News
Senator Jeff Flake goes out with DIShonor (updated)
UPDATE: Just when I finished giving Senator Jeff Flake kudos, he turns around and does something flaky. He’s now calling for a one-week delay on the floor vote so the FBI can investigate.
BREAKING: Flake is calling for a one-week delay for a floor vote so that the FBI can do an investigation.
— Paul McLeod (@pdmcleod) September 28, 2018
There is a slight chance he’s falling on his sword on behalf of the GOP to remove some of the taint when Kavanaugh is finally confirmed. Slight. More likely he’s still just being his moderate Democrat self.
Original story:
I don’t like Senator Jeff Flake. He attempted to carry the mantle of conservatism despite having a very moderate voting history. As a lame-duck essentially forced into retirement by President Trump, I expected him to go out with one final middle finger pointed towards his nemesis. I expected him to vote against Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation for the Supreme Court.
Now, it appears that he will vote for Kavanaugh in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which assures that he’ll also vote for his confirmation.
Flake Announces Yes for Kavanaugh, Nomination Likely Headed to Senate Floor
Yesterday, we heard compelling testimony from Dr. Ford, as well as a persuasive response from Judge Kavanaugh. I wish that I could express the confidence that some of my colleagues have conveyed about what either did or did not happen in the early 1980s, but I left the hearing yesterday with as much doubt as certainty.
“Our system of justice affords a presumption of innocence to the accused, absent corroborating evidence. That is what binds us to the rule of law,” Flake added in his statement Friday.
My Take
Like Flake, I opposed Trump’s nomination by the GOP. Unlike Flake, I was able to put aside my anger over the choice by looking at one important factor in today’s partisan politics: the Supreme Court. I’m against at least half the things the President does because they don’t represent the conservative model of Republican government I expect from the GOP, but I will not let anger prevent me from supporting the things he gets right.
Senators Flake and Bob Corker have had opportunities to harm the agenda of the man who is forcing them out. I applaud them both for going out with class and dignity. Getting a conservative justice is too important for hurt feelings.
Dear Republicans: Don’t do this. Don’t do what leftists do. We cannot call them out for pushing uncorroborated sexual misconduct allegations when we’re pushing uncorroborated sexual misconduct allegations.
The bad news is, that’s what’s happening with Jim Renacci as he fights an uphill battle against Sherrod Brown:
Jim Renacci issues statement from lawyer describing unsubstantiated allegations from unnamed woman against Sherrod Brown
The release includes a lengthy statement from Laura Mills, a Canton attorney and former Renacci business partner and political donor. In the statement, Mills says the woman told her friend about the encounter as the MeToo movement unfolded. It occurred while the woman was alone with Brown, who was divorced at the time, through her work, Mills said. The friend then contacted the Renacci campaign, which referred the woman to Mills, the statement says.
The statement does not provide a date, a location, supporting evidence or identify the woman, but describes her as “a very credible source and a professional woman.” It comes a day after Renacci told reporters and editors with the Cincinnati Enquirer that he’d heard from “multiple women” with abuse allegations against Brown, while providing no additional details or supporting evidence.
The worse news is that many on the political right are cheering him on. Here’s one from Conservative Review:
Sexual assault claims against Dem Sen. Sherrod Brown put his post-Kavanaugh hypocrisy on display
It’s amazing how putting a shoe on the other foot can change a man.
Let’s take Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, as an example. He’s running for re-election in a state President Trump won in 2016. The campaign of his GOP opponent, Jim Renacci, claims that he’s recently been accused of sexual misconduct by an unnamed woman.
Now let’s take a look at how this has changed Brown’s reactions to uncorroborated allegations of sexual misconduct.
Here’s another from HotAir:
Uh oh: Woman claims “unwanted” sexual advance by Senate Dem in “late 1980s”
Quite frankly, I prefer the old rules. They not only did a better job of getting to the truth, they discouraged last-minute smear attacks rather than incentivizing them. I’m happy to apply the old rules to Sherrod Brown in this case as well — and to argue that Brown has disqualified himself for office by abandoning due process and fair play.
I suspect that Brown won’t be the last Democrat to get torched by the fire they set to those values in attempting to intimidate Kavanaugh into withdrawing. But I will welcome the strange new respect we get for due process out of it and the end to the neo-McCarthyism that they have immeasurably boosted. We warned them about the Kavanaughnsequences.
To be fair, both Ed Morrissey and Nate Madden posted their stories to highlight the hypocrisy of this new sensibility towards sexual misconduct accusation. If it weren’t for the treatment Brett Kavanaugh received, neither respected conservative writer would have touched this story. They did so more to speak out against the mess the left has created and not to add credibility to the accusation.
Nevertheless, we’re stuck in a societal state that feels obligated to go after the opposing side regardless of how credible an allegation is. It’s a partisan, divided world we live in now and the sexual misconduct game has made the situation even worse.
Sherrod Brown is an awful Senator. He deserves to lose, but chances of that are slim. If he were to lose because of these anonymous allegations, then our arguments for confirming Kavanaugh are moot.
Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova is allegedly part of Project Lakhta, a Russian operation intended to sow political division ahead of the midterm elections as well as other elections around the world. She has been charged by the Justice Department for interfering with the United States political system.
Here is the press release from the DOJ:
Russian National Charged with Interfering in U.S. Political System
“The strategic goal of this alleged conspiracy, which continues to this day, is to sow discord in the U.S. political system and to undermine faith in our democratic institutions,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “This case demonstrates that federal law enforcement authorities will work aggressively to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of unlawful foreign influence activities whenever feasible, and that we will not stand by idly while foreign actors obstruct the lawful functions of our government. I want to thank the agents and prosecutors for their determined work on this case.”
According to allegations in the criminal complaint, Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, 44, of St. Petersburg, Russia, served as the chief accountant of “Project Lakhta,” a Russian umbrella effort funded by Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin and two companies he controls, Concord Management and Consulting LLC, and Concord Catering. Project Lakhta includes multiple components, some involving domestic audiences within the Russian Federation and others targeting foreign audiences in the United States, members of the European Union, and Ukraine, among others.
My Take
This story will be spun from its surface assertion of Russian interference helping President Trump and other Republicans win in 2016. That assertion is inaccurate as the DOJ release indicates, but it won’t stop mainstream and leftist media from calling this the smoking gun against Trump’s presidency.
What this project allegedly did was push forth divisive messaging that was intended to affect people on both sides of the political aisle. This is important to understand because it wasn’t intended to drive one candidate or another. It was designed to take whatever political position any given person has and amplify their anger towards the opposing side.
Russia knows if they push the far right further to the right and the far left further to the left, our own anger will fuel the division. They are taken advantage of our freedom.
Leftists have been called cucks, snowflakes, libtards, and a multitude of other names assigned to them by conservatives and internet trolls for years. These labels often annoyed them, but the latest popular insult has triggered them like no other. It’s the NPC meme and it’s spreading like wildfire across the internet.
Twitter has even started banning people using the meme because it is “dehumanizing.”
But here’s the thing: previous labels may have been funny or even harsh, but the NPC meme strikes so close to home that it’s actually becoming a threat. It is being called dehumanizing, but it’s the closest a label has come to hitting the nail on the head when it comes to the unhinged left of today.
A non-player character, or NPC, is a character in a video game that is controlled by the computer. Some are influential to the outcome of the game but most will wander around the video game’s world doing random things and generally taking up space.
The use of the NPC meme in reference to leftists is tantamount to calling them unthinking automatons that echo each other without understanding beyond the collectivist, Marxist vision they claim to share. This label is quickly becoming the ultimate insult because it is, for all intents and purposes, true.
Thoughtful conservatives have known for years that mainstream media and social media are echo chambers for popular leftist mantras and incessant anger towards the boogeyman of the day. For over two years, that boogeyman has been President Trump, who has made the left so enraged they cannot see anything other than the hatred they feel towards him and those who support him.
Anything positive he does is dismissed while anything bad he does is blown out of proportions. This destructive cycle is so rampant, the echo chamber is experience a feedback loop. They no longer hear or know anything outside of their collective.
They have become NPCs controlled by the leftist puppet masters.
If it didn’t strike so close to home, it wouldn’t be getting such a vicious response.
Image via Kotaku.
The cover up begins: 18 Saudis arrested in death of Jamal Khashoggi
Jim Renacci pulls from leftist playbook, releases anonymous accusation against Sherrod Brown
Russian meddling is about dividing us, not helping Trump
Thomas Sowell nails the fact versus feelings problem
First charge filed against Russian for interfering with elections
The cover up begins: 18 Saudis arrested in death of Jamal Khashoggi
Hilarious video: Bombshell, the beginning of the end, walls closing in, the tipping point
Ben Shapiro’s reaction to Michael Avenatti’s video is perfect
PragerU: What’s wrong with government-run healthcare?
Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards charged for leaking financial data on Robert Mueller’s targets
Thomas Sowell nails the fact versus feelings problem
Wayne Dupree on cutting entitlement programs
J.J. McCullough tells the grim truth about Saudi Arabia
Danny Tarkanian has a message for his competitor and the people of Nevada
Katherine Timpf on fighting political correctness
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Conspiracy Theory12 hours agoRussian meddling is about dividing us, not helping Trump
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Democrats15 hours agoAs USC sex abuse scandal grows to 500 complaints, #MeToo fixates on the GOP
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Culture and Religion14 hours agoThe NPC meme triggers leftists so much because it’s too close to the truth
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Democrats16 hours agoWhy won’t Hillary Clinton go away?
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Media14 hours agoHilarious video: Bombshell, the beginning of the end, walls closing in, the tipping point
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News12 hours agoJim Renacci pulls from leftist playbook, releases anonymous accusation against Sherrod Brown
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Media13 hours agoThomas Sowell nails the fact versus feelings problem
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Foreign Affairs13 hours agoFirst charge filed against Russian for interfering with elections