UPDATED: Who allowed this jihadi wannabe into the USA?

Further to "'Allahu akbar!' in Austin TX" (WWW 1/3/26), we now have a photo (scraped from the New York Post) and more information on 53-year old Ndiaga Diagne, the black follower of the Prophet who shot up a bar in Austin TX on Sunday, killing two people and wounding 14 others.

The authorities are still "investigating" Mr Diagne's motives for the shooting -- apparently the slogan on his T-shirt isn't conclusive -- but haven't been able to suppress the truth about his identity and background.

The murderer is a former resident of the Big Apple. He arrived in the US of A on a tourist visa on 13 March 2000, during the Clinton administration, and became a lawful permanent resident when he married an American citizen [possibly white? named Karen? Ed.] in June 2006. 

In spite of several arrests over the next 6+ years, Mr Diagne became a naturalized US citizen on 5 April 2013, around the start of former President Barack Hussein Obama's second term. Before yesterday's bloody massacre, he was known to authorities in both New York and Texas as an emotionally disturbed person. We await information about licences he may have had for the firearms with which he killed.

Yes indeed. But it seems half of Americans haven't realized that yet.

UPDATE ADDED at 1250 FMT: Breitbart News reports these details, passed to CBS news by "an undisclosed source".

"On Sunday, investigators executed a search warrant on the Pflugerville, Texas home of Ndiaga Diagne, the deceased gunman responsible for the deadly Austin shooting that occurred earlier in the day. According to a source familiar with the investigation, law enforcement officials found an Iranian flag and photos of leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran during a search of the home."

Walt asks: Is that enough now? Can we now say that the massacre was an act of Islamic terrorism?

Another damning photo of Donald Trump

VIDEO: "Never Die" - AGENT 047 discovers who's behind SPECTRE

POTUS stars in this James Bond parody, a trailer featuring the song "Never Die", from an as yet unreleased movie called NEVER DIE (047). Agent 047, played by Donald Trump, goes around the world to find out who's at the centre of SPECTRE and the havoc being wreaked on the American people. Coming soon to a cinema near you... especially if you live in Greenland!

Thanks to our assiduous reader in the Low Countries.

Waiting for the Kamala Coronation to begin

Walt is waiting with `bated breath [not "baited"; look it up. Ed.] for the beginning of the Cackler Coronation ceremonies in Chicago. I have opened a book on the number of casualties -- literally, meaning dead and wounded. You can bet day-by-day or total. Contact Dino or Mario at the barbershop.

I understand that today's opening act will include a Parade of Hasbeens, including every living Dimocrat President except Jimmy Carter. (The letter of July 23rd announcing his long-awaited passing has been denounced by Reuters as a fake. But how would we know the difference?)

 

Included in the list of participants is the one who should have been (the way she tells it) America's first female President. I refer of course to Mrs William Jefferson Clinton, who got pipped at the post by a black(ish) man and then the Orange Man.

Hellery's husband, we are told, will also deliver a few remarks. Have you seen him lately? We have a recent picture, which Ed. says was the inspiration for a beloved character who has disappeared from Family Guy. Walt wishes Slick Willy would also disappear (along with the haridan he's married to), but from the look of this picture, I'd bet on the peanut farmer to outlast him.

VIDEO: "Introducing the Dumbocrats"

Walt has often referred to the leading lights of the Democratic Party as "Dumbocrats". That's because said leading lights are not that bright. In fact, some are positively dim. Still, I suppose it would be churlish [and futile. Ed.] to suggest that the terminally dumb should be barred from politics. If we did that, there'd be mighty few politicians left. [What's wrong with that? Ed.] 

Instead, we should learn to recognize them for what they are, and salute their bravery in putting themselves out there. Right? Well... maybe not...

This brilliant video, which originally appeared on "X", was created by the Dilley Meme Team, who (full disclosure) are doing their best to MAGA. Go and do ye likewise.

A sensible view of demands to retaliate against Iran

Most of Walt's readers don't read (or haven't heard of!) the National Post. Founded by Conrad Black, sometime Canadian (when he wasn't busy being Lord Black of Cross Harbour) and arch-conservative, the Post (and its group of Sun newspapers) is the only media outlet in Canuckistan which takes a reasonably balanced view of the world. 

One of the Post group's premier columnists is Kelly McParland, who wrote an excellent piece today on the stupidity of the Excited States of America's entering yet another war in the Middle East. Mr McParland argues that the Republicans who are pressing Crooked Joe Biden to hit back at Iran for the drone strike that killed three US soldiers [How come all three were black? Ed.?] are all but insane to advocate such folly. 

Worse, they are urging a course of action which President Trump has rightly and repeated condemned. I've emphasized Mr Trump's words in Mr McParland's column, which I'm reposting, in a slightly shortened version. (To read the entire column, click on the headline link.) 

Biden pressed to start another 'stupid' war

If you disliked Donald Trump but were determined to say something positive about him, you could always cite his consistent criticism of “stupid” American wars. It’s a position that hits home with a lot of people — Democrats as much as Republicans — who have lost loved ones in distant countries over matters a lot of Americans don’t view as their responsibility to solve.

Trump has been nothing if not consistent on the point.While campaigning for re-election in 2020 he boasted of his efforts to reduce U.S. military deployments overseas and pledged to "keep America out of these endless, ridiculous, stupid, foreign wars in countries that you’ve never even heard of."

He regularly assails the Biden administration over its defence performance — particularly the bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan, insists he could end the Ukraine war in 24 hours as president, and says the White House "has brought us to the brink of World War III."

His admirers like to cite his record of having "no wars" during his four years in office — a claim with some merit compared to recent predecessors. One 2017 study concluded that crucial Trump victories in three key states in the 2016 election may have been helped by concern over high casualty rates under previous administrations. All of which makes it a bit odd that top Republicans are loudly demanding the sort of retaliatory action against Iran that history suggests would be an excellent way to start yet another ill-fated U.S. military entanglement....

"The only answer to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran’s terrorist forces, both in Iran and across the Middle East. Anything less will confirm Joe Biden as a coward unworthy of being commander-in-chief," said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who is backing Trump’s renewed bid for the presidency. 

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell charged in a statement that "the entire world now watches for signs that the President is finally prepared to exercise American strength to compel Iran to change its behaviour."

He said U.S. enemies would continue to be emboldened "until the United States imposes serious, crippling costs — not only on front-line terrorist proxies, but on their Iranian sponsors who wear American blood as a badge of honour." Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn both fired off tweets insisting the White House aim hits directly at Iran, while Trump himself used the attack to criticize Biden for his "weakness." 

Given the Middle East’s status as one of the world’s most relentlessly volatile regions, Iran’s success in spreading its tentacles throughout the region, the tensions already centred on the bitter confrontation in Israel and Gaza and the growing boldness of Iran’s determination to taunt western powers, it’s difficult to see how yet another one-off U.S. retaliatory effort could accomplish anything other than increasing the danger the region’s many festering hot spots erupt into one giant conflagration.

In other words, just the sort of "endless", "stupid" foreign war that Trump has so often derided, and just the sort of quagmire the mullahs in Tehran would love to see sweep over the region. Chaos and conflict work to the benefit of regimes like Syria’s and Iran’s, helping focus hatred on foreign powers rather than the brutality and repression they inflict on their own people. 

A few quick missile strikes on known Iranian dependents in Syria or Iraq, or even Iran itself, might raise cheers for a day or two in Washington but would be yet another opportunity for Tehran to recruit the sort of fanatics who think spilling more blood is a good reaction to all the blood that’s already been spilled. Jumping impulsively into doomed conflicts is indeed a trait that has brought the U.S. tragedy and humiliation time and again. 

Vietnam was a quagmire. It was far harder for the Obama and Trump administrations to get US troops out of Iraq than it was for the Bush White House to get them in. The US disaster in Benghazi may not have killed Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign all on its own but was certainly a nail Republicans hammered at enthusiastically. And Joe Biden’s rush to flee Afghanistan was a fiasco from which he’s never managed to recover.

It’s easy to understand the temptation to use Washington’s immense military might to strike back at a country that works so hard to bring despair to so many people. But in pressing Biden to risk lives for the sake of a quick headline or two, Republican leaders are demanding a response that’s diametrically opposed to what their favoured candidate has been preaching since the day he entered politics. 

Would they be making the same demand if it was a Republican sitting in the White House, forced to confront the prospects of setting off a regional explosion, complete with body bags being shipped back home? If so it would be evidence they’d learned no more about the dangers of stumbling into foreign wars than the presidents who sent U.S. sons and daughters into Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, and came to regret it.

UPDATED: Waiting in the wings... or maybe just outside the window?

With President Trump's near-certain lock on the Republican nomination, the prognosticators (and people who like making predictions), are turning their alleged minds to the possibility that someone other than Joe Brandon might lead the Dumbocrats to the brink of disaster.

In "Waiting for Hellery" (WWW 10/8/23) and again in Formerly "'Demented Joe', now 'DESPERATE Joe'" (WWW 11/12/23), Walt suggested the DNC was setting things up for a third (and ABF) at-bat for Mrs Bill. 

Over the weekend, a big chunk of the commentariat has floated a trial balloon for the wife of the Prez. The talk is that Camela Harris wasn't the perfect diversity candidate, because (a) she's not black enough and (b) she can't put together two coherent sentences. Michelle Obama, however, looks black enough (although she doesn't talk black), and, unlike Ms Harris, has a black(ish) husband. 

And there's more. The Obamas come from Chicago, which everyone knows is an exemplar of the peace and prosperity that can be yours, dear American reader, if only you vote for the party whose icon is an ass.

I'll be talkin' at ya again on Wednesday.

UPDATE ADDED 25/1/24: OK, so it's Thursday, not Wednesday. Here's a report posted Wednesday on PJMedia, headlined "Barack Obama Is Telling Joe Biden to Quit the 2024 Race". Of course we don't know if Brandon is listening to the Prez... or even capable of understanding the message.

VIDEO: Matt Taibbi talks about "education" in Loudon County VA

I kind of lost track of Matt Taibbi, whose political analysis I always enjoyed, even when he was calling President Trump the "clown president". He can be found now on Rumble.

In this video he discusses the ongoing battle between the "educators" of Loudon County VA and the parents who don't want their kids to be brainwashed with Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other hard left propaganda. Mr Taibbi makes the case that if Democrats don't change their tune on parental influence in school curriculum, they're doomed in 2022.

   

Nice to be able to see and hear Mr Taibbi. I'm one of those who always wonders what the writers look like. That's why I put my picture on WWW, not because I'm vain. [??? Ed.] But I digest.... 

I want to recommend, highly, Matt Taibbi's 2019 book Hate, Inc, reviewed on WWW in "From the inside: Matt Taibbi explains why the media want to keep Americans perpetually at war...", 28/6/20. Mr Taibbi is mentioned in several other posts, which you can find by using the "Search this blog" window at the bottom right corner of this page.

EXCLUSIVE: Kamala Harris speaks her mind

There has been a lot of talk, in the last few weeks, of moves by Democratic Party insiders to push Kamala Harris out of the Vice-Presidency, to make room for a woman who would be a suitable replacement for President Brandon for the 2024 election, or sooner, if his "retirement" can be conveniently and decently arranged.

Some of the rats in Ms Harris' office have already jumped ship. It was announced last week that Symone Sanders, the Veep's chief spokesthingy, would soon depart. Peter Velz, her director of press operations, and Vince Evans, the deputy director of the Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs [Seriously? That's his title? Ed.] are also said to be looking for the exit door.

What was originally inside-the-Beltway chatter about the competence of the first Indo-Jamaican-American Vice-President has spilled into view, threatening to chip away at Democratic morale. It is rumoured that Ms Harris would refuse to analyze briefing materials set forth by employees, but then scold them if she appeared unprepared. 

One senior staffer allegedly told WaPo, "It's clear that you're not working with somebody who is willing to do the prep and the work. With Kamala you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism and also her own lack of confidence. So you're constantly sort of propping up a bully and it's not really clear why." 

As is well known, Walt is a champion of fairness and justice for all. Audi alteram partem! That's my motto! [It means: My other car's an Audi. Ed.] So, as a public service, I persuaded Ms Harris to sit down for a little heart-to-heart. Here's her side of the story.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm in this rat race. It's not for the money, believe me. My husband is the money-maker in the family. You start in politics because you've got ideas. You want to try them out, to help people. 

At first, you're gratified by the response you get. If you win, you're deliriously happy. Then the honeymoon is over. After that, it's "gimme, gimme, gimme." Nobody's really interested in you or your program, especially if you're a woman, especially a woman of colour, especially a woman of two colours!

When I was campaigning for the Democratic nomination, I finally realized that the game wasn't worth it. I grew to hate all those people who lined up to meet me in city after city. It was all a fake. Fake enthusiasm drummed up by the back-room men. 

 The women in this country are full of shit. If they liked me as much as they claimed, why didn't they all vote for me? Anyone with an ounce of brains could see I was a hell of a lot smarter than Biden -- he has Alzheimer's, for God's sake -- and that Jew Sanders or that fag Buttigeig. I mean really! 

They were all liars and hypocrites. It was all lip service to the women's movement until the chips were down, and then all the women just peed in their pants and left me flat.

I think most women are afraid to have a woman a heartbeat away from the presidency, let alone in the Oval Office. They think I would crack up in a crisis and cry. Or that I have cranky moods when I have my period. As far as I'm concerned, most women are small-minded, petty, insensitive and stupid, especially the "Squad" and those bitches on "The View". They are all shits, not worth a dime. All of them.

I'm going to jump ship just as soon as my appointment to the Supreme Court comes through. (As President of the Senate, I can vote for my own confirmation, you know!) Then let them appoint Mrs Bill Clinton or, God help us, the lovely Michelle. See what happens then!

American interference in Canadian election

 It never fails. Every time I announce that I'm going to be off for a couple of days, something happens to change my plans. Murphy's law. But I would be remiss if I unplugged the computer without pointing out the hypocrisy of American politicans, Democrat politicians, who whined endlessly about "foreign interference" in the Presidential elections of 2016 and 2020, but don't hesitate to tell Canadians who to vote for. 

Here is the list of last-minute, desperate-measures-called-for endorsements, published yesterday and today.

Barack Hussain Obama (aka the Prez) has endorsed his "friend" Justin Trudeau. That's the second time. He did that in the last week of the 2019 campaign and it had the desired effect of reassuring "progressives" that Mr Socks was more than the shallow puppet he seemed to be.

Hellery Clinton, former US Secretary of State and twice-failed presidential candidate, has endorsed her "friend" Justin Trudeau. That's because he's a champion of "reproductive rights" (i.e. baby-killing), affordable child care and other issues of importance to wimmin. And...

(((Bernie Sanders))), another failed presidential candidate, has endorsed... wait for it... Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada's Few Democrats. Mr Sanders sits in the US senate as an Independent, so maybe we shouldn't call him a Democrat. How about "Social Democrat" or "Demoratic Socialist"?

One thing these three have in common with Mr Trudeau is that they are all part of the Soros plan for One World Government. 

Just today, another tool of the New World Order, Filippo Grandi [= "Philip the Great"? Ed.], the United Nations Commissar for Refugees, reminded Canucks that their new government "must" [sic] honour the Liberals' promise to accommodate 20,000 Afghan refugees!

Dear Canadian friends, how do you like the prospect of the United Nations and the Democratic rulers of the Entitled States of America telling you (no matter which variety of liberals you elect) what to do? Not thrilled about it?  

VIDEOS: Dominion Voting Systems connected with George Soros

Can you believe it?! Whoda thunk that Dominion Voting Systems, the vote tabulation company at the centre of several controversies surrounding the legitimacy of the presidential election, would be found sharing a Toronto office floor with the Tides Foundation. 

[Who dey? Ed.] Glad you asked. Tides, which recently changed its name to Make Way, is an extreme left eco-radical charity that directs cash supplied by George Soros to smaller groups and organizations to advance Curious George's globalist agenda. 

Dominion Voting Systems has come under fire after their vote tabulation machines created a 6000-vote swing in a single Michigan state county. (Scroll down to read the breaking news about Wayne County officials refusing to certify the November 3rd vote.) The same machines and software were used in every single county in Georgia and in several other swing states that just sent their electoral votes to Joe Biden (for now).

Canada's Rebel News was on location inside the building located at 215 Spadina Avenue in Toronto. Reporter Keenan Bexte and his camera crew were removed by a building manager, but not before learning that the building manager remove all signage and references to their shared building occupancy. Why would they do that? Check this out....

   

The close working relationship that Dominion Voting Systems and Make Way have raises all kinds of questions about the security of the November 3rd election. 

* Why would the counting of votes be outsourced [try "offshored". Ed.] to a Canadian company, especially one with a track record of "glitches" and errors? 

* Does knowing about this connection make you feel more or less confident that the elections were fair, and that only legal ballots were counted? 

* Who on earth thought this was the way to choose the next president of the United States?

Thanks, for the second time this week, to Agent 35 for sending us the URLs for this story. Keep `em coming, 35. With your help, the truth will out!

FURTHER VIEWING: One of Walt's favourite Canuck conservatives, Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, posted this interview with Roger Landry of Liberty Beacon, who says that what's happening in the Excited States of America right now will determine the future of not just American society, but Western civilization. Check it out.

 

Trump's gonna win... sez Michael Moore!

It may be remembered (although liberals, pollsters and the meeja would like to forget) that frumpy filmmaker Michael Moore predicted in October of 2016 that Donald J. Trump would win that year's election and become President of the United States. That was in his one-and-one-half-man stage show called Trumpland.

We posted an an audio clip at the time, but since it has mysteriously (?) disappeared from YouTube, we'll just repost this quote: "Whether Trump means it or not is kind of irrelevant because he's saying the things to people who are hurting, and that's why every beaten-down, nameless, forgotten working stiff who used to be part of what was called the middle class loves Trump."

But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's Moore! [Geddit? Ed.] Mr Moore went on to say "Trump's election is going to be the biggest 'fuck you!' ever recorded in human history, and it will feel good!" And so it did.

That was almost four years ago. Fast forward to September of 2018, when Michael Moore, while on the promotional tour for his film Fahrenheit 11/9, told CNN that President Trump is an "evil genius" who will be re-elected in 2020. Don't believe me? Click here to check out the story, which CNN cleverly buried in its Enteretainment section.

What? You'd never follow a link to the Clinton News Network. Don't blame you. Here's the best part. "Too many people in the summer of 2016 were so sure Hillary [Clinton] was going to win, saying no one is going to vote for this idiot. He could win again. I operate as if he is a two-term Trump. I have to. If you think any other way you are guaranteeing that whoever is going to run against him will lose.... I think the man is an evil genius and he was able to outsmart the smartest person ever to run for president...."

Of course no-one paid any attention to that warning because (a) it came from Michael Moore, and (b) it was on CNN. Now, with just over nine weeks to go before the 2020 election, Mr Moore has sounded the alarum again, only this time on his Facebook page. Here `tis.

Mr Moore cited a recent CNN polls showing Slow Joe Biden and Still-President Trump in a virtual tie in battleground states including Minnesota (where seven city mayors endorsed Mr Trump yesterday) and Michigan. A national CNN poll this month showed that Mr Biden's lead has narrowed, now standing at 50% to 46%. And this week a survey from the Republican-leaning Trafalgar Group found the two statistically tied at 47% in Minnesota, with Mr Trump narrowly leading Mr Biden in Michigan.

Of course the polls were famously wrong in 2016. But Michael Moore was right. Who ya gonna believe? Time to get your bets down while you can still get decent odds. Lifetime pct .982.

Book review: Calling out leading liberal hypocrites

Because of the Dempanic, the Fort Mudge Library has been closed for months, so I'm reduced to reading books I bought at various garage and rummage sales but never got around to. One such is Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy, by Peter Schweizer (Doubleday 2005). Although it won the Book With the Longest Title award for 2005, it's actually a fairly slim (219 pp plus notes) volume, a quick and not-too-heavy read for a hot summer day.

One might think, from the title, that Do As I Say (Etc) is going to be a hatchet job, but it's not. The author barely mentions Michael Moore's obesity and scruffiness, Bill Clinton's little tryst with an intern or Ted Kennedy's misadventure at Chappaquiddick. Nor does he dwell on the (((Jewishness))) of six of the eleven leading liberals profiled.

Instead, he presents carefully researched facts and figures detailing the record of Mr Moore, Mrs Bill Clinton, the late Senator Kennedy, and the others (Noam Chomsky, Al Franken, Ralph Nader, Nancy Pelosi, George Soros, Barbra Streisand, Gloria Steinem and Cornel West) on ethical investment, affirmative action and protecting the environment. In the Conclusion, Mr Schweizer sums up his findings thus.

How can we explain the fact that so many prominent individuals who are so passionate about their beliefs don't act accordingly? That seems to be the great paradox of liberalism as practiced by those we have profiled.... In short, they seem more interested in compelling others to embrace their vision of social change than in acting on that vision themselves....

Experience has taught these individuals that their ideas just don't work.... They really don't respect their own ideas and have privately concluded that...liberalism as practiced today does not offer them a road map to happiness.

Soak the rich, but don't soak me. Protect the environment, but let me drive my Hummer and water my lawn. Workers of the world, unite! But running a business with a union shop is just too complicated and difficult. Hire more blacks to fight racism, but let me hire my own people based on ability, not race....

The simple fact is that those in the vanguard of the liberal-left have found their own ideas to be ultimately self-defeating, self-destructive, and unworkable.

The (somewhat) good news for those of us who don't want to do what the liberal elites say is that the peasants are finally seeing at least some of the leading liberal hypocrites for what they are. The Hero of Chappaquiddick is dead. Al Franken is politically dead, killed by #MeToo. Having backed Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020, Cornel West finds himself outside the inner circles of the Dumbocratic Party.

Michael Moore signed his own death warrant by revealing the truth about alternative energy. And Hellery Clinton is politically dead too, although she refuses to lie down. But there is still (((George Soros))), now more than ever.

Mr Soros is more dangerous than the others who (mostly) just talk. He puts up real money -- scads of it -- to put the talkers he favours into places where they can take action to bring to pass the New World Order. When Slow Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi talk, what you're really hearing is the voice of Soros, the Master Ventriloquist. Don't be fooled!

From the inside: Matt Taibbi explains why the media want to keep Americans perpetually at war...

...with each other!

In fact, "Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise One Another" is the subtitle of Matt Taibbi's latest book, Hate Inc. (OR Books, 2019), which I have just finished reading and recommend highly. Mr Taibbi's political views are quite different from mine, but I always enjoy reading his accounts of what's really happening in American politics. He is a worthy successor to Dr Hunter S. Thompson.

Hate Inc. is something of a confession, a mea culpa for the part Mr Taibbi played in creating and feeding Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), both before and after the revolution of November 2016. See Walt's review of Insane Clown President, WWW 10/8/17.

The author now admits having been deceived by both the Trump and Clinton campaigns, and having deceived himself into being part of the "groupthink", the "conventional wisdom" purveyed by the lamestream media, which held that someone as worthy as Hellery Clinton couldn't possibly lose to such a patent phony as the Donald. To his credit, Mr Taibbi gives numerous examples of where he went wrong, while at the same time pointing out that he wasn't the only one.

But Hate Inc. is not an apologia for the honest mistakes of the media, because very little of the "news" they fed us was "honest". Mr Taibbi argues that what they gave us, and are still giving us, is a twisted and highly hyped form of the kind of entertainment epitomized by a WWE wrestling match! It wasn't an election, he says, but the grand finale of Wrestlemania, complete with a "babyface" (Mrs Bill) and a "heel" (Mr Trump) straight out of a reality TV show.

The "face" was supposed to win, but somehow managed to defeat herself, and that's a story already told by Mr Taibbi and countless others. The real story of Hate Inc. is why the media did it, and how they are still doing it. The answer is simple. Anger and hatred attract more viewers/readers than sweetness and light. More viewers/readers means more advertising revenue. More advertising revenue means more profit! Especially when you don't have to pay for the content! In fact, election advertising is a hyuge revenue stream for the meeja. The more elections, the more hotly contested, the more money they make.

And you, fellow "news consumers", are swallowing every drop of vitriol, every morsel of loathing, and begging for second and third helpings. In Hate Inc. you will find countless examples of the media's most egregious manipulation of your ignorance, prejudices, and fears. They whipped you into a frenzy, gentle reader, and want to keep you there so you won't log off their websites or turn off your TV, even though "some viewers may find this disturbing!"

I would like to post some excerpts, but Ed. tells me I have gone on long enough and must find just one for the conclusion of this review. Here `tis:

News consumers on both sides today behave like cultists; self-isolating intellectually, kept that way with a steady diet of terrifying stories about fellow citizens. Red-staters are told liberals are terror-sympathizers, desperate, out of white guilt, to eviscerate American cultrure from within.

Blue-staters are peppered daily with stories of fellow travelers and traitors in their midst, an incredible example being NBC's effort to paint presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard as a tool of the Kremlin.... 

This deeply paranoid view of the human experience, telling all America it lives on a violent invisible influence battlefield, is the opposite of what the news used to be.... We are trying to keep your brain locked in conflict, not just for the grubby commerical reason that it keeps people tuned in, but because it prevents them from thinking about other things.

What other things? Read the book! If doing so causes you to stop reading WWW, I won't be offended, as long as you also stop watching The View and Rachel Maddow and [That's enough biased "news" sources! Ed.]

Footnotes:
Hate Inc. doesn't have an index (tsk, tsk) but it does have an appendix entitled "Why Rachel Maddow is on the cover of this book". Enough said?

A second appendix is an interview with Noam Chomsky, co-author (with Edward S. Herman) of Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988). Walt recommends reading this appendix first, before the book itself, to understand where Matt Taibbi is coming from. In the interview, he says to Prof. Chomsky: The main idea of Manufacturing Consent is...that it looks like we have a vigorous system of independent journalists, but the debate has been artificially narrowed. Why that is so is what Hate Inc. is all about.

James Carville: Sanders can't win by "expanding the electorate"

I've been laboring for nigh on 24 hours trying to think of something clever and original to say about Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT - Don't forget the "I" part) hyuge win in the Nevada Democratic caucuses. Something about the Dumbocrats drinking the socialist Koolaid, or lemmings stampeding towards the cliff... something like that... but alas, I'm dry. [Please keep your personal life to yourself. Ed.]

I am therefore tossing the ball to James Carville, a media personality with considerable expertise and experience in American elections. A prominent political consultant who specializes in developing framing and strategy for electoral campaigns, Mr Carville has consulted for candidates for public office in the Excited States of America and 23 foreign countries. (Funny that no foreigners have complained about US interference in their elections!)

Mr Carville, aka "the Ragin' Cajun", gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of Slick Willy Clinton. He's worked for the Clinton News Network off and on from 2002 until parting company with them in 2013. The following year, he joined Fox News as a contributor. Here's his reaction to the Sanders steamroller.

Note from Ed.: There was supposed to be a short video here, with Mr Carville's comments on MSNBC. For some reason I can't get it to embed, so I can only refer you to the link on Real Clear Politics; click right here!

In case you couldn't see it, here are two key quotes.

"The entire theory [put forward by Mr Sanders and his supporters "that by expanding the electorate, increasing turnout so you can win an election, is similar to climate denial. When people say that, they're as stupid to a political scientist as a climate denier is to an atmospheric scientist."

"If you want to vote for Bernie Sanders because you feel good about his program, you don't like the banks on Wall Street or you don't like pharmaceuticals, that's legitimate, I understand that. If you're voting for him because you think he'll win the election, politically, you're a fool."

There's nothing I could possibly say that would top those comments for brevity and pithiness. Well said, sir.

VIDEO: Song for the Democratic primaries

Voting is under way in the Democratic primary in New Hampshire, and I don't know which way to bet. All I know is that whoever wins in NH, if he/she can carry the convention and become the candidate for the presidensity of the Excited States of America, is going to lose to Still-President Trump. I know that because I know there are millions of Americans who feel like Bryan Lewis, here, who sings about what it would take for him to vote Democrat again.

UPDATED AGAIN: Iowa caucuses: BIG RIG in progress

As a watery sun rises over the frozen, snow-covered cornfields of Iowa, [Get on with it. Ed.] voters, observers and the commentariat are waiting to pick over the entrails of the Iowa Democratic caucuses to determine who won, who lost, and who was most likely to become the Democratic candidate for the presidensity. Will it be (((Bernie Sanders))), Old Joe Biden, Fauxcahontas, or the paler, gayer version of the Prez, Pete Buttigieg?

But Houston, we have a problem! Hours after the polls closed, the number of precincts reporting results was 0 (ZERO). Dumbocratic officials told skeptical onlookers that there were "reporting issues" and "inconsistencies" which meant that vote tallies, and the number of convention delegates to be allotted to each candidate, would not be available until, errr, later today. Translation: We didn't get the result we wanted so we're bringing in experts from Chicago and Philadelphia to sort things out. Shorter translation: Rigging is still in progress.

I'm reminded of the 2008 presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Zimbabwe, which has been ruled by one party, ZANU-PF, ever since the country was "liberated" from the hated colonialists in 1980. In 2008, ZANU-PF's Comrade R.G. Mugabe was opposed by Morgan Tsvangirai, candidate of the Movement for Democratic Change. The waters were muddied by the presence of an "independent" candidate put up by ZANU-PF to split the opposition vote.

Early results from the first round of voting showed Mr Tsvangirai in the lead, to the consternation of the government-controlled Electoral Commission, which responded by suspending counting so that certain "reporting issues" and "inconsistencies" could be cleared up. Sound familiar?

Weeks later it was announced that Comrade Bob had topped the polls, but had failed to garner 50% + 1 of the votes, so a second round would need to be held. The election process was marred by violence against and intimidation of voters and opposition party workers, which eventually led to Mr Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the poll, leaving Mr Mugabe the winner.

Back to Iowa now. As Thomas Luongo wrote yesterday in "Can Bernie and Tulsi Survive Hillary's 'Urge' to Save the DNC?", the Democratic National Committee has its hair on fire at the prospect of (((Bernie Sanders))), a certified [certifiable? Ed.] anti-establishment democratic socialist, becoming the party's nominee. Even the 1/1028th Native American Senator from Massachusetts would be marginally more acceptable to American voters, they reckon, than the Brooklyn-born Jew.

Trouble is, Iowa Democrats didn't appear to agree. A number of polls showed Senator Sanders neck-and-neck with Mr Biden for the lead, with Senator Warren and Mayor Pete battling for third place, well behind the leaders.

What to do?! How about taking advantage of confusion caused by new rules to delay any announcement until paper ballots, tally sheets etc could be collected and "verified", in order to be certain that their preferred candidate -- step forward, Joe Biden -- had indeed won.

Wasn't it just last week that Rep. Adam Schiff  (D-CA) told the Senate that they must take away from Still-President Trump the power to rig elections, because the American people can't be depended on to make the right decision? The voters, he suggested, could be led astray by, for instance, the interference of foreign powers, and might be fooled into re-electing Mr Trump. So the Senate, Mr Schiff said, should pre-empt that possibility by removing Mr Trump from office and ensuring that he could never run again.

Is it possible that the DNC likewise doesn't trust Iowa Democrats to make the right decision? Is that why we're still waiting, as a watery sun rises over the frozen, snow-covered cornfields [Enough! Ed.] for the officially approved results of caucuses which began over 12 hours ago? Just askin'...

Footnote: The Iowa Democratic Party is saying now that the problem was a "coding issue" found in the app used to record and report votes. Robby Mook [Who he? Ed.] had nothing to do with it! Mr Mook was a campaign manager for Hellery Clinton, and was part of the project Defending Digital Democracy (DDD) — an initiative aimed at protecting elections from cyberattack — that tested the app ahead of the botched caucus.

UPDATE ADDED 5/2/20: The New York Post reports that the Democratic National Committee is "taking over" the accounting of results from Monday's botched caucus count as state party operatives remain unable to provide a timeline for releasing the remainder of the tally. I think we all know what that means! (((Bernie Sanders))) came close to winning so the vote tallies will have to be "verified" to bolster the totals for Mayor Pete. Stay tuned...

UPDATE ADDED 6/2/20: In case you didn't stay tuned, here's the latest from the backroom boyz at the DNC. This morning, chairman Tom Perez demanded that Iowa state officials immediately recanvass the caucus vote, amid fears that the delayed results could be "inaccurate or inauthentic." [Ya think? Ed.]

"Enough is enough," tweeted Chairman Tom. "In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass." Looks from here like they're going to keep doing it until they get it "right" (read: not left).

Democrats shun Hellery; Walt predicts old white man will win Iowa

I know Agent 2 and others who dislike the A-word will be miffed at seeing this meme, but the good folks over at Blazing Cat Fur thought it went well with the following story, and I liked it enough to copy it.

Naomi Lim, writing in the Washington Examiner yesterday, says "Hillary Clinton is finding out what it's like to be on the long list of Democratic also-rans. The party has, for years, discarded losing presidential candidates such as George McGovern, Walter Mondale, and Michael Dukakis, among others — to the point that they're often treated as contagious diseases, seen at best as cautionary tales about how not to campaign for the White House. Fair or not, Clinton has, in many ways, had that dishonor bestowed on her."

Ms Lim refers to Friday night's Iowa campaign rally for Senator (((Bernie Sanders))), at which the well-known Muslim human rights activist [an oxymoron, shurely! Ed.] Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) booed Hellery from the stage. Referring to Mrs Bill Clinton's recent comments bashing the 78-year-old socialist candidate, Ms Tlaib said, "You all know I can't be quiet. No, we're gonna boo. That's all right. The haters will shut up on Monday when we win."

Mrs Clinton angered Dems when she said in an interview that she would be reluctant to support her 2016 nemesis should he secure the Democratic nomination for the presidensity this year. Many prominent Dumbocrats, Ms Lim writes, are wary about hearing from her anymore. She quotes Tommy Vietor — a former Obama administration official who worked on the 2008 Obama campaign that dashed Hellery's White House hopes back then — as calling her remarks about Mr Sanders "inexcusable".

"If Bernie wins the nomination, we all need to work our asses off to help him win," Mr Vietor tweeted. "If someone else is the nominee, we all do the same for them. Don't kick up this bullshit right before Iowa, especially after complaining about Bernie's lack of support in 2016." Ms Lim also quotes Democratic strategist Brad Bannon, who blasted Mrs Clinton's "popping off" at Sanders as "uncalled for" given "the main goal of Democrats is to beat Donald Trump." Mr Bannon also slammed her for "prioritizing herself over party unity."

Iowans are heading into their complex and arcane caucus meetings as I write. All of America -- or at least those who care -- will have to wait another 12 hours or so to learn which of the dozen or so Democratic presidential wannabes will be favoured by the states Democratic voters (George and Nancy Schmidt) to take on Still-President Trump. For what it's worth, Walt predicts the winner, by an RCH [an engineering term, I believe? Ed.], will be (((Bernie Sanders))). Or maybe Old Joe Biden. Who cares... Lifetime pct .991.

Further reading: "Can Bernie and Tulsi Survive Hillary's 'Urge' to Save the DNC?", by Thomas Luongo on LewRockwell, 3/2/20. "...never underestimate this woman’s narcissistic solipsism."

How the impeachment process is supposed to work

Ed. here. We no sooner posted "After years sitting on the pot, Pelosi finally...", in which Walt intimated that his understanding of the impeachment process was less than perfect, when Agent 3 passed along a guide to how the process works, by Alexandra Mae Jones, on the CTV News website. We trust Ms Jones and CTV will not mind our reposting the main part of her concise and lucid explanation.

What is impeachment?

Impeachment is the process to remove an official, and is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. It can happen at the state or federal level. In the case of impeaching a sitting president, the House of Representatives can call for impeachment to begin if they believe that the president is guilty of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” according to the Constitution.

There is no specific definition of a “high crime” included in the Constitution, but the concept is essentially aimed at preventing corruption by high-level officials. Although impeachment involves a trial, it’s not a criminal process, merely one to remove an official from office. Criminal charges being brought against an individual is a separate matter.

How does it happen?

An individual member of the House could simply introduce an impeachment resolution like any other bill, which would then be reviewed by a committee, likely the House Judiciary Committee. Or the House Judiciary Committee can first hold their own investigation and bring articles of impeachment against the president, and present that evidence to the House. (“Articles of impeachment” simply refers to the charges against a president).

The next step would be for the evidence to be presented before the House for a vote. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler has declared previously that his committee has already been conducting impeachment hearings, but the panel has been unable to get many key witnesses and documents from the Trump administration.

Ultimately, the full House votes on whether or not to impeach. A majority vote is needed for the impeachment to pass. If the House passes a vote to impeach, it doesn’t mean the president gets removed immediately. The case then moves to the Senate, where a trial is held.

The House appoints members to act as prosecutors in the Senate. The president would have defense lawyers to defend him. The chief justice of the Supreme Court would preside over the Senate trial. It comes down to a final Senate vote. At least two thirds of the Senate needs to vote to impeach in order for the motion to pass.

If impeachment is successful, the president would be immediately removed from office, and the vice president would take over until an election.

How often has impeachment been successful?

No sitting president has been removed from office due to impeachment so far, although impeachment proceedings have been brought against three different presidents.

Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 both were ultimately acquitted and allowed to complete their presidential terms. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 when impeachment proceedings were brought against him for his role in the Watergate scandal, preventing the House from impeaching him.

Rumours re Epstein and the Clintons: Statement from Babylon Bee

Some churls who read "Jeffrey Epstein: suicide or homicide?" (WWW 11/8/19), which featured a photo of Bill and Hellery Clinton along with a link to "CDC: People With Dirt On Clintons Have 843% Greater Risk Of Suicide", an old article from the Babylon Bee, have accused me of buying into the theory that the ex-President and ex-President-wannabe somehow orchestrated Mr Epstein's suicide.

If so, I am not the only one. Still-President Trump suggested just yesterday that if we could find out if Slick Willy had visited the Epstein Pleasure Island, we'd "know something". Indeed.

Meanwhile, the Babylon Bee has seen fit to plead innocent to accusations of the lamestream media that they deliberately resurrected the "Clinton suicide article", first posted in November of 2017 and gave it a place of prominence on their landing page shortly after the death of Mr Epstein was confirmed. Walt is anxious to help the good folks at the BB clear their name, and reposts below their editorial board's statement posted August 12th.

A number of people have questioned our love for Hillary Clinton based on some satirical pieces published on our site recently.

We would like to clear things up by saying that Hillary Clinton is an upstanding citizen and a very fine human being. She is of excellent character. She would never hurt anyone. The people who wrote those jokes, headlines, and pieces that seemed to criticize Hillary have been dealt with.

Some conspiracy theories have been going around about the Clintons, and we think that's just despicable. Deplorable, really. From Bill's time in the White House all the way through Hillary's spotless record as Secretary of State, the Clintons have served this country with honor and not a hint of scandal. For people to suggest they are so powerful and sinister to kill those who might expose some non-existent "wrongdoings" in their past is treason, really.

We just want to make certain that it's clear how much we respect, love, and honor the Clintons. Honestly, they're our favorite politicians of all the politicians, way better than that Trump guy. It's a real shame Hillary didn't win. She's our president.

Above all, we want to make sure Hillary does not question our loyalty to her and the whole Clinton family. We have nothing bad to say about her. Also, just to be clear, we have no dirt or inside information on her whatsoever and nothing would be gained by our untimely deaths.

So, Hillary, we love you! Please do not hurt us.