The Trump Score Card

Four-and-a-half months into his presidency, Donald Trump has been better than I thought he would be. He  has appointed Betsy De Vos to head the education department, and I believe that Gail Heriot still has a crack at the Office of Civil Rights post.  He has repudiated a climate change treaty that deserves rethinking on Constitutional grounds, as Seth Lipsky points out in his blog in yesterday’s New York Sun.  Moreover, the president still seems serious about regulatory reform.    However, as I point out on Mr. Lipsky’s blog, he has made his best contribution in the way he has rankled the press, baiting them into one absurd impeachment cry after another. 

I rarely watch TV news, but I work out in the Route 28 Gym in Woodstock, NY, and the local lefties inevitably have the TV tuned to MSNBC and Chris Matthews’s mug.  The stridency of his and the other announcers’ carping, caviling, and cussing about President Trump has turned what once could have been fairly called a biased press into one that is shrill and hyperbolic.  The silly Russian story is less serious than the racketeering in which Hillary Clinton engaged, but the MSNBC announcers harp on it and assume that their calls for impeachment will make a difference.   They are discrediting themselves and eliminating any hope for resuscitation of their profession.

Perhaps Trump has encouraged this by design—as someone on Facebook put it, he may have succeeded in goading the media to confusedly charge, much like a bullfighter waving the muleta or red flag at the bull.  If that's not so, the end result will still turn out well.

The press now behaves much like the parties to any social dementia, such as the Salem witch trials, the Negro Plot of 1741, the Red Scare during World War I, or the public reaction to Orson Welles's War of The Worlds.

MSNBC’s Matthews is like the farmer who waved his pitchfork at Welles’s flying saucer.  What we may be seeing is the discrediting of television news and the end of the mid-to-late 20th century's centralized, broadcast news system. If so, Mr. Trump will have done more than a little good on that score alone.

Henry David Thoreau Says No to Big Government

Here are some quotes from Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, which we are discussing in my senior seminar tomorrow.  What do you think Thoreau would have made of O'Reilly or Chris Matthews?

* That government is best which governs not at all

*   Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well disposed are daily made the agents of injustice

*A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority

*…any man more right than his neighbors already constitutes a majority of one

*Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison 

*A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority…but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight

*Know all men by these presents that I, Henry David Thoreau, do not wish to be regarded as a member of any incorporated society which I have not joined.

*They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have traced up its stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humility; but they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool, gird  up their loins once more and continue their pilgrimage toward its fountainhead.

Chris Matthews Interviews Ron Paul

This is a decent interview. Matthews is surprisingly even handed. BUT, notice that he thinks that Hoover or Coolidge were free market libertarians.  This is ignorance of history.  The last libertarian president was Grover Cleveland, elected in 1892 and in 1884.  The fact that Matthews is broadcasting news to millions of Americans and the names of Coolidge and Hoover are meaningless to him, they are merely names, is telling. America is a nation where the blind lead the blind.  No wonder the left is so ignorant, yet considers itself well informed.

De Russy Exposes Orwellian Speech Codes

In a recent article, Candace de Russy exposes the Orwellian speech codes, in effect systematized lies, that the media and President Obama use in discussing terrorism.  The MSNBC Democratic Party spokesman Chris Matthews and his supervisor, Barack Obama (who in turns reports to Lloyd C. Blankfein, chairman of Goldman Sachs), refuse to call terrorists terrorists.  Obama's Office of Management and Budget  "has instructed Defense Department staffers to use the term 'Overseas Contingency Operation' in place of  'Long War' or 'Global War on Terror.'" 

Clearly the United States, once a nation committed to common sense and open debate, is increasingly an authoritarian nation riddled with left wing speech codes and suppression.

Morons Leading Morons: How the Democratic Party Media Lies to Its 1345 Viewers about the Tea Party

I just received this e-mail from Jim Crum about the fictitious reporting on CNN and MSNBC concerning the Tea Party. 

>Hello.

Obviously anyone who disagrees with the official government/media elite narrative is a racist.  

In fact, just recently Gallop did a survey of all of the remaining 1,345 viwers left for CNN and MSNBC, and nearly two thirds of their combined viewers- a full 892 people thought eveyone in the Tea Party was racist. 

This is congruent to what Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews feel.

I gotta tell you folks that really hits me hard, a hammer blow to my self esteem.

Fundraising Message From Governor Sarah Palin

Comparing Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, it would seem that Governor Palin has significantly more extensive and more relevant experience. Governor Palin has filled an executive role, unlike Mr. Obama, who has been a United States Senator for a whopping two years. Funny that overpaid juggler Chris Mathews and the acrobats at AP have yet to raise experience questions about Mr. Obama, but they are quick to raise them with respect to the more experienced Governor Palin.

The following is a fund raising message that I just received from her:

Dear Friend,

I'm honored and humbled to join this historic campaign as John McCain's running mate. I feel privileged to join a man I admire and the man I know is ready to lead our country as the next president.

Some of life's greatest opportunities come unexpectedly, and this is certainly the case for me. I never set out to run for office. But life has taken me on a course that first led to the Alaska Governor's office and now the country's first female Republican vice presidential candidate.

I want you to know that John McCain and I will challenge the status quo in Washington. We're ready to address our nation's great challenges - from reducing our dependence on foreign oil to cutting wasteful spending and creating good jobs for Americans. I look forward to working with him to achieve every goal he has set out during this campaign to improve the lives of all Americans.

As the mother of a son serving in the U.S. Army and the commander of Alaska's National Guard, there is no doubt in my mind that John McCain is prepared to serve as our next Commander in Chief.

What I admire most about John McCain is his unwavering ability to put our country first and to ask for nothing in return for his decades of service. He's shown his resolve, toughness and strength of heart in the darkest of places; all in service to his country. This speaks volumes about the type of selfless leadership John McCain will bring to the White House.

Our team is ready to lead the country as the next President and Vice President of the United States. We're ready to win in November and we won't be able to do it without your support. If you want change in Washington, then John McCain and I are asking for your support. Please join our team today!

Sincerely,

Governor Sarah Palin

P.S. Now is your opportunity to get involved and join our team. I'm proud to be John McCain's running mate and I'm ready pitch in and do my part to win in November. And that means asking you for a campaign contribution. Senators Obama and Biden have amassed a massive war chest - with hundreds of millions of dollars aimed at defeating me and John McCain. Will you help our campaign by making a generous donation today? Any amount you can give will go a long way in helping our ticket. Your support is appreciated. Thank you.

Sarah Palin and the Media Clowns

Media bias in favor of America's first Indonesian presidential candidate, Barack Obama, has me laughing to tears. The bozos at MS-NBC (perhaps to commemorate Larry Harmon, the most famous Bozo, who sadly died last month) claim that the Republicans are "frantic". The Bozos at AP assert (ha, ha) that McCain is undermining his strategy of emphasizing experience. Juggler Chris Matthews (the very name makes me chuckle) asserts that Joe Biden is a brilliant choice while acrobats at AP (giggle) claim that a minor investigation of Palin that Mr. McCain knew about before the nod is going to become a serious issue (sic). Never mind Mr. Obama's repeated lying in his book and his association with a Weather Underground terrorist and felon Tony Rezko. I'm not up that early, but I heard CNN begins its broadcast day with "Ladies and gentlemen, and children of all ages..."

I have no doubt that Mr. McCain's strategic choice of Sarah Palin is excellent. She's more experienced than Barack Obama (she has actually served in an executive role) and he's strategically undercutting the Democrats on several levels.

The chief obstacle the Republicans have to overcome is the stupidity of the Bush administration--the big spending, lack of leadership, lack of vision and commitment to failed, social democratic ideas. With a great VP choice like Palin, the Democrats are likely to become increasingly confused.

Here is a fundraising letter I received from John McCain:

I am honored to announce that I have chosen Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as my choice for the Republican nominee for Vice President. As a father with three daughters, I can't express how proud I am to choose the first female Republican Vice-Presidential nominee.

Sarah Palin is a trailblazer and a reformer. As the first female governor of Alaska, she challenged a corrupt system and has been a tireless advocate for reform - passing a landmark bill on ethics reform. She has taken on the old politics in Alaska and reformed the state's energy industry. She rejects wasteful pork barrel spending. She's fearless - exactly the type of leader I want at my side and the type of leadership we will bring to Washington.

My friends, together Sarah Palin and I make the strongest presidential ticket and I know that she joins me in asking for your support as we head into our Convention week in Minnesota. We're shaking things up in this campaign - and Governor Palin and I are ready to bring real reform to Washington.

The polls indicate this will be a tight race as we head into the fall campaign against Senators Obama and Biden. I expect the polls to remain close all the way up to Election Day and that is why any help you can give today will go a long way to make history on November 4th.

You may already know that I have decided to accept federal matching funds for the final months of this campaign- keeping a campaign promise I made. But that means that August 31st marks the last day I can accept your primary contribution. Will you make an immediate donation of whatever you can give- whether it's $50 or $500 to ensure Governor Palin and I win in November?

You can be assured that as President and Vice President, Governor Palin and I will always put country before all else. We are ready to lead and I ask that you join our campaign today. Your support is deeply appreciated.

Sincerely,
Image Blocked
John McCain

P.S. I have chosen Governor Sarah Palin as my running mate and today we held a joint campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio. I hope you'll visit my website to financially support our ticket as we head into next week's Republican Convention. Thank you.

Chris Matthews' Hard Ball's Soft Brains

I do not normally watch MS-NBC but I was flicking the channel and heard Matthews and one of his colleagues crowing about Obama's vice presidential choice of Joe Biden. Matthews or his colleague was saying that the Republicans would be worried about Obama's pick. What a laugh. MS-NBC doesn't know what the news is. Matthews is to television reporting what Dan Nakaso of the Honolulu Advertiser is to newspaper reporting. The Republicans aren't worried about Biden. They're jubilant. Biden is on tape calling Obama inexperienced. Does anyone actually watch MS-NBC? Maybe Matthews calls his show "Hard Ball" because he's trying to compensate for his soft brain.

The American Media Crisis--The One Who Pays Is You

The media's monotonous support for the Obama campaign ratchets my curiosity about its declining standards. Yellow journalism and bias go back to the Federalist period of American history and before, and Jefferson was not above planting friendly journalists in positions in order to maximally irritate his opponents. But there are several differences between the factionalism of today's media and that of only a few decades ago. In the 1960s, there was still a significant degree of variability in the opinions of the major New York newspapers. Today, television and newspaper outlets conform to a social democratic norm and are increasingly shrill.

Conservatives believe that there is a liberal bias in the media and this is in part true. The corporate and financial interests that control the television and newspaper outlets are corporatist and social democratic because social democracy supports their financial interests. Thus, to understand the reason for the media's liberal bias, it is necessary to fathom the corporate interests that control the major media outlets and the economic conditions that favor their health.

Social democracy has always been a method by which corporate power deceives and controls a naive public. The history of the Progressives and the New Deal as ensuing from the exercise of a broadened interpretation of corporate power, that is for instance, as opposed to small business power, is well documented. The increased stridency of the mass media not only in support of Barack Obama but in its shrill uniformity (examples are MSNBC's Chris Matthews and CNN's Jack Cafferty and Lou Dobbs) suggest a crisis of confidence on the part of American elites. The crisis is economic and it is in its early stages.

The Bush administration has intensified the inflation of the past 25 years to a point that will necessitate a recession. But American financial and business institutions have been considerably weakened due to mismanagement and may not withstand a recession. The media's advertisers and corporate owners are in for a rough ride.

Wealth has been reallocated away from the economy's productive sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture, and the manufacturing firms as in the automobile industry that might be able to produce value are frequently not globally competitive. For them to become competitive the dollar needs to depreciate to the point where their exports become so. This will attract talent back to productive areas of the economy but will reduce the wealth base and force many Americans to reduce their living standards. As well, the reduction in the purchasing power of the dollar will be associated with an influx of dollars from abroad, causing additional price inflation here. This will cause instability. The reason for the price inflation is of course Federal Reserve policy that has subsidized the same firms that advertise through the mass media and include the mass media firms themselves.

In response to the depreciating dollar the Fed will need to raise interest rates. This will cause difficulties and perhaps bankruptcy of major American firms.

The mass media adopts an increasingly lock step tone in order to prepare for a series of economic crises whose causes it aims to distort. The beneficiaries of the long inflation of the past 25 years have been top managers, Wall Street and hedge funds. Oil speculation is not really an important component of this, and the media's recent tap dance about oil speculation is evidence of how it will continue to lie about the economic problems in the next decade. Barack Obama has received more donations from Wall Street and the financial community than has John McCain. He will avoid, with media support, addressing the underlying sources of the need for adjustment.

The one who pays is you.

Why Chris Matthews Loves Barack Obama

Chris Matthews studied economics at UNC Chapel Hill. As a result, Matthews agrees that there are 57 states.