Author: Doug Santo

Hollywood weirdos going to be weird. You can’t make this up!

“…The Italian actress and director Asia Argento was among the first women in the movie business to publicly accuse the producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. She became a leading figure in the #MeToo movement. Her boyfriend, the culinary television star Anthony Bourdain, eagerly joined the fight.

But in the months that followed her revelations about Mr. Weinstein last October, Ms. Argento quietly arranged to pay $380,000 to her own accuser: Jimmy Bennett, a young actor and rock musician who said she had sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room years earlier, when he was only two months past his 17th birthday. She was 37. The age of consent in California is 18.

That claim and the subsequent arrangement for payments are laid out in documents between lawyers for Ms. Argento and Mr. Bennett, a former child actor who once played her son in a movie…”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/us/asia-argento-assault-jimmy-bennett.html

Michael Goodwin:

“…This month marks the two-year anniversary of one of the most important articles ever written on journalism. On Aug. 7, 2016, after Donald Trump formally secured the Republican nomination and the general election was underway, New York Times media columnist James Rutenberg began with a question:

“If you’re a working journalist and you believe that Donald J. Trump is a demagogue playing to the nation’s worst racist and nationalistic tendencies, that he cozies up to anti-American dictators and that he would be dangerous with control of the United States nuclear codes, how the heck are you supposed to cover him?”

Under the Times’ traditional standards, the right answer is that you wouldn’t be allowed to cover any candidate you were so biased against. But that’s not the answer Rutenberg gave.

Instead, quoting an editor who called Hillary Clinton “normal” and Trump “abnormal,” Rutenberg suggested “normal standards” didn’t apply. He admitted that “balance has been on vacation” since Trump began to campaign and ended by declaring that it is “journalism’s job to be true to the readers and viewers, and true to the facts, in a way that will stand up to history’s judgment.”

I wrote then that the article was a failed attempt to justify the lopsided anti-Trump coverage in the Times and other news organizations. It was indeed that — and more, for it also served as a dog whistle for anti-Trump journalists, telling them it was acceptable to reveal their biases…”

https://nypost.com/2018/08/18/the-medias-hatred-of-trump-is-only-hurting-itself/

Related:

Glenn Reynolds:

“…The problem for journalists is that unbiased objective coverage, though it might actually be more damaging to Trump in the long run, doesn’t allow for virtue-signaling. And they value the approval of their peer group for having the correct attitudes more than they value anything else…”

Despite the President’s tax cuts—or because of them!

“…Perhaps you’ve read that the federal budget deficit is rising again, and that’s true. But what you probably haven’t heard is that the main reason is spending, not falling revenue from tax cuts.

The Congressional Budget Office released its budget summary for July this week, and the deficit for the first 10 months of fiscal 2018 reached $682 billion, up $116 billion from a year earlier. Federal spending increased by $143 billion for all the usual reasons—especially Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

But revenues were higher as well—up $26 billion. Corporate income taxes were down substantially as expected in the wake of the tax reform that cut the corporate rate and added 100% expensing. But individual income taxes increased by $104 billion, or 7.9%, despite the cut in individual tax rates…”

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/08/wsj-personal-income-tax-revenues-are-up-79-despite-trump-tax-cuts.html

Kurt Schlichter:

“…If we had a real media and not the world’s most pompous Democrat transcription service, the CIA’s blown Chinese spy ring disaster would be front page news but hey, Omarosa! In any case, the only consulting anyone should do with the members of this class of unmitigated failures whose incompetence brought us 9/11, Iraq, Libya, ISIS, and a future where we would all be wise to learn Mandarin, is to ask their opinion and then do the opposite – Costanza style. Let’s look at our elite’s track record of success. Don’t worry – it won’t take long…”

https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2018/08/20/pulling-their-clearances-is-only-the-start–its-time-to-stamp-out-elite-privilege-n2511233

Step aside, Sister Jean. pic.twitter.com/Mazk5IUoN3

— Cut4 (@Cut4) August 19, 2018

This is a masterpiece of character development in a movie.

Former U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova picks up on the previous post from Hannity.

Hannity is usually too one sided for me, but in this case, he has summarized the available evidence with respect to the actors responsible for DOJ/FBI CIA malfeasance during the last presidential election. This is an important video if you want to understand the Obama Administration’s attempt to derail the Trump candidacy, and later, presidency. These people should be under criminal investigation. The Trump-Russia collusion investigation is a manufactured lie.

A good article that correctly captures an important aspect of Trump’s appeal.

Julie Kelly:

“…One reason Donald Trump won the presidency is that Americans are tired of being ignored by the ruling political class.

A poll taken several months before the election revealed that neglected voters overwhelmingly favored Donald Trump above any other candidate: “Voters who agreed with the statement ‘people like me don’t have any say about what the government does’ were 86.5 percent more likely to prefer Trump. This feeling of powerlessness and voicelessness was a much better predictor of Trump support than age, race, college attainment, [or] income,” wrote Derek Thompson at The Atlantic.

This is the Trump appeal that the ruling political class refused—and still refuses—to acknowledge. It is why Republicans were willing to overlook his personal peccadillos, and why voters in 206 counties who twice chose Barack Obama helped elect Donald Trump. It is why rural moms, union toughs, small business owners, and soybean farmers fill steamy Midwestern assembly halls during summer’s peak to rally around a thrice-married, brash, egotistical Manhattan billionaire who is the working class’s most unlikely champion. It is why Republican candidates across the country are bragging about their Trump-BFF status in tight primary races…”

https://amgreatness.com/2018/08/18/the-untouchables-vs-the-deplorables/

THE SHORT LIFE OF THE #METOO MOVEMENT: Minnesota Democrats endorse Ellison amid abuse allegation.

“…The takeaways found by Zogby Analytics: 

1. Republicans are doing much better than they were a few months ago when it comes to the congressional generic.
2. Republicans continue to make big gains with independents, small city voters, and union voters. President Trump is doing well enough among his base-men, older voters age 50+, Walmart Shoppers, NASCAR fans, voters without college degrees, rural voters, small city voters, plus, voters in general are happy with their current finances, and optimistic about the next four years for the economy.
3. Since our last poll in June, the president has consolidated his lead over Democrats when it comes to who voters trust on issues of growing the economy and security.
4. President Trump will need to get his numbers in the mid-forties percentage wise regarding who voters trust more “growing the economy and keeping America safe” among voters age 25-34, women, and independents. Trump will also need to receive strong support from his base to prevent Democrats from making serious gains in the November congressional midterm elections.
5. Trump’s doing alright regarding his job approval rating, and is much more trusted with “growing the economy and keeping America safe” than Democratic leaders. He is also benefitting from a decent economy, a low unemployment rate and an inflated stock market. All of these factors can change pretty quickly. From now until November lots of things can change, and there is always lurking an “October surprise”, which could hurt Republicans…”

1https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/trump-trusted-more-than-democrats-to-boost-economy-keep-us-safe

“…The House election in New York’s 19th Congressional District pits a one-term GOP congressman against a first-time Democratic congressional candidate in a district President Trump won in 2016. The race could prove crucial for either party’s ability to control the House of Representatives.

New York’s 19th district covers a broad swath of New York State, extending almost 8,000 square miles and containing about 700,000 people. Prior to 2013, the district was made up of counties closer to New York City, including Putnam and part of Westchester. President Obama wonthis district in 2008 and 2012, both times by more than five points.

Since 2013, the district has consisted of Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan, and Ulster counties, and parts of Broome, Dutchess, Montgomery, and Rensselaer counties, giving it a more rural, agricultural character. President Trump won the district by almost seven points in 2016.

The progressive base of the Democratic Party in the district is mainly centered on Ulster County, located in the south of the district, which contains a state university and was the only county to not vote for the district’s current representative, Republican John Faso, in 2016. Dutchess County, which is more suburban than much of the district, supported Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, but Faso in the congressional race.

Robert Bishop, a member of the Delaware County Republican Committee and president of the Livestock Exporters Association of the USA, argues that most of the district is favorable to Republicans. “I think that New York 19 is a very conservative, centrist to right-leaning district,” he told the Washington Free Beacon.

Nevertheless, voter registration in the district favors the Democrats, especially in the more populous Ulster County, although this has not translated into a clear electoral advantage for the Democratic Party…”

https://freebeacon.com/politics/new-yorks-19th-congressional-district-resists-blue-wave/

Racist policies from the black South African government go almost completely unreported in the United States—I wonder why?

“…Tensions among the country’s white farming community have been rising since the election of Cyril Ramaphosa assumed office earlier this year and committed his African National Congress (ANC) to land expropriation.

And ANC chairman Gwede Mantashe sparked panic last week when he said: “You shouldn’t own more than 25,000 acres of land.

“Therefore if you own more it should be taken without compensation.

“People who are privileged never give away privilege as a matter of a gift…”

1https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1005178/South-Africa-white-farm-seizure-farmers-ANC

Censorship of conservative speech is the next battle. Trump will crush the liberal CEO’s who run the social media companies, and who will scurry for cover when the president focuses national attention on them.

U.S., China Plot Road Map to Resolve Trade Dispute by November

“…Chinese and U.S. negotiators are mapping out talks to try to end their trade standoff ahead of planned meetings between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at multilateral summits in November, said officials in both nations.

The planning represents an effort on both sides to keep a deepening trade dispute—which already has involved tariffs on billions of dollars of goods and could target hundreds of billions of dollars more—from torpedoing the U.S.-China relationship and shaking global markets.

Scheduled midlevel talks in Washington next week, which both sides announced on Thursday, will pave the way for November…”

Robert Kuttner, editor of the lefty journal The American Prospect, wrote yesterday to his email list:

“…Trump as China Diplomat: Suppose His Shock Diplomacy Works? Trump started a tariff war with Beijing. China vowed to retaliate in kind. But Beijing was more vulnerable because China has more to lose—it exports far more than it imports and China indeed violates trade norms of fair pricing and fair access.

A number of commentators, me included, faulted Trump for the incoherence of his moves. But Trump’s blunderbuss approach seems to be harming the Chinese economy and catching the leadership off guard. Whether by luck or design, Trump picked a moment when China’s economy was precarious, due to its heavy reliance on debt, the instability of many of its money-losing enterprises, and its inflated stock market.

Now Chinese President Xi Jinping, who seemed to have consolidated power, is facing criticism for bungling the trade conflict to China’s detriment. With the value of China’s currency falling, some observers are even comparing China to Turkey.

You almost have to feel a little sorry for Xi. The Chinese leadership is skilled at scoping out America’s trade policy, cutting separate deals with multinational corporations, buying influence, and besting Washington at trade negotiation. But how do you play chess when the other guy is playing a schoolyard game that he makes up as he goes along?

Bottom line: China was more vulnerable all along than America’s Wall Street-dominated trade elite was willing to believe, or act on. We might have had a trade policy that looked out for the interests of U.S. manufacturing and American workers—something that Trump’s approach does not deliver—and that did not risk starting a wider conflagration with Beijing, as Trump’s approach does.

But the last several American presidents were too compromised and too wedded to a preposterous, corporate conception of “free trade.” And so America rolled over.

We do need a resetting of the U.S.-China relationship, but a mortally wounded Chinese economy is in nobody’s interest. Yet Trump’s apparent success, flawed as it is, offers one more illustration of how the corruption of ruling U.S. elites created a vacuum that opened the door to Trumpism…”

When hard lefties begrudgingly admit your policy is working and offer tepid support, you know its working.

 

“…For academic feminists, male and female biology is either interchangeable or immutable, depending on what complaint they need to lodge…”

“…A foundational tenet of academic feminism holds that alleged differences between males and females are socially constructed. This credo usually maximizes the opportunities for charging sexism, yet it will be discarded in an instant if acknowledging the innate biological and psychological differences between men and women yields an additional trove of feminist complaint. The current issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine shows how the game is played.

For years, medical research neglected “sex and gender differences” in health, according to the magazine. “Historically, the narrative of medicine has been driven by data derived from white men around the age of 40,” the associate dean for curriculum at the Yale Medical School told the magazine’s reporter. Clinical trials only occasionally included females and when they did, the results were rarely analyzed by sex. It’s mysterious why this alleged neglect should matter, if sex differences are “socially constructed.” If males and females are the same psychologically and physically before the patriarchy starts assigning sex roles, then medical research need not distinguish between males and females, either.

It turns out, however, that males and females differentially respond to stress, environmental risk factors, drugs, and disease, as an initiative called Women’s Health Research at Yale devotes itself to documenting. . . .

Such discoveries should be the death knell for social constructivism. Along with many others like them, they buttress the possibility that uneven sex ratios in various fields are in part the result of males and females’ different average dispositions toward competition, risk, and abstract rather than people-centered work (an observation that got computer engineer James Damore fired from Google).

And yet, feminist social-justice warriors are perfectly capable of proceeding on several contradictory fronts simultaneously…”

https://www.city-journal.org/html/gender-construct-16117.html

“You gotta feel for the Pope, tripping over all those abused kids as he lunges for a mic to talk about U.S. border policy.”

“…Salvanto’s polling currently indicates that few House seats will change hands in November — and that the GOP could very well hold its majority in the House. “In this era, a district’s voting patterns from the past tend to stay that way,” Salvanto said. “Not as many partisans today are willing to cross party lines.” Of the nation’s 435 House districts, fully 85 percent will almost certainly stick with its current party affiliation come November, Salvanto projects…”

https://nypost.com/2018/08/18/cbs-news-pollster-reveals-why-blue-wave-is-unlikely/