Dear Trump Haters...

Dear Trump Haters,

Hatred is a counterproductive emotion.  It saps your energy, hurts you more than the target of your hate, and rarely results in anything positive.  Of course, if you disagree with policies and methods, you have every right and obligation to criticize and make counter proposals.  But raw hatred should not be part of the equation.  It makes you look unhinged, especially when the object of your hate hasn't even taken office yet!  

Look, you had eight years to demonstrate the superiority of liberal totalitarianism. It didn't work. Now it's time to give constitutional freedom a chance. Is that what Trump will bring? Who knows. That's certainly what his cabinet choices look like.  

So, let's give the new President a chance to enact his vision. If it turns out to be just another version of totalitarianism, then it's time to ramp up the protests. And I'll be right there blogging against it! In the mean time, try to be civil. That's what we, who opposed liberal totalitarianism, did when Obama was the new guy. You are looking very bad in comparison.  

And consider this:                 

P.S.  Your candidate didn't lose because of Russians, Fake News, James Comey, Julian Assange, Misogyny, Racism, Fox News, or any one of the lame excuses you have come up with.  Deal with it. You lost. Grow up.  

Will The Real Hitler Please Stand Up?

Update:  

SEEN ON FACEBOOK: “While everyone was banging on about Trump being Hitler, Obama sent thousands of troops into Poland. The satire is writing itself these days.”  

(as per Glenn Reynolds at instapundit.com)  

Dieselgate Update

The Obama DOJ has charged six VW executives and arrested one in the diesel emissions scandal plaguing the German automaker.   In other news, Fiat Chrysler has also been accused of it's own diesel emissions cheating scandal.   Oh, and don't forget Mercedes, which is being sued over diesel emissions as well.  What's going on here?

Here's the upshot from a piece about all the diesel models NOT coming to the U.S. from a site called gas2.org:    

For those of you keeping score, then, that means Volkswagen’s diesels are out. Audi’s diesels are out. Mercedes’ diesels are, apparently, on the way out now, too. As it stands, Jaguar is the only automaker ready to sell 2017 model year diesels in the US. Sure, BMW and GM (nee Chevy) are both anticipating their diesels to be cleared for sale before the end of the year. But that still just leaves Jaguar in the here and now. One brand, compared with nine brands offering twenty diesel models in the US this time last year.  

In other words, passenger diesel is dead.  How GM, BMW, and Jaguar are able to continue selling them is a mystery that the others may want to solve.  For all intents and purposes, emissions laws, justified or not, have made passenger diesels in the U.S. illegal.

It's almost like a trap was set for these companies.  The government set impossible emissions standards knowing diesels couldn't meet them, and then they fine the living crap out of these (mostly foreign) companies when they get caught!

I'm reminded of the book by Harvey Silverglate, "Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent." wherein he details how laws have morphed into oppressive micromanagement schemes that entrap all of us with often vague and unknowable parameters.

Car companies certainly knew what they were doing, but chose to cheat anyway because they were painted into a corner.  Businesses spend billions on R&D and cannot easily walk away from technology they spent years developing.  Somehow Europe, which runs largely on diesel power, was OK with the levels of NOX coming from these new "Clean Diesels".  Interestingly, only the U.S., which runs mostly on gas powered passenger vehicles, had a problem.

Bottom line is this:  If a majority of the companies selling diesels took the extraordinary risk of being fined, sued, arrested, and shamed in the public square instead of just walking away from the diesel business altogether, something was probably wrong with the emission standards.  Yes, I'm standing up for the cheaters, because at this point, I have zero faith in the U.S. government's ability to get anything right.        

Meryl Streep's Golden Melt-Down

And, no Meryl, Donald Trump did not make fun of a handicapped reporter's handicap.  He used that same exaggerated spastic gesture to mock Ted Cruz, as well as several other non-handicapped critics. It's one of his stock mannerisms when imitating critics.  Moreover, the handicapped reporter he was quoting at the time has a deformed hand, and is not spastic.

Watch here:

Russian Hacking? We've Seen This Movie Before...

The news today is that Barack Obama, with a fortnight left in office, has positioned U.S. special forces in Lithuania at the Russian border in a signal to Vladimir Putin that things like "hacking" our elections will not be tolerated.  Seems legit, right?

Except we've seen this movie before.  The difference is,  last time we weren't saber rattling with a nuclear power, and the administration didn't have a shelf life shorter than a ripe banana.  This is extremely dangerous and reckless behavior.   

Remember Benghazi?  This Russian hacking meme, and the responses to it, are just like what happened after Benghazi.  Back then, the ploy involved an anti-Muslim YouTube video instead of Russian meddling, but the goal was the same: divert attention to cover-up an ugly reality.  

There are always some "tells" with these tactics:  

• Instantaneous determination of the culprit.
• Unanimous talking-point buy-in from all Democrat operatives.
• Over-the-top denunciations of routine behavior.
• Convenient deferrals to the "intelligence community".  (Which, of course, has been thoroughly politicized in the Obama era.)
• Disproportionate and decisive remedial action taken.
• Inability to provide any proof.  
• Claims that proof exists, but exposing proof would jeopardize secret national security sources and methods.

Like Benghazi, there was an instantaneous determination of complicity after WikiLeaks began releasing DNC and John Podesta emails.  It took the Obama administration several years to finally figure out that Major Hassan, screaming "Alahu Akbar" while murdering U.S. military personnel, was actually committing an act of terror.  Yet somehow the administration knew instantly Russia, and specifically Vladimir Putin, was to blame for the emails.  The same administration that couldn't competently launch an Obamacare website with an unlimited budget and years to prepare, knew instantly and with absolute certainty that the easily disguised tracks of a phishing scam led directly to Vladimir Putin.  Does this add up?    

So unanimous was the adherence to this meme, that it became a standing joke whenever a Democrat operative was interviewed during the campaign.  The interviewer would ask a question about some innocuous topic, something like, "So, how's the food on the campaign trail?", and the op would figure out a way to squeeze in a reference to Russians meddling in our election! Anyone paying attention could tell this was a meme being pushed for political expediency...just like the Benghazi YouTube diversion.

Remember after Benghazi how every Democrat operative referred to the YouTube video as "reprehensible",  and then would go on to distance the U.S. government from having anything to do with it?  That was classic straw-man stuff, as no one ever claimed the U.S. government had anything to do with the video in the first place.  With this Russian "hack",  operatives have been using superlatives for how evil and against international norms this alleged hack has been.  Oh really? Not long ago, WikiLeaks disclosed the U.S. government was actually listening to Angela Merkel's cell phone! Now that deserved some superlatives.  And during the last election in Israel, Obama spent a pile of U.S. taxpayer money in an attempt to overthrow Bibi Netanyahu.  All of it wasted, of course. Yet somehow we are to believe Putin is doing something reprehensible?  Putin actually invaded a country recently, and Obama's response?  Nothing.  Remember Anna Chapman?  She was a real Russian spy with an entire spy ring living in the U.S. who got caught in 2010.  Obama's response? Nothing - except she was asked to leave.  Now someone figures-out Podesta's "ultra-secure" password is actually... "password", and Obama is expelling people and sending troops?  Does this make logical sense? 

The intelligence community was somehow coerced into mentioning the YouTube video as a possible irritant for the murders in Benghazi.  We now know that line was Bravo Sierra.  Similarly, the same intelligence community is now pedaling the line about Putin and the Ruskies.  Just as credible, and just as political as last time.  And in both cases, there were dupes in both parties who sincerely bought into the ploy.  

To make the Benghazi ploy look legit, Obama actually did imprison the hapless guy who made the YouTube video.   If only we had a first amendment or something to protect videomakers from being imprisoned for speech!  Oh wait...  Now we are invading countries and expelling diplomats to make the same diversional ploy look legit.  And to sabotage the incoming administration.  

In both Benghazi and the email hack there is a conspicuous lack of proof to support the diversions. And none is forthcoming in either case.  Obama promised a swift response after Benghazi, and then said,  "The perpetrators will be brought to justice!".  Remember how every major network was able to interview the perps within weeks, but it took the Obama military, with a budget in the trillions, years to get one alleged attacker and bring him stateside?  His trial is conveniently scheduled for 2017, long after the election of 2016.  He would certainly know if the attack was really a film critique, and I'm sure he was offered a great deal to publicly finger the video on 60 Minutes.  Of course, any serious observer would know that the compound in Benghazi was attacked on multiple occasions long before the offending YouTube video was ever put online!

In the case of Benghazi, one poor schmuck actually spent a year in prison to divert attention from a terrorist attack and get Obama re-elected.  Now it is a diversion to delegitimize and sabotage the incoming President who threatens to undo eight years of Obama's totalitarian liberalism.  This time the ploy has turned sinister and dangerous.  I sure hope Donald Trump can gracefully dance around all the landmines Barack Obama is putting in his path, because if not, real people could get blown up.

(UPDATE: The company that found the alleged Russian hack, and on which the entire intelligence community assessment rests, is a Google linked company with strong ties to the Hillary Clinton campaign.  CrowdStrike was funded by a division of Google, and Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Googles parent, was a staff member and advisor to the Clinton campaign.)  

    

Trump Drops Anchor on The D.C. Establishment

Yet another in the series of Caddyshack metaphors for Donald Trump and 2016.  (These work better as video loops than GIFs, IMHO.)  

Trump vs Obama's Legacy

Caddyshack, as readers of this site know, is the perfect metaphor for Donald Trump and 2016.  In this scene, Al Czervik, the Donald Trump metaphor played by Rodney Dangerfield, deposes the captain, takes the yacht's helm, gets distracted, and runs over this random hapless guy out fishing.  Metaphor and comedy gold!

This Caddyshack Scene is a Perfect Metaphor for the Left's Trump Melt Down

Yet another in my series of scenes from Caddyshack that are perfect metaphors for 2016 and Donald Trump:




Here are links to the others:

Trump as Rodney Dangerfield's Al Czervik from Caddyshack

GIF of scene from Caddyshack symbolizing Trump sinking the Left and #NeverTrumpers yacht...

GIF of scene from Caddyshack symbolizing Trump taking aim at Obama legacy...

Voter Fraud Is So Massive You Can See It From Space!

States that Issue Driver's Licenses to Unauthorized Immigrants 

2106 Election Results Map

The two maps above amount to prima facie evidence of massive voter fraud in the 2016 election.  Of the 13 states and districts (including Washington D.C.) that issue drivers licenses to unauthorized immigrants, 12 of them voted Democrat. Only Utah bucked the trend, but that's because Utah requests a picture ID or equivalent, and the driver's license they issue to unauthorized immigrants is distinctly different from the one issued to citizens.

This occurred during a year when the Democrat candidate won only 21 states (including D.C.). 12 of the 21, or 57%, a clear majority, were the states that issue driver's licenses to unauthorized immigrants.  The odds of this being a coincidence are astronomical.

Only citizens are supposed to vote in national elections, but non-citizens are voting in such massive numbers you can see it from space!

This is not an accident.  Democrats have been on a decades long mission to encourage unauthorized immigrants to come here and vote. The reason is simple; immigrants overwhelmingly vote Democrat.

To further this along, Democrat President Bill Clinton signed a law in 1993 known as the Motor Voter bill, which basically automated voter registration for anyone who applied for a driver's license or other government benefit.  The problem, of course, is that unauthorized immigrants can obtain driver's licenses in the 13 states above.

Here's a picture of Bill Clinton signing the Motor Voter bill.  Notice the two people standing directly behind him?  They are Francis Fox Piven and  Richard Cloward in the green and grey respectively, two radical Columbia University professors who advocated collapsing the U.S. by overloading it with dependents and immigrants.

And here is Barack Obama, who studied at Columbia University while Cloward and Piven held court there, answering  a question with only one correct answer.   The question is essentially, "should illegals be afraid to vote?" His answer should have been, "they shouldn't vote because it's illegal".  That's not what he says though.  Watch:




Link: Here

So how many illegals and non-citizens voted in those 12 states? How many voted in all the other states? We'll never know because by Democrat design, when it comes to citizenship, voting is done almost exclusively on the honor system.

(This post is similar to, "Motor Voter and the Popular Vote", which was posted 12/1.)
   

Pussy Riot's Warning for Americans

Oh, the irony.

The New York Times ran a piece on Dec. 4th titled, "A Warning for Americans From a Member of Pussy Riot".  Pussy Riot, in case you don't know, was a really bad girl band in Russia whose leaders ended up in prison for twenty months after performing an anti-Putin political rant at a church in Russia and then resisting arrest. 

A documentary film called "Pussy Riot, a Punk Prayer" was made about their journey including their formation, arrest, trial, and imprisonment.  The moral of the story:  Putin is a brutal dictator, Russia is not free, and Pussy Riot's treatment is a symbol for smug Westerners to look down their noses at barbaric Russia.  

During the trial, which was ostensibly about trespassing and resisting arrest, the defendants were kept in cages like real life Hannibal Lecters and were not afforded anything like the rights the West is accustomed to.  The implication is that all this injustice was really just payback for anti-Putin political speech,  and it could happen here.  

Now that Donald Trump has been elected President, The New York Times wants you to know that not only could it happen here, it likely will.                   

“It is a common phrase right now that ‘America has institutions,’” Ms. Tolokonnikova said. “It does. But a president has power to change institutions and a president moreover has power to change public perception of what is normal, which could lead to changing institutions.”

                                                                                      Pussy Riot leader, Nadya Tolokonnikova


There's only one problem with all this;  what happened to Pussy Riot in Russia has not only happened here in the U.S., but it's been widespread.  What's more, it happened under Barack Obama and the Democrats, not a Republican.

Here is a list of just some of the political filmmakers imprisoned, persecuted, and legally harassed by Barack Obama and the Democrats in recent years.  Like Pussy Riot, in many cases there were ostensible non-political bases for the arrests and harassment, but the reality is that these were all political payback in one form or another.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was put in prison for a year as punishment for making the YouTube video famously blamed by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya.  As everyone knows though, the Benghazi attack had nothing to do with a YouTube video.   Even Hillary Clinton knew that because she emailed her daughter, Chelsea, that the attacks were al Qaeda-like terrorist operations and then followed-up with the Libyan President confirming the same.    

Yet Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama needed a scapegoat to cover for their failure to provide the necessary security in Benghazi, to maintain the fiction that they had defeated terrorism, and to deceive the American people before an election.  So off to prison went Nakoula on an ostensible probation violation.      

Dinesh D'Souza admitted he gave more money than was legally allowed to a college friend who was running for office.  He gave $20,000 while the legal limit for a couple was $5,400. More importantly though, he made a couple of anti-Obama films in 2012 and 2013.  As a result of the ostensible campaign finance violation, he was confined for eight months, put on five months probation, and forced to undergo psychological counseling.

Mr. D'Souza was the first person in the history of campaign finance law ever to be confined for an offense such as this.   

Here's what liberal Harvard legal scholar Alan Dershowitz said about his conviction and sentence:  

“The idea of charging him with a felony for this doesn’t sound like a proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion.... I can’t help but think that [D'Souza's] politics have something to do with it.... It smacks of selective prosecution.” He went on to say such alleged campaign violations are common in politics. 

David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were behind the Planned Parenthood undercover videos made by The Center for Medical Progress.  Barack Obama himself made a point to single them out.  As part of their cover they used fake IDs that somehow became a pretense for felony charges, a raid on Daleiden's home, and seizures of his property.

“To storm into a private citizen’s home with a search warrant is outrageously out of proportion for the type of crime alleged,” said Matt Heffron a former federal prosecutor who is now Daleiden’s legal adviser. “It’s a discredit to law enforcement, an oppressive abuse of government power.”

Recently all charges in Texas were dropped against Daleiden, but the damage was done.  His funding was depleted, CMP was sidelined, and the harassment was a success.  Charges in California have yet to be resolved.

Joel Gilbert made an anti-Obama film called "Dreams From My Real Father".  It drew the ire of Democrats on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) who voted unanimously to punish Mr. Gilbert.  When Republicans stood firm and pointed out that liberal filmmakers such as Michael Moore were not similarly harassed, the punishment was eventually blocked.  Were it not for the split FEC, Mr. Gilbert would have been sanctioned simply for making a movie critical of Barack Obama.

James O'Keefe, Joseph Basel, Robert Flanagan, and Stan Dai were part of James O'Keefe's undercover video organization, Project Veritas, the organization that single-handedly took down one of Obama's favorite community organizer (and voter fraud) activist groups, ACORN. They went on to investigate Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu and ran afoul of the FBI while trying to make a film about her. They eventually settled for misdemeanor charges and accepted probation, fines, and community service.

O'keefe has also been harassed by Obama's DHS for making films about the open Mexican border, and was just blocked by Twitter for releasing videos critical of Democrats and Hillary Clinton.

Logan Clements made a movie called "Sick and Sicker...", an unflattering portrayal of Obamacare. For his disloyalty he was handed his first ever IRS audit.   

Breitbart News also earned their first IRS audit.   Breitbart is a multi-media internet megaphone that is foursquare opposed to Clinton and Obama's policies.  In this election cycle they are all-in with Donald Trump.  (Also, see David Bossie below who contributes occasionally to Breitbart.) 

Glenn Beck, Pat Grey, and Scott Baker of The Blaze Network don't just make videos, they have an entire broadcast network, publish books, run a website, and do talk radio all of which oppose Clinton and Obama policies.  So yeah, these guys all got their first IRS audits .  But that's not all.  Glenn Beck's top sponsor, GoldLine, was targeted by Democrats, specifically congressman Anthony Weiner, husband of Hillary's right hand person Huma Abedin, and a known political hit-man for Democrats and Obama.  Weiner resigned his House seat in scandal, but his (ex?) wife would have played a major role in a Clinton administration.

David Bossie and James Bopp were behind the infamous Citizens United (CU) SCOTUS case. David Bossie runs CU and James Bopp was the lawyer who defended the first amendment. The case centered around CU's right to show an unflattering film portrait of Hillary Clinton. They won the case at the SCUTUS, but ran afoul of Obama and the entire Left who believe the first amendment only applies to Michael Moore and The New York Times. Hence, in front of the entire world during a state of the union address, Barack Obama publicly berated the justices who upheld the first amendment rights of filmmakers, thus sending a message to justices, filmmakers, and supporters of people who make films: oppose me and I will use the Bully Pulpit to bully you.

No list like this would be complete without mentioning Obama's number one target in the media and film world - Fox News.  Fox has been singled-out and harassed personally by Barack Obama on numerous occasions.  These attacks send a clear and chilling message to sponsors:  Advertise on Fox and you will be the target of restrictive regulations, IRS audits, and federal harassment.

Perhaps someone at The New York Times will write a story about all this someday,  but I won't hold my breath.