op ed review 12/29
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
Rasmussen Poll: 51% Agree Impeachment Is ‘Abuse of Power’ By
Democrats
One trillion dollars have flowed into the American economy
as Trump’s tax law changes allowed companies to repatriate profits without tax
penalty
1 in every 4 circuit court judges is now a Trump appointee
New Yorker editor: ‘(after all we’ve done) It's a source of
great frustration' people still support Trump’
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/dec/23/david-remnick-new-yorker-editor-its-a-source-of-gr/
Democratic insiders say Bernie could win the nomination
Obama talks up Warren behind closed doors to wealthy donors
Pete Buttigieg doesn't have a plan on immigration. He has a
welcome mat.
Democrats Seek To Outlaw Suburban, Single-Family House
Zoning, Calling It Racist And Bad For The Environment
California public schools can’t suspend students for
disobeying teachers, new law says.
Giuliani: ‘Saint Marie Yovanovitch’ Quashed Ukraine Probe
Into Missing $5.3 Billion in Foreign Aid
Mexican man previously deported SIX TIMES was arrested in
fatal hit-and-run of Denver mother-of-six.
Latest spending bill gives Afghan military 3X more funding
than US southern border wall
Virginia Governor Northam Increases Corrections Budget In
Anticipation Of Jailing Gun Owners
Over A Third of Democrat Primary Voters Favor Gun
Confiscation
Sarah Huckabee Sanders ‘very seriously looking at’ run for
Arkansas governor.
Breitbart Facebook Page Beats NYT, WSJ, USA Today, WaPo
Combined
UK: Transgender woman
accused of 'hate speech' after wearing t-shirt stating she is still
biologically male
Pope Francis tells teens they’re not a ‘disciple of Jesus’
if they try to convert non-believers.
Pope Francis Blasts Conservative Christians, Warning That:
'Rigid Conservative Christians Are Actually Creating A Minefield Of Hatred'
China instructs Bible to be rewritten as pro-communist
Nearly 200 evangelical leaders condemned Christianity Today
editorial on Trump
CNN Pays 58 Airports $100,000 Each to Play Channel at Gates
Right Now, Republicans Are Dominating the Voter Registration
Game in Florida
Romney, Kerry, Biden, McCain, Pelosi, Schiff, Mueller &
Clinton are tied to sketchy Ukraine deals.
____________________________________________________________
COLUMN OF THE WEEK
“Give, Don't Govern”
John Stossel 12/25
This week, children may learn about that greedy man,
Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge is selfish until ghosts scare him into thinking about
others' well-being, not just his own. Good for the ghosts. But the way Scrooge
addresses others' needs matters.
Today's advocates of equality, compassion, increased
spending on education, health care, etc., say "we care" but demand
that government do the work. Controlling other people with the power of
government doesn't prove you care.
If you want to help the poor, clean the environment, improve
the arts. Great! Please do. But if you are compassionate, then you'll spend
your own money on your vision. You will volunteer your work and encourage
others to volunteer theirs, by charity or commerce. You don't force others to
do what you think is best.
But the government is not voluntary. The government has no
money of its own. Whatever it gives away, it first must take from others
through taxes. If you vote for redistribution of wealth, welfare benefits, new
Medicare spending or free education, you can tell yourself you're
"generous." But you're not. You're just forcing others to pay for
programs you think might help.
That's not generosity. That's control. The more programs you
demand, the more controlling you are. In fact, you are worse than greedy old
Ebenezer Scrooge. With Scrooge, people have a choice. They can work for Scrooge
or quit. They can do business with someone else.
Governments don't offer us a choice. Governments say:
"Comply or we will lock you up. Pay taxes and we will decide whom to help.
No one may escape the master plan."
Why, then, do people react to big government ideas as if
they're generous instead of scary? Because most people don't think clearly
about what it means to tell the government to use force against their fellow
citizens. They think about society the way their ancestors did. "Our minds
evolved tens of thousands of years ago when we lived in small groups of 50-200
people," says HumanProgress.org editor Marian Tupy. "We would kill
game, bring it back, share it."
The idea of everyone getting an equal share still makes us
feel warm and cozy. Some of you may feel that coziness this week, sharing a
Christmas meal. Great. But remember that if you decide that society's resources
should be redistributed, that's much more complex than passing meat around a
family table.
Seizing control of a big society's resources has unforeseen
consequences -- ripple effects that are hard to predict. Back in the cave, you
stood a pretty good chance of noticing which hungry relative needed a bigger
share of meat. In the tribe, that sort of central planning worked well enough. It
doesn't work as well once the tribe numbers thousands or millions of people. No
tribal elder knows enough to plan so many different people's lives.
Today's politicians, for instance, don't know how many
workers will be laid off if they raise taxes on Walmart. They don't know what
innovation will never happen if they cap CEOs' salaries. They don't know how
much wealth creation will be lost if they tax investors' money in order to fund
another government program. The government's built-in ignorance explains how it
can spend trillions on failed poverty programs, and then respond to the failure
by demanding more funds to continue the same programs.
You stand a better chance of getting good results if you do
real charity, close to home, where you can keep an eye on it -- and without
coercing anyone else to do things your way. We can invent new ways to give to
each other. Philanthropy evolves, much the way markets do, harnessing new
technologies and social networks that span the globe. Innovative ideas, like
micro-lending, start in one kitchen. If they work, they grow.
By contrast, the government grows even when it doesn't work.
It bosses people around even when it's not really helping them. Big hearts are
a good thing. Big government is no substitute for them.
_____________________________________________________________
FROM OTHER COLUMNS
“Over 200 evangelical leaders have come out … against
Christianity Today after their recent attack against Trump. Why isn’t CNN
reporting on this as tirelessly as they did on the vicious hit job against our
president? I guess it doesn’t fit their narrative.”
-Charlie
Kirk
“Exaggerated, doomsday climate predictions create ‘climate
deniers’ in the same way that progressive, identity politics creates more
racists.”
-Steven Crowder
_______________________________________________________________
LEFTIST WATCH
Socialism has rendered Venezuela’s currency so worthless
it’s mostly being used for making crafts.
Watch Venezuela’s Dramatic Economic Plunge Under Socialism…interesting
animation
Schweitzer: Left Is
Churning Through Our Institutions, Constitution to Get Trump
AG Bill Barr Calls Out George Soros For Subverting Legal
System and Causing "Increase in Violent Crime and More Victims"
Through Targeting District Attorney Races
Michael Moore: “White Guys Who Voted For Trump 'Are Not Good
People' -- Be Afraid of Them”
_____________________________________________________________________
PROGRESSIVE AMERICA
Cadet Hand Gesture Controversy: Media Pundits Push Worst
Possible Explanation
In search of the elusive white supremacist: “I, personally, know hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of people, but as far as I know I have never yet met a white
supremacist. So the Democrats are reduced to whipping up enthusiasm among their
voters, especially minority voters, with moronic attacks on Academy cadets and
midshipmen and high school students. Are black and other minority Americans
dumb enough to fall for this transparent ruse? I doubt it. One thing we can say
for sure: white supremacism has declined a long way from the days when it was
the lifeblood of the Democratic Party, and Democrats expressed their racist
views by hanging people. How much more peaceful it would have been if someone
had taught the Democrats the “OK” sign!”
Nancy Pelosi, Not
Just Leader of the Impeach Vote, But Leader of the Entire 2016 Coup
Stammering, Blabbering, Stuttering Pelosi Tries to Explain
the Impeachment Delay
Samantha Bee Horrified That Hong Kong Protesters Like Trump
and Republicans
Dem billionaires Steyer and Bloomberg already have spent a
combined $200 million in quest for presidency
NBC News Smears Trump's Conservative Judges as 'Anti-LGBTQ'
_____________________________________________________________________
ARTICLES
Professor: No Need for a Trial in the Senate, Articles of
Impeachment 'On Their Face Are Defective'
Against Impeachment for Thought Crimes
22 year FBI agent: “Either
your nation’s premiere law enforcement agency was breathtakingly incompetent
when the stakes were the highest, or select officials in that organization made
deliberate decisions to break the law, undermine the Constitution, and
illegally spy on a fellow American. Either possibility has deeply damaged the
reputation of the FBI and DOJ in addition to the reputations of thousands of
honest FBI Agents and DOJ attorneys.”
“Chick-fil-A’s abandonment of The Salvation Army is
yesterday’s news, but its lessons should be remembered, for they explain our
cultural and political trajectory. That the chicken chain capitulated even
though everyone was “eating mor chikin” is instructive regarding the power of
the LBGT lobby and its allies. That they directed this power against a
Christian organization dedicated to feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and
sheltering the homeless — including those who identify as LGBT — is even more
instructive. It exemplifies how hard-liners are driving the cultural left.”
Prager: A Response to
the Editor of Christianity Today
VDH: The Era of
‘Good’ Fascism…..”If and when fascism comes to America, it will not arrive with
jackboots, stiff arms, and military uniforms. To modern progressives, laws are
fluid, to be enforced when they champion the “good,” to be ignored or subverted
when they empower the “bad.”
______________________________________________________________________
GOOD STUFF
“You Gotta Love Boris”
Boris Johnson is like Winston
Churchill, in that even his bitterest critics concede that he is
extraordinarily talented. Must see video
clip where he riffs into reciting the Illiad from memory, IN ANCIENT GREEK.”
Great cartoons from Steve Kelley:
Stunning panorama of Mars reveals the final resting place of
NASA's Opportunity rover
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