Morning Briefing
For September 3, 2014
The American Aristocracy
At one point in American history, and a point I hope we get back to, if an American worked hard enough, he could work his way up through the ranks to great success. He did not need a college degree. In the upper stratosphere, connections helped and eased the way. But outsider could still work their way in through hard work.
In Obama's America, it is harder and harder. Both parties largely exist as corporate entities. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
President Obama Says "We Don't Have a Strategy" on ISIS, Except He Does
"We don't have a strategy yet" to deal with ISIS jihadists.
That's what President Obama announced to the world, including the terrorist army inflicting genocide on Christians in Iraq and Syria.
The worst part is, President Obama does have a strategy. He's had one from the day he took office. Apologize for America, appease the radical Muslim world, and ignore the threat posed by jihad.
The latest news makes this crystal clear. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
Maryland's thought police strike
Stephen King should thank his lucky stars he doesn't live in Maryland.
A teacher in Cambridge, Maryland has been suspended from teaching, banned from school property, had his home searched, and been taken in for emergency medical evaluation because of a novel he wrote under a pseudonym in 2011, three years before he was hired. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
The Hollywood Box Office Dilemma
"North American summer revenue barely cracks $4 billion, an eight-year low and down 15 percent from 2013," read the sub-header at the Hollywood Reporter. The New York Times headline was "Movies Have Worst Summer Since 1997?. Grantland weighed in. So too the Wall Street Journal.
I have seen a bunch of movies this year. I like the movies. One day I want one of those personal IMAX theaters in my house so I don't have to go to the theater, but can get that experience. I went to the movies this year and went a lot. In fact, from March to the middle of July I probably went every other week at least. A few of the movies I saw more than once. I like going to the movies. I work from home, need a break, and love the escapism of a good movie. I always have.
But this year was rather unfulfilling. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
Morning Briefing
For September 2, 2014
Nine Days, Mr. President
Well thank goodness. Naked and semi-naked pictures of celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence have been put online by hackers who hacked the celebrities' online accounts. No doubt the very same hackers celebrate Edward Snowden and hate the NSA snooping.
The upside of the celebrity nudity being put online is that the White House staff can rest easy. They will have something to blame should there be an attack on September 11th. Rumor has it that White House interns have been scouring YouTube for another video to have on standby to blame. The interns can stand down now - they have naked celebrities. Allah is surely offended.
Two years ago, American installations in Egypt and Libya were attacked on September 11th. The Administration was caught with its pants down and had to rely on a YouTube video, instead of the date, to explain the attacks. Now, President Obama has given IS/IS/L nearly a year to spread its wings, acquire our military hardware, and take over a significant portion of Iraq. In addition, he has admitted he has no strategy to combat the terrorists.
With more military warnings about possible incursions across our well advertised unsecured border, our well advertised lack of strategy, the President's insistence on a hands off approach, etc., I hope President Obama remembers September 11th is only nine days away.
God help us all. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
The Clinton Machine
Ben Domenech, one of our illustrious founders, has a great piece at Commentary about the Clinton machine being alive. It is worth reading for a number of reasons, but most especially may be this. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
On Ben Carson, 2016, and Moving On
A cult of personality, while a great song, is a dangerous thing. They can lead normally smart people to do and say some things that don't seem so smart.
Everyone jumped on board with Dr. Ben Carson when he had the audacity to criticize the president and his Affordable Care Act with the president right there in the room. Not bad, guy. Immediately, the conservative movement jumped on Carson as someone to watch out for. He had a great story - made his way from Detroit to Yale and, in the 80s, was a rock star with some big surgical procedures (included separating twins conjoined at the head after a 22-hour procedure) - and his political commentary spoke with an academic, authoritative voice when it came to the president's healthcare ideas. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
We Are At War With ISIS And They Are A Real, Sophisticated, Threat
Despite comments to the contrary by the White House spokesman, we are at war with ISIS and they are a real and sophisticated threat. The intentions of the Islamic State have been made crystal clear: kill the infidel and establish the caliphate by any means necessary. The escalations in just the last few weeks, specifically the beheadings, have awakened many to the dangers of the Islamic State, but is has also caught the President flat footed on the back nine.
There are a few things you should understand about ISIS. This isn't Al Qaeda. They aren't operating under duress with the full weight of the United States Military coming down upon them. They have advanced rather freely and have taken over not just territory, but the resources that come with that territory, whether it be oil fields or University labs, they own it right now. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
Colorado's Mark Udall Campaigning on Moral Cretinism
I am not sure if it will work or not, but Democrat Mark Udall is clearly convinced that he can ride to victory campaigning against the notion that an unborn human is a person. Virtually every word out of his mouth and a substantial portion of his ad buys focus exclusively on defending the absolute legal right to kill the smallest and most defenseless people in America. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
Gary Peters (D-MI) vs. The Michigan Economy
Gary Peters, the Democrat candidate running to replace Carl Levin in the Senate, has decided to run on a campaign of ruining the Michigan Economy by destroying America's manufacturing sector, especially the manufacture of automobiles . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
Boundless Grace Within the Bounds of Penitent Souls
These are two great quotes, thoughts from which might make it into my Sunday School lesson this Sunday. Walker Percy wrote this one a few decades ago. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
Morning Briefing
For September 1, 2014
It's Labor Day. I'm laboring under the delusion I get a day off. I'll be in for Rush Limbaugh later this week. In the mean time, here's one worth sending in toto.
Have a great and safe holiday.
- Erick
You Will Be Made to Care
Vanderbilt University has decided student groups on campus cannot determine their own leadership. Consequently, a muslim can run the Christian group, a global warming skeptic can run the Earth First group, a Republican can run the College Democrats, etc. You get the idea.
The rule came in part because, as you will not be surprised to learn, a Christian fraternity "had expelled several students for violating their behavior policy. One student said he was ousted because he is gay." Tish Harrison Warren wrote about this at Christianity Today. Her Christian group allowed anyone to be a member, "ut it asks key student leaders-the executive council and small group leaders-to affirm its doctrinal statement, which outlines broad Christian orthodoxy and does not mention sexual conduct specifically. But the university saw belief statements themselves as suspect."
The first bit of Tish Harrison Warren's column is really the most relevant part for my purposes here.
I thought I was an acceptable kind of evangelical. I'm not a fundamentalist. My friends and I enjoy art, alcohol, and cultural engagement. We avoid spiritual clichés and buzzwords. We value authenticity, study, racial reconciliation, and social and environmental justice.
Nonetheless, the secularists at Vanderbilt kicked her Christian group off campus "for being the wrong kind of Christians."
My friend Matthew Lee Anderson has some thoughts on it. In part he writes, "if we do not grasp the joy of the martyrs, we do not understand them at all." I tweeted out Matt's post yesterday, but was reminded of it again today by my friend Nick. He sent me Rod Dreher's piece on the whole thing.
Dreher notes,
"Blessed are you when they persecute you and speak all manner of evil against you." What if we lived as if that were true?
Folks, this is precisely why I started the saying "You will be made to care." It all stemmed from a diarist here at RedState who took the position that gay marriage did not affect him, he did not care about it, and he would never care about. But, of course, you will be made to care. It is a larger issue than just gay marriage and many comfortably naive, living at the margins of faith, Christians, think they have a comfortable path through life in the United States.
Put bluntly: if you do have a comfortable path through life with no fears at all of persecution, you probably are not a Christian. Islam may be about submission, but Christianity is about suffering.1 The suffering may not be major. It may be an accumulation of small sleights over time. It may be the loss of a friend or just the expulsion of your Christian group from your private school. But Christianity is a religion of suffering and persecution.
You will be made to care. You'll be made to care about gay marriage. You'll be made to care about killing kids. You'll be made to care about the influence of a secular culture on your children as they grow. You'll be made to care about a host of issues.
A lot of Christians have long thought they could sit on the sidelines. Only the icky evangelicals they don't much care for and the creepily committed Catholics would have to deal with these issues and the people who hate those deeply committed to their faith. They, on the other hand, could sit on the sidelines, roll their eyes, and tell everyone that they didn't think it was that big a deal. They were, after all, on birth control or watching whatever trendy HBO series is on or having a cocktail or perfectly willing to bake a cake for a gay wedding.
But it is not so simple. This world hates God and hates the things and people of God. There is no gray in that. Look at John 15:19:
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
There is no ambiguity in that statement. You may think you can sit on the sidelines. You may think you can opt-out of the culture war. You may think you can hide behind your trendy naked Leena Dunham t-shirt while you sip trendy drinks talking about trendy shows and writing columns demanding Christians be forced by the state to bake cakes, provide flowers and farms, and offer up photographs of gay weddings. But not only will you one day be called to account to your God for how you advanced his kingdom, but on this Earth you will be made to care. That does not mean you have license to be bitter or angry or hateful. You should love others and help others. Just do not expect anything in return.
And this is the fun, weird, odd bit of it - the world will make you choose your side and force you to care, not God. God will call you to account, but the world will force you to pick your tribe. As O. Palmer Robertson wrote, "While salvation is by faith, judgement is by works."2 And on the way to judgment, this world guarantees one thing - you will be made to care. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
Morning Briefing
For September 4, 2014
Just a reminder that I'll be filling in for Rush Limbaugh today. - Erick
The President Is Not Checked Out
Many people suggest President Obama has checked out. He treats the ever growing threat of ISIS as an abstraction. Sources from within the administration are now more openly admitting that for almost a year intelligence and Pentagon officials have advised the President of the threat. He has chosen to do very little. Last Wednesday, he said we would "shrink" ISIS and make it "a manageable problem" as opposed to eliminate it.
A few weeks ago, I had dinner with a sitting governor and a dear friend of mine. The friend leaned over to the governor and me and said Barack Obama is to America as Clarence the Angel was to George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life." Barack Obama is showing the world what it would look like had America never been born. As this friend later wrote, "Unsurprisingly, Bedford Falls is now Pottersville, and it's a terrible place. Unfortunately we do not get to revert to the tolerable if modest status quo at the end of the lesson: George Bailey will eventually have to shell the town and retake it street by street from Old Man Potter's Spetsnaz."
Consider how far the world has collapsed in the past year. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
The Only Answer to the Evil of ISIS: Eliminate it By Force
Yesterday I visited a museum that had a WWII exhibit which contained snapshots of newspaper headlines published just prior to the beginning of the war between Nazi Germany and Poland, and they reminded me of some similarities to our current geopolitical situation. Before Hitler's steamrolling of Poland and most of Europe via blitzkrieg, various politicians in Europe attempted to negotiate with Hitler, allowed him to annex various regions, and tried to appease rather than confront (see: Neville Chamberlain). Of course none of this worked. The European leaders' mistake was to assume that Adolf Hitler was a reasonable man who would sincerely negotiate.someone who would respond to a desire for peace. Rather, Adolf Hitler was evil. Not all of the German people were likewise, evil, but many allowed themselves to be drawn into an evil endeavor and many became complicit in the death of millions of Jews and other innocents. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
Obama signals no major action against ISIS
If anyone had hopes of a comprehensive response by the Obama administration to the growing challenge presented by ISIS after Obama's remarks in Estonia today they are indeed optimists. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
Will Obama Throw Republicans Into the Briar Patch on Amnesty?
Brian Beutler, who is what passes for an intelligent thinker in today's American left, wrote an article in TNR yesterday encouraging President Obama to immediately implement his plan to enact amnesty via executive fiat, instead of waiting until after the elections. More specifically, Beutler wrote that such a move would not only be good policy, but also good politics. The sole basis for this assertion seems to be that Beutler thinks that Republicans are protesting a bit too much . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
Another SEIU-Funded Fast-Food Astroturf Strike Coming To A City Near You
On Wednesday morning, SEIU-turned-fast-food-worker spokesman Kendall Fells appeared on Bloomberg Television spouting his SEIU-written rhetoric and making believe that the strikes that are to take place on Thursday in "more than 100? cities are all part of grassroots uprising for higher wages that started in New York in 2012. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
On the important matter of Wendy Davis and the Dallas Cowboys
The NFL season officially begins on Thursday. Voters head to the polls in 62 days.
Pair the two together and you get why Wendy Davis's (D - Future MNSBC Host) would waffle on what football team she roots for. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
Morning Briefing
For September 5, 2014
Just a reminder that I'll be filling in for Rush Limbaugh again today. - Erick
Silencing The Other
In Rotherham, England, 1400 young girls were routinely raped over more than a decade while authorities turned a blind eye. Why did they turn a blind eye? The authorities were so concerned with multiculturalism they could not bring themselves to do anything about a systemic and widespread culture of rape gangs in the area.
The gangs were, if you read most press accounts, Pakistani men. In fact, there were Bangladeshi men, Afghani men, and others involved. But you will not find many references of the word "muslim" except in pieces warning about a possible backlash against the muslim community. This New York Times piece is a good example. The words "muslim" and "Islam" do not appear, just "he victims identified in the report were all white, while the perpetrators were mostly of Pakistani heritage".
Ironically, the British Home Secretary, Theresa May, said the monstrous crime went on so long because of "institutionalized political correctness." People would not take action because they did not want to rock the multicultural boat. Anyone who dared do so would be labeled a racist. Even now, despite Theresa May's statement, the press dares not use the "m" word. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
Obama's Talinn speech probably guarantees peace in our time
Yesterday in Talinn, Estonia gave a speech that he should have given months, if not years, ago. Addressing the people of Estonia - the NATO member most directly threatened by Russian expansionism - and, indirectly Vladimir Putin, Obama drew yet another of his infamous red lines . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
"Beware America, They Are Coming For Us" - Lt. Gen. McInerney on FoxNews
Yesterday morning on Fox & Friends Lt. Gen. McInerney once again called for the United States to move to DEFCON 1, which is our highest state of readiness and implies an attack on the homeland is imminent. Not only did call for this move a second time, he expanded on what he knows and the capabilities that ISIS has. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
MSNBC Host Shares Her Beyoncé Abortion Fantasy
On MSNBC's "The Melissa Harris-Perry Show", the host of the eponymous program shared her "imaginings" this week about what signs pop diva Beyoncé could have danced in front of at last week's MTV Video Music Awards.
During the show, the singer performed in front of a huge sign that read "Feminist". For Melissa Harris-Perry, that was simply not progressive enough. . . . please click here for the rest of the post ?
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