Monday, August 8, 2016

The truth will set you free from the Libtardian Media...

Donald Trump and the fitness threshold...

Donald Trump and the fitness threshold

Donald Trump, the man who defied every political rule and prevailed to win his party’s nomination, last week took on perhaps the most sacred political rule of all: Never attack a Gold Star family. Not just because it alienates a vital constituency but because it reveals a shocking absence of elementary decency and of natural empathy for the most profound of human sorrows: parental grief.

Why did Trump do it? It wasn’t a mistake. It was a revelation. It’s that he can’t help himself. His governing rule in life is to strike back when attacked, disrespected or even slighted. To understand Trump, you have to grasp the General Theory: He judges every action, every pronouncement, every person by a single criterion — whether or not it/he is “nice” to Trump.

Vladimir Putin called him brilliant — in fact, he didn’t, but that’s another matter — and a bromance is born. A “Mexican” judge rules against Trump, which makes him a bad person governed by prejudiced racial instincts.

House Speaker Paul Ryan criticizes Trump’s attack on the Gold Star mother — so Trump mocks Ryan and praises his primary opponent. On what grounds? That the opponent is an experienced legislator? Is a tested leader?

Not at all. He’s a “big fan of what I’m saying, big fan,” Trump attests.

You’re a fan of his, he’s a fan of yours. And vice versa. Treat him “unfairly,” and you will pay. House speaker, Gold Star mother, it matters not.

Of course, we all try to protect our own dignity and command respect. But Trump’s hypersensitivity and unedited, untempered Pavlovian responses are, shall we say, unusual in ferocity and predictability.

This is beyond narcissism. I used to think Trump was an 11-year-old, an undeveloped schoolyard bully. I was off by about 10 years. His needs are more primitive, an infantile hunger for approval and praise, a craving that can never be satisfied. He lives in a cocoon of solipsism, where the world outside himself has value — indeed exists — only insofar as it sustains and inflates him.

Most politicians seek approval. But Trump lives for the adoration. He doesn’t even try to hide it, boasting incessantly about his crowds, his standing ovations, his TV ratings, his poll numbers, his primary victories. The latter are most prized because they offer empirical evidence of how loved and admired he is.

Prized also because, in our politics, success is self-validating. A candidacy that started out as a joke, as a self-aggrandizing exercise in xenophobia, struck a chord in a certain constituency and took off. The joke was on those who believed he was not a serious man and therefore would not be taken seriously. They — myself emphatically included — were wrong.

Winning — in ratings, polls and primaries — validated him. Which brought further validation in the form of endorsements from respected and popular Republicans. Chris Christie was first to cross the Rubicon. Ben Carson then offered his blessings, such as they are. Newt Gingrich came aboard to provide intellectual ballast.

Although tepid, the endorsements by Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were further milestones in the normalization of Trump.

But this may all now be jeopardized by the Gold Star gaffe. (Remember: A gaffe in Washington is when a politician inadvertently reveals the truth, especially about himself.) It has put a severe strain on the patched-over relationship between the candidate and Republican leadership and Republican regulars.

Trump’s greatest success — normalizing the abnormal — is beginning to dissipate. When a Pulitzer Prize-winning liberal columnist (Eugene Robinson) and a major conservative foreign policy thinker and former speechwriter for George Shultz under Ronald Reagan (Robert Kagan) simultaneously question Trump’s psychological stability, indeed sanity, there’s something going on, as Trump would say.

The dynamic of this election is obvious. As in 1980, the status quo candidate for a failed administration is running against an outsider. The stay-the-course candidate plays his or her only available card — charging that the outsider is dangerously out of the mainstream and temperamentally unfit to command the nation.

In 1980, Reagan had to do just one thing: pass the threshold test for acceptability. He won that election because he did, especially in the debate with Jimmy Carter in which Reagan showed himself to be genial, self-assured and, above all, nonthreatening. You may not like all his policies, but you could safely entrust the nation to him.

Trump badly needs to pass that threshold. If character is destiny, he won’t.

Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for The Washington Post. Donald Trump, the man who defied every political rule and prevailed to win his party’s nomination, last week took on perhaps the most sacred political rule of all: Never attack a Gold Star family. Not just because it alienates a vital constituency but because it reveals a shocking absence of elementary decency and of natural empathy for the most profound of human sorrows: parental grief.

Not at all. He’s a “big fan of what I’m saying, big fan,” Trump attests.

You’re a fan of his, he’s a fan of yours. And vice versa. Treat him “unfairly,” and you will pay. House speaker, Gold Star mother, it matters not.

Although tepid, the endorsements by Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were further milestones in the normalization of Trump.

Trump badly needs to pass that threshold. If character is destiny, he won’t.

Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for The Washington Post.

Van T. Barfoot Died...

Van T. Barfoot died
Remember the guy who wouldn't take
The flag pole down on his Virginia
Property a while back?

You might remember the news story several
Months ago about a crotchety old man in
Virginia who defied his local Homeowners
Association, and refused to take down the
Flag pole on his property along with the large
American flag he flew on it.

Now we learn who that old man was:

On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in
Edinburg , Texas . That probably didn't make
News back then.

But twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944,
Near Carano , Italy , that same Van T. Barfoot,
Who had in 1940 enlisted in the U.S. Army, set
Out alone to flank German machine gun
Positions from which gunfire was raining
Down on his fellow soldiers.

His advance took him through a minefield but
Having done so, he proceeded to single-handedly
Take out three enemy machine gun positions,
Returning with 17 prisoners of war.

And if that weren't enough for a day's work, he later
Took on and destroyed three German tanks
Sent to retake the machine gun positions.
That probably didn't make much news either,
Given the scope of the war, but it did earn
Van T. Barfoot, who retired as a Colonel after
Also serving in Korea and Vietnam , a well
Deserved Congressional Medal of Honor.
What did make news...Was his Neighborhood
Association's quibble with how the 90-year-old
Veteran chose to fly the American flag outside
His suburban Virginia home. Seems the HOA rules
Said it was OK to fly a flag on a house-mounted
Bracket, but, for decorum, items such as
Barfoot's 21-foot flagpole were "unsuitable".
Van Barfoot had been denied a permit for
The pole, but erected it anyway and was facing
Court action unless he agreed to take it down.
Then the HOA story made national TV,
And the Neighborhood Association rethought
Its position and agreed to indulge this
Aging hero who dwelt among them.

"In the time I have left", he said to the
Associated Press, "I plan to continue
To fly the American flag without interference."

As well he should.

And if any of his neighbors had taken a notion to
Contest him further, they might have done well to
Read his Medal of Honor citation first. Seems it
Indicates Mr. Van Barfoot wasn't particularly
Good at backing down.
If you got this email and didn't pass it on -
Guess what - you need your butt kicked
I sent this to you, because I didn't want MY butt kicked!
Do the right thing!

WE ONLY LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE! AND, BECAUSE OF OLD MEN LIKE VAN BARFOOT!

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Read the 1st story Re: The Religion of Peace, And other interesting articles following...

TODAY'S HOTTEST STORIES

CLICK your poison.

DNC's Biggest Moment Was a Lie: Khizr Khan Believes Sharia Trumps the Constitution

...PANIC: Khan Deletes Law Firm's Website After Breitbart Report

IDAHO UPDATE: Slate Puts Mother of 5-y/o Rape Victim on Trial

...Local News Mocks Calls for Justice: 'Fairy Tales,' 'Comical'

Obama Admin Airlifted Pallets of Cash to Tehran as Iran Freed U.S. Prisoners

POTUS Admits Trade Deals Have Hurt Americans

Go Time: Nehlen-Ryan Primary Race Enters Final Stretch

...Nehlen: GOP Speaker Making 'in-Kind Contributions to Hillary'

Massive DNC Shakeup over Email Hack... CEO, Top Staff Resign

Irony Fail: Clinton Fundraiser at Hacking Convention

NBC Quietly Scrubs Smear That Juanita Broaddrick Has Been 'Discredited'

Put Your Hard-Earned Paycheck to Good Use with a Breitbart Border Wall Shirt

"It's Not Your Business Model That Sucks, It's You That Sucks!”

- Andrew Breitbart to the Media

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Los Angeles CA 90049

USA

Democrats Sacrifice Zika-Virus Research for Planned Parenthood!

by Alexandra DeSanctis August 4, 2016 3:24 PM @xan_desanctis

Senate Dems want Zika funding to be earmarked
for the abortion giant.

While campaigning in Florida on Tuesday, Democratic vice-presidential
candidate Tim Kaine attacked congressional Republicans for failing to
pass a funding bill that would have directed $1.1 billion toward research
to treat and prevent the Zika virus. According to the Orlando Sentinel:

Kaine . .called for federal action on fighting the Zika virus, which officials
on Monday said had reached South Florida via mosquitoes. Kaine said
Congress should pass a $1.1 billion bill to combat Zika without what he
called the “poison pill” of anti-abortion language added by House Repub-
licans. “Congress should not be in recess when Zika is advancing,” he
said. In reality, it was Senate Democrats who refused to pass the bill,
and there’s no “poison pill” to be found anywhere inside it. Instead, the
Democratic leadership is balking because the bill does not specifically
earmark a portion of funding for Planned Parenthood. While most of the
funding outlined in the bill would go to mosquito prevention and vaccine
research, a small segment is dedicated to public-health efforts.

According to Don Stewart, deputy chief of staff for Senate majority leader
Mitch McConnell, Senate Democrats chose to block the entire bill because
none of this small portion was earmarked for Planned Parenthood.

“The conference committee increased health-care block-grant funding
and provided guidance on who could receive the funding,” Stewart tells
National Review. “Planned Parenthood was not listed as a potential
recipient, and Democrats want them to be explicitly listed as a recipient,
even though the president’s initial request didn’t ask for any.”

RELATED: Florida’s Zika Season:

One More Menace In an Electorate That’s Already in a Sour Mood

Senate Democratic leaders Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer held
a press conference attempting to explain their decision shortly after
leading an effort to kill the bill. Reid claimed that women would have
nowhere to go to obtain birth control under the bill, but, in fact, nothing
in the legislation would cut any federal funding currently going to
Planned Parenthood. It simply does not add more funding in the
context of treating Zika.

Planned Parenthood’s executive director, Dawn Laguens, spoke along-
side Reid and Schumer, implying that it is more important for Planned
Parenthood to receive direct funding under the bill than it is to pass a
bill quickly. The Democratic leadership is balking because the bill does
not specifically earmark a portion of funding for Planned Parenthood.

A letter from Planned Parenthood to the Senate offices prior to the most
recent vote stated that “a vote against this bill will be seen as a vote for
women’s health care.” But a vote against the bill is actually vote against
women’s health care, particularly if the women in question have contracted
the Zika virus. And, even from the perspective of Senate Democrats, there
is no rational objection to the bill given that Planned Parenthood still would
receive as much federal funding as it did before the Zika virus became an
issue. But a compromise from Senate Democrats seems unlikely, given
their latest statements. “We would love for them to end that filibuster and
pass the bill, but it doesn’t sound like they’re prepared to do that,” Stewart
tells National Review.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/438690/zika-funding-
planned-parenthood-senate-democrats-block-virus-research-funding-bill?
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