This and That, July 4th Edition

Happy Independence Day to all.

Courtesy of Powerline's Scott Johnson, an excerpt from Calvin Coolidge's July 4, 1926 speech.

"If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary." Indeed.

If the above looks familiar you are either a long term reader of this blog or of  Powerline. Mr. Johnson has published the excerpt (a much longer one actually, you should enjoy it at the link above) every July 4th since 2004.

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I hope you have been enjoying the Donald Trump Show as much as I have. His latest Tweet storms have been fabulous. Thin skinned poseurs like Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinski apparently cannot help themselves and respond to him like  Pavlov's dogs.

It is a joy to watch their hair catch fire as these two hypocrites try to take on a man much more clever than them.

For months, since he didn't allow them into a New Year's Eve party at his Palm Beach resort, they have been attacking him daily. Suggesting he suffers from a mental illness among other insightful revelations of his character . Having been friends of his for years, no doubt they know him well. Except for the curious change in their attitude after he wasn't nice to them, I might even believe some of what they have to say. Or not. Truly a joy to watch.

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Do you remember the controversy  President Trump created with his "Comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversations" Tweet? It was beautiful. All the right people reacted in all the right ways interpreting his comment to mean that he had taped the conversations and the Nixon comparisons took flight.

"With that tweet, Trump immediately deepened his own ­legal and political quagmire, evoking comparisons to President Richard M. Nixon and prompting congressional committees investigating his campaign’s alleged ties with Russia to demand the disclosure of any such recordings."

Look at what he actually said.

Do you remember his much earlier Tweet about Obama having wire tapped Trump Towers in New York?

It has been suggested, credibly I think, that when looked at together Trump was actually warning Comey that the intelligence community might have tapes of their conversations and he had best be careful about his then pending testimony to Congress. It worked. Comey confirmed in that testimony everything Trump had said. Trump didn't need to tape anything. The bluff was sufficient. Brilliant.

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From the annals of "You must be joking " comes this.

"The Denver City Council voted Monday to approve major sentencing reform (in other words, making penalties more lenient) on Class I and II offenses. The latter cover crimes like public defecation, panhandling and camping out on the sidewalk." (Emphasis added).

The "reasoning" behind this outrage?

"City leaders and immigrant rights advocates argued the changes will protect Denver’s immigrant community from facing unintended consequences.

“Many times it becomes a deportable (sic)offense if you’ve been convicted of even a minor ordinance violation that’s punishable by a year in jail,” Mark Silverstein said, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado."

Abject stupidity in the service of the progressive agenda to turn the USA brown.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Enjoy the 4th of July. Most of you have the great good fortune to live in the greatest country in human history. Too bad we have to share it with so many ingrates and fools.

Even so, it is well worth the price.







                                                                 

This and That #3

I have written several times about the difficulty engaging the left in meaningful discussion because of, among other things, the apparent complete lack of good faith on their part.

There is at least one and hopefully many other lefty's I have yet to encounter, who has not abandoned the notion of good faith.

Alan Dershowitz is as doctrinaire a Democrat as there is, except where Israel is concerned. He is a stalwart supporter. He is also a brilliant lawyer. Unfortunately he is also one of the lawyers who got O.J. off. Well, we all make mistakes.

He recently tweeted a response to assertions that President Trump had committed some sort of infraction when he fired James Comey.

Alan Dershowitz @AlanDersh

Because a president has the unreviewable authority to fire the Director for any reason. 

Joe Scarborough @JoeNBCI eagerly await the flood of experts explaining why Donald Trump firing Comey to obstruct justice is not obstruction of justice.

Unreviewable Joe. Case closed.


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You have no doubt heard about all the hate crimes carried out by Trump supporters. A handy compilation at the link. They are all hoaxes of course.

One of the headline stories at Yahoo over   the weekend began,

"HOUSTON (AP) — A black Texas congressman said Saturday that he's been threatened with lynching by callers infuriated over him seeking impeachment of President Donald Trump."

Also, over the weekend, this story was published by The Hill describing harassment and threats against Republican office holders.

If you read both stories you will see that the Republican office holders who experienced harassment and threats reported them to the authorities and arrests were made.

Unsurprisingly, the "black Texas Congressman", Al Green (D), does not appear to have 

reported anything to the authorities. Why not? Most likely, in my opinion, the recordings he shared are a hoax.

Update. Here is an even more comprehensive examination of the hoaxes.

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As you know, for most of the left the narrative is everything. Anything that does not advance the narrative is suppressed.

This fabulous story did not make it beyond the Charlotte Observer as far as I know.

Unfortunately I can't seem to copy and paste the photo from the story. Have a look. It is worth it. It is also the real, non-narrative America being led by President Trump.

Classic line from the story;

" “They’re never going to put that on television,” Trump said."

Indeed.