Breitbart: Trump’s A Big Tent Guy Who’s Forcing GOP To Attack Itself

Breitbart writer Charles Hurt is Very Upset that anyone dares challenge Donald Trump

The Nuclear Option: ‘Big Tent’ Trump Forcing Party to Attack Itself

(A couple paragraphs on the Romney/Establishment loss, which led to that “autopsy” document, forgetting that the GOP regained the Senate, took even more House seats, and took even more governorships and state assemblies)

Four years hence, we see a juggernaut front-runner who is reaching and appealing to new voters in creative ways with a fresh message the likes of which Republicans have not seen in recent memory. Donald Trump is precisely the candidate the GOP autopsy envisioned, down to the clarion plea that Republicans once and for all finally deal with illegal immigration.

Establishment Republicans’ response, however, has been anything but in keeping with the autopsy. They are pulling out all the stops to thwart the will of Republican voters.

Can you guess which word appears nowhere within the article? It would be “conservative”.

Interesting that one of the first things they accused Trump of was being a “racist” for wanting to stop illegal immigration. Isn’t it funny how quickly Republicans turn into Democrats at the first sign of trouble?

Except it wasn’t most Republicans doing that. It certainly wasn’t Conservatives. What we have criticized him for was his plan to legalize all the illegals once he built this wall which Mexico is going to pay for (or something). I agree that we want to keep some of them, and they would have to pay fines, along with the fees that those attempting to do it legally from the get go pay. They must speak English. They cannot be a drain on society and taxpayer money. Heck, I met a delightful young lady who was brought to the county illegally when she was 11, and has been here for 12 years. She was smart, spoke excellent English, and was trying to become a citizen. She loved America. That’s who we want.

But, we don’t want them all. And Trump wants to give most of them “touchback” amnesty.

Another thing these people don’t like is all these new people streaming into Ronald Reagan’s “big tent” and jubilantly voting for a Republican. Sure, some small percentage might be Democrats trying to booby trap the Republican Party. But the vast majority of these new voters are independents, Democrats and long-disaffected Republicans enthusiastically casting their votes for Donald Trump.

Here’s the thing about Trump: he’s not a conservative, and about as squishy a Republican as you can get. He holds many Democratic Party beliefs. When he says “I used to believe in a single payer health system but I don’t now”, can you believe him? When his campaign lies about harming a reporter (Michelle Fields), denigrates her, then doubles and triples down in the face of evidence, can you trust him? When he used to support an assault weapons ban and more restrictions on legal gun ownership, but tells you he’s a total believer of the 2nd Amendment, can you believe him now? He’s still a big supporter of Planned Parenthood, which really is all about abortion. They do not perform much else when it comes to women’s “health”. I could run through many issues, and you have to ask yourself “does he still believe that stuff now and he’s lying to us, or has he changed?”

Reagan’s big tent was based on bringing people to the conservative viewpoint, not a squishy center which includes Democrat positions.

The problem with Trump’s big tent is that it doesn’t seem to want to include the Conservative base, hence, he might as well be an Establishment guy, what is being called the GOPe these days. He may be bringing out others, but, will they be there on election day in November?

As for forcing the GOP to attack itself, well, that happens during election cycles. Welcome to Politics 101. But, certainly, Hurst finds it despicable for anyone to dare stand in the way of Trump. And, the people in the comments are saying the same thing. Go ahead, try and write anything in opposition to Trump in the comments. It won’t be pretty.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Breitbart: Trump’s A Big Tent Guy Who’s Forcing GOP To Attack Itself »

People Who Should Have Known Better Whine About Forgetting Their ID To Vote

I’m wondering, how does someone attend a major university without a state issued ID?

Voters without photo ID run into new election rules

Lisa Guraya wasn’t surprised earlier this month when poll workers at an early voting site near Duke University told her she didn’t have the right kind of photo identification, but the sophomore knew she should be allowed to vote anyway.

She is one of at least 864 voters across the North Carolina who came out to vote early in person but did not have an acceptable ID with them during the first election they have been required in the state.

More than half of those who lacked ID just forgot their documents and will be able to bring an ID card to their local board of elections office. But Guraya is among the 378 who, as of Saturday afternoon, said they do not have a North Carolina driver’s license, U.S. passport or other acceptable identity document.

Well, it might be the case because she seems to be a resident of Alabama, not North Carolina. WRAL is rather cagey about the whole thing, and either forgot to do that whole journalism thing or is intentionally not letting the readers know.

In Guraya’s case, she had only her Alabama driver’s license. Under new voting rules, she was able to claim a “reasonable impediment” to having the correct ID, but she said the process wasn’t smooth.

Just because one attends school in North Carolina doesn’t give them the right to vote in NC elections. When I attended ECU, I was a New Jersey resident till 1990, hence, I sent in absentee ballots.

“The person who I asked wasn’t even sure at first how to do a reasonable impediment ballot,” recalled Guraya, who has more reason than most undergraduates to be well versed on voter ID laws. She’s from Shelby County, Ala., from whence the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Shelby County v. Holder originated. That decision helped pave the way for voter ID laws like North Carolina’s.

“It just made me not completely sure my vote was going to go through,” she said.

Well, if she’s not an NC resident, then she should understand she cannot vote here.

Guraya said that, during her trip home this summer, she will be able to retrieve her passport in order to vote in the November general election. Down the road in Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina sophomore Isatta Feika says she likely won’t vote in North Carolina again after experiencing the hassles involving voting with an ID in North Carolina.

Why not vote in Alabama? Or, is she trying to do both? Another option would have been to change her state residency from Alabama to NC, which she should have known to do long ago. Nor does the article explain where Isatta Feika is from.

As for the roughly half who forgot their ID, let me know how that works when you try and take an airplane flight, take a tour of the White House, etc.

Read: People Who Should Have Known Better Whine About Forgetting Their ID To Vote »

If All You See…

…are wonderful plants and trees that will be smothered by carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Not A Lot Of People Know That, with a post on the failing EU carbon markets.

Read: If All You See… »

Yet Another State Department Employee Refuses To Testify On Hillary’s Server

What is it with employees under the Obama administration seeming to never want to testify to Congress or take the 5th? It’s almost like these public sector employees are trying to hide criminal activity

(Daily Caller) A second former State Department official is refusing to talk to Congress about what he might know about Hillary Clinton’s private email system.

Politico reports that John Bentel, who retired from the State Department in Dec. 2012, has told the House Select Committee on Benghazi and the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees that he will not meet to discuss the server and what, if anything, he knows about it.

In response to a Dec. 5 letter from Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley and Homeland Security chairman Sen. Ron Johnson, Bentel said he had “no memory of knowledge” about the server.

But the Senators believe Bentel may know something. As director of information resources management at the office of executive secretariat, Bentel oversaw information technology for top level officials at the State Department, including Clinton.

If Bentel refuses to testify, the House could issue a subpoena requiring that he appear as a member of the Most Transparent Administration Ever! They could even give him immunity from prosecution, if he decides to take invoke his 5th amendment right against self incrimination. From the Politico article

“Mr Bentel… is understandably not inclined to go through that process again since he has already been questioned at great length about what he knows and what he recalls about that subject,” Turk (Bentel’s lawyer) wrote to Senate investigators in an email last Thursday. “[I]t seems to me that what is really fair here would be for you and the committees to respect Mr Bentel’s decision not to be interviewed a second time about the same subjects he has already been interviewed about at great length.”

Hey, if the police, a prosecutor, a judge, the IRS want to speak with you about something again, tell them the same thing, that you’re not inclined to go through the process again, and you want them to respect your decision. Heck, try telling your boss that.

Read: Yet Another State Department Employee Refuses To Testify On Hillary’s Server »

UN Green Climate Fund Increases Staffing By 150% After Obama Contributes $500 Million Of Taxpayer Money

One of the problems with many organizations, be that environmental or about helping people, is that they spend a huge amount of their “budget”, said budget which usually comes from donations, fundraising, and/or taxpayer money, on staffing, fundraising, and other things instead of the causes and people it was meant to support. If you’ve ever read Michael Crichton’s State Of Fear, this is what so many environmental groups do. There are certain groups which always show up during disasters that I refuse to donate too, because only a small percentage of the money I donate makes it to those in need. Which is despicable.

When Obama gave away $500 million in taxpayer money to the GCF, I wrote of the plan to increase staffing

So, instead of being spent on ‘climate change’ initiatives, a goodly chunk will simply go towards paying for administration. Will the UN provide all the details on how the money is spent? Doubtful.

And here’s the answer

(CNS News) The U.N. Green Climate Fund’s governing board has approved a proposal to hike the number of permanent staff at the body’s secretariat by 150 percent by the end of next year – from the current 56 positions to 140.

The decision, made at a meeting at the GCF’s headquarters in Songdo, South Korea last week, came days after the Obama administration confirmed payment of the first $500,000 of a $3-billion, four-year pledge to the fund, whose aim is to help developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to phenomena blamed on climate change.

The staff will make a nice bit of moola, instead of working for peanuts, “paying their fair share”, to use liberal talking points

The GCF’s administration budget for 2016, agreed at the last board meeting four months ago, is $29.157 million. The breakdown is $3.64 million for the board, $24.64 million for the secretariat, and $0.87 million for the trustee – the entity responsible for the receipt, investment and transfer of financial contributions.

Of the $3.64 million budgeted for the board this year, $1.32 million is for board meetings and $22,500 is for travel for the two co-chairs and board representative.

Of the $24.64 million budgeted for the secretariat this year, $11.36 million is for staff salaries and costs, and $13.28 million is for “non-staff costs,” including travel, contractual services and communication costs.

Good work if you can get it. Simple math would tell us that these green climate warriors make almost $200,000 a year. Plus perks and travel and stuff. But, I bet they are very good at distributing the slush fund to dictators while telling citizens living in huts with dirt floors that they may not have modern electricity, fossil fueled vehicles, refrigerators, and all the other modern conveniences the employees at the UN GCF enjoy.

But, hey, we can all rely on the United Nations to use the money wisely, right?

Congress should reduce the State Department budge by $500 million for the next fiscal year.

Read: UN Green Climate Fund Increases Staffing By 150% After Obama Contributes $500 Million Of Taxpayer Money »

Ben Shapiro, Michelle Fields Resign From Breitbart

Does anyone watch Cutthroat Kitchen? I love that show, and the dry humor of the host Alton Brown. If you missed last night’s episode, it had this in the 2nd judging phase

That’s what so many at Breitbart have attempted to do, kill Andrew Breitbart’s dream. I’ve noted on a few occasions on Twitter that I believe Andrew Breitbart would be appalled at the direction the conservative news site he founded has taken. It has become more of an advocacy site for Donald Trump, in much the same way Glenn Beck has become a bit unhinged over Trump, and an attack platform against those running against and/or say something negative about Trump. The comments are a cesspool of rabid Trump support, and you will be personally insulted if you dare take a stand against Trump. And, it appears that Michelle Fields and Ben Shapiro have had enough

(Buzzfeed) Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields and editor-at-large Ben Shapiro are resigning from the company over the site’s handling of Donald Trump’s campaign manager’salleged assault on Fields, BuzzFeed News has learned.

Fields and Shapiro informed Breitbart News chairman Steve Bannon of their decision Sunday night.

“Today I informed the management at Breitbart News of my immediate resignation,” Fields said in a statement sent to BuzzFeed News. “I do not believe Breitbart News has adequately stood by me during the events of the past week and because of that I believe it is now best for us to part ways.”

And, they didn’t. They didn’t in the articles and they didn’t in the comments. Shapiro wrote in his resignation

Andrew built his life and his career on one mission: fight the bullies. But Andrew’s life mission has been betrayed. Indeed, Breitbart News, under the chairmanship of Steve Bannon, has put a stake through the heart of Andrew’s legacy. In my opinion, Steve Bannon is a bully, and has sold out Andrew’s mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump; he has shaped the company into Trump’s personal Pravda, to the extent that he abandoned and undercut his own reporter, Breitbart News’ Michelle Fields, in order to protect Trump’s bully campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who allegedly assaulted Michelle. I spoke with Michelle the night after the incident. She told me her story. That story was backed by audiotape, eyewitness testimony from The Washington Post’s Ben Terris, physical bruises, and video tape.

Both Lewandowski and Trump maligned Michelle in the most repulsive fashion. Meanwhile, Breitbart News not only stood by and did nothing outside of tepidly asking for an apology, they then attempted to abandon Michelle by silencing staff from tweeting or talking about the issue. Finally, in the ultimate indignity, they undermined Michelle completely by running a poorly-evidenced conspiracy theory as their lead story in which Michelle and Terris had somehow misidentified Lewandowski.

This is disgusting. Andrew never would have stood for it. No news outlet would stand for it.

What should have been a small affair became a huge one. Lewandowski should have simply apologized to Fields, and they could have moved on. But, the story became huge, and so many at Breitbart, in their rabid Trump support, took a stance against Fields, including wild conspiracy theories. She’s been trashed in the comments. So, how does Breitbart respond?

Ben Shapiro Betrays Loyal Breitbart Readers in Pursuit of Fox News Contributorship

Former Breitbart News editor-at-large Ben Shapiro announced Sunday evening via left-wing Buzzfeed that he is abandoning Andrew Breitbart’s lifelong best friend, widow, hand-picked management team and friends in pursuit of an elusive contributorship at the Fox News Channel.

Friends of Hamas could not be found for comment.

It goes down from there, a nice little hitjob that rather proved Shapiro’s point, and writer William Bigelow ends it thusly

Alleged Fox News contributor Michelle Fields also resigned.

So, a shot at the person who was assaulted and wanted her organization to stand with her. It’s no wonder many other employees of Breitbart are looking to get out. And the comments on that article? They remind me more of the fever swamps of the Democratic Underground and Daily Kos during their heyday of Bush Derangement Syndrome.

Breitbart’s dream has been killed.

Update: Breitbart has attempted to memory hole the article. You’ll get a 404 if you click the link, however, if you search “ben shapiro” it still shows in the search results

More: the article has been replaced, though you can see in the tab it still has the same title about betrayal, with this

The article was written by me as part of an effort to make light of a significant company event, and was published as a result of a misunderstanding without going through the normal editorial channels.

I apologize to Michelle Fields, my friend Ben Shapiro, and to everyone concerned.

If Pollack had an respect, any integrity, and balls, he’d put the entire article back up (sadly, I can’t pull it from the cache, it was overwritten) and append the mea culpa to the end.

Twitchy has coverage, with more screenshots, and, look, a cached version. Oh, and the name William Bigelow was used by Ben Shapiro’s dad to avoid all the death threats he gets.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Ben Shapiro, Michelle Fields Resign From Breitbart »

Could A New Plastic Eating Bacteria Erase Plastic Pollution?

I may not believe in anthropogenic climate change, but I have always been an environmentalist. I despise pollution, and plastic pollution is a serious issue. The obvious way to deal with it is to stop polluting. Stop throwing plastics out in the street, if you will. Here’s a more realistic solution, because, let’s face it, some people are, well, let’s call them assholes

(CNN) Scientists in Japan have discovered a strain of bacteria that can eat plastic, a finding that might help solve the world’s fast-growing plastic pollution problem.

The species fully breaks down one of the most common kinds of plastic called Polyethylene terephthalate (PET). It’s the type often used to package bottled drinks, cosmetics and household cleaners.

The findings, published in the academic journal ‘Science‘ on Friday, say that “Ideonella sakaiensisbreaks down the plastic by using two enzymes to hydrolyze PET and a primary reaction intermediate, eventually yielding basic building blocks for growth.”

This could be really good news for the environment. Almost a third of all plastic packaging escapes collection systems and ends up in nature or clogging up infrastructure, the World Economic Forum (WEF) warned.

Sounds promising. Of course, this brings to mind a question: could these bacteria, if deployed throughout the world, cause an unintended problem?

Read: Could A New Plastic Eating Bacteria Erase Plastic Pollution? »

If All You See…

…is a wonderful home garden, which Everyone Else should be forced to create to reduce road miles, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Creeping Sharia, with a post on a Bernie supporter starring in an ISIS video.

It’s gardening week, what with Spring almost here.

Read: If All You See… »

Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

Patriotic Pinup Fiona Stephenson

Happy Sunday! It’s another gorgeous day in America. The Sun is shining, there’s a warmth of spring in the air, the mockingbirds are trolling the geese in the pond out back. This pinup is by Fiona Stephenson, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Independent Sentinel explain who Obama wants to help defeat ISIS
  2. Wizbang discusses Ann Coulter’s foot in mouth disease
  3. Western Hero has liberal’s dichotomy of thought
  4. Vox Popoli covers SJW’s putting theory (SJW’s always lie) into practice
  5. Vlad Tepes discusses whether ISIS is really Islamic
  6. This ain’t Hell… wonders if Bernie will denounce La Raza
  7. The People’s Cube explains that March is Leprechaun month
  8. The Other McCain covers the “enslavement of women”
  9. The Lonely Conservative explains that both Trump and Chicago are wrong
  10. The Liberty Zone explains that free speech is not just for those you like
  11. The Daley Gator wonders if Donald Trump remembers when he partially blamed Pam Geller
  12. Raised On Hoecakes offers a brilliant Bernie sign
  13. Powerline notes that Obama’s CIA director is against…..spying?
  14. Patterico covers the Trump supporter who supposedly gave a Nazi salute
  15. And last, but not least, Neo-neocon describes the Trump voter

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page. While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me

Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. (BTW, since someone asked, the reason I leave links for the previous week up (or you might see a *) is because they are place holders for later in the day or for next weeks. Easier than rewriting all the time. Also, the listing order has to do with how they are added over time, not how good a post is. I just copy and paste from the previous week, then edit. If you see one of the *’s, go ahead and check out the blog anyhow, see if there is an update. I cannot update with my Android during the day.

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

Did Democrats Abandonment Of The Working Class Lead To The Rise Of Trump?

There are all sorts of theories as to what gave rise to Donald Trump. The NY Post’s Kyle Smith argues that this was a long time in coming, as Democrats abandoned the working class

The elite professional class, in the 1950s one of the Republican party’s most reliable constituencies, became the very heart of the Democrats by the 1990s. The party of labor morphed into the party of lawyers. This didn’t happen by accident.

In his new book “Listen, Liberal, Or Whatever Happened to the Party of the People,” progressive commentator Thomas Frank (author of “What’s the Matter With Kansas?”) says Democrats need to take a good long look in the mirror if they want answers to why blue-collar workers are feeling abandoned and even infuriated by what used to be their party.

Many such voters are now backing Donald Trump, who is sketching out the problem with America in exactly the terms they agree with: Jobs are either going to Mexico, or going to Mexicans. Unchecked illegal immigration on the one hand and free trade on the other hand are driving down the wages of working-class Americans, or costing them their jobs outright.

Let’s think about this. Democrats have been calling themselves elites for decades. They imply that they are better than everyone else. They patronize the working class, and call for things like a $15 minimum wage, but, so much of what they actually implement is aimed for the betterment of the Professional Class at the expense of the working class, be it from the loss of jobs to raising the cost of living for the working class through various initiatives, such as ‘climate change’ policy. Donald Trump has tapped into this anger, sorrow, and concern in the working class.

This isn’t racism: angry Americans told they were losing their jobs at a doomed air-conditioner factory in Indiana wouldn’t have applauded if told production was moving to Canada instead of Mexico. Either way, they’re losing their jobs.

Of course it isn’t raaaaacism, but, this is the default position of the Democrats, to throw out smears designed to put people on the defensive when Dems have no legitimate argument.

In Frank’s analysis, around 1972 the Democrats started to suspect their lunch-bucket workers were warmongering dinosaurs doomed by their reliance on dying Rust Belt industries. The party placed its future in the hands of groovy technocrats in non-union fields and wrote off the workers, who soon defected to the Republican party even though Republicans didn’t and don’t apologize for being the party of capital.

The Republican Party stands for giving people a hand up. Democrats stand for a handout. A handout keeps people where they are, and beholden to the government, while the intelligentsia of the Democratic Party sip champagne in their hoity toity parties. And Donald Trump is here to exploit the woes of people who feel unprotected.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Did Democrats Abandonment Of The Working Class Lead To The Rise Of Trump? »

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