It’s Monday, July 3rd, 2017…but before we begin, we submit for your consideration the words of what was once the de facto national anthem of the United States, particularly the words of the seldom-sung fourth stanza:
My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing; land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims’ pride, from ev’ry mountainside let freedom ring!
My native country, thee, land of the noble free, thy name I love; I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills; my heart with rapture thrills, like that above.
Let music swell the breeze, and ring from all the trees sweet freedom’s song; let mortal tongues awake; let all that breathe partake; let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.
Our fathers’ God to Thee, author of liberty, to Thee we sing. Long may our land be bright with freedom’s holy light, protect us by Thy might, great God our King.
A consistent theme runs through not only the founding document of the Republic…
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
…but also the words of one of its greatest leaders in perhaps the most meaningful speech ever delivered:
“…that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
So here’s wishing America not only a blessed birthday…
…but the continued blessings of Almighty God…and many, many happy returns!
Speaking of returns, here’s one bloated bloviator we hope never enjoys an encore…of any kind or at any level:
“Look, down on the beach; it’s a bird…it’s a plane…no, it’s a has-been beached whale!”
“People hoping to visit Island Beach State Park this holiday weekend were not allowed in because of the state government shutdown Gov. Chris Christie ordered amid the state budget standoff in Trenton. But there was one family there: Christie’s. They are using the summer beach house provided by the state for a weekend down the Shore.
…Christie, who first disclosed his weekend plans on Monday, said Sunday he was taking the state helicopter to go back and forth between Island Beach State Park and Trenton.
Christie told reporters Saturday that the the beach house is separate from the park and that his family will not ask for any state services. Asked if this is fair, Christie said Saturday: “Run for governor, and you can have a residence there…”
Like his bestest buddy Barack…
…Christie’s all about Christie; i.e., another fiddler…
…amongst the flames! Though in all fairness, over the 4th of July holiday in 2012, Mitt never showed a connection with the realities of life either, opting to enjoy the pleasures of Lake Winnipesaukee with his family…
…rather than help Mid-Atlantic America…including the swing states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia…dig out of the worst thunderstorm damage…
…in decades.
Other than flying Ann’s horse over to the London Olympics…
…can anyone imagine a more damaging graphic?!?
Now, here’s The Gouge!
First up, courtesy of NRO, Victor Davis Hanson details why, at least if you’re a Progressive…
“Red/blue, conservative/liberal, and Republican/Democrat mark traditional American divides. But one fault line is not so 50/50 — that of the contemporary hard progressive movement versus traditional politics, values, and customs.
The entire menu of race, class, and gender identity politics, lead-from-behind foreign policy, political correctness, and radical environmentalism so far have not won over most Americans.
Proof of that fact are the serial reliance of their supporters on deception, and the erosion of language on campus and in politics and the media. The progressive movement requires both deceit and euphemism to mask its apparently unpopular agenda.
What the Benghazi scandal, the Bowe Bergdahl swap, and the Iran Deal all had in common (Along with Obamacare, the Paris Accord and every other Obama initiative) was their reliance on ruse. If the White House and its allies had told the whole truth about all these incidents, Americans probably would have widely rejected the ideological premises that framed them.
…Without ruse, there can be no progressive project — as was true in the past of any illogical and unappealing ideology.
In short, you gotta lie.“
Which brings us to our next item from The Intercept, as Glenn Greenwald clearly confirms, when it comes to the MSM and Fake News, CNN is just the tip of the iceberg:
“Three prominent CNN journalists resigned Monday night after the network was forced to retract and apologize for a story linking Trump ally Anthony Scaramucci to a Russian investment fund under congressional investigation. That article — like so much Russia reporting from the U.S. media — was based on a single anonymous source, and now, the network cannot vouch for the accuracy of its central claims.
But CNN is hardly alone when it comes to embarrassing retractions regarding Russia. Over and over, major U.S. media outlets have published claims about the Russia Threat that turned out to be completely false — always in the direction of exaggerating the threat and/or inventing incriminating links between Moscow and the Trump circle. In virtually all cases, those stories involved evidence-free assertions from anonymous sources that these media outlets uncritically treated as fact, only for it to be revealed that they were entirely false.
Several of the most humiliating of these episodes have come from the Washington Post…
…What is most notable about these episodes is that they all go in the same direction: hyping and exaggerating the threat posed by the Kremlin. (With the active assistance of Team Trump) All media outlets will make mistakes; that is to be expected. But when all of the “mistakes” are devoted to the same rhetorical theme, and when they all end up advancing the same narrative goal, it seems clear that they are not the byproduct of mere garden-variety journalistic mistakes…”
Since we’re on the subject of the inept seeking to counter the efforts of the deliberately duplicitous, in his latest column at NRO, Michael Tanner relates the reality of the…
“Once upon a time in the far-off land of Washington, Republicans swore a mighty oath that, if they ever had the power, they would repeal Obamacare. Sometimes they added the word “replace,” but mostly, every Republican running for anything from president to the Tupelo school board (including The Donald!) vowed to rip the health-care law out by the roots, drive a stake through its heart, and shred it. Republicans in Congress even voted some 58 times to repeal all or part of the law. Sure, they knew that either Senate Democrats or President Obama would block their repeal attempts, but it was important to show everyone that they really, really, really hated this law. This was, after all, a very bad law that was driving up health-care costs, destabilizing health markets, and depriving Americans of their choice of insurance plan and sometimes their doctor.
Then, behold, a wondrous thing happened. Republicans won control not just of Congress but the presidency itself. Now, nothing stood in the way of their efforts to get rid of Obamacare. So, quickly they…oh, never mind.
The health-care bill released by Senate Republicans last week does many things. Repealing Obamacare is not one of them. In fact, this bill not only preserves the core of Obamacare, it may actually accomplish the difficult feat of making the health-care law’s many failures worse.
In fairness, Republicans face a daunting task, complicated by interparty ideological rifts, complex Senate rules on reconciliation, and a president who neither understands the policy nor has done anything to help sell an Obamacare-replacement plan to the public. But no one expected a combination of bad policy and bad politics as bad as this.
At the heart of Obamacare lies a devil’s bargain: The law expands the number of people with insurance coverage at the cost of driving up insurance premiums for those who already had coverage, which is to say the vast majority of people. Republicans apparently decided that the answer to this is to cut back on the increased coverage, while doing nothing to bring down premiums. That may not be “mean,” in the words of President Trump, but at the very least it is dumb…”
Not to mention an act of incredible incompetence; or, perhaps more accurately, outright political cowardice.
As the WSJ notes regarding what it terms “the Senate’s tax panic”:
“…When Republicans campaigned to “repeal and replace” ObamaCare, we don’t recall hearing that they meant only some of its tax increases. If they panic on the ObamaCare surtax, they’ll give Democrats a major policy victory without having provided a single vote to pass it. Talk about bad politics…”
Meanwhile, on The Lighter Side…
Finally, we’ll call it a wrap with yet another sordid story straight from the pages of The Crime Blotter,
‘I thought it was empty’: Father says he fatally shot daughter, 9, while teaching sons gun safety
“A northwestern Indiana man said he was showing a handgun to his sons and telling them to never play with it “because it can kill someone” when he accidentally shot and killed his 9-year-old daughter, according to court records. Eric Hummel sobbed while reporting the shooting during a 911 call on June 10, telling the dispatcher, “This can’t be real,” the Post-Tribune reported. His daughter, Olivia, died about 30 minutes later at a hospital.
Authorities said the 33-year-old father was showing his sons a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun when he inadvertently shot Olivia as she walked into the room. Hummel told the 911 dispatcher he didn’t realize the gun was loaded when he pulled the trigger…”
Here’s where it gets weird:
“Hobart Police Chief Richard W. Zormier said at a press conference, “I believe this was a series of heinous and depraved acts committed by the suspect on June 10. His actions that day endangered the lives of all three children and ultimately stole the life of Olivia, an innocent 9-year-old girl.” He continued, “His actions caused the death of Olivia and likely scarred the boys emotionally for life.”
Hummel faces multiple charges, including reckless homicide and child neglect. He plans to plead not guilty, according to his attorney, Paul Stracci…”
We’ve no clue as to what irritant’s under Chief Zormier’s saddle; but it’s safe to say we’ve never heard any accidental shooting…and we’re assuming, absent concrete evidence to the contrary, we’re dealing with an accidental shooting…described in such terms.
“Assuming” we’re correct, forget Chief Zormier’s possible political agenda…
Magoo
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