Corey, this isn’t the image you really want to project

MoonHowler
Corey Stewart and the Confederate battle flag

Our BOCS chairman, Corey Stewart, has taken up a cause that really doesn’t concern him.  He isn’t a native Virginian and he isn’t from Charlottesville.  I doubt if he has even ever lived there.

Corey has embedded himself in the cause to save the statue of Robert E. Lee from being removed from Lee Park in Charlottesville.  While I actually agree with Corey (or I should probably say Corey agrees with me), it is a local matter and a matter for the people of Charlottesville to decide, and ultimately the courts.

I was born and raised in Charlottesville.  My mother’s family has been there since the 1700’s.  In fact, Lee Park was dedicated to my great-great-great aunt and her husband, parents of Paul Goodloe McIntire.   When this entire Lee Park kerfuffle came to a head, I thought seriously about getting involved because of family.  Then I came to the conclusion that I had been gone from the city way too long and I should keep my mouth shut publicly.

Corey should do the same.  He has less standing  on the matter than I do.  He is only trying to beef up his conservative credentials.  That isn’t going to work in this case.  He has cast it as a liberal/conservative issue.  Not really.  We Virginians, even we liberal Virginians, still love our Virginia history, warts and all.  We despise Taliban mentality–you know, those thought-police ideas demand we tear down anything that might expose a less than shining past.  Virginians try to preserve our history and if nothing else, learn from it.  No, it really isn’t along liberal/conservative lines.

The courts will decide the fate of the Robert E. Lee Statue.  The City needs to look carefully at the deed giving Charlottesville the land that is known as Lee Park.  They might not want to take that tiger by the tail.  Statues and other public memorabilia  tell a story of the place where they are located, as a rule.  They commemorate history.  The statues commissioned by Mr. McIntire in the early part of the 20th century are part of the ethos of the City.

Corey needs to stay away from crowds that wave Confederate battle flags.  That kind of image will paint him in a corner from which he cannot extricate himself.  Unfortunately, in modern times, that flag has been misused–it has been misused as an object and symbol of hate.

McCain defends the free press

MoonHowler

NBCnews.com:

Sen. John McCain is taking a veiled swipe at President Donald Trump’s ongoing attack on the fourth estate, cautioning that “how dictators get started” is by shutting down the press.

The Republican Arizona senator, in an exclusive interview on Meet the Press airing Sunday, admitted that the relationship between the media and elected officials can sometimes be tense — highlighted by the Trump administration’s repeated sparring with reporters and the president calling news organizations “fake news.”

Half-jokingly, McCain said, “a fundamental part of that new world order was a free press. I hate the press. I hate you especially. But the fact is we need you.”

His defense of the media came in response to a Friday tweet from President Donald Trump in which he called certain news outlets “the enemy of the American People.”

What educated, informed people exist in an echo chamber, only hearing one side of an issue?  Perhaps that is the root of Trump’s problem–his problem with inaccuracy and ignorance.  He only listens to one side of an issue.   How can the media be “the enemy of the American people?”  This current time isn’t the only time in American history where the press brought down candidates, or elected officials.

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Senior policy advisor says powers of the president will not be questioned

MoonHowler

telegraph.co.uk:

The court ruling against Donald Trump’s travel ban is “a judicial usurpation of power,” the White House said on Sunday, as one of the president’s closest advisers strongly defended his troubled policy.

“Our opponents, the media and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned,” said Stephen Miller, Mr Trump’s senior policy director.

The 31-year-old, who began his rapid rise to power with attacks on multiculturalism, criticism of women’s protests against pay inequality, and urging against political correctness, was dispatched on Sunday to hammer home the president’s point of view on television chat shows.

On ABC News, he argued that the Judge James Robart, the Washington state judge who blocked the travel ban on February 3, had made his ruling for political reasons.

Apparently Mr. Miller, the chief policy director of Donald J. Trump needs a civics lesson. Any president can be questioned and overruled by the courts.   It appears that not a week goes by that there isn’t some Constitutional crisis brought on by this administration.

What if a policy advisor of Obama had said the same thing?  I can only imagine the uproar.  This administration holds the greatest amount of cry-babies and authoritarian personalities I have ever seen.  Trump needs a reset with personnel.  Stephen Miller needs to be fired immediately, rather than getting an “atta boy.”

 

John McCain’s smack-down on Sean Spicer

MoonHowler

 

Washingtonpost.com:

Donald Trump took on Sen. John McCain’s status as a war hero and won the GOP nomination anyway.

Sean Spicer took on John McCain’s expertise on military matters and got this:

The White House press secretary took an extraordinary position Wednesday, saying anyone who questioned the success of the raid in Yemen that led to the death of a Navy SEAL was doing a disservice to the SEAL’s memory. The target was McCain.

Then NBC News tracked down McCain (R-Ariz.) to get his response to Spicer. And it was something.

“Many years ago when I was imprisoned in North Vietnam, there was an attempt to rescue the POWs,” McCain began, mentioning details of his biography that everyone knows but McCain included for emphasis.

He continued: “Unfortunately, the prison had been evacuated. But the brave men who took on that mission and risked their lives in an effort to rescue us prisoners of war were genuine American heroes. Because the mission failed did not in any way diminish their courage and willingness to help their fellow Americans who were held captive. Mr. Spicer should know that story.”

McCain then walked away, punctuating the comment.

Senator McCain–you go, guy!  Despite what Trump says, John McCain is a war hero.  Unlike Trump, he does know quite a bit about war and military raids.  He is certainly not someone that either Trump or Spicer should blow off.

The arrogance and stupidity are simply amazing.

Shep Smith calls out Sean Spicer and Trump for not telling the truth

MoonHowler

Rawstory.com:

Fox News host Shepard Smith slammed President Donald Trump and White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Tuesday for his assertion that the media was ignoring terror attacks.

He said Trump appeared to be echoing “fringe media” like the publications InfoWars and Breitbart.

“In short, the president’s assertion is false,” Smith said. “The White House knows that it was false or could have learned that it was false with a quick Google check, but either did not do so or decided not to tell the truth.”

The Trump administration published a list of 78 terrorist attacks it claimed were under-reported by the media. But the Fox News host said that his network had covered every major terror attack.

“What they’re saying is not true, again,” he quipped, while introducing his guest. “Why bother?”

 

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KellyAnne Conway: lies and more lies

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

Kellyanne Conway has taken “alternative facts” to a new level.

During a Thursday interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the counselor to the president defended President Trump’s travel ban related to seven majority-Muslim countries. At one point, Conway made a reference to two Iraqi refugees whom she described as the masterminds behind “the Bowling Green massacre.”

“Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered,” Conway said.

The Bowling Green massacre didn’t get covered because it didn’t happen. There has never been a terrorist attack in Bowling Green, Ky., carried out by Iraqi refugees or anyone else.

At what point is KellyAnne Conway going to stop lying?  I knew Trump was a serial liar but it seems that KellyAnne is now proving that he has surrounded himself with people of the lie.

There was never a Bowling Green Massacre.  Conway, Spicer and others who speak for the president just seem to continually spew crap to justify their boss’s incompetence and screw ups.

Is Bannon the Wizard of Oz?  Is he the Rasputin behind the man who knows nothing?

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Trump threatens to cut off federal funding @Berkley

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

President Trump raised the threat of pulling federal funds from the University of California at Berkeley on Thursday after the institution canceled a talk by provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and put the campus on lockdown after intense protests against the planned speech.

While Trump framed his early morning tweet around free speech and opposition to violent demonstrations, his critics are likely to interpret the message as indirect support for Yiannopoulos, a deeply polarizing figure who portrays himself as a champion of open expression but whose detractors view as a hatemonger.

“If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view — NO FEDERAL FUNDS?” wrote Trump.

Since when does any president control federal funding to institutes of higher learning?  I thought that was the job of Congress.  More threats out of Trump.

U. C. Berkeley is not practicing violence on innocent people with a different point of view.  Individuals are practicing violence.  They should be arrested.

What I find odd is that Milo Yiannopoulos pretty much is a hate monger.  The student body at Berkley feels he is repugnant and they don’t want him at their school.  For certain there is a fee associated with his speech.   Don’t they have a right to express their displeasure?  Those who break the law should be arrested.  Setting fires and rioting is illegal.

The scofflaws don’t represent the entire student body.  Why should everyone be threatened with loss of funding?  I wouldn’t want this speaker being paid to speak at my college either.  Milo Yiannopoulos is not just a different point of view, any more than the KKK is a different point of view.  He is an extremist and supports ideas that most of us feel are unAmerican.

Shame on Trump for threatening the entire student body at Berkeley.