“The art of effective propaganda is an encompassing discipline that requires careful and thorough study — and review — from time to time. For the beginner, it can be very difficult to master. Even the experienced propagandist can at times fall into the trap of thinking that creating and disseminating propaganda is a straightforward enterprise – which is a good way to win a permanent all-expenses paid Siberian vacation. It is not usually so simple a task to befuddle the entire society every day, 365 days a year, indefinitely. The following short guidebook will provide the aspiring propagandist, WEF lackey, Communist Apparatchik, Woke Marxist, and seasoned government bureaucrat alike with the tools and knowledge necessary to develop their promising talent into full-bloom mastery of the art of propaganda.” (12/20/24)
“Restrictive policies in response to COVID-19 did a huge amount of damage to our liberty, prosperity, kids’ education, and even our sanity. But now there’s evidence supporting what many of us suspected: Lockdowns also contributed to a surge in crime that temporarily reversed a decades-long decline in homicides. According to a new Brookings Institution report, forcing young men out of work and out of school fueled a surge in violence. Worse, this outcome was predicted.” (12/20/24)
“While analyzing the tailspin of the Biden presidency and the failed campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, few pundits have questioned that militarism is a political necessity as well as a vital tool of U.S. foreign policy. Harris checked a standard box at the Democratic National Convention when she pledged to maintain “the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.” Yet the erosion of the Democratic Party’s base is partly due to the alienation of voters who don’t want to cast their ballot for what they see as a war party. That perception is especially acute among the young, and notable among African Americans. Many have viewed President Joe Biden’s resolute support for the Israeli war in Gaza as a moral collapse. When Harris remained loyal to it during the fall campaign, her credibility sank.” (12/21/24)
“Donald Trump can’t turn the U.S. Postal Service over to private hands with a wave of his hand. But he can push to make it happen. Three people ‘with knowledge of the matter’ say that he has discussed the possibility with Howard Lutnick, his choice for commerce secretary. USPS never makes money. It costs taxpayers billions every year. In fiscal year 2023, it lost $6.5 billion; in the next fiscal year, $9.5 billion. If privatizing the agency does happen, the transition probably won’t be seamless, not even if we can surmount the opposition of the powerful postal union. Fortunately, we already have many private alternative ways of shipping information and packages, from encrypted email to UPS and FedEx.” (12/20/24)
“During Donald Trump’s first presidential term, many progressives got in the habit of opposing just about any foreign policy initiative the administration advanced—even policies that would have ordinarily passed progressive muster. Writing in The Nation, Matt Duss, a former Bernie Sanders adviser who is now at the Center for International Policy, argues for kicking that habit. ‘Just as we decide which Biden policies are the baby and which are the bathwater,’ writes Duss, ‘we should do the same for Trump.’ Duss is, in essence, urging left-of-center Americans to resist one of the temptations associated with ‘negative partisanship’ — namely, defining your ideology as the opposite of whatever the other political tribe’s ideology is. As we saw during Trump’s first term, this sort of reflexive politics can lead Democrats to adopt more hawkish positions than they might otherwise embrace.” (12/20/24)
“Tom Pendergast (and to a lesser extent his brother, James) cast a huge shadow over Missouri government and politics, both during his life and after. His corrupt domination of Kansas City politics eventually led to numerous changes in Missouri government. These changes include the Missouri Plan for selecting judges, putting the Kansas City police under state control, and numerous civil service reforms at the state and local levels in Missouri. One of these reforms is a subject of contention right now in St. Louis.” (12/20/24)
Source: Wall Street Journal
by Kimberley A Strassel
“Democrats are fist-pumping this week as Joe Biden looks poised to beat Donald Trump’s first-term record for judicial appointments. If only that number were the Biden judicial legacy to prove most lasting. The Senate was preparing on Thursday to confirm two final judges, votes that would result in Mr. Biden tallying 235 judicial picks, one more than the 234 confirmed in the first Trump term. Democrats are raving about the number and the diversity of those judges, as well as Mr. Biden’s success in flipping the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals back to a liberal majority. Republicans are consoling themselves that Mr. Biden was unable to change the ideological direction of the Supreme Court or of two other circuits that Mr. Trump remade with majorities of Republican-appointed judges. But it isn’t the numbers or the faces that will define the Biden years.” (12/20/24)
“That is the implication of his latest threatened taxes on imports. Trump issued his threat on Truth Social, where he said that he would raise our taxes on the goods we import from Europe, unless European countries agree to buy more oil and gas from the United States. If Europe were to purchase more oil and gas from the United States it would raise prices of these products here, which is presumably Trump’s intention. He apparently wants to make people in the United States pay more for our gas in our car and the fuel we use to heat our homes and provide electricity.” (12/20/24)
Donald Trump and his allies have long complained that the president-elect has been the victim of ‘lawfare’: lawsuits and prosecutions by political opponents looking to settle their scores in the courtroom rather than at the ballot box. Now the tables have turned. ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a suit over a broadcast in which anchor George Stephanopoulos referred to Trump as a rapist. The House GOP issued a report calling for former congresswoman Liz Cheney to be investigated for ‘potential criminal witness tampering.’ And Trump is suing Iowa pollster Ann Selzer over a poll that (erroneously) showed Vice President Kamala Harris ahead in the state, which Trump has called ‘brazen election interference.’ Are Democrats getting their just deserts?” (12/20/24)
