Category Archives: History

History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Popular Culture

Richard Dreyfuss

50 Comments

Has he finally been mugged by reality?

Here’s a flashback:

Dreyfuss, who in 2006 called for the impeachment of then-President George W. Bush, has long been a critic of special interest money in politics; in 2011, during an appearance at the National Press Club, he called for a constitutional amendment “prohibiting money, politics and television.” He also started The Dreyfuss Initiative in support of teaching civics in schools.

Well, the latest piece is at least consistent with that. And at least he recognizes that “getting money out of politics” would require a Constitutional amendment. But he doesn’t seem to recognize that the best way to get money out of politics, at least federal politics, would be to remove the incentive, by limiting the power of the federal government to what the Founders intended, particularly restoring the 9th and 10th Amendments.

[Late Tuesday-morning update]

Given the turn the comments have taken, this seems relevant: Government corruption, from the IRS to the DOJ.

[Bumped]

History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

The Latest Clinton Scandals

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Will they (finally) be the end of the Clintons?

I’d like to think so, but I’ve been disappointed repeatedly at the complete acceptance of criminality and corruption from the Clinton gang by their party. I can guarantee you of one thing: They think they’ll continue to get away with it, because they always have.

[Monday-afternoon update]

The fall of the House of Clinton?

I hope so, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

[Bumped]

[Update a few minutes later]

Well, she’s clearly lost Ron Fournier:

You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to know that foreign companies and countries expected something in return for donating to the Clinton foundation rather than the countless other charities not connected to the U.S. presidency.

You don’t have to be a lawyer to know the Clintons violated ethics rules.

You don’t have to be a historian to know their ethical blind spot has decades-old roots.

You don’t have to be a political scientist to know this behavior contributes to the public’s declining trust in its leaders.

But to believe this is just about the actions of a book author, the mainstream media, and Republicans, it helps to be a Clinton.

Let’s hope that’s not enough this time.

History, Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

Obeying The Law

It starts at the top:

…for people to want to obey the law for reasons that go beyond avoiding punishment, several things have to be true. First, they must generally approve of the law: Maybe not of every individual provision, but they have to believe that, in general, the laws are just rather than unfair. Second, they have to feel reasonably confident that most others will obey the law, too: People like to feel like good citizens, but they don’t like to feel like suckers. Finally, they have to feel as if the people in charge also respect the law. Examples are set at the top, and if the government treats unwelcome laws as unworthy of respect, you can expect the populace to feel the same way.

Nonsense. Laws are for the little people.

History, Philosophy, Political Commentary, Uncategorized, War Commentary

Jewish Conservatism

2 Comments

Some thoughts from David Goldman.

[Saturday-afternoon update]

American Jewry’s moment of decision:

During the next two months, Obama will be focused on closing his deal with Iran, and Clinton will be avidly seeking to lock up the Democratic nomination for president by building an impregnable fortress of campaign funds. If the American Jewish community uses this critical period to leverage Clinton’s financial requirements to convince her to oppose Obama’s deal that paves the way for a nuclear armed Iran, then they will reassert their relevance in American politics and they will restore support for Israel to its pre-Obama position as a bipartisan position.

If they fail to do so, then Obama’s bid to transform Israel into a partisan issue will succeed. If a Republican wins the White House in 2016, he will face an anti-Israel Democratic opposition. And if Clinton wins the White House, she will have no reason to support Israel.

I’d still like to see the video of the Khalidi birthday party.

[Bumped]

[Sunday-morning update]

There is a storm coming:

In Syria there are real massacres of Palestinians. But where are the Muslim mobs and their European useful idiots? Where are the drones chanting in the streets of Paris? Where are the thousands of tweets we saw in 2014? They don’t exist because Israel was not involved, which reveals the utter hypocrisy and malevolence behind the execrable anti-Jewish and anti-Israel campaign.

Shelley Neese, who is Vice President of a Christian Zionist website called “The Jerusalem Connection”, has produced a remarkable music video “There is a Storm Coming”,about the rise of anti-Jewish prejudice and bigotry.

She compares it to the horrors of seventy years ago. She also warns the French Jewish community that time is short and their future lies in the ancestral and biblical Jewish homeland: Israel.

She was assisted by Andrew McKain, a talented musician and rapper whose hard-hitting lyrics should particularly appeal to young people who so desperately need to learn the past and what the present may foretell.

They should know how the totalitarian movements defeated in the 20th century have mutated and how the Islamo-Nazis and today’s far left are making common cause to the same end as their predecessors — the destruction of the Jews and of freedom worldwide.

When they said “Never again,” they had their fingers crossed behind their backs.