Monday Morning Breakfast For The Brain

Hey Deplorables, it’s Monday again, hope you are holding up well wherever you are.

The Left Is What It Once Loathed

By Victor Davis Hanson/American Greatness

What is the Left, then? Mostly a Jacobin party that operates ad hoc, without principle, or consistency.

Compare the current progressive view about civil liberties against the old liberal positions of the past.

Surveillance and spying on U.S. citizens? Remember liberal Senator Frank Church of Idaho and his 1975 post-Watergate select Senate investigative committee? It found the CIA, FBI, and NSA improperly over three decades had tapped into the phones of Americans, opened their mail, and worked with telecommunications companies to monitor the data of supposedly suspect politicians, actors, celebrities, and political activists. “Collusion” with the communists and the Russians was often the pretense to surveil American citizens.

Consider Church either a bastion of civil liberties protection or a dangerous firebrand who weakened the CIA and FBI. But the point is that the Left’s position had once mostly been that the government’s unelected deep-state intelligence officers simply had too much power to trust.

Indeed, the ACLU was outraged at what the committee revealed. Church was deified as a liberal hero uncovering government abuse. About the worst thing a government could do, liberals reminded us, was to spy on its own citizens.

Then we were also warned that the scandal was the result of the government, for over 30 years, targeting mostly liberals on grounds of trumped-up suspicions that they were sympathetic to Communism in general and the Soviet Union in particular. Yet in addition, the Left argued that the state had no business spying on any American at all, unless it had a certified warrant and ample criminal cause—or we found ourselves in a war with enemies at home among us.

And now?

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A free watchdog press? Again, hardly. According to early liberal monitoring of presidential news coverage, roughly 93 percent of the news has been anti-Trump. The media by its own admissions—remember the editorialization from those like Jorge Ramos, Jim Rutenberg, or Christiane Amanpour?—believes it cannot be disinterested, given the alleged existential threat Donald Trump supposedly poses to America.

Race? The Left sanctions racial separatism, even to the extent of marking off racially exclusive spaces on campus or allowing students to veto roommates on the basis of their race.

Feminism and Sexual Harassment and Assault? It depends. Statutes of limitations and he said/she said evidence are of no importance if it means stopping a conservative Supreme Court judge, but they most certainly do apply if they impair a Democratic presidential candidacy.

What is the Left, then? Mostly a Jacobin party that operates ad hoc, without consistency.

Its two guiding principles are now reduced to simple agendas.

One, nothing matters unless one has power. The means to obtain it are always after the fact justified by the supposedly noble ends they once served.

And two, what exactly are those noble ends? Or what unites the Google and Facebook zillionaires, the full professor of English, the Washington Post senior editor, Barack Obama, George Soros, the head of a major network, Harvey Weinstein, Robert De Niro, or Don Lemon?

It is a desire to sound off about mandated equality, but only as long as one has the resources to be unaffected by the necessary consequences of one’s loud egalitarian advocacy. As a general rule, the more one is insulated from the downside of one’s abstract progressivism, the louder and more vehemently he expresses it.

Read the entire article HERE.

Enemy Of Freedom Hillary Clinton Attacks Peaceful Protesters As Domestic Terrorists

By Chris Donaldson/Trending Politics

For those who may be inclined to believe that Hillary Clinton is a vicious psychopath, she just delivered another reason to confirm those suspicions.

On Friday, Mrs. Clinton threw her support behind Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her totalitarianism during the ongoing statewide coronavirus lockdown which has deprived citizens of their right to make a living to feed their families, including children.

In a tweet that will invoke comparisons to her infamous “basket of deplorables” smear of millions of Trump supporters, the embittered sore loser attacked those exercising their right to peacefully protest as domestic terrorists.

With lockdowns being eased across the country, a number of populous states under Democrat control have instead extended their house arrests, suffocating the economic prospects of their victims and destroying small businesses in great numbers.

Governor Whitmer has been particularly cruel in her war on dissent and her obvious enjoyment of abusing her power has rankled Michigan residents who have turned out in large numbers to protest.

Whitmer is claiming that the protesters are inciting violence, a blatant lie that the corrupt media is allowing her to get away with.

But to a monster like Hillary who has spent every day since she lost the 2016 election sowing the seeds of divisiveness and fomenting hatred, the protesters are a target of opportunity.

Via The Hill, “Hillary Clinton calls armed Michigan lockdown protests ‘domestic terrorism'”:

Hillary Clinton is condemning armed protests calling for the end to stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic, calling the demonstrations “domestic terrorism.”

“Armed men storming a legislature to disrupt its democratic proceedings is domestic terrorism. It cannot be tolerated,” Clinton tweeted Friday.

Her tweet linked to an article by Newsweek about Michigan choosing to close down its Capitol and cancel its legislative session after armed protests and death threats to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

On Thursday, armed protesters had gathered outside the state Capitol for planned “judgment day” demonstrations against the state’s stay-at-home order, which opponents have demanded be lifted businesses and the economy suffer during the pandemic.

Clinton seized on the presence of peaceful protesters who showed up with their guns to make a statement that their right to bear arms will not be infringed upon and ignored the fact that it is completely legal to do so in Michigan.

As a leading figure in the now completely unhinged Democratic party, Clinton’s rhetoric is a chilling warning of what an authoritarian government controlled by them has in mind as a part of their agenda to radically transform the nation.

Her irresponsible labeling of law-abiding American citizens who are exercising their constitutional rights against Whitmer’s tyranny is all the more dangerous considering that she is on the short list to be Joe Biden’s running mate.

When the obviously senile Biden is pushed out after inauguration day, an installation of Clinton as a supreme leader unchecked by the constitution would be like Whitmer on steroids.

There is something very alien with Mrs. Clinton, something that would usher in an era of darkness unseen in America if she somehow ends up in the Oval Office with an ax to grind against the “vast right-wing conspiracy” that she obsessively rails about.

Take it from unjustly imprisoned Wikileaks founder Julian Assange who described Hillary as follows:

“There’s something wrong with Hillary Clinton,” “It is not just her constant lying. It is not just that she throws off menacing glares and seethes thwarted entitlement. Watch closely. Something much darker rides along with it. A cold creepiness rarely seen.”

Keep up with daily columns by Chris HERE.

Health Scare Presents ‘Perfect Opportunity’ for Criminals – And We Don’t Mean the Dems

Via The Western Journal

The way the FBI tells it, William Rosario Lopez put on a surgical mask and walked into the Connecticut convenience store looking to the world like a typical pandemic-era shopper as he picked up plastic wrap, fruit snacks and a few other items.

Then, when the only other customer left, he went to the counter, pulled out a small pistol, pointed it at the clerk and demanded that he open the cash register.

The scene, the FBI contends in a court document, was repeated by Lopez in four other gas station stores over eight days before his April 9 arrest.

It underscores a troubling new reality for law enforcement: Masks that have made criminals stand apart long before bandanna-wearing robbers knocked over stagecoaches in the Old West and ski-masked bandits held up banks now allow them to blend in like concerned accountants, nurses and store clerks trying to avoid a deadly virus.

“Criminals, they’re smart and this is a perfect opportunity for them to conceal themselves and blend right in,” said Richard Bell, police chief in the tiny Pennsylvania community of Frackville. He said he knows of seven recent armed robberies in the region where every suspect wore a mask.

Across the United States, masks have become more and more prevalent, first as a voluntary precaution and then as a requirement imposed by governmental agencies and businesses. And people with masks — as well as latex gloves — have found their way into more and more crime reports.

Just how many criminals are taking advantage of the pandemic to commit crimes is impossible to estimate, but law enforcement officials have no doubt the numbers are climbing.

Reports are starting to pop up across the United States and in other parts of the world of crimes pulled off in no small part because so many of us are now wearing masks.

Read the entire article HERE.

While Millions Of Americans Are On Unemployment, MLB Players Want More Money

Via The Federalist

It seems entirely sensible to decide to play, or not play, a 2020 MLB season based on whether owners and players agree they can do so safely. But using a national crisis to argue over money seems crass in the extreme.

Nearly 1.4 million Americans have been infected, and more than 84,000 are dead from coronavirus. More than 33 million are newly out of work, and the government has spent at least another $3 trillion that lawmakers hope will stave off economic depression. Meanwhile, baseball players are arguing over money. Yep, you read that right.

The head of the Major League Baseball Players Association earlier this week outlined his objections to MLB’s plan to start the 2020 season, delayed indefinitely since March due to the pandemic. Of MLB’s proposal, agreed among owners, to split revenues 50/50 between players and owners, union head Tony Clark said, “A system that restricts player pay based on revenues is a salary cap, period.”

Clark and the MLB players should get off their high horse. In a sport full of millionaires, using collective bargaining to extract financial concessions at a time so many Americans continue to suffer, financially and otherwise, looks unseemly at best.

In a Twitch broadcast Wednesday evening, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Blake Snell went even further. He said, “I should not be getting paid half of what I’m getting paid because the season’s cut in half”—even though the players had agreed to such a stipulation in late March. While he raised safety concerns related to the virus, he also indicated that he would overlook those fears to play this season—but only at the right price: “I got to get my money. I’m not playing unless I get mine, OK?”

Read the entire article HERE.

Special Agents Arrest Tourist in Hawaii After Social Media Pictures Show He Violated Quarantine

Via Townhall.com

A New York City man who traveled to Hawaii was arrested Friday morning after pictures showing the man enjoying the beach and walking around in public were reported to officials. Tarique Peters, 23, was arrested by special agents from the Department of the Attorney General for violating the state’s mandatory 14-day quarantine rule and for unsworn falsification to authority, the governor’s office said in a press release.

Peters traveled to the island of O’ahu on Monday and posted several photos of himself on Instagram. In defiance of the 14-day quarantine rule, Peters allegedly used public transportation to visit several places on the day he arrived. The posts reportedly show Peters walking around Waikiki at night, hitting the beach with a surfboard and sunbathing. Citizens who saw the posts on social media reported the man to authorities. The special agents confirmed with hotel staff that Peters left his room and hotel premises on numerous occasions. Peters was arrested along with a local man, and his bail was set at $4,000.

“We appreciate the assistance of local people who spot flagrant violations of our emergency rules on various social media sites and report them to the appropriate authorities,” said Hawaii Attorney General Clare Connors.

Read the entire article HERE.

REPORT: Colorado Man Who Died Of Alcohol Poisoning Classified As Coronavirus Death

Via CBS Denver

When police in Cortez, Colorado were called to Cortez City Park early on the morning of May 4, they found Sebastian Yellow, 35, lying on the ground and called it out as a code “Frank,” meaning Yellow had died, according to a police report obtained by CBS4.

Within a week, local Montezuma County Coroner George Deavers determined Yellow had died of acute alcohol poisoning, his blood alcohol measured at .55, nearly twice the lethal limit.

“It was almost double what the minimum lethal amount was in the state”, said Deavers, during an interview with CBS4.

But Deavers said that before he even signed the death certificate, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment had already categorized Yellow’s death as being due to COVID-19 and it was tabulated that way on the state’s website.

“I can see no reason for this”, said Deavers.

Yellow’s death is the latest in Colorado raising eyebrows over the way the CDPHE is reclassifying deaths that runs contrary to what doctors and coroners initially ruled.

Last month, a CBS4 Investigation revealed the state health department reclassified three deaths at a Centennial nursing home as COVID-19 deaths, despite the fact attending physicians ruled all three were not related to coronavirus.

In each case, the residents had tested positive for COVID-19, but in each case, on-scene doctors ruled the deaths were not related to the virus. Still, in their official tally, the state increased the number of coronavirus deaths at the Someren Glen facility from four to seven, based on the disputed deaths.

Read the entire article HERE.

Contractors Hired To Clean NYC Subways Say They Were Given Dirty Rags, No PPE

Via The Daily Wire

A group of contractors, who say they were hired to clean and disinfect New York City public transportation earlier this month, as a way of slowing the spread of coronavirus on the “super-spreader” subway, claimed, in a video posted to social media late last week that they were given only dirty rags and mops to work with and little to no personal protective equipment.

Local NYC news outlet, NY1, reports that “contract workers cleaning the subways of COVID-19 say in cellphone video the supplies they use are dirty and the personal protective equipment (PPE) they’re given is inadequate. One of the workers claims their lives are in danger while they’re not even able to make the subways safer.”

One worker, who spoke to NY1 said that “she is fed up with being scared of working in conditions she claims are dangerous. She cleans the subways for the MTA, working for contractor LN Pro Services LLC.”

“She claims the company gives out the same old rags each day for an entire shift, and mops which are not cleaned properly after each shift, nor are they able to clean them during shifts,” the outlet said Friday.

Just a week ago, for the first time since the pandemic started, New York City’s mayor Bill de Blasio ordered the subways, which many believe are responsible for NYC’s high number of coronavirus cases, shut down overnight and deep cleaned.

Read the entire article HERE.

California Builds Wall To Stop People From Leaving

Via The Babylon Bee (Satire)

SACRAMENTO, CA—California’s state government has announced it will agree to build a wall as President Trump has been pushing for, except this wall will keep people in, not out.

People trying to flee the socialist state in U-Hauls in search of a better life will be greeted with a large concrete structure running across all exits from the state. Modeled after the Berlin Wall, the structure will provide comfort and security to state legislators fearful of citizens fleeing for basic necessities like electricity, taxes less than 100%, and plastic straws and bags.

The rest of the country all pitched in for the wall, too, so Governor Newsom only needed to raise income taxes by a few percentage points to fund it.

“We realized President Trump was right: walls actually work,” said Newsom in a ceremony where he cut a ribbon signifying the opening of the wall. “It’s just that they’re a lot better when you use them to keep people in. Just look at paradise states like North Korea and the USSR. We should be following in the footsteps of these progressive leaders and not get dragged back into the Dark Ages by the other, more regressive states in the Union.”

Newsom then led those gathered in a solemn hymn of state worship called “Great Leader Newsom, Ever May He Reign.”

The wall will also have barbed wire atop, guard towers where state snipers can perch, and a 100-foot-wide moat filled with sharks and bears, just to make sure no one escapes.

Check out all of the Bee’s takes on politics and culture HERE.

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