53percenter's Blog

Last week, Netflix debuted its newest comedy series Mr. Iglesias, starring comedian Gabriel Iglesias as high school history teacher Gabe. The teen-oriented show is merely the latest program on the streamer to constantly bash President Donald Trump, Republicans, and conservatives.

The Netflix series begins with Gabe being dressed-down by his principal for his students failing to achieve high test numbers. So, Gabe offers to help the kids over the summer to improve their test scores.

In one episode Gabe says, “We got five minutes to go over all of American history.”

To which one student replies, “Wiped out the indigenous people, oppressed the blacks, did some good stuff around World War II, and now the sun is setting on our empire.”

“I guess we covered it all,” Gabe replied.

By episode two, the show sees attacks on President Trump. In one scene, student Mikey Gutierrez (Fabrizio Zacharee Guido) is taking an oral exam in front of assistant principal, Carlos Hernandez (Oscar Nunez), with a recitation of President Abe Lincoln’s second inaugural address.

When he finishes the recitation, the principal dismissively notes that the teen deserves a score of 70 because all he did was “rote memorization.” But the teen gets fired up and adds that when Lincoln was young, he once said, “Someday, I shall be president.”

At that brash display, the principal leaned over to a teacher and said of the teen, “Dear God, I hope he doesn’t want to be president.”

That line set up the show’s first attack on Trump with the teacher’s snarky reply, “He’d be a big improvement.”

Later in the series, the show attacks the topic of Donald Trump’s border wall agenda.

During a segment where Gabe is talking about President Ronald Reagan’s iconic “tear down this wall” speech, the show equates the wall built by the Soviet Union to imprison East Germans to America’s border wall meant to keep out lawbreaking illegal aliens, drug dealers, human traffickers, and criminals.

Quizzing his students, Gabe says, “Mikey finish this Ronald Reagan Quote: ‘Mr. Gorbachev…’” To which the student properly replies, “Tear down this wall!”

But the Hispanic student quickly adds, “Man, it feels good to say that.” Then a second student snidely interjects, “Imagine that, a Republican president who thought walls were a bad idea. Not just history, ancient history.”

Video via NewsBusters:

Of course, it is a history fail all around. The wall in Germany was created to turn East Germany into a prison. America’s border wall is meant to preserve freedom and national sovereignty. There is no comparison between the two historical situations.

That is not all. The series also contained a long list of attacks on so-called “white privilege,” and PC terminology is littered throughout the show. But for Netflix, this is par for the course.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.

A small rise in the trade deficit with China in May masks a much larger shift in U.S. trade away from the world’s second largest national economy.

The U.S. imported $39.3 billion of goods from China in May, up from $34.8 billion in April, according to Commerce Department data released Wednesday. Exports to China rose also, to $9 billion from $7.9, so the trade gap rose by $3.3 billion to $30.2 billion.

The increase in trade came as somewhat of a surprise because U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods jumped from 10 percent to 25 percent on May 10. Concerns that tariffs could be applied to a further $300 billion of imports from China may have prompted a small front-running import surge in those goods.

The most revealing figure in the May data, however, is the annual decline in trade and the trade gap between the U.S. and China. Imports from China in May fell $10.3 billion from a year ago.  In the first five months of the year, imports have fallen $24.4 billion to $180.9 billion, almost a 12 percent decline.
This suggests that the trade dispute is hurting China’s sales to the U.S., although it is not clear from the import figures whether that is because the price of goods is falling or because the volume of goods sold is falling. The trade figures do not include the cost of tariffs paid by importers.

The trade gap with China for the first five months of 2019 fell by $15 billion, a 10 percent decline. Exports to China fell by nearly 20 percent, from $53.2 billion to $43 billion. So U.S. producers of U.S. goods exported to China, particularly in agricultural goods, are also being hit by the trade dispute.

But perhaps not by as much as expected. Overall U.S. exports to the rest of the world are down just $500 million year to date. Agricultural commodity exports are down $3 billion year to date, although they were up in by around $200 million from the month before.

The economic damage from the trade war is very specific to China. The U.S. appetite for imported goods has not diminished: total imports are up $8.1 billion year-to-date to $1.04 trillion. But the sources of imports have shifted away from China.

One big beneficiary has been Taiwan. So far this year, imports from Taiwan are up 22 percent to $21.8 billion. And Taiwan’s imports of U.S goods rose by more than 14 percent to $12.8 billion.

Imports from a group of nations grouped as “other countries” in Commerce Department data–including India, Thailand, and Vietnam–rose by $12 billion to $84,6 billion in the first five months of the year compared with 2018. That is evidence to back-up the widespread reports that companies are shifting the sources of their imports out of China and into developing Asian countries.

U.S. policymakers regard that shift out of China and into third countries as a victory for the Trump administration’s policies, both because it makes U.S. consumers and retailers less dependent on goods from China and because it increases the pressure on China to reform what the U.S. says are unfair and illegal trade practices. The shift may also strengthen the U.S. diplomatically by aligning other nation’s economic interests with its trade dispute against China.

In an Instagram post published last week, Wendy Napoles, the mother of 11-year-old Desmond Napoles — a so-called “drag kid” known as “Desmond is Amazing” — blasted a “convicted pedophile” blogger for sexualizing her young son, calling his statements “highly inappropriate.” Napoles also took a shot at “conservative media” for allegedly suggesting she is “purposely attracting pedophiles.”

“This is extremely disturbing. Convicted pedophile Tom O’Carroll has written a blog post stating that Desmond is hot & feels sexy performing,” wrote Napoles. “He also sexualizes fellow drag kid Queen Lactatia.”

“We do not approve of his statements & have written to [wordpress.com] several times but they have yet to remove it. It is highly inappropriate to speak of minors in this manner,” the woman continued.

Turning her attention to “conservative media,” Napoles blasted, “First, the Conservative press is currently accusing us of purposely attracting pedophiles & accusing the LGBTQ community of supporting this,” she claimed. “What Tom O’Carroll has said is out of our control & we do not know him or associate with him or any other pedophiles or sex offenders. I think if a pedophile wants to act on their urges, NO child is safe.”

Napoles went on to claim that her preteen son is never sexualized while performing in drag.

“Desmond does not move in a sexual manner or strip, at all,” she claimed. “He has done costume reveals that reveal a fully covered costume underneath. He is never ‘scantily clad’ or nearly naked & always is age appropriate. He does celebrity impersonations & does not choose to do sexy celebrities.”

However, Desmond’s parents made waves last year when the “drag kid” performed a dance number in full drag at a New York City gay bar. As he removed his jacket and bounced around on stage, howling men handed him dollar bills. The jaw-dropping event, captured on video, sparked backlash from the public, calling attention to Napoles seemingly engaging in the sexualization of her own child through such “drag” performances. (The young boy’s website has a link for “bookings,” for example.)

“Desmond does not feel ‘sexy’ in drag,” the boy’s mother wrote. “What he has said is that at times in drag he ‘feels like a boy & a girl at the same time’. This isn’t to mean that Desmond is confused about his gender. He identifies as a boy & uses the pronouns he, him, his, even in drag. To Desmond, drag is dressing up into a character, performing, & expressing oneself through art.”

Napoles claimed her son is “an actor & model,” too.

“Desmond loves what he does & is never forced to do anything,” she wrote. “He chooses everything from his costumes, makeup, songs, etc.”

The mother then started discussing her 11-year-old son’s sexuality, claiming Desmond “came out as gay when he was 11.”

“Although, honestly we knew before then,” she wrote. “He got same sex crushes that he would tell me about. Desmond knows the difference between a heterosexual & homosexual. Just because he identifies as gay does not mean he is sexually active or wants to be. He knows what sex is…he’s in middle school and has had sex education class. Apparently, he said all the kids giggled through the whole course.”

“Anyone discussing anything remotely sexual on Desmond’s social media is immediately blocked & reported. We are just appalled at this whole situation,” Napoles concluded.

Desmond has been pushed as an LGBT advocate, telling The Daily Beast in an interview last year that he’s happy to help “the LGBTQ community fight for our rights,” noting that his parents “love” that he does drag.

“It is really amazing being in the spotlight because I get so much support and I’m an inspiration to so many people, which is one of my number one goals,” Desmond said. “I like all the fame, and helping the LGBTQ community fight for our rights.”

The media and Hollywood players have been quick to promote Desmond’s drag. In December, The Daily Wire recapped just some of the fawning media coverage the young child has garnered:

Desmond was promoted by NBC’s TODAY Show in June. “Meet the 10-year-old ‘drag kid’ taking over social media with inspiring message,” reads the caption video on Desmond. Left-wing site The Daily Beast gushed over Desmond’s drag and his progressive parents in a disturbing piece from February titled, “RuPaul Loves ‘Drag Kid’ Desmond. You Will Too. Fiercely.” The young child has been relentlessly praised and promoted by drag queen RuPaul, the host of VH1’s RuPaul’s Drag Race. When Desmond was just seven years old, he was featured in a music video for Season Six winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Jinkx Monsoon. In the video, Desmond dances on top of a bar in a red dress, long gloves, and jewelry. As an 8-year-old, the child was introduced on a NYC stage in full-drag by actor Tituss Burgess.

H/t The Blaze

Related: Mother Of 11-Year-Old ‘Drag Kid’ Who Performed At Gay Bar Says Child Protective Services Showed Up At Her Home

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) launched a #WalkAwayFromNike boycott campaign this week after the left-wing company pulled its “Betsy Ross Flag” shoes.

“I love America. I stand for the anthem, respect the flag & honor the men & women who fought to defend our Nation. I respect Free Speech & I’m exerting mine,” Cruz tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

“[U]ntil @Nike ends its contempt for those values I WILL NO LONGER PURCHASE NIKE PRODUCTS. #WalkAwayFromNike RT if you agree,” he added.

In another tweet, Cruz wrote: “It’s a good thing @Nike only wants to sell sneakers to people who hate the American flag…. @NFL #HappyFourth.”

The Wall Street Journal reports although the shoes in question, the Air Max 1 USA, are already manufactured and ready to ship, Nike abruptly decided to dump the product after one of Nike’s commercial spokes-babies, failed quarterbackg Colin Kaepernick, whined that the 13 star flag created by Betsy Ross at the request of George Washington, is connected to the slave era.

The backlash was immediate, even the fully cucked-out Joe Scarborough agrees that Nike’s decision was outrageous.

Thus far, Cruz’s call for a boycott has over 21,000 comments, 20,000 retweets, and 44,000 likes.

While I’m always opposed to organized boycotts, there does come a point where my disgust with a company makes it impossible for me to purchase its products. CNN is at the top of that very short list. When I’m going through the Netflix queue, even if the program looks interesting, once I see that CNN logo, it’s an automatic no sale.

Another business I’ll have nothing to with anymore is Helga’s House of pain, but for reasons that are none of your business.

Gillette seems determined to make that list, as well.

Nike, however, has finally crossed the line.

Compared to a lot of political people, I have a much higher tolerance for this kind of stuff than most. I still go to the movies. I still stop at a Starbucks occasionally. I still buy Apple products. I purchased some Nike running shoes recently, even after the company had hired that jerk-off Kaepernick as its spokesman.

Hey, it’s a free country. If Nike wants to hire Kaepernick, wants to appeal to his crowd, who cares? Nike should make shoes for everyone — even the drooling morons who believe a rick, spoiled, cop-hating, flag-trashing, talentless football player is the next Martin Luther King.

But for Nike to attack the American flag in this way, and to do it over the 4th of July… For Nike to believe so strongly that the American flag —  the symbol of freedom and liberty all around the world — represents oppression… Well, that crosses a line.

This isn’t me calling for anyone else to #WalkAwayFromNike, this isn’t me calling for a boycott, or even joining a boycott. But at the same time, I have to be honest: my days of buying Nike products are over –not because I’m boycotting the company, but because I’m so goddamned disgusted with Nike I just can’t do it anymore.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.