The ‘Newspeak’ Of Immigration

IMMIGRATION, Propaganda

The phrase “our immigration system is broken” is statist semantics, “Newspeaks”; a linguistic trick to lead Americans to believe urgent action is required. Greg Gutfeld, the only intelligent, amusing neoconservative on Fox News’ “The Five,” is correct about “broken” being a euphemism for refusing to enforce immigration laws.

Among the multiplying procession of vacuous panelists plonked together on these God-awful, dual-perspective chat forums–Gutfeld stands out as, if not a great thinker, then certainly a comedic genius. And, as the great late Joan Rivers said, making someone laugh is like giving them a holiday.

In any event, so long as the TV viewer knows he is being entertained and not edified by most cable and nitwork current-affairs shows—he should be OK. For such an awareness, one presumes, will lead the viewer to seek in-depth information and analysis, rather than confuse mind-numbing banalities tumbling from the mouths of botoxed babes with big hair and an overbite for words of wisdom.

Jonathan Turley Not Enough Of An ‘Anti-Executive Power Extremist’

Bush, Constitution, Democrats, Media, Republicans

When their guy is in power, both dyed-in-the-wool Republicans and Democrats—and the military-media-congressional complexes attached to each political affiliation—shun truth and justice. When Bush was in power, Fox News did a poor job of holding him accountable (they had “TUNED-OUT, [WERE] TURNED-ON, AND HOT FOR WAR”). MSNBC did the opposite; they held Bush accountable. The position was framed by a Facebook friend as follows:

Stephen James Bernier: How is it when you point out the obvious faults of George W. Bush you are a “Bush hater”? When you point out the faults of Barack Hussein Obama you are a “patriot”?

A hint of this is found in the response at Powerline to the choosing by House Speaker John Boehner of Jonathan Turley, prominent “constitutional scholar,” “to represent [the House of Representative] in a lawsuit against the Obama administration. The suit challenges changes the administration made to Obamacare without congressional authorization.”

The liberal law professor is pretty impartial when it comes to Obama. Yet Powerline worries that Turley is too much of an extremist on this issue, as “he believes in severely restricting presidential power.”

This first became clear during the Bush years, when Turley became a hero of the left, and a constant presence on such shows such as Keith Olbermann’s and Rachel Maddow’s, by consistently claiming that the president’s counter-terrorism efforts were lawless and unconstitutional. Turley went so far as to accuse Bush of committing war crimes and advocated prosecuting top administration officials for their approval of harsh interrogation techniques.

Essentially, Powerline begrudges Turley for having applied to Bush the same constitutional principles he is applying to Obama.

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UPDATED: Palestinians Share Sweets And Tweets To Celebrate Synagogue Massacre (CNN, Making-Up The News)

Israel, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Terrorism

Barack Obama shared not his moral outrage over the butchering of Israelis, but his penchant for moral equivalence. “The majority of Palestinians and Israelis overwhelmingly want peace,” he intoned (as the royal proboscis grew a bit). Not so. A preponderance of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza approve of attacks on Israeli civilians.

Duly, Palestinians shared sweets and tweets to celebrate the murder of four rabbis in prayer. A Druze Israeli policeman died of his wounds hours after he was shot in the gunfight that ended the attack. (Times Of Israel.)

MORE “sweet” images, via Powerline Blog.

“The Orthodox Jewish men were facing east,” reports the New York Times, “to honor the Old City site where the ancient temples once stood, when two Palestinians armed with a gun, knives and axes burst into their synagogue Tuesday morning, shouting ‘God is great!’ in Arabic. Within moments, three rabbis and a fourth pious man lay dead, blood pooling on their prayer shawls and holy books.”

UPDATE (11/19): CNN, Making-Up The News. On Tuesday, reports NewsBusters, “CNN initially broadcast to the world news that Israelis had shot two Arabs in a ‘mosque’ in Jerusalem. Only belatedly did they correct that false story and report that those terrorists shot in a synagogue had first murdered Jews worshipping [sic] peacefully. Those terrorists were armed with knives, axes, and a gun.”

CNN apologized, of course, and will doubtless defend themselves as reporting only the news as it first came to them. It is nonetheless the case that blaming the Israelis first is part of the “narrative” the Left employs whenever dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Keeping A Cool Head About Proceedings In Ferguson

Justice, Law, Race

I’ve described him as “a usually reserved, dignified, civil-rights attorney.” Writing in The Daily Beast, Paul Callan expatiates on those “ill-informed ‘experts'” who’re misleading the public on the grand jury proceedings in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson. “There’s No Conspiracy in Ferguson’s Secret Jury”:

… If the evidence provides reasonable cause to believe a crime was committed, the grand jurors’ oath requires a vote to indict.

On the other hand, if Officer Wilson is found to have acted lawfully in his use of deadly force, then he deserves a dismissal and the right to salvage whatever scraps of a normal life will be left for him when the case is over. Only the facts of this case are relevant. The grand jury is not charged with resolving the issue of police brutality or even sending a message about it.

The law authorizes police officers to use deadly physical force in a wider variety of situations than permitted for ordinary citizens. It can be used not only in self-defense but also in certain cases to subdue a fleeing felon who poses a danger to the officer or the public. A police officer has no duty to retreat and can stand his ground even though an encounter with a potentially dangerous suspect might be avoided by backing off and waiting for help. The prosecutor will provide instructions on these and other important legal principles before the grand jury votes to indict or return “No True Bill,” precluding a trial.

Though the grand jury is an imperfect forum for resolving social issues, it works very well in finding truth. …

… The grand jury inquiry affords opportunity to test accuracy of witness accounts. If the witness did in fact witness such a terrible crime, the testimony will survive in the crucible of cross-examination. If true, it will have a discernable consistency with the forensic evidence. Was the witness really in the time and place to have made the claimed observations? Was the suspect raising his hands in a surrender gesture or could the arm placement have been viewed from a different angle as an aggressive “tackle” gesture? How close was Michael Brown to Officer Wilson when he turned in Wilson’s direction? How much time did the officer have to react? Do the varied autopsy reports support or contradict witness testimony? Did Michael Brown have a motive to violently attack the officer?

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