Euphemistically Speaking

Twitter was jumping today with a bumper crop of hilarious, often wildly creative obituaries for a variety of evil historical figures. This entertaining burst of social media mockery was in reaction to the Washington Post's ridiculous "austere religious scholar" description of al-Baghdadi in its first revision of three separately published headlines announcing (and re-announcing) the news.

"Religious scholar"? Al-Baghdadi captured, tortured, and murdered countless people in brutal and horrifying ways, including beheadings and burning alive. He was a rapist who enslaved women and abused them for his enjoyment. The enormity of his crimes is incalculable. In his last act on earth, as a suicide bomber, he dragged three (revised to two) innocent children into violent death with him.

Yet The Washington Post didn't want us to forget that he had advanced degrees in the study of Islam. And the media has the nerve to wonder why we don't trust them.

But back to the fun on Twitter! In one post, Charles Manson is referred to as a "famous song writer and meditation leader." In another, Al Capone is a "noted self-made entrepreneur." Adolf Hitler is described as a "passionate community planner and dynamic public speaker." Those three air-brushed "obituaries," and many others equally euphemistic, appeared in the Daily Wire article, "Twitter Users Hilariously Savage The Washington Post With ‘WaPoDeathNotices’ Hashtag After Al-Baghdadi Bungle."

In my own Twitter feed, I saw another "obituary" that made me laugh. It described Hannibal Lecter as a "renowned forensic expert and food connoisseur." That about covers it all, right? Now pass the fava beans over to The Washington Post.

Substance over Style

Not even the elimination of al-Baghdadi, the long-hunted terrorist leader of ISIS, can get President Trump a moment's respite from the relentless drumbeat of media and Hollywood criticism. Apparently, only Democratic presidents are worthy of receiving credit for successfully overseeing the military operations that destroy these murderous monsters.

There is nothing this president can do that will ever earn him an encouraging word from the elites who so blindly hate him. So why should he even try? He's drawing verbal fire because he didn't inform Congress first; again, why would he? They would leak it immediately, and The New York Times would be announcing the news instead of the president.

I, for one, am focusing on results. Al-Baghdadi is dead, and that makes the world a better place today.

As I'm sure an overwhelming majority of Americans do, I join President Trump in thanking our "soldiers and sailors, airmen, and Marines," along with their commanders, for this crucial accomplishment. They are, as the president stated, "the very best."

Founding Truths

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.
 ~ John Adams

Attorney General William Barr gave what I think is one of this century's most important American speeches at the University of Notre Dame last week. The full text of his address is linked here, from the Department of Justice website. I think every American should read every word of it.

The left-wing reaction to Barr's honesty is telling. The vicious, vituperative nature of the outrage against him is to be expected, but it is also indicative of a deep fear--a terror, even--of the truth. Rather than tearing Barr down with their slanderous insults, secular elites are calling attention to their own moral bankruptcy. It's not a pretty sight. Paul Krugman's sneering column is but one example of Barr's critics completely missing the point.

Barr is not promoting any specific religion, but rather the need for a "system of values" in which we are self-governing. "Moral values must rest on authority independent of men’s will," states William Barr. Translation: God's laws should rule human behavior. The secular left goes out of its collective mind at the slightest suggestion of God's authority. A fact that was so obvious to our nation's Founders is woefully unapparent to our woke progressives today.

Leaving criticism aside, Barr's remarks are also receiving their fair share of praise, as well they should. Townhall's Terry Jeffrey calls the speech a touchdown; I like to describe it as a grand slam.

In his address, Barr quotes James Madison: "We have staked our future on the ability of each of us to govern ourselves." As he expressed Madison's concept:

This is really what was meant by “self-government.” It did not mean primarily the mechanics by which we select a representative legislative body. It referred to the capacity of each individual to restrain and govern themselves.

Here Barr reminds us of our nation's founding as a "great experiment" in self government--not merely as a political structure, but as a personal way of life. This is what the Founders believed would allow the country to succeed; it is this belief that has powered the building of the unique nation we are fortunate enough to have.

The great American experiment was a huge gamble by the Founders, and the entire game is at stake today. Are We the People still up to the challenge of self government? Or has our U.S. Constitution become "wholly inadequate" to the people we are now, as John Adams warned it could? Values, virtue, and time will tell.

The Worst Lessons

I've been traveling during the past week or so. When I'm on and off planes, I like to bring my Kindle along. An e-reader is unbeatably easy to pack, and there are no worries about a hard copy book suffering bent pages or ripped covers.

There are several unread books queued up in my Kindle, for I still prefer to hold a book in my hands, turn pages, and measure my progress with a bookmark. (I also prefer to avoid having my reading habits tracked and recorded by some unknown scribe of the cyberworld.) But when I'm on an airplane and on the move, I catch up on Kindle reading.

In light of current political events, I decided to read a book about President Obama. It's titled The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama, co-authored by Matt Margolis and Mark Noonan. I was never a fan of our 45th president, but as most conservatives did, I suffered through his two terms with fatalistic resignation. I accepted that he was president, and that his presidency would end in due time; I hoped the country would survive relatively intact until it did.

I'm not sure that the country did survive intact. In reading The Worst President, seeing all of Obama's transgressions against the rule of law and the Constitution laid out in stark sequence, I was left incredulous at the flagrant offenses he got away with so easily. The compliant left-wing media didn't challenge him, and the Republicans didn't have enough stomach to sustain any confrontation. Obama's opponents were punished, national institutions were weaponized against citizens who disagreed with him, due process was often ignored. Today, look where we are.

If President Trump had committed even one of Obama's numerous executive overreaches, he would've been impeached immediately. In fairness, take just one situation--Obama's hot mike moment with the Russian president: "After my election I have more flexibility." Can you imagine the political elite's reaction if President Trump had said that? Can you imagine their reaction if it had been Donald Trump, not Joe Biden, who had gotten a political leader fired in exchange for financial aid (and to benefit his son) and then bragged about it on videotape? Of course you can; we're living through their reaction to far less.

The Worst President in History is a depressing read, but it's an important one. Barack Obama's presidency was historic for many reasons, perhaps none so significant as the instigation and fomenting of ever-rising levels of intolerance in our national discourse. Obama found ways to divide us whenever he could. Americans used to be able to argue and debate politics in a respectful manner; that ability is largely absent now. I, for one, blame the person that I agree is the worst president in our history: Barack Hussein Obama.

Sobering Facts

When political events become this murky and convoluted, Victor Davis Hanson is my go-to source for sorting out the facts. Hanson's "Impeachment Coup Analytics" confronts the disturbing reality that the goal of impeaching Trump is not justice in government, but Democratic victory at the polls in 2020.

If current national economic conditions prevail, impeachment is the only way to prevent Donald Trump's second term.

It's Not for Them to Say

Distrust naturally creates distrust, and by nothing is good will and kind conduct more speedily changed. 
― John Jay, The Federalist Papers

I'm watching with increasing incredulity as one elite after another pronounces, in one form or another, that it's time for Trump to go. Actor Robert DeNiro, that erudite expert of vocal expression, and politician Bernie Sanders, the Marxist wannabe presidential candidate, are just two examples of the flat-out "throw him out" mentality.

And we shouldn't overlook that master of improvisational theatre, Representative Adam Schiff, who has called for the president's resignation. Now that certainly would make things easier for the Trump haters, wouldn't it? The pathetic crop of Democratic (read "Socialist") candidates fuels their desperation. They are increasingly terrified that Donald Trump might--just maybe, quite possibly--win a second term.

But shouldn't that be up to the voters?

Never mind that there's a presidential election next year, in which "We the People" will have the opportunity to vote for a different president--if we so choose. No, our privileged cultural rulers have proclaimed that we don't have time to wait for such niceties as elections. According to them, their say-so should be good enough to rid the country of the rightfully elected president, the rule of law and the voters all be damned.

Where is the outrage over this planned coup d'état? The Founders are spinning in their graves.

At Any Cost

 

So fearful are Dems of next year,

That Trump's second term is too near;

They can't let him win,

And so they must spin

"Impeachment" 'til he's out of here.

Weather--or Not

So apparently it's not enough to have our own puffball politicians, media talking heads, know-it-all university professors, and clueless Hollywood celebrities telling us how to live our lives. Now we also need to put up with a snot-nosed Swedish teenaged brat lecturing us about how terribly destructive we are?

I don't think so, sweet pea. You should've stopped your snarling at "This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school..."--three totally correct statements--and sailed back to your Swedish indoctrination camp.

I've been reading about the coming global apocalypse since 1970. By the way, we were all supposed to be dead by now. Yet despite our poisoned air, the doomsayers seem to be quite well and capable of complaining nonstop, often at the top of their climate-damaged lungs.

Don't take my word for it. Read "Epic Fail" in the Federalist, which will walk you through seven failed environmental predictions. Also check out ten of Al Gore's dire predictions that never happened. Yes, that Al Gore--the godfather of climate change (formerly global warming).

I don't know if it's because of the recurring idiocy surrounding us, but I'm feeling like a renegade tonight. A few mortal sins against the totalitarian climate controllers are in order. I think I'll go screw in a couple of incandescent lightbulbs (there's some contraband in the garage), then I'll let the water run while I brush my teeth. After that, I'll toss in a load of laundry during peak hours. When I'm all done running amuck, I'll drink a nightcap through a plastic straw and throw it away in the trash can--not the recycle bin.

I learned several decades before you were born, dyra barn: If you're going to go wild, go big.

Trump's Secret Weapon

President Trump was in San Diego today. There was a lot of coverage of the president's visit in local media.

One radio commentator I listen to on my evening commute had attended the president's fundraising luncheon at the U.S. Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego. Having just been in Los Angeles, one of the stories President Trump told the luncheon guests was about the Beverly Hills voters who today all profess to despise Donald Trump. Yet Trump won a healthy chunk of Beverly Hills in the 2016 election. When Beverly Hills residents are asked how they voted in 2016, their answer usually is "none of your business."

"I got 100% of the 'none of your business' vote," joked the president. It's true, and it didn't happen only in tony Los Angeles suburbs. I know many people who will never say publicly how they voted, but I'm fairly certain they voted for President Trump. Secrecy is the hallmark of the Trump voter; that's what makes the 2020 election such a wildcard. There is simply no scientific way to project how people are going to vote.

As election season draws near, pollsters need to beware. If voters tell you that they're "thinking about it," or they "haven't decided yet," or worst of all--that "it's none of your business"--they're probably in Trump's column. That's what happened in 2016, and I suspect it will happen again.

Just why is the president coming to California? With statewide politics being the hot mess that they are today, I'm will to wager that even this bluest of blue states is in play.

Photo: San Diego Union Tribune

The Record Player Debate

"Just take those all records off the shelf
I'll sit and listen to 'em by myself"
- G. Jackson, T. Jones - sung by Bob Seger

I watched bits and pieces of the Democratic presidential debate a few nights ago--bits and pieces being the operative phrase. If there was a coherent strategy for future policy offered by any of the participants, I missed it.

But I happened to be watching when former VP Joe Biden advised parents to play "the record player" to increase children's vocabulary. Perhaps that's good advice; right there, "record player" is a term that kids today would need to learn. It could double as a history lesson, leading to a discussion of leisure listening habits in the golden days of yore.

Of course, Twitter was on fire with comments and wisecracks about Biden's unfortunate reference to the turntables of old. My laugh-out-loud moment came when I saw the tweet appearing below:

Nothing against the former vice president; how could you not like "Uncle Joe" Biden? But I think he'll have lots of time to devote to his record collection after the Democratic convention next year.