Outspokenly liberal actor Rob Reiner took President Donald Trump to task Monday for offering Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as a potential location for his speech accepting the 2020 Republican nomination and accused him of having sinister motives for choosing such a place.
&#8220;Trump brilliantly narrows down the location of his acceptance speech. Either break yet another law and do it at the WH, or do it at Gettysburg and celebrate your devotion to White Supremacy,&#8221; Reiner tweeted.
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Trump brilliantly narrows down the location of his acceptance speech. Either break yet another law and do it at the WH, or do it at Gettysburg and celebrate your devotion to White Supremacy.
&mdash; Rob Reiner (@robreiner) <a href="https://twitter.com/robreiner/status/1292889731437432832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
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In response, NRSC senior adviser Matt Whitlock asked Reiner what he thought happened at Gettysburg, to which he responded, &#8220;I know exactly what happened at Gettysburg. CSA got its ass kicked. Perfect setting for the dog whistle.&#8221;
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I know exactly what happened at Gettysburg. CSA got its ass kicked. Perfect setting for the dog whistle.
&mdash; Rob Reiner (@robreiner) <a href="https://twitter.com/robreiner/status/1292999881968279554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Trump recently floated both the historic Civil War battlefield and the White House as potential locations for his acceptance speech after COVID-19 upended planned speeches in both Charlotte, North Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida. He tweeted Monday, &#8220;We have narrowed the Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, to be delivered on the final night of the Convention (Thursday), to two locations &#8211; The Great Battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the White House, Washington, D.C. We will announce the decision soon!&#8221;
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We have narrowed the Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, to be delivered on the final night of the Convention (Thursday), to two locations &#8211; The Great Battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the White House, Washington, D.C. We will announce the decision soon!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1292872318562205699?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Both locations have raised ethics concerns from those who claim Trump is using federal property for partisan purposes. According to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/us/politics/trump-gettysburg-convention.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The New York Times</a>, Norman L. Eisen, who served as the chief ethics czar in the Obama White House, said, &#8220;Applicable law does provide a variety of technical exemptions, which a clever lawyer might stitch together to claim that this is permissible. But those loopholes do not contemplate an event of this highly partisan nature of this scope and scale, and the forced political labor of the hundreds, if not thousands, of federal personnel.&#8221;
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosi-blasts-trump-convention-speech-white-house-cant-do" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">claimed</a> an acceptance speech on the South Lawn of the White House would sully the Executive Mansion. &#8220;For the president of the United States to degrade once again the White House, as he has done over and over again, by saying he&#8217;s going to completely politicize it, is something that should be rejected right out of hand,&#8221; she told MSNBC.
&#8220;It&#8217;s not serious thinking,&#8221; Pelosi added. &#8220;It won&#8217;t happen, whether it&#8217;s legally wrong or ethically out of the question, it shouldn&#8217;t have been something that was expressed.&#8221;
While acknowledging that the Gettysburg battlefield is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf reminded Trump that any outdoor gathering in the state exceeding 250 people would violate the state&#8217;s coronavirus lockdown restrictions. According to <a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/08/wolf-says-large-crowd-for-a-trump-speech-at-gettysburg-would-violate-state-ban-he-hopes-and-expects-trump-would-abide.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Penn Live</a>, Wolf&#8217;s office said, &#8220;We hope and expect that the President will abide by these commonsense restrictions that will protect the health and safety of the community around Gettysburg and throughout Pennsylvania.&#8221;
Wolf was criticized for <a href="https://www.pennlive.com/coronavirus/2020/06/why-did-pa-gov-tom-wolf-join-a-protest-with-thousands-of-people-breaking-the-rules-in-a-yellow-phase-county.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">violating his own state’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions</a> on June 3 when he marched in solidarity with hundreds of protesters in Harrisburg following the death of George Floyd. In Harrisburg’s Dauphin County, gatherings were restricted to 25 people or less at the time, according to Pennsylvania’s <a href="https://www.governor.pa.gov/process-to-reopen-pennsylvania/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">color-coded reopening plan</a>.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rob-reiner-trump-supporters-youre-all-racists-hank-berrien" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rob Reiner To Trump Supporters: You’re All Racists</a>
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Reiner and Gettysburg

Rob Reiner Claims Trump Speech At Gettysburg Would Celebrate ‘White Supremacy’

American Civil War

Pennsylvania

Rob Reiner

A Texas family is fighting to be removed from the Child Abuse Registry even after a judge dismissed a case from Child Protective Services (CPS) alleging that they had medically abused their young son.
Legal counsel for <a href="https://bringdrakehome.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ashley and Daniel Pardo</a> of Kaufman County, Texas, sent a letter late last month to Texas Department of Family Protective Services Commissioner Jaime Masters, urging her to remove them from the registry. The letter was endorsed by 26 signatories, including organizations and lawmakers.
A copy of the letter, written by Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) President Tim Lambert and provided to The Daily Wire, read in part:
<blockquote>Even though CPS dropped all accusations against the Pardo family and dismissed the case, CPS has placed the Pardo family on the Child Abuse Registry.
As you know, being on the registry stays on a family’s record, shows up on background checks, and can prevent the family from obtaining employment or even volunteering at their child’s school or church activities.
Being on the Child Abuse Registry also carries a naturally damaging cultural stigma because, as the average Texan would reasonably presume, such a registry is home to individuals who commit horrible crimes against their children, such as starving, beating, torturing, or killing them.
The fact that an entirely innocent family against whom CPS dropped all charges could be placed on such a registry and have their lives and professional futures forever marred by this stigma shocks even the most rudimentary sense of justice.</blockquote>
A <a href="https://thsc.org/child-abuse-registry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recent article</a> from THSC explaining the latest wrinkle in the case alleges that the Pardos&#8217; placement on the registry was an act of &#8220;vindictive punishment,&#8221; after both the Texas Supreme Court and county judge found the CPS case against them lacking.
In December 2019, the Pardos reached the end of a long legal battle fraught with red tape when Judge Tracy Gray signed a dismissal agreement between them and CPS. The agreement came after the Texas Supreme Court ordered the Pardo&#8217;s 4-year-old son, Drake, to be reunited with family in October, who had first been taken away from them on June 20, 2019.
According to <a href="https://thetexan.news/pardo-family-cps-hearing-scheduled-for-tomorrow-heres-what-we-know/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Texan</a>, which followed the complex case closely, the Pardos were alleged to be engaging in medical child abuse or Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, which &#8220;occurs when caretakers exaggerate or contrive medical conditions of the child under his or her care.&#8221; Drake, who has suffered from developmental issues, also struggled with feeding problems.
As The Texan <a href="https://thetexan.news/pardo-family-wins-dismissal-by-kaufman-county-court-controversial-cps-case-effectively-ended/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a>:
<blockquote>They were told one potential solution was a G-tube, a surgically placed feeding tube.
During their consideration of the surgery, Drake’s doctor allegedly refused to visit him while he was in the hospital. After his refusal, the Pardos fired him and chose to see another doctor in the same hospital.
The doctor who was fired brought a concern to the hospital’s child abuse pediatrician that the Pardos were doctor-shopping to find someone who would approve of the G-tube surgery.
Subsequently, the child abuse pediatrician brought the complaints to CPS and said that she wanted Drake to be admitted to the hospital on Monday, June 10 to be evaluated so that they could determine if the parents were seeking unnecessary help or not.</blockquote>
Jeremy Newman, director of public policy for THSC, referenced court testimony to explain to The Daily Wire how the Pardos were never informed about the scheduled meeting with CPS, which he said first led to their problems.
&#8220;CPS used their failure to attend that meeting, which they didn&#8217;t know about, as a justification for declaring an emergency and running in and taking the child from the home,&#8221; Newman said. &#8220;So, if I can insert my perception, it seems to me that the place it went wrong was that nobody involved in the case ever spoke to any of the doctors who had actually treated Drake at the time that all of this happened. They kind of came in and did a theoretical assessment and never spoke to the family, never spoke to any of the doctors.&#8221;
Explaining how, according to court testimony, the doctor who originally notified CPS did not intend for Drake to be removed from his family, Newman speculated that what began as government incompetence snowballed. &#8220;It seems to me like it&#8217;s a face-saving issue; that by the time they realized they&#8217;d made a big mistake, they couldn&#8217;t reverse course without admitting liability.&#8221;
The Texas Department of Family Protective Services did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment in time for publication.
In a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TexasHomeSchoolCoalition/videos/740390303133487" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">video</a> with the Pardos that he posted to Facebook immediately after their initial case was dismissed in December, Newman said, &#8220;This is the end of the Pardo case, officially. But it&#8217;s not the end of it for the families.&#8221; Noting that the CPS bureaucracy gets to walk away from such legal battles relatively unscathed, he said, &#8220;For the families in these situations, the trauma and the effect of that lasts. I know that Ashley and Daniel would tell you that, and every family that I&#8217;ve ever talked to would tell you that.&#8221;
&#8220;And so, as much as we&#8217;re celebrating the victory, you also have to kind of stop and pause and consider the cost, and realize that the team of advocates and the whole state kind of responded to support Ashley and Daniel in this. Not every family has that. You kind of have to wonder, &#8216;What about all the families you never hear from? The families whose stories don’t make the news?&#8217; You don’t hear from them and you kind of have to wonder: &#8216;Do they just get eaten by the system?'&#8221;
The Pardo case is not an isolated one, according to a series of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/do-no-harm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in-depth investigative reports</a> done by NBC and The Houston Chronicle in 2019. Reporters spent nine months looking into 40 cases that explored how the &#8220;legal and medical system that sometimes struggles to differentiate accidental injuries from abuse.&#8221;
One <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/devastating-diagnosis-doctors-trained-spot-child-abuse-can-save-lives-n1055746" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> concluded, &#8220;Physicians intent on protecting the most vulnerable in some instances have overstated the reliability of their findings, using terms such as ‘100 percent’ and ‘certain’ to describe conclusions that usually cannot be proven with absolute confidence. Child welfare workers, overworked and untrained in complex medical issues, are not always sure how to proceed when the primary evidence against a caregiver comes in the form of a doctor’s note.”
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Gavel and scales

‘Vindictive Punishment’: Texas Parents Fight To Be Removed From Child Abuse Registry After Judge Dismisses CPS Case Against Them

Child Protective Services

Children

false accusations

Texas

Cook County State&#8217;s Attorney Kim Foxx pledged Monday to bring the dozens of looters and rioters who did a reported $60 million in damages Sunday night to justice, but a new report from the Chicago Tribune calls into question Foxx&#8217;s commitment to seeing certain felony cases through.
<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/investigations/ct-kim-foxx-felony-charges-cook-county-20200810-ldvrmqvv6bd3hpsuqha4duehmu-story.html">According to the Tribune</a>, Foxx&#8217;s office has dismissed &#8220;thousands&#8221; of felony cases, including gun cases, sex assault cases, attacks on police officers, and even homicides. In all, &#8220;25,183 people had their felony cases dismissed&#8221; per the Trib.
&#8220;[T]he Tribune found that Foxx’s higher rates of dropped cases included people accused of murder, shooting another person, sex crimes, and attacks on police officers — as well as serious drug offenses that for decades have driven much of Chicago’s street violence,&#8221; the outlet said.
&#8220;For the three-year period analyzed, Foxx’s office dropped 8.1% of homicide cases &#8230; Under Foxx, the office dropped 9.5% of felony sex crime cases,&#8221; the Tribe notes. &#8220;Foxx’s office also increased the rate of dropped cases for aggravated battery and for aggravated battery with a firearm. And under Foxx, the percentage of cases dropped for defendants accused of aggravated battery of a police officer more than doubled, from 3.9% to 8.1%.&#8221;
The dropped cases, of course, include that of Jussie Smollett, who inked an unofficial &#8220;plea deal&#8221; with Foxx&#8217;s office just weeks after being charged with seventeen counts of lying to police investigators, stemming from Smollett&#8217;s claim that he was the target of a racist and homophobic attack in Chicago&#8217;s Streeterville neighborhood in January of 2019.
A special prosecutor recently reinstated several of those counts and an investigation into Foxx&#8217;s office &#8212; and into why the city prosecutor suddenly reversed her decision on Smollett&#8217;s case &#8212; is ongoing. Smollett was supposed to return to court in May, but that date has been postponed over concerns about coronavirus.
The dropped cases also include gun cases, many of which are arrests stemming from enforcement of Chicago&#8217;s strict gun control laws.
Foxx was elected as a &#8220;criminal justice reform&#8221; candidate, one of a handful of state&#8217;s attorney candidates nationwide to receive millions from George Soros, <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2020/2/20/21146269/george-soros-kim-foxx-bill-conway-states-attorney">according to the Chicago Sun-Times</a>, as part of a program to encourage and, ultimately, install state and city attorneys that espouse progressive ideals.
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown alluded to Foxx&#8217;s record of dropping cases against looters, like the ones that ravaged Chicago&#8217;s &#8220;Magnificent Mile&#8221; shopping district Sunday night, in a press conference held Monday.
“Not many of those [looting cases from May] were prosecuted to the full extent,” Brown said. “These looters, these thieves, these criminals being emboldened by consequences&#8230;emboldened to do more. These criminals were emboldened by no consequences in the criminal system.&#8221;
Chicago&#8217;s mayor Lori Lightfoot quickly intervened and cut off the line of questioning before Brown could go further.
Foxx denied that her office&#8217;s lax prosecutorial record was to blame for Sunday&#8217;s looting, telling a press conference that, &#8220;The notion that people believe that they are somehow empowered because people were not prosecuted is simply not true.&#8221;
Many of those cases are still pending and will come to court in August, Foxx claimed.
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Kim Foxx

REPORT: Chicago Prosecutor Dismissed Thousands Of Felony Cases Including Gun Crimes Cases

Chicago

Crime

University of Alabama coach Nick Saban said that his players are safer playing football than spending their time at home and in their communities.
The head football coach said that the conversation, if one is to be had, should be about colleges reopening for the entire student body and not focused on sports. The athletic programs of college sports are capable of monitoring players and containing outbreaks of the coronavirus among players, if someone should get infected.
Players are much more likely to contract and spread the disease back home in their communities, Saban told <a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29634072/nick-saban-says-players-safer-alabama-running-home">ESPN</a> on Monday.
“I want to play, but I want to play for the players&#8217; sake, the value they can create for themselves,” Saban said. “I know I&#8217;ll be criticized no matter what I say, that I don&#8217;t care about player safety. Look, players are a lot safer with us than they are running around at home. We have around a 2% positive ratio on our team since the Fourth of July. It&#8217;s a lot higher than that in society. We act like these guys can&#8217;t get this unless they play football. They can get it anywhere, whether they&#8217;re in a bar or just hanging out.”
“It&#8217;s going to be a challenge when the other students get on campus, and I get that,” Saban said. “But we really don&#8217;t know what that entails until it happens. It&#8217;s a big reason we pushed the season back [in the SEC], to assess that, which is the prudent way to do it.”
Saban said the coaching and training staff regularly monitor players for symptoms and signs of the coronavirus and has each player tested for the disease each week. He also brings in epidemiologists to update players on the disease every two weeks.
“It&#8217;s more important than ever to engage your players, and if you&#8217;re not, then you&#8217;re not doing your job as a coach,” Saban said.
“We also test anybody that has symptoms and have an open testing site where they can go and get tested as many times as they want or anytime they feel like they need to,” Saban continued. “But our guys aren&#8217;t going to catch [the virus] on the football field. They&#8217;re going to catch it on campus. The argument then should probably be, &#8216;We shouldn&#8217;t be having school.&#8217; That&#8217;s the argument. Why is it, &#8216;We shouldn&#8217;t be playing football?&#8217; Why has that become the argument?”
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-officials-hold-emergency-meeting-about-canceling-college-football-this-fall">Big Ten</a> Conference announced on Tuesday that it would cancel its schedule for the fall and hope to relaunch in the spring of 2021. Coaches and players have publicly advocated for fall football, including a handful of coaches in the Big Ten such as Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. Their push was unsuccessful, however.
The <a href="http://dailywire.com/news/this-isnt-over-college-football-players-coaches-fight-back-against-potential-season-cancelation">campaign</a> has continued across conferences and teams, including from the starting quarterback at Clemson, Trevor Lawrence.
“Football is a safe haven for so many people. We are more likely to get the virus in everyday life than playing football. Having a season also incentivizes players being safe and taking all of the right precautions to try to avoid contracting covid because the season/ teammates safety is on the line,” Lawrence said on Sunday. “Without the season, as we’ve seen already, people will not social distance or wear masks and take the proper precautions.”
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Players being safe and taking all of the right precautions to try to avoid contracting covid because the season/ teammates safety is on the line. Without the season, as we’ve seen already, people will not social distance or wear masks and take the proper precautions
&mdash; Trevor Lawrence (@Trevorlawrencee) <a href="https://twitter.com/Trevorlawrencee/status/1292600604305612800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Nick Saban

Nick Saban On College Football: ‘Players Are A Lot Safer With Us Than They Are Running Around At Home’

Coronavirus

Football

Sports

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has reportedly selected Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) to be his running mate.
&#8220;I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate,&#8221; Biden tweeted. &#8220;Back when Kamala was Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau. I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse. I was proud then, and I&#8217;m proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign.&#8221;
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Back when Kamala was Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau. I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse. I was proud then, and I&#39;m proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign.
&mdash; Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1293280412144267264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
Last year, Harris said that she believed &#8220;women who say they felt uncomfortable after receiving unwanted touching from former Vice President Joe Biden,&#8221; The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/437107-harris-i-believe-biden-accusers#.XzL8x1qo1ot.twitter">reported</a>.
&#8220;I believe them and I respect them being able to tell their story and having the courage to do it,&#8221; Harris said.
President Donald Trump tweeted out a video a few minutes after the announcement that said, &#8220;Kamala Harris ran for president by rushing to the radical left, embracing Bernie&#8217;s plan for socialized medicine, calling for trillions in new taxes, attacking Joe Biden for racist policies.&#8221;
&#8220;Voters rejected Harris, they smartly spotted a phony,&#8221; the ad continued. &#8220;But not Joe Biden, he&#8217;s not that smart. Biden calls himself a &#8216;transition&#8217; candidate. He is handing over the reigns to Kamala while they jointly embrace the radical left. Slow Joe and Phony Kamala. Perfect together, wrong for America.&#8221;
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<a href="https://t.co/jXoffXyZed">pic.twitter.com/jXoffXyZed</a>
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1293285949917495300?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Harris later responded to the official announcement by Biden that she had been selected as his running mate.
&#8220;@JoeBiden can unify the American people because he&#8217;s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he&#8217;ll build an America that lives up to our ideals,&#8221; Harris later said in a tweet. &#8220;I&#8217;m honored to join him as our party&#8217;s nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.&#8221;
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.<a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JoeBiden</a> can unify the American people because he&#39;s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he&#39;ll build an America that lives up to our ideals.
I&#39;m honored to join him as our party&#39;s nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.
&mdash; Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1293290197103390721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Harris is a full-spectrum progressive who supports a far-left economic, social, and national security agenda,&#8221; The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/where-does-kamala-harris-stand-issues-heres-josh-hammer">reported</a> in an in-depth profile on Harris last year. &#8220;She is fiercely defensive of abortion rights, supports curtailing Second Amendment rights, supports single-payer/&#8217;Medicare for All&#8217; health insurance, supports marijuana legalization, and favors sanctuary cities and other sovereignty-undermining, pro-amnesty immigration policies.&#8221;
The piece highlighted Harris&#8217; following policy stances:
<blockquote>Economy: Harris supports tax hikes on wealthier Americans and subscribes to much of the “zero-sum”/”class warfare”-inspired rhetoric that imbues contemporary leftist economic thinking. She supports expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, which many conservative economic policy wonks would prefer to see phased out and replaced with a low-income wage subsidy. She supports a robust governmental role for regulation of the financial services industry.
Health Care: Harris supports single-payer/”Medicare for All,” which effectively amounts to a governmental takeover of medicine in America. She has called for the total elimination of private health insurance, although she has recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42809/flip-flop-kamala-harris-changes-position-ryan-saavedra">equivocated</a> on total elimination. She has supported legislation that would increase Obamacare subsidies.
Immigration: Harris has vocally supported the criminal alien-harboring sanctuary city policies of her home state of California, and has taken a hard line in support of the DREAM Act and other amnesty legislative initiatives that would undermine America’s sovereignty and empower brutal Mexican cartels and human trafficking rings. She has been a consistently harsh critic of the Trump administration’s attempts to secure our border amidst a hitherto unprecedented influx of Central American migrants.
Foreign Policy: Harris has been relatively supportive of Israel, within the broader context of the increasingly anti-Israel Democratic Party, but she still personally boycotted AIPAC’s 2019 national policy conference. Harris opposed President Donald Trump’s removal of the U.S. from President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal and has consistently voiced opposition to continued military aid for Saudi Arabia, Iran’s chief regional nemesis. She supports a more robust congressional role, and a decreased role for the presidency, in the sphere of foreign relations and military action abroad.
Abortion: Harris is emphatically pro-abortion and supports <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1136320875102429184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1136320875102429184&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2F48065%2Fhammer-democrats-want-taxpayer-funding-josh-hammer">ending the Hyde Amendment</a>, which has historically banned taxpayer funding of abortion. Harris strongly supports Roe v. Wade and has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47776/hammer-kamala-harriss-proposed-reproductive-rights-josh-hammer">proposed</a> a dubiously constitutional “Reproductive Rights Act” that would attempt to secure abortion rights via a similar legal mechanism that the 1965 Voting Rights Act utilized to advance voting rights.
Guns: Harris is a consistent supporter of anti-gun policies that would restrict American’s free exercise of their Second Amendment rights. She has promised to unilaterally advance amorphous <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/04/23/kamala-harris-promises-executive-action-gun-control-elected/3548859002/">“executive actions”</a> on guns if she were elected to the presidency. Harris supports a ban on the undefinable sub-class of firearms referred to as so-called “assault weapons” — a line of thought that, if taken to its logical conclusion, could <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42837/hammer-kamala-harriss-flirtation-banning-all-semi-josh-hammer">lead to the banning of all semi-automatic firearms in America</a>. Harris has also endorsed 2020 rival Beto O’Rourke’s <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/51718/beto-says-hell-yes-were-going-take-americans-guns-james-barrett">gun confiscation</a> plan.</blockquote>
 This story has been updated to include additional information.
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Presidential Candidates Speak At Iowa Democratic Party Liberty And Justice Celebration Event

Joe Biden Announces Kamala Harris As His Running Mate

2020 Election

Joe Biden

Kamala Harris

The following is mostly satirical. 
The mostly peaceful violence in Portland continues as Joe Biden voters and other Democrats continue to mostly not riot leaving the city mostly not in flames.
The protesters, who are mostly idealistic young people except during those few hours when they are destructive thugs, mostly did not assault unarmed elderly people leaving most of the local elderly not terrorized or <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rioters-storm-portland-suburb-throw-paint-on-elderly-woman-harass-another-using-walker">covered in paint</a>.
Most of the time the mobs of usually not rampaging masked marauders were mostly not shining lasers into the eyes of policemen in attempts to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/three-federal-officers-face-permanent-blindness-after-rioters-shine-lasers-in-their-eyes">blind them</a>. And they could very often be seen not setting local stores on fire as when they were trying to<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/far-left-extremists-burn-police-building-in-portland-violently-attack-police-officers"> destroy government buildings</a> which they were mostly not doing either.
Around the country, journalists were mostly not reporting on what the mostly peaceful rioters were mostly not doing.
And in fact the journalists themselves spend only about a third of the day at work and so are mostly not spreading disinformation like hideous, bottom-feeding swamp creatures who have somehow evolved the capacity to lie with completely straight faces — unless, of course, they also lie to their friends and families in which case they’re mostly not mostly not hideous, bottom-feeding swamp creatures but mostly are. Which would mostly not be surprising.
For example, the New York Times, a former newspaper, mostly didn’t report the mostly peaceful havoc being mostly not wreaked by the mostly peaceful Democrat thugs and other Joe Biden voters in Seattle.
But then suddenly, the New York Times did report the mostly peaceful destruction that left most of the city not a shambles, so that many Times readers said, “Whoa, I’ve been mostly lied to and am now mostly ignorant about what’s mostly going on because I’ve mostly been reading the New York Times and now mostly feel like a schnook.”
The mostly peaceful riots will mostly not spread into residential areas so that residents will mostly not be terrorized in their homes.
So that’s mostly great. Until the person terrorized happens to be you.
More satire from Andrew Klavan: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrats-accuse-barr-of-interrupting-their-riots-with-rule-of-law-satire">Democrats Accuse Barr Of Interrupting Their Riots With Rule Of Law</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Portland Flag Burning

Mostly Peaceful Riots Leave Cities Mostly Not In Flames [Satire]

Portland

Satire

President Trump, showing his particular gift for Churchillian eloquence, recently declared that if elected, Joe Biden would be “against the Bible” and “hurt God.” The mainstream media and Biden campaign (but I repeat myself) pounced. Biden’s puppeteers immediately typed up a response and sent out a statement expressing the presumptive Democrat nominee’s outrage: “Like so many people, my faith has been the bedrock foundation of my life: it’s provided me comfort in moments of loss and tragedy, it’s kept me grounded and humbled in times of triumph and joy.”
Far be it for me to question any man’s faith. But as one who claims to support even late-term abortion (which even most of those in the pro-abortion camp find morally repugnant) and touts his 100% rating from NARAL, it is difficult to square Biden’s new-found leftist, secular leanings with his professed Roman Catholicism.
Still, we all know that Donald Trump is no St. Augustine himself. And this is indeed true when it comes to the President’s personal adventures in infidelity and multiple-marriage. But also, as with so much of Trump the man, versus Trump the administrator, his policies lean much more pro-religious than Joe Biden’s. One can question his motives as purely political as opposed to a true expression of Trump’s inner values…whatever they may be. But the nature of the political process is balancing one’s own convictions with those of the people who elected him or her to office. Bill Clinton, whatever his core beliefs in the power of government were, read the verdict of the electoral backlash to “Hillarycare” in the 1994 midterm that handed the GOP control of the House for the first time in four decades, and by his 1996 State of the Union Speech was proudly declaring that “the era of Big Government is over!” That’s how it works. Call it triangulation if you like, to use the Dick Morris term. I call it responsive governance. And in the case of Donald Trump, he owes much to the religious of this country who, despite their reservations over the candidate who in 2016 seemed more like a carnival barker than truly spiritual man, pulled the lever for him and got him over the finish line to the Oval Office.
The reason they voted for him was simple enough: they felt anything had to be better where looking out for people of faith was concerned than the Democrats who’d held the reins of power for eight years.
Still, not all Christians have been so forgiving of the President’s personal peccadillos.  Christianity Today editor Mark Galli back in December prompted a flurry of often-heated discussions by offering that true Christians who support the morally challenged Manhattan business mogul and showman are selling their souls. Speaking out in favor of impeachment, he wrote:
<blockquote>“Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?”</blockquote>
There is some fallacious reasoning on display here. Men whom we might consider “immoral” by our modern standards have often performed incredible acts of goodness to advance the human condition. Students of the remarkable events in North America from 1775 to 1797 must constantly grapple with the notion that three of our most revered and important Founding Fathers, Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, engaged in the heinous practice of slavery. Yet this does not compel us to abandon the principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence or toss out the Constitution. Slavery was a far more wicked crime against God and humanity than a mean-spirited tweet. And for his many readers who no doubt believe it to be mass infanticide, for Mr. Galli to place abortion on the same moral plane as insulting Rosie O’Donnell or being on one’s third marriage is prima facie ludicrous.
There is an old expression that “no man is a hero to his valet.” And this goes for heads of state as much as any revered position. The White House is not a chapel. Over the years it has been occupied by slave-holders, drinkers, philanderers, gamblers, racists, boors, even sexual predators. But it has only been with the advent of unfettered information overwhelming the ramparts of a once-protective press — one that hid FDR’s paralysis for years and ignored his keeping a mistress, or protected the secret of JFK’s serial infidelities — that the seedier underside of the mere mortals who temporarily reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have become gruel for public consumption. To look to the Oval Office for spiritual fulfilment is a fool’s errand. Such quests for inspiration from a politician reached embarrassing levels of bizarre, almost cult-like adulation with Barack Obama.
Certainly character should matter, to a point. Otherwise the reminders by Mussolini’s supporters that the trains always ran on time should have sufficed. But in President Trump’s case, in this time in our history, when Christianity is under siege all over the world, the faithful must weigh results over ostracizing the morally deficient man. Why? Because the president whom Mr. Galli wished to remove from office has been the best friend Christians and Jews, religious and non-religious alike, have had in the White House in my lifetime.
And therein lies the answer that baffles those primarily on the Left for whom Christianity and fervent belief in God is either a perplexing unknown or something to be caricatured and attacked as primitive and anti-science (that one of the most respected planetary observatories is run by the Vatican seems to escape the critics). The key to understanding why Christians and religious Jews support Trump can be found in why they were in his camp in 2016.
On June 3, 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama accepted the Democrat Party’s nomination for President of the United States and bombastically declared, “This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and the planet began to heal.” However the metaphorical tides behaved elsewhere, by January 20, 2017 many of the nearly nine-in-10 Americans who believe in God felt like they’d been blasted by a tsunami after eight years of President Obama’s hostility toward religion.
To say that President Trump is an unknown when it comes to his personal relationship with God, if any, is an understatement. Yet eight in 10 self-identified white, born-again or evangelical Christians voted for Trump in 2016, while just 16 percent voted for Hillary Clinton.
But why? To understand why religious voters set aside their reservations and pulled the lever for Trump, and why they most likely will again in 2020, all one need do is review the record of the previous administration vis-à-vis religious institutions as well as what the current Democratic Party represents.
Fifty-five percent of those who attend church or synagogue once a week voted for Trump, whereas 62 percent who never attend religious services voted for Clinton. Consider: In 2016, of those who label themselves Democrats, the largest single block of voters are what the Pew Center calls “nones” — those who have no affiliation with any organized religion. They are 28 percent of the party, up from 19 percent just in the last ten years. In the GOP, evangelicals make up 38 percent, up one percent in ten years.
Why is this significant? Because the party in which faith has largely eroded has also become the base camp of the secular-progressive movement. The simple fact is that in the culture wars, this side represents the aggressors.
Religious conservatives understand there will never be a perfect world; only Heaven can be Heaven. The same goes for presidents. But with no faith, indeed no God, the Left is frantically driven to try to make a paradise of this earth. It’s a Dante-esque torture for them, as the carrot on the stick of a terrestrial Utopia can never be tasted.
And so theirs is a never-ending crusade. One in which they proffer a false premise — that original sin can somehow be eradicated not with spiritual redemption, but rather through passing the right laws and initiating correct policies, either by legislative process, or, should that fail, enacting them through activist courts. And no better ally have they had in the White House than Barack Obama.
The administration Trump dethroned represented for the faithful one of the most formidable progressive antagonists in the post-modern age.  On the day Trump took the oath of office, people of faith could look back on a previous eight years of edicts, laws, and court rulings that back up this assertion. HHS mandates supported by the administration showed uncompromising dismissal of religious values, compelling Catholic hospitals to engage in family planning practices and provide services that contradicted their core beliefs in the sanctity of human life in-utero.
Pittsburgh’s bishop, David Zubik, likened the mandates to “a slap to the face.” He declared: “The Obama administration has just told the Catholics of the United States, ‘To hell with you.’” White Catholics also supported Trump over Clinton by 60 percent to 37 percent.
But it wasn’t just Catholics who found themselves on the receiving end of what they perceived as a secular-progressive assault on Divinely inspired moral constructs they consider vital to a cohesive society. The list of the previous administration’s hostile positions toward religion in favor of leftist activism is long. From initial abandonment of The Defense of Marriage Act and overt support of Obergefell (the same-sex marriage ruling), to opposition to the Conscience Protection Act, to secularist edicts aimed at privately held businesses, to the Little Sisters of the Poor battle — the administration presented an overarching dismissal of the Judeo-Christian values that have formed the historical and cultural bedrock of our republic.
When Donald Trump placed his hand on the Bible while standing on the Capitol steps, the faithful did not look up and see one of their own per se; but they did see a President who does not disdain them. Evangelicals, Catholics, and the many other Christian and religious Jewish denominations that felt so put upon by the Left finally found some relief in the form of a President who leans toward the authority of the states to decide the matters of culture and life.
Evangelicals understand that such true federalism could have far-reaching implications re: how the courts view Roe v. Wade and other lightning-rod decisions in the culture wars. They also understand that to achieve their aim of, to paraphrase William Buckley, standing athwart the relentless progressivism and shouting Stop! they must have a like-minded judiciary. They see that as of this writing 203 federal judges are Trump appointees, from Supreme Court Associates Gorsuch and Kavanaugh on down. And they lean toward interpreting the Constitution (which people of faith feel is on their side of the moral divide) rather than engaging in activist legislation to subvert original intent. And with another four years, who knows how much more re-configuring of the federal bench might be in the offing?
As such some 200 evangelicals actually came out against Mr. Galli’s piece. They did so because they remember what the pre-Trump atmosphere was for people of faith, and they have no desire to return to it. After eight years of torrential assaults on values that the faithful hold dear, Trump’s promise of relief was enough to prompt an Election Day coalescing around the man who is now the 45th president of the United States, warts and all.
As a Christian, I accept that all people are flawed.  If not, then there’d be no need for a Messiah and redemption. But I also understand that sometimes the best policies have come from deeply flawed men. Conversely, sometimes the most horrific results stem from initiatives enacted with the noblest intent. As Henry Adams once lamented, “It’s always the good men who do the most harm in the world.”
And this is where, though his words were spoken in typically ineloquent Trumpspeak, the President’s concerns over what a Biden presidency might mean for religious liberty are quite profound. Biden was, after all, the Obama Administration’s Vice-President. And if he wishes to cloak himself in the robe of Obama’s aura and appeal, Biden must own the policies of that administration as well…policies that were quite hostile towards religion, except the only religion the Left holds dear: secular-progressivism.
The continuing, if underreported, riots have ripped the mask off of the militant wing of the Democrat Party…a wing that now wields disproportionate power and influence within its smoke-filled back rooms. Such control, should the election go their way in November, will be all the more prevalent with a president in the throes of obvious cognitive decline as is Biden. In their new president the far-left that now dominates the Democratic Party will have a useful conduit through which to force a mind-bogglingly radical and ultimately destructive agenda. One that includes resuming their war on religious institutions and stamping out any vestiges of faith in all public spaces from schools to town squares.
Sometimes there are more important and immediate concerns than moral litmus tests.  As far as Donald Trump and the culture wars go, for those who still believe in a higher power than themselves, higher even than the almighty government, this is, perhaps, just such a moment.
Brad Schaeffer is the author of the WW2 Novel  <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Another-Time-Place-Brad-Schaeffer/dp/1682616630">Of Another Time And Place</a> (Post Hill/Simon &amp; Schuster, 2018).
A version of this article was previously published in December 2019. 
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Anaheim, CA

SCHAEFFER: Why People Of Faith Can Support Trump

Christianity

Donald Trump

In no uncertain terms, Trump’s re-election campaign has experienced several major wobbles. While Biden’s lead in the polls has been reduced in recent days, there are many conservatives who are doubting whether Trump can retain the presidency if he continues along his current trajectory. Frankly, I am one of them.
However, there is hope. Here are five fundamental issues Donald Trump must address if he hopes to regain his momentum and defeat Joe Biden.
Biden’s Mental Health
The American Left have invested in Joe Biden, an aging candidate who is in <a href="https://youtu.be/ztK9P2WywUE">clear mental decline</a>. On a regular basis, he seems to stumble over simple sentences, announce that he is running for Senate, or forget where he is. It seems that he can’t even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztK9P2WywUE&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;t=16">directly defend</a> his mental state:
“I am very willing to let the American public judge my physical and mental fill&#8230;my physical as well as my mental fill&#8230;fitness.”
If this statement doesn’t act as blood in the water for Republicans with Donald Trump asking the American public to judge Biden’s mental fill&#8230;fill&#8230;fitness, then the Trump campaign simply does not deserve to win in November.
The subject of the mental capabilities of candidates should not be taboo, and certainly hasn’t been when it comes to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/09/04/john-mccains-funeral-george-bush-barack-obama-bipartisan-hypocrisy-column/1185092002/">Republican candidates</a>. If anything, the mental stability of the most powerful man or woman in the world should be the public’s top concern. With that in mind, Joe Biden proved himself to be fundamentally unfit for the role of president. Isolated at home, under no pressure whatsoever, he couldn’t even pronounce the word “fitness” while asking the American public to judge his fitness.
Rather than wasting time boasting about the apparently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/trump-cognitive-test.html">exemplary results</a> of his own cognitive test, all Trump needs to do is play this clip of Biden on repeat, and say the word “fitness.” Game over.
Vice President 
To put it bluntly, with Joe Biden’s rapid decline on full display, it’s unlikely that Biden will remain in office for a full term. He has even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/us/politics/joe-biden-vice-president-pick.html">stated</a> that “I view myself as a transition candidate.” This means that Joe Biden’s choice of Vice President is profoundly impactful, given that we could find ourselves with an unelected president for only the fifth time in United States history if Biden’s presidency ends prematurely.
For weeks, Biden has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/us/politics/joe-biden-vice-presidential-search.html">repeatedly delayed</a> the announcement of his running mate. The reason for this is likely that Biden – or more likely his staff – understands that his vice presidential candidates are only going to broaden the range of criticisms which can be launched against his campaign.
The political attacks write themselves when we consider the potential candidates under consideration. Susan Rice, the rumored front-runner, will be hit with the <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/08/five-more-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-susan-rice/">Benghazi scandal</a> and her <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/marco-rubio-susan-rice-email-flynn-leak">involvement</a> in the infamous Michael Flynn case. Kamala Harris will be undone with a combination of Tulsi Gabbard’s <a href="https://youtu.be/4tQ_CxV4GSY?t=328">destruction of Harris&#8217; campaign</a> and the fact that Harris <a href="https://youtu.be/oCQYOrBzY74?t=225">accused</a> Joe Biden of being racist before endorsing him weeks later. Karen Bass has a <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/08/05/rep-karen-bass-praised-communist-party-usa-member/">history</a> of praising communists, Stacey Abrams is famous for nothing other than trying to fail upward, and Elizabeth Warren’s history of sporadic Native American heritage speaks for itself.
Regardless of Biden’s eventual choice, Trump and his campaign must take advantage of this continued hesitancy by criticizing both Biden’s choice of candidates and the lack of decisiveness when it comes to selecting Biden’s likely replacement.
Communism and Socialism 
When you look at the Democratic Party’s platform, you would assume that Bernie Sanders had been nominated as the Left’s candidate to face Trump. The radicalism of Biden’s manifesto, and the fact that he has fearfully <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/haworth-5-of-bidens-most-significant-flip-flops">flipped</a> on fundamental positions, stands as evidence that Biden is a Trojan Horse for the insidious wave of communist, socialist, and Marxist ideologies which threaten to engulf American thought.
While the notion of the United States as a socialist nation is undeniably terrifying, the danger posed also presents Trump with the ability to change the focus of the election. Rather than its current state – a referendum on Trump and his personality – Trump has the opportunity to reshape the election to be a referendum on socialism. In <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/257639/four-americans-embrace-form-socialism.aspx">2019</a>, 51% of Americans had a negative opinion of socialism, and if the election becomes a matter of embracing or rejecting socialism, Trump will remain in the White House until 2024.
Race
For the first time in decades, conservatives have an opportunity to destroy the Left’s assumed monopoly on the subject of race. The root of this strategy has two components – Trump’s non-political history and Biden’s inability to avoid saying the quiet part out loud.
The Left routinely take minority voting blocs for granted. While career politicians will find it difficult to overcome the absurd premise that Democrats are the only valid choice for minority communities, Donald Trump should use his past popularity amongst leaders who now despise him as evidence of their partisan “hackery.” For example, Al Sharpton (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/haworth-democrats-obsession-al-sharpton-ian-haworth">to whom any Democratic hopeful must bend the knee</a>) called Donald Trump a “white nationalist.” Trump should disintegrate Sharpton’s undeserved authority – and therefore all partisan hyperbole from other “leaders” – by questioning why Sharpton openly embraced him until the moment he became a Republican.
In addition to surfacing the Left’s clear lack of racial principles, Joe Biden’s recent history of unquestionable racism should enable conservatives to wrestle control of the racial narrative from the Democratic Party. Just in the past few days, Biden has used the term “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/05/joe-biden-reporter-cognitive-test-391771">junkie</a>” during an interview with a black reporter when asked whether he had taken a cognitive test, and stated that the Latino community is diverse, “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/06/joe-biden-latino-african-american-remark-392354">unlike the African American community</a>.”
Again, Trump’s strategy must be to hold Biden’s statements up for all to see, and to ask how the Left would react if Trump used the term “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/05/joe-biden-reporter-cognitive-test-391771">junkie</a>” during an interview with a black reporter, or insinuated a lack of diversity among African Americans. The Left’s silence on both Biden’s mental instability and his clear racism should be damning. It’s up to Trump to make it so.
COVID-19
Finally, it is clear that the overt politicization of COVID-19 is the Left’s last remaining strategy to unseat Donald Trump. For weeks, they have characterized the federal government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as an abject failure. The attempt to fuel the spread of Trump Derangement Syndrome has resulted in the dismissal of basic truths, such as China’s clear culpability for the COVID-19 outbreak.
Again, Trump must redirect this criticism by refactoring the topic of debate. When blamed for the impact of COVID-19, Trump should simply echo the praise his administration received from the Democratic <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/28/you-wouldnt-know-it-coverage-gop-governors-are-managing-covid-19-far-better-than-their-democratic-counterparts/">state governors and mayors</a> whose policies are responsible for the bulk of the American COVID-19 death rate. When blamed for the spread of COVID-19, Trump should place the blame for COVID-19 squarely at the feet of the <a href="https://youtu.be/Ss4Ho-Pn4Qw">deceptive</a> Chinese Communist Party, and remind the American public that the Left’s response to Trump’s travel restriction from China (which likely saved thousands of lives) was simply to accuse him of <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/498350-biden-trumps-coronavirus-response-has-been-nakedly-xenophobic">racism</a>.
The debate surrounding COVID-19 can be leveraged to present American voters with simple binary decisions. The election can be a choice between being supportive or critical of the Chinese Communist Party, remembering that the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/04/21/u-s-views-of-china-increasingly-negative-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/">majority</a> of Americans have unfavorable views of the communist dictatorship. The election can be a choice between the Republican and Democratic response to COVID-19, noting that the death toll is “<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/05/26/coronavirus-death-toll-is-heavily-concentrated-in-democratic-congressional-districts/">heavily concentrated in Democratic congressional districts</a>.” Finally, the election can be a choice between the Democratic Party’s endorsement of lawless rioting and the notion of law and order.
These questions have obvious answers for most Americans. It’s up to Trump to make the election focus on these questions.
***
Joe Biden should be a gift to conservatives. He is in clear mental decline. His unwillingness to announce a running mate is either a sign of uncertainty or fear. He has become a gormless puppet of the socialist Left. He demonstrates the absurd hypocrisy of the Left’s claim of moral superiority when it comes to race. He represents a Party who are responsible for much of the failure surrounding COVID-19, including the death rate in some Democratic areas, the politically correct attempt to defend the Chinese Communist Party, and the violent riots which have left cities in ashes.
It is up to Donald Trump to seize this opportunity, and present the American public with binary decisions which leave them with no choice but to vote for him. If he loses, then he will be to blame for the potentially irreversible injection of radical Leftism into the American political psyche. For that reason, he must win.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Trump rally

HAWORTH: Trump 2020: Five Things He Must Do To Win

A bill sponsored by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) has passed the House and is currently in the Senate for committee review and an eventual vote. H.R. 7608 is entitled the “State, Foreign Operations, Agriculture, Rural Development, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act.”
The bill provides fiscal year 2021 appropriations for the Department of State, Department of Agriculture, the EPA, various foreign relations initiatives, and related programs. It is the “related programs” that has those who care about American history concerned. If one peruses the 772-page bill, they will find buried way down in the middle somewhere Sec. 442. It reads as follows:
<blockquote>REMOVAL OF COMMEMORATIVE CONFEDERATE WORKS
Notwithstanding any other provision of law or policy to the contrary, within 180 days of enactment of this Act, the National Park Service shall remove from display all physical Confederate commemorative works, such as statues, monuments, sculptures, memorials, and plaques, as defined by NPS, Management Policies 2006.</blockquote>
On the surface, this appears to be just an implementation of the drive to remove Confederate monuments and memorials from the public square. The mantra from the activists in favor of moving out these homages to the Confederacy has been that they should be moved to museums as they are a part of history.
Unfortunately, where Confederate monuments are concerned, there is no solution which would seem to satisfy all. And for those on the far-left, for whom it is always about the next crusade as they continue to march toward that unreachable mirage of a terrestrial Utopia, even allowing monuments to those who fought, and suffered, and died in battle where the combat actually took place is just too much. And H.R. 7608 is a manifestation of this vision of an American landscape wiped clean of any vestiges of one-half of the most consequential and cataclysmic event in U.S. History.
There are some twenty-five Civil War battlefields or related historical sites that would be subjected to the axe of H.R. 7608. That is because hallowed grounds like Antietam, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Vicksburg, Manassas, Petersburg, etc., are under the auspices of the National Park Service. If this bill is passed, as it now reads and can be interpreted, within six months of its passage every monument to Confederate participants on the very locations of some of the biggest and bloodiest battles in American history would be removed.
One can make a reasonable argument for taking down Confederate statues from the public square. After all, should African Americans on their way to work or just strolling the streets be forced to do so in the shadow of those who fought for an upstart nation that, had it been victorious, would have kept their race in chains?
But once removed, what are we to do with these monuments? Some have argued, as stated earlier, that they should be relegated to museums where they lose the aura of celebration and instead become tools for learning and remembering our past. There are, however, real logistical issues here. Even if a museum wanted them, it is not easy to store many tons of brass and stone.
It would seem, then, that the battlefields are the most logical refuge for these orphans of our past. Those who venture to Gettysburg, Antietam, or Shiloh do so precisely to learn about the fighting that took place there, and what it meant to American history. And it is, quite simply, impossible to give an accurate and full account of these engagements without telling the story of the men on both sides of the lines, both individual commanders, and the many units from so many states who did combat.
How can one, for example, possibly understand the story of Gettysburg without delving into the mind of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee? He was the man whose decisions, more than any others’, shaped the nature and ultimate outcome of the three-day bloodbath. It was Lee who invaded Pennsylvania, Lee who gave the nod to his generals to attack the Union Army outside of Gettysburg that first fateful morning, and it was Lee who then stayed to fight what would shape up to be the first major Confederate defeat of the war. And no better way can one understand the mind of Lee, to see what he saw, than to stand beneath his monument on Seminary Ridge, astride his horse Traveler, and gaze with him across the mile-wide open field toward that Union line where he sent so many of his soldiers to their dooms. The equestrian statue of the rebel leader is powerful in its sense of longing and regret. One can almost hear him as his battered and bloody survivors stream past him having had their grand assault violently repulsed saying to his men, “This has been all my fault.” Lose Lee and you lose the very essence of the Battle Of Gettysburg. The same can be said for his commanding officers, each with their own part to play in the drama. It is so with every battle of the war. Take away Albert Sydney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard, and you lose Shiloh. Banish Stonewell Jackson and James Longstreet to the ether, and 2nd Manassas just ceases to be.
And furthermore, how can one recount a true narrative of these battles while the voices of those men in the rank and file who fought for the South are muted and their visages erased? The story of these historic places is one of men, often in their teens, scared out of their wits, covered in grime and dust, and the caked blood of their comrades who’d already fallen all around them, who engaged in some of the most brutal and up close and personal modes of warfare one can imagine. Their emotions and experiences at those moments of terror knew no politics. A survivor of Antietam later recalled that at one point the action was so severe, his senses so overloaded, that the landscape appeared to briefly turn red. One imagines that during combat so intense, no Southerner loading, ramming, and firing as the balls whizzed all around him, was thinking of the larger question of slavery or free navigation of the Mississippi. As one Union private, David Thompson, 9th New York Volunteers, wrote after walking the still-smoldering Antietam battlefield after the bloodiest day in American history had ended:
<blockquote>All around lay the Confederate dead…clad in “butternut”&#8230;As I looked down on the poor, pinched faces…all enmity died out. There was no “secession” in those rigid forms, nor in those fixed eyes staring at the sky. Clearly it was not their war.</blockquote>
The fact is the Civil War did happen. And some 300,000 Southern men died fighting for their cause, even if it was, as Ulysses Grant said, “one of the worst for which people have ever fought. And one for which there was the least excuse.” But that doesn’t diminish the very real suffering of the Confederates who fought over these blood-soaked grounds. And even if one doesn’t wish to give those men at Gettysburg, who lined up and stared across an open field to the other side where they saw a solid line of blue with artillery lined hub-to-hub up on Cemetery Ridge just waiting for them, any credit at all for their feat, at least allow their story, on that place, to be told in toto to weave the complete tapestry of this great human tragedy that affected so many on all sides. And still does.
Speaking on behalf of Gettysburg in particular, Les Fowler, president of the Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides, has made a plea to the Senate to modify this bill to preserve the battlefields as they are. “We urge the U.S. Senate to strip out this provision that would destroy the unequaled collection of monuments, Union and Confederate, that set Gettysburg apart as the great battlefield park and top visitor destinations…The monuments representing all of the soldiers who fought here are a crucial component of interpreting these sacred grounds.”
Another veteran battlefield guide, Deb Novotny, makes a broader appeal. “The monuments serve as tools for us to tell the story not only of this battle but of the struggle of our nation to heal itself after the war.”
Some 75,000 Confederate troops engaged the Union Army at Gettysburg. That salient fact of history cannot be avoided or discarded. How does one go about erasing their memories from a place like this? If there remain any places in the country where it is contextually fitting to remember them, while acknowledging the moral bankruptcy of the broader notion for which they took up arms, it is on the fields where they fought and strove and perished.
It is said that the ghosts of soldiers, Confederate and Union alike, walk the now quiet fields of battle, unable to find peace with their violent deaths on the receiving end of enemy bullets, bayonets, shell fragments or solid shot that cut their lives short. They are a part of these places.
The cause of the Confederacy should be remembered for what it was: a new nation dedicated to the proposition that the black man was inferior to the white man and, as Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens said: “slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition.” But the battlefields, where those twisted notions went to die, and where all sides of those particular isolated events must be heard to gain a true understanding of what happened there, should not be the place to make such a symbolic rejection to what is an obviously revolting raison d’etat. The battlefield belongs to the soldiers who fought there. And it belongs to all who wish to travel to these grounds and hear all the voices from the past tell us what they saw and did there. History is not always pleasant. But it must be remembered. Otherwise we are living in a land of make-believe. That is not the country I want us to be.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Cannon at Gettysburg

SCHAEFFER: Civil War Battlefields: The Left’s Next Target In The War On History

American History

Leftism

“SNL” and the rest of our once reliably entertaining late-night shows gave up being funny years ago when they went all in on going woke, forcing us all to look elsewhere to get that much-needed comedic hit. The good news: several independent, and more independent-thinking, comedians have stepped up to fill the void, offering comedy sketches that rival even classic late-night television. Below are some of the best.  
“Saturday Night Live” did something three years ago that had half the nation cheering (and the rest laughing between clenched teeth).
The liberal show created a fake commercial for Levi “Woke” jeans. Style-less. Gender neutral.  Gender non-conforming denim. Hilarious.
<iframe title="Levi&#039;s Wokes - SNL" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/adPXDTvADD0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
And that, more or less, has been it from “SNL” on the woke front. Late-night comedy is a similar story. Progressive comics care more about working in their latest tired President Donald Trump joke than anything else.
Enter YouTube-based comedians willing to spot a rich comic vein and exploit it. They declared war on woke, generating millions of downloads in the process.
Some of the following comedians are nationally recognized. Others are rising stars you’ll soon hear plenty about. They all understand why woke culture deserves a serious ribbing.
 “When Wokes and Racists Agree on Everything”
Canadian comic Ryan Long moved to New York City recently, but he hasn’t given up tweaking targets others refuse to even consider. Long hit viral video gold last month (1.6 million and growing in just over two weeks) with this clip, an uproarious look at what racists and Social Justice Warriors have in common. Spoiler alert: Quite a bit, actually.
<iframe title="When Wokes and Racists Actually Agree on Everything" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ev373c7wSRg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The sketch, like most of Long’s work, is impeccably edited and features sharp comic performances. They could easily appear on any late-night show, and no one would blink an eye regarding their content or quality. Some may be astounded that a Kimmel or Bee attempted to take down woke culture, though.
<iframe title="Every Silicon Valley Company Right Now" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pZy4QXLKHlI?start=59&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It’s hardly Long’s only woke assault. He also whipped up “Every Silicon Valley Company Right Now,” a sketch smashing social justice groupthink, and “Woke Scold Hotline.”
Enough said on the latter.
<iframe title="Woke Scold Hotline" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uiYGIFJ-VEE?start=25&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/ryan-long-interview-wokes-racists/">Long keeps political labels at arm’s length</a>, allowing him to smite the Right or Left as needed. Lately, his woke comic attacks have been unrelenting, and he’s not asking anyone for clapter. The laughs flow on their own, thank you. Watch a few of Long videos, and you get the sense he’s just warming up.
“My Three Year Old Son Is a Girl Now”
What seems like an anti-trans sketch is nothing of the sort. The bit, by the Libertarian-leaning troupe We The Internet TV, uses humor to ask an important question.
Should we really let toddlers call the shots, especially ones involving lifelong gender choices?
“Who am I to question my three-year-old child,” an extremely woke parent says in the sketch.
<iframe title="My 3-Year-Old Son is a Girl Now | We The Internet TV" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jZ5_4c_eg0M?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Another bravura clip from the group mocks personal pronouns gone awry.
<iframe title="ESL Students Learn New Gender Pronouns | We the Internet TV" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IzNGkwGYE4E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
We The Internet isn’t hateful or cruel, but the group delivers side-splitting videos that make you think. That’s the best kind of satirical comedy, even if a growing number of Americans would love to see such clips erased from the Web … and elsewhere.
“Out of Touch”
Kevin James’ TV and film bona fides require no explanation. Lately, he’s turning his attention to YouTube where he shares a variety of funny sketches. A recent one struck a nerve, or more like set up camp on one and planted an American flag.
<iframe title="Out Of Touch | Kevin James Short Film" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wfGAktuU93s?start=12&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
More than three million views later, James joined the elite club of comics telling jokes you’re not supposed to tell. Watching it now, given the mask mania engulfing the culture, makes the clip even more subversive.
Naturally, some media outlets clutched a sizable grouping of pearls over the sketch, missing the point entirely.
James’ other clips are geared for a wider, apolitical demographic, although they all boast Hollywood-style production values. The “Out of Touch” sketch makes it clear James is willing to push humor in challenging directions.
“How to Be a Woke White Person”
Comedian J.P. Sears is a YouTube machine, generating a massive number of clips poking fun at progressive groupthink, spirituality and more. His recent “Woke White Person” sketch is typical Sears. Dry, with a considerable bite.
<iframe title="How to Be a Woke White Person" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gHSVjmO4iJY?start=64&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“As a woke white person your mission it to attack as many other white people for being racist online as you possibly can. But don’t worry. Them being a racist isn’t a prerequisite for you attacking them for being racist.”
The tone is pleasant, sweet and uplifting, which makes the satire sting.
Another video, “How to Be a Social Justice Warrior,” offers a barrage of yuks you won’t hear on “Weekend Update” or “Jimmy Kimmy Live.”
<iframe title="Being a Social Justice Warrior - Ultra Spiritual Life episode 88" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZBdnyrzq96s?start=66&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Here’s how Sears’ warrior character dishes out “justice.”
“I turn my CAPS LOCK key on once you start standing up for your own free will.”
“Brands That Need to Be Cancelled IMMEDIATELY”
Comedian John Crist offers a crush of video content on his channel, but he occasionally dings the woke mindset in his work.
<iframe title="Brands that need to be cancelled IMMEDIATELY" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LMQu4q0IHPU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The “Brands” sketch is the next logical step after the Land o Lakes mascot gets thrown into the dustbin of history.
“We got rid of Uncle Bens, but I am wildly triggered by the brands and the photos I see in this grocery store,” a frantic Crist says in the opening moments.
“Paw Patrol Mac &amp; Cheese?” he asks, his mouth curled in disgust.
Other Crist videos include the “Millennial Institute,” where he encourages us to “adopt” a Millennial to cover their expenses (Core Power Yoga memberships, Uber treks, beard wax and more).
“SNL” and late-night TV. It’s your turn now.
More from Christian Toto: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/toto-7-leftist-hollywood-myths-that-need-a-serious-debunking">7 Leftist Hollywood Myths</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

71st Emmy Awards &#8211; Show

TOTO: 9 Anti-Woke Comedy Videos That Put ‘SNL’ To Shame

Comedy

Hollywood

Saturday Night Live

A week of celebrations of Civil Rights icon Rep. John Lewis were recently held across two states and the nation’s capital, and were attended and viewed by many thousands. A decent man gone home to his God, having left the world a better place than that into which he was born in those trying times of racial inequality and Jim Crow. But John Lewis was not the only decent American to pass away recently. Unlike the revered Congressman, these many other decent and beloved people were permitted no such closure ceremonies…
It was hard not to be moved and impressed by the outpouring of farewells for Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), the Civil Rights era icon and Congressman who passed away on July 17 at age 80 after suffering pancreatic cancer.  His memorial service, held in Georgia, was the culmination of a six-day celebration of his life.  Along with family and friends, Lewis’ funeral was attended by three former Presidents, world dignitaries, and 50 members of Congress; they included House  Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), prospective Biden running-mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA),  Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC).
The formal remembrance took place at the Ebenezer Baptist Church after which John Lewis was laid to rest at the South View Cemetery.  A week of celebrations of the bona fide Civil Rights hero across two states and the nation’s capital, and attended by many thousands, was over.  A decent man gone home to his God, having left the world a better place than that into which he was born in those trying times of racial inequality and Jim Crow.
But John Lewis was not the only decent American to pass away recently.  Indeed, tens of thousands have also died over the past few months.  And they were just as important to their loved ones, friends, and admirers as Mr. Lewis was to his.  But unlike Mr. Lewis, they were permitted no such closure ceremonies…let alone a week of memorials attended by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/28/politics/john-lewis-capitol-lying-in-state/index.html">thousands</a>.  This is due to the draconian dictates of state and federal officials that prohibit large gatherings, such as the very ones we saw for Mr. Lewis (let alone the riots and protests).  Many were not even permitted to visit their dying loved ones in hospital, so great has been the fear of this virus that kills less than one percent of those infected, as estimated by <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scenarios.html">the CDC</a>.
Maybe these unsung tens of thousands did not live lives as consequential as did John Lewis, but for those who cared about them, whose lives were touched by those lost to all sorts of killers from old age, to cancer, to heart disease/strokes, car accidents, and, yes, Covid-19, the loss is just as real, just as important, and just as worthy of remembrance and celebration.  But apparently they don’t matter nearly as much.  At least not to those who make and enforce the laws.  To wit, those in power.
If you or I lived in Washington D.C. and were to travel to Georgia, upon our return, by law, we would be required to self-quarantine for fourteen days.  This measure has been instituted by Mayor Muriel Bowser, who forcefully offers: “Our message remains the same: stay home.  Staying at home is the best way to flatten the curve and protect yourself, your family, and our entire community from COVID-19.”  The law applies to anyone not engaged in “essential” travel, government functions, or working at “essential” businesses.  Nor can D.C. citizens take part in any recreational activities not allowed by the Mayor’s Office.
Furthermore, anyone who willfully violates the stay-at-home order may be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, subject to <a href="https://coronavirus.dc.gov/maskorder">$1,000</a> fines.  Wow.  So Mayor Bowser is serious about clamping down on this disease, no matter who it inconveniences…or how many funerals it prohibits.
As Georgia is one of the states deemed “high-risk”, it would stand to reason then that the bevy of Congresspersons returning from their colleague’s funeral in Atlanta would have had to comply and immediately go into quarantine for two weeks.  After all, although I am not a virologist, I think it is safe to say that a virus doesn’t know whether it is floating around a Congressman’s funeral, the seat of a bus, a coffee shop, a hair salon, or a restaurant.  But apparently Mayor Bowser must know something we don’t about science because upon their return from Georgia, that hot-bed of plague and infestation so deemed by D.C.’s own mayor, the 50 members of Congress were exempt from the quarantine protocols because &#8220;government activity is essential.&#8221;
Susan Castillo, Press Secretary for Mayor Bowser, explained: “Government activity is essential, and the Capitol of the United States is exempt from the Mayor’s Order.”  When asked by a journalist if attending Lewis’ funeral constituted “government activity,” Castillo said yes.  When further pressed if attendees at non-government funerals in high-risk areas would have to quarantine upon returning to D.C., Castillo again answered: “Yes.”
Got that?  And you thought we were a nation where, as the Democrats have repeated ad nauseum re: Bad Orange Man “no one is above the law.”
I recently attended a funeral for a man whose life was so decent and honorable, and who was so well-loved and respected by family, friends, and co-workers, that he could have easily filled to overflowing the viewing room.  Instead only eight — eight — were allowed to attend what passed for a wake.  And then for only two hours.  Later, when we arrived at the cemetery, only three cars with that magic eight number were even permitted on the grounds.  His own siblings, beloved grandchildren, friends for over a half-century, and those who came to pay their respects were not even privy to the brief prayer offered by a priest in the presence of just his two adult children and wife of over 60 years before his casket was unceremoniously whisked inside the sepulcher by a cemetery staff anxious they not break any laws and suffer the consequences.  The tiny group was left standing awkwardly in the carport of an empty mausoleum driveway.
That was it.  That was a good person’s final send-off.  No doubt there are literally tens of thousands of similar stories out there.  Too bad.  But hey, whatterya gonna do?  After all, there’s only room for 535 in Congress.
I am not saying John Lewis’ tribute was undeserved.  He was a truly brave man — a term I do not use lightly. In 1965, he was literally clubbed nearly to death by Alabama state troopers while peacefully (in the real sense of the word) marching for the sublime cause of racial equality, justice, and equal representation under the law.  And he was only 23 at the time; heck, at that age I was still grappling with such important matters as whether to be a Cubs or White Sox fan.  Mr. Lewis’ legacy is not in doubt.  The point is that everyone matters to God in Heaven and to someone on this Earth.  Thusly, everyone deserves to be sent off into the next life in the proper fashion that adheres to their faith and as per their wishes and those of their next of kin.
But such is not the case for any but the chosen few.  Consider the mere eight mourners allowed to view my loved one.  Now contrast that with the crowds gathered for Mr. Lewis from Alabama to D.C. to Georgia.  One could see that, despite “social distancing protocols,” other than a few chairs scattered here and there in the most controlled and intimate settings throughout the week, that there was no such thing.  One can pull up photos of Mr. Lewis’ fraternity brothers standing by his flag-draped coffin at Troy University standing shoulder-to-shoulder, some without masks, some wearing them, and of the latter at least one wearing it improperly.  Meanwhile, upon the passing of lesser mortals throughout the nation no such farewells of any kind are permitted.
This tale of two funerals — one for the powerful insiders for whom the term “public service” is an oxymoron, and one for the average Joe or Jane — is but an illustration of the larger issues raised in this pandemic without end…at least until Trump is defeated.  The arbitrary nature of so many restrictions were exposed quite clearly in a May ruling by <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/05/27/americans_dont_get_ruled_143306.html">Illinois Judge Michael McHaney</a> who blocked Illinois Governor Pritzker’s stay-at-home orders.
<blockquote>Since the inception of this insanity, the following regulations, rules or consequences have occurred: I won&#8217;t get COVID if I get an abortion, but I will get COVID if I get a colonoscopy. Selling pot is essential, but selling goods and services at a family owned business is not. Pot wasn&#8217;t even legal and pot dispensaries didn&#8217;t even exist in this state until five months ago and, in that five months, they have become essential, but a family-owned business in existence for five generations is not.
A family of six can pile in their car and drive to Carlyle Lake without contracting COVID but, if they all get in the same boat, they will. We are told that kids rarely contract the virus and sunlight kills it, but summer youth programs, sports programs are cancelled. Four people can drive to the golf course and not get COVID but, if they play in a foursome, they will. If I go to Walmart, I won&#8217;t get COVID but, if I go to church, I will. Murderers are released from custody while small business owners are threatened with arrest if they have the audacity to attempt to feed their families.</blockquote>
Then McHaney gets to the heart of the matter.
<blockquote>When laws do not apply to those who make them, people are not being governed, they are being ruled.  Make no mistake, these executive orders are not laws. They are royal decrees.  Illinois citizens are not being governed.  They are being ruled.  The last time I checked, Illinois citizens are American citizens.  And Americans don’t get ruled.</blockquote>
The judge speaks for the people of Illinois, but the broader principle applies to every American who has been deprived final moments with cherished loved ones while politicians are treated to pomp and circumstance and public gatherings. This is an experiment in the limits of raw power being carried out by ruthless people for whom unbridled power is the end in and of itself, not the means to making this a better country.
Two days after returning from the Lewis funeral, a mask-less Nancy Pelosi was out in public speaking with reporters on Capitol Hill.  Quarantine for thee, not for me.  And as with so much of what has happened to this country over the course of this Coronavirus outbreak, the flaunting of protocols to accommodate one Congressman’s funeral, and then applying exemptions to government officials and those connected to them so they may engage in conduct that would have the average American fined and even arrested, has laid bare the schism and the myth of America. The simple fact is there are two sets of laws, two sets of dictates, even two sets of standards of behavior laid down by those in power today.  The average American is being told he/she must obey the law or be nakedly exposed to the wrath of a government led by the small-minded and the cynical who have somehow been allowed to wield far too much power where Civil Liberties are concerned.  But then there are those on the inside for whom terms like “social distancing” and “mandatory self-quarantining” are cute notions, but not intended for them.  Such an obvious double-standard will sow the seeds of resentment for years to come.
More from Brad Schaeffer: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/schaeffer-the-truth-about-the-black-lives-matter-organization">The Truth About The Black Lives Matter Organization</a>
Brad Schaeffer is a commodities trader and writer whose articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, National Review, Celeb Magazine, Zerohedge, Frumforum, and other news outlets.  He is the author of the acclaimed World War II novel Of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Another-Time-Place-Brad-Schaeffer/dp/1682616630">Another Time And Place</a> (Post Hill/Simon &amp; Schuster, 2018).

Nancy Pelosi

SCHAEFFER: Quarantine For Thee, Not For Me

COVID-19

John Lewis

Celebrities routinely make the trek to Capitol Hill, attracting shutter bugs along the way.
Everyone from Ben Affleck to <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/adam-carolla-aoc-insane/">Adam Carolla</a> drops by the nation’s capital to testify and, they hope, leverage their fame to help society. The results are mixed, of course, but their efforts generate plenty of headlines.
That wasn’t the case when a veteran movie star testified before a Senate committee June 30 on China-U.S. relations.
Richard Gere’s “virtual” appearance didn’t draw a crowd. Nor did entertainment reporters, who normally pounce on any politically outspoken star, deem what Gere said worthy of news coverage.
And he said plenty.
Gere has been a persistent China critic, using his celebrity cache on and off screen to support Tibet over the years. He said he’s <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/richard-gere-china-tibet-career/">been punished for that stance</a>, coaxing mainstream movie studios to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000152/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">all but ignore him</a>. Unbowed, Gere continues to work in independent cinema – think movies like “Norman,” “The Dinner,” and “Three Christs,” routinely drawing strong reviews along the way.
And, at 70, Gere remains as dashing as ever.
Gere testified before the “Censorship as a Non-Tariff Barrier to Trade” hearing held by the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness.
Gere addressed the difficult ties between China and Tibet, noting “the Chinese government highly restricts access to Tibet for Americans—including journalists and politicians—like no other areas of China.”
He then turned his attention to <a href="https://savetibet.org/richard-gere-testifies-in-senate-about-chinese-censorship/">Hollywood’s subservient relationship to China</a>, which impacts more than just what we see on screens across the globe.
“There’s no doubt that the combination of Chinese censorship, coupled with American film studios’ desire to access China’s market, can lead to self-censorship and to avoiding social issues that great American films once addressed…”
“Imagine Marty Scorsese’s ‘Kundun,’ about the life of the Dalai Lama, or my own film ‘Red Corner,’ which is highly critical of the Chinese legal system. Imagine them being made today. It wouldn’t happen.”
Disney helped bring Scorsese’s 1997 film to the big screen. Later, Disney CEO Michael Eisner apologized to the Chinese government for the film, calling it a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/business/international/china-disney.html">“stupid mistake.”</a>
Gere then noted why Chinese film workers cannot afford to collaborate with him in any fashion.
One Chinese director “was in tears with me having to call me up and say that he couldn’t work with me,” Gere said, “that his career would be over, and his family could not travel. So this is personal to a lot of people.”
How did this reporter learn of Gere’s testimony? It’s buried in a <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywood-is-increasingly-normalizing-censorship-china-report-finds-1305935?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=THR%27s%20Today%20in%20Entertainment_2020-08-05%2007:10:00_aweprin&amp;utm_term=hollywoodreporter_tie">recent story</a> about PEN America similarly castigating Hollywood for genuflecting before Chinese censors.
On Aug. 5, PEN America published an explosive report that may put Hollywood on the defensive.
Titled “Made in Hollywood, Censored by Beijing,” the 94-page study details how the major studios and A-list directors increasingly are making decisions — including cast, plot, dialogue and settings — “based on an effort to avoid antagonizing Chinese officials.”
That report generated some media coverage, which is surprising given how entertainment journalists aren’t comfortable critiquing Hollywood from this perspective. That feeling intensified in recent months as the Trump administration ratcheted up the rhetoric against China due to its connection to the pandemic.
The Chinese government has been in the headlines, again, in recent weeks after <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/chinese-ambassador-to-uk-pressed-over-video">footage leaked</a> of “Uyghur prisoners being herded into trains.” It’s only one of several Chinese policies that are alarming human rights activists.
Gere remains focused on China, its treatment of Tibet, and how U.S.-based movie studios bend over backward to appease their censors. It’s a shame it took weeks for news consumers to get Gere’s comments in full.
The rest of Hollywood? Virtual silence. Even the most progressive, outspoken stars can’t spare a word critiquing China, its policies or conditions on the ground routinely compared to concentration camps.
A version of this article appears on <a href="http://HollywoodInToto.com">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
More from Christian Toto: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/toto-fallon-meyers-purposely-ignore-tiktoks-toxic-side-effects-to-slam-trump">Fallon, Meyers Purposely Ignore TikTok’s Toxic Side Effects To Slam Trump</a>
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Richard Gere

TOTO: Reporters Ignored Richard Gere Slamming U.S. Studios For China Appeasement

Censorship

China

Chinese Communist Party

As the pandemic drags on in our nation, proponents and opponents of the mask alike have become increasingly uncivil if not altogether unhinged. Viral videos document all sorts of lunacy surrounding this seemingly innocuous piece of cloth.
Social media brims with exhausting memes and diatribes insisting that either wearing a mask entails a virtuous sacrifice of the highest order or that refusing to wear one is some grand act of defiance reminiscent of Rosa Parks or the Boston Tea Party.
What the mask seems to really symbolize, however, is a rising tide of incivility toward one another with no end in sight.
<a href="https://www.tmz.com/2020/08/01/california-couple-throws-coffee-at-man-for-not-wearing-a-mask/https:/www.tmz.com/2020/08/01/california-couple-throws-coffee-at-man-for-not-wearing-a-mask/">TMZ recently shared a video</a> of a woman in Manhattan Beach, California dousing a man with hot coffee for not wearing a mask. What began as a somewhat minor exchange in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhUblwxU7M4&amp;feature=emb_title">full video</a> quickly devolved into violence. The man was simply eating with a friend outside when the woman berated and accosted him.
A man in Indiana assaulted a clerk with hot coffee for the exact opposite reason according to <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/indiana/articles/2020-05-13/man-refused-service-for-no-mask-assaults-store-clerk">U.S. News</a>:
“The man entered the store without wearing a mask and attempted to buy a cup of coffee. When he was told he could not be served because he was not wearing a mask, the man threw the cup of coffee on the female clerk and left, police said.”
Calvin Munerlyn, a security guard in Flint, Michigan, was shot and killed for asking a patron to wear a mask inside a local store as reported by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/us/michigan-security-guard-mask-killing-trnd/index.html">CNN</a>.
<a href="https://abc7.com/gardena-fight-mask-facial-covering/6309131/">ABC7</a> reported that a security guard in Gardena, California shot a man in an altercation that also began over masks.
Meanwhile, there seems to be an endless stream of videos of people having <a href="https://abc7.com/trader-joes-north-hollywood-face-mask-outburst/6275950/">full-on public meltdowns</a> for being asked to wear a mask in a place of business.
Not to be outdone, there are, of course, countless examples of people being attacked for not wearing masks in equal and opposite measure. Even trained psychiatrists are jumping into the fracas.
<a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2020/06/18/an-alaska-psychiatrist-is-charged-with-assault-for-punching-a-man-in-the-face-because-he-wasnt-wearing-a-mask-in-a-juneau-grocery/">Anchorage Daily News</a> reported, “A prominent Alaska psychiatrist faces a criminal charge for allegedly punching a man in the face for not wearing a face mask in a Juneau Fred Meyer earlier this month.”
Here in California, the mask is no longer just a potential preventative measure against COVID-19 but also a progressive symbol of the highest order. It seems masks are now a kind of political accessory alongside a raised fist and a Che Guevara t-shirt. Many are bedecked in gloves, goggles, and masks 24/7, even when hurling down the freeways with virtue signaling and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/khan-when-will-our-dystopian-dance-with-the-lockdowns-end">endless anxiety at the wheel</a>.
One is required to wear a mask outside even when maintaining social distance lest one be shunned, jeered, or <a href="https://abc7news.com/face-mask-fines-california-n95-newsom-mandate-shield-vs/6331672/">fined</a>. Some cities in California may now fine you up to <a href="https://abc7news.com/face-mask-fines-california-n95-newsom-mandate-shield-vs/6331672/">$2000</a> for not wearing a mask outside.
Worse, Californians risk being randomly assaulted by some misguided lunatic if they forget to don the mask. <a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-07-27/video-shows-woman-reportedly-macing-or-pepper-spraying-man-for-not-wearing-mask-eating-at-dog-park">The San Diego Tribune</a> reported on a man being pepper-sprayed for not wearing a mask in a dog park of all places:
“San Diego police are investigating after a woman reportedly maced or pepper sprayed a man for not wearing a mask while he was eating at Dusty Rhodes Dog Park in Ocean Beach last week…”
Understandably, most of us find wearing a mask a nuisance and instinctively want to avoid it. Many are also unsurprisingly skeptical of the media coverage of the pandemic, which has been incessantly politicized by mainstream outlets, which have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/khan-anxiety-and-misdirection-not-composure-remain-at-the-helm-of-the-pandemic">shifted the pandemic narrative</a> to a fatiguing degree. However, that such frustration should compel anyone to berate or accost those with whom we vehemently disagree is diametrically opposed to the traditional values of civility and decency that have served as the bedrock of our nation for generations.
Such values may well be lost on the progressive fringe amid <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/khan-when-compared-to-hong-kong-these-so-called-protests-are-nothing-more-than-cynical-tantrums">their endless tantrums</a>, but not on those of us who still believe it’s our fundamental duty as Americans to uphold such values.
Drawing from antiquity, <a href="https://dailystoic.com/stoic-response-anger/">Marcus Aurelius</a> offers advice for all those struggling to maintain civility: “Keep this thought handy when you feel a fit of rage coming on — it isn’t manly to be enraged. Rather, gentleness and civility are more human, and therefore manlier. A real man doesn’t give way to anger and discontent, and such a person has strength, courage, and endurance — unlike the angry and complaining. The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.”
Vice President Mike Pence <a href="https://www.al.com/news/2016/07/mike_pence_donald_trumps_vp_pi.html">put it more succinctly</a>: “I&#8217;ve always believed that civility in heavy doses is essential in self-government.” Is it too much to ask for some civility over a piece of cloth?
More from Sharif Khan: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/khan-when-compared-to-hong-kong-these-so-called-protests-are-nothing-more-than-cynical-tantrums">When Compared To Hong Kong, These So-Called Protests Are Nothing More Than Cynical Tantrums</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Woman wearing a surgical mask, protective face mask against infectious diseases like coronavirus, COVID-19 and influenza

KHAN: Unmasked Incivility: Assaults, Virtue Signaling, Meltdowns Over A Piece Of Cloth

We often look at today’s Hollywood product with a “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore” shrug. The same can be said of the modern action spectacle. Blockbusters are often interrupted by virtue signaling, CGI overload and rail-thin heroines who outmuscle men triple their weight. That wasn’t how things went down in the 1980s. The Reagan era gave rise to masculine heroes who saved the day without regret or apology. The decade’s female warriors could be just as tough, but their heroism came grounded with their strengths, like motherhood, and physical limitations. They still gave as good as they got. Ask Sarah Connor.
The following films could be played at a movie theater next week and still draw sizable crowds. Classic action movies don’t come with expiration dates.
Predator
“If it bleeds, we can kill it …
“Get to the choppah!”
“I ain’t got time to bleed…”
“C’mon, kill me now! I’m here!”
Few action movies spat out so many choice, and cheesy, lines as 1987’s “Predator.” Arnold Schwarzenegger and a muscle-bound battalion stumble upon an alien life form during a jungle raid. The creature systematically picks them off in epic fashion, hiding in not so plain sight.
Director John McTiernan (“The Hunt for Red October”) used the alien’s invisible nature to his benefit, letting a sense of mystery shroud the feature until the epic third act.
Self reliance is the overriding message here, from the preparation needed to take on an enemy encampment to Ah-nold’s ingenuity in defeating the title character.
Schwarzenegger’s rise to the A-list came, in part, because he collaborated with the best directors in the business, from James Cameron to Ivan Reitman. He did it again with “Predator,” a sci-fi actioner that screams ‘80s goodness.
<iframe title="🎥 PREDATOR (1987) | Full Movie Trailer in Full HD | 1080p" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X2hBYGwKh3I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The Road Warrior
Forget the over-rated “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Tom Hardy’s Max is barely the star of his own movie. This slab of post-apocalyptic doom boasts one of the best action sequences of all time and a somber, conflicted hero in Mel Gibson.
The film’s pacing may lose modern viewers, addicted to near-constant mayhem. The dystopian set-up matters, as does the road race that caps the film in a bravura finish. The shooting location, an Australian town where the ore mines had dried up, lent the film a realistic air of desperation and decay.
The rest, including costumes partly cobbled together from leather specialty shops, completed the surreal picture. It’s how director George Miller staged it all, including humanity at its worst, that makes this the ultimate “Max” movie.
The story seems ripped out of a liberal nightmare, with dwindling oil supplies sparking global unrest. However, another, more robust theme emerges from the smoke and mayhem – appeasement won’t work. It’s why Max and co. finally stand up to Lord Humungus and his colorful thugs.
<iframe title="Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) Mel Gibson Post-Apocalypse Movie HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UlwtiOyaoo0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Aliens
It might be the best sequel of all time without the word “Godfather” in the title, especially considering how it extends the first film’s story while shifting gears to all-out action.
Cameron knew star Sigourney Weaver could carry an action film, but he gave her plenty of colorful support, including strong turns by Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and especially Paul Reiser.
Together, they deliver some of the decade’s white-knuckle highlights, goosed by James Horner’s hypnotic score. The first alien bombardment shows the power of waiting, and waiting, for the villains to enter the frame.
Or, as Paxton’s character memorably says, “Game over, man!”
Best of all? Weaver’s patented blend of moxie and maternal spirit save the day, along with little Newt, from the Mama Alien’s clutches. Any remake might remove that essential element of the story in favor of a more “empowered,” progressive heroine.
<iframe title="Aliens (1986) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oSeQQlaCZgU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
RoboCop
Peter Weller turned down a lucrative role in what turned out to be the disastrous “King Kong Lives” to play a doomed cop named Murphy in this 1987 gem. And he didn’t have to audition, per se, for the role. Instead, he performed a dance-like sequence to show director Paul Verhoeven he had the moves to play a man trapped in a robotic shell.
“RoboCop” blended comedy, social satire, FX wizardry, shoot ‘em action and a big ol’ heart for its blue steel theatrics. Weller’s tragic hero added the final, bravura touch, but Verhoeven didn’t let the crush of genres interrupt the action.
The movie oddly resonates with today’s world, where the public is realizing why we need police officers in the first place. RoboCop represents the ultimate in police reform, as long as its creators don’t exploit his supreme firepower.
The 2014 remake, naturally, lacked the charm and wit of the source material, and the sequels proved increasingly inferior.
<iframe title="RoboCop (1987) Official Trailer - Cyborg Police Sci-Fi Movie HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6tC_5mp3udE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Die Hard
It’s merely the gold standard for the modern action film. Take a cranky, indefatigable hero (Bruce Willis), a charismatic baddie (Alan Rickman) and odds stacked so high they dwarf Nakatomi tower, and you have the prototypical actioner.
McTiernan, again, fuses familiar genre beats with Willis growing into his movie star status — even though he was simultaneously shooting ABC’s “Moonlighting” while working on the project. Some of the film’s best moments were created at the last minute, like the first physical meeting between Rickman and Willis, inspired by the former’s impression of a California dweller.
Willis’ John McClane doesn’t get political in the film, but is there any doubt which lever he pulls when he enters the voting booth?
And, for the record, it’s not a Christmas movie.
<iframe title="Die Hard (1988) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jaJuwKCmJbY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Return of the Jedi
Many people refuse to forgive the third film in the original “Star Wars” trilogy for its fuzzy, kid-friendly heroes, the Ewoks.
Understood.
Look past the product placement jamboree. This 1983 sequel moves, from the spectacular battle on Jabba the Hut’s floating palace to the finale featuring not one or two but three epic fights happening all at once.
Director Richard Marquand, an odd but perfect choice, corrals so much mayhem into the third act without losing clarity of the saga’s soul, which revolves around a commitment to courageously confronting evil while also remaining open to the potential of personal redemption.
<iframe title="Return of the Jedi: Theatrical Trailer 1982" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7L8p7_SLzvU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The Hidden
This under-valued sci-fi affair casts a pre-“Twin Peaks” Kyle MacLachlan as an FBI agent on the trail of a curious crook. Turns out the pair have something in common, much to the confusion of the Earth-bound officer (Michael Nouri) assigned to the case.
Call “The Hidden” a sly genre blend in the “RoboCop” mold, a lo-fi thriller brimming with action, mayhem and an otherworldly glow.
<iframe title="The Hidden (1987) Official Trailer - Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Nouri Alien Crime Movie HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bl-iB4WAB0o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Lethal Weapon
If “Die Hard” cemented the action movie template, Richard Donner’s 1987 film nailed the buddy cop genre for years to come.
Mel Gibson stars as a cop on the edge, tempered by an older, wiser Danny Glover who’s getting too old for … eh, you know the rest.
Slick action, sharp comic asides and a gonzo finale featuring, who else, Gary Busey as the heavy, made this popcorn movie perfection. Gibson’s Riggs character is all alone at the start of the movie, but by the finale he’s embraced a new nuclear clan courtesy of his older, wiser partner.
<iframe title="Lethal Weapon (1987) Official Trailer - Mel Gibson, Danny Glover Action Movie HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bKeW-MGu-qQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Raiders of the Lost Ark
This 1981 ode to cliffhangers of yore is nearly perfect. Where to even start cataloging the stunning action scenes?
The opening sequence, as good as any Bond adventure can summon? What about Indy versus the gargantuan Nazi, a fight settled by those spinning propeller blades?
By the time our hero lowers his body under a speeding car, you know you’re watching one of the greatest action films of all time.
The film’s FX-heavy finale explores Christianity in a way many blockbusters either avoid or downplay.
One of the most iconic scenes turns out to be a satirical twist on the standard action setup, with a weary Jones facing off against a scimitar-wielding villain but wisely opting for the pistol over the whip.
<iframe title="Indiana Jones vs. The Swordsman" width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3I_Ds2ytz4o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Yes, the second part of the franchise has its glaring flaws. Kate Capshaw’s lounge singer shtick is no match for Karen Allen’s gritty heroine. The film’s gross out dinner sequence proved both unnecessary and culturally inaccurate.
But what a finale.
The film’s final 45 minutes simply do … not … stop. It’s classic Steven Spielberg, dragging us along from the mining caves to the edge of a mountain. Harrison Ford does the rest, scrambling to save the children enslaved by the film’s evil cult.
Indy saves the day, of course, but he also realizes “fortune and glory” matters little if he can’t use his skills to help his fellow man.
<iframe title="Indiana Jones - Official Trailer" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HqOSLZl9GUo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Rocky III
The Italian Stallion stares down not one but two super-sized foes in this colorful sequel. The match against Hulk Hogan is just for fun, except no one told the gargantuan wrestler that. Clubber Lang (Mr. T in full grimace mode) is all business from the opening bell.
The challenger whups Rocky in their first confrontation, but you know there’s going to be a rematch. Sylvester Stallone, doing triple duty as star, writer and director, knows exactly what we expect from a Rocky movie. And he delivers, wearing his old pal Apollo’s red, white and blue trunks, of course.
The best part? A third fight between Rocky and Apollo Creed, teased in the film’s final seconds without a hint as to who came out on top. Perfect.
<iframe title="Rocky III Official Trailer #1 - Sylvester Stallone Movie (1982) HD" width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gbRDCWKqvEc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The Terminator
It’s Cameron, again, teaming with Schwarzenegger for a film that affirmed his status as an elite action auteur (his preachy screenwriting side emerged later). The results are more rugged than you remember, courtesy of a smaller budget and modest expectations.
The film delivers anyway, from the classic police station massacre (“I’ll be back”) to the unlikely romance between Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and her protector (Michael Biehn). Today’s female action heroes owe plenty to Hamilton’s stoic turn.
<iframe title="The Terminator (1984) Official Trailer - Arnold Schwarzenegge Movie" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k64P4l2Wmeg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
More from Christian Toto: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/greg-gutfeld-rise-to-fox-fame-countering-cancel-culture">EXCLUSIVE: Greg Gutfeld Gets Candid About His Rise To FOX Fame, Countering Cancel Culture</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Mel Gibson Mad Max 2

The Best Action Movies of the ‘80s

Ronald Reagan

An article published this week on CNN is worth a closer inspection because it reveals the total incoherence and rampant self-contradiction of the “America is racist and evil” narrative. The piece, titled, “She packed her bags, quit her job in law enforcement and moved to Mexico after George Floyd&#8217;s death,” tells the story of a woman named Demetria Brown who, as the title suggests, fled alleged systemic persecution in America and sought refuge in the peaceful utopia of the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/10/527794495/mexico-is-called-worlds-second-most-violent-country">second most violent country on Earth</a> (right behind Syria).
From the article: 
<blockquote>On June 1, a week after Floyd&#8217;s death<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/20/us/minneapolis-officer-alexander-kueng-released/index.html">,</a> [Brown] quit her job as a detention officer for the Los Angeles County Probation Department. In the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic, she sold her house, stuffed her belongings into 13 duffel bags and relocated to Puerto Vallarta on Mexico&#8217;s Pacific coast.
Brown, 42, is one of many African Americans leaving the United States permanently for many reasons, including racism and fear of police brutality. Her flight landed in her new hometown on June 25, a month to the day Floyd died.</blockquote>
We are informed that Brown is not alone in fleeing America for supposedly better countries in which they feel &#8220;safer.&#8221; More from CNN:
<blockquote>For Brown, following her heart and living without fear of racism meant moving to the resort town 1,200 miles from the city she&#8217;d worked as a detention officer since 2004.
She visited Mexico several times before she decided to relocate to the nation the State Department says is home to 1.5 million US citizens. That number includes US-born children who&#8217;ve returned with their Mexican parents, American retirees and digital nomads.
She calls the move the best decision she&#8217;s ever made. While Mexico is not perfect and has its own problems, she says, she&#8217;s never encountered any racism in the tourist destination made famous by the 1960s film, &#8220;The Night of the Iguana.&#8221;</blockquote>
Of course, because she is so dedicated to equality and social justice, Brown, who is now a life coach and travel blogger, has chosen to live in a resort town where rich people go to be pampered by impoverished locals. This should afford her some measure of insulation and protection from the horrors that are a daily part of life for many Mexicans. But that doesn’t change the fact that Mexico is, by every conceivable measure, considerably worse than the United States. 
Mexico’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate">murder rate</a> is 7 times higher. Police corruption is so bad that <a href="https://www.insightcrime.org/news/brief/entire-police-forces-continue-arrested-mexico/">entire police forces are arrested</a> for being on the payroll of the drug cartels. Then there&#8217;s the problem of <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7886647/Severed-heads-suspected-cartel-victims-dumped-streets-Mexican-tourist-hotspot-Cancun.html">severed heads littering streets</a>. What about racism? Funny enough, CNN has itself <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2012/11/20/opinion/navarrette-mexico-racism/index.html">reported</a> that racism in Mexico “hides in plain sight” and that “the best, highest-paying, most important jobs [in Mexico] often seem to go to those who, in addition to having the best education and the strongest connections, have the lightest skin.”
What about treatment of immigrants? USA Today <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/06/15/immigrants-mexico-abused-kidnapped/85798440/">reports</a> that immigrants in Mexico are treated “much worse” than they are in any other country. Someone who moves to Mexico, especially from countries to the south, faces a significant chance of being kidnapped by a cartel or robbed and extorted by police and government officials. Indeed, Mexico is far tougher — both in legal and illegal ways — on immigrants and refugees. 
And if Brown thinks that at least Mexico is a place where income equality reigns supreme, she is again delusional. The vast majority of the wealth in the country is concentrated in the hands of the elites while nearly half of the population lives in poverty. By comparison, the poverty rate in the United States is less than 12 percent. 
Mexico is less safe, less equitable, less tolerant, and less progressive, right down the line, and in every category. Though I’m sure its resort towns are still pretty — provided you don’t travel too far outside of them and find yourself getting robbed at gunpoint by a federale or kidnapped by a cartel. 
But this is, as I said, instructive. Those who complain about all of the alleged systemic problems in America tend to have a childishly simplistic, if not hallucinatory, view of the issues in question and the world at large. They look through a cartoon lens, and believe, despite a total lack of evidence or logical reasoning, that America is uniquely racist, uniquely unjust, uniquely evil. The absurdity of this perspective becomes painfully obvious when they act on it by leaving and seeking shelter on some other country’s shores.
Wherever they choose — especially if they choose Mexico, but the same holds true almost anywhere else — they are likely to end up somewhere that has quite a bit more of whatever it was they were trying to escape. In fact, they may well find themselves in a place where the cartoon in their head has come to life. Police are not prowling the streets in America, robbing and murdering innocent people for no reason, despite what left-wing activists tells us. Police actually are doing that in Mexico. People like Brown are making their fantasies into realities, but not in the way they intended.
America is not perfect. It is a country, after all, a human institution. No human institution can ever be perfect. But the fact is that our country is a paradise compared to places like Mexico, which is probably why so many Mexicans want to come here. Brown is one of the few heading in the other direction. It is fun to imagine Brown passing by one of those Mexican immigrants as they both cross the border from opposite ends. The confusion on the Mexican&#8217;s face would be something to behold. To him, it would seem like someone jumping from a life raft and into a sinking ship. Granted, the life raft may not have all of the luxuries and comforts that she feels herself entitled to. But at least it floats. Which is more than can be said of the place she now calls home.
More from Matt Walsh: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/george-floyd-body-cam-footage-is-out">George Floyd Body Cam Footage Is Out. The Story Is Far More Complicated Than Media Led Us To Believe.</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Nine People Murdered in Mexico

WALSH: Woman Says America Is Too Corrupt And Violent, Moves To Mexico

Mexico

Racism

United States

In a Daily Wire exclusive interview, Lt. Col. Allen West sat down with Ben Shapiro to discuss how to push back on the identity politics and &#8220;victim culture&#8221; dominating American discourse and what it&#8217;ll take to keep the red states from turning blue.
Allen West grew up in the same neighborhood as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an area more commonly known as the “Old Fourth Ward Neighborhood.” Despite being born a generation later, former U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, former U.S. Representative and now Texas Republican Party Chairman, Allen West continues to echo the same transformative message of Dr. King  — content of character and not the color of your skin.
But in a January 2019 “Sunday Special Interview” with Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro, Allen West stated that the narrative has since shifted. 
“For whatever reason, America has reversed and we&#8217;ve gone back to talking more so about the color of skin issues instead of the character of people,” West explained. 
With a family history of service to the country, West acknowledged that his value system is distinct from the rest of society. From a young age his father instructed him, “Son, when you go into the military, it ain&#8217;t about the color of your skin, it is all about what you can do out there on the battlefield.”
“And that&#8217;s how it should be,” West argued.
As a college campus speaker who tours the country with Young America’s Foundation, West has witnessed a different perspective sweeping the halls of higher education, one that promotes victimhood and “dependency on the Left.” 
After one night speaking on the Obama-era Iranian nuclear deal and American foreign policy, West was shocked by the first question he received from a young black female. “Do you identify as black?” she asked. 
Such thinking, West told Shapiro, is the product of the Left pushing people into an ideological box based upon their ethnicity or gender. There is an “effort on college campuses to say that if you&#8217;re Jewish, you&#8217;re supposed to think a certain way. If you&#8217;re black, you&#8217;re supposed to think of a certain way,” commented West.
And if you have any opinions that run contrary to the Left’s, then “you&#8217;re bad or you’re confused or, you know, maybe you&#8217;re mentally disturbed,” he remarked.
West said the Left’s message is clear: “No matter where you come from, we need more people to be victims.” 
“Why? Because the Left needs more people to be dependent upon them,” he explained.
According to the retired congressman, the way to counter this thinking is two-fold. First, “start to fight that culture war.” And second, “stop allowing the Left to define everything.”
West is confident there is more to the story than the Left’s dominant societal narrative. “Everybody wants to be a part of an American dream,” he asserted.
“I don&#8217;t believe that people wake up every day in life and say, ‘I want to stay here in Section 8 housing and get a check from the government.’ But if that&#8217;s the only message that they hear, if that&#8217;s the only people that are going into those communities and talking to them about being victims and not victors, then the Republicans are always chasing their tails.”
Victors look like West’s wife. She is the daughter of immigrant parents from Jamaica and her father fought in the U.S Military for 24 years. They laid a foundation for her to earn her PhD, MBA, and go on to teach as a business professor. 
“But those aren&#8217;t the stories that the other side wants to have,” West pointed out.
Rising above victimhood includes shaking off what West views is equally as repulsive as racism — “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
To be told by someone, “Well, you probably can&#8217;t achieve it, so we&#8217;re going to lower the standards so you can get out there and play.” To this West responded bluntly, “That’s racist.”
Counteracting low expectations with high expectations is key. “You know, you find out what the standard is, what it means to get to the A, and then you get an A-plus,” asserted West. “And that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m driven to do.” 
For West, this means even if he has to brave the hate. 
“You know if you&#8217;re not willing to sit down, have that intellectual debate, then you&#8217;re irrelevant. I don&#8217;t hear names. I&#8217;ve been shot at. Okay. Names don&#8217;t bother me,” West told Shapiro.
This level of perseverance is evident by his recent mid-July win for Texas Republican Party Chairman. 
West is the author of, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hold-Texas-Nation-Victory-Death/dp/1612542980">Hold Texas, Hold the Nation: Victory Or Death</a>” and its pages point to Texas as the crux of future conservative election victories.
West said that Texas is following the same path that Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada went down, a path that leads to red states becoming blue. One of the causes, he told Shapiro, is California residents moving to red states because of their own state’s “failed tax and regulatory policies.” 
“And what is happening is that the greatest export that comes out of California is not avocados, wine, or walnuts — it&#8217;s progressive socialism.” West is sure that “they&#8217;re flipping them because they&#8217;re, once again, holding onto these same failed policies.”
The looming danger is that Texas, along with California, which the Left already dominates, are the two largest electoral states. “And the Left without a doubt have their sights on Texas. As a matter of fact their mantra is ‘Turn Texas Blue,’” West said.
“And if the Left is successful in turning Texas, the national-level elections, they’re done. You&#8217;re never gonna be able to reverse that cycle,” he warned.
West believes this calls for serious action by the Republican Party to intentionally fight for voters in large urban cities and present them with the rationale of conservative policies and values. 
“And so we need to challenge the status quo,” he urged, “and we need to have a whole-hearted effort to go into these communities and show ourselves and show these policies.”
But for some reason, this seems to come easier to the Left than the Right, West noted. And he respects them for it. 
“One of the things that I admire about the Left and the Democrat Party — they&#8217;re tenacious, even in the minority. They&#8217;re tenacious because they&#8217;re true believers in what they believe in, even if it&#8217;s wrong,” he said. “But for us, we don&#8217;t show that we&#8217;re true believers. And I think at some point in time we have to have those elected representatives in the Republican Party that are true believers. I don&#8217;t know if we&#8217;re going to get there within the next four years, but this is my real vision that I think will happen.”
West’s confidence in the party stems from his larger positive vision for the country. “I&#8217;m always optimistic, man, because if you’re pessimistic why wake up,” he told Shapiro.
After all, West stated, “we didn&#8217;t fight for America to look like a Venezuela.”
Lt. Col. West believes that fighting for America is a privilege and passionately seeks to make the next generation better than the last. To that generation, he said, “stand on a mountain.”
“Sometimes you&#8217;re going to be down in the valley — but always keep your eyes on the mountain.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/sunday-special-ep-34-allen-west">Watch West’s full interview with Shapiro</a>
More exclusive interviews from The Daily Wire: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ted-cruz-on-the-fundamental-fight">Ted Cruz On ‘The Fundamental Fight’</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Allen West

Allen West On Living As ‘Victors Not Victims’

Ben Shapiro

Republican Party

Throughout his whole career, C.S. Lewis fought against one significant error which he believed would lead in the end to political catastrophe: the error of materialism. In this second part of a series on the politics of C.S. Lewis, I argue that Lewis saw to the heart of a philosophical mistake that would gradually unmake our civilization: in speeches, books, and essays, he argued that if you debunk the idea of God, then the government will one day become your God.
In an <a href="https://faculty.fordham.edu/klima/Blackwell-proofs/MP_C30.pdf">essay</a> on the nature of existence, Thomas Aquinas — the great Medieval philosopher of the Catholic Church — recalled a point made by his favorite pagan, the Athenian philosopher Aristotle: “A small mistake in the beginning grows enormous in the end.”
Aquinas noted this at the opening of his On Being and Essence, because he knew what we too often forget: that the most catastrophic social and political errors are always rooted, somewhere deep down, in a seemingly minor misunderstanding of the most basic things.
In the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/klavan-the-politics-of-c-s-lewis">introduction</a> to this discussion of the politics of C.S. Lewis, I talked about Lewis’s distinction between justice and social engineering. Justice, in Lewis’s view, is a calculus of rewards and retribution: it is “giving to each what he deserves.”
As Lewis was well aware, this is an ancient idea that dates back at least to Plato’s Republic (especially <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D4%3Apage%3D433">Book 4</a>). The notion of giving each his due, suum cuique, is foundational to the way we in the West think about ourselves and the societies we build.
Social engineering, on the other hand, is a different way of thinking about people altogether. In his essay on “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment” (1954), Lewis argued that though it may seem humane to “rehabilitate” or “deter” criminals rather than punish them, it actually strips them of their humanity. To deny the moral character and consequences of a crime is to make both the criminal and his victims into something less than human: “instead of a person, a subject of rights,” wrote Lewis, “we now have a mere object, a patient, a ‘case.’”
The natural endpoint of social engineering is the worst kind of tyranny, the “tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims.” “Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end,” wrote Lewis, “for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
And so a small error at the level of first principles, so appealing on its face, leads to a massive error at the level of politics and social life. Only accept that human evil is not a spiritual defect of the will but a neurological disorder to be corrected, and you have traded the entire Western tradition of justice for a sinister new vision of limitless oppression and control.
In this second part of the series, I’m going to describe in more detail the nature of this “small mistake” and the cataclysmic errors to which it leads. It is my view that the foundational error in first principles against which Lewis fought for his entire career is the same one that continues to plague us today.
That tiny error is materialism, the belief that there is only the material world — no spirit, no soul and thus no inherent morality or universal truth. The great disaster to which materialism leads is bureaucratic tyranny. Insist that there is nothing beyond flesh and you will be led, bit by inexorable bit, to the oppressive conclusion that the government must rule over men as God.
Freud, Darwin, and Materialism
Though Lewis rarely made it explicit, in his political and sociological writing he was often shadowboxing with one of his great intellectual nemeses, Sigmund Freud. In 1938 — shortly before Lewis’s own career took off — Freud fled his native Austria to escape Nazi persecution in the United Kingdom. At that point he was already world-famous as one of the 20th century’s greatest minds, the inventor of an entirely new way to view mankind and his place in the universe.
Freud’s voluminous literary output rivals Lewis’s own. Over the course of decades, he developed his view that the human mind is something like a biological machine for producing fantasies. In Totem and Taboo (1913) Freud argued that our higher impulses — our desire to engage in practices like religion and art — have their origins in primal physical experiences like sex and violence.
Out of those material sensations — those animal forms of life — the mind constructs elaborate narratives about God and truth. “Consciousness is the surface of the mental apparatus,” Freud wrote in The Ego and the Id (1923), but beneath our conscious ideas about goodness and beauty lie half-forgotten encounters with our brute appetites.
As the Freudian outlook became fashionable in Europe, the intelligentsia came to assume that the “true” or “authentic” human person can be found by scraping away the ideas about truth and justice that our minds construct to cope with our neuroses. This is where we get our modern set of assumptions — so ubiquitous that we have ceased to notice them — that “society” is an artificial “construct” and can be altered or dismantled at will.
The evolutionary theories of Darwin, also hugely influential at this time, gave the psychoanalytic outlook something like a scientific veneer: if our origins are to be found in the animal kingdom, then maybe all our noble ideas can be boiled down to our flesh and blood. “You and me, baby, ain’t nothing but mammals”: that is materialism exactly. It is the idea that only physical atoms, bouncing off one another in predictable patterns, are real. All else is illusion. Anyone who buys this view is a (probably unwitting) disciple of Darwin and Freud.
Lewis knew these arguments well, and he rejected them utterly. Freud had helped drive him away from religion in his youth, after his return from war in the 1920s: “the new Psychology was at that time sweeping through us all,” he wrote in his 1955 autobiography, Surprised by Joy. “We did not swallow it whole&#8230;but we were all influenced.”
The consequence was what Lewis called “almost a panic-stricken flight” from anything that looked like sentimentalism or superstition. Religion, fantasy, idealism: Freud was thought to have debunked them all. “I had (this was very precisely the opposite of the truth) ‘seen through’ them,” Lewis recalled. “With the confidence of a boy I decided I had done with all that.”
But of course Lewis would eventually discover that by tossing away everything except the physical world, he had lost everything that had any meaning to him, or to anyone.
Only if there are things we can’t see under a microscope that are nevertheless real — things like love, and courage, and imagination — do our lives make any sense. By contrast, if we are only animals, then there is nothing to stop us from behaving much less like men than we presently do.
<div id="attachment_135418" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-135418" class="wp-image-135418" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-5-681x576.jpg" alt="Irish-born academic Clive Staples Lewis (1898 - 1963), a fellow and tutor of Magdalen College, Oxford. Original Publication: Picture Post - 5159 - Eternal Oxford - pub. 1950 Original Publication: People Disc - HG0145 (Photo by John Chillingworth/Getty Images)" width="1000" height="845" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-5-681x576.jpg 681w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-5-300x254.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-5-768x649.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-5-1536x1299.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-5.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />John Chillingworth/Getty Images</div>
The Small Error
Lewis came to realize that materialism is the small error in first principles that leads to untold horrors in the end. Hence his argument in “On the Humanitarian Theory of Punishment”: it seems alluringly generous at first blush to think of criminals as mere patients, suffering from a mental imbalance in need more of cure than of retribution.
But to do so, Lewis argued, is to think of all human action as a consequence of chemical reactions in the brain rather than moral calculations in the heart and the mind. This leads not to kindness but to coercion, and to a tyranny of good intentions:
<blockquote>The things done to the criminal, even if they are called cures, will be just as compulsory as they were in the old days when we called them punishments. If a tendency to steal can be cured by psychotherapy, the thief will no doubt be forced to undergo the treatment. Otherwise, society cannot continue. My contention is that this doctrine, merciful though it appears, really means that each one of us, from the moment he breaks the law, is deprived of the rights of a human being.</blockquote>
Once Lewis describes this philosophy, you can see it everywhere in modern life:
The endless classification of everything as mental illness, implying that the best way to fix emotional problems is simply with the right cocktail of medication.
The insistence that gender and sexuality are mere social constructs, whose injustices can be rectified with surgery and hormone injections.
The idea that religion is just a holdover from primitive tribal fantasy.
All of these cultural trends are premised on the feeling — it is not even developed enough anymore to be called a philosophy — that our higher principles are just fanciful stories we tell ourselves about the way our bodies behave.
The Death of God and the Tyranny of Man
But of course, the very notion that it would be “good” to correct our fantasies or “liberating” to be rid of them is in itself an ideal: it is an abstract principle about what “should” happen. It comes from our principles and beliefs, not our physical urges.
Ideas such as “trans women are women” or “depression should be cured with drugs” are nowhere to be found in the physical universe or in our animal natures. They are ideals, every bit as abstract as “the Lord is God” or “thou shalt not kill.”
So the attempt to treat everything and everyone as mere physical matter turns out, in the end, to be an effort on the part of some people to treat other people as mere physical matter on the basis of their own abstract beliefs.
As Lewis saw, social engineers are not offering to rid the world of ideals. They are offering to clear the world of one set of ideals — those of piety, truth, and beauty — and install another set, chosen by themselves, in its place. And so materialism leads, by the implications of its own premises, to tyranny.
The Abolition of Man
Nowhere did Lewis articulate this argument more clearly than in a masterful three-part lecture series given at the University of Durham in 1943 and subsequently published as The Abolition of Man.
In those speeches, Lewis demonstrated that the scientific impulse to gain power over nature — to subdue the earth by gaining technological control of the material world — ends up making those with the best technology into masters of others who do not.
As a result, “what we call Man’s power over nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with nature as its instrument&#8230;. The final stage is come when Man by eugenics, by pre-natal conditioning, and by an education and propaganda based on a perfect applied psychology, has obtained full control over himself.”
And yet, if we have already “debunked” or “seen through” all the old ideals — if there is no God or morality to tell us which developments we should prefer over others — then we have only the basic impulses of our flesh to guide us.
Those who wield technological power and psychiatric authority must make some decisions about how they will breed mankind, what outcomes they will select for and against. But “those who stand outside all judgements of value cannot have any ground for preferring one of their own impulses to another except the emotional strength of that impulse.”
In other words: materialism begins by promising a perfect state of nature in which all are equal. But by the very necessity of its logic, it ends by creating a boundless tyranny in which a very few rule arbitrarily over the rest of mankind — as if they were mere animals. Could there be a more consequential error?
Lewis saw directly into the heart of this false materialist premise and predicted all the evils it would produce. That is why his writing only becomes more powerfully affecting over time: he is more relevant, not less, now that materialism has entrenched itself securely as the going assumption of our sophisticates and ruling classes.
“The kings of the earth take their stand,” says Psalm 2, “and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and His Anointed One. ‘Let us break Their chains and cast away Their cords,’” they say. The central political fight of Lewis’s life was the same as our own: the fight against a materialism which looks like freedom but produces slavery.
From COVID lockdowns to the hideous practice of transgender hormone injections for minors, we are surrounded by the nightmarish consequences of this one seemingly small error, the error against which Lewis never stopped warning us: get rid of God, and you will be ruled by men.
Read more from this series: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/klavan-the-politics-of-c-s-lewis">The Politics of C.S. Lewis</a>
Spencer Klavan is host of the <a href="http://youngheretics.com/">Young Heretics</a> podcast and assistant editor of the <a href="https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/">Claremont Review of</a> Booksand <a href="https://americanmind.org/">The American Mind</a>. He can be reached on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/spencerklavan">@SpencerKlavan</a>.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

C S Lewis

The Politics Of C.S. Lewis: The ‘Progressive’ Error That Looks Like Freedom But Leads To Tyranny

C.S. Lewis

Charles Darwin

Progressivism

Sigmund Freud

In November 2015, three years after taking the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl, quarterback Colin Kaepernick was benched in favor of Blaine Gabbert, a career journeyman most recently unsuccessful with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The following preseason, Kaepernick began donning garb designed to mock police officers, including socks with cops dressed as pigs. He also remained seated for the national anthem during a preseason game, claiming &#8220;I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.&#8221;
At the time, multiple NFL players spoke out in opposition to Kaepernick&#8217;s symbolic move: New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz said &#8220;you&#8217;ve got to respect the flag, and you&#8217;ve got to stand up with your teammates. It&#8217;s bigger than just you, in my opinion. You go up there; you&#8217;re with a team; and you go and pledge your allegiance to the flag, and sing the national anthem with your team, and then you go about your business.&#8221;
At the time, this was a majority proposition: Seventy-two percent of Americans thought the gesture unpatriotic, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Kaepernick never regained a starting role in the NFL&#8230; but his career took off again. He signed a lucrative endorsement deal with Nike to cash in on his supposed bravery; he cut a content deal with Disney. When he was offered a private tryout with NFL teams, he promptly violated all protocols and blew up the process. In June 2020, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell urged NFL teams to sign Kaepernick anyway.
On July 4, Kaepernick tweeted: &#8220;Black ppl have been dehumanized, brutalized, criminalized + terrorized by America for centuries, &amp; are expected to join your commemoration of &#8216;independence,&#8217; while you enslaved our ancestors. We reject your celebration of white supremacy &amp; look forward to liberation for all.&#8221;
Today, Kaepernick&#8217;s symbolism has become the new normal, morphed into a rote ritual of wokeness thanks to the ugly sight of then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, who would later die. Democratic elected officials knelt in the halls of Congress. Major League Baseball players knelt before the national anthem to protest supposed systemic American racism. NBA players knelt as well, wearing Black Lives Matter t-shirts.
And players who refused to comply were publicly cudgeled. When San Francisco Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod refused to kneel, stating that he would not kneel for anything but God, he was castigated as benighted at best, racist at worst. When black Orlando Magic basketball player Jonathan Isaacs stood for the national anthem, again citing the unifying anti-racism of Christianity, he was ripped as &#8220;dangerous.&#8221;
Only Gregg Popovich, coach of the San Antonio Spurs, who has spent years utilizing purple progressive language about President Donald Trump, was exonerated for standing for the anthem — and that was because he wore a Black Lives Matter t-shirt.
<div id="attachment_135354" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-135354" class="wp-image-135354" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Colin-Kaepernick-897x576.jpg" alt="Street art of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee is seen on the corner of Melrose Avenue and Fairfax Avenue on June 21, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. In recent weeks colorful new street art and murals, inspired by the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement since the death of George Floyd, have been created on empty spaces throughout Los Angeles. (Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)" width="800" height="514" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Colin-Kaepernick-897x576.jpg 897w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Colin-Kaepernick-300x193.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Colin-Kaepernick-768x493.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Colin-Kaepernick.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images</div>
So, what changed?
Certainly not the data.
Despite the presence of individual racism in American life in all walks of life, America&#8217;s police are not systemically racist. Until the pandemic wrecked the economy across the board, black Americans were experiencing historic lows in unemployment and historic highs in median income.
What changed is that Americans surrendered to the narrative promulgated for so long by those who seek to undermine American comity: that American history is not the story of moving toward the fulfillment of the promises of the Declaration of Independence but of the continuous, chameleonic perversion of bigotry, that America&#8217;s founding ideas were lies, then and always, that only racial identity provides credence for talking about racial inequalities.
The burden of proof has shifted to America&#8217;s defenders.
And those defenders can never prove their case: first, because no country is perfect, and second, because systemic racism is a non-disprovable theory.
Four short years ago, we mostly assumed the best of our fellow Americans — that they weren&#8217;t endemically racist, at the very least — and the best of our country&#8217;s ideals. No longer. The counterculture has become the culture. And that is both a tragedy and a travesty. There can be no future for a country in which standing for the national anthem is considered gauche, while kneeling is considered heroic.
More from Ben Shapiro: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shapiro-the-lefts-willingness-to-tolerate-violence-should-frighten-all-americans">The Left’s Willingness To Tolerate Violence Should Frighten All Americans</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Colin Kaepernick Sign

SHAPIRO: When The Counterculture Becomes The Culture

Colin Kaepernick

George Floyd

Law Enforcement

Patriotism

Systemic racism

China NBA

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Adam Silver

Hong Kong

John Kasich

Josh Hawley

LeBron James

As COVID-19 grows to consume every element of our society, the focus has now landed on the subject of education. When should schools re-open? What protections should be put in place for teachers? What should “the new normal” be for children and their education? While these are all important questions during these unprecedented times, another stunning question is also being discussed: “Should schools re-open at all?”
While portions of the American Left engage in an absurd battle over demands from teachers unions who see this crisis as an opportunity for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nations-largest-teachers-unions-back-safe-schools-plan-that-demands-police-free-schools-an-end-to-private-education">political gain</a>, some on the Right are in danger of failing to fight in favor of reopening schools. The reason for this is the widespread view that alternative educational solutions, such as homeschooling, make the debate over public schools redundant.
The issue here is not whether homeschooling should be permitted — it is obviously the right of any parent to choose the style and substance of their child’s education — or whether homeschooling is effective — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reasons-homeschooling-is-the-smartest-way-to-teach-kids-today-2018-1#students-may-achieve-more-in-the-long-run-6">data</a> suggests that “homeschooled children tend to do better on standardized tests, stick around longer in college, and do better once they&#8217;re enrolled.” The issue is the underlying assumptions required to enable the general conclusion that all parents should homeschool their children as a solution to the COVID-19-induced educational crisis.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Schools don’t want to open, and they don’t want to educate the children? Okay, problem solved. We can all keep our tax dollars and we’ll home school our kids or work with our neighbors to find local solutions. Thanks. Problem solved.
&mdash; Dan Bongino (@dbongino) <a href="https://twitter.com/dbongino/status/1289918336805953547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Such statements certainly don’t come from positions of malice or spite. In fact, they are almost exclusively motivated by an honest desire for children to receive the benefits of a good education. However, while there are certainly legitimate criticisms of the public school system, including curriculum, school choice, and funding, some conservatives are making the mistake of providing arguments rooted in idealism over realism, and make a few critical errors by claiming that homeschooling is an appropriate solution to the broken — and now closed — public school system.
The first is that these arguments assume the existence of the resources homeschooling demands. Children require basic supplies, an established space in which to study, and access to resources such as the internet. The unfortunate reality is that many families are not able to afford the supplies required to homeschool their child. Some <a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/internet-access-students-at-home/">9 million</a> children (14% of children between the ages of 3 and 18) don’t have access to the internet at home. Without adequate funds or internet access, it’s unrealistic to expect poorer families or neighborhoods to provide their children with appropriate or equitable levels of education.
The second mistake is the assumption that all adults are either able or willing to homeschool their children. Speaking frankly, the fact that some parents may wish to homeschool their children does not mean that they are either educationally or financially capable of doing so. When it comes to poor neighborhoods, the concept of finding “community solutions” seems somewhat lacking in compassion when everyone in that community is under the similar financial stress.
In addition, considering the <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2013/jul/29/don-lemon/cnns-don-lemon-says-more-72-percent-african-americ/">familiar statistic</a> that 72% of children in the African-American community are born into single-parent homes, many of those households would be left to decide between providing for their children financially or educationally.
Finally, the brutal fact is that some parents simply do not value education and would not provide their children with any educational support.
When it comes to education, conservatives often approach this area of debate by focusing on successful examples of alternatives. Yes, the benefits provided by private or charter schools are often preferable to public schools. Yes, an involved home support system is optimal for a child’s success. Yes, parents should have the option to choose their child’s school.
However, when it comes to early education, conservatives must also acknowledge that equality of opportunity must be a primary goal. It is the purpose, and duty, of our public school system, as imperfect as it is, to provide those who were born without the benefits of others with the opportunity to better themselves through the meritocracy of education.
Conservatives should reject the attempts to use the closure of public schools as leverage to achieve radical political aims, while also taking the lead when it comes to the fight to re-open schools for those who depend on them. If we abandon public schools by assuming that the alternatives for some are realistic options for all, we abandon future generations to real and inescapable inequity. If we truly believe in equality of opportunity over equality of outcome, then we must also work to provide children with the opportunity that some parents cannot, or unfortunately will not, provide.
More from Ian Haworth: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/haworth-5-ways-orwells-1984-perfectly-describes-the-american-lefts-quest-for-power">5 Ways Orwell’s ‘1984’ Perfectly Describes The American Left’s Quest For Power</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Empty Chairs And Tables In Classroom

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Two months after footage of George Floyd’s death went viral, sparking an epidemic of rioting and violence that killed dozens of people and caused untold damage to countless communities across the country, body cam footage of the incident has finally been made available. Published by the Daily Mail after being <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8576371/Police-bodycam-footage-shows-moment-moment-arrest-George-Floyd-time.html">leaked</a> to the outlet, the additional video (below) lends crucial context to the fatal encounter between Floyd and Officer Derek Chauvin, and gives insight into the states of mind of both men. 
Given that this tragic episode and the reaction to it has been the most significant story in the country for two months, and one of the most significant of the past decade, you might think that the media would treat the new evidence as a rather big story. But so far the opposite has been the case. The news media, for the most part, has had a noticeably muted reaction to the footage. One might say suspiciously muted. Perhaps that’s because the story the new footage tells is, at the very least, far more complicated than the one the media and activists have been screaming into our ears since May. That story, with which we are all extremely familiar, is that George Floyd was a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/new-george-floyd-video-shows-him-compliant-handcuffed-early-fatal-encounter-1506684">compliant</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMichaelWaltz/status/1266792501882560519">peaceful</a> man who was <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/05/31/george-floyd-death-white-cop-black-anger-protests-column/5299937002/">strangled</a> to death by a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52928304">racist</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/opinion/george-floyd-anti-blackness.html">anti-black</a>, <a href="https://www.wpxi.com/news/investigates/former-fbi-assistant-director-derek-chauvin-showed-sociopathic-behavior-during-george-floyds-death/CZPF6OAP6RDJ7OUZDUCVF53X3U/">sociopathic</a> cop. It was straightforward, we were told. Quite literally black and white. And the only opinion one can really have about it is the kind of opinion that is easily expressed on a protest sign. 
Of course we’ve known from the beginning that some of this was, to put it gently, not quite accurate. However Floyd was or wasn’t acting on the day of his death, it strains credulity to use a word like “peaceful” to describe a man who once forced his way into a woman’s home and robbed her at gunpoint in front of her child. As for the racism claim, there was perhaps no evidence to disprove it, but neither was any evidence ever presented to support it. It is merely assumed that any white police officer who kills a black suspect no matter the circumstances is motivated, at some level, by racism. Some of them may be so motivated, but the burden of proof is on those who make the claim. Yet those who make the claim rarely acknowledge that there is any burden to meet, much less make any honest attempt to meet it. 
Also, anyone following the story has known for sometime that, according to the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/04/869278494/medical-examiners-autopsy-reveals-george-floyd-had-positive-test-for-coronavirus">medical examiner’s report</a>, Floyd was not strangled to death and did not die from asphyxiation as the media had so confidently declared in the immediate aftermath. It was found that Floyd — who had a pre-existing heart condition and three illicit drugs in his system, including fentanyl, which is 50 times more potent than morphine and known to cause respiratory distress — died of “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restrain, and neck compression.” A medical examination performed by an examiner hired by Floyd’s family contradicted those findings, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/independent-autopsy-george-floyd-findings-announced/story?id=70994827">claiming</a> that Floyd did in fact die of asphyxiation.  
That was the status of things prior to this week’s developments: we had a disturbing video without prior context, a bunch of assumptions, and not much more. And those assumptions were considered reason enough to burn our cities. The new footage does not necessarily clarify things — in fact, it does the opposite, adding complications and nuances to an issue that was once assumed to be utterly straightforward. 
The body cameras worn by officers Alex Kueng and Thomas Lane, the first two cops on the scene, show Floyd agitated and uncooperative from the first moment that officers arrive in response to a call from a business owner who accused Floyd of trying to pass off counterfeit bills. Floyd is in his car when law enforcement first shows up. One of the officers draws his weapon because Floyd is initially hesitant to show his hands. Once Floyd places his hands on his head, the gun is holstered. After much coaxing, he is eventually removed from his car and taken over to the police cruiser.
Floyd appears to have trouble walking on his way over to the police car. He shouts “ow” and seems to be in pain even though he is only being grabbed by the arm. Once at the vehicle, he repeatedly refuses to get inside, saying that he’s “claustrophobic,” though he’d just been sitting in his own car without any apparent difficulty (on the contrary he was extremely reluctant to get out of his own vehicle). At one point, as officers try to convince him to get in the car, Floyd says he&#8217;d rather lay on the ground. He also says several times that he’s “going to die” and that he can’t breathe — all before he was on the ground. He ends up on the ground because he either falls or pushes himself out of the other side of the police cruiser as officers struggle to get him inside. From that point, the scene unfolds as we all saw on the initial video two months ago. 
<iframe title="EXCLUSIVE - FULL VIDEO: Leaked police bodycam footage shows George Floyd&#039;s arrest for the first time" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YPSwqp5fdIw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As previously stated, none of this conclusively exonerates the officers of any and all wrongdoing, but it does establish a few facts that might mitigate their culpability: 
1. George Floyd was not fully cooperative and clearly intoxicated.
2. The officers were calm and reasonable for most of the interaction.
3. George Floyd claimed that he couldn’t breathe and was going to die well before he had a knee on his neck.
4. The officers never did or said a single thing that any reasonable person could construe as racist. 
Point three in particular warrants further consideration. Floyd said he was too claustrophobic to get in the police car and that he might die and couldn&#8217;t breathe, even though he&#8217;d just been sitting in a car. He was screaming out in pain even though the officers at that point weren&#8217;t doing anything that could have caused him physical harm. We should note that he also said his mom just died even though she&#8217;d been dead for two years. The officers wouldn&#8217;t have known that latter detail, but the point is that cops hear nonsense like this from suspects all day, every day. This can create a &#8220;boy who cried wolf&#8221; situation where it&#8217;s harder to tell when a suspect is actually in distress. When Floyd was on the ground saying he was going to die, it was no different from what he was saying while he was standing, or what he was saying in the car. These facts may not be exculpatory but they certainly are relevant.
The narrative, as it was originally presented, does not take any of these details into account. It demands that we see the event as nothing more or less than a wanton act of random cruelty, with nothing precipitating it and with not even an ounce of blame or responsibility to be shared by Floyd himself. In reality, Floyd may still be the victim of some degree of negligence, but it seems that the murder charge will be difficult to prove. The truth just isn’t that simple. It rarely is. And that’s a lesson we would all do well to remember for the future.
More from Matt Walsh: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-i-looked-up-every-case-of-an-unarmed-black-man-shot-by-cops-in-2019-heres-the-truth-the-media-and-blm-are-hiding">I Looked Up Every Case Of An Unarmed Black Man Shot By Cops In 2019. Here’s The Truth The Left Is Hiding.</a>
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WALSH: George Floyd Body Cam Footage Is Out. The Story Is Far More Complicated Than Media Led Us To Believe.

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