Itxu Díaz: The Left Does Many Things Wrong, But Its Patronizing Attitude Is the Worst


What’s most exhausting about the left is not its tax increases, nor its atrocious management of immigration, nor its fantasy of peaceful and inclusive multiculturalism. It’s not even its obsession with stirring the pot year after year with sexual variations, which are already like the wheel of fortune — you spin it and new identities appear.

No, the most annoying thing, what really tries our patience, is the left’s insufferable tendency to patronize — the condescending way the leftists tell us what we should have, do, think or feel. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that you can respond to all this in a concise, polite, efficient and resounding way: Leave me alone! And if you’re sleep-deprived or your head is killing you — like it is in my case — you can be a little more explicit (as to how explicit, I’ll leave that up to you).

This growing tendency toward paternalism, which is a worldwide phenomenon, has its origin in moral superiority. Of course, there is nothing that socialists can be proud of aside from having ruined some of the most prosperous countries in the world and having killed millions through starvation and concentration camps alongside communism.

In any case, for reasons perhaps connected with their intellectual deafness, they always speak from a pulpit, to which they ascend as if they were enlightened founders of their different religious trends, be they environmental, fiscal or sexual.

When confronted with this patronizing attitude, the conservative posture toward freedom must be unshakable. Eat what you want, drink what you want, use the car that you want and establish your company when and how you want.

In fact, the only reason that progressives believe that the state decides better what’s best for its citizens than the citizens themselves is because they are afraid that people will freely choose something else.

That is why, for example, the wacky leftist elites of the U.N., and its millionaire ringleaders, are pushing to end plane travel and meat consumption.

The meat issue particularly is a good example. First they use their loudspeakers in the media to simulate a non-existent debate in public opinion. No one until now considered the consumption of veal an issue, except for maybe the calf itself.

Do you think the left is afraid of freedom?

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Next, they’ll say that they should make laws regarding the obligatory nature of meat consumption due to its convenience for everyone. Only through the use of repressive government violence, in the form of fines and penalties, could a gastronomic regulation devised by a lunatic like Bill Gates succeed (his synthetic meat is the edible equivalent of his blue screens).

And, finally, they’ll use the mainstream media again to sow fear in those who try to violate the new food norms. CNN will air interviews of people ranging from those diagnosed with cancer after eating black-market steaks to scientists saying that eating beef takes five hundred years off the life of the planet (for that matter, don’t rule out them interviewing a complaining heifer on prime time).

Be that as it may, you and I both know that, in a true democracy, they would never be able to pull off this kind of nonsense. They would fail if they proposed a referendum to the citizens on which they could freely vote, unless they entrusted Microsoft to count the votes.

The pandemic has put to the test the level of patronizing that the everyday citizen can endure in a free society. It’s high. But we are at the end of the rope.

In a perfect world, they would return the stolen freedoms as soon as possible and have the decency to stop inventing new restrictions in other areas — either with the excuse of equality, environmentalism or discrimination against the poor bats from the Far East.

There is an unstoppable wind of freedom growing in the streets of the Midwest. And the paternalistic left is going to lose its mind when the gale finally breaks loose and we go back to doing what we want, to choosing how we want to live, and to being as free as we are human.

That is why we live where we live, and not in Beijing or Havana.

This article first appeared on The Western Journal en Español.

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The Keystone Pipeline Is Dead, Killing Thousands Of Jobs In America And Canada…


Via CNN:

CNN)The developer of the Keystone XL pipeline announced Wednesday it is pulling the plug on the controversial project after the Biden administration revoked its permit in January.

TC Energy, the Canadian company behind the project, said it decided to terminate the project after a comprehensive review of its options and consulting with the government of Alberta, Canada. The company said it would coordinate with regulators, stakeholders and Indigenous groups to ensure a safe exit from the project.

The cancellation ends more than a decade of controversy over the pipeline and marks a big win for environmentalists who argued the project threatened the environment and would only worsen the climate crisis.

The project aimed to carry oil from the tar sands of Canada into the United States, and it has been a political football for years.

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Why One Bank Thinks ESG Could Trigger Hyperinflation

Why One Bank Thinks ESG Could Trigger Hyperinflation

In a recent blog post from DB’s Francis Yared, the credit strategist looks at one of the lesser discussed drivers of inflation and points out that supply shocks to oil prices have historically been relevant for inflation expectations.

As Yared writes, "supply shock to oil prices have had a significant impact on inflation expectations on three occasions over the past half century: in the mid 70s, the mid 80s and the mid 10s." However, unlike the infamous price explosions of the 70s and 80s, in the latest episode the "shale oil revolution" resulted in a significant positive supply shock to oil markets which led OPEC in 2014 to defend its market share rather than oil prices. The downward pressure on oil prices, Yared writes, resulted in a shift to a lower inflation regime, which was reflected in both consumer and market inflation expectations (University of Michigan 5-10y and 5y5y breakevens) as well as monetary policy expectations and the term premium.

Well not anymore, because ESG is unwinding the shale oil revolution. As recent events at Exxon and Shell have shown, the pressure on oil companies to reduce oil and gas exploration and adapt their business models has increased significantly over the past few months. This is reflected in crude rig counts that have lagged the recovery in oil prices and stand at 1/3rd of the 2014 peak.

Similarly, carbon emission future prices in Europe have risen considerably: as the WSJ reported recently, the price of carbon credits traded in Europe has jumped 135% over the past 12 months and recently hit a series of records as economic activity rebounded from pandemic lockdowns. Only lumber, driven higher by the housing boom, has proved a better commodities investment.

As Yared summarizes, "ESG is a negative supply shock that internalizes the climate cost of the production of goods and services." This negative supply shock will be inflationary until technological progress absorbs these costs. That could take years.  Moreover in Europe, it could garner enough of political support to justify a more aggressive fiscal policy despite the constraints at the German or EU levels.

To be sure, the global economy has still to contend with the disinflationary impact of ecommerce. However, as DB concludes, "ESG, the Fed’s Average Inflation Targeting regime and a significantly more pro-active fiscal policy (at least until the US mid-term elections) constitute a new powerful combination that should be supportive of a higher inflation environment than experienced over the last 10 years."

Commenting on his colleague’s observations, DB credit strategist Jim Reid agrees, and writes that "maybe in the fullness of time this surge in mining between 2010-2015 will be the exception rather than the norm and that, in a rapidly changing and ever more ESG sensitive world, it will be  harder to get oil out of the ground. Pricing climate-change externalities more generally could make things more expensive over time. Are we on the verge of another change in inflation expectations due to oil and energy, one that is in large part due to ESG."

So in case there was still any confusion why the establishment has adopted ESG as gospel – and as a reminder, ESG is nothing new, and many years ago used to be called Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR and even Nobel economist Milton Friedman warned against its subversive nature 50 years ago when he said that taking on externally dictated “social responsibilities” beyond those directly related to a company’s business opened the floodgates to endless pressure and interferenc – at a time when the same establishment is also desperate to inflate away the nearly $300 trillion in global debt, now you know: ESG looks like the catalyst that will unleash runaway inflation. And if central banks fail to contain it in time, the entire developed world may soon descend into hyperinflation.

Which in turn should also answer the other pressing question: why are central banks so desperate to issue their own digital, programmable currencies? Well, the ability to turn money on and off with the literal flip of a switch will come in extremely useful in a world where authorities have lost control over all other monetary pathways…

Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/09/2021 – 19:10

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Amazon stands by the sale of ‘Blue Lives Murder’ apparel, wants to give customers ‘widest possible selection’ of goods

In the face of mounting criticism from law enforcement organizations, Amazon defended the sale of anti-police apparel on its online marketplace, saying it wants to provide customers "with the widest possible selection" of goods.

"We do not endorse the content of any particular book, video, or product," an Amazon spokeswoman told the Washington Free Beacon recently in response to questions regarding its continued sale of apparel marked with the slogan "Blue Lives Murder."

"We understand that some customers may find some products objectionable, and we provide customers with a variety of ways to engage and express their views, including through product reviews," the company added in a statement.

TheBlaze reported earlier this month that despite more than a year of repeated complaints from pro-police organizations, "Blue Lives Murder" products — such as a blue T-shirt being sold for $39.99, a black T-shirt, and face masks — were still available for purchase on Amazon’s website.

Since then, it appears that a black baseball cap for $16.99 and an outdoor headscarf for $15.99 have been added to the list of options, though the Free Beacon reported that those products may be removed soon.

Amazon’s refusal to remove the blatantly anti-police products stands in contrast to its swift removal of products deemed offensive to progressive figures such as Vice President Kamala Harris and movements such as the transgender ideology.

The tech giant has acted in the past to remove T-shirts mocking Harris and announced this year that it would no longer "sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness" following its deplatforming of Ryan T. Anderson’s bestseller, "When Harry Became Sally."

In February, Amazon pulled a documentary about conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during Black History Month without explanation. And in 2019, the company kowtowed to the progressive Council on American-Islamic Relations and removed a litany of products — including bath mats and doormats — considered offensive to Muslims.

Washington, D.C., Fraternal Order of Police President Gerald Neill Jr. blasted the company for its biased continued sale of the "hate items."

"Amazon has a role in society as an industry leader to set a high standard, and they’re not doing that," he said. "I think Amazon is not being evenhanded."

In a letter sent last month, the Detectives’ Endowment Association, New York City’s detective union, slammed Amazon for putting cops "at peril and risk" by selling the "disgusting" items.

In calling for the removal of the products, the union’s chief financial officer, Brian Olsavsky, pointed to Amazon’s own policy that states the retailer does not allow products that "promote, incite, or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance, or promote organization with such views."

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IG Report Exonerates Trump: He Did Not Tear Gas Peaceful Protesters to Clear Park for Bible Photo-Op


The inspector general of the U.S Department of the Interior released a report Wednesday exonerating President Donald Trump from false claims that he used tear gas to clear “peaceful protesters” from Lafayette Square for a Bible photo-op.

Last June 1, President Trump delivered a speech at the White House denouncing nationwide riots, then walked through Lafayette Square to St. John’s Episcopal Church, which rioters had partially burned the night before, and held a Bible.

Democrats and the media falsely claimed that Trump had used “tear gas” to clear “peaceful protesters” from the park simply for a “photo op.” Then-candidate Joe Biden went further, claiming that Trump held the Bible “upside-down.”

In fact, as then-Attorney General William Barr explained to CBS News’ 60 Minutes last year, the rioters had injured dozens of officers in the two days leading up to the operation, and the U.S. Park Police had independently decided to expand fences establishing a White House perimeter by one city block, using pepper balls to clear those who resisted.

Breitbart News fact-checked these claims repeatedly:

The last fact-check was particularly important, as Biden used these false claims to blame Trump’s for the Capitol riot.

The inspector general’s report confirms Trump and Barr’s version of events, and debunks claims by Democrats and the media

Protests began in and around Lafayette Park on May 29, 2020. On May 30, the USPP [U.S. Park Police] and U.S. Secret Service established a unified command to coordinate the law enforcement response to the protests. From May 30 to 31, at least 49 USPP officers were injured while policing the protests, and Federal and private property was vandalized.

On the morning of June 1, the Secret Service procured antiscale fencing to establish a more secure perimeter around Lafayette Park that was to be delivered and installed that same day. The USPP, in coordination with the Secret Service, determined that it was necessary to clear protesters from the area in and around the park to enable the contractor’s employees to safely install the fence. The USPP planned to implement the operation as soon as the fencing materials and sufficient law enforcement officers arrived at the park. Six other law enforcement agencies assisted the USPP and the Secret Service in the operation to clear and secure areas near the park.

The operation began at 6:23 p.m. and was completed by 6:50 p.m. Shortly thereafter, at 7:01 p.m., President Trump walked from the White House through Lafayette Park to St. John’s Church. At 7:30 p.m., the contractor began assembling and installing the antiscale fence and completed the work by approximately 12:30 a.m. on June 2.

What We Found: Analysis of Factual Findings

We found that the USPP had the authority and discretion to clear Lafayette Park and the surrounding areas on June 1. The evidence we obtained did not support a finding that the USPP cleared the park to allow the President to survey the damage and walk to St. John’s Church. Instead, the evidence we reviewed showed that the USPP cleared the park to allow the contractor to safely install the antiscale fencing in response to destruction of property and injury to officers occurring on May 30 and 31. Further, the evidence showed that the USPP did not know about the President’s potential movement until mid- to late afternoon on June 1—hours after it had begun developing its operational plan and the fencing contractor had arrived in the park.

The report concludes:

We did not obtain evidence suggesting that the USPP cleared Lafayette Park so the President could visit St. John’s Church. Instead, we found that by approximately 10 a.m. on June 1, the USPP had already begun developing a plan to clear protesters from the area to enable the contractor to safely install the antiscale fence. … We found no evidence establishing that the USPP knew of any potential movement by the President through Lafayette Park until hours later.

There report notes that there was tear gas used nearby — by Washington, D.C., police, operating under Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), who denounced Trump at the time but whose administration is now defending the use of tear gas in court.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new e-book, We Told You So!: The First 100 Days of Joe Biden’s Radical Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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AOC Attacks Kamala For Telling Guatemalans To Not Come To America…


Without importing failed socialists from South America, who will vote for AOC?

Via The Guardian:

The progressive New York representative Alexandria Oscasio-Cortez has criticized Vice-President Kamala Harris, for saying undocumented migrants from Guatemala should not come to the US.

On her first foreign trip as vice-president, Harris visited Guatemala on Monday. At a press conference with Guatemala’s president, Alejandro Giammattei, the former California senator spoke about investigating corruption and human trafficking in Central America, and described a future where Guatemalans could find “hope at home”.

But she also had a clear message that undocumented Guatemalan migrants would not find solace at the US border under the Biden administration.

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HGTV Star’s Sister Elected to ‘Fix Up’ School District Plagued by Critical Race Theory

Shannon Braun, sister of Fixer Upper cohost Chip Gaines, won a seat on a Dallas suburb’s school board Saturday after campaigning to fight the district’s use of "woke" teacher training.

Braun earned a seat on the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District board of trustees in a June 5 runoff election, winning 52 percent of the vote. Braun campaigned against the school district’s embrace of critical race theory, which she called "the single most divisive threat we have in education." She will replace incumbent Mindy McClure, who has sat on the school board for more than five years.

Parents across the country have attempted to thwart radicalism in education as critical race theory-based lessons have become increasingly common. In May, voters in Southlake, Texas, elected a slate of candidates who oppose "antiracism" to city and school board seats. Parents in Hamilton County, Indiana, launched an organization in April to oppose their school district’s push for "antiracism" and critical race theory.

Braun did not intend to run as an anti-critical race theory candidate when she launched her campaign in February. Her platform originally consisted of raising teachers’ pay, making the district’s finances more transparent, and returning students to the classroom for in-person instruction.

Just before the general election, though, a parent sent Braun a document detailing some of the school district’s teacher training sessions. One slide show presentation instructed educators on "white" and "Christian" privilege and systemic racism.

The document Braun received was one of many collected by Grapevine patents. Concerned about how the district was training teachers, these parents collected a slew of documents from the district’s website and through open records requests.

One slideshow instructed educators to teach literature through "critical race theory" and "Marxist" lenses. Another document recommended that the district implement a racial quota for students in "gifted" courses.

Braun told the Washington Free Beacon that she decided to take a stand after seeing the "jaw-dropping" documents.

"Not in a million years would have thought the district would have what the documents show," Braun said.

In May, Braun pledged to vote against critical race theory "and the curriculum that promotes it."

"The single most divisive threat we have in education, critical race theory, is already in our schools," Braun said in a video. "Our school board has brought it into our district right under our noses because our community has not been paying attention. That stops now."

In an email to parents, district officials denied that students and teachers were learning critical race theory.

"The curriculum used in [Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District] does not include instruction on Critical Race Theory. … As we encourage our students to take ownership of their learning, they often have choice in how they approach an assignment or the topic they research and study, as long as they can demonstrate mastery of the [state standards]. This does not mean, however, that Critical Race Theory is part of GCISD’s curriculum."

Braun took issue with the district’s claims. She told the Free Beacon that teachers schooled in critical race theory transmitted the radical ideas to students, no matter what the district’s curriculum said.

"The district claimed it wasn’t there in the curriculum. And, no, there’s no critical race theory class or critical race theory book," Braun said. "But it is a thought process. … You learn about what microaggressions are, and what your privileges are. So it’s subtle, it’s teaching kids to look at life through a lens. You evaluate things through that lens."

District communications director Kristin Snively told the Free Beacon that Grapevine-Colleyville stands by its email denying that it teaches critical race theory.

One Grapevine parent, who asked for anonymity out of fear of retribution, said the district’s failure to acknowledge critical race theory-based lessons within teacher training documents disincentivizes parents from speaking out against it.

"Either they’re being dishonest, or they don’t know what’s going on in the district. They’re out of touch, they don’t know what’s going on on campuses, and they don’t have a good handle on things," the parent said. "It instills fear in parents because we do know the repercussions that might happen to students."

Braun said parents must stand up and fight against radicalism in the classroom.

"Parents are who [are] going to fix this stuff. It’s not going to be a school board. It’s not going to be an administration. The parents have the power," Braun said. "Parents are not going to continue to do this."

Chip Gaines and his wife Joanna came under fire in May for donating $1,000 to Braun’s campaign.

None of the seven sitting school board members responded to the Free Beacon‘s request for comment in time for publication. Braun will be sworn in later this month.

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Biden’s America: 60 Members of Congress Victims of Latest Ransomware Attack

This is Biden’s America.

60 House offices from both sides of the aisle were hit with a ransomware attack.

Online vendor, iConstituent, has been compromised by a ransomware attack, NBC News reported.

According to spokesman for the House chief administrative, David O’Boyle, the hacker attack has not had any impact on House data.

NBC News reported:

An online vendor that provides constituent services for House offices has been compromised by a ransomware attack, NBC News confirmed Tuesday morning.

The vendor told O’Boyle’s office that “their e-newsletter system was hit with a ransomware attack,” he said, noting that the system is an external service available for House offices to buy.

“At this time, the CAO is not aware of any impact to House data,” O’Boyle said. “The CAO is coordinating with the impacted offices supported by iConstituent and has taken measures to ensure that the attack does not affect the House network and offices’ data.”

The largest ferry service to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket was hit with a ransomware attack last Wednesday.

A hacking group with links to the Chinese government penetrated the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s computer systems in April.

In the last month, ransomware hackers have targeted the Colonial Pipeline and the world’s largest meat supplier.

A few weeks ago ransomware hackers shut down the Colonial Pipeline, creating gas lines and shortages in Southeastern states.

JBS, the world’s largest beef supplier was hit with a ransomware attack on Sunday, threatening US meat supply.

One-fifth of US beef production was wiped out after JBS paused processing at five of its biggest beef plants which manage a total of 22,500 cattle per day.

Joe Biden’s message to criminals around the world: The US is too weak to stop cyberattacks so go ahead and hack our infrastructure.

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Chicago’s Bloody Weekend Is A Deadly Example Why Strict Gun Laws Do Not Work


At least 60 people were shot in Chicago between 3 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Monday, including an 11-year old girl.

The mounting tragedies are just the latest in a double-digit increase in the city’s gun violence over last year, according to The Chicago Tribune.

This, despite last year’s alarming increase in homicides and shootings across Chicago.

The news also serves as a poignant reminder that unconstitutional restrictions on gun ownership by law-abiding citizens do next to nothing to prevent criminal behavior.

Indeed, it’s almost as if criminals purchase and use guns regardless of the law. Who would have thought?

Perhaps nowhere is this more clear than on the bloodied streets of Chicago, where gang violence is running rampant and deadly despite some of the strictest gun laws in the nation.

“Much of the violence we see in Chicago is about the gang cultures, revenge, retaliation and street justice,” police Superintendent David Brown said at a Monday news conference, the Tribune reported.

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And those gangs clearly have guns, no matter what the law says.

According to The Chicago Tribune, the city had an all-out ban on all firearms not registered with Chicago police from 1982 until 2010, when the law was struck down by a judge.

The report also notes that the city’s gun laws only fall short of those in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco in terms of restrictiveness.

Chicago, New York and Los Angeles are America’s three largest cities, and are all witnessing a horrific increase in shootings and homicides following the destabilizing unrest of last year’s George Floyd riots, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In a commentary piece printed by The Chicago Tribune in April, Jens Ludwig, director of the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab, documented a 55 percent increase in homicides across the city last year over 2019, and a 110 percent increase in gun carrying. Of those caught illegally carrying, nearly 68 percent were between the ages of 18 and 30.

But truly, how could this be? How could murders be increasing and how could children be getting caught in the crossfire if Chicago has such tough gun laws? After all, Illinois requires that all residents obtain a Firearms Owner Identification Card to purchase firearms or ammunition, according to the NRA-ILA.

Alas, when it comes to the ineffectiveness of such laws, the proof is in the pudding.

The hyper-restrictive gun laws in cities like Chicago and New York do not prevent criminals from engaging in crime. This weekend’s rampant violence is proof enough of that, to say nothing of the last year of skyrocketing crime.

Such laws do, however, prevent decent, law-abiding people from practicing their constitutional right to bear arms, and Americans ought to be prepared for the left’s coming attempts to capitalize on the gun tragedies in order to push more unconstitutional legislation.

The fact is that most of the common-sense legislation that actually works in curbing gun violence was already implemented long ago, and all that is being pushed now under the guise of “preventing gun violence” are blatant power grabs that serve only to disenfranchise law-abiding citizens and embolden criminals.

America’s cities deserve better, and they will only get it when Americans stop accepting garbage laws and start investing in good old-fashioned police work.

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Andrew Thornebrooke is a writer specializing in foreign policy and national security. He is the executive editor of The Rearguard and a MA candidate in military history at Norwich University.

Andrew Thornebrooke is an American writer working at the crossroads of communications and policy advocacy. He is an expert in intranational conflict and national security.

He is the founder of The Rearguard, a weekly column dedicated to exploring issues of culture, defense, and security within the context of a receding Western Civilization.

Andrew is a MA candidate in military history at Norwich University where his research focuses on non-state military actors, partisanship, and the philosophy of war. A McNair Scholar and public speaker, he has presented research at several institutions including Cornell, Fordham, and the CUNY Graduate Center.

His bylines appear in numerous outlets including The Free-Lance Star, Independent Journal Review, InsideSources, The Lowell Sun, and The Western Journal.

Nationality

American

Topics of Expertise

Defense; Military Affairs; National Security

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