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 Data and reason have been replaced by “lived experience” and “personal truth.”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

Over the Fourth of July weekend, Colin Kaepernick tweeted: “We [meaning black people] reject your celebration of white supremacy &amp; look forward to liberation for all.”
On Monday, Disney announced that it had signed a commitment to develop content with Kaepernick, which would include potential shows on Hulu, movies with Pixar, and an ESPN docuseries about Kaepernick’s career.
Nikole Hannah-Jones is the New York Times race hustler-slash-reporter who engineered the dishonest 1619 Project, which falsely claims the United States was founded on principles of slavery and racism. She says she’d be “honored” to have the recent riots and looting called the “1619 Riots.”
Now Oprah Winfrey and movie studio Lions Gate are partnering with Hannah-Jones to transform 1619 “into an expansive portfolio of films, television series and documentaries, unscripted programming and other forms of entertainment,” according to the industry website Deadline.
But so what? Conservatives have “God is Not Dead 16: This Time God is Really Not Dead,” with even more smiling piety than the last sequel, and absolutely no cussing or sex for two hours or until the audience dies of self-satisfaction, whichever comes first.
And we have Ayn Rand. In fact, those on the Right who believe in the philosophy of Ayn Rand should be delighted for Kaepernick and Hannah-Jones. They’re living the Randian dream: making big money through their creations with no regard for the objections of the little people who believe in things like moral truth.
Those conservatives, on the other hand, who have misgivings about ignorant creeps burning down our cities, might ask themselves if maybe value-free capitalism and reality-free Christianity are not a winning cultural strategy for the Right. Because, if the rioting 1619 creeps are a product of sixty years of leftist propaganda, just think what the country will look like twenty years from now when Colin and Nikole get through with it.
But there’s a different message out there: “Hamilton,” the Tony-winning Broadway hip-hop musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
“Hamilton” is spectacularly good. I hate hip-hop music, but Miranda is a superb lyricist with a real understanding of the American musical stage. The show is historically accurate (for a musical). It has brilliantly etched characterizations. And it includes two numbers — &#8220;Helpless&#8221; and &#8220;Unimaginable&#8221; — which are as good as anything I’ve seen onstage, and I’ve seen everything.
“Hamilton” is also the anti-1619. It not only portrays the founding fathers as people of color singing songs in traditionally black genres like hip-hop and R &amp; B, it shows them as young, scrappy black men ready to seize the historical moment and take their shot at greatness.
In other words, Miranda, of Puerto Rican descent, is saying that U.S. history is his history too. When you become an American, you inherit it.
I know how he feels. A Jewish kid growing up in the sixties, I was twelve before I realized I wasn’t descended from Ben Franklin and George Washington. My teachers called them our forefathers, so I figured I was part of the family.
That’s called assimilation: you adopt a grand history of ideas as a dominant over-structure to the history of your particular tribe. As an American, you become the idea-descendant of the Founding Fathers.
“Hamilton,” then, is the opposite of 1619. 1619 says America is inherently, unchangeably antithetical to people of color. “Hamilton” says, no, we can join in the greatness too. The Left hates this. They tell us that assimilation is a racist code word. Why should we adopt the ideas of dead white males, they ask, even as they are turning on a light bulb or driving a car or using a computer, which are also the ideas of dead white males.
In fact, assimilation is the opposite of racism — that’s why the racist Left hates it. Assimilation is adopting the best ideas no matter who thought of them. Assimilation says freedom is good, and if the British and their colonists figured out how to bottle it, pass the bottle. It’s my bottle now too.
Conversely, the Left says: if whites discovered fire, we’ll sit in the dark.
Assimilation was not always open to blacks, but it is now, and many of them know it. You can tell they know it because it also inspired another popular cultural work, “Get Out,” a horror movie in which a black man about to marry into a WASP family discovers that blacks who assimilate have their souls stolen.
I’m familiar with that fear too. When I discovered I believed in Jesus Christ, I had to ask myself: Is this faith, or just another stage in the process of assimilation? I had to think hard before I was certain I was acting from my authentic self.
We need more “Hamiltons,” a lot more. We need more conservatives who recognize what “Hamilton” is. We need more real talk from conservatives about assimilation: its beauty — the fact that it elevates you above tribe into a community of great ideas — and its difficulties — the fact that it inevitably draws you away from your blood ancestry and culture.
Instead we waffle between aesthetic garbage like Ayn Rand and “God is Not Dead.” We allow Colin Kaepernick and Nikole Hannah-Jones to spew their racist hatred into the cultural atmosphere unchecked.
We have a tough election coming up. We may well lose in November. But if we lose the fight for the culture, we’ll lose everything forever.
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>.

Hamilton

KLAVAN: ‘Hamilton’ Is The Anti-1619 Project

1619 Project

Colin Kaepernick

Conservatism

Nikole Hannah-Jones

The vast majority of us know who Adolf Hitler was. Even with the slightest level of historical understanding, we know that he was an evil man with an evil ideology responsible for millions of deaths. As a result, anyone who is accused of holding even a fraction of Hitler’s political views is judged with an understandable level of scorn, and those who openly align themselves with such an ideology are rightly exiled from mainstream society.
This is an easy position to understand. After all, one only has to look at the unimaginable violence ushered in by the totalitarian fascism of Nazi Germany to know that such an ideology is based on entirely immoral principles. However, if death tolls mean that Nazism, fascism, and white supremacy are evil ideologies, why is the same basic logic not applied to the politics of the far Left?
Under the ruthless communist dictatorship of the Soviet Union alone, according to the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/100-years-of-communismand-100-million-dead-1510011810">Wall Street Journal</a>, “victims include 200,000 killed during the Red Terror (1918-22); 11 million dead from famine and dekulakization; 700,000 executed during the Great Terror (1937-38); 400,000 more executed between 1929 and 1953; 1.6 million dead during forced population transfers; and a minimum 2.7 million dead in the Gulag, labor colonies and special settlements.”
After the murder of at least 16,600,000 civilians, surely those with even a tangential connection to this regime would be wholeheartedly rejected by a political party who claim to advocate for peace and tolerance? Quite the opposite! Bernie Sanders, who has praised dictators and leftist regimes on multiple occasions – and even <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6989969/Topless-Sanders-banqueting-Soviet-Union-attacked-U-S-foreign-interventions.html">spent his honeymoon</a> in the Soviet Union – now leads the so-called “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party, which represents the party base.
If we take other communist and socialist regimes into account, including China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba, and Venezuela, the estimated death count rockets to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=H1jsgYCoRioC">almost 100 million people</a>. This number is more than five times greater than that of Nazi Germany, and yet the continued promulgation of the politics of communism, socialism, and Marxism is permitted in a way that would be (thankfully) unimaginable if it were applied to Nazism or fascism.
The shocking acceptance of radical Leftism simply must end if we hope to prevent continued damage in the wake of this evil ideology. When politicians such as Bernie Sanders praise or effectively apologize for the actions of murderous dictators, they should be cast out of polite society with the same fervor as if someone said, “Hitler may have killed lots of Jews, but the roads sure were pretty!”
Sanders <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/us/bernie-sanders-fidel-castro-florida.html">said</a>: “When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?”
This problem exists even at the pinnacle of American Leftism. The fact that a potential vice presidential candidate survived <a href="https://youtu.be/t8ZWtqIzmQI">refusing to reject Marxism</a> – while offering a disingenuous apology for praising Fidel Castro – should terrify anyone who values freedom and liberty.
The number of graves beneath history’s bloodthirsty communist and socialist regimes is staggering.
Had it not been for the United States, these numbers would have continued to rise as radical Leftism spread across the globe. The United States must continue to stand as the world’s greatest single force against totalitarianism and tyranny. This crucial moral battle will become impossible if we continue to allow these ideologies to fester within our borders.
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>.

Hammer and sickle

HAWORTH: The Deadly Double Standard Of Communism Vs. Fascism

Bernie Sanders

Communism

Fascism

Marxism

&#8220;Hamilton,&#8221; the widely acclaimed musical about the &#8220;ten-dollar founding father,&#8221; Alexander Hamilton, may have had a record-breaking Disney+ debut, but it&#8217;s far from woke enough, it seems, for some leftists, who blame the production, and its creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, for ignoring real-world violence.
Both Miranda and &#8220;Hamilton&#8221; creator Jeffrey Seller were forced to apologize over the weekend for failing to adequately address the &#8220;Black Lives Matter&#8221; movement and for &#8220;taking part in the &#8216;moral failure&#8217; of not speaking up amid the ongoing protests taking place across the nation over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/lin-manuel-miranda-hamilton-producer-apologize-silence-protests-1296597?fbclid=IwAR1vCKcgRmmmeLFpbf4TCIKbGoSfetK-svSJG1d9C4DA7ExNbR_QjK_JoS0">The Hollywood Reporter</a>.
&#8220;We spoke out on the day of the Pulse shooting. We spoke out when Vice President Mike Pence came to our show 10 days after the election. That we have not yet firmly spoken the inarguable truth that Black Lives Matter and denounced systematic racism and white supremacy from our official ‘Hamilton’ channels is a moral failure on our part,&#8221; Miranda said in a video posted over the weekend to his Twitter account. &#8220;As the writer of the show, I take responsibility and apologize for my part in this moral failure.&#8221;
He added that he was sorry for &#8220;not pushing harder and faster for us to speak these self-evident truths under the ‘Hamilton’ banner which has come to mean so much to so many of you.&#8221;
&#8220;&#8216;Hamilton&#8217; doesn&#8217;t exist without the black and brown artists who created and revolutionized and changed the world through the culture, music, and language of hip-hop. Literally, the idea of the show doesn&#8217;t exist without the brilliant black and brown artists in our cast, crew, and production team who breathe life into this story every time it&#8217;s performed,&#8221; he said.
Seller also apologized in his own social media message. &#8220;I&#8217;m not a politician. I&#8217;m not an activist. I&#8217;m not an expert. I&#8217;m a theater producer. But what I realize today is most importantly I&#8217;m an American citizen, and silence equals complicity and I apologize for my silence thus far,&#8221; he said.
The musical, of course, is a retelling of Alexander Hamilton&#8217;s life, with a focus on viewing Hamilton&#8217;s life through a more modern lens, adding his status as an immigrant and a fledgling abolitionist to the more recognizable narrative about Hamilton&#8217;s life. It was once required viewing for many on the Left, who liked its woke-er, revisionist retelling of the events of the American Revolution.
Now, though, even &#8220;Hamilton&#8221; is not woke enough for many activists, who seem to believe the musical glorifies a moment in history that has since been declared problematic.
&#8220;Peace activist&#8221; Ajamu Baracka attacked Miranda openly on his own Twitter account using a racial slur.
&#8220;Lin-Manuel Miranda is a Puerto Rican Uncle Tom who instead of fighting for independence makes feel-good revisionism for white liberals. He is pathetic,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/ajamubaraka/status/1279552408062959622">Baracka said</a>.
&#8220;As soon as his play started getting sycophantic admiration from the ruling class, I instinctively stayed the hell away from his play, especially when they gave a private performance to Clinton donors. I never watched his play and I don’t care about being in his little club,&#8221; another Twitter critic noted.
&#8220;Reassuring liberals is a lucrative career,&#8221; added another.
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>.

Lin Manuel Miranda

Leftists Slam ‘Hamilton,’ Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda For ‘Silence’ On Black Lives Matter, Historical ‘Revisionism’

On June 19, an ayatollah who represents Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, noting the rioting in American cities and the concurrent leftist attacks on American history, delightedly delivered a sermon in which he chortled that now Americans themselves are saying. “Death to America!”
As <a href="https://www.memri.org/tv/shiraz-friday-sermon-ayatollah-dezhkam-americans-themselves-chanting-death-to-america-collapse">MEMRI</a> translated and reported, Iranian Ayatollah Lotfollah Dezhkam, who represents Khamenei in the Fars province, stated:
<blockquote>The entire world has seen with its very eyes that today, America cannot be the main decision-maker when it comes to strategic matters in the world. We are unequivocally informing the American administration, Republicans and Democrats alike: If you&#8217;ve shut your ears with cotton balls, remove them [so you can hear].
The sound of America being shattered and of its collapse, is being heard all over the world. The shout of the Iranian nation, which has been leading the fight against America for 40 years, is being heard from mouths of the Americans themselves: Death to America!</blockquote>
The audience repeated: &#8220;Death to America! Death to America! Death to America! Death to America!&#8221;
The movement to replace the traditional perspective on American history with a fundamentally anti-American one, whether articulated by leftists such as Howard Zinn or those who seek to destroy monuments dedicated to true American heroes, has gained a strong foothold among some Americans.
Henry Olsen, writing in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/22/anti-statue-movement-has-taken-turn-into-absurdity/">The Washington Post</a>, noted the principle articulated in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, then pointed out the malignity of protesters tearing down statues to the men who fought for those principles:
<blockquote>Protesters who tear down statues to brave warriors who fought to more fully implement that principle mock and dishonor the idea that enables us to become a more perfect union. George Washington owned slaves, but he also founded a nation dedicated to the idea whose incompatibility with slavery made its eradication inevitable. Defacing or toppling his monuments dishonors the country.
More than any man save Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant destroyed the Confederacy with his magisterial generalship. As president, he tried to extend the Civil War’s purpose by presiding over the Reconstruction of the South, an effort that was abandoned only after he left office. Toppling his statue — as protesters did in San Francisco, citing a slave whom Grant was gifted and later freed before the war — is ahistorically ludicrous.</blockquote>
Last September, after the attacks on two oil refineries in Saudi Arabia that destroyed 5% of the world’s oil supply, prompting accusations from the U.S. government that the attacks were launched by Iran, a top Iranian general boasted that U.S. sites were in range of Iranian missiles and Iran was ready for a &#8220;full-fledged&#8221; war.
Amirali Hajizadeh, who heads Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps Aerospace, bragged, &#8220;Everybody should know that all American bases and their aircraft carriers in a distance of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) around Iran are within the range of our missiles,&#8221; adding &#8220;Iran has always been ready for a &#8216;full-fledged&#8217; war,&#8221; as quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency and reported by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-usa-missiles/iran-says-u-s-bases-and-aircraft-carriers-within-range-of-its-missiles-tasnim-idUSKBN1W004A">Reuters</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 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>.

Iran US Politics Hostage Anniversary

Representative Of Iran’s Supreme Leader Delightedly Preaches ‘Death to America’ ‘Being Heard From Mouths Of The Americans Themselves’

Iran

During the “New Rule” segment of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday, host Maher talked about white people “culturally appropriating” black people’s anger over racism.
“Black people have to demand that white people stop culturally appropriating how mad they are about racism,” Maher began. “It’s great that Caucasians have finally joined the fight for racial justice in unprecedented numbers, but hating racism the most? You can&#8217;t steal that.”
Maher then noted the story of Victor Sengbe, whose exercise rigging in a park was thought by some to be a noose.
The host then played a quote from Sengbe, who said: “Out of the dozens and hundreds and thousands of people that have walked by, no one has thought that it looked anywhere close to a noose.”
Maher took it from there, noting that despite Sengbe’s remarks, “Oakland&#8217;s Mayor Libby Schaaf wasn&#8217;t gonna let all that cheat her out of a chance to signal her virtue” because according to her, “these incidents will be investigated as a hate crime.”
He added that despite what Schaaf has said, intentions “do matter.”
“White people need to stop trying to cancel other white people whose heart is in the right place, but don&#8217;t get it exactly right on the first try,” he said.
The host then spoke about #BlackOutTuesday, when social media, particularly Instagram, was flooded with black squares to represent solidarity with the black community.
There was a complaint from Buzzfeed that it was “a privilege to post a black square and then go back to your usual content.” Maher countered, wondering if the appropriate alternative was “abandoning you life,” and only posting black squares forever.
Maher continued, calling out the ridiculousness of the way in which some people responded to #BlackOutTuesday – not posting a black square, or posting one, but failing to do it right, etc.
Even Ellen DeGeneres wasn’t invulnerable to criticism, according to Maher, as she deleted a tweet in which she didn’t use the phrase “Black Lives Matter,” but rather wrote that “people of color in this country have faced injustice for far too long.”
He also castigated the idea of smacking people away who are simply trying, saying that white people are “acting like a nervous waiter on their first day,” afraid to do the smallest thing incorrectly:
<blockquote>You want to be a good ally, but not too good or you&#8217;re being a “white savior,” use your voice, but don&#8217;t make it about yourself, but speak up unless it&#8217;s your time to just listen, and then silence is violence – even though sometimes silence just means someone works two jobs and has three kids. They have baby food on their shirt, not hate in their heart.</blockquote>
Maher then quoted a write-in question received by the New York Post in which a man said he feels as though he should say something “about racial injustice” at his organization, but is afraid because he’s a white person.
Maher later hit the nail on the head:
<blockquote>I worry that the kind of tension that the “Guardians of Gotcha” are creating is going to make people afraid to mingle at all, and thrust us back toward a resegregation of sorts where instead of just seeing a person and not a color, now we&#8217;re only seeing color. Maybe this is old school liberalism talking, but I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s the way to go.</blockquote>
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yv0P1-gpEFc" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Bill Maher

WATCH: Maher Slams White ‘Guardians Of Gotcha’ Creating Racial Tension

Black Lives Matter

Race

How long can this nation survive when its main cultural and educational institutions preach a relentless, unchallenged stream of anti-Americanism to young people (and others) who lack the background to resist this toxicity?
Along with others, I have long argued that the American left has a major problem with America as founded. Yet Democrats are outraged by the suggestion, and too many Republicans seem insufficiently concerned about it. They better wake up.
If current events aren&#8217;t enough to turn your head, please consider the following data presented by Eric Kaufmann, professor of politics at the University of London Birkbeck College.
Kaufmann writes that the &#8220;cultural revolutionaries&#8221; who are toppling statues and renaming buildings &#8220;are changing minds, and could be in a position to enact a root-and-branch reconstruction of America into something completely unrecognizable to its present-day inhabitants.&#8221; He adds: &#8220;Imagine a country whose collective memory has been upended, with a new constitution, anthem, and flag, its name changed from the sinful &#8216;America&#8217; to something less tainted. Far-fetched? Not according to data I have collected on what liberal white Americans actually believe.&#8221;
Notice Kaufmann isn&#8217;t talking merely about the extreme left but American liberals. This is chilling stuff but unsurprising to me. In my book &#8220;Guilty by Reason of Insanity,&#8221; I warned that socialism is not the only terrible idea the left is promoting. I wrote: &#8220;The left isn&#8217;t turning to socialism just because its members think it&#8217;s more equitable than capitalism but also because they seek revenge against America&#8217;s founding generation and its successor beneficiaries. They want to eradicate the Western tradition that spawned our unique American culture because it allegedly led to continental larceny against Native Americans, is in irredeemable moral debt over slavery, and is forever culpable for oppressing minorities and women through white privilege and the inherent exploitation of capitalism.&#8221; I don&#8217;t claim to be a prophet, but is my statement not vindicated by America&#8217;s present turmoil?
Kaufmann polled American liberals to gauge their willingness &#8220;to jettison the country&#8217;s cultural identity.&#8221; On May 7 (before the George Floyd killing), he surveyed a sample of 870 Americans who &#8220;lean young, liberal, and white.&#8221; The group was not representative of the American population at large but drawn from the Amazon Mechanical Turk and Prolific Academic survey platforms used by thousands of academics. He consciously removed conservatives and centrists to focus only on self-described liberals. He presented them with 16 &#8220;outlandish&#8221; statements and was &#8220;amazed&#8221; by their answers. He surveyed them again on June 15, after the Floyd killing and subsequent protests, and found that things &#8220;had gotten even crazier.&#8221;
He asked them to agree or disagree that Americans should:
&#8220;1. Rebalance the history taught in schools until its voices and subjects reflect the demographics of the population and heritage of Native people and citizens of color
&#8220;2. Move, after public consultation, to a new American anthem that better reflects our diversity as a people
&#8220;3. Rename our cities and towns until they match the demographics of the population
&#8220;4. Rebalance the art shown in museums across the country until an analysis of content shows that it reflects the demography of the population and perspective of Native people and citizens of color
&#8220;5. Move, after an open public process, to a new name for our country that better reflects the contributions of Native Americans and our diversity as a people
&#8220;6. Rename our states until they better reflect the heritage of Native people and citizens of color
&#8220;7. Gradually replace many older public buildings with new structures that don&#8217;t perpetuate a Eurocentric order, until a more representative public space is achieved
&#8220;8. Respectfully remove the monument to four white male presidents at Mount Rushmore, as they presided over the conquest of Native people and repression of women and minorities
&#8220;9. Allow our public parks to return to their natural state, before a European sense of order was imposed upon them
&#8220;10. Move, after public consultation, to a new American flag that better reflects our diversity as a people
&#8220;11. Consider adopting a new national language, that will be forged from the immigrant and Native linguistic diversity of this country&#8217;s past
&#8220;12. Remove existing statues of white men from public spaces until the stock of statues matches the demographics of the population
&#8220;13. Gently remodel the statue of liberty to make it better reflect the diversity of America
&#8220;14. Rename our streets and neighbourhoods until they match the demographics of the population
&#8220;15. Move, after public consultation, to a new American constitution that better reflects our diversity as a people
&#8220;16. Begin changing the layout of our cities, towns, and highways, moving away from the grid system to follow the more natural trails originally used by Native people&#8221;
Kaufmann reports: &#8220;Every one of these proposals represents a radical blow to American cultural nationhood. Yet &#8230; six of them carry the support of more than 50 percent of committed liberals &#8230; Eight are backed by a majority of the 40 percent of liberals who identify as &#8216;very liberal.&#8217; Some 80 percent of those who have made up their mind would replace the national anthem and constitution.&#8221;
Assuming this survey is remotely scientific and representative of liberal thinking, it should be uncontroversial to say the American left wants to radically transform America.
After considering this data, and the left&#8217;s support and sympathy for the violence, looting and anarchy sweeping this country, could it be any clearer what is at stake in the 2020 elections?
I respectfully appeal to reasonable people on both sides of the political aisle to recognize what&#8217;s happening to the greatest nation in history and oppose it before it&#8217;s too late. These kinds of revolutions don&#8217;t end well for anyone — including the nihilists who engineer them.
David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His latest book is &#8220;Guilty by Reason of Insanity: Why the Democrats Must Not Win.&#8221; Follow him on Twitter @davidlimbaugh and his website at www.davidlimbaugh.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

American flag

LIMBAUGH: America’s Survival Hangs In The Balance

Democrats

Radicalism in America&#8217;s largest cities seems impervious to reason. Consider this headline in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: &#8220;Despite a wave of violence, Minneapolis &#8216;defund police&#8217; effort continues: An influential bloc of City Council members is pressing ahead with plans to dismantle the department as a monthlong eruption of gunfire sent tremors through neighborhoods.&#8221;
Reporter Liz Navratil explained that a majority of the Minneapolis City Council and like-minded community activists have used terms such as &#8220;defund,&#8221; &#8220;dismantle&#8221; and &#8220;abolish&#8221; in different ways. There&#8217;s some semantic tap-dancing. But they&#8217;re serious. They&#8217;re working to rewrite the city charter and dismantle a &#8220;minimum size requirement&#8221; for the police department. They talk about a police-free future.
A protester named Maisah Outlaw insisted: &#8220;This isn&#8217;t the first time an institution that is rooted in racism has been abolished. It&#8217;s not impossible.&#8221; She claimed, &#8220;We don&#8217;t need to scare people and beat people into submission.&#8221; Who&#8217;s going to be scared and beaten after the police go away?
The radicals behind this movement don&#8217;t just tweet about abolishing the police. They also talk about abolishing prisons. If violence is the problem, how is emptying prisons the solution? What next? Abolish the courts? These activists seem to think only police officers commit the kind of violence worth protesting. Prosecuting violent crimes like burglary, rape and murder is apparently racist. Conversation about Black-on-Black crime is treated like a distraction employed by racists.
One has to wonder if this is really the kind of stance people will support at reelection time. But it seems the pendulum only swings further to the left. Democrats have gotten reelected for decades on end to run big American cities. Many mayors and police chiefs are minorities. If &#8220;systemic racism&#8221; is rampant in America, how does that explain the systemic progressivism that keeps failing?
In the meantime, people who commit crimes are acting. With at least 113 people injured or killed in shootings since George Floyd&#8217;s death on May 25, some locals are &#8220;asking urgent new questions&#8221; about the potential effects of defunding the police, the Star Tribune reports. Do these elected officials fail to imagine what could happen if you were to &#8220;dismantle&#8221; the police force? The consequences of their utopian naivete?
Steven Belton, president and CEO of the Urban League Twin Cities, told the Star Tribune he believes all this Defund the Police advocacy &#8220;has emboldened criminals and sparked a new wave of violence.&#8221;
But city council member Steve Fletcher claimed they often don&#8217;t need armed officers, saying, &#8220;It&#8217;s so much more common that we&#8217;re showing up (and) the person has already left who has committed the crime.&#8221; So, should police officers show up at crime scenes unarmed, assuming the crook fled the scene? That seems to be the suggestion &#8230; that is if the cops have jobs in the coming years.
The radical experiment is coming. Cities will send social workers instead of police officers to deal with domestic violence complaints and drug overdoses. Will unarmed social workers be harmed in these volatile situations? Will they wish they had an armed cop backing them up?
Can liberal big-city newspapers be trusted to report on the aftermath of an overreaction? Or will they be too torn by inner newsroom turmoil over racial politics to paint an accurate picture for their community? Given their business model erodes, it&#8217;s not like they can afford to get this wrong.
Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Tim Graham, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

“Defund the Police” sign

GRAHAM: Abolish The Cops. Abolish The Prisons. What Next?

Defund The Police

Minneapolis

If you are a Jew or Christian in America, the seriousness of your Judaism or Christianity is now being tested.
People look back in time and wonder how religious people, especially religious leaders — specifically, the clergy — could have failed in times of moral crisis. The failure of most rabbis, priests and pastors to speak out today — when the risk to personal safety is so much less than it was in communist and fascist countries — should provide the answer: Religion doesn&#8217;t have all that much impact on most religious people. During comfortable times, it provides two essentials to a happy and fulfilled life — community and meaning — but when tested, it often fails like an umbrella that fails to expand just as it starts to rain.
America is being taken over by violent mobs; a vast amount of destruction and stealing has taken place (with little police intervention and the apathy of our political leaders). Why aren&#8217;t all clergy delivering thundering sermons about the Seventh Commandment, &#8220;Thou shalt not steal&#8221;? Does it now come with an asterisk?
A central part of a major American city has been seized and occupied by people who hate America and its values, including its Judeo-Christian values. Heard any clergy (aside from some evangelical Christians) speaking out against it?
And most ominous by far, for the first time in American history, free speech — the mother of all freedoms — is being widely suppressed, not by the government but by the press, the universities, the high schools, the elementary schools, all the giant internet media, Hollywood and virtually every major business in America. Christians and Jews place repentance at the center of their theologies, yet there is no place for repentance if you did or said one insensitive thing — real or alleged — even if it was 20 or more years ago. Yet all we get from American religious leaders on this matter is &#8230; silence.
The freest, least racist, most opportunity-providing country in history — &#8220;the last best hope of earth,&#8221; in Abraham Lincoln&#8217;s words — is smeared as &#8220;systemically racist&#8221;; all white people are declared &#8220;racist&#8221;; and the statues of the greatest Americans, including George Washington and even Abraham Lincoln, are toppled and/or defaced. And all we get from most American religious leaders is either agreement or silence.
It leads this religious American to ask the question the anti-religious ask: Of what use is religion?
Take the claim that being &#8220;colorblind&#8221; is racist.
If you are a religious Jew or Christian — let alone a rabbi, priest or minister — do you believe that? Do you believe that the human ideal is not to be colorblind? Do you believe that the ideal is to see every person, first and foremost, as a member of a race? Is that what you learned at seminary? Is that what you have taught from your pulpit all of your life?
I doubt it. I assume that, until as recently as a year or even six months ago, you have always believed and preached that we are, in Martin Luther King Jr.&#8217;s words, to measure people not by &#8220;the color of their skin but by the content of their character.&#8221;
Isn&#8217;t it fundamental to all Bible-based religions that we are all created in God&#8217;s image, that God has no race and that Adam and Eve, from whom we all descend, had no race? If you are a Christian, do you see Christians of other races first as fellow Christians or first as members of their race? If you are a Jew, do you see Jews of other races as anything other than fellow Jews? Does God?
So, why the silence? Why aren&#8217;t all rabbis, priests and pastors telling their congregations and telling America — in tweets, on Facebook, in letters to the editor, on television and radio, in opinion pieces — that there is one race, the human race, and that the only antidote to racism is to deny that race determines our worth, not to affirm its significance?
Does an ideology that affirms the significance of race have an honorable pedigree? Has it ever led to anything good? Isn&#8217;t that exactly what Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan advocated?
So, how are we to explain this tragic failure of religious Jews and Christians — and their clergy — to speak up against looting (aka stealing) and for freedom, for America, for Western civilization and for being colorblind?
The answer to this question also goes to the core of what it means to be religious. At the center of our two religions is the notion of fear of God: &#8220;Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man&#8221; (Ecclesiastes 12:13). But what is now apparent is that most Jews and Christians fear the left, fear The New York Times, fear being shunned by &#8220;friends&#8221; on Facebook and mobbed on Twitter more than they fear God.
That&#8217;s what this moment comes down to. Jews and Christians who fail this test will not only lose their freedom, lose the great American hope for mankind and lose the West; they will have also lost their souls.
Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest book, published by Regnery in May 2019, is &#8220;The Rational Bible,&#8221; a commentary on the book of Genesis. His film, &#8220;No Safe Spaces,&#8221; came to theaters fall 2019. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com.

Prayer

PRAGER: America’s Jews And Christians Are Failing The Test Of Their Lives

Christianity

Free Speech

Judaism

Judeo-Christian Values

[UPDATE] This article has been updated with a quote from the Engel campaign stating in part that it is “premature” to declare a winner in the race.
Left-wing candidate Jamaal Bowman has declared victory in his primary challenge against Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY), the establishment-backed chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who has served in Congress since 1989.
“I’m a Black man who was raised by a single mother in a housing project. That story doesn’t usually end in Congress. But today, that 11-year old boy who was beaten by police is about to be your next Representative,” Bowman tweeted on Wednesday morning. “I cannot wait to get to Washington and cause problems for the people maintaining the status quo.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I’m a Black man raised by a single mother in a housing project. That story doesn’t usually end in Congress.
But today, that 11-year old boy beaten by police is about to be your Representative.
I can&#8217;t wait to get to DC and cause problems for those maintaining the status quo. <a href="https://t.co/ijaWpkcxvc">pic.twitter.com/ijaWpkcxvc</a>
— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) <a href="https://twitter.com/JamaalBowmanNY/status/1275818466667307009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2020</a></blockquote>
While the official results of the race are not yet known, Bowman’s statement was released after Cook Political Report editor Dave Wasserman called the race in Bowman’s favor, and argued that Engel’s vote tally deficit was too substantial to overcome through incoming absentee ballots.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I’ve seen enough: Jamaal Bowman (D) has defeated 16-term Rep. Eliot Engel (D) in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NY16?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NY16</a> primary.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) <a href="https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1275803793192615943?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I should clarify, these are not official, final results. These are results from official sources (NYC/Westchester BOEs). Still tens of thousands of absentees to count and possible margin will narrow, even if the outcome is not in doubt.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) <a href="https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1275807832189939714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2020</a></blockquote>
The Engel campaign has called any attempts to declare a winner in the election as undermining of the democratic process, reports Spectrum News 1 New York.
“There are many thousands of absentee ballots that will need to be counted, and that count won’t begin for another six days. Any declarative statement on the outcome of this race right now is premature and undermines the democratic process,” said the Engel campaign, reports <a href="https://twitter.com/emilyngo/status/1275863752127270913">Spectrum News 1</a> New York. 
“Congressman Engel strongly believes that every absentee ballot should be counted, especially during this pandemic,” the statement continued. “In the meantime, the Congressman will continue his work for the people of the Bronx and Westchester.”
Hank Scheinkopf, a New York-based political consultant, told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-24/engel-teetering-as-progressives-show-strength-in-new-york?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=bd&amp;cmpId=google">Bloomberg News</a> that while he believes that it isn’t impossible for Engel to win if absentee ballots overwhelmingly favor him, “regardless, change is here to stay.”
Over the last few weeks, Engel received <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/after-hot-mic-moment-democrats-rush-to-save-sixteen-term-rep-from-getting-aocd">high-profile</a> endorsements from Democratic establishment figures, including from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Many of his endorsements came after Engel received heat for a hot mic moment during which he begged an organizer to let him speak at a local event, seemingly so that his constituents – many likely aware of the Atlantic Magazine <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/05/eliot-engel-new-york-coronavirus/611611/">report</a> claiming that Engel didn’t spend much of his quarantine in his own district, but in Maryland – would actually see him in New York City.
On the other hand, Bowman boasted endorsements from far-left politicians, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), whose 2018 primary upset occurred in the neighboring district, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

NY Democratic House Candidate Jamaal Bowman Holds Election Night Event

Jamaal Bowman, Far-Left Primary Challenger, Set To Oust 16-Term NY Congressman; Releases Victory Statement

Congress

Eliot Engel

Jamaal Bowman

New York

Lately it seems that we conservatives can&#8217;t win even when we&#8217;re winning. But the country is under siege, so we cannot indulge the luxury of being discouraged.
This year has been one body blow after another to the nation we love. First, there was the coronavirus, and we thought, &#8220;How can this get any worse?&#8221; Then came the economic shutdown and the incalculable pain and suffering it brought. Next were the riots, the radicals&#8217; unopposed seizure of a section of Seattle and the maniacal efforts throughout the country to defund the police. Now a series of rulings from the &#8220;conservative&#8221; Supreme Court are wreaking untold havoc on the Constitution and the rule of law.
It wouldn&#8217;t take a Christian fanatic or an excitable conspiracist to conclude that America is now the target of an intense spiritual onslaught — brought on by its own rampant descent into decadence.
The left has been at war with America as founded for decades, and it has made great progress in transforming our culture and institutions. Leftists are activism-oriented and relentless. They pursue their goals 24/7, exhausting their less activist and less calculating opponents, and advance their agenda by sheer attrition.
But a more important factor in the left&#8217;s success is the depressing naivete of too many conservatives about its ultimate aims. If you underestimate the extremism and determination of your opponents, how can you counter them?
Perhaps one silver lining emerging from the Democrats&#8217; enabling of the proliferating lawlessness in America is that unsuspecting patriots are finally awakening to the horrors facing us and the left&#8217;s cynical exploitation of them.
The virus isn&#8217;t red or blue, but the left immediately weaponized it against President Donald Trump, their endless efforts to remove him having failed. From the beginning of this scourge, it was obvious they were more interested in demonizing Trump than in defeating the virus.
The media and the Democratic Party bludgeoned Trump instead of working with him to combat the virus. They excoriated him for responding too slowly when, had he listened to them, he wouldn&#8217;t have implemented his travel bans, which objectively slowed the spread in the United States.
They savaged him for defying the medical experts, when he was following their advice at every turn, including in shutting down the economy. Though they have shut the economy down even more severely in their blue-controlled states, they preposterously blamed the inevitable economic downturn on him.
Though Trump and virtually all of America condemned the senseless killing of George Floyd, the extreme left seized the moment not merely to protest officer misconduct but to condemn the nation for &#8220;systemic racism,&#8221; &#8220;white privilege&#8221; and &#8220;white supremacy.&#8221;
Leftist activists converted the protests into riots, looting and violence, and Democratic leaders refused to condemn it and instead fanned the flames lit by the organized mob. They have joined the movement to topple monuments and erase all other unpleasant aspects of American history — as if they never occurred.
This is nothing new for the Democratic Party. It was shocking that its key figures dared to publicly support some of the certifiably insane provisions of the Green New Deal — provisions too fantastical for even infants to endorse. It was surreal that some of their leading presidential candidates openly supported the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But this widespread move to defund the police takes the insanity to French Revolution-crazy levels.
How can parents not fear for their kids&#8217; future? How can an entire political party give itself over to a lawless mob? How can it condone the systematic suppression of political speech by Hollywood, the corporate left and social media giants?
Do rank-and-file liberals want to live in a country whose culture destroys people who won&#8217;t toe the leftist line? Ironically, it will only be a matter of time before the mob they legitimized will turn on them, as surely as the French revolutionaries turned on their mastermind Maximilien Robespierre. For an unquenchable mob hellbent on eradicating all traditions, systems and laws, nothing is sacred, and no one is immune. Examples already abound. Just ask actor Mark Duplass and author J.K. Rowling. How can anyone be blind to this fascism? How, indeed, unless we really are witnessing a raging spiritual war.
Note to conservatives: If you have been casually dismissing leftist extremism, maybe now you will wake up. Can&#8217;t you hear the alarms blaring?
Too many on the right also mistakenly believe that this Democratic frenzy and leftist unrest is all based primarily on their contempt for President Donald Trump. He has made them crazy, and they&#8217;ll do anything to get rid of him. Then everything will return to normal.
Yes, he makes them crazier, more desperate and more unreasonable — mainly because he&#8217;s fighting them hammer and tongs — but he didn&#8217;t make them leftists, and leftists don&#8217;t need any prompting to unleash their hell on America. It stands for everything they hate.
With or without Trump, their goals remain the same. But without Trump, their chances of finally undoing America immeasurably increase.
I began this column saying we can&#8217;t afford to be discouraged. We can&#8217;t. But that doesn&#8217;t mean we can afford to be blind to the gravity of the threats we face. Let&#8217;s wake up and rededicate ourselves to preventing the destruction of America. Don&#8217;t ever lose hope. My bet is the silent majority is bigger than ever and that we&#8217;ll see that in November. Stay in the fight like your children&#8217;s future depends on it — because it does.
David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His latest book is &#8220;Guilty by Reason of Insanity: Why the Democrats Must Not Win.&#8221; Follow him on Twitter @davidlimbaugh and his website at www.davidlimbaugh.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Megaphone

LIMBAUGH: The Silent Majority Can Be Silent No More

Coronavirus

George Floyd

protests

Variety just published a list of 10 “problematic” films that deserve a warning label a la “Gone With the Wind.” The list includes “Dirty Harry” (it mocks liberal judges), “The Silence of the Lambs” (not trans friendly) and “The Searchers” (it portrays Native Americans as “savage or comical”).
So we clearly need a competing list of 10 liberal films so “problematic” they demand warnings all their own.
OK, we don’t actually want warning labels on these films, or any movies for that matter. Labels are for children, and adults are smart enough to process thoughts and themes from decades ago ‘til now.
That didn’t stop <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/gone-with-the-wind-problem-films-forrest-gump-1234640666/">Variety</a> from demanding a movie released less than a year ago, “Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood,” come with a warning about its “regressive” content.
“It’s about two middle-aged white guys who long for the old days in Hollywood; in other words, MHGA (Make Hollywood Great Again). The film is set in 1969, when some Americans felt the status quo was being threatened by minorities, hippies and newly liberated women.”
Especially the hippies out to slaughter the main characters, mind you.
Still, as a way to reach across the ideological aisle, here are 10 sticker-worthy liberal films. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Or not!
“JFK” (1991)
What you’re about to see comes from the conspiratorial mind of Oliver Stone. Enough said.
<iframe title="JFK - Original Theatrical Trailer" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s8az13Y1rUM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Truth” (2015)
This Robert Redford vehicle attempted to resurrect Dan Rather’s career. The disgraced CBS News anchor now bloviates on Twitter and CNN, so let’s assume the resurrection didn’t fully take. More importantly, the film says Rather followed solid journalistic standards by reciting the “fake but accurate” mantra.
<iframe title="Truth Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford Drama HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MqOz8-Sto1g?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“The Day After Tomorrow” (2004)
Hollywood loves climate change apocalyptic stories. This one, from hack auteur Roland Emmerich, may cause intense giggles and rampant eye rolling. Consult your doctor before watching from start to finish.
<iframe title="The Day After Tomorrow (1/5) Movie CLIP - Tornadoes Destroy Hollywood (2004) HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dkErNkX2HKM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Vice” (2018)
This Adam McKay fever dream purports to tell the unlikely rise of Richard B. Cheney. Instead, it’s a factually wobbly blog post with killer makeup and a starry cast. And when a movie like “Vice” insists the U.S. invaded Iraq for its oil, but never took over the oil fields, you shouldn’t take it seriously.
<iframe title="Vice Trailer #1 (2018) | Movieclips Trailers" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aSGFt6w0wok?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Avatar” (2009)
Even your favorite tree hugger might wince as the film asks us to cheer on blue aliens over Earthlings. It doesn’t help that hack lines like “shock and awe” reached theaters after President George W. Bush went back to his Texas ranch.
<iframe title="Avatar | Official Trailer (HD) | 20th Century FOX" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5PSNL1qE6VY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Collapse” (2009)
This “Peak Oil” screed hit theaters in 2009. Fracking went wild just a few years later.
<iframe title="Collapse" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uxWpxQXMcp4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Bushwick” (2017)
Did you know when the Left/Right civil war begins, the progressives will have the upper hand? Yes, this 2017 turkey tells us so, along with the notion that many Red States want out of the U.S. of A. Sure, it’s a fantasy action romp, and a stupefying one at that, still some coherency should come into play.
<iframe title="Bushwick Trailer #1 (2017) | Movieclips Trailers" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cn7pZdg0aI4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Game Change” (2012)
Sarah Palin has her flaws. All politicians do. Portraying her as a potted plant, not a popular governor reviving a comatose campaign, shows the HBO film didn’t have reality in mind. It won a boatload of awards all the same, to no one’s surprise.
<iframe title="Game Change: Trailer (HBO Films)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QOa98P_Mv68?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Sicko” (2007)
If we’re giving out warning labels, better print up a bunch for this filmmaker’s canon and perhaps his <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/michael-moore-lying-attacks-life/">dubious brand-building</a>. Any movie telling us you’re better off being sick in Cuba than the U.S. has its head up the wrong place.
<iframe title="Sicko (1/8) Movie CLIP - Pre-Existing Conditions (2007) HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QtJwMKMz6-M?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“BlacKkKlansman” (2018)
This 2018 film proved director Spike Lee could still spin a dizzying yarn, something he hasn’t done in ages. The movie caps with a montage of news footage featuring the mother of all selectively edited clips. Yes, the <a href="https://www.prageru.com/video/the-charlottesville-lie/">Charlottesville Lie</a> makes a vicious cameo.
<iframe title="BlacKkKlansman (2018) - Too Late to Turn Back Now Scene (1/10) | Movieclips" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLZbXA4lyCtqpu0SvojBcC96UJtwGh4mvb" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
By the way, the Variety listicle got pummeled by the site’s own readers. It’s worth reading every scathing response, but here are a few golden nuggets.
<ul>
<li>You guys at The Onion are hilarious! Thanks for the satire but I think you went too far on the unbelievable side.</li>
<li>Tim Gray wants to be the new Tipper Gore. Hey Tim nobody wants to see context, opinions or warnings before watching a movie. Earth to Tim &#8211; These are entertainment movies and not politically correct SJW propaganda films. Warnings are not a form of censorship? You are way off mark.</li>
<li>If you’re an adult and you need a disclaimer before a film, to explain that the past wasn’t exactly like the present, you shouldn’t be going out to the movies or anywhere else in public, unattended.</li>
<li>Please, stop this madness. I remember socialism as a teenager (I am from Prague and in 1989 I was 15) and this is very similar to situation before 1989 &#8211; many films were blacklisted and forbidden because of some “suitable” reason….how can Forrest Gump do harm? Is this really democracy?</li>
</ul>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

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

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

Hollywood

Political Correctness

It takes a lot to build a civilization, and though it is much easier to destroy a civilization, it takes a lot to do that, too.
But now we have four roots of evil that are guaranteed to do so.
No. 1: Victimhood.
The first is victimhood. The more people who regard themselves as victims — as individuals or as a group — the more likely they are to commit evil. People who think of themselves as victims feel that, having been victimized, they are no longer bound by normal moral conventions — especially the moral conventions of their alleged or real oppressors.
Everyone knows this is true. But few confront this truth. Every parent, for example, knows that the child who thinks of him or herself as a perpetual victim is the child most likely to cause and get into trouble. And criminologists report that nearly every murderer in prison thinks of himself as a victim.
On a societal scale, the same holds true — and being on such a larger scale, the chances of real evil ensuing are exponentially increased. One of the most obvious examples is Germany after World War I. Most Germans regarded themselves as victims — of the Treaty of Versailles; of a &#8220;stab in the back&#8221; German government; of the British, Americans and French; and, of course, of the Jews. This sense of victimhood was one of the most important factors in the popularity of the Nazis, who promised to restore German dignity.
That millions of black Americans regard themselves as victims — probably more so today than at any time in the past 50 years — can only lead to disaster for America generally and for blacks specifically. While victims generally feel free to lash out at others, they also go through life angry and unhappy.
No. 2: Demonization.
The second of the four ingredients of this civilization-destroying witches&#8217; brew is demonization — demonizing a group as inherently evil.
That is being done now with regard to the white people of America. All — again, all — whites are declared racist. The only difference among them is that some admit it and some deny it. The notion that whites are inherently evil has long been associated with Louis Farrakhan. But it has apparently migrated out from his relatively small following to many blacks, even those who might consider Farrakhan a kook. Former President Barack Obama, hardly a Farrakhan follower, described America as having racism in its DNA. That is as close to inherently and irredeemably evil as it gets; you cannot change your DNA.
In that sense, not only are whites demonized, but America is, too. Unlike traditional liberals, the left regards America as a moral cesspool — not only racist but, according to The New York Times, founded to be so. The New York Times has created a history of America that declares its founding not in 1776 but in 1619, when the first black slaves arrived. The American Revolution was fought, according to this malign narrative, not merely for American independence but in order to preserve slavery, a practice the British would have interfered with. This &#8220;history&#8221; will now be taught in thousands of American schools.
The combination of victimhood and demonization alone is dangerous enough. But there are still two more horsemen galloping toward the looming apocalypse.
No. 3: A Cause To Believe In.
Most Americans throughout American history found great meaning in being American and in being religious — usually Christian. Since World War II, we have lived in a post-Christian, post-nationalist age. Until very recently, Americans would have found the expression &#8220;for God and country&#8221; deeply meaningful; that term today, on the left, is risible and execrable.
But people need something to believe in. The need for meaning is the greatest human need after the need for food. Leftism, with all its offshoots — feminism, environmentalism, Black Lives Matter, antifa — has filled that vacuum. In Europe, communism, fascism and Nazism filled the hole left by the demise of nationalism and Christianity. Here it is leftism and its offshoots.
No. 4: Lies.
The fourth and most important ingredient necessary for evil is lies. Lies are the root of evil. Ironically, slavery itself was made possible only because of the lie that the black was inferior to the white. Nazism was made possible thanks to the lie that Jews were not fully human. And communism was built on lies. Lenin, the father of Soviet Communism, named the Soviet communist newspaper &#8220;Truth&#8221; (&#8220;Pravda&#8221;) because truth was what the Communist Party said it was.
The New York Times, CNN and the rest of the mainstream &#8220;news&#8221; media are becoming our version of Pravda.
Objective truth doesn&#8217;t exist on the left. The universities have already declared &#8220;objective truth&#8221; as essentially an expression of &#8220;white privilege.&#8221; See what happens to a student who says in class, for example, that &#8220;men cannot give birth.&#8221;
The public self-debasement demanded of anyone who differs with the left — like New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees just did when he said not standing for the national anthem desecrated the flag and those who have died for it — happens almost daily. The only difference between this and what dissidents underwent during Mao&#8217;s Cultural Revolution is that the self-debasement here is voluntary — thus far.
Last week, when this Jew saw a store in Santa Monica with a sign reading &#8220;black-owned business&#8221; so as to avoid being destroyed, it evoked chilling memories.
That&#8217;s how bad it is in America today.
Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest book, published by Regnery in May 2019, is &#8220;The Rational Bible,&#8221; a commentary on the book of Genesis. His film, &#8220;No Safe Spaces,&#8221; came to theaters fall 2019. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com.

PRAGER: The Four Horsemen Of America’s Apocalypse

Democratic Party

Media Bias

Racism

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

Broken bridge

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

United States

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

Seattle Autonomous Zone

Protesters Liberate Seattle From Civilization [Satire]

Antifa

Law Enforcement

Satire

Seattle

Over the last several days, “protesters” have pulled down statues in many cities across the country. A monument to Columbus was torn from its base, set on fire, and tossed in a lake. Another statue of Columbus in Minneapolis was destroyed, despite having been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rioters-tear-down-christopher-columbus-statue-in-minneapolis-an-immigrant-built-it-gave-it-as-a-gift">sculpted by an immigrant</a> and given as a gift to the Italian-American community in the city. Several other Columbus statues have been, as the media so innocuously puts it, removed. Confederate monuments have been toppled as well. And now the mob <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/08/18/cnns_angela_rye_washington_jefferson_statues_need_to_come_down.html">has set its eyes</a> on the Washington and Jefferson monuments. The mob may want to be careful felling those enormous statues, though. One mob member was <a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1270929057870278656?s=20">critically injured</a> on Wednesday night when a Confederate statue landed on his head.
Yet something rather conspicuous is missing in all of these videos of crazed mobs tearing down statues and monuments: law enforcement.
It&#8217;s a silly question to ask at this point, but, still, where are the police while these vandals destroy public property and tear down priceless works of art that have stood, in some cases, for a century or more? You almost have to remind yourself that the people tearing down the property actually do not have the legal right to do what they&#8217;re doing. You&#8217;d be excused for thinking otherwise – does the term &#8220;public property&#8221; mean that the public can do whatever it wants with it? – however, destruction of property worth more than $500 is a felony in most states. These statues are worth many thousands of dollars, making these mob-led &#8220;removals&#8221; felony crimes. They are also dangerous crimes, as the man who had his skull cracked open in Virginia convincingly discovered.
But this has been the theme in recent weeks. The police standby while leftist radicals do, quite literally, whatever they want.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VJ3zDgob90A?start=127" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">﻿</iframe>
In Seattle, a group of radicals have <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-blasts-radical-left-dems-in-seattle-as-he-says-domestic-terrorists-take-hold-of-city">seized control of several city blocks</a> and declared it a sovereign state. They have set up checkpoints and barricades, and uniformed police are barred entry. The police, in fact, were nice enough to abandon their precinct at the rioters&#8217; behest. This is a repeat of what we witnessed in Minneapolis, except in that case the precinct was then ransacked and torched. Somehow, in a civilized country once ruled by law, this has all become a familiar sight. Mobs rampage through our cities, set buildings on fire, destroy police cars, destroy public property, destroy private property, throw bricks, invade government buildings, loot, assault, and murder. And very little effort is made to stop any of these crimes from occurring, or to punish those who commit them.
There is much discussion about &#8220;privilege&#8221; in our culture. Indeed, the concept of privilege is one of the things fueling these mobs. They would say that privilege is bestowed based on race and gender, and that I, as a white man, have the most privilege of all. Yet I&#8217;m fairly sure that if I drove into town right now and threw a brick in a window, or set a retail outlet on fire, or looted a convenience store, or invaded a police precinct, or tried to set up my own &#8220;autonomous zone,&#8221; or yanked down any statues or monuments I found personally displeasing, I would be arrested on the spot, with little fanfare. And if I resisted arrest and was beaten or killed by police in the process – even if my death was unjust and the result of excessive force – there would be no CNN headlines about it, no riots in my honor, no elaborate displays of performative grief from our elected officials in Washington. Whatever my white privilege gets me, it doesn&#8217;t get me that. And it doesn&#8217;t provide me a pass that allows me to tear through the city, stealing, destroying, looting, and burning, either.
It seems to me that the greatest privilege on offer in our culture today is the privilege to be utterly immune from the law. This is the privilege exercised by many of the &#8220;protesters.&#8221; And though some of them are white males, many are not. It is, then, a privilege that is not dispensed based on race, but on ideology. We might call it Leftist Privilege. A person with the &#8220;correct&#8221; worldview, especially if he is gathered with a group of other correct-thinking people, can do almost anything he wants. The Powers That Be will bend over backwards to accommodate him and meet his demands.
This includes permitting crime, but also much else besides. Consider all of the corporations and brands that have been tripping over each other to express their support for the radical left-wing Black Lives Matter organization. And it doesn&#8217;t always take a mob to get this kind of capitulation from our culture&#8217;s most powerful forces. HBO&#8217;s streaming service <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/hbo-max-removes-gone-with-the-wind-for-racist-depictions-will-bring-it-back/">pulled</a> &#8220;Gone With The Wind&#8221; from its platform this week after one correct-thinking individual wrote an op-ed instructing them to do so. This on the same day that Webster&#8217;s dictionary <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52993306">edited its definition</a> of &#8220;racism&#8221; because a young black woman emailed and said they should. These are just the most recent examples of Leftist Privilege. We haven&#8217;t even discussed the many extravagant concessions made for the LGBT lobby, including allowing men access to women&#8217;s bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams, while shaming and silencing any women who express discomfort over this invasion of their privacy.
As a white man, I have not seen doors open for me, or exceptions made for me, or advantages given to me, just based on my race. In order to obtain those privileges, I must demonstrate my allegiance to the leftist tribe. I must have the “right” views, say the “right” things, hold the “right” opinions and beliefs. This is what the system truly demands, and this is how it grants privilege. Which is no surprise. Leftist long ago seized control of the system. Privilege is simply one of the spoils of victory.

Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

WALSH: The Only Real Privilege In America Is Leftist Privilege

privilege

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

Gone With The Wind Poster

9 Movies That Could Be ‘Gone’ Next

Of course, America is not a racist country. It is the least racist country, the only country even to attempt such a high level of multi-ethnicity with such comity and compassion. And there is approximately zero percent systemic racism here, if by systemic racism you mean barriers to advancement of a particular race built into our systems. That people dislike and distrust one another on tribal grounds is a fact of human life. That hasn’t stopped Jews, Irish, Jamaicans, Nigerians or anyone else from doing well here.
Why, then, is it a virtue to pretend? Why should I — an absolutely lovely person who has nothing but good will toward anyone who does not annoy me — apologize for anything I have not done? Indeed, I would like to declare right here and now that when you look upon my bald head, you should see, not atonement for some racial sin, but a great, big old imaginary tattoo telling antifas and Black Lives Matter they can both pound sand.
I am told that as a white man I cannot understand another sort of person’s “lived experience.” I am not convinced. I know a fellow who is a racial bigot. He hates black people. We argue. He says: “If I am mugged or robbed, it will be a black man who does it. Why should I not hate them?” I say: “Well, there is a history of prejudice and oppression that has made the black situation difficult.” He says: “What do I care? I just don’t want to be mugged — and in my lived experience, it’s the blacks I have to fear.”
“Lived experience,” is not a proof of anything. Facts, as a friend of mine might say, don’t care about your “lived experience.” “Lived experience” is where you begin the search for truth.
Here is the truth. Seventy-two percent of black Americans are satisfied with the performance of their local police departments, according to a new Monmouth University poll. Researchers at Harvard, University of Maryland, and Michigan State University all similarly, in the words of one researcher, “didn’t find evidence for anti-Black or anti-Hispanic disparity in police use of force across all shootings, and, if anything, found anti-White disparities when controlling for race-specific crimes.” (This was reported by Jason Riley in the Wall Street Journal.)
There are more than 800,000 police officers in the United States: that’s somewhere around the population of San Francisco. Some of those officers are going to be bad guys. Even if it’s only five percent — which would place police officers somewhere between the angels and the saints — that’s over 40,000 villains in blue. Meanwhile, blacks commit a disproportionate amount of crime. Thirteen percent of our population committed 53 percent of the murders and 60 percent of the robberies in 2018. (This was reported in the WSJ by Heather Mac Donald.)
In other words, it is only a matter of time before a bad cop has an unpleasant encounter with a black person who is committing a crime. These are the two people least likely to extract a good outcome from the morass of history and sociology. Bad things are going to happen.
But since these bad things are not representative, why do I have to pretend that they are? Why should I think for even a moment that riots and looting are a justifiable response? I understand the anger these awful incidents cause, and I do believe reforms are desirable. But since, according to a Monmouth poll, 73 percent of Americans support the protesters&#8217; cause, whom are they protesting against? And where’s the racism?
Impoverished black people are being used as pawns in the Left’s game of thrones. As Daniel Henninger wrote in the WSJ this week, 55 years of leftist policies have sent trillions of dollars’ worth of “Medicaid, food stamps, welfare, public housing, rent subsidies and federal aid to public schools” into poor neighborhoods governed by the Left, and very little in those neighborhoods has changed.
But those trillions of dollars represent patronage jobs and they create political dependency that keeps the Left in power while keeping poor black Americans poor. If they are not kept poor, Democrats will lose power and money. Why would Democrats help them then? It’s against their own interest. Instead, they inspire them to anger and disorder, creating the sort of crisis the Left will not let go to waste.
So go ahead, white leftists. Kneel down. But if you debase yourself before a child without a father, he still has no father. If you debase yourself before a man without a job, he still has no job. If you debase yourself while destroying charter school programs and defending horrendous public housing — why then, you are a Democrat and well and truly debased. Kneel down.
Russian collusion was a leftist hoax. Brett Kavanaugh hysteria was a leftist hoax. The overlong pandemic lockdown was a leftist hoax. So is systemic racism.
There are surely legacies of Jim Crow in this country. I have a heart for my fellow citizens who suffer from them. I strongly support the charter schools and housing plans and social and religious teaching that will ease their difficulties.
But what’s happening now will do nothing for anyone, except maybe the powerful leftist elites who are using those citizens for their own gain.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

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KLAVAN: Black Americans Are Being Used As Pawns By The Leftist Elite

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Brandon Straka

Two Years Later: #WalkAway Founder Brandon Straka Talks Leaving The Left, President Trump, And The Campaign’s Success

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Although the &#8220;Harry Potter&#8221; series was once considered holy text by the anti-Donald Trump &#8220;resistance,&#8221; its author, J.K. Rowling, has been under fire by progressives for her &#8220;trans-exclusive&#8221; language and for her sins against modern gender theory.
Back in December, Rowling was &#8220;canceled&#8221; online for daring to note that biological sex &#8220;is real&#8221; and coming to the defense of university professor Maya Forstater, who was stripped of her job after “tweeting that a person cannot change their biological sex,” The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/j-k-rowling-smeared-as-transphobe-canceled-after-saying-biological-sex-is-real">reported at the time</a>.
Now, Rowling is in trouble again after she &#8220;liked&#8221; a tweet about a Welsh trans woman whom a writer referred to as “an adult human male who claims to be a lesbian.”
<a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/05/harry-potter-author-j-k-rowling-continues-support-extreme-anti-transgender-tweets/#.XsLBQrUN4mY.twitter">LGBTQ Nation</a> reports that Rowling liked a tweet by &#8220;anti-transgender activist Fred Sargeant,&#8221; a writer who objects to the idea that anyone can somehow change their biological sex, and believes that male-to-female transgender individuals cannot be &#8220;oppressed&#8221; because they are born biologically male and made a choice to exit the Patriarchy.
Sargeant tweeted about a transgender activist named Alex Drummond and described Drummond&#8217;s lack of biological transition in great detail, adding that Drummond, who considers themselves a woman attracted to other women (so, technically, a lesbian), &#8220;believes that real lesbians who aren’t into penises are transphobic and should be excluded from the lesbian community.&#8221;
Sargeant later crowed that the tweet had received a &#8220;like&#8221; from Rowling, setting off the progressive social media chorus.
Rowling, many progressives and gender activists believe, is a &#8220;TERF&#8221; or &#8220;trans-exclusionary radical feminist&#8221; &#8212; a brand of activist that has cropped up more in Europe than in the United States, but which fights back against the idea that gender is fluid or non-existent, a theory they believe to be a threat to the crusade for women&#8217;s rights. If gender is merely a &#8220;social construct,&#8221; then the goals of feminism are and were imaginary and feminists&#8217; achievements were in vain.
Back in December, in support of Maya Forstater, Rowling tweeted, &#8220;Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? <a class="PrettyLink hashtag customisable" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IStandWithMaya?src=hash" rel="tag" data-query-source="hashtag_click" data-scribe="element:hashtag">#IStandWithMaya</a> <a class="PrettyLink hashtag customisable" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThisIsNotADrill?src=hash" rel="tag" data-query-source="hashtag_click" data-scribe="element:hashtag">#ThisIsNotADrill</a>&#8221;
Rowling was quickly derided as a bigot, and legions of Harry Potter fans took to Twitter to excoriate Rowling for her personal beliefs (though it&#8217;s not entirely clear what Rowling&#8217;s personal beliefs actually are, given that she&#8217;s never called herself a &#8220;TERF&#8221; or spoken out directly on the subject of gender). Some even called for a boycott of the Harry Potter books. Celebrities who made the mistake of &#8220;liking&#8221; Rowling&#8217;s offending tweet were even, themselves, made to apologize.
Rowling has not issued a statement on the subject. In the past, her publicist has said that Rowling &#8220;likes&#8221; things on Twitter by mistake.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

JK. Rowling

‘Harry Potter’ Author JK Rowling Under Fire AGAIN For ‘Extreme Anti-Transgender Rhetoric’

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