GameStop: Gamer Culture Hits Wall Street
It’s a game that no one should be playing. It results in vastly more losers than winners, and those who lose often lose big. The (rigged) game is Wall Street’s hedge fund-style speculation, which is entirely different from that of sound investment analysis. Hedge fund managers are everyone’s favorite villain. They literally produce nothing but accumulate enormous amounts of wealth, often by betting on the failure of others. It’s a legal racket, which may explain why political polar opposites like Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Representative commie-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) actually found common ground on an issue.
What’s happening on Wall Street in recent days can be described as a perfect storm of two subcultures colliding — the gamer culture and Wall Street hedge funds. What initially was confined to those subcultures has spilled out into the broader American culture. How and where it will eventually end is anybody’s guess.
Many people’s eyes may have been opened to the nature of Wall Street’s “fat cats” and their double standards. It all started after a Reddit group called WallStreetBets learned of a gamer store called GameStop being shorted by short sellers. The group decided to squeeze the hedge funds and stick it to Wall Street by buying up GameStop stock in order to drive up the price. In so doing, a kind of a “social justice” moral crusade was unleashed. This was made possible thanks to online brokerage platforms like Robinhood Markets, which allow access to Wall Street for millions of people. As a result of the Reddit group’s actions, the shorted stock shot up by more than 1,000% as millions jumped on the gig. A stock that in reality should be worth little more than $10 a share is hitting trading highs upwards of $400. This resulted in the hedge fund Melvin Capital Management having to be bailed out by two other hedge funds.
Score one for the the little guy, right? Not so fast. Volatility surrounding GameStop stock caused panic on Wall Street. Robinhood shut down sales of the stock (at least in part to protect folks from buying into inevitable big losses) and temporarily limited access to the platform. This reaction is what brought out the ire of both Cruz and commie-AOC, with the latter posting on social media, “This is unacceptable. We now need to know more about RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit.”
Rush Limbaugh saw a populist element at play, stating on his radio program Thursday, “Folks, it’s not just political now. The elites are bent out of shape that a bunch of average, ordinary users have figured out how to make themselves billionaires. … Whatever you think is going on in politics, Washington establishment, the deep state, what have you — it’s the same thing in finance.” The elitist establishment versus the rest of us.
The trouble is, like almost all get-rich-quick schemes, it’s only a very few who actually do. In the end, there will be many more folks who wind up on the losing end of this latest incident. However, the problem will likely only become exacerbated when Washington steps in to “fix” things, as those who will ultimately be saved will be those deep-pocketed Wall Street “fat cats” whose DC connections ensure that their losses are covered. ~The Patriot Post
The FBI's Disgraceful Persecution of a Joke
Ten years in prison for posting memes. That’s what a Florida man faces after an outrageous FBI investigation has pinned him with supposedly violating 18 U.S. Code section 241, which says no one may “conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person … in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.” In this case, don’t interfere with voting. socalist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden’s Social Justice Department accuses the man of a “disinformation campaign” to do just that.
“Douglass Mackey, known online as Ricky Vaughn, was arrested Wednesday in West Palm Beach and is facing a staggering 10 years in prison,” reports The Daily Wire. “At the helm of [a] pro-Trump [Twitter] account, Mackey is accused of essentially tricking people into not voting in the 2016 election by suggesting folks text in their vote to avoid long lines.”
Ah, there’s the catch — this happened in 2016, and the dupes were scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton supporters. “Avoid the Line,” said Mackey’s post. “Vote from Home. Text ‘scumbag/liar-Hillary’ to 59925. Vote for scumbag/liar-Hillary and be a part of history.”
Gee, the integrity of our elections is really jeopardized with that one.
These jokes are a dime a dozen on social media and, frankly, if you fall for it, you shouldn’t be voting in the first place. You should be attending remedial civics class instead. Nearly 5,000 people evidently responded, though the FBI’s sleuths didn’t bother to note if these chumps did or didn’t actually vote for scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton in the election. And, as Andrew McCarthy notes, “In New York, where the case against Mackey is filed, scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump by about 1.8 million votes.”
Fox News host Tucker Carlson wryly observed, “Well, it looks like this is the part of the revolution where they start throwing their political opponents in jail. That was fast. It was just a week ago they were telling us about ‘unity.’ Remember that? Well, what we didn’t know at the time is that everyone with power should unite against the rest of the country. ‘Unity’ meant oligarchy.”
This is yet another embarrassment for the FBI. While it is still true that the vast majority of the bureau’s agents are upstanding Patriots who seek to uphold the Rule of Law, there are still evidently some partisan actors who’d rather abuse power for political ends.
This is also the same bureau that spent years chasing the “Russia collusion” rabbit. You might even call it a disinformation campaign. Except that rabbit didn’t just lead down a hole or even to a few shifted votes but to the attempted coup against a duly elected president. And when agents weren’t busy doing that, they were investigating “nooses” at NASCAR tracks. Now, evidently the focus is right-wing meme sharers on Twitter.
Mackey is not technically charged with voter fraud. But as for actual voter fraud, the entire Democrat Party foisted that on the nation in 2020. Where’s the FBI?
Finally, there are dire implications for free speech in what would otherwise be a humorous story. This isn’t just Big Tech companies removing politically inconvenient posts. It’s a citizen being prosecuted by the federal government for posting political speech online. Forget Section 241. Have these FBI jackboots ever heard of the First Amendment?
And if this is what we can expect from socalist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden’s Social Justice Department — after only two weeks in office — grassroots Patriots had better strap in for a very bumpy four years. ~ The Patriot Post
Demo Fraidy Cat Cries Murder
Murder! she cried.
We’ll say this about Sandy Cortez: She has a flair for the dramatic. Whether it’s changing her name to the far more important-sounding “ commie- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez” or saying, in the wake of the January 6 Capitol uprising, “We came close to half of the House nearly dying,” she knows how to titillate.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what our fractured politics don’t need right now. And yet yesterday, commie- AOC outdid her histrionic self when she accused Texas Senator Ted Cruz of … attempted murder. Seriously.
And what did Cruz do to warrant such an accusation? Well, he agreed with her.
commie-Cortez, always eager to let her 12 million Twitter followers know that she’s paying attention, weighed in on the GameStop kerfuffle currently roiling Wall Street. “This is unacceptable,” she tweeted. “We now need to know more about RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit. As a member of the Financial Services [Committee], I’d support a hearing if necessary.”
To which Senator Cruz, in what can only be seen as a good-faith effort to find common ground, tweeted, “Fully agree.”
That’s it. That’s all Ted Cruz said, and all he did to warrant an accusation of attempted murder from commie-Cortez.
“I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground,” she hysterically tweeted back, “but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign.”
Ah, unity.
The Dying Darknessers of Democracy at The Washington Post took it from there. “Open hostility broke out among Republicans and Democrats in Congress on Thursday amid growing fears of physical violence and looming domestic terrorism threats from supporters of former president Donald Trump, with House Speaker scumbag/liar-Nancy Pelosi leveling an extraordinary allegation that dangers lurk among the membership itself,” raved the Post’s Colby Itkowitz and Mike DeBonis, before finally running out of prepositions.
As to those “lurking dangers,” there’s exactly zero evidence that Cruz “almost had [commie-AOC] murdered” on January 6 or any other day. But there’s plenty of evidence that operatic behavior like hers is thwarting whatever wafer-thin hope socalist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden had of building unity in the Beltway. To be fair, the eye-popping and record-shattering 40 executive orders he’s issued in just his first week in office might’ve had something to do with these heightened tensions.
Not surprisingly, though, the tension is most pronounced on the Left. No less a tranquilizing tone-setter than House Speaker scumbag/liar-Nancy Pelosi, for example, told her colleagues during a Thursday morning conference, “The enemy is within the House of Representatives, a threat that members are concerned about, in addition to what is happening outside.”
scumbag/liar-Pelosi was referring to newly elected Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. In a rather less than charitable characterization of Greene’s previous career in talk radio, scumbag/liar-Pelosi screeched, “Assigning her to the Education Committee when she has mocked the killing of little children at Sandy Hook Elementary… What could they be thinking, or is thinking too generous a word for what they might be doing?”
Way to lead by example, Madame scumbag/liar- Speaker. ~ The Patriot Post
Teachers Unions Are Hurting Our Kids
On the campaign trail, socalist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden pledged to open up America’s schools within 100 days. Just days into his presidency, however, we’re learning that teachers unions are calling the shots in this country. Despite increasing evidence about the safety of in-person instruction, the unions are keeping classrooms closed and harming our kids.
A study shows that transmission of COVID-19 in the classroom is quite rare. Likewise, a recent report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association encourages American schools to reopen.
But that’s not enough to convince those in power that it’s time to get teachers back to the job of teaching in person.
Cindy Marten, socalist/scumbag/liar-Biden’s pick for deputy education secretary and superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, refuses to open public schools despite the fact that the majority of independent schools in the area have opened their doors for in-person teaching and learning.
As Matthew Foldi writes at The Washington Free Beacon, “Marten’s refusal to set a timeline for schools to reopen is in direct contradiction with socalist/scumbag/liar-Biden, who has vowed to have schools reopen within the first hundred days of his presidency. Dr. Anthony Fauci, socalist/scumbag/liar-Biden’s chief medical adviser, has said the government’s ‘default position’ should be to get kids back in the classroom.”
The real issue here is the impact on our children.
We’ve documented how virtual learning has been an abject failure. Kids are increasingly suffering from emotional and psychological problems due to a lack of social interaction and being forced to sit in front of computer screens all day. And now the very people who should be looking out for our kids are telling them they don’t matter.
Power Line’s John Hinderaker writes, “The sinister role that teachers’ unions play in our society has come clearly into focus, as our children’s lives have been devastated by needless school closures across the country. These closures — still in effect in most places, despite all scientific evidence that they are both unnecessary and harmful — largely reflect the power of the teachers’ unions.”
Meanwhile, millions of people have returned to work in department stores, restaurants, and even colleges and universities. So why can’t teachers go back to work?
Hinderaker asks, “Are they seriously unaware that many millions of people have kept working right through the Wuhan epidemic? And that many millions more have returned to work in recent months? Maybe so. I am not sure they understand that most people work in the Summer.”
Recently, the Chicago Teachers Union voted overwhelmingly to prevent the nation’s third-largest school district from moving forward with its reopening plan. Teachers were scheduled to go back to work in early February, but now they’ll continue to teach remotely, nearly a year after schools were shut down.
Sadly, it’s no surprise that President socalist/scumbag/liar-Biden publicly supports the CTU.
“Unresolved disputes between the district and teachers include coronavirus vaccine availability for teachers, public health metrics determining when schools should reopen or close, and accommodations for teachers and staff who live with a relative at higher risk for complications from COVID-19,” writes National Review’s Zachary Evans.
Seems like the teachers unions are once again holding our kids hostage until their demands are met.
For nearly a year, we’ve been told to “trust the science.” Well, the science is telling us that it’s time for America’s teachers to ring those school bells and get back to teaching the three Rs in person.
Schools are one of the safest places to work for the vast majority of teachers and students. Everyone knows this, and the science supports it. Now we just need the teachers unions to stop playing politics and start caring about our kids. ~ The Patriot Post
socalist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden's Californication of America
During the runup to the 2020 election and beyond, people who knew where to look were warned about the policy direction taken by California. We told you about its bright idea of eliminating the gas-powered car by mandating all new cars sold in the state after 2035 be electric, and in another news flash alerted you to the exodus of people and capital from the state.
Unfortunately for Americans who prefer gainful employment and freedom, the California influence on Joe socalist/scumbag/liar-Biden’s regime extends far beyond his vice president and current House leadership.
As City Journal contributing editor Joel Kotkin writes, “[socalist/scumbag/liar-Biden] seeks to ‘make America California again,’ and he will have plenty of help. Californians will run Health and Human Services, the Treasury, Homeland Security, and Energy. Former California senator lowlife/liar-Kamala Harris is vice president, and San Francisco’s scumbag/liar-Nancy Pelosi rules the House of Representatives. Progressives like Laura Tyson and Lenny Mendonca see the shift as embracing ‘California’s distinctive approach to market capitalism.’ The Golden State, they insist, can ‘show the way forward’ toward a more socially just future.”
Or these Californians can set our nation on a course of economic deviancy.
One case in point is the idea that American taxpayers should pay even more for the lavish idea of placing San Francisco’s homeless population in hotels. While the mean old Trump administration was only reimbursing the city 75% of the monthly cost, a recent executive order from socalist/scumbag/liar-Biden could mean taxpayers pick up in full the city’s $18 million monthly tab to house about 2,200 people. (Doing the math, that’s over $8,000 per month per person! Really?) And as The Daily Wire’s Emily Zanotti writes, “One big issue … is whether the federal government will only pay for the hotel rooms going forward, through September — a program that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars — or whether San Francisco can expect to be reimbursed for all expenses, even retroactive expenses. That means taxpayers could be on the hook for the entire hotel program.”
While it’s a sure bet that San Francisco will be happy to fleece Uncle Sam for assistance in housing its homeless population, a smarter city government would be looking for out-of-the-box ideas from the private sector. If a government watchdog group can come up with a poop map for the city, surely there are solutions out there to address other problems. But as long as the federal government keeps an open checkbook for “fixing” the blunders of Democrat-dominated state and local governments like those in California, we’re not going to get anywhere.
In his conclusion, Kotkin — a longtime Golden State resident — sums up the issue: “The apparent decision of the socalist/scumbag/liar-Biden administration to model its policies on California, particularly in terms of regulation, augurs, if anything, far worse for the rest of the country. The assault on fossil fuels — starting with the announced end of the Keystone XL Pipeline — will destroy a large number of generally well-paying union construction jobs. The banning of fracking, already endorsed by Vice President lowlife/liar-Harris, would devastate economies in less climactically blessed states like Texas, Pennsylvania, or Ohio. Similarly, California-style regulation already makes it difficult for industrial firms to reshore to the Golden State; imposing similar strictures would slow and even end the gradual shift of industry to the Midwest and other parts of the Heartland. … The middle of the country will see its economies threatened even as digital revenues continue to pour into Palo Alto or San Francisco.” Of course, we’ve seen in recent months how Big Tech companies work hand in hand with government to stifle competition and amass more wealth and power for themselves.
Under the previous administration, businesses and citizens who were worn out by California’s restrictive policies voted with their feet, moving to places like Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, and other states around the nation in such numbers that California lost population. But if California’s failing policies become those of the federal government, then where else can we go? ~ The Patriot Post
DAVID LIMBAUGH
The Left's Ongoing Campaign to Denigrate Trump Supporters
If the first week of leftist insanity gushing from President socalist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden’s executive pen doesn’t vindicate Donald Trump’s supporters in full measure, I don’t know what could. Scratch that. There is much more to come.
Trump supporters have long touted the former president’s impressive policy achievements as proof they were wise in supporting him and correct that an outsider could get results.
We’ve learned in the past few months who is running this country: the media, the social media oligarchy, cancel culture and leftist dark money being poured into the system. These forces have weaponized identity politics and empowered the Democratic Party to regain control and move this country leftward at warp speed, which means destroying prosperity and jobs.
Trump haters have been salivating for years over an opportunity to finally bring him crashing down in disgrace, and take his allegedly evil supporters along with him — never to rise again and impede their progressive agenda.
They tried for Trump’s entire term to overturn the results of the 2016 election. They engaged in a coordinated effort to undo what the voters had done, corrupting our security agencies and our government institutions to lead a soft, sophisticated coup that makes Jan. 6 look like amateur hour.
With assists from the media and the rest of the leftist political and cultural establishment, these forces escaped accountability and proceed as cavalierly as ever, as if nothing ever happened. In a particularly in-your-face move, these bullies have designated one of the central players in the coup, Rep. scumbag/liar-Eric Swalwell, to be an impeachment manager in their post-term impeachment gambit.
This Trump-hating cabal is convinced it finally hit pay dirt with the events of Jan. 6. With ferocious intensity, they’re pushing the narrative that Trump himself incited an insurrection to violently overturn the government.
Feel free to debate Trump’s culpability in all this (and ignore his express words calling for a peaceful march), but you should take a moment to reflect on this bad-faith attempt to tie rank-and-file Trump supporters to this event and viciously depict all of them as radical white supremacists.
The overwhelming majority of Trump supporters have consistently condemned violence no matter the source. They did not and would not support the storming of the Capitol. No matter how vociferously the left claims otherwise, the millions of Trump supporters are still America-loving, Constitution-respecting, rule of law-advocating patriots. Despite the left’s best efforts, Jan. 6 does not discredit Trump supporters. This is not merely a technical point, because Trump haters want to vilify all of us both as a matter of pride and to render us impotent as a political movement.
As part of this, they seek to malign the millions of Christian Trump supporters as having sold their souls and betrayed their faith. Certain prominent Trump haters have viciously and personally denounced the Christian right. Meanwhile, they have little to say of socalist/scumbag/liar-Biden’s already unveiled leftist extremism and his dedication to a godless, pro-death agenda.
These Trump-loathing Christian bashers speciously complain about our poor witness for having supported Trump. But what of their own witness in categorically slandering Christian Trump supporters who, in good conscience, supported him for the good of the nation — and still have no apologies for doing so, especially considering the undeniable alternative?
In his recent piece, New York Times columnist Thomas Edsall cites the book “Taking America Back for God,” by college professors Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry, who describe Christian nationalism as including “assumptions of nativism, white supremacy, patriarchy and heteronormativity, along with divine sanction for authoritarian control and militarism.”
Edsall cites another recent book, “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism,” by Katherine Stewart, in which she describes the Christian right as “a political movement” and says “its ultimate goal is power. It does not seek to add another voice to America’s pluralistic democracy, but to replace our foundational democratic principles and institutions with a state grounded on a particular version of Christianity.”
According to Perry, “The Capitol insurrection was as Christian nationalist as it gets.” Perry points to “the use of sacred symbols during the insurrection such as the cross, Christian flag, Jesus saves sign, etc.” and “the language of the prayers offered by the insurrectionists,” presumably to show all Christian Trump supporters are white revolutionary anarchists.
The glaring irony is that Christians are not the fascists in this equation. They do not support a Christian theocracy, though they believe they should have a voice along with other individuals and groups in society. They oppose authoritarianism and fascism, which is actually the calling card of the Trump-hating left, and they would never attempt to silence others who disagree with their politics or religion. They are not the victimizers in this war on speech but the victims of the very leftists who falsely accuse them.
Neither white supremacists nor any other kind of rioting misfits from the right represent anything but a minute fringe of the Trump movement. To suggest otherwise is grossly disingenuous.
Fellow Christians on the political right and fellow Trump supporters: Don’t be disheartened or defeated by these efforts to stereotype us as violent and authoritarian. It is just another one of the abominable lies these fascist forces are disseminating to dispirit and weaken us and thus greenlight their ongoing assault on our values and institutions. ~ The Patriot Post
KAY C. JAMES
Uniting Virtually, Pro-Lifers Will Continue to Protect Life
Since 1974, a year after the Roe v. Wade decision to legalize abortion on demand, Americans have gathered every year in Washington, D.C., to mark the occasion and lobby their elected representatives for laws to protect the unborn.
This year, a global pandemic and the increased burdens facing law enforcement in our nation’s capital require pro-lifers to forgo the usual March for Life gathering Friday and instead participate in events online and in their local communities.
But the virtual nature of the event doesn’t change the urgency of the cause for the pro-life movement.
A new administration and Congress are poised to roll back protections for the unborn and do even more to promote abortion, including ending the bipartisan Hyde Amendment to allow for the direct taxpayer funding of abortions.
President socalist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden has also promised to reinstate an additional $60 million a year in taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood through the Title X family planning program.
In addition, the administration is rapidly working to reinstate U.S. taxpayer funding to foreign abortion groups, such as Planned Parenthood International, that former President Donald Trump had halted.
socalist/scumbag/liar-Biden is also expected to reinstate funding for the United Nations Population Fund — funding that was ended under Trump because of its complicity in China’s “family planning” programs that include forced abortions and sterilizations.
The socalist/scumbag/liar-Biden administration also will likely revoke a regulation that provides robust enforcement of conscience rights laws that protect health care providers from being forced to perform or participate in abortions.
And perhaps most consequential of all, socalist/scumbag/liar-Biden and the Democrats in Congress may end up “packing” the Supreme Court — adding more justices to the existing nine — to produce a left-wing majority and ensure that future abortion decisions come down in favor of the abortion industry, not in favor of protecting children in the womb, and never in favor of women’s safety when it conflicts with the abortion agenda.
One way politicians have convinced many Americans to accept such an agenda is to repeat the lie that the life in the womb isn’t a life at all. It is merely a “clump of cells.” That kind of dehumanization against whole classes of people is what made slavery and the Jim Crow era possible, along with a long list of other human atrocities throughout the world’s history.
Such a disregard for the truth makes it easier to argue that abortion — the taking of a human life — is now “essential health care.”
The March for Life is an opportunity for millions of pro-life Americans to join together to debunk these lies for their friends and families and instead spread the undeniable truth: that from the moment of fertilization, a new human life is formed with its own unique set of DNA separate and distinct from its parents; that what’s in a woman’s womb is a living, growing child, not a random tissue mass. Science long ago proved this, and it is simply beyond dispute.
Educating Americans about these facts is an important way to build a legion of voices to push back against a president and Congress who ignore them, and that’s one way to try to stop such a destructive agenda.
In addition to joining the virtual March for Life and participating in locally organized marches in their own communities, individuals can commit to use their time, talents, and resources to create a culture of life no matter where they are.
Consider helping your local pregnancy resource center by volunteering or by donating diapers, formula, and other supplies for moms and babies in need.
Talk to your children about why every human life has worth and how abortion violently destroys that life.
Be prepared to explain to your elected officials that life — our most basic civil right — should be protected in public policy.
These are just some of the things you can do to make a difference this week and throughout the year.
The pro-life cause is united in its fight for the most vulnerable and defenseless among us. Whether it’s working against legalizing taxpayer-funded abortion, funneling more money to domestic and foreign abortion groups, or undermining religious liberty and rights of conscience, the pro-life movement will face these challenges together.
The March for Life, though virtual, can go a long way toward helping pro-lifers deepen their commitment to their cause, exposing a destructive political agenda, and bringing millions more voices to their side. ~ The Patriot Post
LAURA HOLLIS
America Grows Sick on a Diet of Propaganda and Political Theater
There is a scene in Peter Jackson’s film “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” when Bilbo Baggins and his dwarf companions stand at the entrance to Mirkwood Forest, through which they must travel to reach their destination. Once lush, green and verdant, Mirkwood has become infested with evil. Bilbo hesitates to enter, saying, “This forest feels … sick.”
This country feels … sick.
Even the briefest foray into social media, editorial commentary or what passes for “news” makes it abundantly clear: America is sick. She is sick because her people have been fed a steady diet of propaganda, political theater and lies. This has become so extreme and so widespread of late that it is literally infecting every aspect of American society and turning ordinary Americans against one another.
I wrote about this two weeks ago, and — as difficult as that seems — conditions have worsened considerably since.
We’ll start with the most recent: What happened on Jan. 6 was not an “insurrection.” There was no serious attempt to “overthrow” the United States government. Was there a riot? Yes. Was it deliberately disruptive of government business? Definitely. But an attempted coup? Ridiculous on its face.
We’ve seen plenty of riots in state capitols in recent years. Have these been called “insurrections” or attempts to overthrow state governments? No. To the contrary, they have been lauded as examples of “democracy in action,” as House Speaker scumbag/liar-Nancy Pelosi said.
Washington, D.C. — including the Capitol itself — has endured no small amount of violence in the past year and earlier (including massive unrest four years ago when Donald Trump was inaugurated). And the Capitol violence three weeks ago was caused by a small number relative to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who converged on Washington to make their voices heard peacefully.
But it has become necessary to call it an “insurrection” to justify the political theater taking place now.
First and foremost, of course, is the attempt by Democrats in Congress to impeach Trump for “inciting insurrection.” Most people won’t read the full text of Trump’s speech that day. It was vintage Trump, confrontational and full of braggadocio, but in it, he explicitly told his supporters to “peacefully and patriotically” make their voices heard.
But no “insurrection” means no “incitement,” and that would mean no impeachment.
The articles of impeachment are themselves a charade. As Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul stated on the Senate floor — and to which 44 other Republican senators agreed — the Constitution simply does not authorize Congress to take the action contemplated by an impeachment trial against a private citizen. Only a sitting president can be “removed,” and Donald Trump is no longer the president of the United States. Further, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that Chief Justice John Roberts will not preside over an impeachment trial in the Senate — another blow to those who claim that such a “trial” on the House’s single impeachment charge is legitimate. Finally, the 44 GOP senators who voted in favor of Paul’s procedural motion prove that the 50 Democratic senators will not get the additional 17 Republicans they need for a two-thirds majority to convict.
So, the impeachment shtick isn’t about removing a man who is already gone, and it isn’t really about getting a conviction either. It’s more — and more extreme — political theater. If that’s not bad enough, the country is also struggling to recover from months of COVID lockdowns. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio described the impeachment charge as “stupid” and a waste of time.
And it gets much worse. The target of the “insurrection” propaganda campaign is not so much Donald Trump as it is the 74 million-plus people who voted for him.
Americans were stunned when scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton referred to only half of Donald Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables” in 2016. But Trump had millions more supporters in 2020, and now all of them are being demonized by Democrats and their mouthpieces in the media as threats, as “seditionists” and “white supremacists” who need to be “deprogrammed,” “reprogrammed,” imprisoned in “reeducation camps” or subjected to “Nuremburg trials.”
These are not isolated remarks by fringe elements; they are comments made by “mainstream” Democratic voices: Washington Post correspondent Eugene Robinson, media darling Katie Couric, MSNBC anchor Don Lemon, actor Jon Cryer, Rep. commie-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Comments on these articles and tweets — made by non-famous, left-leaning Americans — are even worse.
This is beyond political difference. It is a sickness.
Conservative commentators Dennis Prager and Tucker Carlson have warned that the reckless hyperbole risks spilling over into reality. Prager opined this week that a population deceived into thinking that a political candidate is a murderous dictator will turn a blind eye to, and even support, election fraud, which only benefits those inclined to commit it. Carlson took the left to task in his opening monologue last Tuesday evening for relentlessly smearing innocent Americans, like bullies baiting their victims to — finally — throw a punch. The point Carlson made, emphatically, is that eventually, even the most peaceable and law-abiding person will retaliate in the face of baseless accusations and unfair treatment, contributing to a destructive cycle that threatens the fabric of society.
The political and cultural elites in this country consider themselves uniquely qualified to lead. But true leaders behave in ways that demonstrate their concern for the health of the organizations and people under their charge. They do not exploit differences and foment discord for their own personal aggrandizement.
I’m not seeing much true leadership now. ~ The Patriot Post
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