With the assistance of the mainstream media, Michael Avenatti has made quite a name for himself after taking on client Stormy Daniels, a porn star who claims she had unprotected sex with Donald Trump in 2006 when he was married to his wife Melania, soon after the couple had son Barron. But, according to politically active actor James Woods, the attorney’s time is just about up.
New York Times reporter Sarah Lyall offered a disturbing look at the World Cup host city of Volgograd, Russia, where some from the Communist era actually have found World War II-related memories of one of the world’s cruelest dictators, Joseph Stalin: “In Volgograd, Stalin Still Stalks the Sideline.”
It’s a two-page print edition spread filled with photos by Maxim Babenko from the local Stalin museum featuring busts of Stalin and other regalia, which is rather odd in itself — the paper doesn’t often run photos of Nazi paraphernalia. And the most important part of a story on Stalin is nearly absent: Why he is such a controversial figure in the first place. Whitewashing the crimes of Soviet Communism is a shameful habit at the Times, whose notorious “Red Century” series did the same to mark the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.
Joseph Stalin himself vanished from the city in 1961, when his name was erased from Soviet history books and, with the stroke of a pen, Stalingrad became Volgograd. But he lives in its soul.
Yet Lyall never circles back around to ask why. Stalin’s arbitrary reign of terror — the millions annihilated by persecution, starvation, or in the gulags — merited only a single brief acknowledgment in paragraph 16 of 27. The only other negative word applied to Stalin is “dictator” in the story subhead, which Lyall likely didn’t write.
Here he is in the Stalingrad Hotel, his portrait in the café, beside a TV on which Portugal is playing Morocco in the World Cup. Here he is in the gift shop, his face plastered on the souvenirs: Stalin flasks, Stalin playing cards, Stalin wall clocks, Stalin key chains, Stalin lighters, Stalin T-shirts, Stalin mugs and Stalin commemorative plates….
And here he is, too, in the office of Irina Rubaeva, 67, a historian and tour guide and the proprietor of Volgograd’s Stalin Museum.
Ms. Rubaeva has a jolly “Uncle Joe” Stalin figurine on her desk and a more imperious Stalin bust against the wall. She says she likes having him around. More than that, she believes it is time to restore his name to the city whose history all but belongs to him.
….
Part of it has to do with World War II, she said, and how hard it is to disentangle Stalin from the horrific, heroic events associated with a place that bore his name and that he refused to surrender to Hitler. The Battle of Stalingrad, which left some two million people dead, is considered one of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare, and it marked a turning point in the Allied effort against the Nazis.
But another part of it, Ms. Rubaeva went on, has to do with the man himself.
“Stalin is to be praised for his political and economic achievements,” she said. “We are nearing a time when people want to know more about him and his personality.”
Stalin’s “political and economic achievements”? Really?
Lyall finally snuck in an “oh by the way” manner why Stalin might be controversial in paragraph 16 of the 27-paragraph story.
The question of how to address the legacy of a man who, among other things, was responsible for the deaths of millions of his own people, has flared up in other parts of the former Soviet Union, too.
Again, the counter-argument in favor of recognizing Stalin got far more column inches.
“They still consider Stalin a liberator there, and it is right that there should be a monument to him,” said Tamara Golovacheva, the secretary of Volgograd’s local Communist Party….
A new Harvard-Harris poll of 1448 registered voters on a wide range of topics provides a lot of unwelcome news to Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.
In a series of rather eye-opening results, many highlighted by writer Eddie Zipperer, the poll paints an increasingly grim picture for Democrats still clinging to hope for any semblance of the “Blue Wave” they once felt so confident was coming.
The poll found that 47% currently approve of Trump’s handling of the presidency, which is two points better than last month and about where Rasmussen puts him (and nearly identical to Barack Obama’s approval at the same point in his presidency, by the way).
Rising optimism on the economy among racial minorities is boosting President Donald Trump’s chances in 2018, says a poll by Zogby Analytics.
“Even though President Trump receives little support from these groups, things might be going just good enough economically that he can scrape enough support from these groups so that Republicans can retain control of Congress and Trump gets re-elected in 2020,” said the June 27 report by Zogby Analytics.
The racial groups are vital to the Democratic Party’s elite-led raucous coalition of minorities, and any decline in their 2018 turnout could cripple Democrats’ hope of regaining power in the House. For example, African-Americans comprise roughly one-quarter of the Democratic Party’s turnout in presidential elections.
In 2016, Trump won partly because African-American turnout fell, but also because he nudged up GOP support among Latinos and African-Americans, especially among men. In November 2016, Trump got 13 percent support among black men and 4 percent support among black women, according to the 2016 exit polls.
There is room for Trump’s support to grow, especially if wages and salaries start rising in Trump’s “Hire American” economy.
A January 2018 poll by CBS of 2,164 adults conducted in early January showed 14 percent African-American support for Trump. The CBS poll also showed that an additional 22 percent said: “I am against Trump now, but could reconsider him if he does a good job.” The same poll showed 24 percent Hispanic support for Trump, plus 28 percent potential support.
The Zogby data shows that 25 percent of African-Americans — and 34 percent of African-American men — now feel “good” or “excellent” about the economy.
The Zogby data shows that 43 percent of Hispanics feel “good” or “excellent” about the economy.
In both groups, men declared themselves to be far more optimistic than the women:
Almost half of Hispanic men think the economy will be good (excellent and good combined) over the next four years; the same amount think things will not be good (fair and poor combined). Nearly two in five Hispanic women think the economy will be good the next four years, while half (51%) think things will be not be good for the U.S. economy …
African American men (34% good and 58% not good) were more optimistic when it came to the economy over next four years compared to women (18% good and 70% not good).
However, Zogby’s samples are small. According to the survey:
Zogby Analytics surveyed 354 Hispanic, 321 Asian and 357 African American likely voters nationwide. The poll was conducted online 6/4/18 -6/6/18, and has a MOE +/-5.2 percentage points per group.
During the 2016 Presidential campaign I reported, once in September and again a few days before Election Day, that a composite of polling indicating rising support for Donald Trump was proof that the widely held belief and/or propagandizing going on that Trump could not win needed to be reconsidered. In other words, Trump could win.
Although U.S. President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly made clear that he is committed to NATO and expects members to pull their own weight within the alliance, European Union leaders have sounded the alarm, blaming the President for endangering the military treaty.
In apparently unironic comments on behalf of nations that have persistently failed to support the NATO alliance and meet their treaty obligations while the United States picked up the tab, European Council President Donald Tusk told European leaders Thursday night: “Despite our tireless efforts to keep the unity of the west, transatlantic relations are under immense pressure due to the policies of President Trump.”
In comments at the major European Union summit dinner reported by TheTimes newspaper, the senior EU figure said: “Unfortunately, the divisions go beyond trade… It is my belief that while hoping for the best we must be ready to prepare our union for worst-case scenarios.”
Britain Under Pressure from Trump Administration to Boost Defence Spending After NATO Comments https://t.co/wynOAgPCLg
Many European leaders are exhibiting signs of panic over the forthcoming NATO summit in Belgium in July, as Trump is expected to make clear his disappointment that despite all NATO members having reaffirmed their commitment to spending two percent of their national GDP on defence at the 2014 NATO summit, almost none do.
Well over half of all NATO spending is made by the United States — the totals of the next three highest spenders the UK, France, and Germany are more than the total of the next 24 nations added today.
The pessimistic attitude from European leaders comes shortly after Trump’s private comments on NATO at the G7 meeting in early June, where he again brought up the overwhelming cost of the alliance that the United States bears. He is reported to have said: “It will be an interesting summit. Nato is as bad as Nafta. It’s much too costly for the US.”
Doubling down on the President’s comments, a spokesman for the National Security Council said it was time for NATO allies to pay their fair share. The Guardianreports the spokesman as saying: “The president is committed to the alliance, as he has stated repeatedly. The president has also been clear we expect our allies to shoulder their fair share of our common defence burden and to do more in areas that most affect them.
“There is no better way to signal Nato’s resolve than for each and every ally to allocate the resources necessary to share their burden of our collective defence.”
Exclusive: Ambassador Grenell Gives Stark Warning Over ‘Woeful’ Readiness of NATO Allies https://t.co/Lg7Xk3QbFf
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 3, 2018
It is understood a particular target for President Trump during the NATO meeting next month is Germany, which despite her significant global economy spends a very low proportion of GDP at 1.1 percent — well below the two-point minimum required of treaty members.
Speaking to Breitbart London in early June, U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell said he had been told by the President to tackle NATO spending, and remarked: “It is woeful; Germany is the largest economy in Europe. They made a commitment to NATO, and they should be serious about that commitment; it is a multilateral institution that guarantees the allies, guaranteeing freedom.
“Germany made that commitment, and we expect the Germans to follow through… We have yet to see a serious plan put forward as to how they get to that two percent of GDP.”
The concern over NATO, and the poor state of defence of many European militaries, comes as video footage was leaked from a joint military exercise off the coast of Norway showing a missile failing to launch from a German frigate. The Vertical Launch System missile was seen to explode inside the pod during a live-fire exercise, showering the ship involved with burning wreckage. There were no injuries, but two German sailors were treated for shock, according to reports.
Oliver JJ Lane is the editor of Breitbart London — Follow him on Twitter and Facebook
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says switching to the type of education and workforce development policies embraced by countries such as Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the U.K. would “help catch us up” to students in other countries.
The “Post-16 Skills Plan” compliments the U.K.’s established academic track toward college/university for students completing high school at 16. A T-level program prepares students for employment in a skilled trade or pursuit of higher technical/skilled education. #RethinkSchoolpic.twitter.com/YZMRsJGWK1
In an op-ed at Education Week, DeVos writes that during a recent international trip, she found these European countries have a centralized approach to education and workforce development, similar to what she hopes to achieve through a merger of the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor, as announced last week via a federal government reform plan.
In the Netherlands, there are a range of educational options that students can choose from, including a strong vocational education and training system which boasts a high graduation rate and good career preparation. #RethinkSchoolpic.twitter.com/ZQv7tRqIjz
DeVos asserts that in these countries, “freedom in education isn’t controversial – it’s common sense.”
The secretary is a proponent of school choice – the provision of federal funds for both public and private schools – as well as personalized and social and emotional learning (SEL), in which personality, psychological, and attitudinal data are collected on students to improve education outcomes.
In an effort to put students and learning at the center of the U.K. education system, schools are granted more autonomy and the community allowed more say in a personalized learning experience. #RethinkSchoolpic.twitter.com/Jayed69BUo
Dutch education outcomes consistently rank among the best in the world. One reason why: their secondary education system is customized to support a student’s long-term goals. #RethinkSchoolpic.twitter.com/g5ZjLaccOj
As children learn to understand and control their emotions, teachers can provide support by showing empathy and encouraging children to do the same. #SELpic.twitter.com/vH3QA9T8Mg
In England, greater autonomy at the school level has been encouraged with the creation of “academies,” similar to charter schools in the United States, and “free schools,” both of which are granted significantly more flexibility for educators. Under Prime Minister David Cameron, the number of academies greatly increased, and free schools were created to serve as incubators of innovation and improve student achievement. Today, more than 70 percent of secondary schools in England have adopted the academy or free school model.
…
Switzerland is known for its robust apprenticeship program, with more than two-thirds of high school students engaged in one of the roughly 300 government-recognized apprenticeships.
What drove education reform in the U.K.? A recognition they were falling behind the rest of the world. In science, math and reading, the U.K. lags behind many international competitors, though its results still outpace the U.S. #RethinkSchoolpic.twitter.com/I2OBMsLGwO
The secretary bemoans the fact that U.S. students have been falling behind on international standardized tests.
“In science and math, students in Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom outperformed U.S. students on the most recent Program for International Student Assessment,” she explains. “The United States ranked 23rd in reading, 25th in science, and 40th in math. If we finished 40th in the Olympics there’d be a national outcry!”
While DeVos’s comments are directed principally toward those public school advocates who continually want more federal funding funneled into a public education system that appears to be failing, the conservative and constitutionalist base of the Republican Party maintains a federal role in education and workforce development not only does not exist in the Constitution, but its continued presence means greater regulation and more data collection of students in order to meet the workforce needs of big corporations.
Additionally, though DeVos has stated publicly that the Common Core standards are “dead,” education policy watcher Shane Vander Hart of Truth in American Education wrote earlier this year that the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), “engineered by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) – essentially cemented Common Core into every state in the country.”
“Sure, the U.S. Department of Education is not actively pushing Common Core, they don’t need to,” he observed. “The standards and assessment consortiums don’t need to be funded anymore. The damage is done. They don’t need to publicly push it because ESSA essentially codified Common Core.”
Jane Robbins, senior fellow at American Principles Project, told Breitbart News:
It’s troubling that so many education policy-makers, including Secretary DeVos, are drawn to the European system of the school-to-work pipeline. Revamping our entire system to create cogs for politically connected companies isn’t the way to “catch up.” If she’s really concerned about math scores on international tests, it would be more effective to assure states they won’t be penalized for replacing the deficient Common Core math standards with good standards.
Similarly, during a Breitbart News interview, Eunie Smith, president of the Eagle Forum, expressed her concerns about a merger of the Departments of Education and Labor.
“The type of education the individual receives would be influenced by crony corporations dictating to schools the skills needed for future workers,” she warned. “And the preferences of big business are already disproportionately represented in ‘the swamp.’ Officially blending the education and labor systems would raise cronyism to new levels.”
Smith also observed the concerns about the privacy of student data. She said her own state of Alabama has a longitudinal data system that combines the data from at least ten different agencies of state government into one centralized state data base.
“That’s a minefield for anybody who gets into that data base,” she said, adding that the economy President Donald Trump says he wants will not happen with a merger of the two departments.
“Centralized, government-planned economies do not work, and that’s not the free market system under which America and our economy have prospered,” Smith explained. “Our president knows that. But this is contrary to that. And even though the proposed merger of the Departments of Education and Labor is going to be presented as a downsizing of the federal government, it’s not going to play out that way, and we will have a move toward government-planned economy.”
Twitter has banned a parody account of Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, after the Canadian government asked the social media platform to take action.
The Toronto Starreported Thursday that McKenna’s office had lodged an official complaint with Twitter about the now-defunct parody account that allegedly fooled some people into believing the messages came from the minister.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office confirmed that McKenna’s ministry had asked Twitter to ban the account, contending it wasn’t a “parody” but an “impersonation,” which the social media platform does not permit.
Curiously, the first word in the fake account’s biography was “parody,” but nonetheless the ministry argued that some people could be tricked into believing it was McKenna herself sending out the messages. The account employed the same profile and banner pictures that Ms. McKenna uses on her official, blue-badge verified Twitter account.
“Parody is one thing … But impersonation accounts deliberately try to mislead people – it’s like identity theft, and it undermines our ability to have productive, informed conversations about issues that matter,” McKenna’s office reportedly wrote.
Parodies of the blonde, 46-year-old Trudeau appointee abound, often bearing the hashtag #ClimateBarbie.
One recent spoof of McKenna had her urging citizens to celebrate upcoming national festivities by waving flashlights at trees instead of setting off fireworks, for the environment’s sake.
“Did you know that fireworks release smoke and toxins into the air?” tweeted the Catherine McKenna parody in preparation for the country’s commemoration of “Canada Day” on July 1.
Canada Day is almost here! Did you know that fireworks release smoke and toxins into the air? Consider shining flashlights into the trees for a similar experience while helping to save the planet for the kids. pic.twitter.com/76uyL0AMoi
Twitter users could be forgiven for confusing between McKenna’s real account and the parody accounts, since her actual tweets have often stretched the imagination.
In March, Ms. McKenna used her platform as Climate Minister to urge citizens to “consider the gendered impacts of climate change on women, girls and children,” and applauded Canada’s leadership for training “women negotiators” to combat manmade global warming.
McKenna was tweeting from the 2018 World Ocean Summit taking place in the Mexican resort town of Cancún, sponsored by the UK-based Economist magazine.
“We need to consider the gendered impacts of climate change on women, girls and children. I am proud that Canada is training up women negotiators so that we have more female voices around the table” https://t.co/Ms3t5B0DNJ#OceanSummitpic.twitter.com/CZRpKAq13B
This is not the first time the shin-skinned minister has expressed indignation over teasing on social media.
Last November Ms. McKenna called out a conservative site — the Rebel — that had repeatedly referred to her as “climate Barbie,” demanding a commitment from reporter Christopher Wilson during a news conference that the Rebel stop using the term in its articles and on social media.
“So you’re the Rebel Media that happens to call me ‘climate Barbie.’ I certainly hope that you will no longer use that hashtag,” McKenna said.
Wilson replied that he would not personally use the label but said he did not have editorial control over others.
Not long afterward the Rebel founder Ezra Levant tweeted, “Appointed to fill a gender quota; unable to control her emotions when criticized; spends taxes on vanity photo shoots. #ClimateBarbie fits.”
While not altogether abandoning the “Climate Barbie” moniker, in more recent posts, the Rebel has taken to referring to the minister as Catherine “McQuota.”
It’s music to the ears of any constitutional conservative: Supreme Court Justice Mike Lee.
It’s also Democrats’ worst nightmare. If you thought they were freaking out this week over Justice Anthony Kennedy‘s retirement announcement, imagine how they’d react to the Utah senator joining the High Court.
Well, we might soon find out.
President Donald Trump has asked his advisers about nominating Lee to replace Kennedy, according to a Bloomberg News report Thursday that cited “three people familiar with the matter.”
It’s hard to imagine a better choice for conservatives.
The senator also has a strong background in the law. He has served as a federal court clerk, assistant U.S. attorney and general counsel for Utah’s governor, in addition to his private practice work specializing in appellate and Supreme Court litigation.
Many prominent conservatives have come out strongly in favor of Lee’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) appeared on Fox News Wednesday after Kennedy’s announcement and said Lee would be the “single best choice the president could make to fill this vacancy.”
Would you like to see President Trump nominate Sen. Mike Lee to the Supreme Court?
“I think he would be extraordinary,” Cruz said of his friend. “If you look back at Republican nominations to the Court, Democrats have batted almost 1.000. Just about every nominee they’ve put up there has voted the way they wanted on just about every single issue. Republicans at best bat .500. About half of the nominees Republican presidents have put on the Court have turned into train wrecks — have turned into liberal activists.
“The reason why I think the best choice that President Trump could make is Mike Lee is because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mike Lee would be faithful to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.”
Radio host Mark Levin also urged Trump to choose the senator, saying there is “no doubt at all that he’d be absolutely faithful to the Constitution.”
The president’s list of candidates for the Supreme Court is outstanding. That said, I would strongly encourage him to select Sen. Mike Lee. There’s no doubt at all that he’d be absolutely faithful to the Constitution. And this is a life-time appointment, after all.
The response to Levin’s tweet — over 32,000 likes and 10,000 retweets — showed many conservatives agree.
Arthur Schaper of Townhall.com endorsed Lee for the job Friday, citing his staunch constitutionalism, his independence and his relative youth (with the lifetime appointment, the 47-year-old would likely be on the court for decades).
Erick Erickson of The Resurgent said choosing Lee would be a win-win for Trump.
If the President went with Mike Lee, he’d eliminate the oppo research hits on a nominee, he’d get an obstacle out of the Senate, and he’d make conservatives really happy.
Lee has indicated he would accept the job if nominated.
It seems like a no-brainer. How about it, Mr. President?
Facebook has greatly reduced the distribution of our stories in our readers’ newsfeeds and is instead promoting mainstream media sources. When you share to your friends, however, you greatly help distribute our content. Please take a moment and consider sharing this article with your friends and family. Thank you.
Up until the surprise retirement announcement from Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy sucked all the oxygen out of the liberal media, they had been intensely focused on negatively reporting the situation at the southern border.
That focus was on the temporary separation of illegal immigrant families after being detained for illegal entry into the country, a byproduct of President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” border enforcement policy that saw all illegal entrants charged and prosecuted for their crime.
The media coverage painted Trump as some sort of heartless and racist authoritarian dictator who hated brown children and even smeared government officials and immigration enforcement agents as Nazi leaders and stormtroopers carrying out the despicable orders of a tyrant.
But according to The Hill, that over-the-top hyperbole and rhetoric on the immigration either backfired or had no tangible effect on the electorate as Trump’s approval numbers actually rose in one particular poll while all of that media negativity was ongoing.
A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll conducted near the end of June showed that Trump’s approval rating had ticked up two points since May to 47 percent, near that poll’s previous high mark of 49 percent set last year.
The rise in the president’s overall approval rating included an astonishing 10-point gain among Hispanic voters, who one would presume based on media coverage would be the segment of society most averse to a “racist” president ripping brown families apart at the border.
Trump’s approval also rose six points among Republican voters and even ticked up four points among Democrats while dropping a similar amount among independent voters.
The pollsters suggested that the rise in Trump’s numbers were largely attributable to the strengthening economy and the seemingly successful summit in Singapore with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un on denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula, and were shocked that the immigration issue hadn’t hurt him as they’d predicted.
“(I’m) surprised that given the misstep on immigration that the president’s approval is holding steady or even increasing on the strength of the economy and the success of North Korea,” stated Mark Penn, a former Clinton White House official who is now co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll.
Do you think the media’s negative coverage of Trump has ironically led to an increase in his approval ratings?
But perhaps Penn was looking at the issue wrong, as maybe most Americans didn’t view Trump’s enforcement of existing immigration laws as a “misstep,” but instead viewed the media’s insanely negative reporting of the issue as a “misstep” on the media’s part.
The liberal media have proven themselves over the past two years to be singularly focused on taking Trump down however possible, either through manufactured crises and made-up scandals or simply a constant drumbeat of negatively-themed coverage of everything said or done by his administration.
Indeed, while the poll found that Trump’s approval rating on the issues of immigration, foreign affairs and running the government was still “underwater” and less than 50 percent, those numbers were nevertheless improved over what they had been in previous months.
Another seemingly unrelated development that could have factored into Trump’s improved numbers in this particular poll is that fact that it was taken following the shockingly partisan refusal of a Virginia restaurateur to serve dinner to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family.
The poll also would have occurred following the disgraceful call for mob action and potential violence against Trump administration officials by Democrat California Rep. Maxine Waters, as well as the deranged threats against the families of Trump, Sanders and others by hateful liberal celebrities.
The liberal media, serving as the mouthpiece of the Trump-hating political left, has waged an incessant war against Trump that recently peaked in intensity over the immigration issue, and will no doubt peak again over some other top leftist issue in the coming weeks.
But at least with regard to this particular poll, the constant hair-on-fire freakouts of the media could actually be helping Trump by revealing just how biased and increasingly irrelevant the media truly is.
Facebook has greatly reduced the distribution of our stories in our readers’ newsfeeds and is instead promoting mainstream media sources. When you share to your friends, however, you greatly help distribute our content. Please take a moment and consider sharing this article with your friends and family. Thank you.