WOBIK Blog

RealClear Politics, by Charles Lipson , RCP Contributor — September 17, 2019

Excerpt:

Partisan politics has crept into every corner of American life. Every topic, from jokes to films, is now refracted through that lens. It’s a revoltin’ development, as one sitcom character used to say, and it’s time to call it out.

Most issues do have a political dimension, of course. But seeing everything that way leaves no space for other topics, no room for play or humor or friends with different views. It intrudes on the private world of family, friends, and voluntary associations. People need that space to flourish. A tolerant, liberal democracy should provide it.

I saw this suffocating environment up-close and personal this week when I posted a funny comment by Louisiana’s Sen. John Kennedy. His earthy metaphors and odd juxtapositions make him one of Washington’s most quotable figures. In today’s hyper-divisive politics, however, even the most innocuous quote can land you in the briar patch. I felt a few of those thorns when I posted his comment.

What did Sen. Kennedy say? “Trusting Russia, North Korea, and Iran is like trusting a Jussie Smollett police report.” What’s wrong with that? Not a thing. It’s funny, fair, and memorable. But when everything is partisan, you can always find something wrong. If nothing comes readily to mind, blame the speaker for something else. He’s from the wrong political party. He supports the wrong policies. He’s the wrong race. He’s the wrong gender. This sour perspective, says Sen. Kennedy, is “why aliens won’t talk to us.”

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View the complete article including image, links and comments at:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/09/17/when_politics_smothers_everyday_life__141267.html

SARA CARTER, by Staff Writer — September 16, 2019

Excerpt:

In a major twist, NYTimes editorial was pressured to make a correction to it’s bombshell story about Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, that the “alleged victim said she did not recall the purported sexual assault in question at all.”  (bold emphasis added)

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View the complete article including images and links at:

https://saraacarter.com/nytimes-does-it-again-omits-the-fact-that-kavanaughs-accuser-was-clintons-defense-attorney/

SHARYL ATTKISSON — September 15, 2019

Excerpt:

There’s a bit of news in the case of Jeffrey Epstein. He’s the convicted sex offender who somehow managed to commit suicide in a New York jail last month while he was supposed to be under close watch.

My public information request about his death— has been formally denied.

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In the case of the Epstein documents I requested, the federal Bureau of Prisons responded by stating that it is withholding all of the documents entirely. – (bold emphasis added)

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View the complete article including image, links and comments at:

https://sharylattkisson.com/2019/09/all-prison-documents-about-jeffrey-epstein-withheld/

The NEW AMERICAN, by Bob Adelmann — September 12, 2019

Excerpts:

President Trump’s tweet that he was delaying by two weeks an increase of tariffs on some $250 billion of Chinese imports is right out of the Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation (PON). Tweeted the President: “At the request of Vice Premier of China, Liu He, and due to the fact that the People’s Republic of China will be celebrating their 70th Anniversary on October 1st, we have agreed, as gesture of good will, to move the increased Tariffs on 250 Billion Dollars worth of goods (25% to 30%), from October 1st to October 15th.”

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The PON rule? “Extreme demands followed up by small, slow concessions.” This strategy, according to Harvard Law, “protects dealmakers from making concessions too quickly.”

It’s not the only rule Trump is following. There’s the “delaying and stalling” technique, the “precondition” technique and the “withdrawn offer” technique, among others.

Consider: Delaying implementation of the increase gives negotiators on both sides time to come to terms before the new deadline. It provides additional incentive for the Chinese to hold serious conversations. It’s interesting to note that the Chinese negotiators are coming to Washington for those preliminary conversations, another tactic of making a minor concession in order to advance a major conversation.

China knows the rules. On Wednesday the communists published a short list of American products that would be exempt from its own tariffs (including shrimp, lubricants, alfalfa meal, and some other minor items) in response to Trump’s concession. Those tariffs were imposed by the communists last July as part of the “tit-for-tat” game being played out in the tariff war.

In addition the communists on Wednesday said they would be announcing more exemptions in coming weeks, provided that the United States continued negotiating in good faith.

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View the complete article including image, links and comments at:

https://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/asia/item/33390-tariff-wars-are-following-standard-negotiating-strategies

The NEW AMERICAN, by Selwyn Duke — September 14, 2019

Excerpt:

If you’re concerned about violence with guns, never fear, big “woke” corporate millionaires are here — to save you from yourself. The latest on this front is that 145 chief executives, reports CNBC, “wrote a letter to the Senate on Thursday, urging the legislative body to take action on gun safety,” with “gun safety” being a euphemism for removing freedom.

CNBC continues:

The letter notes recent gun violence in Chicago, Newport News, Virginia, and other places, calling it a “public health crisis.” But the leaders also say that gun violence is preventable, and lawmakers can step in to head off tragedies.

“That’s why we we [sic] urge the Senate to stand with the American public and take action on gun safety by passing a bill to require background checks on all gun sales and a strong Red Flag law that would allow courts to issue life-saving extreme risk protection orders,” they wrote in the letter.

Red flag laws, which are also known as extreme risk laws, allow family members or law enforcement to petition a court to prevent someone temporarily from obtaining firearms.

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... signatories include Edward Stack, CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods; several figures from Bain Capital, which was founded by Senator Mitt Romney; and Thrive Capital’s Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, advisor and son-in-law of President Trump.

Other CEOs didn’t sign the letter, often for political reasons. Notably, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg refused; though he supports the gun laws in question, he was concerned that weighing in would intensify the federal scrutiny his company is already under. Google, Apple, and banks such as Citigroup and Bank of America didn’t join either, also for self-serving reasons.

Many find it ironic, and maddening, that super-rich people — who can afford bodyguards and life in a gated, ivory tower community — would try to make it more difficult for average people to defend themselves. It is, after all, easy to be idealistic when you don’t have to live with your ideals. The kicker here, however, is that these CEOs stated concerns are driven less by reason and more by passion, which, Ben Franklin warned, governs, but “never governs wisely.” And we can know they’re thus driven because their concerns have little relationship to reality.

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View the complete article including image, video, links and comments at:

https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/33408-the-worrying-145-big-business-now-wants-little-constitution-and-big-gun-control

BREITBART, by John Binder — September 13, 2019

Excerpt:

Columnist Michelle Malkin is calling on President Trump to “shut down” a Federal Reserve program that profits off remittances sent to foreign countries by illegal aliens.

During an interview with SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Daily, Malkin detailed how the Federal Reserve actually aids illegal aliens living in the United States through a federal remittance program, included in her latest book, Open Borders, Inc: Who’s Funding America’s Destruction?

“I was working on a section in Chapter One which is on the caravan cartel called ‘Banking on Illegals’ and I’d reported on this all the way back from the late 1990s on Bank of America and Wells Fargo and private institutions that were profiting,” Malkin said. “And in the middle of that research, I discovered the Federal Reserve, itself, was trying to hone in on this segment of the market with its own program to have a remittance program that is specifically marketed to illegal aliens in America.”

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View the complete article including video, links and comments at:

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/09/13/watch-exclusive-michelle-malkin-to-trump-shut-down-federal-reserve-remittance-program-for-illegal-aliens/utm_campaign=20190914

FOX NEWS, Jake Gibson, Alex Pappas | Fox News — September 13, 2019

Excerpt:

U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu has recommended moving forward with charges against Andrew McCabe, Fox News has learned, as the Justice Department rejects a last-ditch appeal from the former top FBI official and current CNN contributor.

McCabe — the former deputy and acting director of the FBI — appealed the decision of the U.S. attorney for Washington all the way up to Jeffrey Rosen, the deputy attorney general, but he rejected that request, according to a person familiar with the situation.

FEDS IN FINAL STAGES OF POSSIBLE PROSECUTION DECISION FOR MCCABE: ‘TARGET ON HIS BACK’

The potential charges relate to DOJ inspector general findings against him regarding misleading statements concerning a Hillary Clinton-related investigation.

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View the complete article including videos and links at:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-attorney-recommends-proceeding-with-charges-against-mccabe-as-doj-rejects-last-ditch-appeal