Ilhan Omar Laughs While Sheila Jackson Lee Discusses U.S. Casualties in Iraq (VIDEO)

I mean, it just looks like she's unserious about this.

She's a U.S. Member of Congress.

In what for most people would be grave moment, she looks like she lining up for pictures at a high school dance, all laughs and giggles.

It's frankly abnormal.

Teaching That America is Hopelessly Racist

A great piece, from Peter Wood, at Minding the Campus.

Erasing America

It's James Robbins, at Prager University:



And check out his book, at Amazon, Erasing America: Losing Our Future by Destroying Our Past.

Megan Rapinoe

I saw all the Twitter outrage over the politicization of the Women's World Cup Championship. I don't care about the politics. I just want to enjoy sports, and I did enjoy watching the U.S. Women's National Team. They're incredible. Rapinoe herself is just phenomenal. And I think she's beautiful. I could look at her all day. I love her hair, her face, her teeth, her smile. What I don't love is how she's taken her success in sports and turned it into a platform to elect Democrats. That's not the role she was given by being a sports leader, an ambassador for women's and girls' soccer. And thus, she's going to harm her agenda ultimately, especially in how she says the debate's won, the conversation's finished, and that she'll only meet with people who already agree with her. That's not how you win in politics. That's how you divide.

More later, I guess, But until then, at WaPo, "Fifteen minutes on cable television that illustrated one of America’s deepest political divides" (via Memeorandum).

And at CNN and MSNBC, where else?

Thanks to #Democrats, Pride in America Hits New Low

At Gallup, "American Pride Hits New Low; Few Proud of Political System":

#Democrats hate America. 🤷‍♂️ #July4th #Patriotism #Dems #Antifa #AntiAmericanism cc. @MichelleMalkin 😯 https://t.co/KH2RqkYKTd

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 3, 2019

The latest overall declines in patriotism are largely driven by Democrats, whose self-reported pride has historically been lower and has fluctuated more than Republicans'. Democrats' latest 22% extreme pride reading is the group's lowest in Gallup's 19 years of measurement, and is half of what it was several months before Donald Trump's 2016 election victory.

For their part, most Republicans have remained extremely proud of their country, and the latest 76% reading is just 10 points below the high recorded in 2003. Even when Barack Obama was in office, Republicans' extreme pride never fell below 68%.

Independents have historically been less proud of the U.S. than Republicans have been; currently, 41% express extreme pride -- which is, by one point, the lowest reading in the trend.

Several subgroups that typically identify as Democrats -- women, liberals and younger adults -- all express lower levels of extreme U.S. pride than their counterparts...

Joy Villa Defends the Flag (VIDEO)

She's promoting her video from last year on Twitter.

It's worth re-upping.

The Boldly Public Anti-Americanism of the American Left

It's Rush Limbaugh:

RUSH: So, Mr. Snerdley walked in here, looks at me, and says, “You’re gonna catch hell today, buddy.” I said, “Why? What did…? What did I do?” He said, “You gotta get that Nike shirt off, man! You can’t show up on the Dittocam…” “Oh, my God. I forgot. I didn’t even think about it.” So I made a mad dash into the dressing room in there that we use about twice a year when I do television. Thankfully, I had a shirt not made by Nike in there. It’s a Steelers coach’s shirt. So I slapped it on there. It’s a good catch by Mr. Snerdley. I didn’t even think of it. It didn’t even occur to me.

Who makes the shirt doesn’t matter to me when I go grab ’em and put ’em on. It’s not why I bought ’em. Anyway, greetings, folks. Here we are set, ready, and loaded to unload on another day in the United States of America. We’re coming up on Independence Day, which is Thursday, a couple days from now. Oh, by the way, have you heard? Mike Pence was scheduled to do an event in New Hampshire and his plane has been called back. The event, whatever it was in New Hampshire, has been canceled.

Pence is on the way back now to D.C. (he may be back by now) for an unspecified emergency. I haven’t seen any more on it than that. If there is something, it has escaped me. But whatever. When we learn more, we’ll pass it on. I wonder what it is. You know, then you realize Trump is gonna be front and center in Washington on Thursday. He’s asked for there to be tanks and a flyby on The Mall as part of the celebration of America. That is gonna… (chuckles) If that happens, can you imagine the provocative nature? I mean, putting tanks on the street!

The Democrat Party, the American left is gonna go bonkers. By the way, folks, is there any doubt that what we’re dealing with here — flat-out, now — is straight-up anti-Americanism? When I have mentioned casually and pointedly over the recent past that the American left has now become a political group that does not believe America could be fixed. America needs to be disbanded. America needs to be ripped up, torn apart, and rebuilt. We are forever flawed because of our founding.

Even though all of the grievances that they have about the founding have been addressed, have been fixed, such as women being able to vote, slavery and any number of things. That’s not good enough — and this Nike situation with Colin Kaepernick proves it! Colin Kaepernick is objecting to today’s flag, not the flag that flew before slavery. He’s objecting to today’s flag, and here’s Nike (because one of their paid athletes objects to the flag) pulling the shoe made with the American flag on it! I mean, there isn’t any question here that what we’re dealing with is not people who are aligned with us on things in common.

It used to be said of the two political parties that we all want what’s best for America. That can’t be said anymore. And it has not been the case for a long time, if you ask me. These people are not interested in what’s best for America. They want to tear it down, folks. They’re not even hiding it anymore. They’re not trying to even camouflage it. They aren’t trying to mask it. They aren’t trying to deceive us. They’re flat-out in our faces. They don’t like this country, and it’s not about fixing it. It’s about tearing it down. It’s about ripping apart the fabric of this country and destroying the people who are the descendants of those who founded it.

I don’t mean in a genetic sense. But people who believe in the founding, they’ve gotta go. Make no mistake about it. Colin Kaepernick and his behavior and Nike going along with him, in my estimation, is flat-out un-American. It’s anti-America, let’s put it that way. We don’t have any overlap here where it used to be said (impression), “Yeah, well, we’re all… We all want the best for America. We just have different, uh, theories about how to get there.” They’re not looking at the best! They want to rip this country apart. They want to tear up the concepts of the American founding.

Here we are two days before the Fourth of July, and I wouldn’t blame any of you if you’re out there kind of pulling your hair out, saying, “Can we not just have one day to celebrate this country? Can’t we just have one day between us?” This little AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and this gaggle of hysterical women that she takes down there with her to the border, lying their way through that border visit. You know, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has had happen to her what a bunch of shock-jock type people on the radio always have happen.

After a while, your gig gets old, your schtick no longer shocks, and so you have to keep crossing new lines. And that’s all she’s doing. She’s addicted to getting noticed. She’s out there, a former bartender, saying that Ivanka Trump has no business being a diplomat. “She’s got no experience being a diplomat! She doesn’t know what being a diplomat is,” from a former bartender who’s been elected to Congress with one of the lowest vote it turns out in the history of the congressional district.

Now she runs down there and starts trashing and lying about conditions at the border and the people who administer the people who come into this country illegally. She flat-out lies that the detainees are being forced to drink out of toilets! The Border Patrol and ICE people are denying this. Even this gaggle of lunatics with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez admit they haven’t seen it. There aren’t any witnesses have actually seen people being forced to drink water out of a toilet.

But, my friends, based on what we’re told about the circumstances where these people are fleeing, maybe toilet water’s a step up for some of them. Based on what the left is telling us their homelands are like. So we’ve got that to deal with. Now we have Nike canceling the rollout of a flag shoe — a new flag shoe — at the behest of a triggered anti-American ex-jock, Colin Kaepernick. But in a way, you can’t blame Nike because Kaepernick and that ad campaign they ran sold a heck of a lot of shoes. You couldn’t blame Nike for thinking that Kaepernick’s audience and the people that buy tennis shoes or whatever are indeed themselves anti-American. Not un-American, anti-American...

CBS Rejects ‘Just Stand’ Super Bowl Advertisement (VIDEO)

At the Washington Examiner, via Memeorandum, "CBS rejects pro-flag, anti-Kaepernick ‘Just Stand’ Super Bowl ad":

A veteran-owned apparel company’s pro-flag Super Bowl TV ad that punches back at Nike's promotion of Colin Kaepernick and his national anthem protests has been rejected by CBS.

According to the firm, Nine Line Apparel, CBS was apparently not satisfied the firm could pay for the 45-second ad, despite having annual revenues of $25 million. A spokesman for Nine Line charged that CBS didn’t like the ad’s content.

The ad features soldiers, first responders, and images of military graves decorated with American flags and gives credit to them for protecting the rights of those like Kaepernick to protest.

It appears to open up where the ad Kaepernick narrated and starred in ended.

Nike’s minutelong ad, which debuted at the beginning of the 2018 NFL season to great fanfare and controversy, shows Kaepernick at the end saying, “So don’t ask if your dreams are crazy. Ask if they are crazy enough.”

The ad celebrated sports achievers but was controversial because it featured the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, who started a wave of political protests by kneeling during the National Anthem to protest the treatment of minorities.

Nine Line Apparel’s ad opens with, “Don’t ask if your loyalty is crazy. Ask if it’s crazy enough.”

It is narrated by Benghazi survivor U.S. Marine Mark Geist. “Some people think you’re crazy for being loyal, defending the Constitution, standing for the flag. Then I guess I’m crazy,” he said in it.

“For those who kneel, they fail to understand that they can kneel, that they can protest, that they can despise what I stand for, even hate the truth that I speak, but they can only do that because I am crazy enough,” he adds.

Nine Line Apparel CEO Tyler Merritt ripped the rejection of his ad.

"CBS’s purported reason for rejecting a Super Bowl commercial that extols patriotism is totally out of bounds," he said. "Let’s call this what it is: a blatant attempt to censor a message that their politically correct executives find offensive. We urge Americans who believe it’s important to show respect for our flag and national anthem to join us in calling out this offensive bias. It’s time to give a penalty flag to CBS."

The firm is overtly patriotic. Nine Line Apparel’s “About Us” page on its website reads: "Nine Line Apparel represents the grit and commitment of all Patriotic Americans. Founded on the principles similar to other value based organizations, Nine Line aims to promote the issues faced by all those who have served their country, on both foreign and domestic soil. Nine Line encourages a conversation between those who serve and those who support them."

Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi Become Instant Memes with Democrat Response to President Trump's Border Wall Address (VIDEO)

Robert Stacy McCain has the analysis, "Schumer and Pelosi Own the Shutdown Even as They Try to Blame Trump."

And at Instapundit, "STEPHEN GREEN: “The content of the speech reminds me of Bill Clinton, in that it’s smartly triangulated and far more reasonable than his critics tried to make you expect.”

It really was instant meme town last night --- Schumer and Pelosi looked terrible!

The meme's were practically writing themselves! See Twitchy:

‘Chuck and Nancy already look like a meme’: Democrat response is an optics fail https://t.co/fCPEPm1OSN

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 9, 2019

Emily Miller had some of the best tweets analyzing the optics (although not included at Twitchy):

TV tip for Schumer and Pelosi - When on a two shot, look at the person talking, not at the camera. Gives impression of hostage tape.

— Emily Miller (@EmilyMiller) January 9, 2019

I’m sure Chuck and Nancy have been on TV as much as I have. How do they not know to look at the speaker ?

— Emily Miller (@EmilyMiller) January 9, 2019

2. The other TV tip reason Chuck and Nancy seemed weird to viewers is they were both reading along the TelePrompTer as the other spoke. They weren’t reacting to the other’s message. Thus the dead in the eyes appearance.

— Emily Miller (@EmilyMiller) January 9, 2019

And here's the full video, for the lolz:

Raw Tensions Over Race and Gender Shape Midterms

No one cares.

The folks at WaPo have no clue.

See, "Raw tensions over race and gender shape midterms, reflecting schism in Trump era":

Democrat Antonio Delgado is a Rhodes Scholar and attorney with a Harvard Law degree running in one of the country’s most hotly contested congressional races.

But Republicans want to instill a different image in the minds of voters in New York’s 19th Congressional District. Their latest ad, released Wednesday, features grainy clips of Delgado, who is African American and made a 2007 rap album. His censored explicit lyrics dominate the ad, along with the album cover, which shows a glaring Delgado in a hoodie.

Raw tensions over race, gender and personal identity are shaping battleground contests from Upstate New York to the Deep South, reflecting the marked schism in the country during the Trump era and the increasingly stark demographic divide between the two political parties.

With just one primary day left, on Thursday, Democrats have set or essentially matched records for the number of female, black and LGBT nominees, a Washington Post analysis shows. Republicans’ diversity statistics have either remained static or declined in each category, leading to a heavily white, male slate of nominees.

Republicans are aggressively trying to cast Democratic candidates as scary, threatening figures with unfamiliar values. A super PAC linked to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has aired an ad in Ohio tenuously connecting a candidate of Tibetan and Indian descent to Libyan interests and asking if he is “selling out Americans.” In Kentucky, a GOP incumbent released an ad showing his female Democratic opponent declaring that she is a feminist.

Democrats are increasingly calling out the GOP, saying these are sexist, racist attacks that remind them of the divisive tactics that Donald Trump used as a candidate and has reprised as president. Even some Republicans are troubled by the tone.

“The difference between the past and the present is that you have a political actor like the president who makes it okay, who gives license to it, said Michael Steele, who was the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee. “If you don’t speak to that and call it out, it will germinate, it will become an infection and will create the kind of disease in our politics, which I think to some degree, we are already seeing.”

Republicans behind the attacks are making no apologies. They argue that they are informing voters about their rivals...

Still more.

College Students Have No Clue What Happened on September 11th (VIDEO)

From the Young Americans Foundation:

From Jamie Glazov, at FrontPage Magazine, "Memories of Leftist Glee About 9/11":

I will never forget how, seventeen years ago on this day, many of the leftists around me in my neighborhood and community had very little trouble expressing their glee about Al Qaeda' strike on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

I had known some of these leftists for years, and after the fall of the Soviet empire in 1989–91 many of them bitterly lamented to me that the “alternative to capitalism” was now gone. A significant number of them retreated into a silent and sullen shell.

Then came 9/11.

Almost overnight, these individuals underwent a miraculous transformation. A bright sparkle could once again be detected in their eyes, as their revolutionary selves came out of a deep slumber. Never had I seen them so happy, so hopeful, and ready for another attempt at creating a glorious and revolutionary future. Without doubt, September 11 represented a personal -- and morbid -- vindication for them.

The images of the innocent people jumping to their deaths from the Twin Towers evoked no sympathy from these individuals. Instead, they saw only poetic justice in American commercial airplanes plunging into American buildings packed with people. For my leftist acquaintances, the jihadist terror war gave promise of succeeding in a project in which Communism had failed: to obliterate the capitalist system itself. “The U.S. brought this on itself,” they stated repeatedly -- and with scornful self-satisfaction.

These disturbing personal encounters I had were a microcosm of the Left’s behavior on the U.S. national scene. In the blink of an eye after the Twin Towers went down, leftists were beating their breasts with eerie repentance for their own government’s supposed crimes and characterizing the tragedy that their nation had just suffered to be some form of karmic justice.

Immediately following the 9/11 attack, leftist academics led with a drum roll. The very next day after the terrorist strike, the Left's intellectual guru, Noam Chomsky, exonerated the terrorists, stating that the Clinton administration’s bombing of the pharmaceutical plant in Sudan constituted a far more serious terrorist act and warning that 9/11 would be exploited by the United States as an excuse to destroy Afghanistan.

Leftist academics across the country regurgitated Chomsky’s themes, cheering the 9/11 terrorist acts, which they deemed a just retribution for America’s transgressions...

More.

Democrats and Leftists Hate America

We're constantly told how politically "polarized" we are as a nation.

Since I teach politics I talk about the phenomenon all the time.

But step away from the desktop, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone --- and enjoy real human interaction --- and life doesn't seem so polarized. One simple solution to the polarization problem is to focus on the things in life that aren't political. I'd submit that many of our current divisions are rooted in our practice of collective digitized news consumption, especially among the young and digitally mobile (and that's following up on my previous entry, "How Our Online Experiences Shape Our Political Identities.") Take away the constant social media political virtue signaling, and regular life becomes more shared and cooperative. Life becomes more like a community. People actually talk to each other.

I'll flesh out these hypotheses in future posts. Meanwhile, take a look at some of the Independence Day polling on patriotism and leftist hatred. Democrats don't love America, they hate America; and such antipathy to the United States predates the Trump administration. Current politics has only accelerated a trend of leftist anti-nationalism and self-loathing that's been building for a while.

See Gallup and USA Today, for instance:

A new USA TODAY/Ipsos poll about patriotism finds an overwhelming majority of those surveyed say they are proud to be Americans. But they're split almost down the middle, 42% to 39%, when asked whether they are proud of America right now. https://t.co/taaeTbpi8N #FourthofJuly pic.twitter.com/gE858zTNNS

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 2, 2018

Gallup: Just 47% are "extremely proud" to be an American, the lowest on record in Gallup polling the question.

The number of Democrats "extremely proud" dropped 11% this year to 32% while the number of Republicans increased 2% to 74%. pic.twitter.com/hEQeHJO3JX

— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) July 3, 2018

RT CarrieNBCNews: From Gallup: Just 47 percent in the U.S. say they're "extremely proud" to be Americans -- a record low. Among Dems, it's just 32%, compared with 74% for Republicans. https://t.co/GTvUgJmeBO pic.twitter.com/E3AhDQGqMQ

— MTP Daily (@MTPDaily) July 2, 2018

You can read Allahpundit for an analysis of the trends (hint: decline in patriotism is literally an exclusive phenomenon on the ideological left).

In U.S., Record-Low 47% Extremely Proud to Be Americans https://t.co/oMCZ094JA0

— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) July 2, 2018

Now, for some digital youth anti-Amnericanism, I give you Leila Ettachfini and her America-loathing screed at Vice:

The constitution means nothing and being American is embarrassing at best

— Leila Ettachfini (@LeilaEttachfini) June 26, 2018

How to Celebrate the 4th of July When America Is a Constant Disappointment https://t.co/gZT139Y7FU via @broadly

— Zahra Billoo (@ZahraBilloo) July 3, 2018

And from the article:

America has always been bad, no matter who the president is or was. Since Trump’s election, however, the qualities that make America particularly bad—racism, sexism, homophobia, the institutionalized manifestations of each of these, et cetera—have been emboldened, forcing many people to reckon with the ugly reality of their beloved USA. “This is not America,” I keep hearing. But the truth of the matter is that family separation, a disregard for Black lives, homophobia, and every other incarnation of white male supremacy are exactly what America is made of. In light of that, celebrating the Fourth of July in the spirit of patriotism may sound far from appealing. Here are some alternative ways to celebrate the Fourth of July that include less blind nationalism and more uplifting communities that American institutions have so long worked against.

Now if you read the entire essay, you'll find that all of the "alternative ways" to celebrate the Fourth are found in progressive, far-left political activism, including things like asking "fellow guests if they’re registered to vote, and tell them how to do that if they don’t know," and shopping for food and party supplies at businesses "operated by indigenous people or other communities who face systemic disadvantages in the U.S."

When talking about polarization, and especially the generational dynamics of America hatred, reading articles like this one confirms those worries of people who say they're scared for the future of our country.

If one hates America, you won't defend it. Indeed, younger Americans --- the digitized online-identiy generation --- are working assiduously to tear it down.

And with that wonderful news, enjoy your 4th of July!

Joy Villa: I'm Standing for the National Anthem (VIDEO)

She's so great!

For Prager University:

NFL Owners Mull Keeping Players in Locker Room During National Anthem

Well, you'd think? At WaPo, "NFL owners could change anthem policy next season if protests continue":

NFL owners could change the league's national anthem policy for next season, by having players remain in the locker room until after the anthem, if the protests continue all this season... https://t.co/vFI2zvOYoD

— MarkMaske (@MarkMaske) November 21, 2017

Some NFL owners believe there is a strong possibility they will enact an offseason change to the league’s national anthem policy if players’ protests during the anthem persist through the end of this season, reverting to a previous approach of keeping players in the locker room while the anthem is played, according to several people familiar with the league’s inner workings.

“I think that if players are still kneeling at the end of the year, then it could very well happen,” said one person familiar with the owners’ deliberations on anthem-related issues.

That person said it was “too early to tell” for certain if the change to the anthem policy will be made by owners and the league. The person was “not sure” if a formal vote of the owners would be required to enact such a change but said, “I think most owners would support it, particularly if players continue to kneel this season.”

Those sentiments were echoed by several others with knowledge of the owners’ thinking on the matter. They said they did not know at this point exactly how many owners would favor such an approach, and they cautioned that there have been no detailed discussions yet about leaving teams and players in the locker room for the anthem because owners did not consider it appropriate to make an in-season change to the policy...

More.

Stuart Varney Rips Frederica Wilson for Listening-In on President Trump's Phone Call with Fallen Soldier's Mother (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Chief of Staff John Kelly Statement on Son's Death and Rep. Frederica Wilson (VIDEO)."

The YouTube video is here, "Frederica Wilson is part of the left's ‘hate Trump’ brigade: Varney."

And on Twitter:

Stuart rips Rep. Wilson and the left for twisting Pres. @realDonaldTrump's private call to the mother of a fallen soldier for political gain pic.twitter.com/e9VtwQinux

— Varney & Co. (@Varneyco) October 20, 2017

Chief of Staff John Kelly Statement on Son's Death and Rep. Frederica Wilson (VIDEO)

At the Hill, "JUST IN: Kelly blasts Dem lawmaker for criticizing Trump's call to solider's family."

And watch the whole press conference:

Rams Players Have 'Anthem Fatigue'

You think?

Following-up, "Roger Goodell Won't Require Players Stand for National Anthem."

Here's Lindsey Thiry, on Twitter:

Talked to a couple of players in the Rams locker room who said "Anthem fatigue" has set in, that the message has been lost, and that the focus should shift to football.

— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) October 11, 2017

Roger Goodell Won't Require Players Stand for National Anthem

What a disgrace.

Goodell's a coward and the league will to lose out. I quit watching the NFL. I watched one Rams game to give the league a chance, but I'd rather watch baseball and college football. Pfft.

At Instapundit, "HE CHOSE…POORLY: NFL Commissioner Caves to Players, Will Not Require Standing for Anthem."

Why 'Indigenous Peoples' Day' is Far Worse Than Columbus Day.

At the Federalist, via Bird Dog, at Maggie's Farm, "The beautiful, peaceful indigenous peoples living in harmony with the land."