DEFENDING THE INDEFENSIBLE: 5 Worst Echo Chamber Talking Points About The Iranian Uprising.

The New York Times leads of course:

The initial coverage of these historic protests—or in some cases, the lack of it—was scandalous. The New York Times’s Thomas Erdbrink, in particular, veered into revolting Walter Duranty territory. Looking back at the paper’s coverage of Iran, it’s unsurprising.

“For many years,” the reporter wrote only last month, “many Iranians were cynical about their leaders, but that is changing thanks to Trump and the Saudi crown prince.” Every unfiltered report from Iran told a different story.

Actually, thanks to Trump, the Times’ coverage swerved unconvincingly from “The protests are only small and and not worth your attention’” to “These protests are about economic woes and have nothing to do with political disputes and are not worth your attention” to the “Violence is the protesters’ fault because they won’t listen to the regime’s calls for calm.” All of this is particularly offputting when you consider how hard some in the media worked to make the Iran deal a reality.

Read the whole thing.

OUT: DEEP STATE. IN: DERP STATE. John Brennan thinks TRUMP blew it with the ‘moderates’ in Iran.

Watching the Obama foreign policy team pretend that they have a defensible track record never gets old.

SHE HAS LEARNED NOTHING AND FORGOTTEN NOTHING: Robby Mook Won’t Rule Out Hillary Clinton Running in 2020. Run, Hillary, Run! This time, you’ll make it.

CHANGE? As Caps on Federal Deductions Begin, High-Tax States Seek a New Scheme.

LAWRENCE MEYERS: It’s Only Been the Apocalypse for Democrats.

Ever since The Day Democrats Reached Out, I’ve been watching the hilarious hyperbolic reactions to every Trump tweet, and each piece of lint that flutters through the Oval Office. The Democrat reaction to every single move by the Trump Administration amounts to, “We’re all gonna die”.

Remember the mass deportation of Mexicans? Neither do I. Yet we we’re all gonna die. My Democrat friends here in Southern Wackyfornia told me that their maids and nannies were terrified that they were going to be rounded up because Trump was a racist.

Remember the mass deportation of Muslims? Neither do I. Yet we we’re all gonna die. During the March of the Week Spectacular that occurred early in 2017, Democrats clogged airports to protest the 90-day visa hold – a policy enacted merely to ensure the safety of Americans.

Remember how Trump’s election empowered hate groups to go and beat innocent minorities, and that we were all gonna die? Neither do I. What I do remember is the leftist group ANTIFA, whose very name epitomizes the phrase “unintended irony”, beating the crap out of innocent Americans and starting riots every chance they got – oh, but usually to shut down free speech. It was so bad in Berkeley that even the Washington Post couldn’t ignore the truth.

Remember how Trump is Hitler and Steve Bannon is a white nationalist – and that we we’re all gonna die? Neither do I. I never quite understood how Trump could be Hitler given his staunch support of Israel, and having the courage to do what no other President did by acknowledging Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Election Day, 2018 will mark two years of turn-it-up-past-11 fear-mongering from the Left. The “professional left,” as Obama called it, seems to thrive on the constant shrieking, but you have to wonder how much good it’s doing with the more moderate voters they’ll need to mobilize for an off-year election.

MICHAEL TOTTEN: Fractured West: In Oregon and elsewhere, rural residents increasingly balk at Democrats’ progressive governance.

Lots of journalists have ventured into the rust belt to find out why so many working-class voters abandoned the Democrats for Donald Trump, but hardly anyone is asking why blue-collar voters in the rural West have been going the same way for years. Perhaps many people think that they already know. In his 2004 book, What’s the Matter with Kansas?, journalist Thomas Frank argued that the Republican Party wins in his home state by pushing a culturally conservative platform to manipulate rural blue-collar folks to vote against their economic interests and for the party of big business and the wealthy instead of the party of labor unions and government assistance.

That’s not what happened in Oregon. Yes, rural Oregonians are more culturally conservative than urban Oregonians. Rural people are more culturally conservative than their urban counterparts everywhere in the world. Oregon, though, is not fighting a cultural civil war. Rather, people on the inland eastern side of the state have an entirely different set of priorities. Rural voters are being micromanaged by Democratic politicians elected in Portland, whose land-use and water-rights policies are inflicting at times devastating economic hardship on the other side of the mountains. Contrary to Frank, they prefer the Republican Party not despite their economic interests but because of them. If the Democrats want to win back these votes in the upcoming midterms, the first thing they need to do is stop kidding themselves. Understanding Oregon is a good place to start.

I think a lot of states need to split.

GRATITUDE: After India’s Anti-Israel UN Vote, ‘Palestinian’ Envoy Pals Around with Mastermind of Mumbai Terror Attack.

Almost a week after India’s vote against the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a senior Palestinian diplomat got into hot water for publicly fraternizing with one of India’s most wanted terrorist. Palestinian ‘Ambassador’ to Pakistan, Waleed Abu Ali, jointly addressed a rally with Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 164 people and injured 308. The rally hosted by an alliance of Islamic groups was held to condemn the US decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish State. The event took place in the northern Pakistan city of Rawalpindi.

Saeed, a Pakistani national, is the co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an outfit designated as terrorist organization by the US, India and several Western countries. India has been seeking Saeed’s extradition in connection with the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Pakistan has refused to comply with Indian requests and refused to place restrictions his activities within Pakistan.

The Anglosphere is never going to work so long as India holds onto its tired and outdated Third World solidarity schtick.

WORKING FOR THE CLAMPDOWN: NBC, ABC Downplay the Size of Iranian Protests, CBS Questions Murders.

DON’T CALL HIM; HE’LL CALL YOU: Leaked meeting notes show how panicked Iranian regime considered stopping deadly protests: ‘God help us.’

A leaked report provided to Fox News shows how Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with political leaders and heads of the country’s security forces to discuss how to tamp down on the deadly nationwide protests.

The report covered several meetings up to December 31 and was provided to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) from what it said were high level sources from within the regime.

The meeting notes, which have been translated into English from Farsi, said the unrest has hurt every sector of the country’s economy and “threatens the regime’s security. The first step, therefore, is to find a way out of this situation.”

“Get the hell out of my way!” the wise man once said.

WILLIE BROWN EXPLAINS THINGS TO DEMOCRATS: “For those of you who aren’t crazy about President Trump, the good news as we wrap up his first year in the White House is how the courts and federal bureaucracy have kept him from running the country completely off the rails. The bad news, for Democrats, is that he will serve out his term and run for re-election. People hoping he’ll resign or be thrown out of office are dreaming.”

WHY ARE DEMOCRATIC-DOMINATED INDUSTRIES SUCH CESSPITS OF MISOGYNY? “OH MY GOD, THIS IS SO F—ED UP”: INSIDE SILICON VALLEY’S SECRETIVE, ORGIASTIC DARK SIDE. “Some of the most powerful men in Silicon Valley are regulars at exclusive, drug-fueled, sex-laced parties—gatherings they describe not as scandalous, or even secret, but as a bold, unconventional lifestyle choice.”

Well, we have been told not to criticize other people’s lifestyle choices, so shut up, bigot.

And I love the modified version of Thomas Couture’s Romans of the Decadence, which was the cover art for Original Sins, the first album I ever produced.

THEY’VE MADE THEIR PRIORITIES CLEAR:  California Government Drops Ball On Ammo, But State Has No Problem Handling Pot.

AT LEAST IT’S INTERESTING:  Specialize or Generalize? Heinlein vs. Smith (Maybe.)

FOUR WORDS: BODY FLUIDS ON EQUIPMENT:  Naked workouts are coming to your gym — what could possibly go wrong?

MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!   Americans will eat more meat than ever before this year.

THOSE WASCALLY WUSSIANS!   Russia unleashes newest secret weapon: puppies.

FUNNY.  WE MANAGE:  Working from home is a recipe for disaster.

FASTER, PLEASE:  Researchers discover Alzheimer’s treatment while trying to cure diabetes.

YEARS AGO A FRIEND OF MINE WAS PREVENTED FROM PUMPING HER OWN GAS IN OREGON.  SHE WAS TOLD GAS WAS AN HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE AND SHE DIDN’T HAVE THE TRAINING TO HANDLE IT:  She then pointed out she was going to use the guestroom and was she cleared to handle her own urine?  Which was, of course, rude, but also very apropos.  So now…  Oregon’s Gas Pumping Apocalypse.