatantly idiotic (it's not a Muslim ban if, you know, not every single Muslim nation is not on the list originally devised by the Obama administration. For example, last I checked, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia weren't 'banned') all I hear is a big loud Homer scream as he runs off in his underwear.
It's worth noting Iraqi's are meeting this with much 'meh'. They see the positive in it and quite frankly they make a helluva lot more sense that idiots like De Blasio or celebrities pumping their chests to show their 'diversity' street cred badges.
There's no question this ban is going to annoy green card holders or people with business or education visas. It's not fair to them and hopefully this gets regulated quickly.
People applying for visas, on the other hand, are just going to have to tolerate the political games.
The world won't end. America won't collapse.
In fact, it's a great distraction for nothing.
As for its Constitutionality, well, let's just see what the Supreme Court decides tomorrow. So far from what I've read, it isn't unconstitutional and if it was, that means Obama acted unconstitutionally.
You can't have it both ways progressives. These things don't come out of a vacuum. It's actually a plot libertarians warned against. Don't enact legislation that can be used against you or in ways you may not like. But they care less for the potential long-term ramifications of their actions and more for the immediate emotional impact to score really cheap points; no different than what Trump is doing.
There's going to be plenty of things to legitimately go after Trump for. Heck, the way he executed this EO was bush league. Blindsiding people and DHS like that is not helpful or right. Poorly done.
The again, he is up against a massive civil service and if he's to clean or at least reduce its size (and quite frankly, they got just a tad too comfortable and arrogant under Obama) he has to play this game of shock.
Trump is, folks, laying down the tracks and foundation of an overhaul of government with pretty much the entire mainstream media and Democrats and large portions of the GOP establishment against him. If he gets 4% GDP growth out of this it's game over for that group.
Under estimate him at your peril. He's proving to be quite the Machiavelli. Behind the blistering blustering lays a grand master plan.
So, jumping on him this early and this vociferously is only going to numb people and further cement people's decision for having elected him into office.
In other words, it will backfire.
It's called picking and choosing your battles and pacing yourself.
Oh.
And it may be of importance to actually argue with proper and relevant facts and not chant empty slogans that have no intellectual or legal standing.
This is an awful idea that will not end well for anyone.
The left is looking to politicize every facet of our existence.
We must resist this ideologically driven temptation. I don't think they understand at all what they're advocating. In a twist of irony, by asking companies like Uber to take a stand they're advocating for a variant of fascism (merging of corporate and political interests). It's interesting that for a group claiming to be rational secularists (who like to invoke 'separation of church and state' when it comes to religious action on gay marriages) won't extend this concept to business who freely choose to not get involved; as they ought to.
It's not only grossly unfair (since people do not share political views) it's neither logical nor sensible.
And immoral.
Why should a business isolate or alienate a segment of the population that doesn't agree with you? Once again, the left are showing themselves to be shallow as they are intolerant driven by ignorance of the facts.
Let our business conduct commerce free of such constraints. If not, the unintended consequences will fall squarely on the shoulders of progressives.
Maybe Trump is expanding it, I don't know but it's best to recall Presidents always build on what their predecessors did. Obama, for example, expanded Bush's wars.
These are things that should be considered and discounted in whatever reaction one may instinctively have.
It helps to keep a healthy perspective and skepticism.
We created Lyft to be a model for the type of community we want our world to be: diverse, inclusive, and safe.
This weekend, Trump closed the country's borders to refugees, immigrants, and even documented residents from around the world based on their country of origin. Banning people of a particular faith or creed, race or identity, sexuality or ethnicity, from entering the U.S. is antithetical to both Lyft's and our nation's core values. We stand firmly against these actions, and will not be silent on issues that threaten the values of our community.
We know this directly impacts many of our community members, their families, and friends. We stand with you, and are donating $1,000,000 over the next four years to the ACLU to defend our constitution. We ask that you continue to be there for each other - and together, continue proving the power of community.
John & Logan
Lyft Co-Founders
What in the hell are they thinking?
Curious. These bull shit values they speak of.
Did it comes into play when Obama dropped 100 000 bombs on seven countries as well as engage in policies that contributed to the refugee/migrant crisis? You didn't seem to give a shit when the Muslims then, right? Never mind the Constitutional abuses under Obama. Love how progressives suddenly care about the Constitution. I wonder if they extend this to the 2A.
Thought not.
Just more 'it's okay when our team does it' faux-rigtherous virtue signalling.
"...Banning people of a particular faith or creed, race or identity, sexuality or ethnicity,"
None of those thingswere done. They've taken to just going straight to flat out lying. They were temporarily banned based on 'nation of residence.'
"...will not be silent on issues that threaten the values of our community."
Superstition has never fully disappeared. It persists right to our day.
We are, in fact, witnesses to a modern form of superstition. One that wraps itself in science and scientific language decorated with experts (sometimes not even of the field). A pop culture superstition if you will.
I sometimes wonder if hyper-partisanship is a form of superstition. It's often said both the right and left engage in partisanship - which is true. However, I've freely taken the plunge into arguing what we call the 'right' are pikers to what we see from the progressive left.
Here's an example:
"Everyone is missing what is happening here. Trump's Muslim ban getting slapped down by courts, the media condemning it, protesters coming out, politicians from both parties finally starting to speak up about it, all tee up something. Now, with Steve Bannon on the NSC, and the DNI and Chair of the Joint Chiefs sidelined, the ONLY thing that needs to happen is for a big terrorist attack by a Muslim refugee, especially a green card holder. No previous president would ever have done this, but we've gone through the looking glass. That attack would give Trump and Bannon rhetorical space to say that not only are Muslims the problem, but also, politicians from both parties are a problem, the media is a problem, protesters are a problem, and the courts and judges are a problem. They've already prepared all of this. Kellyanne Conway was on TV this morning saying that the ruling of the "Obama appointee judge" doesn't affect the executive order, because the order is "preventing not detaining" and it's only a small percentage of people affected. They're TRYING to cause a Constitutional crisis and tee up the idea that national security, and executive law enforcement, trumps EVERY other consideration. Almost every Latin American country that copied our constitution fell to dictatorship because of that argument that national security trumps court rulings at some point in the last hundred years. And since Trump's national security establishment has been hollowed out by purges and hiring freezes, and since the Constitution forbids military deployment within the US, Trump can say that government law enforcement isn't working, we need to contract out to private law enforcement. Erik Prince, the former CEO of Blackwater, the private army that occupied Iraq, is reportedly "advising Trump from the shadows." His sister is Betsy DeVos, one of Trump's biggest donors. There is already a mercenary army waiting in the wings. Russia won this election for Trump for a reason, and we are failing to appreciate the gravity of it. We are so much closer to zero hour than anyone in Washington seems to realize. Trump is already in violation of the emoluments clause. He MUST be impeached before it's too late." Before I move on. Here's some background on the so-called 'Muslim Ban' at Legal Insurrection. And a bonus from Bill Clinton on illegal immigration:
It doesn't excuse anything but this is how politics works - as a continuum. The countries chosen didn't come out of a vacuum and actually came from Obama (to which it was met with complete silence from the left) who (along with Hillary) had a role to play - a big role actually - in destabilizing the region that gave rise to the refugee crisis. Know what else? Trump is giving priority to Christians who are heavily persecuted in Muslim countries.
Never mind ISIS has made it clear they want to use the refugee crisis to infiltrate 'infidel' countries to attack them from within. Just like there wasn't anything mysterious about Hitler's plans (he had written about it), we kinda know what ISIS is up to. So it's not irrational to take a deep breath and slow down where immigration is concerned from Muslim countries. It's a tough bind because the West does want to help legitimate refugees but it's important to ensure national security is paramount.
Okay. About the Facebook post. Never mind it's not a 'Muslim ban'. What's important is to to throw as much mud at the wall as you can in effort to, well, I'm not sure what they want. It's not like they've articulated much.This is what it's come to. You know you're on the right side of things when celebrities back you up.
It's quite enjoyable watching progressivism implode. Their behaviour is patriotic nor is it rooted in any sense of logic or even morality. It's just reactionary blind partisanship devoid of any reason.
Facebook is apparently dealing with, get this, MediaMatters on how to deal with 'fake news' - You know, the one that gets spread around by CNN and The New York Times (where narratives come first).
I can but think of Karl Klaus's 'To know nothing and be able to express it! (Or more to the point: The making of a journalist: no ideas and the ability to express them.)
Of course the media is going to concoct some bull shit about 'fake news'. They ARE its purveyors. Journalists are not the freethinking independent minded objective word wizards who search for he truth on our behalf.
Sure, there are some but they fly outside of the mainstream media hell. All what you see on the networks and in the papers is BULL FUCKING SHIT.
So whenever I see posts like the one above, I just see another useful idiot incapable of keeping their partisan emotions in check.
They're no ally of reason; they betray it.
I can but impart my views and call out what I perceive to be madness. This blog just its voice in helping to fight this virus.
The Blue Ribbon committee really left objectiveness on the shelf.
How a list can exclude Chicago Blackhawks defensemen (a three time Norris winner) Pierre Pilote off it is beyond me - and inexcusable. Ditto Zdeno Chara. Especially considering they ridiculously added Tim Horton to the list with this gem of a babbling blurb: Anchored Maple Leafs defense, was 'strongest player in hockey'. Did he bend goal posts too? Tim Horton?!
But for some strange inexplicable reason the love fest for Joe Nieuwendyk and Brendan Shanahan continues. Other dubious inclusions are Mike Modano, Patrik Kane, Dave Keon, Pat LaFontaine, Mike Gartner and a couple of others.
I really don't care Lafontaine was a 'classy player'. That's irrelevant.
One of my favorite all-time soccer players was Giuseppe Giannini. Il Principewas a silky smooth and classy midfielder who could thread a pass as good as any principally for Roma and the Azzurri but I recognize that naming him among the greatest of Italian or world midfielders is a bit of a stretch.
Why?
Peak and career dominance as Bill James taught us.
If you're not dominant in at least or both of these criteria, you're just a very good player.
Nothing against these players. They were all great in their own right but none fit my conception of what constitutes greatness. Besides, you just leave yourself open to a debate about including other near-immortals like Cam Neely, Jerome Iginla or Dino Ciccarelli. If Kane why not Malkin? It makes no sense to pick one over the other. Why Adam Oaters and not Joe Thornton? Again, is there something I missed where Oates dominated more than Thornton since they were similar players? Corey Perry? Ryan Getzlaf? Geez, Dale Hawerchuk too!
But the Pierre Pilote one is the one that sticks out of my mind.
Ridiculous.
And why set arbitrary limits? Why stop at 100? If you find 102 players that fit the criteria it's only fair and logical to include them or else you find yourself cutting off players.
An incomplete and poorly constructed list as any I've seen from any sport.
It's 'cooler' to play a part in diving the country by covering aging celebrities swearing and women with really bad signs with an incoherent message as we saw in the March for Women.
And the violence. Don't forget old fashioned violence and flag burning.
Thankfully there are publications who care to cover events of note without partisan hackery. Reason magazine is not exactly enamoured with Trump but they haven't abandoned their journalistic duty to cover him.
Seems like Quebec - surprise - is trying to pass a fast one on any history that may not be 'pure laine'.
English speaking school boards have raised concerns about the new history curriculum that it doesn't consider the English, Native and immigrant facts enough.
Quelle surprise and par for the course here. Ironic nationalists constantly say 'it's a matter of respect' while showing little of it to its minorities except to throw the occasional bone.
It's good that they're fighting for their communities but it does point to the sad state of affairs history finds itself in. Quebec likes to claim other places are 'insular' but it's up to the task of ensuring it does its part.
Here's a thought. If it the new curriculum does pass and if we care about our past then simply set time during the course to go rogue and explain to the students the parts the government conveniently overlooks.
Seems to me this is a good way to teach students how propaganda enters the school system, no?
So where, say, the government ignores the St. Leonard Riots (too many French Quebecers have no idea why us 'ethnics' speak English. They seem to think we 'chose' this thus permitting themselves to forever believe their language is under threat further leaving them vulnerable to onerous paternalist and punitive language laws that actually hurt them for lack of choice. Not sure if this was done by design. If so, quite Machiavellian. If not, meh. More short sighted decisions that hurt Quebecers in the long run), you take 10 or 15 minutes to teach the students such facts. Of course, given it goes off the curriculum it would be 'alternative'.
But we shouldn't give a shit.
Hold your line and stand by history.
If Quebec wants to exclude itself from facts thinking such actions is good for the province let them.
History has a funny way of coming back to bite you in the ass.
In other words, stop thinking like bloody civil servants and defy the government by teaching our students the accurate facts; the truth. Don't feed them to Quebec's propaganda machine.
******
All this points to the reality that public education is failing students; our children as it were. And people have taken notice and are increasingly voicing their concerns.
Plenty of great thinkers and educators alike have been warning the system is broken and clearly reform from within is not going to happen as they're too many entrenched interests to crack.
Education shouldn't be about teacher's pensions and strikes.
Which is why I've jumped on board with the numerous ideas out there from Charter schools (which really are just public schools run better and a 'temporary' or perhaps precursor of the coming education revolution.
The system, in its current form, is antiquated. Outmoded. Not working. Maybe once upon a time it worked because it's job was essentially churn out workers for the labor force. But in case you haven't notice, the work force has changed dramatically in the last 30 years. No more are we a 'cubicle 9 to 5' economy. So why are cramming and forcing kids into drab building as just bricks in the wall sitting at their desks wondering to themselves 'why am I here?'
Today it takes a free spirit and independent mind to navigate through a highly fragmented and mobile economy. You need to be agile and adventurous.
The system is not able to 'unlock' all that untapped potential. If anything, it's damaging it.
There will always be a public education I think. But where parents want alternative schooling, let them. Don't get in their way. After all, it's not of YOUR BUSINESS how parents educate their children and at what institutions.
A true and open educational landscape is the only way to go. Imagine that landscape filled with literally dozens upon dozens of competing school options with varying degrees of philosophies?
Imagine the kids on your street each with their own education background. It would be true diversity at work.
"...A Texas high school art teacher has been placed on administrative leave after video surfaced showing her “shooting” President Donald Trump inside a classroom while screaming, “Die!”
The Secret Service field office in Irving tells me they are aware of the incident, but declined further comment."
Let's play imagine if a teacher did this to Obama! It's different when we do it! Righteous we are!
Keep hammering the 'Trump supporters are violent' lie though.
So. Sounds like people are rediscovering Orwell's 1984.
If it's because of Trump then here's my take.
Don't be fooled.
Progressives, who lack principles or any consistent logical framework particularly when it comes to interpreting history, will suddenly equate 1984 with Trump.
But this be wrong. Just like Trump = fascism or is 'literally' Hitler as one dope-ignormi put it.
As this blog (and many others like it) painfully and painstakingly has shown, where there is censorship, violence and general totalitarian world views you can bet you find progressivism behind it Progressivism is NOT about liberty and freedom. It's, at its base root, *benevolent* authoritarianism; the benevolence of course being offset by state coercion and force.
Progressivism is where a bunch of middling scared and cynical individuals about human nature hand over their existence to 'experts' to deal with the parts they're unwilling to deal with face on.
It's a most cowardly ideology. One that is anti-humanist.
If moral and intellectual agency is to be stripped at the individual level and handed to the state, how can it not be?
To hide this jaded view of humanity, they will claim to do so in the 'best interest' of people or the mythical 'greater good'. They will further absurdly point to the ridiculous 'social contract' in cementing this take.
Don't be swayed by all they laughing hyena screams. 1984 is the world of socialism, communism, Marxism, Fascism and Nazism - all, every single one of them, under the left-wing umbrella.
When you read 1984 it should be clear as clear that what's being described is a left-wing existence.
For example, one just has to look at university campuses to see Newspeak in full action. The rejiggling and reassembling of the vernacular comes from the left side of the coin. The perpetual state of violence is, again, a fetish of the left. Mostly because it feels itself, with messianic zeal, to be in the right on all things.
The shutting down of intellectualism and social engineering (diversity programs, political correctness, affirmative action, intellectual and moral relativism etc.) is exclusively coming from the left. From its self-loathing of Western history (because white privilege) to capitalism. It has to rework and reinvent history because they're looking to hijack it into its own image and manifests itself into queer and unreason where, say, economic literacy is concerned.
Lord, did people not see how the media operates during the election? If that doesn't ring your noggin...
Obama supporters are not too bright when it comes to investments and they only solidified this perception the way they argue about the economy.
A couple of things to consider and keep in mind about Obama and the future.
The U.S. economy was not, to put it mildly, a success during the last eight years. If you want to (dubiously in my view) argue that's because he "inherited a mess" and "prevented" a depression be my guest. There's no way to prove it either way and leaves us vulnerable to counterfactuals.
All the measures - from saving GM (which taxpayers lost $9 billion and secured creditors were raided to cover the unions) to high stock markets (thanks to low interest rates. There's nowhere to go but stocks. It's the lesser of all evils. Little old ladies are over exposed to equities the cost of borrowing is that low) and low unemployment (which doesn't consider an aging population and the young simply no longer looking for work thus pumping up the labor participation rate; not to mention of an economy that's gone part-time as evidence by the decrease in non-farm labour hours thus driving down productivity manifesting itself into low GDP rates. Of which, 21% of it was debt while collecting only 17% of revenues. Let that sink in) Obama's economy was simply meek at best)- upon inspection simply don't add up to the real underlying metrics.
I guess I just went over the underlying figures in parentheses!
Anyway. Where do people come off saying it was a good economy?
Look at it this way. Obama put up a great storefront but when you went in you saw there was little inventory stocking the shelves. Why, it's almost like a communist smoke and mirrors game!
And this is the real reason why Trump won.
It's the economy stupid and it's really not that hard to see.
As for Canada - a resource based economy - we just caught a major break from Trump signing the Keystone Pipeline executive order. In a growth environment this is important for the economy. But here's the issue they may face. Trump is an economic nationalist and as such we don't have much leverage. This is where Canadians will learn 'elections have consequences'.
With May and Trump now in power, the 'feel good' and empty platitudes of Trudeau are not going to serve this country well. The party hasn't shown it's ready to slug it out on behalf our interests.
This is why O'Leary may very well win the Conservative leadership. God save us all. I would prefer Bernier but I digress.
Anyway. Keep this in mind when looking to invest moving forward.
The economy - and foreign policy - were not successes under Obama. Blaming Bush for it was tolerable for a period of time but after eight years, what did Obama do to improve things?
First, imagine if a conservative had gone after Obama's girls like that?
Second.
Look at how unhinged the left are about a legitimate election when their guy doesn't get in. Look at the sycophancy (as we saw on SNL with that laughably sophomoric tribute to Obama - a man who was at war every day of his Presidency. Or the credit he gets for gay marriage as Ellen showed today. He evolved! No he didn't. He only went there when it was politically safe to do so).
They would have gone after a conservative or any other with blind rage demanding they lose their job (think CEO of Mozilla) as well as look for some blood. It's not enough to challenge someone's views. You must destroy their life. Another example is those asshole fag (here the term applies) couples ruining businesses who chose to not do business with them.
There's a place waiting in The Inferno for their false self-righteousness.
They mask their claims of justice behind good old fashioned vindictiveness.
Which brings me to a point about free speech.
I have no problem with what she said. It was stupid. It was insensitive. It was ignorant. And sure wasn't funny (though I'm sure some progressives pounded the table saying, 'so true!') and it showed the contempt the left has for people they disagree with.
It was a failed smug swipe at a kid and homeschooling.
Double fail.
But she's entitled to it. And I don't think she should be in a position to apologize unless it comes from the heart or lose her job; which she won't I reckon.
This is the difference in principled intellectuality that sets our side from theirs. They hold others to a high standard while rarely holding themselves to it.
We apply our beliefs of liberty to ALL PEOPLE.
Be it this writer or a Nazi or whomever.
You either have freedom of expression and speech, or you don't I argue.
I would hope progressives understand this point but judging by how they're screaming, crying and acting, it doesn't look like.
It's who they are deep within their defunct and degenerate world view. A most profound ignorant and misinformed gang of malcontents is hard to find. Decades of horrific public indoctrination praising collectivism has ripped and stripped them of their moral and intellectual agency. It is a myopic outfit ready to accept superstition so long as it confirms their opinion.
See. We live in a time where if insurance premiums go up the blame is not to go to the government. Rather, it's 'greedy' insurance companies (apparently a company is no longer permitted to profits anymore; or at least the amount the left deems 'excessive') who are to blame. Bank regulations that lead to financial breakdowns? Why, it's all the bankers fault. Not the government. No siree.
Government is good. It's there to preserve the public good.
Didn't you know?
It doesn't distort reality. Except it does. And when it skews perceptions of reality there's always business to blame.
If you're a Jewish business person all the better.
Progressives, from what I've observed in the last nine years now, don't possess principles. In fact, their entire framework is basically a tribal network of virtue signalling at the behest of principals.
Ever notice how they 'vow to resist' and 'fight for justice' or become anti-war protestors every time the letter changes?
Trump will start a war we're told? What the heck are they smoking? Have they not noticed the USA has been in perpetual war under Obama?
It's hard to debate one because they'r so committed to their cult, the sophism that follows is filled with minefields of logical fallacies and outright moving of goal posts.
I know you are but what am I?!
I've been touched by this on a personal level. People I considered to be level headed and sensible have not only dismayed me with their reaction to Trump they've flat out dropped their masks and shown an utter contempt and disrespect for others who may disagree.
Suddenly all those years of friendly debate under Obama has graduated to a 'fuck you you asshole piece of shit who condones rape and racism' moon battery. It's disheartening.
Let's be clear.
The only ones to be blamed will be them should violence escalate. Rather than accept the democratic process they've chosen to allow a misplaced sense of faux self-rigtheousness guide their irrational anger.
It is they who are acting like the fascists.
A good bit of projection is in full view for all of us decent minded folks to see.
Pay close attention to what they're saying. What rubbish to claim they do this in the interest of justice!
In normal discourse we allow for someone to commit an uncivil act before we react. Rather, in this instance, because a man they judge to be unfit was elected FREELY and FAIRLY, it galvanizes them into action.
And if this action means violence and belittling their fellow compatriots so be it.
I don't consider myself a violent person or one that hates.
But what I've seen from the left these past few months is disgusting. One in which we must not accept and refute in the halls of debate until we intellectually bash them into the ground condemning them into nothingness where they belong.
If they choose to bring bats to this discussion as is won't be the violent progressive left, so be it.
They're overplaying their hand. They're doubling down on their identity politics rubbish. We just need to hold the line and they will sink and lose for they possess no real positives for humanity. Alas, they're anti-humanist.
They brought us into this Dark Age and we're going to get out of it without them.
"...The Obama administration had for some time been pressing for the release of the money for the Palestinian Authority, which comes from the U.S. Agency for International Development and is to be used for humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza, to support political and security reforms as well as help prepare for good governance and the rule of law in a future Palestinian state, according to the notification sent to Congress."
There are simply too many entrenched interests in the public system of any kind to achieve any meaningful reform.
Better to go off the grid and foster change that way. Sure you'll be criticized if not demonized but that's okay. Progressivism is on its way out anyway.
On the size of the crowd? Who gives a shit? That's once again a media driven false obsession to distract from the real issues. Trump is only to glad to hit back with his own narrative.
He's trolling the media's own bull shit and they're eating it up.
Really folks, if you're getting worked up over this.
Meanwhile, not a single report on the mobs on K Street beating up peaceful people celebrating the inauguration or other disruptions by anti-Trump 'protestors'.
As far as dishonesty and thinned-skinness goes.
Obama spread falsehoods too (but few, if any, journalists or talking pundits flapping their lips and gums like Chuck Todd et al dared challenge him) and was clearly thin-skinned and petty himself. He just showed it differently.
The more you play this game Sullum the more you breath more life and power into Trump.
We just witnessed eight years of sycophancy and the media suddenly acting tough again and doing their jobs is only pissing people off more.
It's a weird juxtaposition because it's happening in favor of Trump who isn't exactly the sort of fella who should benefit from it. But here we are and he's going to troll you guys and you'll take the bait.
Keep this up and Trump is going to get an even bigger win next time around.
As far as I'm concerned the media, the unhinged and false-protestors and Trump deserve each other.
"Seven people were in custody yesterday on charges of second-degree murder and kidnapping in connection with the death of a Long Island real- estate broker whose body was found locked in a trunk in a Manhattan apartment Saturday.
The police said the victim, 60-year- old Thomas Vigliarolo of Jericho, had been missing since March 20, when he left his home to meet a client in New Jersey.
On April 2, his business partner received a ransom demand for $435,000, according to a police spokesman, Sgt. Diane Kubler.
An autopsy yesterday found that Mr. Vigliarolo had died of asphyxiation, said Dr. Beverly Leffers, a deputy chief medical examiner.
Mr. Vigliarolo's body was found in an apartment at 115 West 142d Street. Those charged were Selma Price, 46, of that address; Rita Peters, 20, and Donna Hilton, 20, both of the Bronx; Maria Talag, 24, of Queens, and Woodie George Pace, 40, Louis Miranda, 64, and Angeles Marlano, 62, all of Manhattan. The police said Miss Talag had been a friend of Mr. Vigliarolo."
She changed a letter in her name looks like. It also sounds like she had a rough upbringing but still....Free moral agency.
How despicable is this? To be a part of torturing a human being is Karla Homolka territory. It's deranged.
I wonder how many of them supported or voted for Bill Clinton. Wooooo!
But.
STAY INSPIRED TRUDEAU AND THE LIBERAL GOVERNMENT OF CANADA.
Keeping Gitmo open. Snubbing Lech Welesa when he asked to visit you.
The double-speak on Israel.
Deporting 2.5 million people. Not releasing the Abu Ghraib pictures. Bombing a Yemeni wedding.
Wiretapping and following reporters.
Prosecuting more people under the espionage act than all previous presidents. combined. The Afghanistan surge and more military deaths over there.
Blocking FOIA requests in record numbers.
Raiding more medical Marijuana dispensaries than Bush.
Changing your mind on gay marriage when it was politically expedient to do so.
Weak GDP rates and possibly Japan-style growth.
Preventing The Great Depression...(we think).
The rise of civil forfeiture.
Decreased median household income.
Keeping the national debt high.
Decreasing full-time work and increasing part-time employment.
Attacking and bombing seven countries and destabilizing an entire region.
Losing American leadership in the Middle-East.
Pissing Russia off and letting China increase its aggression in the region.
Weakening alliances with Turkey and Eastern Europe.
Leaving behind a divided 'post-racial' America.
Talking so much and doing so little.
Putting more people on welfare.
Increasing health insurance premiums and letting people keep their plans and doctors.
Your enlightened views on economics (you didn't build that) and history (The Crusades).
Your wise and measured words during violent protests.
Using children after Sandy Hook to push for gun-control.
Demonizing the wealthy and encouraging the politics of envy.
Fast and Furious.
Handling Benghazi with utmost honesty,.
Putting an innocent man in jail and not granting Amb. Chris Stevens extra security as requested.
Asking NASA to make Muslims feel good.
Letting Hillary have an unsecured private server.
Being agile at blaming others.
Carefully crafting a cynical image of yourself.
Being a pop culture President.
The IRS scandal.
Responsibly spending $2 billion on Healthcare.gov.
Doing something about the VA and saving soldiers dying while waiting for care.
The Office of Personnel Management hacking.
Being a steadfast defender of climate change.
Threatening Britain if they didn't vote against Brexit.
Lying about Berghdahl and repatriating a deserter.
Solyndra and squandering taxpayer dollars on the green economy.
For saving GM....union that is, while raiding police and teacher pensions and other secure creditors to do so.
Introducing Jonathan Gruber and putting a tax cheat in as Secretary of the Treasury.
Rigging the stimulus as a massive labor kickback scheme.
Incompetence and prostitution in the Secret Service.
The DOJ secretly reviewing work and home phone records of AP reporters.
Handling the Deepwater Horizon disaster with dignity and shakedowns.
Shaking down Toyota and Volkswagen.
The DOJ calling Fox news reporter James Rosen a criminal co-conspirator for leaking information.
Eric Holder and his honourable service.
The DOJ for prosecuting and punishing whistleblowers.
Being the most transparent administration in history.
Being the 4th best President ever.
Lowering the sea levels.
Getting a Nobel Peace Prize for being at...war! And...
Your secret kill list and killing of American citizens without due process.
Signing a bill giving you full armed protection forever while declining to extend this right to citizens.
Ransom payments to Iran and lying about it.
Amending and issuing exemptions and extensions to Obamacare in violation of the law.
Attacking Libya without Congressional approval and having Europe deal with the refugee crisis.
Violating the War Powers Act and UN Article 39.
Running guns to ISIS through whoever the Free Syrian Army were.
Drawing a red line.
Transferring funds to the UN Climate Fund without Congressional authrorization.
Not tabling a budget.
Skillful cynical politicking. Not fixing SS.
Allowing the EPA to violate FOIA while evading Congressional oversight.
Looking the other way to Hillary's criminal activities via her foundation.
Excellent record at the Supreme Court. Wouldn't expect anything less for a constitutional lecturer.
Cash for Clunkers and how it helped the poor.
Creating an atmosphere of animosity and general cynicism regarding entrepreneurship and wealth.
Smart power and resetting foreign policy.
Commuting Manning and not Snowden. Doubling debt per person (despite campaigning on net reduction of debt).
Continuously lecturing Americans.
Cunningly forging a cult-like image among your sycophants.
Average oratorical skills but making it seem it was substantial.
Taking expensive vacations.
Hyping up the lies on Russian 'hacking'.
An Iran deal...?
Ensuring the nation was at peace with the smooth transition given the angst.
Losing nearly 1000 seats and damaging the Democrat brand.
Doing little inner-city African-Americans.
Usual crony politics.
Taking the troops out of Iraq but not containing ISIS.
Dropping sanctions against Cuba (no sarc). Restricting basically welfare to Cubans who get an immediate pathway (no sarc). Little in return though. Lowest success rate at the Supreme Court. Thank for Bush 2.0 and injecting steroids into it.
Ever notice when progressives protest, jurisdictions have to prepare for it as if going to war setting riot police onto the streets? They do it not because they want to go bust some heads but because there's a track record of left-wingers attacking police, committing acts of vandalism and violence. There are more arrests of left-wingers beating up Trump supporters than vice-versa (so far, I've yet to see an example of Trump supporters doing anything remotely on the scale of what the left has done).
Even in university's the path to free speech is through riot police because progressive tolerance tends to get violent.
Check out the mess after yesterday's women's march. I still don't know what it's about exactly. Abortion rights? I think they already have that. One of their grievances is to extract more free shit or no taxes on women's hygiene products like tampons. Of course, it was another excuse to throw a hissy fit about Hillary losing.
I can just picture these pampered women dropping their sings and splitting for the nearest Starbucks patting themselves on the back for a job well done.
Meanwhile, have you EVER seen a lick of littering or violence at Pro-Life or Tea Party or any conservative rallies or protests?
How you treat public spaces configures into the overall framework that constitutes values and principles. Ironic that the people who scream for the expansion of government and public 'welfare' and 'services' mistreat it the most, while the ones who would prefer smaller government nonetheless treat it with respect.
In other words, they're pigs who expect others to pick up after them.
****
As someone put it:
"My choice. My body. My life.
Your bill.
So, me-me-me until the check comes due, then it takes a village.
