The great British actor Ian Holm, whose life work included a bevy of iconic and diverse characters, from the malevolent cyborg Ash in Ridley Scott&#8217;s &#8220;Alien&#8221; to the ornery hobbit Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson&#8217;s &#8220;Lord of the Rings,&#8221; died on Friday due to complications from Parkinson&#8217;s disease. He was 88.
“It is with great sadness that the actor Sir Ian Holm CBE passed away this morning at the age of 88,” his agent told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jun/19/ian-holm-dies-alien-chariots-of-fire-bilbo-baggins">The Guardian</a>. “He died peacefully in hospital, with his family and carer. Charming, kind and ferociously talented, we will miss him hugely.”
As noted by <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ian-holm-dead-chariots-fire-alien-bilbo-baggins-actor-was-88-1075500">The Hollywood Reporter</a>, Holm became a favorite in sci-fi circles for his portrayal of Ash in Ridley Scott&#8217;s &#8220;Alien,&#8221; a scientist aboard the Nostromo whose identity is later revealed to be a cyborg with some dark ulterior motives. &#8220;You have my sympathies,&#8221; he uttered to Ellen Ripley in a chillingly iconic moment that still resonates 40+ years after its debut.
Holm would later star in the sci-fi fantasy adventure &#8220;Time Bandits,&#8221; the sci-fi Orwellian nightmare &#8220;Brazil,&#8221; and the sci-fi action pop fever dream &#8220;The Fifth Element.&#8221;
He played Tolkien&#8217;s beloved character Bilbo Baggins in the four movies directed by Peter Jackson: &#8220;The Fellowship of the Ring,&#8221; &#8220;Return of the King,&#8221; &#8220;An Unexpected Journey,&#8221; and &#8220;The Battle of the Five Armies.&#8221;
He was nominated for one Oscar in 1981&#8217;s Best Picture-winning &#8220;Chariots of Fire.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m never the same twice, and I&#8217;m not a movie-star type, so people don&#8217;t demand that I&#8217;m always the same,&#8221; he <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2000/apr/09/entertainment/ca-17483" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told</a> the Los Angeles Times in 2000.
More from The Hollywood Reporter:
<blockquote>Ian Holm Cuthbert was born on Sept. 12, 1931, in Goodmayes, England. His Scottish parents worked in a psychiatric hospital; his mother was a nurse and his father a psychiatrist and early innovator in the technique of electroshock therapy.
A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company starting in the 1950s, Holm collected Tony and Olivier awards before a case of stage fright that blindsided him during previews for The Iceman Cometh left him queasy about working in front of a live audience for more than a decade.
Holm cemented his place in British cinema history when he played the eccentric track coach Sam Mussabini in the historical sporting drama Chariots of Fire (1981). The film, one of England&#8217;s most beloved, took the Oscar for best picture, and Holm was nominated for best supporting actor (he lost out to countryman John Gielgud of Arthur).
The chameleon-like actor also played King John in Robin and Marian (1976), the father of the scientist in Mary Shelley&#8217;s Frankenstein (1994), a nasty restaurateur in Big Night (1996), a New York City cop in Sidney Lumet&#8217;s Night Falls on Manhattan (1996), a holy man in The Fifth Element (1997) and Zach Braff&#8217;s psychiatrist father in Garden State (2004).</blockquote>
Holm is survived by his wife, Sophie, and his five children. He was married four times.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Cambridge Jones Portraits &#8211; Ian Holm

Ian Holm, Bilbo In ‘Lord of the Rings,’ Ash In ‘Alien,’ Dead At 88

Ian Holm

On Thursday night in Portland, Oregon, leftists toppled the statue of President George Washington, setting an American flag on fire on the head of the statue before sending it crashing to the ground. After the statue lay on the ground, another American flag was sat afire on top of it.
The leftists, who numbered between 30-40 people, according to<a href="https://katu.com/news/local/george-washington-statue-in-portland-torn-down-protests-continue">KATU</a>, spray-painted “1619,” on the statue, which stood in the lawn of the German American Society; &#8220;genocidal colonist” and “f*** cops” were also sprayed on the monument. The pedestal on which the statue stood was spray-painted, “You’re on native land.”
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Another flag burning, this time on George Washington’s back. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portlandprotest?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Portlandprotest</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/statue?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#statue</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#blacklivesmatter</a>   <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDXprotests?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PDXprotests</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/pdx?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#pdx</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/oregon?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#oregon</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blm?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#blm</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/acab?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#acab</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/pdx?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#pdx</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/georgewashington?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#georgewashington</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/flagburning?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#flagburning</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StatuesMustFall?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StatuesMustFall</a> <a href="https://t.co/diSjnwO3IO">pic.twitter.com/diSjnwO3IO</a>
&mdash; Garrison Davis (Teargas Glutton) (@hungrybowtie) <a href="https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1273862917985693696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Matt Rashleigh of KOIN tweeted: &#8220;The George Washington statue on NE Sandy in #Portland #Oregon has been pulled down and vandalized. Portland Police officers inspected the damage. Someone left a note and a few dollars on it next to the spray painted bronze.”
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The George Washington statue on NE Sandy in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Portland</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oregon?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Oregon</a> has been pulled down and vandalized. Portland Police officers inspected the damage. Someone left a note and a few dollars on it next to the spray painted bronze. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/koin6news?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#koin6news</a> <a href="https://t.co/e5LYbDtvMa">pic.twitter.com/e5LYbDtvMa</a>
&mdash; Matt Rashleigh (@Matt_KOIN) <a href="https://twitter.com/Matt_KOIN/status/1273885631949594624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Andy Ngô, editor-at-large at The Post Millennial, added, “Antifa rioters on Sandy Blvd. in Portland draped a US flag over a George Washington statue &amp; set it on fire. They then toppled the statue. ‘Genocidal colonist’ &amp; ‘f— cops’ are sprayed on monument. Rioters have begun to build another autonomous zone nearby.”
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Antifa rioters on Sandy Blvd. in Portland draped a US flag over a George Washington statue &amp; set it on fire. They then toppled the statue. “Genocidal colonist” &amp; “f— cops” are sprayed on monument. Rioters have began to build another autonomous zone nearby. <a href="https://t.co/TrZkhPK9zp">pic.twitter.com/TrZkhPK9zp</a>
&mdash; Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1273861696654729217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Washington was a legendary figure even in his own time. After transforming an underfunded militia into an army that wound up defeating the greatest military power in the world, through the brutal winter at Valley Forge to the capitulation of the British at Yorktown, it was Washington’s presence that gave the Constitutional Convention enough credibility that the ensuing Constitution was taken seriously. &#8220;Be assured,&#8221; James Monroe reminded Thomas Jefferson, &#8220;his influence carried this government.&#8221;
On June 11, Arkansas senator Tom Cotton gave a stirring speech on the floor of the Senate about cancel culture in which he stated:
<blockquote>The cancel culture threatens the very principles of free inquiry and open debate on which our society is based. And you see other manifestations of the cancel culture all across the country today. In many cases they have adopted the spirit of a Jacobin mob in the French Revolution; a Reign of Terror trying to completely erase our culture and our history.
Unfortunately, many Democrats are vying to be the Robespierre for this Jacobin mob.  Look at what’s happening in Seattle; revolutionaries, anarchists, have taken over city government buildings; they have taken over neighborhoods; they have declared themselves an “autonomous zone.” They have put up a sign that says you are leaving the United States when you enter this autonomous zone.
The Democratic Party today, I suppose, is still the party of secession.
But it’s not just in Seattle; look at what’s happening to statues and monuments all around the country. In several cities, statues of Christopher Columbus have been torn down. They have been defaced, destroyed. Statues that in most cases were put up by Italian-American immigrants who were proud of their part in the American story. This was not done in accordance with law; it was done after thoughtful debate in city councils or state legislatures, it was done by mobs.
Just last week the Lincoln Memorial, a temple to the Great Emancipator, was defaced. The World War II Memorial, a memorial to those who fought and liberated the world of fascism, was defaced.</blockquote>
Cotton cited the defacing of statues in Philadelphia and Boston of figures who were abolitionists or tributes to black troops who fought on the Union side in the Civil war. He noted, “Just up the mall is the Washington Monument. Are we going to tear the Washington Monument down? Are we going to rename it the &#8216;Obelisk of Wokeness?’&#8221;
Video of Cotton&#8217;s speech below:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x64303I4CmQ" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

U.S.-WASHINGTON D.C.-COVID-19-CASES

Portland Leftists Topple George Washington Statue, Burn American Flag On It — Twice.

American Flag

George Washington

Portland

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, whose leftist proclivities were on ample display in 2018 when he instructed Portland police officers not to respond after leftists set up camps outside an ICE office and reportedly trapped ICE employees inside the building, had a distinctly different response on Thursday after leftists tried to set up an “autonomous zone” in the area in which he reportedly lives, approving of police clearing the protesters from the area.
KOIN reporter Elise Haas noted in a tweet that included video of the incident: &#8220;Portland Police are moving in on protesters in the &#8216;Patrick Kimmons autonomous zone,&#8217; which is reportedly outside Mayor Wheeler’s residence. They’ve called it a civil disturbance and asked people to stay inside.&#8221;
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Portland Police are moving in on protesters in the “Patrick Kimmons autonomous zone,” which is reportedly outside Mayor Wheeler’s residence. They’ve called it a civil disturbance and asked people to stay inside. <a href="https://t.co/LwAKogsKzM">pic.twitter.com/LwAKogsKzM</a>
&mdash; Elise Haas (@EliseKOIN) <a href="https://twitter.com/EliseKOIN/status/1273596141615984641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The Portland Police Department tweeted:
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PPB is declaring a civil disturbance and unlawful assembly from NW 11th east to NW Park Ave and NW Irving south to NW Everett St. If you do not live inside a dwelling in this area, leave immediately to the west. If you do not leave you are subject to arrest or use of force.
&mdash; Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) <a href="https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1273593849424707585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The area of NW 11th east to NW Park Avenue and NW Irving south to NW Everett Street is closed. We are requesting Portland residents in this area stay inside their residence and shelter in place.
&mdash; Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) <a href="https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1273595928918626305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Wheeler not only wanted the “autonomous zone” gone, he even acknowledged that the Seattle &#8220;autonomous zone&#8221; “CHOP” had some problems of its own.
&#8220;I do not want an autonomous zone set up in Portland,&#8221; he told reporters Thursday. &#8220;I’m watching what’s going on in Seattle and I’m not impressed. I think it’s a distraction from the larger movement; the movement is justice for black people. I’m not in Seattle, obviously, but what I’m hearing out of Seattle concerns me: armed people walking round in the autonomous zone; people being asked to show their papers and demonstrate where they’re from at the entrance to the autonomous zone? Businesses potentially being shaken down to be allowed to operate within the autonomous zone?&#8221;
&#8220;So if you’re asking about something I support, let me be unequivocally clear: I do not support that and I also believe it’s a distraction from the larger movement, which is to support and uplift black voices in our community,&#8221; he said.
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Portland Mayor <a href="https://twitter.com/tedwheeler?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tedwheeler</a> was in the Pearl District this morning after PPB cleared an area that protesters had deemed an autonomous zone. Wheeler was asked if he&#39;d support such an area being established in the city, here is his response <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LiveOnK2?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LiveOnK2</a> <a href="https://t.co/zGRKVeJvqI">pic.twitter.com/zGRKVeJvqI</a>
&mdash; Evan Bell (@evanbellKATU) <a href="https://twitter.com/evanbellKATU/status/1273651053741748224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2020</a></blockquote>
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In 2018, the National ICE Council, the union representing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement employees, asked state and federal officials to open a criminal investigation of Wheeler over how he directed police to respond to ICE protests, as <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2018/10/ice_union_seeks_criminal_inves.html">Oregon Live</a> reported. The protest <a href="https://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/tns-occupy-ice-portland-oregon.html">lasted</a> 38 days.
In August 2018,  GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana introduced a <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/arc-wordpress-client-uploads/wweek/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20195604/Cassidy-ICE-Portland-resolution.pdf">resolution</a> calling on Wheeler to resign. The resolution slammed Wheeler for refusing to order the police to take action when &#8220;a mob of leftwing activists recently surrounded an ICE office in southwest Portland, Oregon, trapping ICE employees inside the building.&#8221; Cassidy wrote:
<blockquote>Whereas the Mayor of Portland, Oregon, Ted Wheeler, barred the Portland Police Bureau from coming to the aid of ICE employees, stating, ‘‘I do not want the @PortlandPolice to be engaged or sucked into a conflict, particularly from a Federal agency that I believe is on the wrong track . . . If they are looking for a bailout from this mayor, they are looking in the wrong place.’’; whereas the ICE office in southwest Portland was shut down for days due to threats and occupation; whereas leftwing activists have similarly harassed and threatened ICE employees and targeted ICE offices for closure around the country;
Whereas the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council’s representative stated in a letter to Mayor Ted Wheeler that ‘‘[y]our current policy forbidding Portland law enforcement agencies from assisting employees of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency who request law enforcement assistance while at or away from work’’ leaves ‘‘them vulnerable to violence, harassment and even death . . . Your policy has created a zone of terror and lawlessness. We ask that you end your policy of not responding to calls for police services from ICE employees immediately. Our membership has been the subjected to threats of physical violence and harassment since you announced your policy,’’ and whereas the President of the Portland Police Association, Daryl Turner, stated, ‘‘There is no place for personal, political bias when it comes to providing public safety services to our communities. In that respect, our Mayor, who is also our Police Commissioner, has failed miserably” … the Senate calls on the Mayor of Portland, Oregon, Ted Wheeler, to immediately resign.</blockquote>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.
&nbsp;

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler

Democrat Portland Mayor Who Kept Police From Responding To 2018  ICE Protests Shuts Down ‘Autonomous Zone’ Near His Home

Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

Seattle

Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell slammed former national security adviser John Bolton on Thursday night over his soon-to-be-released book.
&#8220;Well, first of all, let’s talk about his reputation at the NSC. He ran an NSC that leaked like crazy,&#8221; Grenell began. &#8220;Everything that happened leaked out of the NSC. Is it no surprise that somehow all of these stories didn’t leak when everything else was leaking.&#8221;
&#8220;I have to say, everyone should be troubled by someone who was unwilling to testify under oath but then is willing to speak under a book deal, and to me this is exactly what’s happening,&#8221; Grenell continued. &#8220;They saved salacious stories in order to sell books. There’s no other explanation for this because clearly this is not the President Trump that we know, and we had all sorts of signs that John Bolton was going to go his own way anyway.&#8221;
Grenell then highlighted policy problems that the administration allegedly had with Bolton, saying, &#8220;To want to start a war with Iran when you’re the national security adviser for the president who ran on bringing our troops home, who ran on trying to stop endless wars, and to talk to the North Koreans instead of picking fights, this is yet another contradiction for Bolton.&#8221;
&#8220;He didn’t want to talk to the North Koreans, he is somebody who would rather pick the fights and push the policy in a very direct way,&#8221; Grenell continued. &#8220;That wasn’t President Trump, he wanted to make sure that we weren’t going to go into wars.&#8221;
Grenell added, &#8220;I’ve got my own situation going on because of John Bolton being different than what the president was. When it comes to Kosovo and Serbia, we’re having both of those two together at the White House next Saturday to talk about historic movement and agreement, and yet I am fighting constantly about this rumor about land swaps between the two, and that’s not Trump’s policy. But when you dig deep, both sides say that’s what John Bolton said. And so I’m fighting all of the rumors that persisted because Bolton was pursuing his own policy rather than President Trump’s policy.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RichardGrenell</a> tells <a href="https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IngrahamAngle</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/AmbJohnBolton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AmbJohnBolton</a> “ran an NSC that leaked like crazy” &amp; conducted shadow foreign policy, e.g., suggesting Serbia &amp; Kosovo “land swaps” despite that not being Trump policy <a href="https://t.co/11Z19aaimM">pic.twitter.com/11Z19aaimM</a>
&mdash; Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1273978483660722177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>FOX NEWS HOST LAURA INGRAHAM: Former national security adviser John Bolton has been hawking his upcoming book to the anti-Trump propagandists in the media and of course he’s portraying himself as the noble public servant who is just doing his duty and exposing a man he says is unfit for the presidency, but my next guest says Bolton’s true motivations have nothing to do with any of that. Joining me now is Ric Grenell, former Acting Director of National Intelligence. Ric, what was Bolton’s reputation while in office and what does it tell us now about his motivations having written this book?
RICHARD GRENELL: Well, first of all, let’s talk about his reputation at the NSC. He ran an NSC that leaked like crazy. Everything that happened leaked out of the NSC. Is it no surprise that somehow all of these stories didn’t leak when everything else was leaking. I have to say, everyone should be troubled by someone who was unwilling to testify under oath but then is willing to speak under a book deal and to me this is exactly what’s happening. They saved salacious stories in order to sell books. There’s no other explanation for this because clearly this is not the President Trump that we know and we had all sorts of signs that John Bolton was going to go his own way anyway.
INGRAHAM: Well, it was a disastrous pick. Bolton didn’t agree with any of Trump’s views about drawing down forces and in one part of the book he’s just enraged that Trump didn’t want to bomb the heck out of Syria after they shot down our unmanned drone. The president decided after looking at the projections for collateral damage and deaths, he said too many body bags. To me that’s a president who’s in control of the data, knows it, and says, you know, I want to hold off. That’s prudence.
GRENELL: Yeah, I know. Look, you know, I think that story was actually about Iran if I remember correctly.
INGRAHAM: Iran, excuse me. Iran, not Syria.
GRENELL: To want to start a war with Iran when you’re the national security adviser for the president who ran on bringing our troops home, who ran on trying to stop endless wars, and to talk to the North Koreans instead of picking fights, this is yet another contradiction for Bolton. He didn’t want to talk to the North Koreans, he is somebody who would rather pick the fights and push the policy in a very direct way. That wasn’t President Trump, he wanted to make sure that we weren’t going to go into wars. I’ve got my own situation going on because of John Bolton being different than what the president was. When it comes to Kosovo and Serbia, we’re having both of those two together at the White House next Saturday to talk about historic movement and agreement and yet I am fighting constantly about this rumor about land swaps between the two and that’s not Trump’s policy but when you dig deep both sides say that’s what John Bolton said. And so I’m fighting all of the rumors that persisted because Bolton was pursuing his own policy rather than President Trump’s policy. So I think what you have to do is when you sign up to work for a president like President Trump who is a disruptor, who is from the outside, who wants to change Washington, you can’t be somebody like John Bolton who lives in Washington, D.C., whose career is Washington, D.C., who wants to go back to Washington, D.C., and make all of his money in Washington, D.C., when he’s done. This is no longer a fight about Republicans versus Democrats. This is a fight of Washington, D.C., versus the rest of America.
INGRAHAM: Yeah, the swamp and those who want all the money in the swamp to marinate in all these lobbies and all these groups. I mean, he wants to make big money. Okay, he can go make big money but try not being a creep.</blockquote>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Visit to Germany by US Secretary of State Pompeo

Grenell Hammers Bolton For ‘Situation’ He Allegedly Caused While ‘Pursuing His Own’ Agenda

Donald Trump

John Bolton

Richard Grenell

The Atlanta Police Foundation is giving every officer in the Atlanta Police Department a $500 check, a roughly $2 million investment to lift the spirits of local law enforcement.
The foundation announced the donation to each individual officer on Thursday, saying that the one-time payment was to thank police officers for working through the coronavirus pandemic and putting in overtime during recent protests and riots, according to <a href="https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/every-atlanta-police-department-officer-to-receive-500-bonus">Fox 5 Atlanta</a>.
“In an effort to stem attrition and boost morale, we issued a $500 bonus to each Atlanta Police Department officer,” the Atlanta Police Foundation said in a Thursday statement.
In addition to the checks, the foundation will also feed officers working 12-hour shifts and replace at least 20 police vehicles that were damaged or destroyed by rioters. Experts working with the charity are creating a police reform proposal to present to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
“The plan will reflect the ideas of a broad array of law enforcement, business, social justice, and community experts. It will identify standards of operational excellence and reflect best practices from successful public safety programs across the nation, including some of our own work in Atlanta,” the foundation said.
The investment in police came less than 24 hours after reportedly dozens of Atlanta police officers called in sick or walked off the job in protest after Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard charged a now-fired officer with murdering Rayshard Brooks. Howard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-former-atlanta-officer-charged-with-felony-murder-in-shooting-of-rayshard-brooks">announced</a> 11 charges against Garrett Rolfe on Wednesday. The DA also brought three charges against Rolfe’s partner, Devin Brosnan, who has been placed on administrative leave.
Rolfe and Brosnan attempted to arrest Brooks last week after Brooks was found passed out in his car in the middle of a Wendy’s drive through. The officers ran Brooks through a field sobriety test, and a breathalyzer measured Brooks over the legal limit for alcohol, according to police <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-police-body-cam-footage-challenges-narrative-on-death-of-rayshard-brooks">body cam footage</a>. As the officers attempted to take Brooks into custody, Brooks wrestled a taser away from one officer and fled several steps before turning the taser on Rolfe who then shot Brooks.
On Wednesday night, dozens of officers reportedly boycotted the night shift. Bottoms, who has also called Brooks’ death a “murder,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/atlanta-mayor-acknoweldges-police-morale-is-down-ten-fold-begs-officers-to-return-to-work-after-walkout">appeared</a> on CNN to reassure Atlanta residents that the protest would not have any significant impact on police department functions. She did not say how many officers had not shown up for work.
“This has been a very tough few weeks in Atlanta and with the tragedy of Mr. Brooks, and then on top of that the excessive force charges that were brought against the officers involved with the college students, there’s a lot happening in our city, and the police officers are receiving the brunt of it quite frankly,” Bottoms said, acknowledging that police moral is “down ten-fold” across the city.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Police Officer

Atlanta Police Charity Gives Officers $2 Million, Replace 20 Cruisers To ‘Boost Morale’

Atlanta

Police

Variety just published a list of 10 “problematic” films that deserve a warning label a la “Gone With the Wind.” The list includes “Dirty Harry” (it mocks liberal judges), “The Silence of the Lambs” (not trans friendly) and “The Searchers” (it portrays Native Americans as “savage or comical”).
So we clearly need a competing list of 10 liberal films so “problematic” they demand warnings all their own.
OK, we don’t actually want warning labels on these films, or any movies for that matter. Labels are for children, and adults are smart enough to process thoughts and themes from decades ago ‘til now.
That didn’t stop <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/gone-with-the-wind-problem-films-forrest-gump-1234640666/">Variety</a> from demanding a movie released less than a year ago, “Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood,” come with a warning about its “regressive” content.
“It’s about two middle-aged white guys who long for the old days in Hollywood; in other words, MHGA (Make Hollywood Great Again). The film is set in 1969, when some Americans felt the status quo was being threatened by minorities, hippies and newly liberated women.”
Especially the hippies out to slaughter the main characters, mind you.
Still, as a way to reach across the ideological aisle, here are 10 sticker-worthy liberal films. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Or not!
“JFK” (1991)
What you’re about to see comes from the conspiratorial mind of Oliver Stone. Enough said.
<iframe title="JFK - Original Theatrical Trailer" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s8az13Y1rUM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Truth” (2015)
This Robert Redford vehicle attempted to resurrect Dan Rather’s career. The disgraced CBS News anchor now bloviates on Twitter and CNN, so let’s assume the resurrection didn’t fully take. More importantly, the film says Rather followed solid journalistic standards by reciting the “fake but accurate” mantra.
<iframe title="Truth Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford Drama HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MqOz8-Sto1g?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“The Day After Tomorrow” (2004)
Hollywood loves climate change apocalyptic stories. This one, from hack auteur Roland Emmerich, may cause intense giggles and rampant eye rolling. Consult your doctor before watching from start to finish.
<iframe title="The Day After Tomorrow (1/5) Movie CLIP - Tornadoes Destroy Hollywood (2004) HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dkErNkX2HKM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Vice” (2018)
This Adam McKay fever dream purports to tell the unlikely rise of Richard B. Cheney. Instead, it’s a factually wobbly blog post with killer makeup and a starry cast. And when a movie like “Vice” insists the U.S. invaded Iraq for its oil, but never took over the oil fields, you shouldn’t take it seriously.
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“Avatar” (2009)
Even your favorite tree hugger might wince as the film asks us to cheer on blue aliens over Earthlings. It doesn’t help that hack lines like “shock and awe” reached theaters after President George W. Bush went back to his Texas ranch.
<iframe title="Avatar | Official Trailer (HD) | 20th Century FOX" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5PSNL1qE6VY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Collapse” (2009)
This “Peak Oil” screed hit theaters in 2009. Fracking went wild just a few years later.
<iframe title="Collapse" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uxWpxQXMcp4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Bushwick” (2017)
Did you know when the Left/Right civil war begins, the progressives will have the upper hand? Yes, this 2017 turkey tells us so, along with the notion that many Red States want out of the U.S. of A. Sure, it’s a fantasy action romp, and a stupefying one at that, still some coherency should come into play.
<iframe title="Bushwick Trailer #1 (2017) | Movieclips Trailers" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cn7pZdg0aI4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Game Change” (2012)
Sarah Palin has her flaws. All politicians do. Portraying her as a potted plant, not a popular governor reviving a comatose campaign, shows the HBO film didn’t have reality in mind. It won a boatload of awards all the same, to no one’s surprise.
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“Sicko” (2007)
If we’re giving out warning labels, better print up a bunch for this filmmaker’s canon and perhaps his <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/michael-moore-lying-attacks-life/">dubious brand-building</a>. Any movie telling us you’re better off being sick in Cuba than the U.S. has its head up the wrong place.
<iframe title="Sicko (1/8) Movie CLIP - Pre-Existing Conditions (2007) HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QtJwMKMz6-M?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“BlacKkKlansman” (2018)
This 2018 film proved director Spike Lee could still spin a dizzying yarn, something he hasn’t done in ages. The movie caps with a montage of news footage featuring the mother of all selectively edited clips. Yes, the <a href="https://www.prageru.com/video/the-charlottesville-lie/">Charlottesville Lie</a> makes a vicious cameo.
<iframe title="BlacKkKlansman (2018) - Too Late to Turn Back Now Scene (1/10) | Movieclips" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLZbXA4lyCtqpu0SvojBcC96UJtwGh4mvb" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
By the way, the Variety listicle got pummeled by the site’s own readers. It’s worth reading every scathing response, but here are a few golden nuggets.
<ul>
<li>You guys at The Onion are hilarious! Thanks for the satire but I think you went too far on the unbelievable side.</li>
<li>Tim Gray wants to be the new Tipper Gore. Hey Tim nobody wants to see context, opinions or warnings before watching a movie. Earth to Tim &#8211; These are entertainment movies and not politically correct SJW propaganda films. Warnings are not a form of censorship? You are way off mark.</li>
<li>If you’re an adult and you need a disclaimer before a film, to explain that the past wasn’t exactly like the present, you shouldn’t be going out to the movies or anywhere else in public, unattended.</li>
<li>Please, stop this madness. I remember socialism as a teenager (I am from Prague and in 1989 I was 15) and this is very similar to situation before 1989 &#8211; many films were blacklisted and forbidden because of some “suitable” reason….how can Forrest Gump do harm? Is this really democracy?</li>
</ul>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Sissy Spacek And Kevin Costner In &#8216;JFK&#8217;

10 Problematic Leftist Films That Could Use Warning Labels—Or Better Yet, We Could Just Laugh At Their Absurdity

Conservatism

Hollywood

Leftism

Political Correctness

Democrat Senator Tim Kaine proved that millennials aren’t the only ones who’ve never read a history book when he stood on the floor of the Senate this week to denounce America’s <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1272960969862344704?s=20">invention</a> of slavery.
Kain said, “The United States didn’t inherit slavery from anybody; we created it,” tracing our alleged creation of slavery back to 1619, over 150 years before the United States was founded.
The most generous possible interpretation of this seemingly incoherent remark is that the United States “created” slavery in the United States. This would be true, of course, but by the same logic we might say that the United States created the wheel, irrigation, agriculture, and Chinese food, in that none of these things existed in the United States until the United States existed. In other words, the United States’ version of all of these things was created by the United States. An accurate statement, but also weirdly redundant and unnecessary.
The more obvious and direct interpretation is that Tim Kaine believes, or at least wants us to believe, that the institution of slavery itself was designed and implemented by Americans. Indeed many in this country, especially college students, seem to be under this impression. In fact, a university professor has <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/college-students-think-america-invented-slavery-professor-finds/">polled</a> students on their historical knowledge and found that a vast majority hold this very belief: that slavery is unique to our country, and we carry almost all of the blame for it.
This is the message sent loud and clear by the mobs tearing down statues, and the BLM activists demanding that white people kneel and apologize, and the leftists who degrade western civilization and its achievements. White westerners, it is said, have a unique reason to apologize. They are the descendants of history’s greatest villains. Any discussion of historical atrocities should begin and end with them.
This is all nonsense, of course. For one thing, nobody is responsible for the actions of their ancestors, and one man cannot and should not apologize to another man for events that occurred before either were born. To apologize for something is to take responsibility for it, but you obviously cannot take responsibility for things that were done at a time when you did not actually exist. We can discuss the legacy of these events, and how they still affect people today, but nobody involved in the conversation has any reason for guilt or remorse. Empathy and understanding are one thing, and a good thing, but there is nothing good about falling to your knees and begging forgiveness for actions you never took and decisions you never made. This, at best, is performative self-flagellation. At worst, it is a show of sincere and delusional self-loathing. In either case, it is not healthy.
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For another thing, the United States in fact did not invent slavery or racism. White Europeans did not invent it, either. If the guilt of slavery can be inherited from one generation to another, then we have all inherited it, we are all stained by it. The institution goes back 10,000 years or more to the Neolithic Revolution. As long as human society has had agriculture, it has had slaves to do the work. The soil on every continent on Earth, save Antarctica, has been tilled by slaves. Slavery was a common and almost unquestioned practice everywhere, all over the world, among nearly all people, for many thousands of years.
If Europeans did not invent slavery, can they at least be blamed for the formation of the slave trade? No. Slaves were traded as commodities as far back as Ancient Egypt. For centuries before the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Arab traders would conduct their own raids in Africa, capturing African villagers and shipping them back to the Arabian peninsula for sale.
Was slavery in the United States or the colonies more brutal and inhumane than other iterations of the practice? Again, no. It was brutal and inhumane, but it would be hard to argue that it was worse, morally, than the forms of slavery common across the globe. For example, in the Sub-Saharan slave trade, established about 1,000 years before the United States came into being, young boys were routinely castrated and then sold into forced labor in Asia, the Middle East, or within Africa. It’s worth noting that slavery was not fully abolished in Africa until <a href="https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/03/world/mauritania.slaverys.last.stronghold/index.html">1981</a>.
Can we at least blame Americans or Europeans for bringing slavery to North America? Once again, no. Slavery was commonplace in the Americas well before European settlers showed up. Native American tribes enslaved each other, often by conquest and capture. Those who wish to make the slavery practiced by Europeans seem appreciably worse than other forms will often claim that Native American slavery was more humane and less permanent. This may have been true in some cases, but certainly not all. In Mesoamerica, a slave would often have his period of servitude ended when he was ritualistically butchered as a human sacrifice, which was a widespread practice in the region for hundreds of years.
The Chimu in modern day Peru carried out the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/04/mass-child-human-animal-sacrifice-peru-chimu-science/">worst mass sacrifice</a> of children ever to occur on Earth, as far as we know. Over 140 children were slaughtered, probably by having their hearts cut out of their chests while they were still alive. In another particularly grisly episode, the Aztecs killed and dismembered 84,000 human sacrifices in the span of just four days to consecrate a new temple. This is easily one of the worst cases of mass slaughter carried out anywhere, at any time in history, and the Aztecs pulled it off without modern weaponry. Granted, not all of these sacrifices would have been slaves, but the point is that this was not a civilization unfamiliar with brutality and inhumanity.
In fact, Native Americans <a href="https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/native-americans-who-owned-slaves/">took part</a> in African slavery as well. By the time of the Civil War, 15% of the Cherokee population was comprised of black slaves. Indian tribes could be quite brutal to their black slaves, too. In one case, a black slave named Lucy was accused of murder and then <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5HpLmevAz3YC&amp;pg=PA30&amp;lpg=PA30&amp;dq=slave+lucy+burned+alive+choctaw&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=BhFN4-90iN&amp;sig=ACfU3U2au7_9QnPYsYGE-I1qAJJlIRHAPw&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjqyISb84jqAhWNRTABHfA1BwoQ6AEwAnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=slave%20lucy%20burned%20alive%20choctaw&amp;f=false">burned alive</a> by an angry group of Choctaws.
I am not arguing that the slavery practiced by white Americans was “less bad” just because everyone else was doing it. Slavery in America was a horrid abomination, which is why we celebrate its abolition — an abolition that came only 90 years after the formation of the country. The United States, as a nation, had legal slavery for less than a century. For comparison sake, China had slavery for 3,000 years and only officially abolished it in the 20th century, though unofficially it still exists today. This, again, does not lessen the brutality of American slavery or mitigate the evil of the institution. But it does go to show that the exclusive focus on slavery in America, and the insistence that white Americans have inherited unique guilt because of it, is simply wrong.
If there ever comes a time when we are ready to have a mature, nuanced discussion of slavery, racism, and their legacies in the modern day, I will be eager to participate in it. After all, we cannot understand where we are, or anticipate where we’re headed, until we know where we’ve been. But this discussion is only possible and can only be worthwhile if we look at history with a wider lens, understanding the context of the institutions and attitudes we rightly revile today. If we have already decided from the outset that, whatever happened in history, white people must have been especially bad and the evil they committed must have been unique to them, then there is no point. We cannot have any discussion. We are like children making reality into a cartoon.
But if we are prepared to look honestly at our history as a species, and see that we are all the descendants of deeply flawed human beings, who were often brutal and bigoted, and who, until very recently, had no concept of inherent human equality and little notion of racial tolerance, but who also struggled mightily and made great sacrifices and achieved great things for our sake, then perhaps a fruitful dialogue can finally take place.
More from Matt Walsh: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-if-you-value-our-national-history-and-the-rule-of-law-you-should-oppose-the-destruction-of-monuments">If You Value Our National History And The Rule Of Law, You Should Oppose The Destruction Of Monuments</a>

Shackle

WALSH: No, America Didn’t Invent Slavery. Here Are The Facts.

American History

Democratic Party

Race

Slavery

Tim Kaine

Some who recently jumped on the Black Lives Matter bandwagon say the activist network’s national demand to “defund” police should not be taken literally. Others seem to misunderstand the meaning of the word. And then there are those who still think “Black Lives Matter” is just a rallying cry rather than an organization with a very specific agenda.
But the most active BLM chapters have been organizing their communities to defund police departments long before the tragic death of George Floyd. In major cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, BLM organizers teamed with progressive coalitions and have already forced policy changes across the local law enforcement spectrum, affecting the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/landslide-black-lives-matter-leaders-ballot-measure-wins-big-in-los-angeles-county">county sheriff</a> down to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/teachers-union-teams-black-lives-matter-end-random-jeffrey-cawood">cops in public schools</a>.
Their strategy is admittedly incremental, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/teachers-union-teams-black-lives-matter-end-random-jeffrey-cawood">described</a> as “an abolitionist approach,” intending to abolish police eventually.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Finally an article that covers our actual stance on policing particularly as it pertains to this &quot;police reform&quot; and &quot;winning a seat at the table&quot; narrative. <a href="https://t.co/hkrUK0AA8L">https://t.co/hkrUK0AA8L</a>
&mdash; BLMChicago (@BLMChi) <a href="https://twitter.com/BLMChi/status/981994000457576450?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
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What many “bandwagon” supporters of the group fail to understand is its deeper commitment to upending capitalism. BLM leaders believe law enforcement agencies exist to maintain America’s capitalist social order, which in turn is the root cause of police brutality against black people. They say racially biased policing and capitalism are connected structures of oppression that must be dismantled.
“White capitalism requires racist, violent policing to protect it,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-launches-6th-annual-black-xmas-campaign-to-divest-from-white-capitalism">explained</a> Dr. Melina Abdullah, a founding member of Black Lives Matter who leads its Los Angeles chapter. “In order to eliminate police violence, and the killings of our people at their hands, we must also target the economic systems that built it and rely on it.”
Abdullah, who is also a professor at California State University, L.A., <a href="https://www.kzoo.edu/praxis/bigger-than-police/">teaches</a> that “white-supremacist capitalism condones, benefits from, and even requires violence against Black people.” She has often <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-issued-demands-urged-crowd-to-disrupt-white-capitalism-at-weekend-l-a-rally">urged</a> rallygoers to “disrupt white capitalism” while speaking at high-profile BLM demonstrations organized around fatal officer-involved shootings.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Many white ppl tried to overshout BLM organizers last night as we created space for Black Joy, and while we held DC police accountable by uplifting the names of the Black people they have killed here. Lets be clear, our demand is to defund the police in DC by any means necessary. <a href="https://t.co/G9bzVdfhKM">pic.twitter.com/G9bzVdfhKM</a>
&mdash; BlackLivesMatter DC (@DMVBlackLives) <a href="https://twitter.com/DMVBlackLives/status/1268516610026987526?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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BLM’s plan to defund police involves gradually shifting public safety responsibilities and funding away from law enforcement, then reallocating that money to new services centered around meeting the universal needs of people, such as housing, healthcare, and access to nutritious food.
Leaders maintain police funds would also be better spent creating more parks, libraries, and social programs that would benefit disadvantaged neighborhoods. Mental health counselors and community-based public safety teams would respond to some people in crises, without firearms.
“We’re fighting for the complete abolition of this system,” Dr. Anthony Ratcliff, a BLM organizer based in L.A., has <a href="https://youtu.be/hFlrf-2cFlo">said</a>. “We believe that with healthy communities, we don’t need police.”
In Los Angeles, BLM’s drive to dismantle LAPD and redistribute its budget has accelerated in recent weeks.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The $150 million cut to LAPD funding &amp; reallocation of $250m to communities of color comes as a result of PROTEST and ORGANIZING. This step forward was won by the people. THIS happened the day before <a href="https://twitter.com/MayorOfLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MayorOfLA</a> made his announcement&#8230; and we&#39;re not done&#8230;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DefundThePolice?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DefundThePolice</a> <a href="https://t.co/AaWTpq7grB">pic.twitter.com/AaWTpq7grB</a>
&mdash; #BlackLivesMatter-LA (@BLMLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLA/status/1268892252018896898?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
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After BLM and allies protested outside Mayor Eric Garcetti’s home, he announced <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/06/04/Garcetti-LAPD-budget-to-be-cut-by-150M-to-fund-programs-in-black-communities/9411591257451/">plans</a> to cut LAPD funding by as much as $150 million. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-05/eric-garcetti-lapd-budget-cuts-10000-officers-protests">According</a> to the L.A. Times, the mayor “said he will direct $250 million to youth jobs, health initiatives and ‘peace centers’ to heal trauma, and will allow those who have suffered discrimination to collect damages.”
Garcetti said his proposal is meant to address “structural racism” against black communities. “I agree with the sentiment that this is just a start, and my promise to people is we have to think about reimagining public safety,” Garcetti <a href="https://abc7.com/george-floyd-defund-lapd-the-police-use-of-force/6242698/">said</a> at a press conference last week.
Still, Mayor Garcetti <a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2020/06/10/garcetti-wont-support-black-lives-matter-push-to-defund-the-lapd/">claimed</a> he did not share the same vision as BLM, which <a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLA/status/1270086882852925440">perceived</a> the move as an early step toward defunding and abolishing LAPD.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Let’s be clear: <a href="https://twitter.com/MayorOfLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MayorOfLA</a> was moved by the power of protests. And we’re not finished! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DefundThePolice?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DefundThePolice</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Abolition?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Abolition</a>
&mdash; #BlackLivesMatter-LA (@BLMLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLA/status/1270086882852925440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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On Tuesday, several L.A. City Council members proposed developing a new policing model that would divert nonviolent 911 calls to “appropriate non-law enforcement agencies.” The idea was <a href="https://twitter.com/HerbJWesson/status/1272938977071259650">motivated</a> by BLM and other activists who put forth a plan called People’s Budget L.A., which would <a href="https://peoplesbudgetla.com/peoplesbudget/">allocate</a> less than two percent of the city’s general fund to law enforcement.
“We believe in the abolition of policing as we know it,” Dr. Abdullah has <a href="https://youtu.be/WqmlK-7Ce_I">said</a>. “We believe in not reform, but transformation of the public safety system.”
BLM’s organizing draws on the energy of esteemed abolitionists of the past and present. Abdullah has <a href="https://dw-site-staging.dailywire.com/news/watch-black-lives-matter-leader-leads-seance-jeffrey-cawood">conjured the spirits</a> of deceased abolitionists, such as Ida B. Wells and Nat Turner, to guide activists and provide a celestial presence at BLM events.
Their work is also <a href="https://twitter.com/OsopePatrisse/status/1239558929987719168">inspired</a> by modern-day abolitionists, like Dr. Angela Davis, best known for her affiliations with the Black Panthers and Communist Party USA. Davis has <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2020/6/12/angela_davis_on_abolition_calls_to">labeled</a> the growing calls to defund police “an abolitionist demand,” and argues that abolition is “about revolution” and “rethinking the kind of future we want.”
At an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-radical-professor-calls-abolition-police-jeffrey-cawood">abolition conclave</a> in L.A. more than three years ago, Davis told several prominent BLM organizers in attendance: “The slogan we have to raise, I think, is ‘Abolish the LAPD.’” However, she emphasized that goal should be conjoined with efforts to tear down other oppressive systems simultaneously.
“You can’t simply focus myopically on one thing and say ‘get rid of slavery,’ or ‘get rid of prisons,’ or ‘get rid of the police,’” Davis told the gathering. “Abolition asks us to think about what it is we need to do to transform the entire context, the entire society.”
She praised Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors for creating “a new arena of struggle” that incorporates the principles of abolition into the activist network’s objectives, which <a href="https://www.blmla.org/who-we-are#ourteam">involve</a> “the toppling of White supremacist-patriarchal-heteronormative capitalism.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The sys of Wt supremacist heteronorm patriarchal capitalism is extremely fragile. Their pwr is false &amp; easily toppled when the ppl rise up.
&mdash; Melina Abdullah (@DocMellyMel) <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel/status/631504135582433280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Dr. Davis said abolition is “about reimagining justice” and asking the questions, “What would justice look like if we lived in a society that could not depend on prisons and could not depend on police?”
“Ultimately, I think we’re led to recognize that we will have to overthrow the economic system under which we live,” Davis went on to tell the gathering. “We will have to look beyond capitalism. We need something else – whether we want to call it socialism or communism or whatever, we need something else.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Black Lives Matter De-fund the Police Rally in New York

Black Lives Matter-Led Drive To ‘Defund The Police’ Also Targets Capitalism

Defund The Police

The following is satirical.
Americans all across this great land from Third Avenue in Manhattan all the way to Seventh Avenue are outraged by the comments of conservative pastors who say the nation’s recent problems are a punishment for sin.
In the New York Times, a former newspaper, Editor-in-Chief Blithering Prevarication the Third published a tirade on the op-ed page, or as it’s sometimes called Knucklehead Row.
Mr. Third wrote: “It is absolutely disgusting that conservative preachers with laughably thin necks and narrow faces are blaming sinfulness for everything from the Absolutely Not Chinese Virus to the recent mostly peaceful riots to the fact that the moon has turned to blood to the frogs raining down on my Park Avenue Townhouse and the swarm of locusts that descended on our garden devouring over $75,000 worth of transplanted saffron crocuses which Buffy, my fourth wife, and I had been hoping to use to dye our sailing outfits a fetching shade of yellow before heading out to the Hamptons for the summer. The primitive notion that these could be anything other than natural occurrences becomes all the more offensive once you realize that I don’t even allow any wrong opinions to appear in my newspaper anymore so what sin could there possibly be?”
LGBTQMNOPXYZ Activist Herman Aphrodite, a spokesman for the Society in Favor of Screwing Anything that Moves, declared the pastors’ comments homophobic in a wildly shrieking voice as he was being carried off by a gigantic bat with a human face.
Planned Parenthood Spokeswoman Carmine Slaughter also denounced the pastors, saying, “It is long past time this sort of backward religiosity was cleared away so we can get down to work sucking out the brains of babies and selling their body parts for cash.”
Ms. Slaughter said she found the pastors’ remarks ugly and absurd and something else that was impossible to make out after she was dragged beneath the earth by a small army of flaming skeletons.
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch was unavailable for comment.
More satire from Andrew Klavan: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/totally-reliable-experts-predict-virus-curtailed-by-mass-protests-will-start-to-spread-again-if-trump-holds-rallies">Totally Reliable Experts Predict Virus Curtailed By Mass Protests Will Start To Spread Again If Trump Holds Rallies</a>

Blood moon on night sky

Absurd Evangelicals Blame Sin For Everything From The Coronavirus To The Fact That The Moon Has Turned To Blood [Satire]

Coronavirus

New York Times

Religion

Satire

America feels like it&#8217;s falling apart. That&#8217;s because it is.
There are two ways to achieve unity in any group. The first is to set up a few serious standards of conduct, policed with the absolute minimum of compulsion, and then allow freedom in all other matters. This was the founding vision for our federal government. In this vision, we agree not to infringe upon one another&#8217;s life, liberty, and property, and we create a government capable of preventing or prosecuting such infringements. Then, so long as we abide by those simple standards, we are free to pursue our own paths. Diverse ways of life can coexist within this broader group membership. Governance becomes largely a matter of localism — places with homogeneous values setting further standards for their group membership. But our broadest-group membership is easy to obtain and easy to maintain.
The founding vision for unity presupposed a flawed human nature: People were capable of sin individually, but capable of the greatest sin when backed with the power of federal force. The founding vision for unity also presupposed an agreement on the nature of rights and liberty: No man had a right to demand anything from his neighbor. Furthermore, the founding vision for unity presupposed that our strongest bonds would exist outside of government — in our families, our communities, our churches.
The founding vision has now been abandoned in pursuit of something more fulfilling: a communitarian vision of reality in which the will of the mob is perceived as virtuous, in which every man has the right to protect himself from the vicissitudes of life and the cruelties of history by demanding redress from his neighbors, and in which our strongest bonds are forged at the most centralized level.
This second path toward unity requires purification. This path seeks homogeneity in place of diversity, top-down standards in place of localism. Standards for membership are not weak or broad — membership cannot be obtained simply by avoiding encroaching on others&#8217; life, liberty, or property. Membership can only be obtained and maintained through strict compliance with an increasingly arcane set of rules and standards. Politically, this means a demanding legal regime with heavy coercion. Culturally, this means braying mobs of ideological enforcers, casting out unbelievers into the cornfields.
This second model of governance is promoted by the political left today. In this view, diversity of viewpoint cannot be allowed; unity of viewpoint in all things is the predicate for all serious change. Once the group has been purified, change will require only the snap of a finger. No more gridlock; no more conversation. The collective can be activated quickly and powerfully.
This second model of governance is totalitarian in nature, and it is toward that model we are now moving as a society. Politically, those who deny that the collective ought to have the power to override individual rights must be punished; culturally, they must be exiled. They must be deemed unworthy. To stand up for individual rights in this climate means to be labeled a defender of privilege. To deny the systemic evil of the United States means to betray your moral unworthiness.
The great irony is that the second model of unity — the totalitarian purification rituals we watch before us — will never achieve unity. It will achieve further division, as more and more people fall short of ideological purity, or refuse to bow before the ideological demands of the perpetual revolutionaries.
We could agree to live with one another, as individuals under the broader rubric of rights. If we don&#8217;t, we won&#8217;t be living with one another at all.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

SHAPIRO: Totalitarian Mob-Style Unity Isn’t Unity At All

Black Lives Matter

Law Enforcement

Rock the Vote’s nonpartisan status is as laughable as experts saying progressive protests won’t spread COVID-19.
The group’s apolitical pose hasn’t fooled anyone for some time, but this week that label peeled off and drifted to the floor.
A trio of Democrats – and no Republicans – are joining Rock the Vote for a livestream event aimed at boosting voter turnout for a certain party.
Wink-wink!
Political observers have been crying foul of the group’s claims for some time.
The Washington Examiner captured a <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/rock-the-leftist-vote">surreal moment</a> from a 1996 Rock the Vote event, one that should have shredded its nonpartisan banner right then and there.
<blockquote>As George Stephanopoulos stepped to the mike, the young crowd whistled and cheered. &#8220;Because you voted in 1992,&#8221; Stephanopoulos said, &#8220;there are more student loans for young people. Because you voted in 1992, there are fewer guns on the streets. Because you voted in 1992, we made efforts to clean up the environment and to protect a woman&#8217;s right to choose. But in 1994, a lot of young people stayed home and you saw a Republican Congress come in led by Speaker Gingrich, who tried to take away a woman&#8217;s right to choose.&#8221;</blockquote>
A 2014 The Washington Times editorial noted the Obama White House <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/9/editorial-capturing-the-youth-vote/">had plenty of Rock the Vote alums</a> in key positions.
Here’s one example:
<blockquote>Mr. Obama tapped Fred Goldring, who formerly headed Rock the Vote’s board of directors, to serve on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.</blockquote>
Former Rock the Vote president Ashley Spillane served as a John F Kerry Ohio field organizer and helped Atlas Project, a database created to aid the progressive cause.
The group routinely uses far-left celebrities to promote its efforts, sending an oh, so obvious message along the way.
“Wait, Lena Dunham wants me to vote … but for which candidate? I’m so confused!”
More recently, The Daily Signal noted Rock the Vote <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/10/22/nonpartisan-rock-the-vote-goes-after-electoral-college-embraces-other-liberal-talking-points/">took aim at the Electoral College,</a> a liberal bogeyman of the first order. The group worked alongside other “neutral” groups like Common Cause, Progress America and Daily Kos.
The group’s early days found it battling music censorship while promoting young Americans to vote. It’s why this reporter reached out to Rock the Vote earlier this week with two simple questions.
<ul>
<li>Will the group’s livestream event, which features notable Democrats, include any Republican officials? If not, did Rock the Vote attempt to invite any? Can you confirm which ones?</li>
<li>We&#8217;re seeing censorship issues spike across the culture, from HBO Max temporarily taking down &#8220;Gone with the Wind&#8221; to Big Tech giants removing content they deem incorrect about COVID-19 – even though much of what we know about the virus is evolving. Does Rock the Vote have any statement on these censorship issues given how important the issue has been to the group in the past – &#8220;Censorship is Un-American?&#8221;</li>
</ul>
The group’s press offense did not respond to the time-sensitive query. Then again, how could it? Take a gander at its <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/katy-perry-black-eyed-peas-rock-the-vote-livestream-1015056/">latest “nonpartisan” effort</a>.
The “Democracy Summer” event on June 18 will feature Katy Perry and the Black Eyed Peas along with performances from Ne-Yo, Big Freedia, Lucy Hale, Amara La Negra, Saweetie, Leslie Grace, Dove Cameron and Sofia Carson.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, plus former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro will share the spotlight, too.
“The young people of America are speaking loud and clear on the streets and online, and come November, it will be more important than ever to fight for justice and equality, and against systemic racism, with our ballots,” Perry said in a statement shared with Rolling Stone.
Does any of that sound remotely nonpartisan?
The group’s About Us page plays into the victimhood status of today’s Millennials, sharing liberal talking points in the process.
<blockquote>From the rise of voter ID laws to intensified efforts to remove polling sites from college campuses, young people must navigate obstacles designed to keep them from making their voices heard.</blockquote>
Rock the Vote could provide a valuable service in these turbulent times. Too many young Americans think hate speech should be illegal. College campuses are awash with students unwilling to broach debate, let alone consider<a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/no-safe-spaces-review/">, alternative views.</a>
We’re seeing that play out across the country right now, and it should be a deeply apolitical issue.
Rock the Vote could leverage its celebrity clout to speak up for free expression.
“I’m Katy Perry, and you may not like the way I vote, but I support your right to say so. Can’t we embrace that sentiment … again? This is still America, y’all!”
Instead, the group doubles down on its progressive bona fides while clinging to an absurd apolitical pose.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Katy Perry

‘Rock The Vote’ Once Again Reveals The Absurdity Of Its ‘Nonpartisan’ Status

It began with the Confederate statues, but perceptive people knew it would not end there. Over the past several weeks, rampaging mobs <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/502492-list-statues-toppled-vandalized-removed-protests">across the country</a> have vandalized, defaced, destroyed, torn down, or demanded that officials remove not only monuments to southern generals, but statues of Christopher Columbus, Spanish conquistadors, early 20th century politicians, abolitionists, Revolutionary War generals, and others. In Oregon, a statue of Thomas Jefferson has just been toppled. In Boston, activists are calling for the removal of a replica statue of Abraham Lincoln that was originally paid for and commissioned by freed slaves. Even a <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/so-sorry-us-ambassador-to-india-apologizes-for-desecration-of-gandhi-statue-in-dc">statue of Mahatma Ghandi</a> was desecrated.
In most of these cases where &#8220;protesters&#8221; have taken it upon themselves to simply destroy and discard any monument they happen to find personally displeasing, no attempt has been made to prevent the crime and enforce the law. We should note that almost every state categorizes the destruction of property worth $500 or more as a felony. These statues are works of art, sculpted by hand decades or centuries ago. They are worth many thousands of dollars or more. The mob is, then, committing a felony crime. But we have learned that mobs — provided that they demonstrate the correct political leanings — can do what they want, up to and including the commission of serious felonies.
Are the criminal vandals correct that these statues are racist, offensive, and tasteless? Two responses come to mind:
1) For the most part, no. I am not going to launch a blanket defense of the merits of every statue ever built on American soil, but many of the men memorialized by these structures deserve to be remembered and honored. Christopher Columbus was one of the greatest men in history. By sailing across an unknown sea, discovering the Americas, and establishing a settlement, he changed the course of Western Civilization. His is one of the most important and impactful lives to have been lived at any point in the Christian Era. Certainly none of the mindless criminals tearing down his monuments can ever hope to measure up.
Similar accolades could be given to Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and other posthumous targets of cancel culture. Nobody claims that these men were perfect or holy. &#8220;Great&#8221; is a description of their accomplishments and their impact, not necessarily of their moral character (though some of them were great in both senses of the word). But their flaws, though significant, were the same flaws shared by most people of their time: racism, brutality, bigotry, slavery. Their achievement and virtues, however, were unique during their time and even more so in ours. That is why they have statues built to them, while many of the &#8220;protesters&#8221; will be remembered and honored by no one.
2) My other answer to the question of whether these statues are offensive is, frankly, who cares? I would be willing to listen to a reasonable argument against a monument to, say, Confederate commander Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was a truly impressive field commander, but also a slave trader — a profession that was unseemly even to people in his time and culture. But lawless mobs do not make reasonable arguments, and whatever arguments they do make should be ignored. We should not allow ourselves to be bullied or pushed by the mob. That is not how decisions are made in a civilized country.
A thoughtful person might argue that certain statues never should have been erected in the first place. But a thoughtful person would also understand that whatever problematic symbolism you might find in a statue, the symbolism in tearing them down all at once, in a panic, at the behest of the mob, or even allowing the mob to do it themselves, is much more problematic. It&#8217;s like I say to my kids when they stomp their feet and scream: I want to hear you, I want to listen to what you have to say, but not when you&#8217;re speaking to me like that. Now leave the room, calm down, come back, and we&#8217;ll try this again. I would say the same to the mob, who often display far less maturity than my children.
I think there is virtue in defying the mob just for the sake of defying it; keeping up the statues just because the mob wants to tear them down. If I were president, I&#8217;d commission the construction of three new statues to replace every one destroyed. I&#8217;d also erect Columbus monuments as big as the Statue of Liberty in every liberal city in the country. But perhaps that would be overkill. The point is that we cannot allow ourselves to be governed by an emotional gang of criminals who delight in destruction and hate western civilization and all its heroes, nearly without exception. Maybe some other day we can have an intelligent discussion about the merits of some of these statues. But that day is not today. For now, all we can do, or should do, is look at this mob and finally say, &#8220;no.&#8221;

Thomas Jefferson Statue

WALSH: If You Value Our National History And The Rule Of Law, You Should Oppose The Destruction Of Monuments

The following is satirical.
Scientific Experts from the Union of Scientific Experts Who Are Totally Reliable This Time — or USEWTRTT — are expressing concern that the spread of the Chinese Virus, which had been brought to a standstill by radical left protests, may begin again if Donald Trump starts holding rallies.
USEWTRTT Spokesman Doctor Seymour Mendacious, who has a PHD in Amazingly Accurate Predictions, said that computer models from the Absolutely Believable Computer Model company are predicting with amazing accuracy that if Trump holds rallies, the virus could suddenly spread to totally innocent people at utterly peaceful riots, and may even cause them to drop the TV they were heroically rescuing from the burning electronics store.
At a press conference made from behind a podium manufactured by the Extremely Serious Looking Podium Company, Dr. Mendacious produced the computer models from the Absolutely Believable Computer Model Company and told journalists from the Completely Honest News Network — or CHNN — that the spread could be worsened by the virus’s systemic racism.
Dr. Mendacious said “We at the Union of Scientific Experts Who Are Totally Reliable This Time would like to tell you — of the Completely Honest News Network — that this is a particularly nasty disease in the way it virulently spreads from irresponsible gatherings of Trump supporters to strike down people performing essential tasks like gathering en masse to blame the police for things. What’s more, the disease harms mostly women because they’re the ones who must mourn their husbands and fathers, while the men have been put out of their misery by a slow and painful death.”
Dr. Mendacious went on to say, “Seeing as the computer models from the Absolutely Believable Computer Model Company are absolutely believable, we are recommending that every business in the entire galaxy be shut down until the economy is so bad people vote for Democrats out of sheer hunger-driven stupidity, or until I get my medical degree, whichever comes first.”
More satire from Andrew Klavan: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/celebrity-i-take-responsibility-for-all-the-rotten-stuff-youre-doing-satire">Celebrity: I Take Responsibility For All The Rotten Stuff You’re Doing</a>

Protesters hold placards during the demonstration.Protests

Totally Reliable Experts Predict Virus Curtailed By Mass Protests Will Start To Spread Again If Trump Holds Rallies [Satire]

Another round of riots broke out in Atlanta over the weekend, this time over the police shooting of a man named Rayshard Brooks. The media is quick to tell us that the deceased is a black man and the officer who shot him is white, but Brooks’ race appears to be far less relevant than his behavior in this case. 
Police were originally called to a local Wendy’s on Friday night after Brooks fell asleep behind the wheel in the drive-thru lane. When officers arrived and noticed a strong scent of alcohol, along with the other obvious indicators of drunkenness, they asked him to take a sobriety test. When his blood alcohol content came back well over the legal limit, they attempted to make an arrest.
Up to this point, the officers were polite and calm. But Brooks decided to escalate the situation. He resisted arrest, assaulted the officers, stole a taser, fired it at them, ran, and then, in a final gratuitously reckless act, he turned while running and pointed the taser at the cops. It was only at this point, after Brooks had done literally everything in his power to turn a non-violent encounter into a violent encounter, that one of the officers shot and killed him. All of this was caught on tape, in full context. You can watch it <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1272196919402643458?s=20">below</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Here’s the full video. Cops were polite, reasonable. Brooks assaulted them, stole a taser, shot the taser at them multiple times, and finally was killed. If you’re trying to make these cops into racist killers, you’re just a dishonest person.
 <a href="https://t.co/PdAefjO0Re">pic.twitter.com/PdAefjO0Re</a>
&mdash; Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1272196919402643458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The officer who fired the shot has already been terminated and may face charges. The police chief has resigned. The Wendy&#8217;s was burned to the ground. Activists and leftists are insisting that this is yet more proof that black men are being targeted for extermination by racist cops. We are <a href="https://twitter.com/BerniceKing/status/1271908070369775616?s=20">told</a> that Brooks was killed &#8220;because he was sleeping in his car,&#8221; as if the police showed up and carried out a summary execution as punishment for sleepiness. This is to yadda-yadda right past the part where Brooks committed a series of violent felonies against two police officers who were merely trying to get a drunk man off the street before he killed himself or someone else.
Could the cops have responded differently? In the moments before the shots were fired, no. They did everything by the book. They were professional and reasonable. As for the that fatal shot, yes, the officer perhaps could have made a different choice in hindsight. But hindsight is a privilege enjoyed by those of us who are watching this all play out, after the fact, from the comfort of our homes. In the heat of the moment, from the officer’s perspective, they have been thrust suddenly from the routine matter of arresting a drunk driver, to a violent struggle with a now-armed assailant. As he runs away and points something at them, do they know it’s the taser? Could it be a gun he had on him? And if it is a taser, what if he hits one of them and then comes back for the gun while the officer is incapacitated? These are all calculations these cops must make in a split second. The question is not whether shooting Brooks makes sense to you, watching the footage three days later, from your couch, while casually sipping a cup of coffee. The question is whether it could have reasonably made sense to them, from their perspective, out there in the thick of it. And I think the answer to that question is yes. 
<iframe title="Atlanta Riots Over Justified Police Shooting Of An Armed, Violent Man | The Matt Walsh Show Ep. 504" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TTmwNFQs8oo?start=38&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
But let&#8217;s put the decision-making process of the police officers to the side for a moment. What about the choices made by Brooks himself? Were his choices justified? Was his use of force excessive? Was he behaving in a way that respects the lives of the officers, and those around him, and even himself? What responsibility does he carry?
Every time something like this happens, we talk about what the actions of the cops &#8212; what they should have done, what they could have done, what they might have done better &#8212; yet we rarely bother to ask these same questions of the often-violent suspect who initiated the encounter by committing a crime, and then turned it violent by resisting arrest, and sometimes going quite a bit further than that, as Brooks did. We hold the officers 100 percent responsible for everything, while holding the suspect responsible for nothing. Is he an infant? A pre-programmed robot? Is he not a thinking, choice-making agent, acting on his own volition? Leftists activists and protesters would appear to answer no, he is not responsible for anything, even his own choices.
Consider the irrationality of this position. What they’re really saying is that Brooks should have been able to assault police officers, steal their taser, and fire it at them, without being killed. Try saying that out loud to see how it feels: “I think a man should be able to assault a cop, steal his taser, and fire it at him, without being killed.” That is obviously lunacy, and it would lead to the complete breakdown of law and order if it were actually applied.
It is sad that this man is dead, just as it is sad anytime someone dies. But it is sad because Brooks threw his own life away for no reason. It is sad that he made the choices that he made and brought his death on himself. He is responsible. He paid the price, and it’s a sad price indeed. But it’s the price anyone is at the risk of paying if they make the choices that this man made. This is not a story of police brutality. It’s a story of a man named Rayshard Brooks, who did a bad thing by driving drunk, and followed it up with an enormously stupid and reckless thing by assaulting a cop and stealing his taser. And after that night filled with bad, stupid, reckless choices, he died. As so many others have, after nights like that. And that is not the fault of any police officer.

Defund the Police

WALSH: A Man Is Killed After Assaulting A Cop And Stealing His Taser. The Left Calls It Police Brutality. That’s Nonsense.

Rayshard Brooks

In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes heretofore unimagined employment protections on the basis of sexual preference and “sexual identity.” Neil Gorsuch, appointed to replace the late originalist Antonin Scalia, wrote the majority opinion, joined by squish John Roberts and the rest of the Court’s liberals. Conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh dissented. Gorsuch’s liberal judicial activism has in effect rewritten the most consequential law of the twentieth century and redefined a fundamental aspect of our nature. No ruling that he might make in the future could counteract that kind of radicalism. Conservatives must now count Scalia’s successor among the worst jurists in our history.
It comes as no surprise that a legal establishment confounded by the difference between men and women would be likewise flummoxed by the insistence of criminals on committing crimes. According to Michael LiPetri, chief of Crime Control Strategies for the NYPD, at least 250 of the 2,500 convicts sprung from Rikers Island over coronavirus fears have reoffended and been rearrested 450 times so far. It turns out that law enforcement exists because of crime and not the other way around. Leftists from Gracie Mansion in New York to the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle have fallen for the same error that ideologues have believed since at least the French Revolution: namely, that politics can perfect human nature. The journalist Irving Kristol famously described neoconservatives as liberals who had been “mugged by reality.” Many idealistic liberals once again stand to be mugged, either by reality or by the thugs they themselves let loose.
In Brooklyn, thousands of leftist activists gathered over the weekend to support “black trans lives” after two black men who identified as women were murdered last week. The protesters sought to tie the demonstration to the nation’s broad racial, anti-police protests. But in the case of one murder, the two suspects were both themselves black, and in the case of the second, the Philadelphia Police Department was already at work investigating the crime. The protesters would not let facts get in the way of the narrative, and neither would the mainstream media, which turned from stoking racial resentment to ginning up fear of the sometime coronavirus pandemic. Within the span of just one hour, NBC News tweeted approvingly that a “rally for Black trans lives draws packed crowd to Brooklyn Museum plaza” before warning that “health experts are questioning” President Trump’s decisions to restart his campaign rallies.
Scientific data seem not to have played a role in the media’s reaction to the two mass gatherings, nor crime statistics in the City government’s decision to release thousands of criminals, nor the plain meaning of the Civil Rights Act in the Supreme Court’s ruling to redefine sex. Ideology long ago determined those outcomes. And while we argue against the nonsense, the revolution marches on.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Supreme Court

KNOWLES: The Revolution Marches On

LGBT

A very sincere apology from a celebrity who has a lot more money than you and has not yet moved out of this crappy, overtaxed state.
I take responsibility.
I take responsibility for everything I’ve never done so that those who have done those things can continue to be irresponsible until they destroy their lives and then I don’t have to worry about them anymore.
I take responsibility for every social ill of the last seven centuries committed by anyone who looks vaguely like me by virtue of having a nose and eyes and being human and doing stuff that humans do to one another but now is somehow my fault because otherwise I’d have to tell you the truth about yourself and then you’d cancel me.
I take responsibility for the fact that you’re sticking a gun in my stomach and demanding all my cash, oh, and now you’re burning down a building and I take responsibility for that too if you’ll just take the gun out of my stomach and here’s my cash and please don’t kill me.
I take responsibility for the fact that no matter what I take responsibility for I’m going to have more money than you. In fact, I’m taking responsibility because it’s cheaper than telling the truth and allows me to keep more of the money I have more of than you, so I can blow this crappy state and leave you with no tax base so you’re screwed.
I take responsibility for every unfunny racial joke I never told, even though the ones I do tell are hilarious, like the one about an Italian, an Asian and a black guy who walk into a bar. But I won’t tell that joke here even though it really is hilarious. I’ll just tell it later when you’re not looking. And I take responsibility for that.
And mostly, I take responsibility for being a fatuous, virtue-signaling, useless, celebrity knucklehead. Which is a much better life than yours by the way. For which I take complete responsibility… and then run away before you realize I haven’t done a damn thing for you and your life still sucks.
More satire from Andrew Klavan: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/protesters-liberate-seattle-from-civilization-satire">Protesters Liberate Seattle From Civilization</a>

Sorry on computer keyboard

Celebrity: I Take Responsibility For All The Rotten Stuff You’re Doing [Satire]

For those of us who truly believe black lives matter, Black Lives Matter is a criminally wicked movement.
BLM’s attacks on the police have resulted and will continue to result in more of the felonious violence that claims so many black victims – in L.A. alone, homicides are up 250 percent since the recent riots.
BLM’s disruption of businesses and encouragement of looting may cow some white liberals now, but they will ultimately increase anti-black sentiment and will slow blacks’ ability to rejoin a resurgent economy.
And BLM’s stated leftist <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-what-we-believe-page-disrupt-the-western-prescribed-nuclear-family-dismantle-cisgender-privilege">commitment</a> to “disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement” is just one more stage in the Left’s destruction of precisely that family structure that is the only hope of black children.
The Democrats think they can control this violent outfit and use them to protect the multi-billion-dollar welfare patronage scam that has maintained their power base for 60 years while keeping blacks dependent and socially hobbled. It’s a cruel con. Because Democrats are in the pocket of corrupt teachers’ unions, they destroy the charter schools that give black kids a chance. But they absolutely love BLM’s gobbledygook talk of “white supremacy” and “systemic racism” because those are amorphous nothings that can never be addressed. They therefore allow whites a warming sense of self-accusatory virtue while keeping blacks mired in endless self-destroying grievance politics that will never undermine the oppressive systems that profit Democrat elites.
Now, because of the BLM-Democrat complex, all of virtuous Washington is focused on police reform. Police Departments are powerful organizations and should always be on the lookout for ways to lighten their touch while still controlling crime. But while relations between police and black Americans may be problematical, surely one important source of that trouble must be the extraordinary high crime rate in black neighborhoods. When 13 percent of the population – and it’s really six percent because we’re mostly talking about men – commit roughly 50 percent of the murders, mostly of other blacks, police reform is an issue on the margins.
Meanwhile, because of Democrat welfare policies that encouraged irresponsible parenting, Democrat feminist philosophy that discounted the worth of fathers, and Democrat encouragement of sexual liberation that discounted the value of marriage, blacks now have an illegitimacy rate <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/race-and-economics">higher</a> than when Democrat slavemasters were actually breaking up their families by design. Study after study shows that, without fathers, children are at high risk of failure, substance abuse, and crime. But no one has the guts to address this central issue.
The Democrat Party is a cancer on black American lives. The latest stage of that cancer is Black Lives Matter.
Yet if you speak any of these truths online or out loud, you are in danger of losing your job or your reputation. A UCLA college professor was suspended after he followed a university directive and refused to bow to virtue signaling white students’ demands to reschedule an exam for black students in the wake of George Floyd’s death. An NBA play-by-play announcer had to resign after tweeting “All Lives Matter.” And so on.
Corporations, constrained by decades of restrictive and arbitrary civil rights legislation and law, are terrified. They can be sued for just thinking racist thoughts, and the evidence to prove the case against them can include some untoward remark some employee made ten years ago in the back of a taxi after a couple of drinks. No wonder they fire you if you say anything that might come back to haunt them.
The result is a fear of speaking the truth. Which means lies win. Which means the Left and its media have been allowed to create a Matrix – an entirely false narrative in which just those very prescriptions that will make black lives worse provide whites a sense of virtue while continuing the Democrat destruction of actual black lives.
My suspicion is that a great many black Americans know this. But they too are afraid. Their leaders are invested in this system. A scurrilous con man like Al Sharpton Junior draws all his prestige and power from it. Corrupt and incompetent black politicians around the country thrive in it. Stand up to them and you too will be penalized for transgressing the Matrix.
All people have tribal prejudices, but Americans are not racist in any way that hampers success. Jamaicans and Nigerians succeed here. Koreans and Chinese and Indians and Japanese and Jews and everybody else. 
Only that small segment of our society that has been the constant recipient of Democrat largesse and governance is continually mired in crime and dysfunction. That leads people to regard that segment with suspicion, hostility, and fear. Free blacks from the Democrats and they will rise like every other group in America.
But for that to happen, we’re going to need a bigger red pill.
More from Andrew Klavan: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/klavan-black-americans-are-being-used-as-pawns-by-the-leftist-elite">Black Americans Are Being Used As Pawns By The Leftist Elite</a>

BLM protest

KLAVAN: The Racial Matrix

Democrats

Racism

One of the first articles I wrote for The Daily Wire was a typically optimistic and cheerful <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/united-states-america-no-longer-exists-matt-walsh">piece</a> titled &#8220;The United States Of America No Longer Exists.&#8221; It was not met with a warm reception by many readers, who understandably found it to be a tad bleak. Three years later, it brings me no pleasure to say, &#8220;I told you so.&#8221;
My basic thesis in that piece was that our country, though existing still as a legal and geographic entity, cannot be meaningfully described as &#8220;united.&#8221; We have nothing but the law and the land holding us together anymore. That is not enough to make a nation or a people. There needs to be something else. Some uniting principle. Some defining commonality that binds us. If we are going to be united, we must be united around something or by something.
Today, all of this holds true, only more so. The key difference between now and three years ago is that we no longer have the law. Between the unconstitutional lockdowns and the sudden abandonment of those policies in order to allow rampaging leftist mobs to wreak havoc in the streets for weeks on end, the rule of law has broken down. And with our borders still about as porous as they&#8217;ve ever been, it is hard to say that we are meaningfully united even on a geographic level.
With these two pillars crumbling – pillars that were already insufficient in themselves to keep a country together – what is left? Many nations around the world and throughout history have been held together by the bonds of their common heritage, ancestry, language, and tradition. The United States has always been different in this respect, but we once had a language and at least some traditions. Now, it is ethnocentric, xenophobic, and racist to expect immigrants to learn the language of the country they are immigrating to.
As for traditions, our national holidays like Thanksgiving and Columbus Day have been abolished in many quarters, and that trend is rapidly gaining speed. No doubt, Memorial Day and Independence Day will be on the chopping block soon enough. These holidays are being torn down along with the statues of our historical icons, and politicized like the sporting events that once gave us respite from the political back-and-forth. These losses are not insignificant. Healthy, vibrant countries have always had their traditions, holidays, and heroes. We are going to try to be the first country with none of those. I do not think the experiment will prove successful.
But the thing that has always made America unique is that it is a nation founded on ideas, on a creed. If nothing else, we were once joined by our shared belief in those ideas and that creed. We have never succeeded in actually applying all of our lofty principles – that all men are created equal, endowed by the Creator with inherent dignity and value – to everyone equally, but we shared them at least on an aspirational level. Now we no longer aspire to be that sort of country. Many Americans fundamentally reject the inherent dignity of human beings. And our ideas of what it means to be “equal” are so elementally opposed as to render the term meaningless.
Are we joined by our shared desire to be free? No. In the minds of many, the ultimate vision of freedom is a socialist utopia where the free market is abolished and the government provides all basic needs. To me, and many others, this is a vision of slavery, not freedom. It may be true that all Americans talk about freedom, and say they want freedom, but the only commonality between the competing views of freedom is the word itself.
Can we be bound by our passion for human rights? Again, no. The situation with rights is much like that with freedom. Those on the Left – not just the leftist fringes, but the mainstream of the movement – would say that mothers have a “right” to kill their offspring, some Americans have a “right” to the money and property of other Americans, biological males have a “right” to access women’s locker rooms, gay couples have a “right” to the goods and services of Christian business owners, and so on. They see a “human right” as a claim always in competition with other rights claims. One right must supersede another. The woman’s right to autonomy must trounce, violently, a child’s right to live. A college student’s right to be free of debt must overpower a wealthy man’s right to the fruit of his own labor.
What they’re really describing is one group’s struggle for power and dominance over another. It has nothing to do with rights. Rights are inherent to our human nature; by definition, human rights cannot be in competition with one another. But since we have fundamentally opposing definitions of the term, we cannot be united around it.
If we cannot be united around tradition, language, or heritage, and we also cannot be united around a shared belief in freedom and human rights, then what is left? We would appear to be, already, two different countries. Or perhaps several different countries. Even that may be an overly generous way of describing our current state. Really, when a man tells me that he believes babies aren’t people, biological sex doesn’t exist, men can get pregnant, police departments should be abolished, America is racist to its core, and I am a white supremacist because I disagree with him on these points, I find myself questioning whether we are from the same planet, or the same universe, let alone the same country. That is how absolutely opposed we are, on all levels, with almost no common ground, or shared frame of reference.
It is not hard to see why our debates are fruitless and our conversations go nowhere. We are speaking different languages, both literally and metaphorically. We are a people divided by gaps that cannot be closed. There is no bridge that can connect the Left to the Right. The differences are too deep, too wide. For unity to occur, one side or the other must simply abandon almost everything they believe and profess, and join the ranks of the other. That is not likely to happen any time soon. So the divisions will remain, and grow deeper, and we will be less united over time.
I don&#8217;t know where to go from here, or how to fix it, or if it can be fixed at all, but I know that any path forward must begin with an honest assessment of the situation. This is my honest assessment, for what it&#8217;s worth.

Broken bridge

WALSH: It Is Time To Face The Facts. We Cannot Be United.

protests

Riots

United States

The following is satirical.
Hundreds of far-left protesters stormed Seattle City Hall yesterday and demanded that the mayor step down because she is refusing to defund the police who are preventing them from destroying western civilization.
Protester Dirtbag Moron — not his real name — told reporters, “Sure, we can rampage violently through the halls of government, but as long as there are still police around, we can’t rape and kill with impunity. How is society supposed to have justice when there are still people with the privilege of not being terrorized?”
The protesters immediately declared the area The Socialist Woketopia Paradise of Seattle, and began spying on people and randomly beating up anyone who looked like they might one day have a thought that was not in keeping with their philosophy which is to spy on people and beat up anyone who might one day have a thought that was not in keeping with their philosophy.
The mayhem only stopped when they ran out of food and had to use their iPhones to call Pizza Hut to tell them that capitalist corporations were evil and please send over two dozen large pies with pepperoni and black olives because black olives matter. The pizza delivery guy showed up and was promptly robbed at gunpoint because money is bad.
The leader of the protesters — Dirtbag Moron — no relation to the other Dirtbag Moron, except being a dirtbag and a moron — told an imaginary gathering of happy comrades in the utopia that exists only in his imagination but is just like Seattle except not on fire and filled with homeless people: “When all America looks like Seattle does now, we will at last have justice. And possibly scurvy. I look forward to the day when no one will go hungry because there’ll be a cat in every garbage fire and a car in every ash heap where there used to be a garage.”
The protesters say the protests will continue until there is social justice for all or something good is on Netflix.
More satire from Andrew Klavan: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ilhan-omar-reimagines-law-enforcement-without-law-or-enforcement-satire">Ilhan Omar Reimagines Law Enforcement Without Law Or Enforcement</a>

Seattle Autonomous Zone

Protesters Liberate Seattle From Civilization [Satire]

Antifa

Over the last several days, “protesters” have pulled down statues in many cities across the country. A monument to Columbus was torn from its base, set on fire, and tossed in a lake. Another statue of Columbus in Minneapolis was destroyed, despite having been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rioters-tear-down-christopher-columbus-statue-in-minneapolis-an-immigrant-built-it-gave-it-as-a-gift">sculpted by an immigrant</a> and given as a gift to the Italian-American community in the city. Several other Columbus statues have been, as the media so innocuously puts it, removed. Confederate monuments have been toppled as well. And now the mob <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/08/18/cnns_angela_rye_washington_jefferson_statues_need_to_come_down.html">has set its eyes</a> on the Washington and Jefferson monuments. The mob may want to be careful felling those enormous statues, though. One mob member was <a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1270929057870278656?s=20">critically injured</a> on Wednesday night when a Confederate statue landed on his head.
Yet something rather conspicuous is missing in all of these videos of crazed mobs tearing down statues and monuments: law enforcement.
It&#8217;s a silly question to ask at this point, but, still, where are the police while these vandals destroy public property and tear down priceless works of art that have stood, in some cases, for a century or more? You almost have to remind yourself that the people tearing down the property actually do not have the legal right to do what they&#8217;re doing. You&#8217;d be excused for thinking otherwise – does the term &#8220;public property&#8221; mean that the public can do whatever it wants with it? – however, destruction of property worth more than $500 is a felony in most states. These statues are worth many thousands of dollars, making these mob-led &#8220;removals&#8221; felony crimes. They are also dangerous crimes, as the man who had his skull cracked open in Virginia convincingly discovered.
But this has been the theme in recent weeks. The police standby while leftist radicals do, quite literally, whatever they want.
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In Seattle, a group of radicals have <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-blasts-radical-left-dems-in-seattle-as-he-says-domestic-terrorists-take-hold-of-city">seized control of several city blocks</a> and declared it a sovereign state. They have set up checkpoints and barricades, and uniformed police are barred entry. The police, in fact, were nice enough to abandon their precinct at the rioters&#8217; behest. This is a repeat of what we witnessed in Minneapolis, except in that case the precinct was then ransacked and torched. Somehow, in a civilized country once ruled by law, this has all become a familiar sight. Mobs rampage through our cities, set buildings on fire, destroy police cars, destroy public property, destroy private property, throw bricks, invade government buildings, loot, assault, and murder. And very little effort is made to stop any of these crimes from occurring, or to punish those who commit them.
There is much discussion about &#8220;privilege&#8221; in our culture. Indeed, the concept of privilege is one of the things fueling these mobs. They would say that privilege is bestowed based on race and gender, and that I, as a white man, have the most privilege of all. Yet I&#8217;m fairly sure that if I drove into town right now and threw a brick in a window, or set a retail outlet on fire, or looted a convenience store, or invaded a police precinct, or tried to set up my own &#8220;autonomous zone,&#8221; or yanked down any statues or monuments I found personally displeasing, I would be arrested on the spot, with little fanfare. And if I resisted arrest and was beaten or killed by police in the process – even if my death was unjust and the result of excessive force – there would be no CNN headlines about it, no riots in my honor, no elaborate displays of performative grief from our elected officials in Washington. Whatever my white privilege gets me, it doesn&#8217;t get me that. And it doesn&#8217;t provide me a pass that allows me to tear through the city, stealing, destroying, looting, and burning, either.
It seems to me that the greatest privilege on offer in our culture today is the privilege to be utterly immune from the law. This is the privilege exercised by many of the &#8220;protesters.&#8221; And though some of them are white males, many are not. It is, then, a privilege that is not dispensed based on race, but on ideology. We might call it Leftist Privilege. A person with the &#8220;correct&#8221; worldview, especially if he is gathered with a group of other correct-thinking people, can do almost anything he wants. The Powers That Be will bend over backwards to accommodate him and meet his demands.
This includes permitting crime, but also much else besides. Consider all of the corporations and brands that have been tripping over each other to express their support for the radical left-wing Black Lives Matter organization. And it doesn&#8217;t always take a mob to get this kind of capitulation from our culture&#8217;s most powerful forces. HBO&#8217;s streaming service <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/hbo-max-removes-gone-with-the-wind-for-racist-depictions-will-bring-it-back/">pulled</a> &#8220;Gone With The Wind&#8221; from its platform this week after one correct-thinking individual wrote an op-ed instructing them to do so. This on the same day that Webster&#8217;s dictionary <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52993306">edited its definition</a> of &#8220;racism&#8221; because a young black woman emailed and said they should. These are just the most recent examples of Leftist Privilege. We haven&#8217;t even discussed the many extravagant concessions made for the LGBT lobby, including allowing men access to women&#8217;s bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams, while shaming and silencing any women who express discomfort over this invasion of their privacy.
As a white man, I have not seen doors open for me, or exceptions made for me, or advantages given to me, just based on my race. In order to obtain those privileges, I must demonstrate my allegiance to the leftist tribe. I must have the “right” views, say the “right” things, hold the “right” opinions and beliefs. This is what the system truly demands, and this is how it grants privilege. Which is no surprise. Leftist long ago seized control of the system. Privilege is simply one of the spoils of victory.

WALSH: The Only Real Privilege In America Is Leftist Privilege

privilege

The most <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/lifestyle/top-30-highest-grossing-movies-of-all-time-adjusted-for-inflation-14995975">popular movie of all time</a> is going back to the shop for a tune up. First, the new streaming platform HBO Max announced it was <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2020/06/10/nolte-hbo-max-blacklists-gone-with-the-wind/">removing</a> &#8220;Gone with the Wind&#8221; from its content lineup. Now, we&#8217;re learning the film will return &#8230; with a catch.
The beloved drama starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh will be <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/media/gone-with-the-wind-hbo-max/index.html">accompanied by a lecture</a> saying how wrong the material is and how to interpret it properly.
Who knows if those conditions will be enough to satiate the woke mob? They smell blood across the cultural landscape, and they&#8217;re moving with ruthless speed. We&#8217;ve already seen the long-running &#8220;Cops&#8221; <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2020/06/09/cops-cancelled/">get the ax</a>. So did “Live PD.”
Heck, “Paw Patrol” could be in trouble, too.
What&#8217;s next? The following films are considered deeply &#8220;problematic&#8221; or share messages deemed untenable to the Modern Left. And make no mistake, it&#8217;s the Left tearing down statues, rioting nationwide, and erasing history wherever it can.
Will these nine films soon be “Gone,” too?
1. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blazing-Saddles-Blu-ray-Warner-Video/dp/B00UGPDKM4/ref=sr_1_2?crid=XI6VLB0HN9YZ&amp;dchild=1&amp;keywords=blazing+saddles+blu+ray&amp;qid=1591905144&amp;s=movies-tv&amp;sprefix=Blazing+sa,movies-tv,150&amp;sr=1-2">Blazing Saddles</a>
Cultural observers have had this Mel Brooks classic on their list for some time. The film liberally uses the &#8220;n-word,&#8221; features stereotypically gay characters, and employs slurs now considered taboo. Brooks himself repeatedly tells us <a href="https://variety.com/2017/film/news/mel-brooks-blazing-saddles-pc-culture-1202568893/">he couldn&#8217;t make</a> &#8220;Blazing Saddles&#8221; today, a toxic reality all by itself.
&#8220;Comedy is the lecherous little elf whispering into the king’s ear, always telling the truth about human behavior,&#8221; Brooks famously said about his approach to humor and, more specifically, his classic comedy.
&#8220;Blazing Saddles&#8221; mocked racists, not black people, leading some snarky liberals to mock conservatives for worrying it could get canceled next. Nuance is often ignored by the woke mob, alas.
<iframe title="Blazing Saddles (1974) Original Trailer - Gene Wilder Movie" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VKayG1TrfuE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
2. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Man-C-Thomas-Howell/dp/B00005RYL5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=URA3UJOKQMLV&amp;dchild=1&amp;keywords=soul+man+dvd+1986&amp;qid=1591905109&amp;s=movies-tv&amp;sprefix=soul+man+,movies-tv,154&amp;sr=1-1">Soul Man</a>
This forgotten 1986 comedy might make a comeback, but not the kind that&#8217;s flattering in any way. C. Thomas Howell stars as a teen who wolfs down tanning pills to darken his skin. Why? He wants to go to Harvard, and by pretending to be black he can access a minority scholarship deal.
Does it matter that Howell&#8217;s character gets a crash course in racism as a result? Of course not. The film could be canceled for featuring a white actor in &#8220;blackface.&#8221;
<iframe title="Soul Man" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Eae_BLP2qvk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
3. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tropic-Thunder-Blu-ray-Robert-Downey/dp/B01M7SPUTS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1TQNSIDVUIS5C&amp;dchild=1&amp;keywords=tropic+thunder+blu+ray&amp;qid=1591905032&amp;s=movies-tv&amp;sprefix=Tropic+thunder,movies-tv,156&amp;sr=1-1">Tropic Thunder</a>
This Ben Stiller comedy is only 12 years old, but it went from cutting edge to &#8220;problematic&#8221; in record time. Why? Lines like &#8220;you never go full retard,&#8221; for starters. That inspired sizable outrage from the disabled rights community at the time.
More importantly, Robert Downey, Jr. donned blackface to play an Aussie actor playing a black character in the film.
Downey, Jr., who earned an Oscar nomination for the role, has tried to <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2020/01/robert-downey-jr-tropic-thunder-blackface-regrets-1202204722/">massage the subsequent outrage</a> over the film. That might not be enough if the cyber pitchforks circle back.
<iframe title="Tropic Thunder (2008) Official Trailer - Ben Stiller Movie HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9Pl4JNnqNaE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
4. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Unplanned-Blu-ray-Ashley-Bratcher/dp/B07SWQ2P97/ref=sr_1_1?crid=22WTK2JJKAXNX&amp;dchild=1&amp;keywords=unplanned+blu+ray&amp;qid=1591905009&amp;s=movies-tv&amp;sprefix=Unplanned+,movies-tv,147&amp;sr=1-1">Unplanned</a>
There&#8217;s nothing R-rated about this pro-life drama. No one mocks people of color, and the language is suitable for the entire family. The movie&#8217;s attack on Planned Parenthood, though, could put it in the Left&#8217;s crosshairs. The woke mob doesn&#8217;t approve of messages like this. Art is meant to promote progressive ideals. It&#8217;s why reviewers and film scribes alike savaged the film upon its debut last year. The current frenzy to erase art offers a chance to redouble their efforts.
<iframe title="Unplanned 2019 | Official Trailer" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VctHVTri8ko?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
5. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sixteen-Candles-Blu-ray-Molly-Ringwald/dp/B084DGFL8Y/ref=sr_1_1?crid=42HHL1UCPA2W&amp;dchild=1&amp;keywords=16+candles+blu+ray&amp;qid=1591904984&amp;s=movies-tv&amp;sprefix=16+can,movies-tv,151&amp;sr=1-1">16 Candles</a>
Elle Magazine called this John Hughes classic an &#8220;<a href="https://www.elle.com.au/culture/16-candles-problematic-21215">outdated nightmare</a>.&#8221; Molly Ringwald stars as a typical teen with an atypical problem. Her family forgot her birthday. Along the way we get some clunky Asian stereotypes, a nerd who wields a girl&#8217;s panties as a sign of conquest, and other bawdy teen behaviors. Ringwald herself turned on her own Hughes films in recent years.
If the film&#8217;s star thinks it&#8217;s troublesome, imagine what some keyboard warriors have to say about it.
<iframe title="Pretty in Pink (1986) Official Trailer - Molly Ringwald Movie" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S-rAFVlr65k?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
6. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Harry-Blu-ray-Various/dp/B0016KCCP4/ref=tmm_blu_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1591904941&amp;sr=1-4">Dirty Harry</a>
The Woke Mob could get a twoer here. Not only would they love to see this &#8220;fascist&#8221; cop thriller memory-holed, they could strike a blow against its star, conservative legend Clint Eastwood. &#8220;Dirty Harry&#8221; took down minority criminals, going so far as to mock their dialects in the process. The Left loathes white male vigilantes, too, while often cheering women who <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/peppermint-trailer-media-hypocrisy/">take the law into their own hands</a>.
<iframe title="Dirty Harry - Original Theatrical Trailer" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0wN-KnYUaOc?start=34&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
7. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/National-Lampoons-Animal-House-Blu-ray/dp/B01FY4DPM6/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2LIXXSUP4TGUQ&amp;dchild=1&amp;keywords=animal+house+blu+ray&amp;qid=1591904909&amp;s=movies-tv&amp;sprefix=Animal+house+b,movies-tv,143&amp;sr=1-2">Animal House</a>
Can you imagine a movie set in the early 1960s where the characters act &#8230; like they&#8217;re living in the early 1960s? Even worse? The film&#8217;s antiheroes are pledging a boozy, bawdy fraternity. That means racial insensitivity, anti-social behavior, and women treated as sex objects.
Once hailed as a comedy masterpiece, &#8220;<a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/animal-house-40-anniversary-pc/">Animal House</a>&#8221; is under assault these days for its problematic plot points. &#8220;<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2018/07/27/animal-house-turns-40-can-we-still-laugh/822642002/">Is it OK to laugh at &#8216;Animal House?</a>&#8216; one USA Today headline asked. Soon, we may not be able to even watch it.
<iframe title="Animal House Official Trailer #1 - Tom Hulce, John Belushi Movie (1978) HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KWjtI6n5xWM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
8. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/40-Year-Old-Virgin-Blu-ray-Steve-Carell/dp/B01CE8QSVU/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3VIT59EO17088&amp;dchild=1&amp;keywords=40+year+old+virgin+blu+ray&amp;qid=1591904883&amp;s=movies-tv&amp;sprefix=40+year+ol,movies-tv,185&amp;sr=1-1">The 40-Year-Old Virgin</a>
Judd Apatow’s early comedies epitomize “white privilege,” to use the Left’s verbiage. Maybe that’s why he’s gone woke on steroids in recent years.
His first comedy, a brilliant car crash of raunchy humor and sweet asides, has two scenes that drive Social Justice types off the cliff. The first finds Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen in dueling, “You know how I know you’re gay” mode. That’s enough to cancel the film alone.
What about another sequence where Steve Carell’s co-workers try to hire a prostitute to relieve him of his virginity. The “she” turns out to be a trans female, and the fellas recoil in disgust.
<iframe title="The 40-Year-Old Virgin - Trailer" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s7a_9CggQuE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
9. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Silence-Lambs-Blu-ray-Jodie-Foster/dp/B000MGB6N2">The Silence of the Lambs</a>
This one ran afoul of the PC Police before we even used that term. Gay groups protested “Lambs” during its initial release for its negative portrayal of a trans figure. At the time <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/04/director-jonathan-demme-faced-down-silence-of-the-lambs-gay-backlash.html">GLAAD dubbed</a> the villainous Buffalo Bill a “walking, talking gay stereotype.”
“He completely promotes homophobia,” a GLAAD representative said.
The 1992 version of Cancel Culture lacked the cultural clout to stop the film from dominating that year’s Academy Awards presentation. Now? Hollywood is deathly afraid of Cancel Culture, so who knows if this first-class shocker will survive 2020.
<iframe title="The Silence of the Lambs Official Trailer #1 - Anthony Hopkins Movie (1991) HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W6Mm8Sbe__o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Atlanta Police Charity Gives Officers $2 Million, Replace 20 Cruisers To ‘Boost Morale’

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