The Right Side of History?

Those who tell you they know the outcome of history are charlatans with an ideological agenda that will result in a host of dictates and impositions, but none will result in the Golden Rule.

by Thaddeus G. McCotter for American Greatness

During debates, the left regurgitates an erroneous trope to counter and quell arguments their radical policies are disastrous: “You are on the wrong side of history.” The corollary being, naturally enough, that the left is on the right side of history. Are they?

Built into the left’s non-sequitur riposte are patently false assumptions that need to be exposed and refuted, lest the trope continue to confound and confuse honest debaters in the public square.

The first false assumption is that history is a force determinative of individual behavior. History is the cumulation of individuals’ freely made decisions. Thus, history is the effect not the cause of these decisions. Such historical determinism denies the individual’s free will and renders them little but flotsam upon the inexorable tide of history.

Of course, proclaiming it is championing “democracy,” the left will disingenuously counter how they believe it is this cumulative effect of individual decisions they are talking about when discussing history. But their “democracy” is composed of those already in the thrall of the expected outcome of these allegedly inexorable historical forces, and these self-professed visionaries’ mission is to impose their mystical prognostication upon those vainly swimming against the tide of “history.” Indeed, by making the imperatives of a preconceived arc of history the culprit, the individual leftist feels not only excused for the questionable means by which they pursue their aims to control others, they consider themselves justified in doing so. It is a major reason why totalitarian leftist “utopias,” such as North Korea, often call themselves “democratic” and/or republics with a straight, unsmiling face. To do so is to deliberately conflate the dictates of ideology with the forces of history.

The reason stems from the second false assumption of historical determinism: history is linear and “progressive.” History itself disproves the point, be it glancing as far into the past as the decline and fall of the Athenian City-State and the Roman Republic or as recently as the French Revolution or the later rise of fascism and communism. Of course, the supporters of fascism and communism claimed their ideology was the unstoppable “wave of the future”—until it wasn’t, and hundreds of millions of innocents were killed by these twin evils.

Aware of its historical track record, proponents of historical determinism have recently co-opted a statement by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” But, as Randy Patrick noted in the WinCity Voice, secular progressives miss the point.

In his March 31, 1968 sermon Dr. King was quoting another clergyman, Unitarian Minister Theodore Parker, who wrote the words in 1810. Rev. Parker also humbly added the following: “I do not pretend to understand the universe. The arc is a long one, and my eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

It was not the first time Dr. King quoted Rev. Parker. Ten years earlier, Dr. King put the statement in its proper context:

Those of us who call on the name of Jesus Christ find something at the center of our faith which forever reminds us that God is on the side of truth and justice,” [Dr. King] wrote in a Christian newsletter 10 years before his speech at the cathedral. “Good Friday may occupy the throne for a day, but ultimately it must give way to the triumphant beat of the drums of Easter. Evil may so shape events that Caesar will occupy a palace and Christ a cross, but that same Christ will rise up and split history into A.D. and B.C… so that even the life of Caesar must be dated by his name. Yes, the ‘arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’

It is not historical determinism and its inexorable forces compelling human beings toward justice, let alone ensure it transpires in a linear manner. It is God.

Whether compelled by the supposed forces of history or by following their own reason alone, humanity remains imperfectible. Consequently, the ideologies purporting historical forces and/or human reason that can perfect humanity and lead to an Edenic future have resulted not in better tomorrows, but in reeducation camps and killing fields.

God is and ever will be the eternal moral arc of the universe. It is God calling each human being to honor Him; and heed His eternal command to treat others as they, themselves, wish to be treated. Thus does the God inspire every hardened human heart to bend to His justice.

When and how God inspires His creation toward justice is beyond human understanding. And, those who tell you they know the shape and outcome of “history” are charlatans with an ideological agenda that will result in a host of dictates and impositions, but none will result in the Golden Rule.

Heedless, the secular left continually contends it is on the “right side of history.”

Better to be on the right side of God.

On the Fringe and Badlands Media - August 18

 

The Great Basement Campaign 2024, Version 2.0

As the Harris-Walz ticket continues on its glide path to the 2024 election, isn’t it time that the mainstream media start to do their job?

by Richard Truesdell & Keith Lehmann for American Greatness

As the Harris-Walz campaign continues to avoid discussing any specific policy issues that they would implement, the collusion between legacy media and the campaign to prop up the ticket’s popularity is reaching its apex. That is, public opinion polling numbers that are not manufactured out of whole cloth have nowhere to go but down.

Democrats are historically overrepresented in most national polling. We saw this in 2016 when Donald Trump was polling double digits behind Hillary Clinton and was given a 90 percent probability of losing leading up to the first polls closing on election day. Four hours later Donald Trump became the president-elect, much to the chagrin of Hillary Clinton. 

We are having difficulty understanding the complete reversal in the public polling since Kamala Harris was anointed the Democrat presidential nominee and her selection of Socialist “Tampon Tim” Walz as her running mate. Remember, just a month ago, before President Biden ended his reelection bid, Harris polled well below Biden in popularity and competence. And now she’s polling at or above 50 percent in the national (meaningless) polls. How did she shift almost 20 percentage points from the low thirties to where she is polling today?

It’s because the mainstream media has gone all in to prop up her candidacy while not holding her accountable for her far-left policy positions as she attempts to tack to the center as the de facto nominee of her party. And you’re supposed to believe that the economic and societal troubles foisted on America over the past four years did not happen.

It’s laughable when Harris claims to be tough on border issues when as the Biden administration’s purported “Border Czar,” more than eight million uninvited migrants have flooded the country since 2021 (some say that when you factor in the got-aways, the number is well north of 12 million but we have no way to ascertain that number). And don’t buy the media line that Harris was never Biden’s “Border Czar;” her title was entered into the Congressional record.

This shift occurred as poll after poll was released, most taken more than two weeks ago, showing that Harris had closed the gap with Donald Trump. Quite possibly the worst was the New York Times/Sienna poll that showed Harris tied or leading in most of the crucial battleground states. When you look at the crosstabs of these polls, especially on immigration and the economy (which are interrelated), there is no way that this can be true unless Democrats are oversampled in relationship to Republicans and more importantly, independent voters.

A much better barometer to see where the electorate lies is the Rassmussen Reports polling taken after Walz was chosen as Harris’s running mate. Rassmussen Reports polling is often denigrated in the mainstream media as a “Republican” polling organization. But in both 2016 and 2020, of the best-known polling organizations, Rassmussen came closest to predicting the outcome of both elections and is the best predictive indicator in 2024. Their polling is so much deeper and is taken every evening, that it is by design, so much more accurate than their competitors, especially the New York Times/Sienna and 538 post-Nate Silver.

To give you an idea of just how quickly polling is moving, polling as of Friday shows polling moving back towards Trump, especially in almost all the crucial swing states. A few savvy polling analysts like Rassmussen have noted that by this point in 2016, Trump trailed Hillary Clinton by six points. In mid-August 2020, he trailed Joe Biden by three to four points in the national polling, even more in the all-important swing states. If you apply this historic polling error, where Trump typically overperforms the polls, Harris’s small current lead will not hold up. This is especially true in the all-important swing state of Pennsylvania as YouTubers Real American and Depressed Ginger point out in their in-depth analysis.

Now that Kamala Harris has replaced Joe Biden as the presidential front-runner, what we have now is a statistical dead heat according to most of the polls. If we consider that pre-election polling of likely voters is only marginally indicative of actual voting behavior, and considering that this is as much of a kitchen table election as we have ever seen, it stands to reason that much of the hype surrounding the Harris-Walz campaign is due to what former Obama advisor David Axelrod calls “irrational exuberance.” What he means is all of the “joy” and “cool vibes” touted by the media aren’t being bought by enough voters as a reason to continue policies that have decimated people’s quality of life for the past four years.

It can be confidently stated that we are in the midst of “peak Kamala.” No matter how much effort is made to prop up the campaign—and we expect an effort by the legacy media on a similar level as that of a military invasion—reliable polls will crest and a notable decline will be inevitable.

Once the Harris campaign’s internal polls land at a negative point outside the margin of error, the campaign will have no choice but to present their policy platform and put Harris in a position they absolutely dread: An unscripted Q&A session with journalists who are tired of being ignored. Just this week we saw CNN, of all media organizations, express frustration that Harris is ducking accountability on her policy positions. Even Democrat activist CNN water-carrier Jim Acosta expressed obvious frustration with Harris-Walz campaign communications director Michael Tyler when he declined to commit the vice president to holding a formal press conference.

The Harris campaign is putting this off as long as they can. The campaign knows that Harris is categorically incapable of speaking without a teleprompter and pre-screened questions. Her word salads are legendary, her childlike giggling at inappropriate times suggests a lack of confidence, and her incisive lack of seriousness when discussing important issues makes her the last person you want in the room with world leaders leveraging the U.S. on behalf of their own best interests. And it will all come out in front of the world during even the most softball unscripted interview.

We predict this polling crash could happen before the first debate with Donald Trump on September 10. If so, and Harris is obligated to actually deliver an interview or press conference, the disaster of it will likely cause the campaign to pull out of the Trump debate on the notion that Harris, as a past prosecutor, “will not debate a convicted felon.” The irony here will not be lost on anyone; the empty pantsuit of Kamala Harris and her abject lack of qualifications to be commander-in-chief will be outright proven by her fear of debating against her rival for the presidency. And that right there is a disqualifying factor among the voting public as if the Harris train wreck of a platform isn’t enough.

Here’s one example of why the Democrat’s platform is one that voters should reject. Harris is now on record as saying she favors giving taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal invaders. This while we have over 35,000 Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans, American citizens, homeless and sleeping every night on park benches and under freeway overpasses. How can we condone this travesty?

Once people understand the radical and reckless governing platform being presented to them, they’ll realize a vote for Harris-Walz is completely unconscionable. In the meantime, the Harris campaign will keep their candidate visible only at tightly scripted rallies and will work hard to keep policy specifics hidden for as long as possible.

In fact, we think the Harris campaign would like to keep their stealth agenda in place until after early voting begins (Pennsylvania starts September 16), thus preventing millions of voters from making educated decisions on their next presidential administration just as was the case in 2020 that resulted in Biden’s victory. If the campaign is allowed to get away with that and the legacy media misleads the public on how a Harris administration would govern, it will constitute a bait-and-switch unlike anything we have seen in history.

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Media Bias 101: It’s Different When Democrats Do It

posted by Derek Hunter at Townhall 

I realized something the other day about media bias that I’d been aware of for a long time, but never really connected all the dots on it before – these people aren’t trying to win anyone to their side, they’re simply lying to keep their claws deep into the people they’ve already made ignorant.

I’ve known it, but hadn’t thought about it in a while and not in such obvious terms. What set me off? Remember the Weeble? Brian Stelter, the fired CNN personality who lacks personality, or any self-awareness, honestly. 

Stelter tweeted Friday, “Pirro said Harris was ‘being hidden’ two hours after Harris gave a nationally televised speech full of economic proposals.” The Potato was referencing that Jeanine Pirro had said Kamala Harris was being hidden from the press by her campaign, and she was; she still is. Giving a speech where you, as vaguely as humanly possible, outline insane ideas and ridiculous policies is not “putting yourself out there.”

Kamala Harris has denounced pretty much every policy position she’s ever taken and refused to answer any questions on any of it, even from sycophantic media. Surely Stelter knows this. Then why would he say something so wildly stupid? The answer exposes why they all do.

When Harris announced her support of eliminating taxes on tips – an idea Donald Trump has been trumpeting for months – CBS News wrote it up on its merits, with an exploration of the “costs” at the very end. Otherwise, the focus was on the proposal and contained a lot of quotes from Harris’ speech. 

Weirdly, when Trump originally proposed the idea in June, CBS News headlined it, “Trump proposal to exempt tips from taxes could cost $250 billion.”

Allowing people to keep more of what they earn is not a “cost” to government, and tax cuts lead to more revenue, but the framing in the story was all about how it was a bad, unworkable idea. The exact opposite of the story after Harris stole the idea.

Then, once Kamala stole another policy proposal from the Trump-Vance campaign – the expansion of the child tax credit – CNBC did the exact same thing. When VP nominee JD Vance brought it up, the CNBC headline was, “Vance wants to raise the child tax credit to $5,000. Here’s why that could be difficult.” 

Curiously, when Harris ripped off the idea, CNBC used the headline, “Harris calls for expanded child tax credit of up to $6,000 for families with newborns.” Why is it not “difficult” for Harris? She’s proposing $1,000 more, yet it’s not a big deal.

With the Stelter tweet, those dots connect in a way that exposes how the left works, especially in media. These people are not naïve or unaware of what they’re doing, they’re only interested and capable of preaching to the choir. Their sole goal is to keep the audience they have ignorant, not expand it at all. 

The left no longer has any interest in winning people to their side, they look to win by turning out an ignorant base in large numbers then flooding the zone with illegal aliens turned into citizens and create the new voters they need that way. As long as their ignorant base doesn’t realize they’re being conned before the reinforcements show up, they’ll be fine. If they do, the whole house of cards collapses.

How else to explain outlets like CBS News and CNBC being willing to blatantly expose their biases? And how else to explain Stelter’s willingness to say something so stupid to his followers? Even prostitutes have more dignity. 

The left-wing industrial complex exists now to keep the voters they have in line, on the progressive thought plantation, period. It’s not about convincing people to their side, winning people over, it’s about corralling the voters they have and making sure they show up to vote. 

That’s why they don’t debate, that’s why MSNBC never has a dissenting voice anywhere near its airwaves. It’s why Kamala Harris isn’t doing interviews – what she thinks is irrelevant and making the case to undecided voters does not matter. Power, the acquisition of which and its retention, are all that matters to the left. Once they get it, they never plan to let it go. Then, and only then, will they show the world what they really are by pushing their agenda into law. By that time, it’ll be too late to do anything about it. 

Democrats are not stupid, they’re evil. That some of that evil they do is accompanied by a seemingly harmless press pass or a doofus shaped like a Weeble doesn’t make it any less so. 

Biden Regime is Helping Register Alabama Prisoners To Vote

Feds ‘deployed’ a ‘liberal’ org to help register federal prisoners to vote, according to a statement from the secretary of state.

Logan Washburn reporting for The Federalist

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has been registering federal prisoners to vote in Alabama, according to Secretary of State Wes Allen, an effort he claims is “illegal.”

“At least one liberal third-party organization has been deployed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to conduct voter registration in federal prisons in Alabama,” Allen said in a statement to The Federalist. “Obviously, this raised questions for my staff and I.”

Allen said President Joe Biden’s “Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting,” issued in March 2021, attempts to “mobilize and weaponize the entire federal government” to “register primarily Democrat leaning groups of voters.”

The federal program has taken the nickname “Bidenbucks.” Like the 2020 election “Zuckbucks” from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, which enabled third-party election meddling and get-out-the-vote efforts for likely Democrat voters, it directs federal agencies to work with third-party groups to “promote voter registration and voter participation” in similar ways.

Allen asked the White House “earlier this year” how the federal government has implemented this in Alabama. He said the administration “confirmed” the Bureau of Prisons had “deployed” a “liberal third-party organization” to help register federal prisoners to vote. Those with criminal records are far more likely to vote Democrat than Republican, making this a partisan effort.

Allen said federal prison inmates include “high percentages of noncitizens,” people “not domiciled in Alabama,” and convicts of “crimes of moral turpitude” — defined as “wicked, deviant behavior” — all of whom could be “ineligible to vote” in the state, Allen said in the statement.

Alabama requires voters to be citizens, and not convicted of a “disqualifying felony” — a crime of “moral turpitude” — or have been legally restored voting privileges.

“My office has sent correspondence to both the third-party group and the Federal Bureau of Prisons demanding answers as to how they are ensuring that only eligible, United States citizens are being registered to vote,” Allen said in the statement. “Unsurprisingly, my office’s attempts to gather information and ensure that only eligible U.S. citizens and Alabama residents are being registered to vote have fallen on deaf ears.”

Allen also said he asked the White House about its use of tax dollars to fund the “illegal effort,” but the questions have gone “unanswered.”

The Federalist asked the Federal Bureau of Prisons how it is helping register prisoners to vote, which third-party groups it is partnering with, in which states, and how it can guarantee federal prisoners are eligible to vote. Bureau of Prisons Spokesman Donald Murphy sent a statement to The Federalist, simply saying the agency has given “general information on voting” privileges to “all individuals in its custody” since at least August 2020.

“Voter registration education and the facilitation of registering eligible voters is a valuable exercise of American democracy and an important facet of successful reentry into the community,” Murphy said. “The information FBOP provides includes which districts allow incarcerated individuals to vote and any restrictions their state may have placed on their ability to vote.”

But before the official response, Benjamin O’Cone with the Bureau of Prisons accidentally emailed The Federalist a question, apparently from the Department of Justice intended for a government official. 

“We have one question from DOJ,” O’Cone wrote, “Is it accurate to say that BOP is working with the third-party groups? Or are those groups simply doing there [sic] work at BOP facilities without any substantive assistance from BOP?”

O’Cone said the email was “not meant” for The Federalist. The emails of government employees are public records, but those records now take record-breaking delays to access through requests authorized under federal transparency laws.

Allen said his office is “still exploring options” to stop efforts from the federal government to register prisoners in its Alabama facilities.

“I am dedicated to ensuring fair, secure, and transparent elections,” Allen said. “Nobody, not even the Biden-Harris Administration, will get me to back down from that.”

The federal government has been carrying out a similar scheme in Mississippi, using the “Bidenbucks” order to make U.S. Marshals help prisoners register to vote, The Federalist previously reported. The Bureau of Prisons has been partnering with left-leaning groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women Voters, and the Campaign Legal Center to encourage voting among prisoners, according to The Daily Signal.

Allen recently uncovered 3,000 potential noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls, as previously reported in the Federalist.

Laney Rawls, Allen’s communications director, previously told The Federalist that the federal government “limits” states’ ability to require proof of citizenship to vote. But Allen instructs local boards of registrars to require an Alabama driver’s license number, non-driver ID, or Social Security number to register a voter.

“Allen has also demanded answers from state and federal agencies conducting these expanded voter registration efforts on how they plan to keep noncitizens from registering to vote in Alabama,” Rawls said at the time.

Most Registered Democrats, Independents Are Clueless About Kamala's Radicalism

Mike Miller reporting for RedState 

Six days after embattled Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential election campaign, Kamala Harris is the presumptive Democrat nominee. Yet, according to a new poll, large majorities of registered Democrats and Independents who voted for Biden in 2020 — precisely those who Harris will need in November — remain clueless about her past controversial and radical positions. 

The troubling question is will it make a difference? We'll get there.

According to a significant new Media Research Center poll, when asked about ten different aspects of Harris’ public record — on issues as varied as her sponsorship of the Green New Deal, abolishing ICE, and eliminating private health insurance — between 71 percent and 86 percent Democrats and Independents surveyed said they either had not heard of Harris’s position or were unsure what they are.

Here's more:

When these voters were asked about where they got most of their news about political elections and candidates, by far the top answers were broadcast television (ABC, CBS and NBC) or cable news (such as CNN and MSNBC). This suggests that the knowledge gaps found by our poll reveal a failure of these outlets to report on radical positions once (and perhaps currently) supported by the now-Democratic nominee for President.

In fact, a detailed Media Research Center examination of ABC, CBS and NBC evening news coverage in the three weeks since Harris became the leading Democratic candidate (July 21 to August 10) shows eight of these ten issues received ZERO attention from these newscasts, while two others received only minor coverage.

Try to control your shock and amazement, right?

The bottom line is that the so-called "mainstream" media are hiding Harris.

And why wouldn't they try to hide her? Among the ten issues MRC examined, the following should be the most troubling to all voters:

Defunding the Police

So how'd that little social experiment work out in Democrat-run cities across America in the aftermath of the George Floyd riots? Yet, Harris told a Los Angeles radio show host she favored cutting police funding. 

According to ABC News, Harris “told Power 106 Los Angeles host Nick Cannon that she believes ‘we have to redirect resources’ from police to other areas of government, mentioning schools and small businesses.” 

“For too long, people have confused achieving public safety with putting more cops on the street,” Harris said in the same interview.

Entering the U.S. Illegally Should Not Be a Crime

So the "border czar" who won't admit she was the border czar doesn't think aliens entering the U.S. in violation of U.S. immigration laws should be charged with the crime of... entering the country illegally. In 2015, as California's attorney general, Harris said:

I’m a career prosecutor. I’ve personally prosecuted everything from low-level offenses to homicides. Unfortunately, I know what crime looks like. I know what a criminal looks like who’s committing a crime. An undocumented immigrant is not a criminal.

Uh-huh, Kamala. And what do you call those "undocumented immigrants" after they commit violent, sometimes horrific crimes after they get here? 

Harris started a fund to bail out violent protesters during the George Floyd riots

Unless you're a violent protester, why would you not oppose this madness? On June 1, 2020, then-Senator Harris posted posted a message on both Facebook and Twitter promoting the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a nonprofit: “If you’re able to, chip in now to to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.” "Protesting"? 

Allowing death row inmates to vote

At an April 22, 2019 “town hall” event on CNN, Harris was asked if she would want “people who are in — convicted, in prison, like the Boston Marathon bomber, on death row, people who are convicted of sexual assault, they should be allowed to vote?” She wouldn't say no, instead saying: “I think we should have that conversation.”

Named the most liberal senator in 2019

While the rabid left might view the above as a badge of honor, moderate Democrats, and certainly Independents, should not. The goals of the far-left are hardly the goals of mainstream America, regardless of political affiliation. 

Price controls might sound like a panacea to low-information leftists, but hardworking Americans and people with even a basic understanding of economics should shudder at the thought. 

The Biden Border Crisis has wreaked havoc on America. Is there any doubt that it would continue under a Kamala Harris presidency? That it would potentially only worsen? That it would continue to impact the blue-collar job market?

Look, I understand the "orange man bad," thing. I really do. The question is, is "hatred" for one man more important to some people than saving this country from the rabid left? 

Ominously, I think it is.

Harris and Walz’s Ostrich Theory on Foreign Policy

posted by Tom Tradup at Townhall 

As Democrats converge on the socialist, union-run city of Chicago for their party’s 2024 national convention, Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz remain blissfully unaware of the real dangers facing America in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and other regions around the globe. 

Aided and abetted by fawning coverage cranked out 24/7 by pro-Democrat drones at CNN, The Washington Post, MSNBC, The New York Times and other alleged “news” organizations, Harris and Walz have cackled and glad-handed their way to becoming “this close”  to capturing control of the White House on November 5^th. Neither nominee has faced one single news conference or even a sit-down interview with a “correspondent” from an adoring DNC front group like the Associated Press.   

Even the once respected TIME Magazine splashed a gauzy oil painting portrait of Harris on its most recent cover with the headline “Her Moment.” As actual journalist Glenn Greenwald posted on X:  "The way the US corporate media transformed Kamala Harris from a national embarrassment to a transformative pioneer overnight -- without even pretending to care about anything that she thinks or believes -- is a powerful testament to how potent the science of propaganda is." 

Of course, when we think of propaganda it automatically brings to mind the Communist Party in China. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz personally selected June 4^th—the anniversary of the bloody Tiananmen Square massacre of Chinese student protesters in 1989—as his wedding date and the honeymoon destination with his wife Gwen. Call us crazy, but most Americans would not intentionally choose to spend our honeymoons at the scene of the violent Minneapolis riots in the wake of George Floyd’s death or in Ferguson, Missouri, where radical nutcases burned down city blocks…much less Tiananmen Square.

Gordon Chang, Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and an acknowledged expert on China, appeared this weekend on the Salem Media Group news program THIS WEEK ON THE HILL with Tony Perkins. Picking up on Walz’s choice of Tiananmen Square for his honeymoon.  “Nobody would do that unless they believed the Communist Party was doing the right thing by violently crushing protests,” Chang observed. Chinese academics — noting the Minnesota governor’s 30+ visits to China — “are ecstatic about Walz’s selection because they know he’s the type of person who wants to go back to the failed engagement policies of the last five decades," Chang said. "Regime sanctioned experts say this (Walz as potential V.P.) is great for them.”

Chang warned THIS WEEK host Tony Perkins that Walz’s pattern of visits to China and his public statements that he loves China and has never been treated better in his life than by the Chinese, mean that the last place Walz should end up is one heartbeat away from the presidency. But all our “news” media report on is how “folksy” the former football coach Walz is and please, whatever you do, don’t criticize his failure to call out the National Guard while violent mobs set fire to downtown Minneapolis during the Floyd riots. (A scary comment from Gwen Walz that she had thrown open her windows to smell the burning tires and “take in the moment” was quickly scrubbed by media apparatchiks.)

The current edition of Salem’s THIS WEEK also featured an interview with Congressman Scott Perry (R-PA) who serves in both the Foreign Affairs and Intel committees in the U.S. House. He warns that our country faces many overseas perils as Democrats blissfully celebrate Kamala Harris in Chicago because the deteriorated, infirm Joe Biden still sits in the Oval Office and is making national security decisions on behalf of the United States. 

Perry contends that America has not faced as many perilous challenges on the international scene since World War II, most of which are being ignored or mismanaged by the Biden/Harris administration. He cites the pending attack on Israel by Iran as the most dangerous. 

Congressman Perry believes that Iran’s delay of a likely attack on Israel (still pending as this is written) is due to Iranian military strategy. “While Israel braces for the expected attack, Iran is most likely refining its intelligence as well as second and third steps after the military strike…working on publicity angles surrounding the attack so it is as successful as possible on the world stage.”

So while our adversaries in China lick their chops at the prospect of having what the Russians refer to as “a useful idiot” in the vice presidency next year and manage public relations for upcoming attacks on our primary ally in the Middle East, Democrats are sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring global threats in favor of partying, speechmaking and singing the FDR-era Democratic Party tune “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

For her part, Harris was recently forced to finally “unveil” her domestic economic plans: rehashed socialism including offering new home buyers a $25,000 credit for purchasing new homes, which might be more accurately branded the Realtors Full-Employment Act, since the only result will be to have sellers boost prices by $25,000. Harris also wants to “fight gouging” at grocery stores by unleashing so-called price controls…the business model for depressing former Soviet countries like Bulgaria and Romania where shoppers can choose from one brand of toothpaste and, occasionally, a rutabaga or some beets when they are available. 

If America doesn’t wake up—and Donald Trump doesn’t hone his messaging to focus on policies, as November draws closer, rather than denigrating his opponent’s personality —a Harris/Walz administration remains a frighteningly distinct possibility, and their policies will be the end of America.

Fear in Chicago: Businesses Board Up, Dems Told to Use Aliases As Pro-Hamas Protests Expected at DNC

Bob Hoge reporting for RedState 

The Democratic National Convention is coming to the Windy City starting Monday, and if you're a Chicagoan, that might not be welcome news—unless you're a fan of violent protests of course. 

The pro-Hamas crowd is expected to descend on the convention in force, and demonstrations are all but assured. Some of those planning to attend the event are nervous, and law enforcement has warned them to be careful:

House Democrats attending the Democratic National Convention next week are being advised by congressional security officials not to book hotel rooms under their own names or engage with protesters if confronted, Axios has learned.

But I thought all these types of protests were considered "mostly peaceful" by Democrats and that they consisted of high-minded citizens who were merely expressing their First Amendment rights? 

Why it matters: The guidance comes as some Democratic lawmakers are fearful about their safety after being rattled by a series of disruptive pro-Palestinian protests since the Israel-Hamas war started last year.

• One House Democrat told Axios they are "very concerned" about their personal security and that "of course" other lawmakers are as well.
• A senior House Democrat said law enforcement is telling members "not to go to a certain area, because they expect violence."
• "The protesters aren't staying in a designated protest site ... and there are people who are going to go and really try to cause trouble," the lawmaker predicted.

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Meanwhile, business owners in the Second City—including many of them who have experienced "peaceful protests" before—are boarding up their windows and taking precautions in expectation of vandalism and violence.

Concern over possible unrest during next week's Democratic National Convention has some business owners in Chicago's Loop taking precautions.

Boarded up windows and doors could be seen downtown Thursday.

"As we know, this city has a poor track record when it comes to protecting businesses," said Scott Shapiro, owner of Syd Jerome.

Store owner Shapiro has been through it before:

The looming unknowns ahead of next week's convention are why Shapiro said he knew he had to take precautions to keep his decades-old business safe.

"We felt it was more prudent to board up, since our customers and their employers have told them to stay home throughout the convention for their own safety," Shapiro said.

That's why his downtown storefront at Syd Jerome on Clark Street is shielded by plywood, as thousands of protesters plan to descend on Chicago for the DNC.

His store was looted during civil unrest in 2020.

And back then, he didn't take down the plywood until more than a year later.

Now, it's back up in fear of history repeating itself.

This building now looks like a fortress:

It's a sign of the times when the Democrats plan a convention, and everyone knows months in advance there will be violence. It's also a sign of who they are—you didn't see this going on in advance of the successful GOP convention in Milwaukee in July.

The only real question left is: how bad will it be?