For anyone who listens regularly to Rush Limbaugh, they are familiar with his thoughts on the far-left (the "deranged left" as he puts it) redefining America as a racist country founded in racism and also his thoughts on the increasing problems with a college education. And like clockwork, within the space of a week, examples of both pop up in the hard news. On the “America was founded as a racist country” front we have the lefty Slate to thank for publishing the transcript of a secretly recorded internal “townhall” at the New York Times.
I learned last week from a Silicon Valley whistleblower, who spoke with the intrepid investigative team at Project Veritas, that my namesake news and opinion website is on a Google blacklist.
Actor Gary Sinise is celebrating what has been 25 years of advocacy for the non-profit organization Disabled American Veterans (DAV).
According to an online press release, Sinise first began working with DAV after he received an award from the organization for his role of Lieutenant Dan — a wheelchair bound veteran facing mental illness, alcoholism, and depression — in the classic film Forrest Gump.
“Your superb performance brought awareness of the lifelong sacrifice of disabled veterans back into public consciousness in a remarkably positive way,” The award plaque read.
The online announcement also listed some of Sinise’s many accomplishments, which include his “serving for nine years as the national spokesperson for the effort to build the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial in Washington, D.C. which was dedicated and opened to the public on October 5, 2014.” The memorial honors veterans of the armed forces of the United States who were permanently disabled during the course of their national service.
A video released in the announcement shows Sinise’s committment to the DAV.
“Without Forrest Gump, I wouldn’t have been contacted by the DAV and been invited to their national convention,” Sinise said in the video.
“It was an honor to play Lt. Dan, I guess it was in some ways — you know when Lt. Dan talks about his destiny, I kinda feel like there was something at play there, that I would get to play that part,” the Apollo 13 star said of the role in a performance featured in the video.
For more than two decades, Sinise has honored the families of fallen war heroes and worked to recognize those who have fought in America’s armed forces.
Last year, Sinise gave free trips to Disney World to almost 1,700 Gold Star family members of fallen soldiers.
The Gary Sinise Foundation has also given back to many of those who have served the country. In 2018, a double-amputee veteran and his family received the keys to a specially-adapted smart home from Sinise’s foundation.
This flashback video is going viral, and it’s easy to see why, because it’s still true. In 2007, ABC 2020 destroyed gun control arguments in just 5 short minutes. Still holds true today. pic.twitter.com/IjXgLx5b4m — Eric Spracklen ?? (@ThatTrumpGuy) August 23, 2019
Scientists studying satellite images of the fires in the Amazon rain forest said most of the fires are burning on agricultural land where the forest had already been cleared through years of deforestation. https://t.co/Az7WWiCVtr
According to NASA: “As of August 16, 2019, satellite observations indicated that total fire activity in the Amazon basin was slightly below average in comparison to the past 15 years.”
#AmazonFire#AmazonRainForest According to NASA: "As of August 16, 2019, satellite observations indicated that total fire activity in the Amazon basin was slightly below average in comparison to the past 15 years." https://t.co/okf6BmC8qU
— Jesse Ferrell (AccuWeather) (@WeatherMatrix) August 21, 2019
And as Mike Cernovich reported — Even far left Snopes is fed up with the fake fire pictures going around the internet.
Even far left wing Snopes is fed up with their friends sharing fake amazon fire pictures. That’s how bad the disinformation is.https://t.co/P3zsUaTrke
Jeffrey Epstein was examined by a “doctoral-level psychologist” days before he committed suicide in his Manhattan jail cell, according to the Justice Department.
The latest revelations in the Epstein case were made in a Thursday letter addressed to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and ranking member Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), Fox News reported Friday.
“The Department can confirm that Mr. Epstein was placed on suicide watch in July,” Justice Department official Stephen E. Boyd wrote. “Mr. Epstein was later removed from suicide watch after being evaluated by a doctoral-level psychologist who determined that a suicide watch was no longer warranted.”
Epstein, 66, was found dead in his jail cell on August 10 while awaiting trial on several federal sex trafficking charges.
The New York City medical examiner officially ruled his death as a suicide by hanging.
The disgraced multimillionaire had been on suicide watch once before after a July 23 incident when guards at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) found him unconscious with bruises around his neck.
He was taken to the hospital before he returned to prison where officials placed him on suicide watch.
The letter did not reveal when the Justice Department psychologist saw Epstein nor did they name the psychologist, who was described as having a PhD doctorate— the highest level of education one can get in the field of psychology.
The FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death. “Although Mr. Epstein is deceased, the department’s case against anyone who was complicit in his alleged crimes will continue,” the letter from the Justice Department said.
Attorney General William Barr has already taken action, removing the director of the federal Bureau of Prisons from his post and appointing a new director and deputy director.
The warden at the MCC was also reassigned to a desk job at a regional office, and the two guards tasked with watching Epstein on the night of his death have been placed on administrative leave.
First Lady Melania Trump dazzled world leaders on Saturday at the G7 formal dinner at the Biarritz lighthouse.
French President Emmanuel Macron (R) gestures as he welcomes US President Donald Trump (C) and US First Lady Melania Trump at the Biarritz lighthouse, southwestern France, ahead of a working dinner on August 24, 2019, on the first day of the annual G7 Summit attended by the leaders of the world’s seven richest democracies, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. – EU leaders rounded on US President Donald Trump over his trade threats at a G7 summit in France overshadowed by trans-Atlantic tensions and worries about the global economy. (Photo by Francois Mori / POOL / AFP) (Photo credit should read FRANCOIS MORI/AFP/Getty Images)
And the First Lady turned heads when she arrived in southern France with her husband President Donald Trump.
Melania Trump arrives in Biarritz, France today for the G7 Summit. FLOTUS is wearing a yellow Calvin Klein dress with pink and white tie dye and matching pink Christian Louboutin stilettos in the style “So Kate.” #PoweroftheFirstLady#BeBestpic.twitter.com/hljvuYBIDP
For the G7 summit dinner, Melania Trump wore a white pleated technical dress from Gucci. The sleeveless midi dress features crystal brooches on the belt chain. It retails for $3800 on Neiman Marcus#WhatMelaniaWorepic.twitter.com/OIULO5pRjM
Putting on its Victorian gentleman suit (pax Tom Wolfe), the Washington Post’s editorial board tut-tuts a rich part of Washington, D.C. and its political patrons, for pulling out all stops to prevent construction of a child-migrant shelter in its fancy environs.
MANY AMERICANS are rightly outraged by the Trump administration’s treatment of migrant children, who have been separated from parents and ill-treated by authorities. Democrats have been understandably eager to distance themselves from such policies — a stance that can result in knee-jerk opposition even to sensible practices in effect during the Obama administration.
That might explain the nearly uniform outcry from Washington-area politicians incensed at federal plans to build new shelters for migrant children in Northern Virginia and the District . The shelters, state-licensed and similar to scores across the county in operation since before President Trump took office, would help move migrant children out of squalid, cramped Border Patrol stations near the U.S.-Mexico border. They would provide a way station for unaccompanied minors while federal officials seek to place them with U.S.-based relatives or foster families.
But local politicians, nearly all Democrats, have balked at cooperating with federal authorities on any immigration matter. They have denounced the proposed new shelters with objections that smack of NIMBYism masquerading as humane concern for children. This month, the administration of D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) enacted emergency rules that blocked a planned federal shelter.
Just some misplaced never-Trumpism, maybe with a whiff of NIMBYism?
Actually, the area has been plagued by some of these child migrants, getting its name in the news more than once for its gruesome murders. Here’s one of them, courtesy of, sure enough, the Washington Post:
Edwin Rios, 18, of Southeast Washington has been charged with murder in the killing of Ariana Funes-Diaz, 14, Prince George’s County police announced Friday.
Funes-Diaz was slain April 18 by MS-13 gang members who feared that she would go to police about a kidnapping and robbery that had occurred in the District, prosecutors said.
Funes-Diaz was lured to a tunnel in Riverdale, Md., where she was forced to strip and then was beaten with a baseball bat and cut with a machete in an attack that was recorded on camera, charging documents state.
Her body was abandoned in the woods for a month before police found it in a creek near where she was attacked, police said.
Three others have been charged as adults in the case: Joel Escobar, 17, of Northeast Washington; Cynthia Hernandez-Nucamendi, 14, of Lothian; and Josue Fuentes-Ponce, 16, of Bladensburg.
Those are some child migrants authorities are getting a new shelter pipeline set up for.
The map here says that Prince George’s County in Maryland is about six miles from the Takoma district in Washington, D.C. where the resistance is.
It’s indisputable that bringing in more unvetted migrants mean there are going to be more of these killings going on, something that might just affect property values and the quality of life in this tony district.
Here’s a local NBC news report on what’s going on in that area, keying off that same gruesome MS-13 murder commited by some illegal child migrants. I have transcribed (and boldfaced) some choice snippets:
“to get a better understanding of how MS-13 has evolved and why we’re seeing so many gruesome crimes…”
…
‘Two of the city’s four murders last year — MS-13.”
…
“More than five years ago, we were given a special invitation travel with law enforcement to El Salvador to learn about the MS-13 gang and its ties to our area.”
…
“Since the time that we went to El Salvador till now, would you say the gang has a larger presence in our area or a smaller presence?”
“Large.“
“What would you attribute that to?”
“Recruitment.
…
“And he says kids are entering the gang at a much younger age. You’ve seen in our area MS-13 gang members as young as nine years old.”
“Starting the process. But you look at them and say ‘innocence.’ (Inaudible) may not know right from wrong, but the gang knows that. So they’ll take that for their benefit.”
…
“They feel or they believe that a juvenile can commit the same violence as an adult would such as a stabbing or a decapitation but they think nothing is going to happen to them in the judicial system. So that’s why the target is juveniles.”
…
So many gruesome crimes? Gangs increasing? Recruitment younger and younger? Child migrants here alone looking for some “family”? Gangs know child decapitators won’t get punished? With that sort of thing going on, you can bet the migrant center is going to be a bonanza for gang recruitment and a new wave of gruesome crimes. Funny how these asylum seekers always seem to end up in U.S. areas where those gangs they’re supposedly fleeing are right there waiting for them.
The 2001 “missing intern” Chandra Levy murder, even closer to Takoma than Prince George’s County, by the way, was also done by one of El Salvador’s illegal immigrants.
Now the battle is couched in “concern” for the comfort of illegal child migrants along with opposition to President Trump, even though, as the Post notes, the policy is Obama’s. And the crocodile tears are flowing.
The Post rightly notes that if the child migrant center is not built, the kids are going to be waiting in squalid detention camps down at the border and then end up somewhere in maybe the Southwest instead, a place that has long complained about border crime and the problem unvetted migrants bring. In fact, leftist elites have always been sheltered from this kind of thing, happy to let the whole issue of unvetted foreigners getting in without enforcement to be the border’s problem, up until Trump at least. The migrant community that rich Washington D.C. has encouraged for its cheap gardeners and maids – and “can’t live without” — as the Daily Beast says, has always been insulated from the real problems of allowing all unvetted comers into the coontry. Well, now the place for the child migrant shelter is being rightly placed in an affluentpart of Washington so they can live with the consequences of their choices, too.
It sounds like President Trump or whoever he’s got on the federal side trying to build this shelter is combining proximity to the Salvadoran illegal immigrant community – Washington’s largest – with a little taste of the medicine these liberals would like to inflict on the border regions and poorer parts of the country.
I can’t think of a better place to put that shelter. Let them live with the result of their own hypocrisy.
Putting on its Victorian gentleman suit (pax Tom Wolfe), the Washington Post’s editorial board tut-tuts a rich part of Washington, D.C. and its political patrons, for pulling out all stops to prevent construction of a child-migrant shelter in its fancy environs.
MANY AMERICANS are rightly outraged by the Trump administration’s treatment of migrant children, who have been separated from parents and ill-treated by authorities. Democrats have been understandably eager to distance themselves from such policies — a stance that can result in knee-jerk opposition even to sensible practices in effect during the Obama administration.
That might explain the nearly uniform outcry from Washington-area politicians incensed at federal plans to build new shelters for migrant children in Northern Virginia and the District . The shelters, state-licensed and similar to scores across the county in operation since before President Trump took office, would help move migrant children out of squalid, cramped Border Patrol stations near the U.S.-Mexico border. They would provide a way station for unaccompanied minors while federal officials seek to place them with U.S.-based relatives or foster families.
But local politicians, nearly all Democrats, have balked at cooperating with federal authorities on any immigration matter. They have denounced the proposed new shelters with objections that smack of NIMBYism masquerading as humane concern for children. This month, the administration of D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) enacted emergency rules that blocked a planned federal shelter.
Just some misplaced never-Trumpism, maybe with a whiff of NIMBYism?
Actually, the area has been plagued by some of these child migrants, getting its name in the news more than once for its gruesome murders. Here’s one of them, courtesy of, sure enough, the Washington Post:
Edwin Rios, 18, of Southeast Washington has been charged with murder in the killing of Ariana Funes-Diaz, 14, Prince George’s County police announced Friday.
Funes-Diaz was slain April 18 by MS-13 gang members who feared that she would go to police about a kidnapping and robbery that had occurred in the District, prosecutors said.
Funes-Diaz was lured to a tunnel in Riverdale, Md., where she was forced to strip and then was beaten with a baseball bat and cut with a machete in an attack that was recorded on camera, charging documents state.
Her body was abandoned in the woods for a month before police found it in a creek near where she was attacked, police said.
Three others have been charged as adults in the case: Joel Escobar, 17, of Northeast Washington; Cynthia Hernandez-Nucamendi, 14, of Lothian; and Josue Fuentes-Ponce, 16, of Bladensburg.
Those are some child migrants authorities are getting a new shelter pipeline set up for.
The map here says that Prince George’s County in Maryland is about six miles from the Takoma district in Washington, D.C. where the resistance is.
It’s indisputable that bringing in more unvetted migrants mean there are going to be more of these killings going on, something that might just affect property values and the quality of life in this tony district.
Here’s a local NBC news report on what’s going on in that area, keying off that same gruesome MS-13 murder commited by some illegal child migrants. I have transcribed (and boldfaced) some choice snippets:
“to get a better understanding of how MS-13 has evolved and why we’re seeing so many gruesome crimes…”
…
‘Two of the city’s four murders last year — MS-13.”
…
“More than five years ago, we were given a special invitation travel with law enforcement to El Salvador to learn about the MS-13 gang and its ties to our area.”
…
“Since the time that we went to El Salvador till now, would you say the gang has a larger presence in our area or a smaller presence?”
“Large.“
“What would you attribute that to?”
“Recruitment.
…
“And he says kids are entering the gang at a much younger age. You’ve seen in our area MS-13 gang members as young as nine years old.”
“Starting the process. But you look at them and say ‘innocence.’ (Inaudible) may not know right from wrong, but the gang knows that. So they’ll take that for their benefit.”
…
“They feel or they believe that a juvenile can commit the same violence as an adult would such as a stabbing or a decapitation but they think nothing is going to happen to them in the judicial system. So that’s why the target is juveniles.”
…
So many gruesome crimes? Gangs increasing? Recruitment younger and younger? Child migrants here alone looking for some “family”? Gangs know child decapitators won’t get punished? With that sort of thing going on, you can bet the migrant center is going to be a bonanza for gang recruitment and a new wave of gruesome crimes. Funny how these asylum seekers always seem to end up in U.S. areas where those gangs they’re supposedly fleeing are right there waiting for them.
The 2001 “missing intern” Chandra Levy murder, even closer to Takoma than Prince George’s County, by the way, was also done by one of El Salvador’s illegal immigrants.
Now the battle is couched in “concern” for the comfort of illegal child migrants along with opposition to President Trump, even though, as the Post notes, the policy is Obama’s. And the crocodile tears are flowing.
The Post rightly notes that if the child migrant center is not built, the kids are going to be waiting in squalid detention camps down at the border and then end up somewhere in maybe the Southwest instead, a place that has long complained about border crime and the problem unvetted migrants bring. In fact, leftist elites have always been sheltered from this kind of thing, happy to let the whole issue of unvetted foreigners getting in without enforcement to be the border’s problem, up until Trump at least. The migrant community that rich Washington D.C. has encouraged for its cheap gardeners and maids – and “can’t live without” — as the Daily Beast says, has always been insulated from the real problems of allowing all unvetted comers into the coontry. Well, now the place for the child migrant shelter is being rightly placed in an affluentpart of Washington so they can live with the consequences of their choices, too.
It sounds like President Trump or whoever he’s got on the federal side trying to build this shelter is combining proximity to the Salvadoran illegal immigrant community – Washington’s largest – with a little taste of the medicine these liberals would like to inflict on the border regions and poorer parts of the country.
I can’t think of a better place to put that shelter. Let them live with the result of their own hypocrisy.
When two reporters showed up at the Wisconsin governor’s office in February for a press briefing on the new administration’s proposed budget, staffers turned them away.
Although the governor’s office didn’t formally invite the reporters, they were credentialed through the Wisconsin Legislature to cover government activities. They also emailed an RSVP to the governor’s staff.
The two reporters arrived at a conference room for the budget briefing at the designated time, but the governor’s staff said they weren’t on the RSVP list.
So, what gives?
Under the First Amendment’s prohibitions against government actions that inhibit “freedom of speech” and “freedom of the press,” shouldn’t all credentialed reporters be granted access to something as routine as an elected official’s budget briefing?
That’s what the MacIver Institute for Public Policy, a free-market think tank based in Madison, Wisconsin, argues in a lawsuit filed against Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat who assumed office in January.
MacIver Institute’s suit claims the governor violated its right to equal protection of the laws and due process under the 14th Amendment.
At a time when the Trump White House’s every dealing with the press appears to be scrutinized, a Democrat governor’s attempts to exclude a conservative-leaning news organization, even as he continues to welcome left-leaning media outlets, garner little attention.
Brett Healy, president of MacIver Institute, told The Daily Signal in a phone interview that it appears Evers targeted MacIver News Service from the beginning of his administration Jan. 7.
“Back in January, we asked to be put on communication and notification lists, which is pretty standard,” Healy said. “But we came to find out through some of our friends in the media that we weren’t getting these notices.”
‘Stonewalled and Ignored’
A key turning point came Feb. 28, when the governor’s office invited 26 members of the Capitol press corps to attend the budget briefing but excluded MacIver News Service, according to the suit.
William Osmulski, MacIver News Service’s news director, and Matt Kittle, at the time a reporter for the news service, both were denied entry, the suit says.
“When they attempted to go into the conference room, the governor’s staff told them they weren’t on the list,” Healy said. “Then, they asked to speak with someone to resolve the issue and they were told they need to talk to someone on the governor’s staff in charge of communications, but that she was unavailable.
“After this, we continued to try to be put on media lists, but we were stonewalled and ignored and that’s when we decided to go to court to get our rights restored,” Healy said.
Kittle has left the organization, but the suit names Osmulski as the main plaintiff along with MacIver Institute.
The Daily Signal sought comment from Evers’ office about the suit’s allegations.
“Our administration provides many opportunities for both reporters and the public to attend open events with the governor,” Melissa Baldauff, the governor’s communications director, replied in an email, adding:
Gov. Evers is committed to openness and transparency in state government, and he believes strongly that a fair and unbiased press corps is essential to our democracy, especially now as Wisconsinites and all Americans are calling for accountability from elected officials who refuse to take action on gun safety reform, health care, and the hatred and violence borne of white supremacy.
Representatives of MacIver Institute have attended several of the governor’s official events, a communications staffer speaking on background told The Daily Signal, including a budget signing at the Capitol where a MacIver reporter was called upon to ask the first question.
“Consistent with previous administrations, we also provide additional opportunities for members of the media to access the governor and our team through one-on-one interviews and smaller group conversations,” the staffer said. “These opportunities serve the public well by allowing for a more robust, in-depth conversation.”
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers addresses a crowd June 19 during the 48th annual Juneteenth Day Festival in Milwaukee. (Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Changing of the Guard
Although it’s true that a representative of MacIver News Service asked the lead-off question at a press event, Healy said, its journalists didn’t receive the same formal invitation to that event, and to other ones, that went to colleagues at other media outlets.
“Because he doesn’t agree with our point of view, the governor thinks he has the right to exclude us,” Healy said. “But we are very happy with the support we have received from other press outlets and from across the political spectrum.”
Although the news service has been denied entry to only one event, it argues that it missed dozens of others because it doesn’t receive media advisories that other outlets get.
Evers, 67, assumed office in January after defeating two-term Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, in last year’s elections.
The governor previously served as the state’s superintendent of public instruction, an elected position, from 2001 to 2009. He also worked as a school teacher, school administrator, and district superintendent.
Walker gained national attention shortly after his inauguration as governor in 2011 when he sought to limit collective bargaining for most public employees. The proposal drew large and boisterous protests from organized labor, and at one point Democrats in the state Senate left Wisconsin in an attempt to block the bill’s passage.
Walker ultimately prevailed and he went on to become the first incumbent governor to survive a recall election. He then was reelected in 2014 and briefly ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016.
The election of Evers could mean big changes in public policy for Wisconsin, and the Democrat already has proposed repealing the state’s right-to-work law. MacIver News Service reported that Evers’ first budget amounts to a “political payback for big-spending unions” that helped him get elected.
MacIver Institute is part of the State Policy Network, an umbrella organization for state-level, free-market think tanks across the country. The institute was founded in 2008 and its news service has been up and running almost from the beginning, typically with at least two full-time reporters.
Legally Questionable
Healy credits Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, for taking a principled stand on behalf of First Amendment freedoms for MacIver and other news services. The council is a nonprofit, volunteer group based in Madison, Wisconsin, devoted to openness in government.
Lueders is also editor of The Progressive, a left-of-center magazine based in Madison.
The governor’s actions shutting out MacIver reporters are “legally questionable,” Lueders told The Daily Signal, and media access “should not predicated on whether someone in government thinks you are biased.”
Lueders drew a comparison between Evers’ targeting of MacIver with the decision last November by the Trump White House to suspend the press pass of Jim Acosta, a White House correspondent for CNN.
The Trump administration’s decision came after Acosta persisted in questioning the president during a press conference and had an altercation with a press aide when she attempted to retrieve a microphone.
CNN filed suit, but dropped the action after the White House restored Acosta’s pass.
“The point here is that it is not proper for the government to selectively exclude a reporter or news outlet on the basis of not liking that reporter or news outlet,” Lueders said. “That’s going too far.”
“It’s important to know that government officials have the right, and in fact, they exercise this right all the time, to be selective about who they give special access to,” he said. “But you can’t deny what would be considered routine access on the basis of not liking the organization or the reporter.”
‘You Guys Are Not Journalists’
MacIver Institute filed a motion Tuesday with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin to bar the governor from excluding its news service from “generally available press events and lists announcing such events.”
Liberty Justice Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest law firm based in Chicago, filed the suit on behalf of MacIver. Daniel Suhr, a senior attorney with the center, is dismissive of the arguments made by Evers and his staff in response.
“They’ve adopted two lines of comment in their responses so far,” Suhr said. “First, they say MacIver is welcome to participate on the same basis as members of the general public, which is essentially saying you guys are not journalists and we are not going to treat you like journalists. If that’s a fight they want to have, I say, ‘Great, let’s go to a judge.’ My clients are award-winning journalists who break stories.”
“Their second argument is to say that they believe in a fair and unbiased press corps, which is basically their way of saying, ‘MacIver is biased and we don’t want to let you into our press conferences.’ But they let in a number of people who are biased in their favor.”
The governor’s media list that excludes MacIver does include “outlets with decidedly left-leaning editorial stances,” according to the suit.
The list includes The Progressive magazine, Devil’s Advocates Radio, The Capital Times newspaper, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, the offices of Democrat legislators, and “left-wing advocacy groups like One Wisconsin Now,” the suit says.
“The First Amendment exists to protect journalists who are challenging people in power,” Suhr said. “The First Amendment is there to protect the people who are asking tough questions and doing the investigative reporting to hold government accountable and bring transparency. This is the foundation of a free society.”
‘Look in the Mirror’
MacIver Institute “has a strong case,” in part because its suit involves political speech, Charles Glasser, a lawyer who teaches media ethics and law at New York University and the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, said in an interview with The Daily Signal.
“If you look at the history that led to the development of the First Amendment, before 1789 Sam Adams, Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin, and the other Founding Fathers lived under a death sentence for sedition and for saying seditious things,” Glasser said.
“They would have been hanged if King George III followed through. Its been held in cases all over that political speech has the highest degree of constitutional protection,” he said.
Glasser, who is also a legal adviser to The Daily Signal and former global media counsel to Bloomberg News, said liberals in Wisconsin and elsewhere should consider their criticisms of the Trump administration carefully before taking action against press organs with a conservative perspective.
“If the Democrats genuinely cared about the law, they would take a lesson from their own complaint regarding the removal of Jim Acosta’s press card at the White House,” Glasser said, adding:
Forget the ethics and morality. As a legal matter, Acosta was correct. His behavior with the president was a little out of decorum and self-serving. But by and large, the White House removed his credentials without any kind of due process and without any kind of rational basis, and they had to reinstate it. You would think the Democrats would learn if they are campaigning on a platform of ‘No one is above the law,’ they need to look in the mirror and consider what they argued during Acosta’s improper removal.
Suhr, the lawyer at Liberty Justice Center, said the “crux of the problem” with Evers and his office is that MacIver Institute has been left off the governor’s list for media advisories.
As a result, he told The Daily Signal, MacIver has “missed out on dozens of press conferences and gaggles.”
What It Takes
Glasser describes Evers’ decision to exclude MacIver as an “arbitrary and capricious” violation of the organization’s civil rights.
The Constitution sets a high bar for restrictions on free speech that lawyers refer to as “strict scrutiny,” Glasser said. The Supreme Court has said such restrictions must be “narrowly tailored” to the point where they address a “compelling interest,” he said.
“But in this case, the governor threw a blanket over the whole publication, so it’s constitutionally overbroad,” Glasser said. “It fails strict scrutiny.”
Lueders said he isn’t impressed with how Evers has handled his differences with the press.
“If Tony Evers has what it takes to be governor, he ought to be able to withstand the presence of a conservative media outlet,” Lueders told The Daily Signal. “The idea that he feels the need to shut them out is a real sign of weakness, and I think it reflects poorly on him.”
President Donald Trump told a rally last week: “We are
all Americans. We all share the same home. We all share the same heart.”
He cautioned that “the radical Democrats are trying to tear this country
apart” with their divisive identity politics.
Warning to parents: Left-wing activists are using these same divisive tactics to target your kids’ schools and co-opt their young minds.
Across the country, leftists are demanding that public schools teach “ethnic studies.” Don’t be fooled by the title. Many of these courses demonize America’s past, label whites as oppressors, and convert students into “social justice organizers.”
California Democrats are pushing to make ethnic studies a
high school graduation requirement statewide. Their drafted curriculum defines
ethnic studies as the “experiences of people of color in the United
States” and the “forms of oppression” they’ve endured.
The California course urges students to become “agents
of change” and mandates that all students complete an
“engagement/action project.” Astoundingly, the course guide suggests
only one project to meet this requirement: promoting “voting rights for
undocumented immigrant residents” in local elections.
The curriculum tars white students—by virtue of their whiteness—as oppressors. The course outline calls for “the privilege walk,” an exercise to teach white students about privileges they take for granted. “Whiteness,” defined as “more than a racial identity marker,” apparently “separates those that are privileged from those that are not.”
White kids will have to endure this harassment to graduate.
Meanwhile, the course encourages minorities to think of themselves as oppressed. No mention of success stories like Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas. No explanation for why millions around the globe are struggling to get into the U.S., even scaling walls and wading rivers, to make this country their home.
American capitalism is demonized as a system in which
“people of color are disproportionately exploited.” Never mind that
capitalism has lifted billions of people of color out of poverty worldwide.
Educators could point to Hispanic American and African
American stars such as billionaire real estate developer Jorge Perez or former
Citigroup CEO and Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons as role models for minority
students.
Instead, the curriculum is a one-sided Marxist
indoctrination to make students hate America. To what end? To brainwash the
next generation of voters into becoming leftist Democrats.
California’s curriculum, drafted by teachers and university professors, nearly slipped through without public scrutiny—till Jews in the state Legislature noticed the curriculum condemned Islamophobia but not anti-Semitism.
Parents and the public, who foot the bill for public
schools, need to wake up and demand more control over what’s being taught.
Don’t leave curriculum reform to self-proclaimed professionals. The National
Education Association, the largest teachers union, endorses reparations for
slavery, Black Lives Matter, and other divisive concepts.
If parents want their children to learn the basics, without
left-wing brainwashing, they need to win seats on local and statewide school
boards.
The push for ethnic studies is a tidal wave, from Oregon to
Indiana to individual school districts like Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Here in New York City, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza would have us believe that R—for racism—is a more important lesson than the three R’s, reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic.
He’s wrong.
Teaching kids they’re victims won’t help them pass the
Regents or succeed in life. Instead, teach them about the many Hispanic
Americans and black Americans who have made it to the top.
The current struggle, in New York and California and
elsewhere, isn’t new. In the 1930s and ’40s, activists critical of capitalism
pinned their hopes for social transformation on changing the social studies
curriculum and, with it, the next generation of voters.
The left has been trying ever since.
Today, all Americans—parents and nonparents alike—who share the vision of opportunity, common values, and colorblind justice need to recognize what’s happening and stop it.
Our future hinges not just on who’s elected president but on who’s elected to school boards. The leftist push for ethnic studies—more accurately termed “oppression studies”—poses a serious threat to the America we hold dear.
#/media/File:Map_takoma.jpg){kind=link}