Devin Nunes, a deplorable dairy farmer

photo credit: impactlab.net

Historian Victor Davis Hanson always comes up with insights on today’s headlines, and in his latest, he offer perspectives not only as a scholar and professor, but also as a California farmer. His column at American Greatness on “Counterfeit Elitism” starts off:

Those damn dairy farmers. Why do they insist on trying to govern? Or, put another way:

Why are Republicans trusting Devin Nunes to be their oracle of truth!? A former dairy farmer who House intel staffers refer to as Secret Agent Man because he has no idea what’s going on.

Thus spoke MSNBC panelist, Yale graduate, former Republican “strategist,” and Bush administration speechwriter Elise Jordan.

Jordan likely knows little about San Joaquin Valley family dairy farmers and little notion of the sort of skills, savvy, and work ethic necessary to survive in an increasingly corporate-dominated industry. Whereas dairy farmer Nunes has excelled in politics, it would be hard to imagine Jordan running a family dairy farm, at least given the evidence of her televised skill sets and sobriety.

Republicans “trust” Devin Nunes, because without his dogged efforts it is unlikely that we would know about the Fusion GPS dossier or the questionable premises on which FISA court surveillance was ordered. Neither would we have known about the machinations of an array of Obama Administration, Justice Department and FBI officials who, in addition to having possibly violated the law in monitoring a political campaign and unmasking and leaking names of Americans to the press, may have colluded with people in the Clinton campaign who funded the Steele dossier.

The rest of his article is here. It’s a long look at the insulated elites who know better than the basketfuls of deplorables.

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Yet another reason not to watch today's Super Bowl

This lovely report is by Colin Flaherty at American Thinker:

Everything you need to know about the Super Bowl can be found in the rap hit “Dreams and Nightmares,” by Meek Mill. But which more truthfully could be named after a line in the song: "The Murder Game" or "All I Know Is Murder."

Everything about how far professional football has fallen and how the NFL celebrates the obscene, the vulgar, the dangerous, and the foolish will be on full display as that song blares as the Eagles take the field.

This song that the Eagle players have chosen is about guns, drugs, money, bitches, and murder, over and over and over. Just like the rest of Meek Mill songs, which also include a healthy dollop of the evils of the white man.

We do not know whether the Eagles will be kneeling prior to the big game as they have during the season. Or whether they will be following the dictates of their union which, after accepting $100 million from the owners, decided that white racism and police brutality were not so bad after all.

Meek Mill will not be there. He’s in the joint. The slammer. All for a violating his parole over and over and over. All for committing crimes over and over and over.

The Eagles don’t think that is fair. Don’t you know that crime is the new black entitlement? The mayor and district attorney of the City of Brotherly Love certainly do: That was their platform during their recent elections.

. . .

The rest of Flaherty’s report is just as bad.

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Memo fallout

 image credit: eutimes.net

Which is worse?

The Media response to “The Memo” as reported by George Neumayr at The American Spectator (Obamagate : Confirmed”)

The media’s response to the release of the Nunes memo surpasses the level of Pravda covering a Soviet show trial. No sooner had the memo appeared than journalists immediately began throwing sand into their audience’s eyes. The story, according to the media, is not that Obama’s Justice Department/FBI snookered FISA court judges and used Hillary’s purchased Steele dossier to spy on Trumpworld. No, the scandal is that the evil Republicans exposed this outrage, and that Trump, the ultimate target of this espionage, has the gall to defend himself. How dare a defendant in our kangaroo trial defend himself with the truth — that’s the upshot of all the media’s bleating.

or Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s initial reactions:

         “No department is perfect”

and this headline at Sparta Report:

Jeff Sessions Today: [FISA Fraud] Rod Rosenstein Represents‘The Kind Of Quality And Leadership That We Want In The Department’

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"Americans are Dreamers, too!"

image credit: 989thewolf.net

I thought President Trump's State of the Union speech was outstanding, and most of the commentary I've read is positive. I especially appreciated a few short takes by Don Surber:

Trump forced one of his nagging critics, Chris Cillizza, CNN's editor-at-large, to concede the brilliance of the move.

"Perhaps not surprising for someone who has lived his life in the spotlight and who built a life on image and brand, the stagecraft of Trump's first State of the Union was outstanding. From the families who lost loved ones to the MS-13 gang to Otto Warmbier's parents to the North Korean defector and his crutches, the visuals -- and the stories they told -- were haunting and memorable," Cillizza wrote.

The photograph that won the night was not President Trump, but rather Ji Seong-ho holding his crutches aloft. He escaped North Korea in 2006, and now lives in South Korea helping others escape.

Here’s the photograph of Ji Seong-ho:

I did not know Ji Seong-ho’s story, and it is harrowing. Here’s the link to the page on Wikipedia. Surber continues:

His presence was testimony to the appreciation of President Trump's efforts to confront Kim Jong Un, which may lead to the departure of Kim, and the unification of the two Koreas.

Incorporating the victims of MS-13 and the heroes of America made his message theirs. And they are more credible to those who are not as Trumpian as we are. They sold his policies.

To be sure, [there] was the co-opting of the Democratic Party line. The line of the night was "Americans are Dreamers, too!"

For the rest of Don Surber’s SOTU commentary, go here and here.  

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State of the Union and more!

photo credit: cnn.com

Your television viewing guide for this evening (Tuesday, Jan. 30):

President Donald J. Trump’s first State of the Union address is tonight at 9pm on all major news networks.

Massachusetts congressman Joseph Kennedy III will present the Democrat party’s official response following the SOTU.

After the SOTU address, Rep. “Auntie Maxine” Waters (D-CA) will probably renew her demand for impeachment on BET TV. According to the HuffPo:

Waters will deliver her remarks on the BET program “Angela Rye’s State of the Union,” 

a program that is not at present showing up on the Cleveland Spectrum listing. 

UPDATE: The BET program is on Weds., Jan. 31 at 9pm.

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Good bye to Chief Wahoo

vintage official scorecard

Good bye to Chief Wahoo (because, you know, it’s r-a-a-a-a-cist)

ABC News reports:

Divisive and hotly debated, the Chief Wahoo logo is being removed from the Cleveland Indians' uniform next year.

The polarizing mascot is coming off the team's jersey sleeves and caps starting in the 2019 season, a move that will end Chief Wahoo's presence on the field but may not completely silence those who deem it racist.

The Associated Press was informed of the decision before an official announcement was planned for Monday by Major League Baseball.

Yet another casualty of political correctness. I grew up with this logo and am sorry to see it go. 

PS I always thought choosing a mascot carried with it a compliment. Indians were worthy warriors. Who would want to be cheering for The Cleveland Worms? 

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Today’s scary read: the moving dictatorship

Image credit: trump.news

Daniel Greenfield redefines the “Deep State” and it’s scary. The full transcript of his speech to the  South Carolina Tea Party Coalition Convention in Myrtle Beach is also posted at Zero Hedge (h/t Instapundit).   Here are a few extracts:

the Democrats have rejected our system of government

…

You can hate the other party. You can think they’re the worst thing that ever happened to the country. But then you work harder to win the next election. When you consistently reject the results of elections that you don’t win, what you want is a dictatorship.

Your very own dictatorship.

The only legitimate exercise of power in this country, according to the left, is its own. Whenever Republicans exercise power, it’s inherently illegitimate.

The attacks on Trump show that elections don’t matter to the left.

. . .

It’s the moving dictatorship. It’s the tyranny of the network.

You can’t pin it down. There’s no one office or one guy. It’s a network of them. It’s an ideological dictatorship. Some people call it the deep state. But that doesn’t even begin to capture what it is.

To understand it, you have to think about things like the Cold War and Communist infiltration.

A better term than Deep State is Shadow Government.

Parts of the Shadow Government aren’t even in the government. They are wherever the left holds power. It can be in the non-profit sector and among major corporations. Power gets moved around like a New York City shell game. Where’s the quarter? Nope, it’s not there anymore.

The shadow government is an ideological network. These days it calls itself by a hashtag #Resistance. Under any name, it runs the country. Most of the time we don’t realize that. 

. . .

Civil wars swing around a very basic question. The most basic question of them all. Who runs the country?

Is it me? Is it you? Is it Grandma? Or is it bunch of people who made running the government into their career?

America was founded on getting away from professional government. The British monarchy was a professional government. Like all professional governments, it was hereditary. Professional classes eventually decide to pass down their privileges to their kids.

America was different. We had a volunteer government. That’s what the Founding Fathers built.

This is a civil war between volunteer governments elected by the people and professional governments elected by… well… uh… themselves.

In the intro, Greenfield acknowledges and thanks “anyone and everyone still fighting the good fight.” Including Tea Party people volunteering in their communities. Read the rest here.    # # #