On Saturday, Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) sent out a tweet condemning President Trump’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-commutes-sentence-of-roger-stone">commutation</a> of Roger Stone’s prison sentence.
“Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president,” Romney wrote.
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Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) <a href="https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1281937795616067586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
In November 2019, Stone was “found guilty of obstruction of a congressional investigation, five counts of making false statements to Congress, and tampering with a witness,” according to a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/roger-stone-found-guilty-obstruction-false-statements-and-witness-tampering">statement</a> from the Department of Justice.
In February, reports <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/20/trump-friend-roger-stone-sentenced-to-prison-for-wikileaks-lies.html">CNBC</a>, Stone was sentenced to “40 months in prison &#8230; two years of supervised release,” and “250 hours of community service.” He was also reportedly sentenced to pay a hefty fine.
However, the White House released a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grant-clemency-roger-stone-jr/">statement</a> on Friday announcing that President Trump was commuting Stone’s prison sentence only days before he was set to begin serving it.
“Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency. There was never any collusion between the Trump Campaign, or the Trump Administration, with Russia,” the statement reads. “Such collusion was never anything other than a fantasy of partisans unable to accept the result of the 2016 election. The collusion delusion spawned endless and farcical investigations, conducted at great taxpayer expense, looking for evidence that did not exist. As it became clear that these witch hunts would never bear fruit, the Special Counsel’s Office resorted to process-based charges leveled at high-profile people in an attempt to manufacture the false impression of criminality lurking below the surface.”
The statement later claims that because the Mueller team couldn’t find “evidence” of collusion with Russia, they “charged him [Stone] for his conduct during their investigation.”
<blockquote>Mr. Stone was charged by the same prosecutors from the Mueller Investigation tasked with finding evidence of collusion with Russia. Because no such evidence exists, however, they could not charge him for any collusion-related crime. Instead, they charged him for his conduct during their investigation. The simple fact is that if the Special Counsel had not been pursuing an absolutely baseless investigation, Mr. Stone would not be facing time in prison.</blockquote>
“Mr. Stone would be put at serious medical risk in prison. He has appealed his conviction and is seeking a new trial,” the statement adds.
Senator Romney’s tweet has more than 426,000 “likes” and has been retweeted approximately 129,000 times as of publication.
The response to the senator’s condemnation of Trump’s decision has been decidedly mixed.
User @BryanDavis2014 wrote: “Unprecedented. A RINO of RINO’s [sic].”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
Unprecedented. A RINO of RINO’s.
— Bryan K. Davis (@BryanDavis2014) <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanDavis2014/status/1282074016644300800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
“Oh shut up Mitt. You’re so bitter that you’ll never be President,” wrote director/producer Robby Starbuck.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
Oh shut up Mitt. You’re so bitter that you’ll never be President.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) <a href="https://twitter.com/robbystarbuck/status/1281945143952715777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
Writer Charlotte Clymer was more pointed, demanding further action from Romney: “Talk is cheap, Senator Romney. You have the power to do something about it, so what are you gonna do?”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
Talk is cheap, Senator Romney. You have the power to do something about it, so what are you gonna do?
— Charlotte Clymer (@cmclymer) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1281946022600675328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
“Thank you for your patriotism, Sir,” wrote actress and activist Alyssa Milano.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
Thank you for your patriotism, Sir.
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) <a href="https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/1281997884817203200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Romney and Trump

‘Unprecedented, Historic Corruption’: Romney Hammers Trump Over Roger Stone Decision

Donald Trump

Mitt Romney

Roger Stone

Last month, the country music group formerly known as Lady Antebellum changed their name to Lady A to be more racially sensitive, due to the apparent association of the word “antebellum&#8221; with slavery. (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lady-antebellum-sticking-with-name-change-after-speaking-with-blues-singer-lady-a">The Antebellum period</a> in U.S. history generally refers to the time between the War of 1812 and the start of the Civil War.)
However, after a battle with blues singer Anita White, who goes by the name Lady A, the country band filed a lawsuit against the singer over her “attempt to enforce purported trademarks rights in a mark that Plaintiffs have held for more than a decade,” according to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lady-antebellum-sticking-with-name-change-after-speaking-with-blues-singer-lady-a">suit</a>.
On Saturday, White issued a lengthy statement blasting the Grammy-winning country band, in which White admitted that she asked for $10 million in total in order for the group to have the name; $5 million paid to her and another $5 million to charity.
The &#8220;demand&#8221; for the $10 million, according to a statement from the band, was one of the reasons they filed the suit against White.
“I was quiet for two weeks because I was trying to believe that it was going to be okay and that they would realize that it would be easier to just change their name, or pay me for my name,” White said, according to <a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/blues-singer-lady-a-responds-to-lady-antebellums-lawsuit/?mbid=social_twitter&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_social-type=owned&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_brand=p4k">Pitchfork</a>. “Five million dollars is nothing, and I’m actually worth more than that, regardless of what they think.&#8221;
&#8220;But here we go again with another white person trying to take something from a Black person, even though they say they’re trying to help,&#8221; added White. &#8220;If you want to be an advocate or an ally, you help those who you’re oppressing. And that might require you to give up something because I am not going to be erased.”
In the fiery statement, White ripped the country music singers for trying to &#8220;look woke&#8221; for their fans, instead of truly caring about progressive racial issues. &#8220;I will not allow Lady Antebellum to obliterate me and my career so they can look &#8216;woke&#8217; to their fans,&#8221; she said.
“It is absurd that Lady Antebellum has chosen to show its commitment to racial equality by taking the name of a Black woman, particularly in this time when we are reminded every day to &#8216;Say Her Name.&#8217; It is one more demonstration of what continues to be taken away from us in the present,” said White in the statement. “Given the way that Hillary, Charles, and Dave have treated me, I am not surprised that they used the name Lady Antebellum for so long or that their cure is to adopt a name that is only less overtly racist. The A in their name stands for Antebellum and always will. If they are truly committed to racial equality, why do they want to maintain that association, especially when it means making a public, intentional stand to disregard me and my rights?&#8221;
&#8220;I do not want to part with it,&#8221; the blues singer said of the name Lady A, though the country band is not asking her to part with the name. &#8220;It is particularly painful to me, as a Black woman, to lose my name in THIS time and place so Lady Antebellum can use it as shorthand to celebrate a time and place connected to and very heavily reliant upon slavery.&#8221;
&#8220;I asked for $5 million to compensate me for this loss, and to help me rebuild under a new name. I also asked that they donate $5 million to a charity so that we could work together to promote racial equality,&#8221; she added. &#8220;It was my impression from our communications that this would appeal to Hillary, Charles, and Dave. I guess I was wrong.&#8221;
You can view the complete statement, below (via <a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/blues-singer-lady-a-responds-to-lady-antebellums-lawsuit/?mbid=social_twitter&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_social-type=owned&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_brand=p4k">Pitchfork</a>):
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Statement from Anita White. The real Lady A.
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Black Lives, Names, Experiences, Work, Art – They All Matter.
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July 10, 2020, Seattle, WA
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I first heard about Lady Antebellum’s planned name change after they went public on June 11, 2020, at which point I was shocked and taken aback. During initial calls with the members of the band—Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood—I hoped that we could reach an agreement that left both sides whole. Lady Antebellum understood that their use of “Antebellum” was offensive and that their adoption of Lady A harms me, as I have been using the name professionally for over 30 years.
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Though they recognized their impact, Lady Antebellum has not been receptive to my proposals for correcting their infringement, unfortunately. It has already been demonstrated why co-existence will simply not work. My fans used to be able to listen to my music on streaming services; now they struggle to find me. Due to Lady Antebellum’s massive rebranding efforts, Lady Antebellum has erased me from every platform. Lady Antebellum has used their wealth and influence to intimidate and bully me into submission without offering any real recompense for appropriating my name. It is now clear that their apologies, friendly texts, and playing on my love of God were just insincere gestures aimed at quieting me. Well, I will not be quiet any longer.
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After being called out for taking my name, Lady Antebellum and their team of publicists and attorneys are doing what many folks of privilege do when asked to cease and desist bad behavior. Hillary, Charles, and Dave are attempting to change the narrative by minimizing my voice and belittling my experience as an artist – as if having a lot of money gives them permission to tread on my rights. I have worked too long and too hard to just give my name away.
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The band’s decision to change their name to Lady A follows the trend of many other groups and organizations working to distance themselves from racism in the wake of the uprisings in this post-George Floyd world. Someone finally told them—or perhaps they knew all along and didn’t care until now—that their name reminds Black folks of just how much was taken from us in the past: our lives, freedom, languages, families, and, yes, our names. It is absurd that Lady Antebellum has chosen to show its commitment to racial equality by taking the name of a Black woman, particularly in this time when we are reminded every day to “Say Her Name.” It is one more demonstration of what continues to be taken away from us in the present. Given the way that Hillary, Charles, and Dave have treated me, I am not surprised that they used the name Lady Antebellum for so long or that their cure is to adopt a name that is only less overtly racist. The A in their name stands for Antebellum and always will. If they are truly committed to racial equality, why do they want to maintain that association, especially when it means making a public, intentional stand to disregard me and my rights?
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Lady A is my identity—and it has been since 1987. I want to be able to freely use my brand that I spent decades building. I do not want to part with it. It is particularly painful to me, as a Black woman, to lose my name in THIS time and place so Lady Antebellum can use it as shorthand to celebrate a time and place connected to and very heavily reliant upon slavery. I asked for $5 million to compensate me for this loss, and to help me rebuild under a new name. I also asked that they donate $5 million to a charity so that we could work together to promote racial equality. It was my impression from our communications that this would appeal to Hillary, Charles, and Dave. I guess I was wrong.
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Their refusal to come to an agreement that would be respectful of my work and my rights, however, has given me the clarity and the drive to not back down. Black lives, names, experiences, work, art—they all matter. Fellow independent artists have reached out to me to share their stories of name feuds that they lost because they were on the opposite side of big money and privilege. Not only will I not be one of them, but I am hopeful that this fight for what is rightfully mine will help those damaged by this type of bullying and erasure in the past, and that it will prevent it from happening in the future. I will not allow Lady Antebellum to obliterate me and my career so they can look “woke” to their fans.
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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>.

2019 CMT Artist of the Year &#8211; Red Carpet

READ IT: Black Singer ‘Lady A’ Hammers Band Formerly Known As ‘Lady Antebellum’ For Trying To ‘Look Woke’

Lady Antebellum

Why are we afraid?
In this moment where the world around us has ruptured, or in which already present fractures have rapidly widened, why have we who deal in reason and data allowed ourselves to be effectively silenced?
The simple answer to that question is that we are afraid – but of what exactly? To be called a “racist” or have it said that we are “complicit” in some unworthy system? Broadly, yes.
There are secondary and tertiary fears tangled up in this as well. Some are afraid that if they speak up, they will lose their jobs; others are fearful that if they were to express an out-of-cycle opinion, friends and family members would turn their backs.
These alternate terrors, however, are all extensions of the root fear of being seen as “racist” or “complicit” in a racist system – but what does that really mean, and why does this silencing feel different than previous attacks from which we emerged bruised but alive?
The difference is that the weapons we previously used to wage verbal war against absurd ideologies have been effectively neutralized. Data and reason have been replaced by “lived experience” and “personal truth.” Exchange of information has been supplanted by the brute force of emotions.
This system, one in which emotions are prime, has been developing for years; it has been nurtured by legacy media, progressive politicians, academia, and Hollywood. Despite intermittent pushback, this system has largely been left undisturbed, allowing it to reach maturity.
As a result, measured debate about any sociopolitical idea – a procedure that was once structured and nearly axiomatic – has been atomized, allowing for endless ideological shape-shifting. To offer up a counter argument in this new framework is like hurling a brick through fog.
To suggest that, according to the data, black bodies aren’t piling up in the streets, or that police aren’t hunting down black people en masse, is a not only a fruitless endeavor – as data and reason have been killed by the revolution – but something that could be used against you, to brand you as a “racist.”
The leaders of this new world have rendered our weapons ineffective, leaving us without a means to fight back or to scrub off the negative social branding that they paint on our skin in vibrant colors.
This is why we are afraid.
We stand on unfamiliar land, lacking appropriate weaponry, and the opposition has rapidly become a vaporous monolith against which a blade would be about as useful as a rubber ducky. Given this present reality, our only option seems to be a retreat to safety, which, in this case, means complete and deafening silence – in real life and across all social media platforms.
There is an unfortunate side effect of this retreat. As counter-opinions disappear, the revolution will perceive growth – in size and acceptance of cause. This dynamic will not only be apparent to the revolutionaries themselves, but also by those on the outside bearing witness to its apparent accomplishments.
The full retreat of reasoned people, as well as the subsequent growth-perception among the revolutionaries will have severe repercussions. We’ve already witnessed the beginnings of an effort to rearrange the strands of our history, and we need only look elsewhere in time to understand what might happen should this early-stage tinkering succeed.
Now that we more fully appreciate the nature of our fear, as well as the soil from which it sprang, we must return to the simple question, only one step more complex – why are we afraid to be thought of as “racist” or “complicit” in a racist system when reason and data tell us that such assertions are entirely untrue?
It’s a wholly perception-oriented phenomenon. We perceive that a majority of Americans are participating in this revolution, and because of that, we fear that a “racist” or “complicit” label will stick. Perhaps on a deeper level, we fear that such a label will, in effect, become true due to the seeming majority belief.
However, this perception is incorrect. Those seeking to undermine our system and the values undergirding it, those who would call “racist” anyone who disagrees with their orthodoxy, even by a hair, are in the minority – a minority that has of course been amplified by social media, legacy media, progressive politicians, academia, Hollywood, and the vociferousness of the movement’s participants.
As previously noted, a mass retreat by individuals of sound thinking will allow this movement, which has reached a state of maturation, to establish a foothold, which can and will be leveraged into extraordinary social power over time, even if according to raw numbers, the movement represents just a fraction of the American population.
So what can be done? If majority rules – perceived or real – we for whom reason and data matter must step out together from inside our hiding places, and push back. This cannot be accomplished by only a few brave individuals. It must be a rising done in concert with many others.
But how do we rise together? That is a question for which there is no concrete answer – though a suggestion comes to mind.
Being that we cannot all at once know if others will follow our lead, it will perhaps take a set of prominent figures who have little to no fear of reprisal to generate the momentum that will set off a larger counter-push.
We could be witnessing the start of such a thing with the recent open letter defending free expression published by Harper’s Magazine. This letter features the signatures of people like JK Rowling, Malcolm Gladwell, Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Haidt, Steven Pinker, and more than 140 others, almost all of whom wouldn’t be considered center-right by any means.
This counterpunch from left-leaning public figures could provide some form of cover behind which average Americans could get a running start.
Ultimately, the history of war cannot be pictured in full until well after the final fight has ended. The story of the woke revolution and those who will resist the fear of stinging labels is ongoing, and the outcome can still be changed – but action must be taken as soon as possible.
It might be that in this inestimable slice of time in which we still have the means to defend the truth, there is no other option but to set aside our terrors in order to act as a barrier between what we know to be good and the mob that seeks to tear it apart.
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>.

Burning police car

CAMP: Why Are We Afraid To Stand Up To The Woke Mob?

Leftism

Riots

statues

Woke

With the Alabama Republican primary run-off election only days away, Jeff Sessions has decided to hit back at President Donald Trump after he once again weighed in and bashed his former attorney general in the process. 
“Big Senate Race in Alabama on Tuesday. Vote for<a href="https://twitter.com/TTuberville?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1281930300960976897%7Ctwgr%5E&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2FrealDonaldTrump2Fstatus2F1281930300960976897widget%3DTweet"> @TTuberville</a>, he is a winner who will never let you down. Jeff Sessions is a disaster who has let us all down. We don’t want him back in Washington,” said Trump. 
Sessions, who was then-candidate Trump&#8217;s first senatorial endorsement, blasted the president for engaging in “juvenile insults” and backing a “cowardly” candidate. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I’ve taken the road less travelled. Not sought fame or fortune. My honor and integrity are far more important than these juvenile insults. Your scandal ridden candidate is too cowardly to debate. As you know, Alabama does not take orders from Washington. <a href="https://t.co/1I6ROih43E">https://t.co/1I6ROih43E</a>
— Jeff Sessions (@jeffsessions) <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffsessions/status/1281952051786915840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
“I’ve taken the road less travelled. Not sought fame or fortune. My honor and integrity are far more important than these juvenile insults.  Your scandal ridden candidate is too cowardly to debate. As you know, Alabama does not take orders from Washington,” Sessions told Trump. 
Although Sessions has served in the senate for two decades, Alabama voters have responded more favorably to Tuberville in recent polling. 
According to <a href="http://aum.edu/new-aum-poll-shows-tuberville-leading-sessions-senate-runoff-election">Auburn University at Montgomery</a>, 47% of Republican voters favor Tuberville, while 31% favor Sessions less than a week from the election. Twenty-two percent of Republican voters, however, remain undecided. The <a href="https://www.aldailynews.com/new-poll-shows-sessions-closing-gap-with-tuberville/">Alabama Daily News</a> reported that Tuberville held a 23% lead over Sessions back in mid-May, while at the same time, the Sessions campaign’s internal polling showed him behind Tuberville by 6 points. 
Back in May, Trump tweeted that his support of Tuberville was rooted in his distrust of Sessions, who recused himself from the Russia investigation, and also said that his former attorney general’s actions at the time “let our country down.” 
Sessions responded: “Look, I know your anger, but recusal was required by law. I did my duty &amp; you&#8217;re damn fortunate I did. It protected the rule of law &amp; resulted in your exoneration. Your personal feelings don&#8217;t dictate who Alabama picks as their senator, the people of Alabama do.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realdonaldtrump</a> Look, I know your anger, but recusal was required by law. I did my duty &amp; you&#8217;re damn fortunate I did. It protected the rule of law &amp; resulted in your exoneration. Your personal feelings don&#8217;t dictate who Alabama picks as their senator, the people of Alabama do. <a href="https://t.co/QQKHNAgmiE">https://t.co/QQKHNAgmiE</a>
— Jeff Sessions (@jeffsessions) <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffsessions/status/1264028159965528065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
The former Alabama senator also accused Tuberville of not fully believing in the president’s agenda, including with his stances on trade, China, and foreign workers. The following day, Sessions <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sessions-to-trump-perhaps-youve-forgotten-alabama-trusts-me-trump-you-should-drop-out">once again</a> responded to the president to share his belief that Alabamans still trust him. Trump, in turn, told him to drop out of the race and &#8220;pray that super liberal&#8221; Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) is beaten in November. 
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Key Speakers At The 2019 SALT Conference

Trump Dunks On Sessions, Tweets Support For Run-Off Opponent. Sessions Hits Back: ‘Juvenile Insults’

2020 Election

Alabama

Jeff Sessions

Democratic Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC) apologized on Saturday for spreading an unverified, and ultimately false, claim that Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) was dead.
“We deeply regret a previous tweet based on a false news report,” tweeted Adams, who deleted the false tweet about the congressman’s alleged passing.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We deeply regret a previous tweet based on a false news report. <a href="https://t.co/na2nYmPScf">https://t.co/na2nYmPScf</a>
— Alma S. Adams (@RepAdams) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepAdams/status/1282029829450334208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
Adams posted another tweet an hour later affirming that she was glad Lewis was still, in fact, alive, and apologized to those close to him for declaring otherwise.
“I am deeply sorry to Congressman John Lewis, his family, and his staff for the erroneous information posted to our social media accounts earlier today. Rep. Lewis is one of my friends and heroes and I am relieved to know he is at home resting,” said the congresswoman.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I am deeply sorry to Congressman John Lewis, his family, and his staff for the erroneous information posted to our social media accounts earlier today. Rep. Lewis is one of my friends and heroes and I am relieved to know he is at home resting.
— Alma S. Adams (@RepAdams) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepAdams/status/1282043113624698883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
A spokesperson for the 1960s civil rights leader promptly debunked the reports of his death in a statement to an Atlanta-based newspaper.
“It’s only rumors,” Michael Collins, Lewis’ chief of staff, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the rumors first spread. “He is resting comfortably at home.”
Adams’ tweet touched on her relationship with Lewis and lauded him for his work advocating for justice: “Words cannot do John Lewis Justice because everything he did was in the service of Justice. He gave everything – including his blood and his body – to the Movement. It was an honor to make ‘good trouble’ with John in the House, and I will miss both my friend and the man himself.”
According to <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/rumor-rep-john-lewis-has-died-are-untrue-spokesman-says/y3ZdCuC98eO2gD7w7NoOSM/">the Atlanta Journal-Constitution</a>, Adams and a “blog that focuses on news about historically black colleges &amp; universities” were among those that spread the false rumor. However, it’s not clear where the rumor originated.
Lewis was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer last December, but told his constituents in a statement that he would continue to serve in Congress.
“While I am clear-eyed about the prognosis, doctors have told me that recent medical advances have made this type of cancer treatable in many cases, that treatment options are no longer as debilitating as they once were, and that I have a fighting chance,” said the congressman at the time.
“So I have decided to do what I know to do, and do what I have always done: I am going to fight it and keep fighting for the Beloved Community. We still have many bridges to cross,” said Lewis, later concluding the statement, “Please keep me in your prayers as I begin this journey.”
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>.

Nashville Public Library Awards Civil Right Icon Congressman John Lewis Literary Award

Congresswoman Apologizes For Tweet Falsely Claiming Rep John Lewis Had Died

John Lewis

On Sept. 6, 1492, when Christopher Columbus’ flagship, the Santa Maria, with the smaller vessels Niña and Pinta in its wake, set sail from the Canary Islands in search of new lands, he embarked on a mission of discovery that the historian George Bancroft declared “the most memorable maritime enterprise in the history of the world.”  In this and his three subsequent expeditions over the course of a decade, he relentlessly explored and charted the Caribbean islands and on his final and, in many ways most daring, voyage in 1502, the mainland isthmus of Central America — setting the stage for the world-changing discoveries of Balboa and Magellan, who would soon follow his path. The importance of Columbus’ expeditions is not that he was “the first” European to set foot in the New World. Scholars agree that title most likely goes to the Norwegian explorer Leif Erikson who, while en route to Greenland from his home in Iceland sometime around A.D. 1001-1002, strayed off-course and instead landed on modern-day Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, where evidence of Viking settlements have been found. But the Norse, whatever their prowess as sailors, did not last as colonists and thus North America, and the Pacific Ocean beyond, remained unknown to Europeans for the next five hundred years. It would take the hazardous voyages of the Italian seaman Columbus and his crew, backed by the treasure of the Spanish court, to open up the New World and launch a decisive age, the effects of which are still shaping the modern world.
This image of the intrepid captain courageously braving the great unknown is, of course, not the way Columbus is often portrayed today. Instead, we see his statues being torn down by mobs for whom any moral purity begins with today’s sensibilities, as if this is some American version of Pol Pot’s Year Zero.  Columbus’ memorials have been vandalized, beheaded, and burned, much as superstitious villagers in the 13th century might have treated their local witch after a nasty wave of the smallpox. The ignorance on display is the same. One wonders how many of the masked nihilists in their obnoxious self-righteousness that only the unlearned can possess could even tell you the name of one of Columbus’ vessels, let alone the year in which he first set sail. (Something any first grader in my class could have told you.)
This is not to place Columbus on a pedestal higher than the height of the statue in the eponymous New York City circle. Clearly, the man was no saint and it does a service to history to humanize him…but he was no demon either. But that has not stopped our education system from utterly gutting this man’s reputation and presenting the entrails for ritual immolation upon the altar of P.C. wokeness. In my lifetime, just over a half-of-a-century, Columbus, the man for whom an entire country is named, has gone from being viewed as a noble explorer to a personification of the destruction of the indigenous Americans by Europeans bent on conquest, plunder, ecocide, and genocide. Now, he may not have been the most talented administrator as his brief stint running Hispaniola shows. But the picture that has been redrawn of him as a lascivious plunderer and murderer, one worthy of beheading in effigy, is off-sides. Russell Means, the late Native American activist, went so far as to attach the dreaded “H” word to him. “Columbus,” he seethed, “makes Hitler look like a juvenile delinquent.” Ouch! But such criminally ignorant histrionics bespeak more of emotional revisionism than they do a grounding in the historical record.
I&#8217;ve often wondered what is at the heart of this assault on Christopher Columbus’ memory for this was truly a man whose impact makes him one of the most important figures in history. I have a hunch that the drive to reshape him in an ugly light has to do as much with the context of his voyage as with its aftermath. And yet it is this very context that makes his voyages so immeasurably important to the very survival of the West itself. The oft-told story is that Columbus was seeking an all-water trade route to Asia. And that is true. But this prompts the question: why was an all-water route so vitally important in the first place? What forces were at work in the world to prompt this man to risk his reputation and even his life to sail into uncharted seas again and again in search of something that may or may not have existed?
In 1453, when Columbus was still a toddler, the Ottoman Turk armies under Mohammed II conquered the city-fortress of Constantinople, and extinguished the last vestiges of a Byzantine Empire that had lasted for a millennium. Despite – or perhaps because of – the courage of the last Emperor Constantine XI, who died in the breach of his city’s walls, the behavior of the Turks in the city was savage, even by the standards of the time. But more than just the calamitous loss of a city as the last expression of the West in Asia Minor, the closing of this gateway effectively cut Europe off from any direct access to Asia. Muslims now controlled all overland trade routes to the East, threatening all what was then called Christendom. Thus a new direct route was needed by necessity in order for trade to Asia to be safe from the Mohammedans who were busy washing the blood of thousands of innocents from their swords with the water of the Marmara Sea.
And so, in 1492, Columbus was on a mission to re-establish the West’s place as a global trader around the world. The Spanish Court, themselves having just defeated the last of the Muslim invaders at Granada that same year, were eager to do an end-run around their Eastern rivals. One wonders how much different the world would be today if the explorers from across the Atlantic who discovered the New World flew the crescent of Mohammed rather than the cross of Jesus, and with it carried the Western values that would shape the two continents. One certainly can guess that the protesters we see today in the streets of our cities, protected (to a point) by our Bill of Rights, courtesy of a Western legal and cultural inheritance, would not be so free to be so vocal — most certainly not the women — had a different brand of conquistadors who prostrated themselves before a different god laid claim to the New World.
I imagine that the progressive Left, with its unfriendly, often suicidally hostile view of Western culture, values, and traditions, would prefer we not be reminded by Columbus’ voyage that out of the undeniable violence and cruelties in his wake, as with the birth of so many great nations, a freer and more just world did, in fact, emerge over time; one that saw unprecedented advancements not just of technological and economic growth, but advancements in human dignity and civil rights. Especially courtesy of the most consequential nation to emerge as a direct result of Columbus’ voyages: the United States. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed that “all men are created equal.” The Emancipation Proclamation declared North America’s slaves were “henceforth and forever free.” And the Civil Rights movement a century later would see that real attempts to live out those lofty and morally superior ideals to any other potential colonizers’ should be matters of fact and law and not just noble aspirations.  No, for the nihilists attempting to justify their rampage, better to paint the unwashed Western bearded fiend in armor as the aggressor, the destroyer of the fantasy Eden that was pre-European America. This keeps the focus squarely where it belongs: on the sins of the West as represented in this preying man.
Actually, Columbus was not so much a preying man, as a praying man. And thus do we have another motivation for Columbus’ voyage that the education system has all but erased from the story. That is that Columbus was deeply religious, and he saw the New World as a place where more than just fortunes could be made. In describing his discovery to King Ferdinand of Spain, Columbus portrayed himself as a devout and sincere Christian who rejoiced in the souls that would be saved in this new land: “Let Christ rejoice on earth, as he rejoices in heaven, when he foresees coming to salvation so many souls of people hitherto lost.” Many of the islands Columbus discovered he named in homage to his Christian faith such as Trinidad (trinity), San Salvador (holy savior), Dominica (Sunday/“The Lord’s Day”), La Navidad (nativity/Christmas), Santa Cruz/St. Croix (holy cross), San Pedro (Saint Peter) and a host of others.
His sense of religious duty was very much apparent and so from its absolute beginning our nation’s narrative is one of a religiously rooted foundation. This is an uncomfortable idea for those whose religion seems to be secular wokeness, and thus must be stamped out. George Orwell said who controls the past controls the future, and who controls the present controls the past, and thus is it imperative for progressives to try and play down or even eliminate any reference to the role of religion in the genesis of this American “city upon a hill.” Again, this is part of the new Year Zero in America.
From academia, to pop culture, to media, the flow of information, the gateways to knowledge, are often manned by those who view our civilization in an unfavorable light and are blatantly contentious towards many expressions of our Judeo-Christian heritage. I do not deny their sincere empathy toward the indigenous people, many of whom suffered terribly at the hands of the conquistadors and colonists who followed in Columbus’ wake. But this tells only half the tale. As renowned author and law professor Dr. John Edsmoe points out, I do not lament the spread of Western civilization as reflected in “contributions to art, music, architecture, ethics, liberty, law, government, a Constitution that has served as a model across the world, an economic system that has produced the greatest good for the greatest number and the highest level of prosperity the world has ever known, and a spirit of ingenuity and achievement that led to unparalleled medical and technological advances.”
Still, if one wishes to see the memory of this incredibly brave and dedicated explorer and his world-changing voyage torn down, there are ways within the system of discourse and laws brought to the New World by Columbus’ descendants to achieve this. But the roving gangs prefer the Stalinist/Maoist approach: erase the man, like a one-time party insider now out-of-favor and deleted from old group photos. And if they in the process wish to demean Columbus in such a way as to unfairly paint him with the crimes of the conquistadors who followed and as a profiteer and racist, well, it’s a free country, isn’t it?  I guess the reaction to this viewpoint will tell me.
As for me, I will continue to honor this man, warts and all, who braved the uncharted realm not just for profit alone, but to spread the Gospel he fervently believed in as Truth, and Western traditions that have served us so well in the five-and-a-quarter centuries since he first set sail into the true unknown. To me, Columbus represents capitalism, Western exceptionalism, and faith in a higher power than ourselves. Indeed, he represents the best of us in some ways. Conversely, this man represents the worst of several worlds to certain segments of the nihilist, atheist mindset that have wormed their insidious way into the ranks of those who tell the story of who we were, and who we are, in the hopes of changing us into the secular grievance-driven and tribalist society that they believe we ought to be. They say to judge a man by his enemies as well as his friends. Given what I have seen of those who violently and with no regard for the law or even decency take Columbus to task without any sense of historical context, as well as their disdainful view of the values and traditions I hold dear, I will side with the man from Genoa and take on all comers.
More from Brad Schaeffer: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/schaeffer-united-states-exceptional-ask-japanese-brad-schaeffer">The United States IS Exceptional. Ask The Japanese.</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>.

Columbus Statue

SCHAEFFER: Christopher Columbus Deserves To Be Celebrated

Christopher Columbus

Hollywood certainly doesn’t have a reputation for being harmless. The amount of child actors who have walked away from an acting career untouched by the social pressures are few and far between. But even more scarce are those that lead a life as “put together” on the inside as they appear to be on the outside. 
Kirk Cameron, one of such men, would be the first to admit that he’s far from perfect, but he is also quick to remind people that his faith in God is the leading reason why he enjoys the life he does. 
In a December 2019 “Sunday Special” interview with Daily Wire’s Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro, actor and producer, Kirk Cameron, shared how his faith impacted his career in the entertainment industry and how it has proved to be the foundation of a purposeful and successful life, both in Hollywood and at home. 
Cameron’s acting career launched when he was 9 years old. Only 5 years later, he found himself starring as Mike Seaver on ABC’s hit show “Growing Pains.” It was at that point Cameron knew he was meant to be an entertainer.  
The “Growing Pains” cast was like a family, said Cameron. And his experience was an overall positive one. 
“But being a teenager in Hollywood is a pretty dicey road to take,” Cameron admitted to Shapiro. “And I think that’s where faith in God kicked in and pointed me in a different direction — I took the road less-traveled, so to speak.” 
His journey of faith started at 17 when he was “captivated by the message of the Gospel” during a Sunday church message. Cameron said it helped him answer questions, existential and philosophical, that he was wrestling with at the time. 
From that point on, Cameron worked to navigate a lifestyle of reconciling his new faith with his career in Hollywood. 
“I was trying to figure out ‘how do I do this’ — I didn’t grow up like this. ‘How do I honor God in an industry that doesn’t always look to accomplish the same goal?’”
The changes in his behavior were subtle, indicated Cameron. “I just wasn’t dropping as many F-bombs, you know. I wasn&#8217;t going to the same parties, and I wasn&#8217;t interested in some of the same stuff my friends were interested in.”
The outside response to Cameron’s conversion was about as expected, considering the track record of teen celebrities.
“I would say there were some people who had a healthy concern,” Cameron explained. “You know when you hear of teen celebrities, child actors, often things enter into their life that makes them go wrong. And you know that can be very concerning.” 
Despite those concerns, Cameron is confident that he picked the best path. And he attributes his faith for keeping him on track.
Looking back, Cameron stated, “Wow, I’m really blessed to have this life and I want to really live it in a way that honors the One who gave it to me.’ And I think that kept me on track more than anything.” 
Forging the same career path but with a new identity was not as difficult for Cameron as one might expect. Cameron said doors began to open after high school, “and the doors that were opening were lining up with things that were happening to me on the inside.” 
Not everything stayed the same — but for Cameron that was ok. 
“There may have been some parts that I had to pass on because of content or conscience issues,” admitted Cameron. However, “It wasn&#8217;t like I felt like people&#8217;s disagreements with my faith or my values was inhibiting my career.” 
Rather, Cameron has had the opportunity to pursue entertainment he’s passionate about through films including “Fireproof” and the documentary “Monumental: In Search of America&#8217;s National Treasure.” 
“I want to be about things that promote faith, I want to be about things that promote family, and marriage,” Cameron told Shapiro. “And I think it’s really helping people,” he added. 
Now, as a husband to his once-girlfriend on and off screen, Chelsea Noble, and father of six children, four of whom are adopted, Cameron seeks to live out the same values that he promotes in his films. He is convinced that, “when the family crumbles, the nation crumbles.” 
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-127379" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Ben-Shapiro-Kirk-Cameron-919x576.jpg" alt="Ben Shapiro Kirk Cameron" width="600" height="376" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Ben-Shapiro-Kirk-Cameron-919x576.jpg 919w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Ben-Shapiro-Kirk-Cameron-300x188.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Ben-Shapiro-Kirk-Cameron-768x482.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Ben-Shapiro-Kirk-Cameron.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />
In addition to his film work, Cameron and his wife lead marriage conferences across the country.
Cameron said all families begin with an expectation of success. “Nobody goes to the altar thinking, ‘Hey, if this whole thing blows up, I’m ok with that,’” he told Shapiro. Rather, he believes “people want and appreciate things that help them to live life in a way that causes people to flourish, families to flourish, and the nation to flourish.” 
With marital commitment in Hollywood today being a rare phenomena, Cameron joked during the discussion, “I’ve been married for 29 years, which is like 290 in Hollywood years.”
Parenting is also a full-time job for Cameron. He told Shapiro that there are three key principles he and his wife refer back to. The first is to be the person you want your kids to become. The second is prioritizing the relationships with your children and making sure your house doesn’t become a “correctional center,” as Cameron put it. 
Finally, “point them to truth,” urged Cameron.
“You know the kids get inundated with so much error,” he remarked, “with so much, you know, right is wrong, wrong is right.”
“For me, I go to God’s Word — those principles, those ancient truths that I can always go to,” he explained. “I want my kids to learn those things and know that truth is not relative when it comes to morality and things like that. Truth is something they can build their life on.”
Cameron is fully aware of the secularization in today’s society and is persuaded that culture is the key to bringing about change. 
“Politics is downstream of culture,” argued Cameron. “I think that the hearts and minds of young people are being formed, and they vote accordingly.” 
Cameron said one of the solutions is more people of faith in Hollywood.
Understandably, there are objections to joining such an industry. Cameron acknowledged the complaints that Hollywood can be “dark” and “dirty.” But just like politics, Cameron stated, “If you don’t like it, change it.”
While there is a strong but inarticulate demand for faith-based entertainment, fear of producing or even participating in such films is a big roadblock. Contrary to popular opinion, he suggested, there are in fact people of faith in the entertainment industry. 
Cameron said that “there are more people of faith than you would think” in Hollywood, but “many of them are very cautious about expressing that faith.” 
The actor is optimistic that we will be witnessing more people of faith “coming out of the closet,” both in Hollywood but also “all around the country and the world.” 
Practically speaking, “people are making projects where faith is at the center because it does well at the box office,” he noted.
“Many people think that what I have done, like talking about my faith, would be suicide for a career,” he told Shapiro.
To those debating whether or not they should vocalize their faith or conservative values in their professional setting, Cameron said, “Go with your convictions.” 
For him it was a matter of not wanting “to look back” in regret for not making the courageous choice. You won’t want to reflect back and say, “‘I wish I could do that over again. You know, I wish I had some courage and I wish I didn’t care so much about what other people thought.’”
“I care about people,” Cameron concluded. Ultimately that is why he wants to try to “speak the truth and live the truth in a compassionate way.”
“If I don&#8217;t do that I&#8217;m really not loving people,” he said. “I&#8217;m really just protecting myself and my career, which is selfish.”
At the end of the day, acting upon your convictions is of far greater value. 
“You only live once,” said Cameron. “Do what you believe you’re here to do.” 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-82-kirk-cameron">Watch Cameron&#8217;s full interview with Shapiro</a>

Kirk Cameron

Kirk Cameron Discusses Finding Faith Amid Fame

Ben Shapiro

Christianity

Hollywood

Religion

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1280661677273464834?s=20">declared</a> during a press conference yesterday that America&#8217;s &#8220;system of oppression&#8221; must be &#8220;dismantled.&#8221; She identified our political and economic systems, as well as the criminal justice system, as perpetuators of this oppression.
While listening to Omar deliver one of her trademark soliloquies about our evil and oppressive country, one wonders what exactly is this oppression she speaks of? Who is being oppressed and in what way are they being oppressed?
Omar is not the only one painting such a dystopian picture of our society. This is the message we hear all across the Left — from the protesters and riots, from Hollywood, from academia, from the media. Take this <a href="https://twitter.com/TeenVogue/status/1280661656847220736">article</a> just published by Teen Vogue, claiming that the United States is &#8220;by every indication, more committed to death, subjugation, and grief than life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.&#8221; To prove the point, the author (who, for the record, goes by the Twitter handle @SatansJacuzzi) points to the recent but unconnected murders of two women. A vague attempt is made to link their deaths to racism. But what the esteemed Satan&#8217;s Jacuzzi neglects to mention is that both women were killed by black men.
Why didn&#8217;t the author use more useful and relevant examples of black women killed by white men? Probably because such cases are exceedingly rare. Despite America being, as the piece says, &#8220;a vast tapestry of death,&#8221; the fact is that white people rarely kill black people. The reverse is also true. As FBI statistics <a href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-3.xls">show</a>, the vast majority of blacks are killed by blacks, and whites by whites. Interracial murders do occur, but very rarely, and the rare black-on-white murder is twice as common as the reverse.
And yet people are marching through the streets with <a href="https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/stop-killing-us-thousands-of-protestors-take-over-south-florida-streets/2241631/">signs</a> screaming &#8220;Stop killing us.&#8221; A writer for the Atlantic is more specific, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/damage-white-onlookers-inflict/612583/">saying</a>, &#8220;I want white people to stop killing us.&#8221; We are supposed to believe that black people are being hunted and gunned down in the street by racist whites, but this epidemic of racial violence is almost entirely imaginary. It&#8217;s a fable that is being repeated over and over again, from all corners of society, until people are persuaded just by the force of sheer repetition.
Even McDonald&#8217;s is getting in on the act. The fast food chain recently tweeted a <a href="https://twitter.com/McDonalds/status/1277433235111202816?s=20">video</a> of a &#8220;trans woman&#8221; pleading with the public to &#8220;stop killing us.&#8221; Once again, the plea is unnecessary. The supposed problem of anti-trans violence is a <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/04/the-left-is-lying-about-a-hatred-and-violence-epidemic-against-transgender-people/">myth</a>. Trans people are murdered — just like people of all groups are murdered, given that we are mortal beings living in a human society — but almost all of the murders are tied to domestic violence, prostitution, or drugs. Bigotry rarely has anything to do with it.
McDonald&#8217;s is not alone. A great many of the largest and richest corporations in America have adopted the far-left talking points of Black Lives Matter and done their part to spread the misinformation to the public, which is not exactly what you&#8217;d expect in a country supposedly committed to the oppression and extermination of racial minorities. Indeed, corporations are so firmly on the side of the alleged &#8220;oppressed&#8221; that Colin Kaepernick has been able to parlay his oppression into multi-million dollar partnerships with three major corporations. He now has deals in place with Disney, Nike, and Netflix. Not a bad kind of persecution, if you can find it.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9qkjvuNj4_c?start=44" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">﻿</iframe>
Not every allegedly oppressed person is as rich and (unduly) admired as Kaepernick. But, statistically speaking, almost everyone in this country is richer, freer, and more comfortable than almost everyone else who has lived on Earth at any point in history, anywhere on the globe. We all enjoy an unprecedented amount of freedom and luxury. Some of us more than others — we can&#8217;t all be as privileged as Colin Kaepernick — but even the most economically disadvantaged in our society still have liberties and luxuries unknown to the poor and downtrodden elsewhere on the planet and throughout history. None of this means that we should be complacent or accepting of actual injustice when it occurs, but it does make you wonder why now, of all times, and here, of all places, we should be seeing crazed mobs burning cities and calling for the dismantling of the system that has made them historically secure and comfortable in the first place.
I think the answer is that struggle is a basic human need. Humans, it turns out, must have something to struggle against, fight against, overcome. Humans need, even, to suffer — if only in manageable doses. What we cannot do is sit still, luxuriating in our comforts, and remarking on how easy we have it. We cannot be happy that way. Decadence is not quite as fun or fulfilling as we thought it would be. We need a struggle of some kind, but in modern society, there aren&#8217;t many forms of struggle immediately on offer. So we have to create one for ourselves.
There are two ways to go about this: the healthy or unhealthy way. The healthy way is to set out to do constructive and meaningful things that are difficult and require sacrifice. The most obvious and important example of this is starting a family. By starting a family, you make your life far more complicated, but in the bargain you get love, meaning, purpose, and an escape from loneliness.
And then there are the smaller undertakings, the little things people can do to purposefully make their lives a little harder than they need to be. Gardening, hunting, fishing, fixing your own plumbing, changing your own oil, making meals from scratch, etc. Modern society has provided much easier ways to obtain the practical benefits of all of these kinds of things, but we do them anyway, because it takes effort, and healthy people find value in putting in the effort. It is work largely for its own sake.
There was a time of course — the majority of human history, in fact — when people had no choice but to do everything the hard way. If you wanted something built, you had to build it. If you wanted something to eat, you had to grow it, kill it, or catch it. And we notice that in those times, there rarely were people marching through the streets over imaginary oppression. They had their struggle. They lived it every day. There was no need to create any new ones for themselves. Because every other human need was not automatically met, the human need for struggle was always met.
But what happens when someone rejects all of the fruitful and constructive outlets to satisfy this need? Then they resort to self-martyrdom and persecution complexes. For a lot of people, this means randomly ruining their relationships, creating drama where it doesn&#8217;t need to be, and convincing themselves that everyone is out to get them. They thrive on gossip, envy, and feelings of personal offense and injury. They are likely to find supposed backstabbers, cheaters, liars, and fake friends everywhere they go, because that is how they see the world; it is the struggle they have made for themselves. &#8220;Why can&#8217;t I find an honest man,&#8221; a woman of this sort will lament. The answer is that she can find an honest man, and quite easily, but she doesn&#8217;t want to. She has found meaning in her manufactured struggle, and she doesn&#8217;t want to let it go.
The protesters are in this camp, doing a version of this same thing. They fulfill their need for struggle by making up elaborate mythologies about oppression and persecution. They convince themselves that they are in a fight for their lives against the murderous racists and oppressive bigots who lurk around every corner. It&#8217;s all hallucinatory, a mirage for people whose freedom and luxury has made them thirst for struggle the way a man in the desert thirsts for water. But mirage or not, they will hang onto it and no mere fact or statistic will be allowed to interfere. They are determined to take vengeance on America, even if America never did anything to them but give them everything they could ever want or need. The irony is that if they succeed, if they actually do tear this country down, dismantle it, then the luxury and freedom and comfort will disappear, and they will finally get the authentic version of the oppression they so desperately want.
And once they have it, they will quickly decide that they don&#8217;t really want it. But then they will no longer have a choice. All they will be able to do is lie in the bed that they have made.
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>.

Flag Burning Protest

WALSH: The Mob Is Trying To Destroy America Over Imaginary Oppression. Here’s Why.  

Black Lives Matter

Defund The Police

Race

This week, CNN&#8217;s Don Lemon, who has spent the last few weeks bashing the supposed thoroughgoing systemic racism of the United States, hosted black actor Terry Crews. He then proceeded to browbeat Crews, who had committed the great sin of tweeting, &#8220;#ALLBLACKLIVESMATTER 9 black CHILDREN killed by violence in Chicago since June 20, 2020.&#8221;
Lemon specifically <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnns-don-lemon-black-lives-matter-movement-is-not-about-all-black-lives-matter">objected</a> to Crews&#8217; hashtag. After Lemon humbly informed Crews that he has skin &#8220;as tough as an armadillo,&#8221; he then lectured: &#8220;The Black Lives Matter movement was started because it was talking about police brutality. &#8230; But that&#8217;s not what Black Lives Matter is about. It&#8217;s not &#8230; all-encompassing &#8230; The Black Lives Matter movement is about police brutality and injustice in that matter, not about what&#8217;s happening in black neighborhoods.&#8221;
This, of course, is largely false. The Black Lives Matter movement did indeed begin with protests about police brutality but quickly morphed into broader debates over the validity of looting and rioting, tearing down historic statues, slavery reparations and defunding the police. And Black Lives Matter, as Crews correctly pointed out, has never restricted its mandate to the question of police violence: It has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-what-we-believe-page-disrupt-the-western-prescribed-nuclear-family-dismantle-cisgender-privilege">announced</a> that its focuses also include police brutality, transgender rights, gay rights, disrupting the nuclear family and freeing Palestine, among other diverse topics.
So why is Lemon so deeply invested in preventing conversations about black lives? Why, in fact, do only some black lives matter, rather than all?
That&#8217;s not merely a question asked by conservatives or contrarians. It&#8217;s being asked all over the United States by black Americans being left to the predations of criminals, in large part thanks to the woke virtue signaling of many Black Lives Matter leaders and media allies.
In Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser emblazoned the enormous yellow words &#8220;BLACK LIVES MATTER&#8221; on 16th Street. Protesters quickly added &#8220;DEFUND THE POLICE.&#8221; One month later, 11-year-old Davon McNeal was shot in the head while heading to a family cookout on July 4. His grandfather, John Ayala, lamented: &#8220;We&#8217;re protesting for months, for weeks, saying, &#8216;Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter.&#8217; Black lives matter it seems like, only when a police officer shoots a black person. What about all the black-on-black crime that&#8217;s happening in the community?&#8221;
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McNeal was just one of the latest victims of a wave of violence gripping America&#8217;s major cities. Last weekend, at least 89 people were shot in Chicago, leaving at least 17 dead. Shootings in Philadelphia have spiked 67%. In the first week of June, Los Angeles saw a shocking 250% increase in murders from the prior week. New York City&#8217;s shootings have skyrocketed 44% over last year&#8217;s numbers; every person shot there the week of June 29 — 101 — was from a minority community.
It turns out that the agenda of Black Lives Matter, which includes fighting against the prevalence of police — a call taken up by Democratic mayors and city councils around the United States — endangers black lives far more than the presence of police.
Yet these lives don&#8217;t particularly matter for Black Lives Matter advocates, apparently. Black lives matter when we&#8217;re talking about police brutality. But Don Lemon has no airtime each night for those who seek to talk about threats to black lives that dwarf in severity problems related to policing — and that are just as newsworthy. Indeed, the statistical case is unassailable that the daily murder of minority youths in America&#8217;s major cities is far more newsworthy than the latest cable panel discussion of &#8220;white fragility&#8221; or the &#8220;power of whiteness.&#8221;
But our current Black Lives Matter moment isn&#8217;t about Davon McNeal, even if the wages of Black Lives Matter&#8217;s recommended policies are death for those left unprotected by law enforcement. All that matters for too many in our elite institutions is the narrative that America&#8217;s systems are the greatest obstacle to black Americans. And not all lives lost are equally valuable in promoting that perverse narrative.
More from Ben Shapiro: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shapiro-anti-racism-crusade-seeks-to-eradicate-everything-we-share">‘Anti-Racism’ Crusade Seeks To Eradicate Everything We Share</a>

Crime Scene

SHAPIRO: Not All Black Lives Matter To Black Lives Matter

Don Lemon

Law Enforcement

Black Lives Matter Protest

8 Ways Black Lives Matter Activists Changed The Nation’s Largest Criminal Justice System

Capitalism

Los Angeles

Marxism

Entertainers bow in near-unison to Cancel Culture dictates. We see it everywhere, from white actresses quitting voice roles for biracial characters to celebrities denouncing their white privilege in cringe-worthy videos.
When the most popular movie of all time, “Gone with the Wind,” got temporarily pulled from HBO Max, no prominent star spoke in its defense.
No Spielberg, Coppola or Tarantino rose up to say, “enough is enough.”
The atmosphere in La La Land couldn’t be more tense following the rise of Black Lives Matter and the fallout from George Floyd’s death at the hands of a white police officer. Stars probably fear a “problematic” tweet from their past, one long since forgotten, could resurface to wreck both their present and future.
Their concern is justified given the ferocity of the speech police, but it’s hardly the portrait of bravery we often hear from the glitterati, like when Charlize Theron <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/may/07/charlize-theron-is-being-called-brave-for-gaining-weight-for-a-role-heres-why-thats-a-problem">“bravely” gained weight</a> for a film role.
The following figures deserve to be called “brave” … and then some.
Terry Crews
The muscle-bound star of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Idiocracy” is no culture warrior. Or, at least he didn’t start out that way.
Crews simply got dragged into current events – twice. Following Harvey Weinstein’s precipitous downfall, Crews revealed a man had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-terry-crews-details-sickening-incident-when-paul-bois">sexually groped him</a> years earlier, and he finally felt comfortable speaking about it.
More recently, Crews dared to suggest BLM’s rhetoric may not be as unassailable as the press insists. The far-left group, he suggested, “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/terry-crews-slammed-suggesting-black-lives-matter-could-morph-black-n1232549">must ensure #blacklivesmatter doesn’t morph into #blacklivesbetter</a>.”
That caused a media firestorm, with most outlets presuming Crews had uttered classic “wrongthink.”
The former football star could have apologized and/or cut a large check to BLM to atone for his sins.
He did neither.
Instead, he correctly noted a frightening number of <a href="https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/6/terry-crews-declares-all-black-lives-matter-after-/">black children have died</a> in the wake of BLM’s ascendance. He also acknowledged the cultural forces lined up against him, and gently told them <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/terry-crews-doubles-down-on-desire-to-unite-people-despite-leftist-outrage-i-decide-to-die-on-this-hill">to pound sand</a>.
“Are all white people bad? No. Are all black people good? No. Knowing this reality – I stand on my decision to unite with good people, no matter the race, creed or ideology. Given the number of threats against this decision – I also decide to die on this hill.”
He offered nuance, positive thoughts and, most of all, didn’t immediately beg for forgiveness like 99 percent of his peers might have done.
<div id="attachment_125956" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-125956" class="wp-image-125956" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Terry-Crews-1024x576.jpg" alt="Terry Crews arrives for the 72nd Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards at The Ritz Carlton on January 25, 2020 in Los Angeles, California." width="800" height="450" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Terry-Crews-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Terry-Crews-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Terry-Crews-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Terry-Crews-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Terry-Crews-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Frazer Harrison/Getty Images</div>
J.K. Rowling
The mind behind the Harry Potter realm may be the toughest person on this list. Why? Cancel Culture, and the media, have done everything they can to punish her for speaking her mind.
Rowling is both an ardent liberal and full-throated supporter of trans individuals. Still, she stepped off the LGBTQ reservation when she spoke against <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/threats-to-cancel-j-k-rowling-grow-amid-transgender-controversy">erasing the concept of sex</a> and questioned elements of the far-left’s platform on trans issues.
For that she was assaulted in the press, mocked by peers like <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stephen-king-swipes-jk-rowling-trans-women-are-women">Stephen King</a> and denounced by the very stars she made famous, including Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe.
This week she doubled down on her views via a lengthy series of Tweets. She’s not backing down, even after news outlets reach out to her publisher and film studio contacts to see if they’ll be canceling her officially next.
It’s a not too subtle pressure campaign, but so far it’s not working.
<div id="attachment_122840" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-122840" class="wp-image-122840" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/GettyImages-1061228896-818x576.jpg" alt="J.K Rowling attends the UK Premiere of &quot;Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald&quot; at Cineworld Leicester Square on November 13, 2018 in London, England." width="800" height="563" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/06/GettyImages-1061228896-818x576.jpg 818w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/06/GettyImages-1061228896-300x211.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/06/GettyImages-1061228896-768x541.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/06/GettyImages-1061228896.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images</div>
Adam Carolla
Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel bonded years ago and, by all accounts, remain the best of chums. Kimmel followed a more traditional path and found fame via “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Carolla, in turn, failed to duplicate Howard Stern’s radio fame and found himself out of a terrestrial radio gig in 2009 following a format flip.
Then Carolla channeled his inner entrepreneur.
He created “The Adam Carolla Show” podcast and blazed his own trail. In the process he created what he calls his “pirate ship,” a company immune to the PC Police or, later, Cancel Culture.
Only Carolla can fire himself.
The Libertarian-leaning comic essentially gave that crowd the finger via this summer’s “I’m Your Emotional Support Animal: Navigating Our All Woke, No Joke” culture. The hilarious book starts with a disclaimer-slash-promise. No apologizing for jokes. Ever.
Cancel Culture knows not to knock on his door.
<div id="attachment_118942" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-118942" class="wp-image-118942" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Adam-Carolla-959x576.jpg" alt="Adam Carolla performs onstage at the International Myeloma Foundation 13th Annual Comedy Celebration at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on October 17, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Araya Diaz/Getty Images for International Myeloma Foundation)" width="800" height="480" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/06/Adam-Carolla-959x576.jpg 959w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/06/Adam-Carolla-300x180.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/06/Adam-Carolla-768x461.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/06/Adam-Carolla.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Araya Diaz/Getty Images</div>
Ricky Gervais
The British comic’s take-no-prisoners approach isn’t new. He’s been slaying and flaying his targets for some time, but he’s grown bolder in recent years.
We all know why. He takes extra pleasure angering the PC scolds, and it’s infectious.
Earlier this year he torched woke Hollywood at the Golden Globes, and he’s regularly rejecting calls to censor his stand-up. He broke down why Cancel Culture exists and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gervais-says-the-woke-mob-wants-to-shut-you-up">its true purpose.</a> during an illuminating podcast chat.
He also refused to budge during a woke Hollywood Reporter roundtable most recently, when far-left comic Kumail Nunjani worried his comedy would <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/kumail-nanjiani-ricky-gervais-comedy-harmful-actor-roundtable-a9599156.html">embolden hate</a>.
<div id="attachment_77481" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-77481" class="wp-image-77481" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Screen-Shot-2020-01-08-at-6.31.52-PM-917x576.png" alt="n this handout photo provided by NBCUniversal Media, LLC, host Ricky Gervais speaks onstage during the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 5, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California." width="800" height="503" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/01/Screen-Shot-2020-01-08-at-6.31.52-PM-917x576.png 917w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/01/Screen-Shot-2020-01-08-at-6.31.52-PM-300x189.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/01/Screen-Shot-2020-01-08-at-6.31.52-PM-768x483.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/01/Screen-Shot-2020-01-08-at-6.31.52-PM.png 942w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal Media, LLC via Getty Images</div>
Anthony Cumia/Dave Landau 
The duo’s very existence on a platform Cumia created warrants their inclusion on this list. It doesn’t end there, though.
Cumia, repeatedly fired from terrestrial and satellite radio for his brash antics, finally had enough in 2014. He created his own “pirate ship,” to paraphrase Carolla, letting his fans directly access his material sans middle men on what he later dubbed Compound Media.
The result? The kind of unexpurgated comedy that once was the norm. Anything goes, with Cumia and Landau embracing the notion that jokes are just that – jokes. The duo treats “The Anthony Cumia Show” like a comedy workshop, riffing through ideas that are often as funny as they are tasteless.
Don’t like that brand of humor? No one is forcing you to sign up. Ain’t that America?
Their uncensored commentary on the relentless riots, in particularly, offer a tonic to those aghast at the corporate media’s gaslighting on the matter.
<div id="attachment_126589" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-126589" class="wp-image-126589" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Anthony-Cumia.jpg" alt="Anthony Cumia at Carolines On Broadway on April 17, 2014 in New York City." width="800" height="495" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Anthony-Cumia.jpg 926w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Anthony-Cumia-300x186.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Anthony-Cumia-768x475.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Cindy Ord/Stringer/Getty Images</div>
Dean Cain
The erstwhile Superman uses social media to share uplifting messages, chat with fans and, occasionally, share his right-of-center views.
He did more than that recently. During a Fox News appearance Cain slammed Cancel Culture and worried he wouldn’t be able to say, “Truth, justice and the American way” if he played the Man of Steel now.
He’s right, of course. The 2006 film “Superman Returns” <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/dean-cain-superman-american-way/">stripped “American way” out of that iconic phrase 14 years ago.</a>
Honorable Mention: Actors Nick Searcy and James Woods routinely stand up to the PC police no matter the cultural conditions.
More from Christian Toto: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/toto-shouldnt-hamilton-get-canceled-next">Shouldn’t ‘Hamilton’ Get Canceled Next?</a>
<div id="attachment_126591" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-126591" class="wp-image-126591" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Dean-Cain-965x576.jpg" alt="Executive producer Dean Cain attends the premiere of 'Architects Of Denial' at Taglyan Complex on October 3, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tara Ziemba/Getty Images)" width="800" height="477" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Dean-Cain-965x576.jpg 965w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Dean-Cain-300x179.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Dean-Cain-768x458.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Dean-Cain.jpg 1002w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Tara Ziemba/Getty Images</div>

Terry Crews

Meet The Few, The Proud, The Free Speech Heroes of Hollywood

Adam Carolla

Free Speech

JK Rowling

Ricky Gervais

On Monday night, alleged news anchor Don Lemon brought actor Terry Crews onto his program to <a href="https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1280365670404743168">lecture</a> him for expressing unauthorized view points. Crews, who is black, has argued that Black Lives Matter should have more to say about black-on-black violence. Lemon explained that Black Lives Matter does not mean &#8220;all black lives,&#8221; but specifically that small minority of lives that are taken in police shootings. According to Lemon, BLM has an intentionally narrow focus, and that focus simply cannot make room for the thousands of black lives lost every year due to black-on-black violence.
Even if this were true, it would be a paltry defense. If police brutality is all that Black Lives Matter cares about, then it should be called Police Brutality Matters. And even if it was called Police Brutality Matters, and it did stay on that topic, valid criticisms could be made about the choice to focus on a problem that is relatively small in comparison to all of the other dangers faced by the average black person, especially in the inner city. But as it happens, Black Lives Matter does not limit its advocacy to police brutality. It engages on a whole host of issues that have little to do with preserving black life or holding law enforcement accountable.
Indeed, the organization&#8217;s website reads like a feminist blog or a gender studies syllabus. Here is some of its &#8220;<a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/">What We Believe</a>&#8221; mission statement:
<blockquote>We make space for transgender brothers and sisters to participate and lead.
We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.
We build a space that affirms Black women and is free from sexism, misogyny, and environments in which men are centered.
We practice empathy. We engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts.
We make our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work “double shifts” so that they can mother in private even as they participate in public justice work.
We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.
We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise).
We cultivate an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism. We believe that all people, regardless of age, show up with the capacity to lead and learn.
We embody and practice justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another.</blockquote>
Under the &#8220;<a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-matters-2020/">What Matters</a>&#8221; tab, there&#8217;s even more to add to the progressive wish list:
<blockquote>BLM’s #WhatMatters2020 will focus on issues concerning racial injustice, police brutality, criminal justice reform, Black immigration, economic injustice, LGBTQIA+ and human rights, environmental injustice, access to healthcare, access to quality education, and voting rights and suppression.</blockquote>
So, BLM advocates for trans rights, gay rights, women&#8217;s rights, voting rights, economic justice, environmental justice, healthcare access, education, and &#8220;queer-affirming networks,&#8221; and against the patriarchy, cisgender privilege, &#8220;trans-antagonist violence,&#8221; ageism, sexism, the nuclear family, and &#8220;heteronormative thinking.&#8221; This is nothing but a list of every item on the Left&#8217;s agenda — in some cases, the Extremely Far Left&#8217;s agenda.
I wonder: how many average black people, if you were to conduct a poll, would mention cisgender privilege, the patriarchy, trans-antagonism, the nuclear family, and heteronormative thinking as problems that especially worry them? I imagine a fair number of wealthy white girls at an expensive university would cite these as important issues, and probably everyone at a gay pride rally would agree with most of BLM&#8217;s mission statement, but why are the priorities of gay activists and liberal white girls so prominently represented by an organization that calls itself Black Lives Matter?
And, given the expansive focus of this organization, why can&#8217;t it find room to so much as mention the murder of black Americans by other black Americans? Black people are murdered at a rate <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htius.pdf">6 times higher than whites</a> historically and over <a href="https://www.politifact.com/article/2015/may/21/updated-look-statistics-black-black-murders/">90 percent</a> of those murders are perpetrated by other black people. How can BLM mention trans people four times in its mission statement and yet make not one mention of the thousands of victims of non-police violence in our cities?
Black life is indeed being devalued, destroyed, and discarded on a massive scale and at an alarming rate. A message of &#8220;black lives matter&#8221; is desperately needed. But almost all of this destruction, with rare exception, is happening within the black community and by the black community. A Black Lives Matter movement that ignores this fact cannot hope to be effective in preserving and defending black life.
That is why it is fortunate for BLM that they don&#8217;t care about preserving and defending black life, at least that is not their true point or goal. They are, as their own words clearly show, a far-left political advocacy group that cares solely about advancing far-left political interests. The name is nothing but a front (a clever front, we must admit). As Don Lemon told Terry Crews, Black Lives Matter isn&#8217;t fighting for all black life, or even most black life. If someone wants an organization that fulfills that purpose, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnns-don-lemon-black-lives-matter-movement-is-not-about-all-black-lives-matter">they&#8217;ll have to form it themselves</a>.

BLM Logo

WALSH: Here Are All Of The Far-Left Issues The BLM Org Cares About More Than Defending ‘All Black Lives’

In mid-June, the City of Seattle held a training session for white employees called “Interrupting Internalized Racial Superiority and Whiteness.” Christopher Rufo, the director of the Center of Wealth &amp; Poverty and contributing editor of City Journal, utilized a public records request to ascertain exactly what was going on, issuing a Twitter thread to delineate what he found.
In the Twitter thread, Rufo noted, “diversity trainers informed white participants that ‘objectivity,’ ‘individualism,’ ‘intellectualization,’ and ‘comfort’ are all vestiges of internalized racial oppression.”
Rufo reported that the training session indicated that white employees speaking too much might mean whites were exhibiting &#8220;paternalism.&#8221; If white employees spoke too little, that indicated an attempt at oppression since &#8220;silence&#8221; is &#8220;violence.&#8221;
Other quotes from the training session reportedly included urging white employees to &#8220;practice self-talk that affirms [their] complicity in racism&#8221; and working on &#8220;undoing your own whiteness.&#8221; Trainers reportedly requested white employees to &#8220;let go&#8221; of &#8220;comfort,&#8221; &#8220;guaranteed physical safety,&#8221; &#8220;control over the land,&#8221; &#8220;social status,&#8221; and &#8220;relationships with some other white people.&#8221;
Rufo continued, “Then they go through a flow chart that outlines how white people ‘cause harm to POC,’ ‘show up small and inauthentic,’ and are unable to access their ‘humanity.’” He added that the invitation for the training session was addressed to &#8220;white City employees.&#8221; The goal of the session was ostensibly to enlighten attendees that they have &#8220;complicity in the system of white supremacy&#8221; and must be held &#8220;accountable to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.&#8221;
Rufo added, “How do you know when you&#8217;ve successfully ‘interrupted your whiteness’? –When you ‘implicate yourself’ in racism. –When ‘other white people may be angry.’ –When you have stopped your ‘white normative behavior.’”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
First, diversity trainers informed white participants that &quot;objectivity,&quot; &quot;individualism,&quot; &quot;intellectualization,&quot; and &quot;comfort&quot; are all vestiges of internalized racial oppression. <a href="https://t.co/qrZwHZgx1H">pic.twitter.com/qrZwHZgx1H</a>
&mdash; Christopher F. Rufo (@realchrisrufo) <a href="https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1280277424794513408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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What&#39;s next? 
The City of Seattle diversity trainers encourage white employees to &quot;practice self-talk that affirms [their] complicity in racism&quot; and work on &quot;undoing your own whiteness.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/CJxNEcIeh2">pic.twitter.com/CJxNEcIeh2</a>
&mdash; Christopher F. Rufo (@realchrisrufo) <a href="https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1280279421677535232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Then they go through a flow chart that outlines how white people &quot;cause harm to POC,&quot; &quot;show up small and inauthentic,&quot; and are unable to access their &quot;humanity.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/jcJppWXe0k">pic.twitter.com/jcJppWXe0k</a>
&mdash; Christopher F. Rufo (@realchrisrufo) <a href="https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1280281457844346880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
As <a href="https://twitter.com/DrKarlynB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DrKarlynB</a> first reported, the invitation for this training was strictly segregated to &quot;white City employees.&quot; 
The goal is to teach them how they have &quot;complicity in the system of white supremacy&quot; and must be held &quot;accountable to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/kPbppFYDtM">pic.twitter.com/kPbppFYDtM</a>
&mdash; Christopher F. Rufo (@realchrisrufo) <a href="https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1280284826415710208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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In the <a href="https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/locations/homeless-health/healthcare-for-the-homeless/~/media/depts/health/homeless-health/healthcare-for-the-homeless/documents/racial-caucasing-report-2019.ashx">2019 King County Public Health HCHN Racial Caucusing Report</a>, under Race Caucusing Objectives, it stated: “White people participate in affinity caucusing in order to: Work through guilt, shame &amp; other barriers that hold white people back from engaging in race conversations and doing racial justice work; Ask questions and explore ideas that help white people learn about racism without having to learn at the expense of people of color; Hold each other accountable for actions and behaviors. Build relationships; Gain tools to talk about racism, white supremacy and privilege, and Remind white people that work needs to be done to dismantle racism every day.”
Under People of Color Affinity Group Questions, it stated: “What is something you have stopped/started doing do minimize the negative impact of your internalized oppression/inferiority in you work place? Who in your life makes it difficult to speak up/out and how/why? How are you intentionally decolonizing your mind? Where in your life do you continue to support institutionalized racism even though you are aware of your actions? Why? Why is it important to understand the intra-/inter-ethnic bias and prejudice we exhibit among POC in your work place?”
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest growing alternative 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>.
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So far, the City of Seattle has refused to provide the names of the diversity trainers, the budget for the program, or the video of the session.
I&#39;m going to keep pushing—because this is exactly the kind of thought-policing they want to implement everywhere.
&mdash; Christopher F. Rufo (@realchrisrufo) <a href="https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1280287566353166341?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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2019 Rock&#8217;n&#8217;Roll Seattle 5K

City Of Seattle Holds Training Session For White Employees

Racism

Seattle

The following is satirical. 
Leftist radicals have released a new manifesto, declaring their righteous purposes in destroying everything and terrorizing everybody.
In a statement painted in make-believe blood on the wall of an immigrant’s shop, the radicals selflessly set aside the important business of their day, which was painting on the walls of other shops, in order to make known the beautiful future that awaits the smoldering ruin of the country.
The statement reads:
“We of the Resistance demand that nobody puts up any resistance so we can continue to be the resistance without meeting any resistance.
&#8220;We are dedicated to pushing forward a socialist agenda by gaining support from the CEO’s of multi-billion-dollar international corporations who make an absolute fortune putting out books and movies and statements in support of our agenda while they sit on their yachts waiting for us to become homeless and die.
&#8220;We radicals demand inclusiveness by excluding anyone who is not like us and seek diversity by ensuring that everyone thinks the same thing, and demand freedom by forcing everyone to agree with everything we say.
“We believe in defunding the police because Black Lives Matter and yes, when there are no police, there will be many fewer black lives but just think how much they’ll matter.
“We believe in pulling down statues of white people and black people and elks and anyone who has ever accomplished anything which just makes us feel bad about ourselves.
“We have a plan to replace inequality with equality and injustice with justice and in general with general so that we at last destroy all words that begin with ‘in’ and replace them with almost the same words but without &#8216;in,&#8217; then everything will be great.
&#8220;This is our manifesto, and now that we see it in writing, we realize even we have no idea what we’re talking about and should be stopped before we hurt someone.”
More satire from Andrew Klavan: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/medical-experts-declare-ghislaine-maxwell-will-have-committed-suicide-when-she-commits-suicide-satire">Medical Experts Declare Ghislaine Maxwell Will Have Committed Suicide When She Commits Suicide </a>

Insane

After Reading Their Own Manifesto, Radical Anti-Americans Realize They’re Insane [Satire]

Satire

The latest monument to come under fire by the Left is one that they’ll probably need more than a chain and a small band of vandals to pull down. Mount Rushmore, a symbol of “<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/native-americans-mount-rushmore-symbol-broken-treaties-white/story?id=71594501">white domination</a>” and “<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/sordid-history-mount-rushmore-180960446/">white supremacy</a>” — and, even worse now, the site of a President Trump speech — must be, as a recent New York Times article put it, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/us/mount-rushmore.html">reconsidered</a>.”
Oglala Sioux President Julian Bear Runner believes the monument <a href="https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/25/mount-rushmore-oglala-sioux-president-removal-president-trump/3198922001/">should</a> “come down” but not via explosives. Blowing up giant 60-foot faces carved into the side of a mountain would, Bear Runner concedes, probably cause a bit more damage than whatever kind of unspecified damage is caused by their continued presence. Maybe we can just put a giant tarp over it. Or — here’s a better idea — to each sculpture we can affix a really big version of one of those gag glasses with noses and funny mustaches. 
But the most interesting part of the belated Mount Rushmore backlash is the <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1279848604233019394">repeated claim</a> that we must repent of the monument and somehow remove it because it was built on “stolen” land. Senator Tammy Duckworth also echoed this theme over the weekend, <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1279813001315520513">pronouncing</a> the land &#8220;stolen&#8221; from &#8220;Native Americans,&#8221; who acquired it &#8220;during a treaty.&#8221; As so many woke Leftists tend to do, Duckwork speaks of Native Americans as if they were one homogenous and unified group. Americans stole from “Native Americans,” generally, she says. Which is like saying the British “stole land from Asians” when they occupied India. No, they were taking from Indians, not the Chinese or the Vietnamese, and the distinction is important. Indeed, Leftists would usually be the first to claim that it is racist to erase or minimize such distinctions. 
Yet there is a reason why the “we stole land” crowd is hesitant to get specific on the matter of who we stole the land from. The problem is helpfully illustrated by <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/rushmore-sioux/">this PBS article</a>, which says the Black Hills were appropriated from the Lakota Sioux, who were “the original occupants of the area.” But the Lakota were the original occupants of the Black Hills in the same way that I was the first person to experience human flight when I took a plane from Baltimore to Charlotte in March. That is to say, I wasn&#8217;t. And they weren’t. Not by a long shot. 
There has been a human presence in the Black Hills <a href="https://www.travelsouthdakota.com/trip-ideas/story/ancient-art">since prehistoric times</a>. From that era until the U.S. “stole” it, many groups of people fought, often quite brutally, for control of the region. <a href="https://www.legendsofamerica.com/sd-blackhills/">Slightly more recently</a>, the Arikara tribe moved in around the time that Columbus first sailed the ocean blue. The Cheyenne, Kiowa, Crow, and other tribes all arrived in short order to fight for their own share of the coveted mountain range. Finally, the Lakota — the alleged “original occupants” — came in the 18th century, drove all of their competitors away, and established control. It’s worth noting that, for Indian tribes, “driving competitors away” often meant violence and pillaging.
The U.S. did not take the Black Hills from its original occupants. The original occupants had long since been exiled or exterminated by other Native American tribes, who received the same treatment from the next tribe, who received it from the next, and so on. Rather, it would be more accurate to say that the U.S. took the Black Hills from the most recent tribe that had taken it from the tribe that had most recently taken it before them. This is not mere pedantry. The point is that white settlers and pioneers, by trying to claim and conquer new land, were not introducing some new horror to the continent. They were playing the same game of conquest that Indian tribes had been playing — that all people, everywhere, had been playing — since the dawn of human civilization.
It is simply absurd to treat the “theft” of land by Europeans and Americans as a unique evil for which we must repent and take down our monuments in shame. Wars of conquest had been waged in this part of the world for thousands of years before any white man graced these shores. Slavery, torture killings, rape, pillage — all of these were common features of Indian conflict. The white man jumped into that fray, he didn&#8217;t invent it. This is just how the world worked, long before air conditioning and Taco Bell and Twitter accounts. 
And we certainly cannot say that white people were unique in their barbarism. Such claims are rendered absurd by even a cursory study of tribes like the Comanche, who were known to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2396760/How-Comanche-Indians-butchered-babies-roasted-enemies-alive.html">torture babies and roast captives alive</a>; or the Iriquois, who committed a campaign of <a href="https://www.lermuseum.org/new-france-1600-1730/1600-1649/iroquois-offensive-and-the-destruction-of-the-huron-1647-1649">extermination against the Huron</a> over a century before the United States was founded. As SC Gwynn explains in his book “Empire of the Summer Moon,” many Indian tribes in North America were brutal and warlike. And that is to say nothing of the Mesoamerican tribes, like the Aztecs and the Maya, who engaged in human sacrifice on a scale that is almost impossible to fathom. Archeologists are <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/06/feeding-gods-hundreds-skulls-reveal-massive-scale-human-sacrifice-aztec-capital#:~:text=Human%20sacrifice%20occupied%20a%20particularly,and%20the%20world%20would%20end">stll uncovering</a> the endless and towering racks of skulls where the dismembered heads of the butchered victims were kept.
This doesn&#8217;t excuse the many acts of brutality committed by the Spanish, or any other group of Europeans or Americans during the 400-year clash of civilizations between the white man and the Indian, but it does underscore the need for historical context. It was a harsh and violent age, and the world was being tamed and settled by harsh and violent men. We should be thankful that we have the luxury to feel squeamish about it now.
Much has been said about the historical sins of white westerners. We have been confronting their sins for years now, and I&#8217;m sure the confrontation will continue for a while yet. But if this confrontation occurs in a vacuum, without taking into consideration the context of the time, or the brutality of the foes the westerners faced, then we will be left with the impression that white people today are the descendants of history’s great villains, and that nothing they did was justified, let alone admirable or worthy of celebration. And fostering this mistaken impression is, of course, the point. But those of us interested in truth and fairness should not go along with it. 
More from Matt Walsh: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-our-country-is-finally-realizing-that-its-simply-not-okay-for-actors-to-pretend-to-be-something-they-arent">Our Country Is Finally Realizing That It’s Simply Not Okay For Actors To Pretend To Be Something They Aren’t</a>

Mount Rushmore

WALSH: The Left Says America Was Built On ‘Stolen Land’; Here’s The Reality That Narrative Ignores

American History

The following is satirical. 
A team of crack medical experts have produced a preliminary report declaring that Ghislaine Maxwell will have committed suicide when she is found hanging dead in her cell.
Miss Maxwell was arrested by the FBI after the FBI discovered that now that they weren’t spying on Republican political candidates for Barack Obama, they had a lot of time on their hands and might as well do something sort of fun like catching criminals.
So they charged Miss Maxwell with procuring underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein who committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell in a manner remarkably similar to the manner in which Miss Maxwell will have killed herself when she kills herself.
The team of crack medical experts who filed the report is the same team of cracks who recently declared that people who attended massive protests with riots and looting would not contract or spread the Chinese Flu if their cause was just, their hearts were true, and they really needed a 400-dollar pair of sneakers.
The cracks reached their conclusion by combining the report of a virtual autopsy on the soon-to-be-deceased Miss Maxwell with an Excel Spreadsheet charting how much money you can make as a CNN commentator if you’re willing to talk absolute drivel.
According to the crack findings, Miss Maxwell will have told several unnamed people she was depressed and thinking of ending it all, which should allay any suspicions arising from the fact that the video cameras tracking her cell will only play back old episodes of Madam Secretary and the fact that the entire shift of prison guards witnessed nothing because they had left the building to attend the prison’s first annual Vince Foster Memorial Bocce Ball tournament.
A spokesman for the team of crack medical experts, crack expert Dr. Harvey Crack, told CNN — for a small fee — that the crack experts had released the crack preliminary report to stave off any insane conservative conspiracy theories linking Miss Maxwell’s death to all the other people murdered by the Clintons.
More satire from Andrew Klavan: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sports-leagues-announce-theyll-change-games-to-insure-they-dont-offend-audience-theyll-no-longer-have-satire">Sports Leagues Announce They’ll Change Games To Ensure They Don’t Offend Audience They’ll No Longer Have</a>

Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein

Medical Experts Declare Ghislaine Maxwell Will Have Committed Suicide When She Commits Suicide [Satire]

Bill Clinton

Ghislaine Maxwell

Jeffrey Epstein

Few would deny the modern “Star Trek” universe is hopelessly woke.
The team pulling the “Star Trek” strings today <a href="https://www.startrek.com/videos/we-support-black-lives-matter">quickly bowed down to Black Lives Matter</a>. That’s above and beyond the new “Trek’s” overt progressive agenda, from re-imagining Sulu as a gay man to episodes appealing to social justice scolds.
As <a href="https://decider.com/2018/02/22/star-trek-discovery-is-woke-af/">Decider</a> puts it, &#8220;Discovery has a lot to say about The Way We Live Now. It’s the most on-message TV show this side of Black-ish or Broad City. They might as well call it Star Trek: The Woke Generation.&#8221;
Sir Patrick Stewart, Mr. “Make It So” himself, described his “Picard” series as a response to both <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/patrick-stewart-star-trek-picard-a-response-to-the-fed-world-of-brexit-trump">President Donald Trump’s existence and Brexit.</a>
Most cultural observers say the original “Star Trek” series was uniformly progressive, too. They have many solid points, from episodes about race relations to the concept of a UN-style body “boldly going where no man had gone before.” (That patriarchal phrase got the heave ho in recent years.)
The series famously featured TV’s first interracial kiss between William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols. That’s real progress, the opposite of virtue signaling.
It’s comical that “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a multi-race crew living in harmony suddenly clashes with the modern Left’s identity politics.
Still, the show’s progressive roots are considered canon … like furry Tribbles and Montgomery Scott’s dramatic time estimates.
Look closer.
A number of classic “Trek” episodes spotlight conservative themes and concepts above and beyond ‘60s era platitudes. In fact, some of the stories wouldn’t pass muster today if a “Trek” scribe sent them to the powers that be for approval.
1. “Charlie X” (Ep. 2, Season 1)
What happens when a young man (Robert Walker), dizzy from hormones and zero family ties, can literally make anything he wishes a reality? His emotions take over, with disaster and death the natural byproduct.
Enter Captain James T. Kirk (Shatner), the Alpha Male figure poor Charlie needs.
Kirk can’t fully control Charlie, but he commands the lad’s respect and buys the crew time to deal with his god-like powers. The unchecked Charlie has no one to explain life to him, let alone place vital boundaries in his path. Without a father figure he revolts, not unlike what we’re seeing nationwide as the spoiled children who make up the Antifa crowd drag statues to the ground.
Kirk’s uber-masculine guidance can’t prevent a sad ending for Charlie, but the captain ensures no more Starfleet personnel will die by Charlie’s hands.
<div id="attachment_125965" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-125965" class="wp-image-125965" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlie-X-1-884x576.jpg" alt="Robert Walker Jr. as Charlie Evans and William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in the STAR TREK episode, &quot;Charlie X.&quot; Season 1, episode, 2. Original air date September 15, 1966. Image is a screen grab. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)" width="800" height="521" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Charlie-X-1-884x576.jpg 884w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Charlie-X-1-300x195.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Charlie-X-1-768x500.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Charlie-X-1.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />CBS via Getty Images</div>
2. “The City on the Edge of Forever” (Ep. 28, Season 1)
Kirk falls in love, hard, during this time travel episode considered the series’ zenith. His crush is a budding pacifist (Joan Collins) who delays the U.S. from entering the second World War after Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) saves her from a life-threatening accident.
Now, Kirk and Spock must make sure that doesn’t happen again … or the Germans will develop the atomic bomb first and change the course of history.
“Star Trek’s” level-headed approach to war, when to wage it and under what terms, can be both admirable and deeply conservative.
<div id="attachment_125964" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-125964" class="wp-image-125964" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/City-on-the-Edge-of-Forever-1-986x576.jpg" alt="Star Trek, The Original Series, episode &quot;The City on the Edge of Forever&quot; first broadcast on April 6, 1967. From left, Joan Collins (as Edith Keeler) and William Shatner (as Captain James T. Kirk) in year 1930. Image is a screen grab. (CBS via Getty Images)" width="800" height="467" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/City-on-the-Edge-of-Forever-1-986x576.jpg 986w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/City-on-the-Edge-of-Forever-1-300x175.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/City-on-the-Edge-of-Forever-1-768x449.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/City-on-the-Edge-of-Forever-1.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />CBS via Getty Images</div>
3. “Balance of Terror” (Ep. 14, Season 1)
Spock is no war monger, but he takes a neo-con-like stand in this tense episode. Some enemies, like the Romulans threatening war along the Neutral Zone, cannot be talked out of combat. They must be defeated at all costs.
A battle between two shrewd captains ensues, leaving just enough time for a lecture on bigotry. The takeaway? Sometimes a good offense is the best defense.
4. “Space Seed” (Ep. 22, Season 1)
The episode that set the stage for “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” introduced us to a swaggering, super-human Ricardo Montalban. The episode has aged as well as the 1982 film, but a deeper look into the story reveals something else.
Khan represented a misguided attempt to perfect humanity, granting some with extra strength and intelligence. Khan and his ilk felt they knew better than everyone else, and therefore must lead by any means necessary. One wonders what Fidel Castro thought of this episode… Another problematic element for a feminist audience: the female lead (Madlyn Rhue) initially finds herself swept away by Khan&#8217;s masculine appeal.
<div id="attachment_125960" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-125960" class="wp-image-125960" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Khan-945x576.jpg" alt="Madlyn Rhue as Lt. Maria McGivers (the ship's historian), Ricardo Montalban as Khan Noonien Singh (a genetically engineered human from the 20th century) and William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode, &quot;Space Seed.&quot; Original air date February 16, 1967. Image is a frame grab. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)" width="800" height="488" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Khan-945x576.jpg 945w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Khan-300x183.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Khan-768x468.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Khan.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />CBS via Getty Images</div>
5. “The Enemy Within” (Ep. 5, Season 1)
Modern progressives would recoil at the core of this potboiler. Kirk is split into two distinct selves, a calm, compassionate soul and a raging Id. The latter causes chaos on the ship, including a tough to watch assault on Yeoman Rand (Grace Lee Whitney). Still, we learn that Kirk isn’t the strong, capable leader we’ve come to know without a dose of “toxic masculinity.”
Removing that element would cripple the Enterprise and turn Kirk into just another, lesser captain.
<div id="attachment_125966" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-125966" class="wp-image-125966" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Kirk-852x576.jpg" alt="William Shatner, as split versions of Captain James T. Kirk in STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES episode, &quot;The Enemy Within.&quot; Season 1, episode 5. He is seen here as the good self, (approaching at left), and the evil version (lying down, in sick bay). Original air date is October 6, 1966. Image is a screen grab. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)" width="800" height="541" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Kirk-852x576.jpg 852w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Kirk-300x203.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Kirk-768x519.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Kirk.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />CBS via Getty Images</div>
6. “Dagger of the Mind” (Ep. 9, Season 1)
The unmissable message of this anti-progressive episode: “Curing” mankind of our sinful behavior and errant thoughts through science and forced rehabilitation is not just futile. It’s inhumane.
7. “Mudd’s Women” (Ep. 6, Season 1)
Gloria Steinem must loathe this episode.
Women want to feel beautiful, or at least have a man who views them that way.  The cartoonish Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel) knows this all too well, and he exploits it to keep himself one step ahead of the law.
The episode assumes distinct gender roles in male-female relationships while acknowledging how men’s visual senses can be overloaded by beauty and grace. And, shockingly, that isn’t deemed disastrous by the episode’s ending.
Speaking of gender themes, another classic episode the title of which alone would get it canceled by today&#8217;s politically correct crowd: &#8220;What Little Girls Are Made Of&#8221; (Ep. 7, Season 1).
<div id="attachment_125967" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-125967" class="wp-image-125967" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/What-Are-Little-Girls-Made-Of-850x576.jpg" alt="Michael Strong as Dr. Roger Korby, Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel, Sherry Jackson as Andrea and William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in the STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES episode, &quot;What Are Little Girls Made Of?&quot; Season 1, episode 7. Original air date, October 20, 1966. Image is a frame grab. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)" width="800" height="542" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/What-Are-Little-Girls-Made-Of-850x576.jpg 850w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/What-Are-Little-Girls-Made-Of-300x203.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/What-Are-Little-Girls-Made-Of-768x521.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/What-Are-Little-Girls-Made-Of.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />CBS via Getty Images</div>
8. “The Return of the Archons” (Ep. 21, Season 1)
The first of several “Trek” tales where people are considered part of one “body” — a la the Borg — and stripped of their individuality to create a more harmonious society. Kirk talks the machinery behind this “perfect order” into destroying itself, reminding it why free will matters.
It’s a similar story with “The Apple” (Ep. 5. Season 2). Once again Kirk realizes the folly of living in an Edenic state and wrecks the gadgetry that makes it all possible.
9. “Arena” (Ep. 18, Season 1)
Kirk must battle a lizard creature with great strength and lousy mobility in this essential “Trek” tale. The Kirk/Gorn battle is epic by “Trek” standards, but the intriguing element arrives when we learn why Gorn’s comrades attacked Kirk’s landing team. Starfleet encroached on their territory, and they viewed the incursion as an unprovoked attack.
The un-woke lesson: People have a right to defend their territory, be it via a man-made wall or military means.
<div id="attachment_125968" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-125968" class="wp-image-125968" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Arena-768x576.jpg" alt=" STAR TREK William Shatner as James T. Kirk fighting the Gorn in &quot;Arena&quot;. Original air date January 19, 1967, season 1, episode 19. Image is a screen grab. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)" width="800" height="600" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Arena-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Arena-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Arena.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />CBS via Getty Images</div>
10. “Amok Time” (Ep. 1, Season 2)
It’s mating season for Leonard Nimoy’s pointy-eared hero, Mr. Spock, and it couldn’t come at a worse time for Kirk and company.
It leads to a wild fight between the show’s main players, after which Spock echoes a philosophy with a whiff of social conservatism.
&#8220;Having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting,” Spock notes.
11. “This Side of Paradise” (Ep. 24, Season 1)
Kirk and the landing party encounter a settlement teeming with contentment. There’s a catch, of course. Their bliss is provided by alien spores which keep them healthy and devoid of negative emotions.
It’s utopia — and it’s antithetical to the human condition. The society’s leader learns that the hard way after waking from his spore-driven stupor.
“Three years, no accomplishments,” he mutters.
The episode’s portrait of a biologist (Jill Ireland) who just isn’t complete without Spock by her side might drive feminists up a wall. Let’s not forget the drab, gray uniforms the settlers where, right out of the Communist Gift Guide.
Later, Kirk muses on the trouble with so-called paradise.
“Maybe we weren’t meant for paradise. Maybe we were meant to fight our way through, struggle, claw our way up, scratch for every inch of the way. Maybe we can’t stroll to the music of the lute. We must march to the sound of drums.”
Not a bad definition of capitalism.
More from Christian Toto: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/toto-shut-up-the-celebrities-said-hoping-the-pc-police-would-spare-them">‘Shut Up,’ The Celebrities Said (Hoping The PC Police Would Spare Them)</a>

Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek’s Stealth Conservatism: 11 Classic Episodes The Woke Crowd Would Cancel Today

Cancel culture

Conservatism

Gender

William Shatner

One of Disney Plus’ biggest attractions opened just in time for Independence Day.
The streaming channel debuted the Tony Award winning production “Hamilton” on July 3.
The hip-hop musical is hailed as a creative modern retelling of Alexander Hamilton’s journey to becoming a Founding Father of the U.S. Created by composer, playwright, performer, and producer Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton won 11 Tony awards in 2016 as well as the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.
Viewers <a href="https://www.cnet.com/how-to/hamilton-coming-to-disney-plus-july-3-but-you-cant-stream-with-a-free-trial-how-to-watch/">can’t even leverage a free Disney Plus trial</a> to see it. It’s full price or bust.
But wait…
We’ve spent the last month seeing American statues spray-painted or toppled. Confederate symbols got thrown into the circular file along with the president who <a href="https://www.insider.com/boston-removing-statue-lincoln-standing-over-freed-black-man-2020-7">fought a Civil War to free American slaves</a>.
Even Mt. Rushmore is under attack, both by Native American activists and The New York Times.
As the 1619 Project bravely taught us, America was built by slaves in order to preserve and protect slavery. It’s already been decided that “<a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/gal-gadot-imagine-fallout/">Imagine</a>” should be the <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/06/26/activists-change-national-anthem-to-john-lennons-imagine/">new national anthem.</a>
So how can woke Americans watch Lin-Manuel Miranda and co. pay tribute to the Founding Fathers?
Sure, “Hamilton” features people of color playing Caucasian leaders like the title character, George Washington, and Aaron Burr. The color-blind casting proved a welcome twist when the show first debuted in 2015.
It was woke … for its time. Today? That’s hardly a defense.
This racist nation shouldn’t be celebrated in song, let alone via an award-winning musical honoring its founders. Is there a better way to heal the nation than by demanding Disney Plus remove “Hamilton” as quickly as it unveils it? No warning label could address a production dedicated to slave owners, a la HBO Max’s treatment of “Gone With the Wind.”
The production’s unwoke agenda is hardly new. Harvard Law School’s Annette Gordon-Reed <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/10/correcting-hamilton/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CHe%20bought%20and%20sold%20slaves,having%20a%20president%20for%20life.%E2%80%9D">sounded the alarm</a> four years ago on the subject.
The show portrays Hamilton as a “young, scrappy, and hungry” immigrant (he was born on the Caribbean Island of Nevis, but qualified as a U.S. citizen when the Constitution was adopted), an egalitarian, and a passionate abolitionist.
All of this is wrong, Gordon-Reed said.
“He bought and sold slaves for his in-laws, and opposing slavery was never at the forefront of his agenda,” she said.
“He was not a champion of the little guy, like the show portrays,” she said. “He was elitist. He was in favor of having a president for life.”
It gets worse.
“In the musical, only Jefferson is shown as a slave holder,” said Gordon-Reed, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for her book on the family of Sally Hemings, slave and mistress to Jefferson. “But Madison owned slaves too, and so did George Washington.”
Black Lives Matters didn’t rise up following the killing of George Floyd only to see Americans celebrate the Founding Fathers anew. And Disney had been working so hard to be socially conscious. The company <a href="https://insidethemagic.net/2020/06/disney-video-black-lives-matter-ky1/">released a video</a> shortly after Floyd’s murder <a href="https://insidethemagic.net/2020/06/disney-black-lives-matter-kc1/">supporting BLM.</a>
We just learned the<a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-to-paint-black-lives-matter-on-sides-of-courts-at-disney-per-report/"> words “Black Lives Matter” will be painted</a> on the three NBA basketball courts at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex.
Airing “Hamilton” represents a monumental step backward.
All of this, of course, assumes BLM, and its many supporters, are both consistent and logical in their quest to fix our broken country; that they have the country’s best interests at heart, not a political agenda with dubious goals, at best.
Right?
If that wasn’t true, though, our fearless mainstream media would have warned us already.
A version of this article appears on <a href="http://HollywoodInToto.com">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

TOTO: Shouldn’t ‘Hamilton’ Get Canceled Next?

Disney

Hamilton

rioters

I have a friend who despises Donald Trump. Whenever Trump does something he finds outrageous, my friend mocks the president’s supporters by mimicking their frequent defense of him: “At least he fights.”
As I’ve often said, Trump is a great big American character with great big American flaws – and some great big American virtues too, often overlooked.
But you know what? At least he fights.
Never-Trumpers have retreated from the political battle we’re actually in to an imaginary world where they are knightly defenders crossing swords with the Ray Harryhausen skeletons of ideological decay. They call their anti-Trump PAC The Lincoln Project. They call their anti-Trump websites The Remnant or The Ramparts. The idea is that they are the last men standing atop the last redoubt fighting for the party of 1860 against the perfidious President the Donald who has so badly disfigured it.
Well, no.
Black Lives Matter – a small and violent radical organization dedicated to a Marxist revolution and bent on hobbling our police and destroying the American family – has terrorized this country with riots and other ugliness for a long month now. They are not black – only one sixth of the protesters are black – and they don’t care about Black Lives or they wouldn’t be attacking the police. The police killed nine unarmed black men in 2018. Seven thousand four hundred blacks died at the hands of murderers that year. More than 200-thousand died at the hands of abortionists. Black Lives Matter doesn’t give a damn.
And yet what is the response of our elites to these terrorist thugs? Corporations rush to show support for them. Democrat governors, who impose unconstitutional bans on worship in the name of keeping us ever-so-safe from the Chinese Virus, celebrate and join in with their massive demonstrations. Democrat spokesmen – also known as the news media – play down the “mostly peaceful” violence while upbraiding and cancel-mugging any law-abiding citizen who dares to draw a gun to defend himself against it.
So what about the Republicans? The ones who get their ideological ideas from Honest Abe. The ones we’re standing on the ramparts to defend the remnants of.
Well, they’re negotiating. Maybe the Marxist terrorists have a point. Maybe some statues should come down. Maybe some Army bases should be renamed. Some are offering a new federal holiday on Juneteenth. Senator Ron Johnson has a great idea – let’s get rid of Columbus Day so the new Black Lives Matter holiday won’t cost the federal government another day of paid leave. We may be handing over our culture to terrorists, but think of the money we’ll save!
Hundreds of former Bush administration officials are endorsing Joe Biden, now little more than a moderate mask for the radicals who would surely run his administration. That’s who they are. That’s who they always were. Compassionate conservatism was Leftism with a flag on it.
Back in the Obama years, the leadership of the Republican Party told me to my face that they would “use” the Tea Partiers to maintain power while meeting none of their demands for constitutional governance. They announced in public that they would never try to impeach Obama, leaving him free to shred the Constitution with his misuse of the IRS, the State Department, and the FBI. They would not legislate against unbridled illegal immigration. They would not cut entitlements. They would not repeal the oppression of Obamacare.
What Lincolnian principles have these people represented in living memory? What ramparts are we standing on to defend what remnant? If the True Republican Party is an outpost, it’s Jamestown, long gone. Donald Trump did not destroy it. He rose to power because it had been destroyed. He is the emanation of their failures.
Republicans – and conservatives – are now what C. S. Lewis called men without chests. They have high-sounding theories and ideas about our founding and our Constitution, but they will not defend them from the radical destroyers.
Their theories and ideas are worthless. As Lewis pointed out, “In battle it is not syllogisms that will keep the reluctant nerves and muscles to their post in the third hour of the bombardment. The crudest sentimentalism… about a flag or a country or a regiment will be of more use.”
The ancients located such sentiments in the chest. With the help of an intellect trained from youth, those sentiments recall us to our duty when it’s time to face losing an election or profits or a social media platform or a sponsor in the defense of principle.
Instead, “we make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise…” Lewis said. “We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”
That’s your Republican Party. That’s your Conservative Movement, too. That’s why Trump is president. Because at least he fights.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers with the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe"> member</a>.

Republican tie

KLAVAN: Republican Men Without Chests

Joe Biden

Republican Party

Dr. Melina Abdullah, who leads the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter, has often been described by the media as a professor of Pan-African Studies at Cal State L.A. But don’t make the mistake of marginalizing her as a mere academic. Her street-cred is hardcore, and her familial and ideological roots trace back through generations of Marxist organizers, reaching back a hundred years to the Communist Party of the German Reich.
A founding member of what would become the Black Lives Matter Global Network, Abdullah has grown the L.A. branch to 500 members since its inception almost seven years ago. While many subscribed to a misconception that BLM had lost its relevance in recent years, local chapter leaders had moved on to another stage of an organizing strategy that was less visible than traditional publicity stunts like blocking traffic. By the time video of George Floyd’s tragic death sparked nationwide protests and outrage, mechanisms were already in place to advance BLM-inspired movements like defunding police departments into the mainstream.
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This uprising is about more than <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloyd?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GeorgeFloyd</a>. He was the spark. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesMatter</a>
&mdash; #BlackLivesMatter-LA (@BLMLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLA/status/1266922907462062081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Abdullah, 47, believes law enforcement agencies exist to maintain America’s capitalist social order, which in turn is the root cause of police misconduct against black people. She says racially biased policing and capitalism are connected structures of oppression that must be dismantled.
“White capitalism requires racist, violent policing to protect it,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-launches-6th-annual-black-xmas-campaign-to-divest-from-white-capitalism">wrote</a> Abdullah. “In order to eliminate police violence, and the killings of our people at their hands, we must also target the economic systems that built it and rely on it.”
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The sys of Wt supremacist heteronorm patriarchal capitalism is extremely fragile. Their pwr is false &amp; easily toppled when the ppl rise up.
&mdash; Melina Abdullah (@DocMellyMel) <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel/status/631504135582433280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Abdullah, who uses her ex-husband’s last name, was raised in a family that has been organizing against capitalism for at least 100 years.
For most of her life, she was known as <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2000/nov/21/local/me-55154">Melina Reimann</a>. As The Daily Wire exclusively reported in 2017, her paternal grandfather was a world-famous Marxist economist named <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/04/obituaries/guenter-reimann-economic-publisher-is-dead-at-100.html?_r=0">Günter Reimann</a>. He joined Germany’s Communist Party around 1920 and was part of the resistance to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.
When he died in 2005, an obituary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/mar/01/guardianobituaries.germany">explained</a>, “Reimann’s understanding of capitalism derived from the position of desiring its overthrow.”
Long before Reimann advised governments, central banks, and CEOs from all over the globe, he was a 17-year-old rebel writing for Rosa Luxemburg’s Die Rote Fahne, which translates to The Red Flag. It was a communist newspaper <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/04/obituaries/guenter-reimann-economic-publisher-is-dead-at-100.html?_r=0">described</a> by the New York Times as “a party organ.”
The Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/mar/01/guardianobituaries.germany">reported</a> at the time of Reimann’s death:
<blockquote>…he worked underground with German social democrats and communist resistance fighters, fully aware that this might prove a terminal decision. Indeed, by 1934 the Gestapo was closing in. Nazi officials raided his house and arrested his student guest, Hu Lan-Xi, who would go on to become the Red Army’s first female general.</blockquote>
Reimann soon left Berlin and went into exile. By 1938, he was living in New York City with political refugee status, then acquired U.S. citizenship in 1944. Two years later, his son, John, was born.
John Reimann, who is white, would relocate to Oakland, California, during the turbulent 1960s, where Melina was born in 1972. Abdullah’s mother, who is black, was an elementary school teacher and volunteered at a breakfast program run by the Black Panther Party. Abdullah told <a href="https://thelandmag.com/the-people-v-melina-abdullah/">TheLAnd Magazine</a> that she was raised mostly by her mother, and her oldest friends and mentors are former Black Panthers.
Abdullah’s father, John Reimann, is a self-proclaimed <a href="https://www.laweekly.com/these-savvy-women-have-made-black-lives-matter-the-most-crucial-left-wing-movement-today/">Trotskyist</a> – a philosophy that advocates global socialism through continuing revolution. He worked for the Carpenters Union in the Bay Area, retired, and was part of Occupy Oakland at its beginning stages.
In 2012, he <a href="https://archive.iww.org/PDF/history/library/Reimann/Politics%20of%20Occupy%20Oakland.pdf">wrote</a> “The Politics of Occupy Oakland – A Marxist Viewpoint,” predicting:
<blockquote>Occupy Oakland and the Occupy movement in general is the warning of a far wider movement yet to come. As with Occupy, that wider movement will ultimately rise or fall, it will live or die, based on bold, defiant action and clear ideas. First and foremost must be opposition to capitalism itself.</blockquote>
The following year, the Black Lives Matter movement was born after a neighborhood watch volunteer was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin on July 13, 2013.
Since then, Abdullah has consistently spoken out against capitalism while building the L.A. chapter, often encouraging supporters to “disrupt white capitalism” at BLM demonstrations organized around officer-involved shootings and alleged police misconduct.
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Capitalism makes us&#8230;working class folks&#8230;believe that we are in competition with one another because viewing each other as adversaries allows capitalism to thrive. We topple capitalist oppression when we work in cooperation. Solidarity.
&mdash; Melina Abdullah (@DocMellyMel) <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel/status/1033376619778400256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Under her leadership, BLM-LA has <a href="https://www.blmla.org/who-we-are#ourteam">established</a> an action team to guide protests. A policy team engages in local and statewide initiatives “that disrupt practices of state violence.” An education team targets public schools, and a communications team that works with professional media consultants to shape news narratives and amplify BLM’s signal to a wider audience. Abdullah has also forged alliances with several other activist groups, the ACLU, SEIU, the largest teachers union in town, and woke celebrities.
Abdullah has involved her two teenaged daughters in her organizing efforts in L.A. public schools, continuing the family legacy of community organizing going back four generations. The sisters co-founded the BLM Youth Vanguard in 2015, which consists of children and adolescents ages 6 to 18. The student-activist group has focused on abolishing cops from the nation’s second-largest public education system, which has its own police department. Time Magazine <a href="http://time.com/5463721/most-influential-teens-2018/">honored</a> one of Abdullah&#8217;s daughters, then 15, as one of the nation’s most influential teens in 2018.
Abdullah isn&#8217;t just a hardcore Marxist ideologically, her tactics follow the radical Marxist playbook. And sometimes, as her rivals in the black L.A. organizing scene <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/south-l-a-activist-demands-blm-leader-step-down-after-cheap-publicity-stunt-at-d-a-s-home">say</a>, those tactics cross the line into public acts of intimidation.
Case in point, BLM-LA has constantly bird-dogged the top law enforcement official in the region, L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who is up for reelection in November. Abdullah and other demonstrators showed up at her home earlier this year, banged on a drum, and rang her doorbell around 5:30 am.
The incident culminated with Lacey’s husband pointing a handgun out the couple’s front door. He then threatened to shoot Abdullah and ordered the trespassers to leave his property. BLM-LA’s communications team ensured <a href="https://twitter.com/Jasmyne/status/1234477040365031424">partial video</a> of the encounter went viral.
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a> This morning Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey’s husband pulled a gun out on Black Lives Matter activists who protested his wife in front of their house. <a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BLMLA</a> <a href="https://t.co/wnCFMMvaWV">pic.twitter.com/wnCFMMvaWV</a>
&mdash; Jasmyne Cannick (@Jasmyne) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jasmyne/status/1234477040365031424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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“Are you going to shoot me?” Abdullah can be heard asking.
“I will shoot you,” David Lacey responded. “Get off of my porch.”
The California attorney general’s office is currently <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-29/california-attorney-general-reviewing-gun-incident-jackie-lacey-husband">investigating</a> the case to determine whether Mr. Lacey committed a crime.
Abdullah and other Black Lives Matter members have also made uninvited visits to the homes of an LAPD commissioner, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and organized several protests outside Mayor Eric Garcetti’s house.
While demonstrating against a police shooting in 2016, Abdullah appeared to taunt Garcetti from his front yard. She posted a video to Instagram, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BLDH6m9jCov/?utm_source=ig_embed">saying</a>, “You don’t get to kill our kids and think your kid gets to sleep in peace…we’re bringing the hood to you.” Garcetti’s daughter, Maya, was four years old at the time.
Last summer, the L.A. City Attorney’s Office <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/los-angeles-drops-all-criminal-charges-against-jeffrey-cawood">dismissed</a> eight criminal charges against Abdullah that stemmed from her disruptive antics at LAPD Commission meetings, including alleged battery on a cop. She could have faced more than a year in jail if convicted. Prosecutors had agreed to drop all charges if Abdullah adhered to behavioral guidelines for six months. Her pro-bono legal team is headlined by Carl E. Douglas, best known as a member of O.J. Simpson’s “Dream Team” of defense attorneys and a 12-year protégé of the late Johnnie Cochran.
After the charges were officially dismissed, Abdullah’s counsel <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-11/black-lives-matter-leader-sues-city-ex-police-chief-beck">filed</a> a federal lawsuit accusing the city attorney’s office of malicious prosecution and the LAPD of wrongful arrest.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-and-teachers-union-work-as-partners-to-end-repressive-policing-in-schools">Black Lives Matter And Teachers Union Work As Partners To End ‘Repressive’ Policing In Schools</a>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers with the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe"> member</a>.

Melina Abdullah

Black Lives Matter Leader’s Campaign To Cancel Capitalism Shaped By Marxist Upbringing

Communism

A litany of falsehoods and misleading headlines from the media has hounded President Trump from even before his inauguration. Many of these false claims range from the trivial to the dire. Here are some of the more egregious assertions put forth by the media.
1. Trump touted improved employment numbers as a “great day” for George Floyd
A favorite ploy by many in the media is to take Trump’s statements out of context then mock and deride him for it. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/06/politics/trump-george-floyd-maine/index.html">The way CNN misconstrued his statements</a> on George Floyd is just another example:
<blockquote>President Donald Trump showed his breathtaking disconnect from the pain and tumult that has unfolded in this country after George Floyd&#8217;s death, declaring Friday that new economic numbers and nationwide protests against racism and police brutality had made it &#8220;a great day&#8221; for Floyd.</blockquote>
In fact, what Trump said was far more dignified, as a fact-check by <a href="https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/did-trump-say-he-hoped-george-floyd">The Dispatch</a> revealed. Here&#8217;s what Trump actually said:
<blockquote>Trump: Equal justice under the law must mean that every American receives equal treatment in every encounter with law enforcement, regardless of race, color, gender, or creed. They have to receive fair treatment from law enforcement. They have to receive it. We all saw what happened last week. We can’t let that happen. Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying, &#8220;This is a great thing that’s happening for our country.&#8221; This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of equality. It’s really what our Constitution requires and it’s what our country is all about.</blockquote>
Context counts. What Trump said about Floyd was both generous and honorable and not at all some dismissive, self-serving remark.
2. Trump declared COVID-19 a hoax
Earlier this year, many news sites ran headlines stating that Trump had declared COVID-19 a hoax. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/trump-says-the-coronavirus-is-the-democrats-new-hoax.html">CNBC ran with it</a> and even stated the following:
<blockquote>President Trump says that Democrats are using the virulent coronavirus as a &#8220;hoax&#8221; to damage him and his administration.</blockquote>
A media avalanche ensued, insisting that Trump considered the pandemic a hoax.
Amid the onslaught, <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-coronavirus-rally-remark/">Snopes</a> offered surprising clarity on the matter given the site’s general bias toward the left. Trump had only insisted that the Democrats&#8217; criticism of his response was, in fact, a hoax.
&#8220;In context, Trump did not say … that the virus itself was a hoax,&#8221; Snopes concluded. &#8220;He instead said that Democrats’ criticism of his administration’s response to it was a hoax.&#8221;
3. Trump claimed all Mexicans are drug dealers, rapists, and criminals
In 2016, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-37230916/drug-dealers-criminals-rapists-what-trump-thinks-of-mexicans">The BBC</a> ran a headline claiming that Trump considered all Mexicans criminals in some form or another. The content of the piece featured a heavily edited video featuring curated sound bytes from Trump during his campaign seemingly supporting the headline’s claim. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/06/16/theyre-rapists-presidents-trump-campaign-launch-speech-two-years-later-annotated/">Other media outlets</a> ran with it as well.
As documented by <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/aug/08/tim-kaine/tim-kaine-falsely-says-trump-said-all-mexicans-are/">Politifact</a>, Trump actually stated the following:
<blockquote>Trump: When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you… They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.</blockquote>
Too broad a generalization on his part? Inaccurate even? Perhaps, but in no way was Trump declaring that all Mexicans were rapists and criminals. That was just yet another specious attempt at spin by the media. He made a point of saying that he assumes some are &#8220;good people.&#8221;
Trump’s condemnation of “rapists” followed multiple reports, like this <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/facing-risk-rape-migrant-women-prepare-birth-control">tragic PBS report</a> from 2014, on the horrific treatment of women and girls at the hands of “coyote” guides as they immigrate to America.
4. Trump referred to undocumented immigrants as “animals”
Trump supposedly referring to undocumented immigrants as “animals” is easily one of the more egregious examples of the media misleading the American public. It’s a lie that continues to hound the president as well. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/05/16/trump-calls-undocumented-immigrants-animals-echoing/617762002/">USA Today</a> even went so far as to not only mislead its readers about the alleged claim, but used it to compare Trump to Adolf Hitler, slave owners, and the Hutus during the Rwandan genocide:
<blockquote>“These aren&#8217;t people. These are animals.&#8221; That&#8217;s how President Trump described undocumented immigrants during a White House meeting…Trump&#8217;s not the first to use such rhetoric: Adolf Hitler justified the Holocaust by saying Jews weren&#8217;t people but rats, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/03/29/134956180/criminals-see-their-victims-as-less-than-human">as NPR notes</a>. In the Rwandan genocide, Tutsis were called not people, but cockroaches [by the Hutus], and slaveowners justified slavery by calling their slaves not people, but animals.</blockquote>
In fact, Trump was specifically referring to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-13">MS-13</a>, one of the most brutal, murderous criminal gangs in the entire world, in an exchange with Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims as detailed by <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-animals-hitler/">Snopes</a>:
<blockquote>According to a White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-california-sanctuary-state-roundtable/">transcript</a>, Mims referred to &#8220;bad guys&#8221; and specifically named the violent criminal gang MS-13 immediately before President Trump’s &#8220;animals&#8221; remarks…</blockquote>
Trump even clarified his statement a day later, though it seemingly fell on deaf ears. “I’m referring to the MS-13 gangs that are coming in,” said Trump.
5. The infamous photo of kids in cages
One of the more glaring problems with headlines or stories that end up being false is that the redactions later offered rarely achieve the same level of attention as the initial claim. In effect, the misleading claims hold true for many, especially when confirmation bias is so pernicious in today’s climate and fact-checking is at a premium.
<a href="https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/071019-obama-era-photo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=618&amp;h=410&amp;crop=1">An infamous photo of kids</a> amassed in a border detention center circulated by House Democrats in 2018 is a glaring case in point. In fact, the photo was <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/06/02/the-lying-about-donald-trump-is-now-completely-out-of-control/">taken in 2014 during Obama’s administration</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Continuing to prove that Dems are only playing politics with the border crisis, House Democrats promoted a hearing on “kids in cages” with a photo taken in 2014. 
As in, during the Obama Administration. 
Don’t bother looking for their tweet &#8211; it’s been deleted. <a href="https://t.co/tXWvMNpYYH">pic.twitter.com/tXWvMNpYYH</a>
&mdash; Tim Murtaugh &#8211; Download the Trump 2020 app today! (@TimMurtaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimMurtaugh/status/1148718350014570502?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
6. Trump called white nationalists “very fine people”
In 2017, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/trump-defends-white-nationalist-protesters-some-very-fine-people-on-both-sides/537012/">The Atlantic</a> insisted that Trump supported white nationalism after the violence in Charlottesville. The piece opened with the following line:
“President Trump defended the white nationalists who protested in Charlottesville on Tuesday, saying they included ‘some very fine people,’ while expressing sympathy for their demonstration against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.”
Of course, missing from The Atlantic’s piece was full context of the four-word phrase as well as <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/896420822780444672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E896420822780444672%7Ctwgr%5E&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Ftrump-never-called-neo-nazis-fine-people-michael-j-knowles">Trump’s tweet</a> that morning condemning hatred and violence and calling for unity:
“We ALL must be united &amp; condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!”
As the transcript of the exchange reveals, Trump was arguing that the demonstration involved far greater complexities than what was being reported. The rally was not inherently “white nationalist,” containing many people there to protest the removal of tributes to America’s complex history. Fringe elements on the Right were indeed present, as were violent radicals on the Left, but Trump made a point of distinguishing between those there to promote patriotist and those there to spread hatred.
Below are excerpts from the contentious August 2017 <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/15/full-text-trump-comments-white-supremacists-alt-left-transcript-241662">exchange</a> in which Trump made his “some very fine people” comment:
<blockquote>Trump:I will tell you something. I watched those very closely, much more closely than you people watched it. And you had, you had a group on one side that was bad. And you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. And nobody wants to say that, but I’ll say it right now. You had a group – you had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit, and they were very, very violent.
Reporter: Do you think what you call the “alt-left” is the same as neo-Nazis?
Trump: Those people – all of those people, excuse me – I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned many different groups, but not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch.
Reporter:Well, white nationalists –
Trump: Those people were also there, because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue Robert E. Lee. So – excuse me – and you take a look at some of the groups and you see, and you’d know it if you were honest reporters, which in many cases you’re not. Many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. So this week, it’s Robert E. Lee, I noticed that Stonewall Jackson’s coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after. You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop? […]
Reporter: Mr. President, are you putting what you’re calling the alt-left and white supremacists on the same moral plane?
Trump: I’m not putting anybody on a moral plane. What I’m saying is this: You had a group on one side and you had a group on the other, and they came at each other with clubs — and it was vicious and it was horrible. And it was a horrible thing to watch. But there is another side. There was a group on this side. You can call them the left — you just called them the left — that came violently attacking the other group. So you can say what you want, but that’s the way it is. &#8230;
Reporter: The neo-Nazis started this. They showed up in Charlottesville to protest —
Trump: Excuse me, excuse me. They didn’t put themselves — and you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. You had people in that group. Excuse me, excuse me. I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.</blockquote>
7. Trump is to blame for the looting and violence during the BLM protests 
In another case, of fantastically spurious reasoning, CNN’s David Gergen insisted that Trump’s supposedly constant “race-baiting” inspired the looting and violence during the recent BLM protests. Writing for the Washington Post, Dana Milbank offered a similar wild assessment, as reported by the <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/06/02/the-lying-about-donald-trump-is-now-completely-out-of-control/">New York Post</a>:
<blockquote>CNN political analyst David Gergen said Tuesday that Trump’s referrals to himself as ‘the president of law and order’ functioned as &#8220;race-baiting&#8221; and, in turn, &#8220;would deliberately incite violence.&#8221;…Liberal Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank wrote Monday that the riots and destruction we’re seeing &#8220;are the wages of Trump’s hate-filled incumbency.&#8221;</blockquote>
These were nothing more than caustic, inflammatory remarks devoid of any real substance or logic on the part of Gergen and Milbank. At best, the comments were built upon previous lies made against Trump. Much of the reason why Trump is painted as some race-baiting hate monger is due, in no small part, to the incessant falsehoods the media promulgates about him as the examples above demonstrate.
Trump has made his fair share of comments that deserve criticism from the media. But the reality is the establishment media has largely thrown off all pretense of objectivity in its coverage of him, and at times even knowingly promoted false narratives. And it&#8217;s not just Trump. Many mainstream outlets have allowed themselves to devolve into petty, dogmatic activism with little regard for the truth or the division and destructive consequences that result from their actions.
Given all the bogus claims and misleading reports targeting one side of the aisle, it should come as no surprise that trust in the media has eroded. A <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx">Gallup&#8217;s survey</a> found that by 2019, confidence in newspapers had plummeted from 51% in 1979 to just 23%, while confidence in televised news was even worse: down from 46% in 1993 to just 18% in 2019.

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