Month: August 2020

A craft brewery in the Hamptons is drawing outrage from the community for declaring its support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Weeks after the Montauk Brewing Company publicly posted their backing of the group on a chalkboard outside their tasting room, and pledged to donate some of their profits to civil rights groups, the beer company has become ensnarled in an online boycott.

Robert Frank, a Suffolk County police officer, and his real estate wife, Valeria, created the private Facebook group “Defund Montauk Brewing Company” on August 12.

Even though the group is private, it boasts a massive 30,000 Facebook followers as of Sunday.

The group’s purpose is “to bring awareness to the recent events that Montauk Brewing Company has decided to take…by supporting an extremist organization,” according to its Facebook page.

The New York Post reported that some of the questions the group asks social media users before they are invited to join the group include, “Do you support extremist radical organizations?” and “Do you believe ALL LIVES MATTER?”

Many people also took their grievances to Yelp, where there were so many negative reviews about the craft brewery, Yelp had to put a disclaimer at the top of the page saying that it would be “monitoring” the page for content related to media posts.

The Black Lives Matter support message was initially written on June 2, a week after the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minnesota Police.

“The founders and team at Montauk Brewing Company support the movement with all our hearts. Black lives matter,” co-owner Vaughan Cutillo wrote.

As the boycott strengthened in numbers, the company’s owners issued a lengthy letter via Instagram on August 15 doubling down on their support for Black Lives Matter, noting that they made contributions to other nonprofits including the NAACP and the Wounded Warrior Project.

They even said they “consistently donate” to police precincts and firefighters as well.

The brewery posted another chalkboard message saying, “We support people doing good things.”

The craft brewer was started in 2012 by three friends who went to East Hampton High School together, and it has grown to become the second-largest brewery on Long Island.

A spokesperson for the brewery did not comment on whether the boycott hurt business.

President Donald Trump on Sunday challenged former Vice President Joe Biden to condemn Antifa, a violent organized leftist movement wreaking havoc in America’s major cities.

“When is Slow Joe Biden going to criticize the Anarchists, Thugs & Agitators in ANTIFA?” Trump wrote on Twitter.

Trump commented after the Biden campaign announced that the former vice president would emerge from his basement and travel to Pittsburgh to condemn violence.

“I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right,” Biden said in a campaign statement. “And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same.”

Biden’s decision to break his silence on the leftist rioting occurred after a 17-year-old boy from Illinois was charged with the shooting deaths of two protest agitators in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last week and a man wearing a “Patriot Prayer” hat was shot and killed as protesters clashed in Portland on Saturday night.

Trump questioned why Biden had not urged Democrat mayors to bring in the National Guard to help restore law and order to their cities.

“When is he going to suggest bringing up the National Guard in BADLY RUN & Crime Infested Democrat Cities and States?” he asked.

Trump also mocked Biden for his delayed reaction, which he claimed was the result of political polling.

“Rushing him out of basement after seeing some very disturbing numbers,” Trump wrote. “Don’t worry, he’ll go back to basement soon!”

The president suggested that Biden was afraid to be more aggressive against leftist violence because he needed their votes in November.

“Remember, he can’t lose the Crazy Bernie Super Liberal vote!” Trump wrote.

The president plans to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday:

ZIP |
August 31, 2020 9:30 am

PITTSBURGH, Pa. (AP) — Joe Biden is mounting a more aggressive offense against President Donald Trump with a rare public appearance in Pittsburgh on Monday, where he’s expected to say Trump is contributing to the violence in the streets nationwide.

According to a campaign aide, the Democratic presidential nominee will accuse Trump of exacerbating unrest and will make the argument that the violent turn some of the recent protests is the Trump administration’s problem.

Trump and Republicans are increasingly running on a “law and order” message heading into the November elections, highlighting violence at protests focused on criminal justice reform as examples of what the country will look like under a Biden administration.

In Kenosha, Wisconsin, the National Guard was deployed to quell demonstrations in response to a police shooting of a Black man that have resulted in looting, vandalism and the shooting deaths of two protesters.

And this weekend, one of Trump’s supporters was shot at a demonstration in Portland, Oregon, prompting multiple tweets from Trump himself, including one late Sunday erroneously accusing Biden of failing to criticize the “agitators” at the protests. Biden did, however, issue a statement Sunday afternoon denouncing the violent acts.

“I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right. And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same,” he said in the statement.

Portland has seen nearly 100 consecutive nights of Black Lives Matter protests and many have ended with vandalism to federal and city property.

Trump and other speakers at last week’s Republican National Convention frequently highlighted incidents of violence at protests that were sparked by the police killing of George Floyd last May, charging that if Biden is elected in November such incidents will become the norm.

Biden has repeatedly denounced violence at these protests, and last week accused Trump of viewing the violence as a “political benefit.”

“He’s rooting for more violence, not less. And it’s clear about that,” he said.

The alleged witness says the shooter, who was notably dressed in “all white” instead of the typical black, did not know him or Danielson before the attack, but believes the two were targeted because of their beliefs and because they were alone and unarmed.

Monday, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) sounded off on the continued violent protests and riots across major cities in the United States in the name of racial and social justice.

Scalise told FNC’s “Fox & Friends” it was “unbelievable” that mayors are just sitting by and letting their cities burn down.

“How concerning is this?” Scalise asked. “You know, look, President Trump has been very clear from the beginning you can peacefully protest, but you can’t go and burn down buildings and attack police officers, and yet Joe Biden continues to denounce President Trump on things like bringing in the National Guard and won’t stand up to Antifa.”

He continued, “This is a serious, serious concern in every city across the country that people have, and for whatever reason, Joe Biden won’t stand up against it, but President Trump has, and President Trump is going to protect people and their communities. These mayors have been letting their cities get out of control. It’s unbelievable they are OK with the mobs, they are angry about President Trump coming into the city to try to bring some kind of civility, but then, you know, they will literally sit by and watch as their cities are being burned down, in some cases. It’s unbelievable.”

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent

For many reasons, “hopeful” and “inclusive” aren’t messages typically associated with the Republican Party, yet the four nights of the Republican National Convention (RNC) last week were filled with a hopeful, diverse vision for the future of America and ALL Americans that simply cannot be denied.

It’s not “playing identity politics” to point out that seeing women, African-Americans, immigrants, and others joining together to share the vision of the country they love is something special, and speaks to something that the left seems to have lost: hope.

While the left uses a nefarious and destructive version of identity politics to slice and dice Americans into increasingly smaller victim groups, those behind the RNC wisely realized the need to include the broadest possible coalition of Americans while ensuring that they pulled these visions together to tell a story that wasn’t about Black America, Latino America, or Immigrant America, but just America.

When the paralyzed Congressional candidate Madison Cawthorn stood up in support of his country, he was doing the exact opposite of the victimhood politics of the left. He was saying that no matter what, he will ALWAYS stand for the country — a none-too-subtle message to the spoiled multimillionaire athletes currently dominating far too much of our political discourse.

When Kim Klacik called herself “unbought and unbossed,” a nod to Shirley Chisolm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first to run for president on a major party’s ticket, she was telling viewers that, yes, this Black woman loves America, too.

When former Ambassador to Germany and Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell laid a blowtorch to the DC globalists seeking to thwart President Trump’s “America First” agenda, he didn’t have to mention that he’s gay in his speech. It doesn’t matter. His foreign policy credentials are why he was there. 

This is the America that Republicans are looking to create. One that is inclusive, yet not engulfed in victim politics. Diverse in ways that go so far beyond skin color, sexual orientation, or anything else. It’s a diverse view of the way Republicans see America, and what they think our path forward is.  

It’s no wonder why the left is so upset. Their leaders have abandoned all pretense of trying to give them hope. They offer just an endless buffet of misery at how awful all of their lives are in “Trump’s America.” The left in this country is a LONG way from “when they go low, we go high.” They’re going even lower into the gutter, and the mob violence that engulfed the streets of DC after the RNC’s brilliant, well-produced, and classy display of hope, optimism, and patriotism is who they are now. 

The shoddily produced DNC, with its Zoom calls of people who profess to hate America and its canned, inert speeches delivered to empty rooms, proved these are people that don’t have hope.

These are people that lash out at patriotism and patriots because their leaders lack the moral courage to stand up for the country they allegedly swore to protect. These are people that see their lives as nothing more than failure and misery because that’s the message their leaders send them in an attempt to regain power.       

This RNC will be looked on as a pivotal turning point for the party, a vision of America for all Americans, and a stunning preview of where the party will be headed in the future. 

There will never be another President like Donald Trump, but by highlighting the fresh voices of the party like Kim Klacik, Madison Cawthorn, and Vernon Jones, and bookending their stories with stories of average patriotic Americans — not Hollywood celebrities — the RNC showed their vision of the future of the party. It’s shining bright. And blinding Democrats with rage.

Rob Smith is an Iraq War Veteran, Political Commentator, and Contributor with Turning Point USA. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @robsmithonline

Before President Trump, the Republican Party, and the Democrat Party for that matter, were controlled by the ruling elites of their respective parties. Neither party had any interest in those they claimed to represent, instead bowing to big money donors in exchange for power and position.

Once called the military industrial complex, it is now the globalists, wealthy individuals and families happy to hide behind foundations and corporations, ruling America without the consent of the governed, using coercion and force if necessary.

This is what candidate Trump railed against. In an important, but largely ignored speech given just weeks before the 2016 presidential election, he made his case in the opening lines.

Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American People. There is nothing the political establishment will not do, and no lie they will not tell, to hold on to their prestige and power at your expense. The Washington establishment, and the financial and media corporations that fund it, exists for only one reason: to protect and enrich itself.

He was running against not only the Democrats and their allies in the media, academia, Wall Street, Hollywood, and in the Beltway, but he was also fighting his own party. Republican elites, feeding off the teat of the uniparty, wanted no part in replacing a political establishment that they controlled and benefited from.

The Never Trump movement grew in response to Trump going from a comedic longshot for the Republican nomination in mid 2015 to the front runner after he systematically targeted and destroyed darlings of the GOP establishment including Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich.

Failing to prevent his nomination, they then focused on stopping his election, even if it meant Madame President, a third term for the Obama agenda. Notable NeverTrumpers included two former Republican presidents, George HW Bush and his son George W. Bush, neither of whom voted for Trump.

In the summer ahead of the 2016 election, 50 GOP officials warned, “Donald Trump would put nation’s security at risk.” So-called conservative pundits from Bill Kristol to George Will, Max Boot to Jennifer Rubin, among others, opposed Trump’s candidacy and his presidency.

 

YouTube screen grab

Here was President Trump, crossing the swamp reminiscent of George Washington crossing the Delaware River 240 years ago, implementing a conservative agenda that countless Republicans campaigned on in their own elections. Self-described conservative pundits pushed these ideas in opinion columns, books, speeches, newsletters, and think tank white papers.

Trump brought to life everything these faux conservatives claimed to have wanted, and ironically their vitriol against him only increased. From conservative jurists to tax cuts, from regulatory reform to a strong pro-life agenda, Trump was Ronald Reagan’s third term and the NeverTrump movement loathed the man responsible.

They never let up and now in 2020 with Trump cruising to a second term, they have doubled down. If they were confident about Biden winning in November, they would not be urging him to skip the debates or to not concede when he loses.

They despise his tweets and straight talk, instead preferring the genteel demeanor of John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan, all losers when the presidency was on the line.

Perhaps the biggest reason they hate Trump is that he doesn’t need them. He has no interest in the wise council of Kristol or Boot. He didn’t hire campaign consultants like Rick Wilson or Steve Schmidt. Like teenage girls not being invited to the school dance, they pouted and formed the Lincoln Project, with a goal of electing Republicans, just not the ones with a big mouth and orange skin. Who then? Mitt Romney? He had his chance and blew it.

They claim to be all about the Constitution, which is why they are supporting Joe Biden and the Democrats who want to take away free speech and the right to bear arms, who want to tax and regulate America to death, putting the knee of the federal government on the necks of working Americans who already can’t breathe due to never-ending COVID mandates.

George Carlin was right, “It’s a big club and you (and Trump) ain’t in it.” But Trump has turned that around. The GOP is now his club and the NeverTrump cranks ain’t in it and won’t be as long as Trump runs the club. As Ivanka Trump observed in her RNC speech, “Washington hasn’t changed Donald Trump. Donald Trump changed Washington.”

Remember the Koch Brothers and Chamber of Commerce, accused of being right-wing extremists? They are in their own club and the membership committee has blackballed Trump. The Koch Brothers, traditionally backing Republicams, don’t support Trump.

The Chamber of Commerce, not just opposing Trump, will endorse and support over twenty House Democrats for reelection. Their club likes open borders for cheap labor and wants to write the crappy trade deals pushed by past Republican presidents, benefitting Wall Street but screwing Main Street.

Some Republicans have had second thoughts about which club they want to be a member of, the club of jobs or the club of mobs. The club of prosperity versus poverty, the flag versus the fist, tweets versus terror.

Famous NeverTrumper Glenn Beck changed his tune and apologized to Trump, “He proved me wrong at almost every turn.” A number of Democrat mayors in Minnesota endorsed Trump for 2020 after belatedly realizing that Democrats have made things progressively worse for their cities and constituents and that Trump has provided a lifeline out of their despair.

Trump is telling the GOP establishment that it’s his party now and they ain’t in it. This includes a bunch of ex-Bush officials now supporting Joe Biden. Most are deep swamp swimmers, assistant undersecretaries in the departments of irrelevance, with names familiar only to each other.

They never were conservative, meaning their boss President Bush wasn’t either, or they are pouting because Trump hasn’t kissed their asses and invited them into the current GOP club. Did any past Republican presidents or presidential candidates attend the RNC convention? Carter, Clinton, and Obama all spoke at the DNC convention. Where were the Bushes, Romney, Ryan? It’s no longer their club.

Republican elites may not like their party’s leader, but voters sure do. Trump’s approval, according to Pew Research, within his own party is at 87 percent, higher base support than for any president since Eisenhower. It’s Trump’s Republican party now.

As Trump said in his above-mentioned speech,

For them, it is a war – and for them, nothing is out of bounds. This is a struggle for the survival of our nation. This election will determine whether we are a free nation, or whether we have only the illusion of Democracy but are in fact controlled by a small handful of global special interests rigging the system. This is not just conspiracy but reality, and you and I know it.

Fortunately, it is Trump’s Republican Party and the crybabies standing outside and looking in can only kick and scream. But it is a big club, as the diversity of the RNC convention demonstrated, along with tens of millions of Americans ready to give Trump’s club four more years.

 

Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a Denver-based physician and freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in American Thinker, Daily Caller, Rasmussen Reports, and other publications. Follow him on Facebook,  LinkedIn, Twitter, Parler, and QuodVerum.

Image credit: John McNaughton, via shareable YouTube, screen shot

Before President Trump, the Republican Party, and the Democrat Party for that matter, were controlled by the ruling elites of their respective parties. Neither party had any interest in those they claimed to represent, instead bowing to big money donors in exchange for power and position.

Once called the military industrial complex, it is now the globalists, wealthy individuals and families happy to hide behind foundations and corporations, ruling America without the consent of the governed, using coercion and force if necessary.

This is what candidate Trump railed against. In an important, but largely ignored speech given just weeks before the 2016 presidential election, he made his case in the opening lines.

Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American People. There is nothing the political establishment will not do, and no lie they will not tell, to hold on to their prestige and power at your expense. The Washington establishment, and the financial and media corporations that fund it, exists for only one reason: to protect and enrich itself.

He was running against not only the Democrats and their allies in the media, academia, Wall Street, Hollywood, and in the Beltway, but he was also fighting his own party. Republican elites, feeding off the teat of the uniparty, wanted no part in replacing a political establishment that they controlled and benefited from.

The Never Trump movement grew in response to Trump going from a comedic longshot for the Republican nomination in mid 2015 to the front runner after he systematically targeted and destroyed darlings of the GOP establishment including Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich.

Failing to prevent his nomination, they then focused on stopping his election, even if it meant Madame President, a third term for the Obama agenda. Notable NeverTrumpers included two former Republican presidents, George HW Bush and his son George W. Bush, neither of whom voted for Trump.

In the summer ahead of the 2016 election, 50 GOP officials warned, “Donald Trump would put nation’s security at risk.” So-called conservative pundits from Bill Kristol to George Will, Max Boot to Jennifer Rubin, among others, opposed Trump’s candidacy and his presidency.

 

YouTube screen grab

Here was President Trump, crossing the swamp reminiscent of George Washington crossing the Delaware River 240 years ago, implementing a conservative agenda that countless Republicans campaigned on in their own elections. Self-described conservative pundits pushed these ideas in opinion columns, books, speeches, newsletters, and think tank white papers.

Trump brought to life everything these faux conservatives claimed to have wanted, and ironically their vitriol against him only increased. From conservative jurists to tax cuts, from regulatory reform to a strong pro-life agenda, Trump was Ronald Reagan’s third term and the NeverTrump movement loathed the man responsible.

They never let up and now in 2020 with Trump cruising to a second term, they have doubled down. If they were confident about Biden winning in November, they would not be urging him to skip the debates or to not concede when he loses.

They despise his tweets and straight talk, instead preferring the genteel demeanor of John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan, all losers when the presidency was on the line.

Perhaps the biggest reason they hate Trump is that he doesn’t need them. He has no interest in the wise council of Kristol or Boot. He didn’t hire campaign consultants like Rick Wilson or Steve Schmidt. Like teenage girls not being invited to the school dance, they pouted and formed the Lincoln Project, with a goal of electing Republicans, just not the ones with a big mouth and orange skin. Who then? Mitt Romney? He had his chance and blew it.

They claim to be all about the Constitution, which is why they are supporting Joe Biden and the Democrats who want to take away free speech and the right to bear arms, who want to tax and regulate America to death, putting the knee of the federal government on the necks of working Americans who already can’t breathe due to never-ending COVID mandates.

George Carlin was right, “It’s a big club and you (and Trump) ain’t in it.” But Trump has turned that around. The GOP is now his club and the NeverTrump cranks ain’t in it and won’t be as long as Trump runs the club. As Ivanka Trump observed in her RNC speech, “Washington hasn’t changed Donald Trump. Donald Trump changed Washington.”

Remember the Koch Brothers and Chamber of Commerce, accused of being right-wing extremists? They are in their own club and the membership committee has blackballed Trump. The Koch Brothers, traditionally backing Republicams, don’t support Trump.

The Chamber of Commerce, not just opposing Trump, will endorse and support over twenty House Democrats for reelection. Their club likes open borders for cheap labor and wants to write the crappy trade deals pushed by past Republican presidents, benefitting Wall Street but screwing Main Street.

Some Republicans have had second thoughts about which club they want to be a member of, the club of jobs or the club of mobs. The club of prosperity versus poverty, the flag versus the fist, tweets versus terror.

Famous NeverTrumper Glenn Beck changed his tune and apologized to Trump, “He proved me wrong at almost every turn.” A number of Democrat mayors in Minnesota endorsed Trump for 2020 after belatedly realizing that Democrats have made things progressively worse for their cities and constituents and that Trump has provided a lifeline out of their despair.

Trump is telling the GOP establishment that it’s his party now and they ain’t in it. This includes a bunch of ex-Bush officials now supporting Joe Biden. Most are deep swamp swimmers, assistant undersecretaries in the departments of irrelevance, with names familiar only to each other.

They never were conservative, meaning their boss President Bush wasn’t either, or they are pouting because Trump hasn’t kissed their asses and invited them into the current GOP club. Did any past Republican presidents or presidential candidates attend the RNC convention? Carter, Clinton, and Obama all spoke at the DNC convention. Where were the Bushes, Romney, Ryan? It’s no longer their club.

Republican elites may not like their party’s leader, but voters sure do. Trump’s approval, according to Pew Research, within his own party is at 87 percent, higher base support than for any president since Eisenhower. It’s Trump’s Republican party now.

As Trump said in his above-mentioned speech,

For them, it is a war – and for them, nothing is out of bounds. This is a struggle for the survival of our nation. This election will determine whether we are a free nation, or whether we have only the illusion of Democracy but are in fact controlled by a small handful of global special interests rigging the system. This is not just conspiracy but reality, and you and I know it.

Fortunately, it is Trump’s Republican Party and the crybabies standing outside and looking in can only kick and scream. But it is a big club, as the diversity of the RNC convention demonstrated, along with tens of millions of Americans ready to give Trump’s club four more years.

 

Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a Denver-based physician and freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in American Thinker, Daily Caller, Rasmussen Reports, and other publications. Follow him on Facebook,  LinkedIn, Twitter, Parler, and QuodVerum.

Image credit: John McNaughton, via shareable YouTube, screen shot