Lila Rose on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' (VIDEO)

She's the sweetest lady.

Pro-Life Groups Mobilize the Ground Game

I love this.

At NYT, "‘I’m Doing It for the Babies’: Inside the Ground Game to Reverse Roe v. Wade":

Leaders of the anti-abortion movement believe they are closer than they have been in 50 years to achieving their goals https://t.co/sDypmFc4Gn

— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 20, 2018

AVON, Ind. — Armed with sunscreen, doorknob fliers and a mission 50 years in the making, the team of activists sporting blue “I Vote Pro-Life” T-shirts fanned out into a web of cul-de-sacs in a subdivision just west of Indianapolis, undeterred by towering rain clouds and 90-degree heat.

It was exactly a week after President Trump had named Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to be his nominee for the Supreme Court, and the group was joking that they had a new sport: Extreme Canvassing.

In short surveys, the teams ask voters about their hopes for Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation and their opposition to abortion funding. Canvassers have knocked at nearly 1.2 million homes nationwide in recent months, and by November, they are slated to reach their goal of 2 million.

“Whenever I’m feeling tired, I say, ‘I’m doing it for the babies,’” said Kaiti Shannon, 19, as she consulted a mobile app to determine which porch with wind chimes to approach...

More.

Allie Stuckey vs. Tomi Lahren

Two blonde babes on the issues. The difference here is that Ms. Allie's an intellectual. She's hot, but she's not only smart but she's book-learned, especially Bible-learned. Ms. Tomi's not stupid, but she's more of an enraging personality. She makes strong points and gets you fired up. Sadly though no one is buying her pro-choice positions. She sounds rather pathetic about it, in fact.

Following-up from the other day, "Tomi Lahren Goes Off the Rails on Kavanaugh and the Right to Life (VIDEO)."

Oh, girl. The fact that you think overturning Roe v Wade has anything to do with religion shows how ignorant you are about the constitution & abortion itself.

Also, now YOU are dictating what conservatives should stand for? No thanks. https://t.co/TboXZQ37gI

— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) July 11, 2018

Former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards said that she fears the fate of Roe v. Wade, with Trump's selection of Judge Kavanaugh.
Good.

Listen and SUBSCRIBE to @ConservMillen's podcast:https://t.co/QA2I31rA8v pic.twitter.com/wSlEg7ZuTH

— CRTV (@CRTV) July 11, 2018

Tomi Lahren Goes Off the Rails on Kavanaugh and the Right to Life (VIDEO)

I'm not sure where she got these weird ideas, but Ms. Tomi's definitely "out there" on the politics of abortion. President Trump won evangelicals because he credibly promised to appoint socially conservative jurists, and the pro-life stand is the sine qua non of social conservatism.

She's been attacked as a "liberal" this week on Twitter, and for good reason at this point. She's digging a hole for herself. I like her spunk. And she's a fox. But c'mon, you're not "conservative" if you're pro-choice. Libertarian maybe, but definitely not conservative.

On Fox & Friends this morning:

The Hill Slams Tomi Lahren with Photo That Looks Like She's Giving a Blow Job

Sorry, not sorry, but that's not the most flattering photo, no matter what you think of Ms. Tomi.

Tomi Lahren breaks with conservatives: Pushing to overturn Roe v. Wade "would be a huge mistake" https://t.co/NzkatFSQm3 pic.twitter.com/vv4TmtsgXj

— The Hill (@thehill) July 7, 2018

Anticipation Ahead of Trump's Supreme Court Nomination Tonight

Ann Althouse posts on NPR's big piece on tonight's announcement, which I happened to tweet a little while ago:

Announcement is scheduled for tonight at 6:00pm PST. #ScotusPick 🤗 https://t.co/h6WUdHlG6O

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 9, 2018

Erynn Brook Hates 'Whiteness' and Masculinity

At the Other McCain, "Yes, America, Erynn Brook Hates You."

She's a terrible, terrible person. Read her Twitter feed, ugh. Imagine being married to that!

Among the Abortion Extremists

I don't know if Ross Douthat is the very best newspaper columnist out there. He seems like a quirky weird kind of guy, actually. But this is very good.

At NYT:

Ross is the best columnist working at a major daily and I don’t think the second-best is particularly close. https://t.co/OHYQhpTqED

— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) April 8, 2018

A few weeks ago, The Washington Post’s deputy editorial page editor, Ruth Marcus, wrote two columns explaining why, had either of her children been diagnosed with Down syndrome in utero, she would have accepted the “ghastly” nature of a second-trimester abortion and terminated the pregnancy. She conceded that people with Down syndrome can be happy and fulfilled, that both they and their parents might be understandably disturbed by the way abortion can effectively cull them from the world. But she concluded with self-acknowledged bluntness: “That was not the child I wanted.”

I know Marcus a little, having chatted with her amiably a few times many years ago. She seemed like a lovely person, like so many of my pro-choice friends; indeed, people who believe firmly in an absolute or near-absolute right to an abortion are effectively my people in a certain tribal way, given that I’m a Connecticut Yankee raised by Bill Clinton-voting boomers and educated in the modern meritocracy. I like these folks; I think they mean well; I try to listen to their arguments with the respect that the sincere and intelligent deserve.

But I also think that they are deceived by a cruel ideology that has licensed the killing of millions of innocents for almost 50 years. In the language that the respectable use to banish views without rebuttal, I regard them — friends and colleagues and faithful readers — as essentially extremists, for whom the distinctive and sometimes awful burdens that pregnancy imposes on women have become an excuse to build a grotesque legal regime in which the most vulnerable human beings can be vacuumed out or dismembered, killed for reasons of eugenics or convenience or any reason at all.

I am sharing these reflections in the context of the latest media war over whether a particular conservative columnist should be hired by a particular establishment publication — in this case Kevin Williamson, a National Review scribe with a brilliant pen and a long paper trail of insults and wild opinions, who was boldly hired by The Atlantic and then quickly jettisoned, after it came to light that he had not only suggested hanging as a penalty for abortion in a since-deleted tweet but also more carefully defended the idea of someday prosecuting women who obtain abortions the way we prosecute other forms of homicide...

Keep reading.

When Will We Stop Killing Humans with Down Syndrome?

I really hate this "debate." In fact, I can't even believe it's a thing.

Here's Ruth Marcus, at WaPo, via Memeorandum, "I would've aborted a fetus with Down syndome. Women need that right."

But see Marc Thiessen, at Fox News, "Babies with Down syndrome have a right to life":

WASHINGTON -- When Karen Gaffney's mother found out she would be born with Down syndrome, the doctor said Karen probably would not be able to tie her own shoes. Instead, as Karen explained in a moving and eloquent TEDx talk, she has become an accomplished open-water swimmer who has crossed the English Channel in a relay race and completed the swimming leg of the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon.

Now she fears the result of a new race -- the one to "find newer, faster ways" to screen for Down syndrome so that more children with the disability can be killed in the womb.

Her fears are well-founded. CBS News recently reported that Iceland was on the verge of "eliminating" Down syndrome. Unfortunately, there was no great medical breakthrough to report. Iceland, it turns out, is not eliminating Down syndrome; it is eliminating people with Down syndrome. The country's abortion rate for Down syndrome babies is close to 100 percent -- the highest in the world. Denmark is close behind at 98 percent. In the United States, it is 67 percent -- and Karen fears the rates here will soon reach European levels.

"Save our lives!" she pleads.

Sadly, there will always be those who see people with Down syndrome as nothing more than a burden on society. Princeton University professor Robert George recently tweeted out a shocking video in which a bureaucrat from Dutch National Institute for Public Health shows a man with Down syndrome on a blackboard how "expensive" he is for society compared to "normal" people. "Do the Dutch, who suffered under -- and in many cases heroically resisted -- Hitler's domination, forget that the 'final solution' began with the dehumanization and eugenic killing of the handicapped?" George asked.

Today, more and more people with Down syndrome are speaking out and demanding recognition of their humanity...

Keep reading.

Social Justice 'Moral' Tyranny

This really is quite an essay.

At Quillette:

Interesting analysis. Advocates for dismantling oppressive power structures don’t take into account the power and oppression exerted by forcing their moral values onto others.https://t.co/42KJwl1AYv

— James Damore (@JamesADamore) February 19, 2018

Here's the 'Repulsive' Campaign Ad in the Illinois Governor's Race (VIDEO)

It's not "repulsive."

Just talking about the kind of issues facing the electorate today gets you labeled an extremist or something.

At Politico, "Incendiary ad fuels primary challenge to Illinois governor," and "'Repulsive' campaign ad creates firestorm in Illinois."



Also, at the Chicago Tribune, "Rauner challenger Ives says she's 'a little bit surprised' about 'hysteria' around controversial TV ad."

Democrats Alienate Catholics in the Rustbelt

What else is new?

From Salena Zito, at the Washington Examiner, "Dems Give Away Rust Belt by Alienating Catholics":

OHIO VALLEY — A clip of Martha Plimpton's exuberance over the "best" abortion she ever had played out on the television overhead of a gas-station counter somewhere along U.S. Route 422 between Ohio and Pennsylvania.

A woman with a name tag noting her as the manager rolled her eyes and said to no one in particular as she went about stacking the shelves behind the counter, "And they wonder why people don't vote for Democrats around here anymore."

Plimpton, 46, is best known for her role in the 1980's Steven Spielberg classic kid adventure movie "The Goonies." She made her remark in an interview with Dr. Willie Parker at a #ShoutYourAbortion event in Seattle in June.

After saying Seattle was the home of some of her family, she went on to cheer what she did in her teens: "I also had my first abortion at the Seattle Planned Parenthood. Yay!"

With equal exuberance, she also revealed her Seattle abortion wasn't her last.

Actions like Plimpton's do not help the Democratic cause in achieving power and influence back in Washington, D.C. At least not with Main Street voters. Nor does it help Democrats win local races.

"Democrats used to debate the legal right to have one, and that was a point of view that was shared by most voters," said Michael Wear, a theologically conservative evangelical Christian and Democrat who served in Barack Obama's faith outreach office in the White House.

"I don't understand why, 14 months before a midterm election, why would you push 20 percent of voters who would love to support Democrats out the door? Better yet, why would you speak of pro-life Democrats as though they were some extraterrestrial who just landed on earth?" he said.

It is rare that anyone who has had an abortion celebrates it — Plimpton seems to fail to understand few in this country do. Maybe the privileged class celebrates abortions? Even if they did, that won't help the Democratic Party win back voters. Or is it the intellectual class that celebrates them? Even if they did, that doesn't win back majorities either. Or maybe it's the celebrity class that does? If so, there's not enough of them to win back the House or Senate.

In short, this is not the message you want to win every down-ballot seat the party has let waste away under the thrust of identity politics...

I hate to hate, but I do hate Democrats, and on this issue particularly.

More.

Bonnie Rochman, The Gene Machine

Following-up, "The Disturbing, Eugenics-Like Reality Unfolding in Iceland."

At Amazon, Bonnie Rochman, The Gene Machine: How Genetic Technologies Are Changing the Way We Have Kids--and the Kids We Have.

The Disturbing, Eugenics-Like Reality Unfolding in Iceland

At Quartz:

Recently, a CBS news crew traveled to Iceland, producing a report titled “Inside the country where Down syndrome is disappearing.” As much as it sounds like it, the headline is not clickbait or hyperbole: In Iceland, nearly every women who undergoes prenatal testing and whose fetus receives a diagnosis of Down syndrome decides to end her pregnancy. Each year, according to their sources, only a child or two is born with Down syndrome in Iceland.

Up to 85% of pregnant women in Iceland choose to take prenatal testing. The specific test in question, which CBS calls the “combination test,” takes into account ultrasound images, a blood draw, and a mother’s age to determine the likelihood that a fetus has Down syndrome. (Older mothers are more likely to have babies with Down syndrome because chromosomal errors are more likely as women age.)

In essence, pregnant women in Iceland—and presumably their partners—are saying that life with disability is not worth living. It is one thing to decide that a child who will never walk, talk, feed herself, or engage with caregivers may not have a good quality of life. But children with Down syndrome do not fit this description. If a woman doesn’t want to have a child with Down syndrome, their bar for what qualifies as a life worth living is set quite high. Are babies who are born deaf destined to lead a worthwhile life? What about babies with cleft palates, which can be corrected but leave a visible scar?

Here’s the interesting thing: Down syndrome, or Trisomy 21 as it is also called, is actually one of the less severe chromosomal conditions. Unlike many other trisomies (genetic conditions in which a person has three copies of a chromosome instead of the standard two), it’s compatible with life.

People with Down syndrome have an extra copy of their 21st chromosome, which causes intellectual delays and readily identifiable facial features such as almond-shaped eyes. But the way that Down syndrome expresses itself in an individual can be highly variable. About half of babies born with Down syndrome have heart defects that require surgical correction. Some children with Down syndrome grow up to be adults who go to college and get married; others never live independently...

More.

'Dying together was their deepest wish...'

Maybe if it truly was "their deepest wish"? Maybe if there were young, legally-informed family members around to guard against malicious state "health" officials. Then maybe, just maybe, I could accept this. I'm still skeptical, though. I just am.

At Althouse, "'Nic and Trees Elderhorst, both 91, died [together, by euthanasia] in their hometown of Didam, in the Netherlands, after 65 years of marriage'."

It's the Netherlands. I'm not at all confident the Netherlands is all that different from Iceland when it comes to protecting life. Did you see this? "Monstrous: 'Iceland is on pace to virtually eliminate Down syndrome through abortion'."

I'm for life. I don't like the European, or Nordic or whatever, approach to "human compassion." It's evil.

America First Policies Pulls Spot Attacking Sen. Dean Heller (VIDEO)

Following-up from the other day, "Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, Target of America First Policies PAC."

At Politico:

Pro-Trump group pulls ads criticizing Heller over Obamacare https://t.co/LgDvwVcI4A pic.twitter.com/agT4rB3et7

— POLITICO (@politico) June 27, 2017

Trump Derangement Syndrome Has Become the New Plague

From Roger Simon, at Pajamas:

JUST PUBLISHED> Trump Derangement Syndrome Has Become the New Plague https://t.co/OMicxcqa6C #RogerLSimon via @pjmedia_com

— Roger Simon (@rogerlsimon) June 24, 2017

To what can we ascribe the continuing metastasis of Trump Derangement Syndrome, which has come to infect America, and indeed the world, almost to the level of a true plague?

The most recent of the seemingly endless incidents/outbreaks range from the ridiculous (hapless movie star Johnny Depp making a joke about assassinating the president and then recanting it...his agent must have called) to the genuinely creepy (a Democratic Party official declaring he was glad Steve Scalise was shot).

Yes, this last one was about a congressman, not the president. But we know the atmosphere that condoned it — the same atmosphere that enabled thirty GOP congressmen either to have been violently attacked or to have had their lives threatened since the beginning of May. (Such things did not happen BT/Before Trump.)

In the case of Depp, it was not so much his pathetic remarks that horrified — the actor is in the midst of a public nervous breakdown — but the raucous approval of his comments by the Glastonbury Festival audience, as if he had just given a shout-out to the local football team.

This automatic reaction by the rabble is just another example of the reach of Trump Derangement Syndrome, where assassination talk is de rigueur and Trump is regarded as a combination of Daddy Warbucks and Caligula with a little of The Joker thrown in. (Just the other day, author Michael Chabon told an Israel Radio interviewer that he wakes up every morning with the hope that Trump "is going to have a massive stroke, and, you know, be carted out of the White House on a gurney." The surprised Israeli interviewer told Breitbart he naturally thought Chabon was just joking, but then realized he wasn't. )

Of course the Congress, with its astoundingly tedious and extraordinarily phony Russia investigations, has congressmen and senators competing on an infinite loop to see who... mirror, mirror, on the wall... can be the most hypocritical of all. (Winner so far: Senator Mark Warner. Runner-up: Rep. Adam Schiff). They help spread the infection, scratching scabs that were, at best, of the most tangential interest months ago, until they gush blood all over again, keeping the Russia controversy alive and kicking, at least until  Jon Ossoff makes his presidential run of 2032. (Not sure I'm joking.)

And speaking of competitions, the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN are no longer actual news organizations but contestants locked in a non-stop gladiatorial to dethrone Donald Trump via ceaseless leaks, most of which are either disinformation or absurdly trivial, and virtually all of which are illegal in the first place. But they don't care. It doesn't even seem to bother them that their journalistic reputations may be affected. They are infected. By this New Plague.

So they carry the infection on, spewing the bacterium, spreading the TDS Plague as assiduously as did the rats of the Middle Ages, the hated Yersinia pestis, no antidotes allowed, not on their pages anyway. At Blue State cocktail parties from Manhattan to Brentwood, people dare not open their mouths to say a tiny thing in favor of Trump, even to old friends, for fear of eternal ostracism. In our schools, conservatives are not allowed to speak. Patriotic films are only made if Clint Eastwood agrees, or maybe now Mark Wahlberg, on a nice day...

America First Policies PAC: 'Shaken' (VIDEO)

Following-up from previously, "Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, Target of America First Policies PAC."

The group's not out with its attack on Senator Heller yet, although I like this one below.

At at A.P, from January, "Trump advisers start ‘America First Policies’ nonprofit":

WASHINGTON (AP) — Six of President Donald Trump’s top campaign aides have banded together to start a nonprofit called “America First Policies” to back the White House agenda.

The group includes Trump’s digital and data director Brad Parscale, onetime deputy campaign manager Rick Gates and two campaign advisers to Vice President Mike Pence, Nick Ayers and Marty Obst.

David Bossie, another Trump deputy campaign manager, and Katrina Pierson, a senior adviser on the campaign communications team, also will be involved, according to a statement announcing the group.

“Some of the same like-minded individuals who put their energy into getting Mr. Trump elected are now going to be part of a grassroots group to go out there and help with the agenda, help the White House be successful,” Parscale said....

*****

America First Policies will conduct research into public policies and promote Trump’s favored causes, such as dismantling and replacing President Barack Obama’s health care law and changing immigration policies.

One of its first tasks is likely to be advocacy for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, whom the president said he would announce Tuesday night. The group doesn’t have yet have a public website, but its founders said to expect digital and television advertising around issues.

“This goes beyond Trump supporters,” Gates said. “We’re trying to capture all people who believe in the Trump agenda.”

Obama also started a nonprofit group, called Organizing for Action, to back his policies. Some Democrats say that group undercut the Democratic Party by siphoning away donors and keeping separate Obama’s contact list for millions of his supporters.

Many of the details of the new Trump-themed initiative have yet to be finalized.

Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, Target of America First Policies PAC

I don't even know this Dean Heller dude. He was the junior senator from Nevada, until Harry Reid retired. Now he's up for reelection in 2018, and extremely vulnerable. A Republican, he's afraid to vote for ObamaCare repeal, as apparently the state's poor have been helped by the law.

Of course, the new Senate-bill is expected to improve healthcare outcomes for lower-income Americans, helping more people afford insurance and get off the decrepit government Medicaid dole. But all the Democrats can do is scream, "PEOPLE WILL FUCKING DIE!"

In any case, at NYT, "Health Law Repeal Leaves Nevada Republican Torn Between Lawmakers" (via Memeorandum):

AMERICA FIRST POLICIES, the pro-Trump/Pence outside group that Pence has been raising for, is preparing a seven-figure ad buy against HELLER

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 23, 2017

WASHINGTON — Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, is the man everyone wants. This has not been a good thing for him.

Brian Sandoval, the governor of Mr. Heller’s home state, is a Republican, but he is counting on Mr. Heller to provide what could be a crucial vote to maintain President Barack Obama’s health care law, which has been a boon for the working poor in Nevada. Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader who this week will be rounding up votes to fulfill his party’s biggest promise of the last decade — repealing the Affordable Care Act — is trying to prevent Mr. Heller from undermining that goal.

Democrats also want Mr. Heller, but in the form of an unemployed senator. As the only Republican who is up for re-election next year in a state that Hillary Clinton won, he may be their only shot at picking up a seat. Democrats and health care interest groups have been unloading on Mr. Heller all spring with no end in sight.

Far-right Republicans in his state — who strongly support President Trump — also have their eyes on Mr. Heller to see if he will abandon the president. Already a group that Vice President Mike Pence has supported is preparing a seven-figure ad campaign against the senator.

On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Trump posted on Twitter, venting about Mr. Heller and other Republicans who are not supporting the Senate bill.

On Friday, Mr. Sandoval acknowledged the obvious. “He’s in the eye of the storm here,” Mr. Sandoval said at a news conference in Nevada as Mr. Heller stood next to him, looking vaguely miserable as Mr. Sandoval announced his opposition to the Senate bill. The legislation could affect 210,000 Nevada residents insured through the health care law’s expansion of Medicaid.

On Friday Mr. Heller said that he, too, was against the bill as it is currently drafted, leaving himself just enough wiggle room to continue his longstanding practice of being the senator in the middle, the man who wants to see the Medicaid program phased out, except when he decides he doesn’t. (Mr. Heller has taken both positions publicly.) He has also voted to take away money from Planned Parenthood, but tells some select audiences that “I have no problems with federal funding for Planned Parenthood.”

Mr. Heller, whose spokeswoman said he was not available for an interview, said at the news conference Friday that “this bill that’s currently in front of the United States Senate is not the answer — it’s simply not the answer.” He said, “It’s going to be very difficult to get me to a yes.”

More.

Defund Planned Parenthood

Via Debra Burlingame, on Twitter:

pic.twitter.com/4Xpfr133gT

— Debra Burlingame (@DebraBurlingame) June 22, 2017