Although overshadowed by your regularly scheduled terror attacks, as well as pre-debate effluvia, the media’s attempt to turn Donald Trump Jr.’s recent tweet into a cause célèbre for smug leftists is worth examining in detail.  While some right wing pundits pointed out the similarity between his Skittles metaphor and a feminist-inspired meme involving a different chewy candy, the actual root of this analogy is the precautionary principle, a deeply flawed approach to risk management. The idea being that the introduction of a new  product or process whose impact is unknown or disputed should be resisted.

The problem is that the United States-and the West in general-has  served as a treatment group for the effects of Islam for well over half a century. We already have an extensive body of data points which demonstrate that randomly dispersing skittles across the non-candy fruited plain is a terrible idea in practice. And even if you subscribe to the bizarre notion that experiencing a major terrorist attack every 4-6 months is an acceptable risk to ensure vibrant diversity, somehow forgetting that this is a deliberate, unnecessary risk introduced by our government, you’re making the assumption that this potential danger will remain static in perpetuity.

The people who want to flood our communities with Skittles fail to appreciate the fact that these risks will only increase the more this country is filled with Skittles-and there is never the hint of a suggestion that we decrease either the quantity or the percentage of increase in the future. I’m sure the French once believed that welcoming emigres from their former colonies in Africa was a swell idea. Several decades later, more than half the prison population of that country is comprised of Muslims and their jails have become small scale replicas of ISIS training camps. The same holds true for the UK, as well as every other Western European nation with a significant Muslim population.

If you want to get a picture of how this translates to the United States, take a look at Oregon, where there are now over 70 active terrorism investigations according to the FBI. There are over a thousand probes into individuals with possible links to the Islamic State, a single global terror network. Is it any wonder that jihadists are winning the intelligence war when we’ve armed them with the most precious weapon of all, i.e. access to our shores and our people?

Yet we have to endure the censorious lectures of bloated UN leeches who believe that the problem isn’t the gross ingratitude of the West’s guests, but the handful of public figures willing to point out this unpleasant reality. The problem we’re facing is not a handful of cyanide-laced skittles. It’s a civilization having skittles, which they were never allowed to refuse, forced down its throat year after year. Forget about theoretical poisons. What if we simply don’t like skittles? What if we find skittles sickening, and get nauseous when we eat them? What if eating an endless supply of skittles ruins your dental health?

Shouldn’t we be allowed to decline junk food?

 Update: 15 Years of Allah Akbar-itis.

Never forget what was responsible for today’s memorials. Watch the 9/11 Memorial stream live.

Credit: Bosch Fawstin

I love the title of this blog post, because it perfectly encapsulates the contempt in which this administration holds the rule of law. For those of you who haven’t been keeping track, President Obama, via royal decree, enacted an incredibly unconstitutional administrative amnesty which would have given legal immunity-as well as jobs and a slew of federal benefits-to nearly 4 million illegal aliens currently residing in this country.

After a federal judge wisely enjoined this deranged plan, the administration continued to grant work permits to these aliens-because screw separation of powers, right? 

Are you surprised by the Obama administration’s latest flagrant violation of the law? You really shouldn’t be. If this presidency had a theme song, this would be it.

Update: Neil Munro explores Speaker Paul Ryan’s bizarre Republican trinity.

I had the pleasure of attending an informal discussion held by writer/political pundit Fred Barnes recently, where the topics ranged from his biography of Jack Kemp-co-written with McLaughlin Group colleague Morton Kondracke-to his thoughts on the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump. Taking place prior to the New York primary, and subsequent devastating losses by Ted Cruz to the now presumptive Republican nominee, it served as a fascinating overview of the internal divisions within the conservative establishment, which are even more pronounced now that the worst nightmare of many has come to fruition.

Even as Fred Barnes-like a handful of other Republican Party stalwarts-has maintained an anybody but Clinton posture-while delineating his many disagreements with Trump both tactically and strategically-the vast majority of thought leaders among formerly influential conservative think tanks, periodicals-as well as statesmen-seem to have taken the opposite tack. Some even going so far as to wholeheartedly embrace a woman who until relatively recently was seen as the bete noire of the establishment right. This is a process which seems to be accelerating with each day that elapses.

A  Trump critic in the audience-who nonetheless came to the conclusion that he was infinitely preferable, given the options, to Hillary Clinton-asked a compelling question. Namely, from where does this deep-seated animus-and unrelenting energy to thwart Donald Trump’s election, to limited effect thus far-stem? Granted, he breaks from  Republican orthodoxy on a number of issues, but if that’s the crux of the problem, then why were there no comparable anti-Romney or anti-McCain movements by the conservative intelligentsia?

If it’s simply a matter of the support Trump has drawn from loathsome figures, then why was there no corresponding outrage when John McCain aligned himself with virulent Mexican chauvinist Juan Hernandez? I’ve never subscribed to the association fallacy, but it’s worth noting that Donald Trump has never enlisted the help of The Daily Stormer in order to cultivate his popularity among white ethnics. Is the galvanizing issue for the anti-Trump movement his use of vulgarity? As absurd as that seems, the chief complaint voiced by the Stop Trump Pac appears to be Donald Trump’s penchant for uttering naughty words.

In reality, I think their objection-and the animating reason for the existence of the Dump Trump movement-is a deeply rooted fear of their own increasing irrelevance. The idea that the bond between conservative intellectuals and successful Republican campaigns is largely illusory is something that those in the anti-Trump faction simply can’t countenance. Especially the ones who manage magazines which have exiled the few writers on their staffs with a modicum of talent and intellectual integrity from their pages.

The Stop Trump crusade-if that word isn’t too offensive-is something to occupy the energies of writers and editors at The Federalist, Red State, National Review, The Weekly Standard, and virtually every other conservative publication of any consequence, through the remainder of this election cycle. It’s a raison d’être for those who would otherwise be preoccupied telling poor white people they need to die and explaining why you’re not a Christian because you happen to support a candidate they dislike, although I’m almost certain we’ll see similar broadsides in the months ahead from those who believe you’re an idiot is a persuasive riposte.

For the record, none of the aforesaid criticism means that Donald Trump is an ideal candidate, or that I believe sincere Trump critics are grievously mistaken for opposing his candidacy. The truth is that there are many objectionable aspects of Trump as a potential POTUS. Although I have several disagreements with him, I think his shockingly ignorant remarks about the attempted massacre of courageous American patriots-including my dear friend Pamela Geller-in Garland, Texas-which, to the best of my knowledge, he’s never retracted-raise the most important questions about his fitness for office.

However, it strains credibility to use this valid concern as an excuse for endorsing a woman who-lest we forget-fought to have a critic of Islam thrown into a dungeon after her own catastrophically bad foreign policy decisions led to the deaths of a United States ambassador, foreign service officer, and 2 CIA contractors.

The decision to enlist in Hillary Clinton’s unceasing quest to sink her talons into the White House is only explicable as a psychological exercise. Namely, as a means of salving the guilty consciences of those who had no meaningful impact in the fight against Obamacare, the successful grassroots campaign to derail legislative amnesty, or any of the myriad cultural wars which have embroiled our nation over the past 2 decades. It’s a way of ignoring the fact that the premiere conservative conference is a venue for selling snake oil rather than exploring the ideas which actual conservatives care about.

And the more true conservatives maintain that the primary concern of millions Americans is immaterial to true conservatism, the more irrelevant these high priests of conservative dogma will become. Just as real alpha females don’t need an inane listicle explaining how to be an alpha female, real conservatives don’t need a hackneyed blogger at Red State or contemptuous John Malkovich lookalike at National Review to explain to them why the unmaking of their country is less important than thwarting the political aspirations of the first Republican presidential candidate to intently listen to their plight and express their reservations about the direction in which this country is headed.

As a political and ideological ethos, Dump Trump is an empty vessel. However, as a case of deflection, it explains a hell of a lot.

One of the mainstays of the Fox News Channel, like every other media property controlled by Rupert Murdoch, is its unstinting support of mass immigration. Granted, Lou Dobbs does have a show on Fox Business, and there are occasional appearances-and even guest hosting spots-for immigration patriots such as Michelle Malkin and Laura Ingraham, but that does not alter the fact that the talking heads on FNC mostly skirt the most important issue facing the American electorate going forward. We were reminded of the mind-numbing uniformity of opinion on this subject this week, as Fox news pundit and Weekly Standard alum Tucker Carlson fired Mickey Kaus, perhaps the only reason-with the possible exception of Neil Munro-someone would read The Daily Caller in the first place. The capital offense in this case was, naturally, pointing out Rupert Murdoch’s slavish devotion to open borders and its toxic effect upon the coverage of immigration issues by Fox News correspondents.

And so the media blacklisting that began in earnest with exile of Peter Brimelow for speaking unpalatable truths has cascaded down to ostensibly conservative Internet publications that abandon principle when it conflicts with the aims of rich Australian tycoons. And so the agora shrinks even further, thanks to well-heeled treason lobby. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The resignation of John Kitzhaber should come as no surprise to those of us who’ve been monitoring the career of both he and his inamorata, whose recent past includes the disclosure of immigration fraud. A revelation that dovetailed perfectly with this particular couple’s militant open borders activism, including an ACLU-endorsed campaign to invest illegal aliens with drivers’ licenses. Although the proximate cause of Kitzhaber’s ignominious retirement from public life is the dubious green energy scheme-a hallmark of Obamanomics-which lined the pockets of Oregon’s former first lady, the fact that both of these individuals are trusted members of the treason lobby should not escape notice. 

Granted, the corruption of elected and unelected officials seems to be endemic to American public life, as the police lineup of this state’s criminals, i.e. politicians, attests to. However, it’s worth exploring the connection between officeholders who routinely disparage the law, at least, as it’s applied to their favorite constituency, and the cavalier way these same officials treat the laws they are sworn to uphold in their personal and professional lives. After all, Mr. Kitzhaber is not the first, nor likely the last, open borders apparatchik who will leave office in disgrace.

Update: As promised by Brit Hume, Fox News has republished the offending cartoons. If you’re waiting expectantly for other drive-by media to follow suit, don’t hold your breath. There’s only one religion in contemporary society whose mockery is verboten. 

Mark Steyn, as usual, cuts to the heart of the matter. The refusal by almost every North American media outlet of consequence-with one glaring exception-to republish the cartoons of Charlie Hebdo-like their choice to ban the Jyllands-Posten Mohammed caricatures, is an example of cowardice. This is a decision motivated by base, craven fear, masquerading as a sop to Muslim sensibilities. That said, the decision by most European newspapers to republish those same satirical cartoons shouldn’t be seen as an indication that the continental media have any firmer grasp of what’s at stake, as the  groupthink denunciation of grassroots anti-Islamization campaigns, as well as of those political figures who’ve criticized the multicultural ideology that contributed to Wednesday’s massacre, makes clear. The consistent obfuscation of who is responsible for the series of horrific anti-Semitic violence being but one example of how muddled the Fourth Estate’s evaluation of Islam’s relationship to the West is.

Unfortunately, I think that Steyn has hit upon a difficult truth to digest. The journalists who were assassinated by jihadists in Paris were not simply irreplaceable in terms of their unique talent for clarifying the relationship described above. They were irreplaceable in a much more immediate, practical sense. There are only so many people willing to place themselves in the crosshairs of the perpetually aggrieved religion before our reserve of martyrs is exhausted. And then, notwithstanding the faux solidarity of people who posture as journalists, the terrorists really will have won.
h/t Gates of Vienna.

Part 3 of my Tiempo debate. This segment includes an extraordinarily typical example of a media narrative I’m sure you’re all-too familiar with, albeit with a local hook-for those of us living in the Tri-State Area.

The mendacity of our current administration is at times stunning, even for those of us who should by now have become inured to the lies regurgitated by the Obama administration and its factotums for the better part of two terms. The disavowals by La Raza graduate Cecilia Munoz and village idiot Joe Biden notwithstanding, the systematic emigration of unaccompanied minors from their homelands to the southwestern United States is nothing if not a ploy designed by those in power to destroy whatever prophylactic measures the government currently takes to prevent the complete dissolution of our nation’s system of border controls. 

-You need look no further than ICE itself, whose bureaucrats acknowledge that a contract request to escort these youths was publicly advertised as early as the beginning of this year to realize how fatuous the current administration’s protestations of innocence are. The fact that this crisis is completely and utterly contrived seems not to have dissuaded the usual suspects in the mainstream  news media from putting the most appealing face on what has become an untrammeled invasion. Perhaps predictably, the fact that those tasked with protecting our nation’s security are now the functional equivalent of babysitters to carriers of lethal, communicable diseases has only exacerbated the existing tendency among press outlets to treat every breakdown of public order and security risk as a vessel for the classic illegal immigrant sob story.

-That the public is being largely denied pertinent information about the risks posed by these cherubic children-or a rational debate over whether surviving custodians/parents are practicing child abuse by forcing them to make a potentially lethal, 120+ mile trek through the Mexican desert-should come as no surprise. While concerned citizens might be surprised to learn that many of these “unaccompanied minors” are in fact vicious gang members, the fact that this tidbit is being overlooked by every single national broadcast network is nothing new when it comes to immigration coverage, unfortunately. Even the question of whether these individuals are being released into the care of human traffickers is probably not going to be raised by reporters invested in the wholesale erasure of American sovereignty.

-What galls, however, is the deafening silence by the fourth estate regarding the manipulation of access to the detainment cells and way stations, including military bases, housing these uninvited guests from Central America. Naturally, any critics of this administration’s  calculatedly disastrous immigration policy are being denied entry to the facilities housing the latest cohort of illegal aliens, as Arizona Speaker Andy Tobin learned recently. Likewise, any reporters seeking to engage in journalism-not merely act as stenographers for LULAC or the ACLU-are obstructed from practicing their craft, even as the Border Patrol officers who would seek to assist them are threatened with prosecution by their superiors, a la Fast and Furious. Thus, the freedom of information whose death the press routinely sheds crocodile tears for ends, not with a bang, and barely a whimper from the credentialed hypocrites.

-In contrast to the brick wall greeting those few genuinely patriotic lawmakers and intrepid journalists seeking the truth, the Spanish-speaking subjects of so many glowing personal interest stories over the past month are being provided with the best in legal representation that your tax dollars can buy. Someone should inform President Obama and his sidekick that these star-studded legal teams are promising their clients amnesty, which is open to them through a variety of means, including the notoriously porous refugee resettlement program.

-These unaccompanied aliens-and presumably, the adults who are assisting their perilous voyage north-are acting upon an entirely rational, understandable impulse. Namely, to leave behind a third world life of desperate poverty and lack of security in order to live in a, relatively speaking, prosperous and safe environment-one in which attempts to circumscribe their access to any welfare program will be met with howls of rage by indignant, open borders fanatics. They’re doing so because they have concluded that they will not be deported to their countries of origin, and despite the disingenuous protestations to the contrary by this administration and its apparatchiks, this is a largely accurate assessment of the situation, as columnist Ross Douthat has pointed out in the pages of the New York Times.

News & Notes

-Perhaps predictably, the political earthquake that vaporized Eric Cantor’s future career arc  doesn’t seem to have reached the denizens of Capitol Hill, K Street, or the White House. Valerie Jarrett’s recent comments about Rupert Murdoch and Dave Brat only serve to underscore the cosmic disconnect between those who make their living manipulating the political process in order to serve their financial and political interests and the people throughout the country laboring to sate their avarice. Unfortunately, just as we seem to be stuck with Murdoch, there is no prospect of Ms. Jarrett returning to Iran any time in the near future. GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, unlike his Australian counterpart, was actually born in the United States, therefore should presumably have a deeper attachment to American sovereignty and the quality of life of this nation’s citizens. Unfortunately, as Breitbart reports, that is simply not the case.

-One group that passionately detests the United States-at least, as it’s currently constituted-is the National Council of La Raza. Shockingly, they seem to have drawn all the wrong conclusions from Eric Cantor’s epic primary defeat, demonstrating yet again the utter futility of hispandering in  hopes of garnering that ever-elusive, much-heralded latino vote. One man who does not tailor his message in order to appeal to segmented ethnic groups is the gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo, a man whose praises we have sung repeatedly on this website. Of course, the open borders elites who control the GOP machinery despise Congressman Tancredo, which is all the more reason registered Republicans in the state of Colorado should go out and vote for him in today’s primary.

And with that important admonition, we conclude today’s Daily Rattle.

Today, of course, is Veterans Day. An appropriate time to mark the bravery of a small group of men who were among the first Americans to retaliate against the overwhelming might of fascist, imperial Japan. Doug Powers recounts the heroism of the Doolittle Raiders on Michelle Malkin’s site, which includes video footage of their final toast. A good friend of mine has also penned a thoughtful  tribute to American veterans, which is worth checking out. For those readers who are currently serving or have served in the Armed Forces, you have our gratitude and appreciation for your sacrifices to this country.