Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –
In this issue:
- Harvey
- Blue Slip
- Comments
- NFL
- Soros
- Seward
- Harvey. A second Hurricane Harvey hit last week. Ground zero for this one was Hollywood, closely followed by the media, democrats, the Clintons and O’Bamas. Harvey Weinstein, the founder of Miramax was tossed aside last week amid accusations of nearly 40 years of exposing himself to young women, sexual assaults, and sexual abuse of women. Everybody in town and in the media, knew what was going on and excused it because Weinstein cleverly aligned himself with the politically correct positions on issues and positions supported by the left. He bought off his victims with threats that if they complained, they would never work in Hollywood again. Those few that did file suits were paid off. Apparently, payoffs were part of his employment contract with Miramax. He bought off the media by providing sweet young things (starlets) for their programs and on-air events under the notion that no chickie-babes, no viewers. And it worked for decades. When he would get into trouble, his kneejerk reaction would typically to announce some sort of Hollywood jihad against conservatives, Republicans, churches, and gun owners. His initial reaction to the first round of stories was to announce a pogrom to run Wayne LaPierre of the NRA into retirement. So why after all these years would such a heavy hitter among democrats and on the left be targeted for destruction? My guess is several reasons, first among them being his waning ability to purchase influence. A close second would be the new media, which finally published an expose of him and his serial sexual abuse. The NYT refused to publish a piece substantially the same as what finally hit the public this week in 2004. NBC sat on the current expose for years until the reporter got fed up and shopped it elsewhere. One description of this technique comes from David Burge, former IowaHawk: “Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving.” The damage done to democrats by this cannot be understated. Not only was Weinstein a major donor, he was also a bundler, fundraiser and creator of media memes. He and his cronies donated tens of millions (and more) to democrat campaigns for decades. He was a close personal friend of both Clintons and O’Bamas. One of the O’Bama daughters even works at Miramax as an intern during the year before she goes to Harvard. How did the democrats and media get themselves into this position? You can trace it back at least 50 years, probably as far back as FDR. They covered up serial abuse of women by the Kennedy brothers. Once they covered for a drunken Ted Kennedy’s homicide of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick in 1969, they were sunk, hooked, and completely roped onto this path. It led logically to the Clinton years. Next shoe to drop? Very likely breaking up a number of pedophilia rings populated by high ranking democrats (Bill Clinton’s Lolita Express flights to the Caribbean) and Hollywood high rollers. Both Corey Feldman and Morton Downey Jr. have broached the subject. Both were mostly ignored. The former Carlos Danger (Anthony Weiner) is in jail on what appears to be a plea bargain for attempted sex with an underage girl. He is very likely talking a lot. The media is going to do its level best to bury this. I don’t think they will be successful. Washington DC is not the only swamp to drain. There are a lot more denizens in NY & LA which in turn fed the other swamp in DC.
- Blue Slip. The blue slip is one of the quaint little Senate customs undergoing change via pressure by President Trump and the people who elected him to office. Today, the blue slip allows a sitting US senator to keep a judicial nominee from his or her state from getting a hearing. For most of the history of the senate, it was advisory in nature. Over the last couple of decades, it has turned into a vehicle for democrat senators to ensure no conservative nominated by a Republican president from their state is ever confirmed. This has helped move the needle of the judiciary inexorably leftward over time much to the dismay of those of us on the political right. The reason it is changing is due to ongoing democrat obstruction of Trump judicial nominees, 60 of them nominated so far. The blue slip is just another tool in the kit. So far, judicial nominations are one thing President Trump and his team have been very good on, which is why we are seeing democrat obstruction. Approving his nominees has also tended to get support by otherwise recalcitrant Republican senators. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that they would be returning to the use of blue slips as advisory in nature rather than pocket filibusters. This is very good news, coming based on the example that Harry Reid set modifying, twisting, and otherwise abusing senate rules while majority Leader. Harry was and continues to be the gift that just keeps on giving. https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2017-10-11/mcconnell-to-end-senates-blue-slip-tradition
- Comments. One of the cherished tools used by the left has been the public comment period for administrative state actions. Over the years, they’ve been able to turn out large numbers of their True Believers to bury any agency in comments supporting green or any other leftist position. The greens figured out how to do this first. The rest of the left adopted their successful techniques. In past years, these comments have been filed by paid volunteers. In recent years, the process has been automated. The comment period is a form of Kabuki Theater, as the feds are under no obligation to do anything with any comments. Typically, if they read something they like, it is used to support their impending power grab. If it is not, it is ignored. And when they get a bunch of comments on something they want to do (any endangered species listing for instance), they use it as justification to steam roll the opposition. Latest example of this is the comment period for O’Bama’s internet power grab called Net Neutrality. This would have put the FCC in charge of content on the internet, and did for a while. At the end of the festivities, the FCC received over 22 million comments. One identical e-mail was submitted 1.2 million times. An analysis of submitted comments for net neutrality found that less than 3.9 million of the comments submitted were unique, roughly 17% of the total. https://www.redstate.com/setonmotley/2017/10/09/83-bots-told-power-grab-%E2%80%98comment-period%E2%80%99-titanically-stupid/
- NFL. Viewership and attendance to NFL games continued to crater last week as the rolling protests against the National Anthem continued. Networks changed their coverage to no longer televise the National Anthem, thus hoping to bypass the public blowback. They also stopped broadcasting wide angle shots inside the stadiums as they would end up showing an increasing number of open seats in the upper portions of the stadiums. For their part, the NFLPA has been increasingly militant, as have a number of players. This is not going to end any time soon. The only owner who seems to understand that this an orchestrated assault on his bottom line is Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones, who announced that any Cowboy who kneeled during the National Anthem would not play. Reaction from the Usual Suspects in the media was swift and universally negative. ESPN hired mouth Jemele Hill went so far as to call for a boycott of Cowboys products, prompting an immediate two-week suspension by ESPN. VP Mike Pence walked out of a Colts game after a bunch of 49ers players took a knee during the National Anthem, keeping the pressure on. So, what is happening? I think it is part of the Gramsci long march thru yet another institution, the current target being the NFL, led by members of the O’Bama cabal. NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith had close ties with O’Bama while he was in the WH. He was part of the spurious charges of racism against Rush Limbaugh’s attempt to purchase the Rams some years ago. Limbaugh was a member of the group putting together a bid and withdrew amidst the media-driven firestorm against him. Last week, Capital Research announced that the NFLPA joined with a number of left wing groups, many of them with Soros connections to fund the “resistance” to Donald Trump’s presidency. NFLPA has funded the Center for Community Change and Working America. The players who allow this to continue are funding the very destruction of their jobs and livelihood. Of course, they will feel good sticking it to the man. Problem is that they don’t realize they are sticking it to themselves as the rest of us who pay their salaries aren’t going to put up with it. https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-nfl-players-association-funds-the-far-left/
- Soros. Washington Free Beacon got their hands on 2015 tax documents demonstrating Soros involvement in the anti-Trump resistance. Soros Open Society Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation channeled millions of dollars into the Center for Community Change. Between the three of them they donated over $7 million to the project. Indivisible is a project of the Advocacy Fund, another Soros-funded group. The resistance group Refuse Fascism, which has organized violent demonstrations and riots is backed by the same network, including a progressive charity funded by Soros, a labor union, and several large companies. Follow the money. Always follow the money. http://dailycaller.com/2017/10/04/soros-kellogg-ford-gave-millions-to-anti-trump-resistance-group/
- Seward. Our ever-classy (classless?) LtGov Byron Mallott put up a new large format photo (art work) in the LtGov’s office last week. This “art” was a large photo of the Tongass People’s “shaming totem” ridiculing William Seward’s failure to reciprocate a potlatch given in his name in 1869 The current pole is new, and is the third version erected over the last 135 years. That’s kind of a long time to hold a grudge. But for our tribal neighbors, channeling their best imitation of Hatfields and McCoys, any slight, perceived, or real, is enough to kick around a guy who has been gone from this earth for over a century. And a good time was had by all, led by our LtGov. The article out of the Ketchikan Daily News of the totem being raised last April quoted one tribal member saying that “He never returned the potlatch, he didn’t understand the honor, and that’s why the pole went up.” Nothing like playing I got a secret and then blasting away at someone who didn’t even know the local custom, which none of the locals, elders, or leaders bothered to tell Seward or his entourage should the reportage be accurate. For his part, Mallott claimed that the totem is an admonishment to all visitors that all people should be treated with respect, everyone that is expect William Seward. If this is ancient native wisdom, perhaps it is good that we don’t have more of it. Mallott and his tribal members ought to be ashamed of doing this, reveling in it, trashing the memory of someone who isn’t around to return the favor. Native leadership from the Tlingit? Not observed. Good old fashioned Christian forgiveness? Not observed either. Much more fun to mumble serious words about respect or the lack thereof. From here, if you aren’t giving any, it going to be difficult to expect any in return. But these guys don’t just expect it, they demand it, all because of their race, which isn’t going to work much longer. LtGov Byron Mallott has demonstrated that he is a small minded, intolerant, vindictive, nasty, unforgiving, little man, none of which is a surprise to this writer. http://mustreadalaska.com/new-art-lieutenant-governors-office-honors-shaming-of-seward/
More later –
– AG