Expertendammerung: "a Fireball of Public Anger"

Silverfiddle Rant!

"Should it turn out that scientists and experts and NGOs, etc. are villains rather than heroes of this story, we may very well see the expert-worshiping values of modern liberalism go up in a fireball of public anger."

(Thomas Frank, The Guardian)

"Lab leaks happen. They aren’t the result of conspiracies: “a lab accident is an accident,” as Nathan Robinson points out; they happen all the time, in this country and in others, and people die from them.

By the way, right-wingers didn’t dream up “gain of function”: all the cool virologists have been doing it (in this country and in others) even as the squares have been warning against it for years.

Think of all the disasters of recent years: 

economic neoliberalism, destructive trade policies, the Iraq War, the housing bubble, banks that are “too big to fail,” mortgage-backed securities, the Hillary Clinton campaign of 2016 — all of these disasters brought to you by the total, self-assured unanimity of the highly educated people who are supposed to know what they’re doing, plus the total complacency of the highly educated people who are supposed to be supervising them."

This is why normal people with common sense no longer lap up what the Inofotainment Media Complex pukes out.  As Farmer wisely reminds us, today's "experts" have no skin in the game, so we should never make the mistake of automatically trusting them.

Extra Credit:

Our Legacy Corporate Media Is Full of Liars and Propagandists

What A Tangled Web!

I received the email below from a friend.  

I haven't confirmed each of the statements, so feel free to debunk any statement.  If doing so, please provide a link to support your assertion.

THE GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN USED TO WORK FOR GEORGE SOROS. 

CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM IS NANCY PELOSI'S NEPHEW. 

ADAM SHIFF'S SISTER IS MARRIED TO GEORGE SOROS’ SON. 

JOHN KERRY'S DAUGHTER IS MARRIED TO A MULLAH'S SON IN IRAN. 

HILLARY'S DAUGHTER CHELSEA IS MARRIED TO GEORGE SOROS' NEPHEW. 

ABC NEWS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER IAN CAMERON IS MARRIED TO SUSAN RICE, OBAMA'S FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER. 

CBS PRESIDENT DAVID RHODES IS THE BROTHER OF BEN RHODES, OBAMA'S DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS. 

ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT CLAIRE SHIPMAN IS MARRIED TO JAY CARNEY, FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY.

ABC NEWS AND UNIVISION REPORTER MATTHEW JAFFE IS MARRIED TO KATIE HOGAN, OBAMA'S FORMER DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY. 

ABC PRESIDENT BEN SHERWOOD IS THE BROTHER OF ELIZABETH SHERWOOD, OBAMA'S FORMER SPECIAL ADVISER. 

CNN PRESIDENT VIRGINIA MOSELEY IS MARRIED TO TOM NIDES, FORMER HILLARY CLINTON'S DEPUTY SECRETARY. 

STACKED DECK, ANYONE?

Lies, Lies, Lies!

(hat tip to Bunkerville)

 

Read this: https://t.co/nTI8aMqzd8

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 23, 2020

By obscuring the above information, the Enemedia are promoting division and violence!  Lies of both commission and omission!

Recommended Reading

See Two months since the riots, and still no “National Conversation” by Michael Tracey (July 26, 2020). Excerpt:

We are now approaching the two-month mark since the riots that erupted across the United States in late May and early June. There is a reasonable argument to be made that these riots were unprecedented in U.S. history — or at the very least, since the 1960s. Yet if one surveyed the national media today, you’d barely even know anything happened. Nor would you likely be aware that those who bore the brunt of the destruction — largely minorities whose sensibilities don’t fit into any neatly-delineated ideological category — are still acutely suffering from the fallout.

Yes, civil unrest has of course occurred before. But the riots of 2020 exhibited features which belie any easy historical parallel. For one thing, consider their enormous geographic scope. While the most extreme riots in cities like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and particularly Minneapolis did receive considerable attention — however fleeting, incomplete, and unnecessarily inflected with knee-jerk partisanship — there were also smaller-scale riots in surprisingly far-flung places that you hardly would’ve known about unless you lived in the area, happened to visit, or intentionally sought out what remains of the bare-bones local media coverage. To take just a small sampling: Atlantic City, NJ, Fort Wayne, IN, Green Bay, WI, and Olympia, WA all underwent significant riots, at least per the normal expectations of life in these relatively low-key cities. Did you hear anything about them? Because I hadn’t, and I’m abnormally attuned to daily media coverage. Only because I personally visited did I learn of the damage.

Read the rest HERE.

For the vast most part, WE THE PEOPLE can only be informed as much as the Enemedia want us to be informed.  How can WE THE PEOPLE really remain informed?  By seeking out alternative media!

Recommended Reading

See The unbearable pettiness of the Washington press corps at American Thinker, dated March 30, 2020. Excerpt below the fold:

Surprise! Recent NBC/WSJ Poll

According to just released @WSJ @NBCNews poll: @realDonaldTrump is the second most popular President within his own party at this point in his first term since WWII. (W post 9/11 is all time high). Remarkable. Yet more evidence, if you needed it, that Twitter isn’t real life. pic.twitter.com/YWIfzMryYB

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 22, 2018

Astounding, huh?

Meanwhile, remember this, as some in the Congressional GOPe disparage the POTUS at every opportunity:

The Trump Effect On The Enemedia

The Enemedia being held to account is a wonderful thing!

First:

Leaked Tape from ABC News Shows Trump Has Media on the Ropes.

Then:

.@DaveWeigel @WashingtonPost put out a phony photo of an empty arena hours before I arrived @ the venue, w/ thousands of people outside, on their way in. Real photos now shown as I spoke. Packed house, many people unable to get in. Demand apology & retraction from FAKE NEWS WaPo! pic.twitter.com/XAblFGh1ob

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2017

Additional reading for both Trumpers and NeverTrumpers to peruse: President Donald Trump's Accomplishment List.

We Don't Know What We Don't Know

Please watch this short video about one of Roy Moore's accusers, and read the accompanying article "New Court Docs Blow Massive Hole in Moore Accuser’s Story." Excerpt from the latter (emphasis mine):

...One of Moore’s accusers, Leigh Corfman, claims that almost 40 years ago, Moore tried to initiate a sexual relationship with her while she was still a teenager.

Her accusations hinge on two points: First, that she was left alone with the then-32-year-old attorney Roy Moore during a family court case… and second, that she lived with her mother in Gadsden, Alabama, when Moore allegedly harassed her.

Both of those points have now been called into question....

[,,,]

Let’s be extremely clear: We don’t know with certainty whether the claims against Roy Moore are true or not. Neither does anyone else, except the people directly involved.

That is the point: When an accusation is made, the first rule of our society and our laws is that the accused are innocent until proven guilty.

What we do know is that the timing of these accusations is extremely odd. After decades of Moore in the public light, these claims emerged with only weeks left in a key election that the candidate seemed to be winning.

Read the rest HERE at the Conservative Tribune.

In America, nobody should be tried in the media. Period. Full stop.

Judge Roy Moore is being tried in the media.

The media in all their various manifestations — more precisely the Enemedia — are engaging in media malpractice.

In a special election to be held in Alabama on December 12, 2017, it is up to the people of Alabama to decide whether or not Judge Moore will serve as a United States Senator.  Regardless of the voters' decision, that decision is not adjudication.  We must keep in mind that, thus far, the allegations levied against Judge Moore are just that — allegations, not charges.

Do we really want America to be a nation that accepts allegations as facts without adjudication?

Additional reading, with thanks to FJ: Power, Sex, and Politics.

Conversations — Ad Nauseam

Image credit

"We need to have a conversation about..."

"We need to open a dialog about..."

Or any one of the numerous variations on the above.

I've come to despise this meme, now a cliché.

The latest "conversation we need to have" is that about gun control, specifically, banning bump stocks — in reaction, of course, to the horrific slaughter perpetrated by Stephen Paddock in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017.

I admit that I haven't been reading or watching the news much the past few weeks.  But I have managed to to devote some time to keeping up with current events.  My reaction:

The above said, here is a point about which I haven't noticed much coverage in the ceaseless droning and screeching of the 24/7/365 news cycle (aka the Curse of Cable News), with a hat tip to Zero Hedge, via Bunkerville:

Murder map Looks strangely similar to the electoral map.

51% Of Murders Come From Just 2% Of The Counties https://t.co/GnJmPT7ASN pic.twitter.com/WOsXy1ydyG

— Steph (@steph93065) October 4, 2017

...This is [the comparison that] Steph means. Pretty darn close. I thought the same thing when I first saw it. pic.twitter.com/ZO6EGpv0aO

— Jellenne 🌵⚾️🐍🌞 (@jellen805) October 4, 2017

What is your opinion regarding banning bump stocks, which, in effect and if I understand correctly, convert a one-pull-one-round rifle into a rapid-fire machine gun?

"We Are In the Midst Of An Information War In This Country"

(hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance)

Contrary to the prevailing narrative about race in, we have this:


If you're pressed for time, here is the shorter version:

pic.twitter.com/5VJooR92MB

— DemExit Abolitionist (@jetrotter) September 4, 2017

One of her recent posts at Facebook:

It is young people like this young woman who give me hope during these times of great divisiveness in America.

R.I.P. CNN

They did it to themselves. For example (click directly on the graphic to enlarge it):

CNN has gone from the most trusted name in news to fake news. Therefore:

[hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance for the first graphic in this blog post]

Recommended Reading (With Addedum Related To The Firing Of Acting Attorney General Sally Yates)

See Obama’s administration made the “Muslim ban” possible and the media won’t tell you at Terra Incognita (hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance):

I was outraged by the ban on refugees from war-torn countries in the Middle East. I’ve covered refugees fleeing war in Iraq and Syria over the last two years, meeting families on the road in Greece, Serbia and Macedonia, speaking to poor people in Turkey and Jordan and discussing the hopes and fears of people displaced in Iraq. If you want to ban “terrorists,” these are the last people to hit with a refugee ban. Instead the government should be using the best intelligence possible to find people being radicalized, some of whom have lived in the US their whole lives or who come from countries not affected by the ban, such as Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.

So I was outraged, and then I read the executive order....

[...]

But, wait a sec. According to the reports “The order bars all people hailing from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.” Critics had attacked Trump for selecting these seven countries and not selecting other states “linked to his sprawling business empire.” Bloomberg and Forbes bought into this.

But, wait a sec. I read the order and Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen are not mentioned in it.

Go back and read it again. Do a “ctrl-f” to find “Iraq”. Where is “Iraq” in the order. It’s not there. Only Syria is there. So where are the seven nations? Where is the “Muslim ban”? It turns out this was a form of fake news, or alternative facts. Trump didn’t select seven “Muslim-majority” countries. US President Barack Obama’s administration selected these seven Muslim-majority countries.

The Department of Homeland Security targeted these seven countries over the last years as countries of concern....

[...]

So for more than a year it has been US policy to discriminate against, target and even begin to ban people from the seven countries that Trump is accused of banning immigrants and visitors from....

[...]

...[W]hy didn’t CNN note that the seven countries were not named and that in fact they are only on the list because of Obama’s policy?...

Read it all HERE, including the numerous embedded links.

Read the text of Trump's executive order for yourself. Many news sites having published the EO, including the UK's Independent. See THIS.

Additional reading: Most claims about Trump’s visa Executive Order are false or misleading.

We cannot trust the mainstream media. They are the Enemedia and agenda driven.

ADDENDUM

From "Quick Thoughts On Sally Yates’ Unpersuasive Statement" by Jack Goldsmith of Lawfare:

...[I]n the context of deciding whether to defend a presidential EO, the question for Yates is reasonable legality, not what is just and right. If Yates thought the EO, independent of its legality, had crossed a red line of justice and rightness—whatever those terms mean—she should have counseled the President on that point and resigned if he disagreed....

Read the entire essay HERE.