Three Movies You Should Watch to Understand the Economic Collapse of 2008

Ten years ago, the Lehmann Brothers investment bank collapsed, sparking a world-wide banking crisis and recession. The economy lost at least 5 million jobs, pushing the unemployment rate from 5 percent to 10.5 percent in just a few months. The US stock market lost $7.4 trillion in value while the real estate market dropped $3.4 trillion. This translated to a loss of $30,000 per American household. Americans were thrown not only out of work but also their homes—5.5 million, to be exact. In addition to these very personal losses, the American taxpayer bailed out the big banks to the tune of 4 trillion dollars.

Since 2008, a stack of books has been written about the causes and consequences of the crisis. But if you want to get a quick survey, then three movies will do the trick.

The first film is The Big Short from 2015. This film has taken Michael Lewis’s riveting book of the same name and turned it an entertaining docu-drama. The film follows several different investors who all figured out that the banks were selling toxic securities based on sub-prime mortgages. The movie stops at various points to actually instruct the viewer in the problem at hand. The film also does a good job of portraying the willful ignorance of the investment banking establishment which refused to believe that a financial tsunami of their own making was on its way.

The second film is Margin Call. This riveting drama chronicles 24 hours in the life of a fictitious investment bank which is hurtled into crisis when a junior-level risk analyst discovers that the firm is on the brink of insolvency. The strength of this film is that it does not try to over-explain the financial issues of 2008. It gives a big picture, without the kind of detail of The Big ShortMargin Call also provides an unflattering view of investment banking culture through the character of Will Emerson, the firm’s top salesman. When Emerson gives a detailed accounting of how he spent his $2.5 million dollar salary—mortgage, Mercedes, clothes, rainy day fund—his math-oriented colleague notes that he left out $75,000. Emerson’s reply? “Booze and hookers.”

How Emerson frivolously spent $75,000 provides a poignant backdrop to Hell or High Water, released in 2016. This film opens with two brothers, Toby and Tanner Howard, confronting the imminent foreclosure of their recently deceased mother’s home in West Texas.  As their mother was dying of cancer,  she refinanced her home using a reverse mortgage to pay for her medical care. Convinced that the local bank, Texas Midlands, had cheated their mother with the mortgage deal, the two brothers decide to rob branches of Texas Midlands in order to raise the $45,000 they need to pay off the mortgage. An experienced Texas Ranger, played by Jeff Bridges, starts to track down the bank robbers, offering his social and economic commentary along the way.

Hell or High Water paints a picture of the consequences of the financial collapse of 2008 for Middle America. If Will Emerson in Margin Call won’t have as much money for “booze and hookers” due to the crisis, then Hell or High Water underscores the fact that millions of Americans don’t have enough money to hang on to their homes.

Some commentators argue that the American economy has not recovered from the collapse of 2008. The lingering recession and slow growth certainly played a role in the election of Donald  Trump. These films are worth watching to be reminded of what happened, why it happened, and why it may not be over.

Reprinted from Intellectual Takeout.

John Elliott

John Elliott

John Elliott is a Senior Fellow at Intellectual Takeout.

America Has A Problem

You hear it everywhere.  You hear it from just about everyone.  This November’s elections are the Most Important In Our Nation’s History.

Don’t they say that about EVERY election?

Well, there is some truth to the hyperbole, however.  Every election IS important.  Every election counts.  And I mean every election, down to local Dog Catcher.  Why is this so?

The person getting the job will represent you, the people, in that elected capacity for the next two or four or six years.  They will administer their duties as they see fit based on the limits of their elected office.

Thus, elections do have consequences.  In fact, every election has massive consequences.  As we have seen this past presidential election, the change in who occupies the Oval Office can change the course of our country on a dime.

A new governor of a state can change the direction of that state nearly over night.  I am not being dramatic, its just the truth.

Our problem as a nation is that we used to accept an election even if our candidate did not win.  We understood the consequence of electing the right and the wrong people.  If we thought it was the wrong person, we geared up for the next election to make sure the right person got elected.

In the mean time, we had to deal with the decisions made by, the votes cast by the person we did not vote for.  It didn’t matter what party that person was a member or if they were not a member of any party at all.  It was the individual that got elected that made us pay attention.  But the election was fair.

But now we have a whole group of people, a generation of people that don’t believe elections should have consequences. They don’t believe in fair elections.  If their candidate of choice does not win, they will not accept the one who does win.

They tell us this person needs to be booted from office before the next election in order to protect and preserve our democracy.  My question is, what kind of democracy says that only one side can win in a fair election?

Our problem as a nation is that this generation as a whole, is ignorant of the meaning of democracy. They are ill-educated in the ways of elections.  They are childish in their mentality when their candidate of choice does not win. They scream Unfair, Unfair at the top of their lungs like a five year old who was just told to share the toys in their kindergarten class.

Yes America has a problem.  As frightening as it may seem, our biggest problem is not those who win various elections.  Its not even those who run for various elected offices.  Our problem is one generation turning into two generations that don’t understand how a Republic or even a simple Democracy runs or even works.

This problem is only going to get worse, bigger with each passing election cycle. Imagine if you will, by the election of 2020, the Millennial Generation will be hitting 40 and Gen Z will begin to populate the voter rolls with the oldest in that group being about 22.  Two generations that are used to getting their way by screaming not fair.

Let me explain it this way.  Right now we have President Trump and over half the population seems to be happy with what he is doing and the direction he is leading the nation.  But those that voted for him will be outnumbered soon.

By 2024 the voter rolls could tip in the favor of these younger generations.  Generations that are ignorant of our Constitution, of what free and fair elections are.  They wont care about outcomes if their candidate of choice does not win.

Now imagine that the presidential election in 2024 goes to their side.  Do you think a Democrat or Socialist will continue in the direction that President Trump has?  If you think its possible then may I remind you that Donald Trump took a completely different course and direction than Barack Obama did and Trump changed course overnight.

That means a Democrat Socialist will do the same.  Now imagine you trying your best to save this nation during this time.  Save freedom and choice.  Save the Constitution during this time.

If we fail to educate our kids, they will turn into adults who vote and whine when they lose.

Now do you see the problem America has?

RELATED ARTICLE: In Sweden, the Elite Lost Touch with the People

Current Media Being Crippled By Culture and Technology

Two coinciding culture points are flowing side-by-side to suggest an ongoing revolution in communications — one that could both dramatically change how Americans choose their communication channels while sharply undermining the influence of the mainstream media.

Number one: We, driven by the media and our celebrity culture, have made American presidents out to be far more important in our daily lives than they really are, and certainly should be.

Number two: The media, largely responsible for No. 1, is again late to see an ongoing revolution in the communications industry, just as it has consistently during the past 25 years.

Here’s how it works.

I’m listening to the radio while working and the top news story at the top of the hour is that Trump has narrowed the list to 12 people who he thinks might be the Anonymous that wrote the utterly unsubstantiated hit piece the New York Times chose to run. The next story was the ongoing circus of clowns and disruptors at the Kavanaugh hearing, followed by the traffic report.

No “news” impacting Americans’ lives in any way until the traffic report. So it goes almost every day, with endless stories about what Trump said or did. It was similar with Obama, just fawning instead of attacking. Trump loves this. So did Obama, every bit as much.

Yes, the media is dishonest as an industry now (however, not every individual in the media) and is only trusted by those within its own worldview silo. Yes, the media is partisan. Yes, the media is chock full of self-aggrandizers from WaPo’s pompous “democracy dies in darkness” to the preening self-puffery of CNN’s Jim Acosta. Yes, the media is actively working to overturn an elected President of the United States. All of this works to undermine the credibility of the media — but only with about half of the country.

The reality is that the media’s hyper-focus on a president is both lazy and dangerous, because it elevates everything a president says or does in a way that is not reflective of reality. It in no way affects Americans’ lives that Trump has narrowed his list to 12. It will not affect Americans’ lives outside of politicophiles when he names the person and fires him or her. Nothing changes in Americans’ lives when he tweets out mean things (almost always in reaction, FYI) or that people in Washington say mean things about him. It is largely is irrelevant to our day.

What does affect Americans are his policies and those enacted by Congress. On that front, we get more about Michelle Obama’s arms in some wondrous dress or that Melania Trump once wore questionable shoes than we do about actual economic policy that really does affect Americans.

The intended portrayal is that Trump is a bad person. Maybe. But the people shouting that the loudest are the people who have been telling us for years there is no objective moral truth. But so what? Is he a bad president? Jimmy Carter was a very good person and a terrible president. Bill Clinton was a very terrible person but a decent president. FDR was a flaming racist against blacks, imprisoned Japanese Americans for having Japanese heritage and tried to expand the Supreme Court for his own political gain. Really bad stuff. But on the foreign front, he was a good president. LBJ was a really bad dude and a pretty bad president. Reagan was a decent guy and a great president.

The point is that there is no correlation between the “goodness” of a president and whether the president is good for the country — which is what actually matters for the president. Yes, we’d greatly prefer a person of high moral character, but what is most relevant is a person who acts in the historical interests of the United States, defends the Constitution, individual liberties and the institutions and foundations that made us exceptional, and pursues sound policy for the benefit of all Americans. That’s what matters.

Yet the media hyper-focuses on all the wrong things (particularly in support of their partisan agenda) which elevates the importance of the president in American minds to demigod status. Trump cannot destroy the country if he wanted. (He doesn’t.) Neither could Obama (Jury is out on whether he wanted to or not.)

This is part and parcel with our celebrity-enthralled culture, which is pretty much bad for everyone. So yes, some is on all of us.

Meanwhile, on point No. Two, mega-podcaster Joe Rogan interviewed Elon Musk for 2 1/2 hours the other day in a substantial, eye-opening, sometimes thought-provoking way — clearly providing insights into Musk that no media coverage ever has. Musk told Rogan it’s “easy to demonize people” but that when you do so, “you’re usually wrong about it.” So true. Rogan’s language is rough, but his long-form interviews are incredibly valuable and he is a premier interviewer in drawing out deep wells of information from his guests. Here’s the deal. Rogan is not a trained journalist in any way. He was a standup comic, a reality show host, and entrepreneur and now the most popular in podcasting — which continues to grow rapidly.

Rogan is hardly alone. He’s joined by so many news and information podcasters that the media has finally realized maybe this podcasting is a thing. The New York Times launched The Daily podcast maybe 18 months ago and it exploded. It’s a slick, 20-minute or so conversation with reporters on a single topic. Others have jumped in, trying to grab the band wagon.

But the key here is that podcasting is an incredibly diverse platform and, unlike Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, it is not centralized in the hands of progressives with their instinct towards censorship of things like “hate speech” — which is only definable in personal opinions and on which there can be no limit, meaning anything is censorable.

Honestly, I get an enormous amount of my information now from podcasts and social media. This continues the siloing effect of information, of course, but that is on the media and its penchant for dishonesty. If they had not become so partisan and then been dishonest about it, the door would not have been so wide open when the technology arrived.

Rogan is just an example. (And FYI, he’s not some kid. He’s 51.) There are news podcasts, lots of commentary podcasts, repurposed TV news podcasts, and podcasts on every subject out there. The uniqueness is that you can be doing other things while listening, from working out to working in the garage to driving to most anything that does not require all your full concentration. And all on demand — not just when it comes on according to a schedule.

Further, it is long form. It’s interesting that as our attention span has diminished with TV, then video games and then down to 140 characters on Twitter and emoji texting, podcasts actually take us the other direction — expanding our attention span and making us think more in-depth. That is good for Americans and America, bad for the media (and arguably the Democratic Party and D.C. establishment.)

Remember, though, it’s not just the tech platform changing, it’s the content.

A lot of podcasters, and youtubers when they are not being censored, are going more in-depth and going longer than the short media hits that tend to totally miss context and full information. I think that is the revolution the media is missing, because people want not just more honesty, but actually more depth, than the media has been providing for a long time.

And that makes the media less influential. And that is a very good thing.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on The Revolutionary Act.

VIDEO: Dianne Feinstein’s Failed Logic on ‘Assault Weapons’ During Kavanaugh Hearing

“Dianne Feinstein was trying to claim that Kavanaugh was somehow wrong to suggest that these weapons aren’t unusual since there are millions and millions of people who own them… It was horrible logic from a woman who once held a press conference with Michael Bloomberg wherein they pointed all of the barrels at the press.” — Dana Loesch

Ending Black Lives: As NFL Season Starts, Teams Support Abortion-Backing United Way Chapters

The 2018 NFL season officially kicks off today. As players and their corporate allies continue to push racial divisiveness over football, 2ndVote has discovered that 12 NFL teams partner with United Way affiliates that financially support Planned Parenthood–America’s largest abortion company and a group which has targeted black babies for disproportionate death for years.

Earlier this week, 2ndVote cross-referenced United Way’s list of chapters which partner with local teams with those chapters which financially support Planned Parenthood. As seen below, some NFL teams’ United Way partners sent over a hundred thousand dollars to Planned Parenthood.

NFL Team United Way Partner Funds Planned Parenthood?
Arizona Cardinals Valley of the Sun United Way No
Atlanta Falcons United Way of Greater Atlanta No. Last donated 2015.
Baltimore Ravens United Way of Central Maryland Planned Parenthood Federation of America ($6,629) Planned Parenthood Keystone ($8,670) Planned Parenthood of Maryland($125,631)
Buffalo Bills United Way of Buffalo & Erie No
Carolina Panthers United Way of Central Carolinas No
Chicago Bears United Way of Metropolitan Chicago & United Way of Lake County Planned Parenthood of Illinois($5,876)
Cincinnati Bengals United Way of Greater Cincinnati No. Last donated 2015
Cleveland Browns United Way of Greater Cleveland No. Last donated 2015
Dallas Cowboys United Way of Metropolitan Dallas & United Way of Tarrant County Planned Parenthood of North Texas ($7,356)
Denver Broncos Mile High United Way Planned Parenthood of Rocky Mountains Denver($8,455)
Detroit Lions United Way for Southeastern Michigan No
Green Bay Packers Brown County United Way No
Houston Texans United Way of Greater Houston No
Indianapolis Colts United Way of Central Indiana Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky ($33,848)
Jacksonville Jaguars United Way of Northeast Florida No
Kansas City Chiefs United Way of Greater Kansas City Planned Parenthood of Kansas & Mid-MO ($41,946)
Los Angeles Rams United Way of Greater Los Angeles No.
Miami Dolphins United Way of Miami-Dade & United Way of Broward County Miami-Dade last donated in 2014. Broward County does not contribute
Minnesota Vikings Greater Twin Cities United Way No
New Engand Patriots United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley No
New Orleans Saints United Way of Southest Louisiana No
New York Giants United Way of New York City No
New York Jets United Way of Northern New Jersey No
Oakland Raiders United Way of the Bay Area Planned Parenthood Foundation-Nati HQ ($7,733) & Planned Parenthood Northern California ($23,845)
Philadelphia Eagles United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey No
Pittsburgh Steelers United Way of Allegheny County Planned Parenthood of Western PA ($84,824)
San Diego Chargers United Way of San Diego County No.
San Fransisco 49ers United Way of the Bay Area Planned Parenthood Foundation-Nati HQ ($7,733) & Planned Parenthood Northern California ($23,845)
Seattle Seahawks United Way of King County Last Donated 2015. 2016 Tax Records not available
Tampa Bay Buccaneers United Way Suncoast Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida ($31,468)
Tennessee Titans United Way of Metropolitan Nashville Planned Parenthood of East and Middle Tennessee ($84,968)
Washington Redskins United Way of the National Capital Area Planned Parenthood Federation of America($5,348) & Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington ($273,215)

This shameful double-speak is outrageous. The NFL has allowed its players to slander America’s police and disrespect the national anthem while promoting a false narrative on race. Yet the league partner is a major partner with United Way and its $2.7 million in donations to Planned Parenthood in 2016 alone.

To make matters worse, Planned Parenthood doesn’t just end lives through abortion, it also has allegedly sold the parts of babies it killed for profit and it has frequently covered up the sexual abuse of minor.

We urge 2ndVote shoppers to double down on forcing the NFL to ditch the double-speak theatrics about black lives, to stop funding killers of black babies, and get back to playing football.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Former NFL Player Colin Kaepernick Donates Thousands to Radical Pro-Abortion Group

Obama Admin Took Teen Girls Out of State for Secret Abortions Without Their Parents Knowing


Help us continue creating content like this and educating conservative shoppers by becoming a 2ndVote Member today!


EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is by Shutterstock.

Does Colin Kaepernick Know His Buddies At Nike Donate To Ending Black Lives?

Nike has made Colin Kaepernick the face of its new “Just Do it!” campaign. The campaign shows Nike’s ardent support for Kaepernick’s beliefs that America is a racist nation in which government hit men (read: police) target black men for death.

Does Kaepernick know that Nike sends millions of dollars to groups which target black lives for gruesome deaths domestically and abroad? Does he know that not only is Nike a financial supporter of Planned Parenthood, it donates to the Population Council — a group which promotes abortion in the developing world — often black-majority nations?

Probably not. But if he reads 2ndVote, he will soon.

Follow The Money

Looking inside the U.S., Nike matches employee donations to an Oregon chapter of Planned Parenthood. As 2ndVote shoppers know, Planned Parenthood targets black neighborhoods for abortion.

But that’s not all. As we noted in our statement yesterday:

Since 2013, Nike has donated over $1.8 million to Population Council, an organization that promotes abortion in the developing world. Like Planned Parenthood, which Nike also supports, Population Council was founded by eugenicists. Also like Planned Parenthood, Population Council specifically targets black populations, as well as other non-white populations, for the expansion of abortion.

According to its website, the Population Council supports “a global network of offices in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.” Nike, which regularly takes heat for alleged sweat shops in non-white nations such as Vietnam, is thus financially supporting not only harming non-white lives, but also ending black and other non-white lives in the name of “population control.”

It is certainly possible that Kaepernick doesn’t know that Nike’s principles align not with protecting black lives but rather padding their pockets with money he makes for them (and, as a byproduct, for their sweat shop business partners and abortion donation recipients). But even that strategy wasn’t working on Tuesday — Nike shares fell three percent after news of the Kaepernick promotion was released.

CLICK HERE TO LEAVE A MESSAGE AT NIKE CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS


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EDITORS NOTE: The featured image taken on Sep 1, 2016 is of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) walking up the tunnel after a 31-21 win over the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports.

VIDEO: Who and what is ANTIFA? Who are they linked to? What is their ultimate goal?

The communist movement known as Antifa (short for Anti-Fascist Action) has sparked violence across the nation. In the wake of their battling despicable white supremacist in Charlottesville, Antifa has begun to gain mainstream popularity.

But unbeknownst to much of the public, the vast majority of Antifa violence isn’t targeted at genuine fascists, but mainstream conservatives and civilians.

With help from those who have encountered Antifa, including Milo Yiannopoulos, Gavin McInnes, Lauren Southern, Jack Posobiec, and Steve Deace, conservative author Trevor Loudon guides us through the history and ideas behind the Antifa movement, starting with Leon Trotsky and going all the way through the events in Berkeley, CA and Charlottesville, VA. “Antifa” is the third episode in the “America Under Siege” documentary web-series from Dangerous Documentaries (a project of the Capital Research Center) and Cohesion Films. Each episode profiles the influence of radical Marxists on various segments of American society.

RELATED ARTICLES: 

Antifa Group in Texas Plans ‘Red Army’

L.A. Antifa Calls for ‘Revolutionary Violence Against the Enemies of the People’

VIDEO: One of the most alarming experiences of my life… I’m ‏attacked by Antifa

Antifa and anti-Semitism

Levi’s Teams with Billionaire Michael Bloomberg to Attack Gun Rights

Levi Strauss & Co. established its brand in the mid-19th century by selling durable clothing to working-class Americans. As Levi’s signature jeans gained popularity amongst a wider set in the middle of the last century, the pants came to symbolize American freedom. As Stanford Historian Niall Ferguson points out in his book, Civilization: The West and the Rest, during the Cold War, the American pants were so desirable behind the Iron Curtain that citizens would break any number of laws to obtain them. At one point the company even celebrated America’s armed heritage in a circa 1950 advertising brochure, “Levi’s Gallery of Western Guns & Gunfighters.” It’s with some irony then that Levi’s has abandoned this rugged image to team up with a billionaire oligarch in an effort to empower the government to trample upon the fundamental rights of the American people.

On September 4th, Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh announced that the San Francisco-based clothing manufacturer (which also owns Dockers) would openly advocate for gun control. As part of this campaign, the company will donate more than $1 million to radical anti-gun groups, including Michael Bloomberg front-group Everytown for Gun Safety and Giffords, formerly Americans for Responsible Solutions and the Legal Community Against Violence. The company will also match employee donations to these groups and is encouraging its staff to devote their time to anti-gun activism.

Further, Bergh stated that the company has joined the Everytown Business Leaders for Gun Safety. The business wing of Bloomberg’s outfit is dedicated to leveraging member companies’ “market footprint… employee networks, [and] public communications platforms” to diminish Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

In a repulsive insult to the nation’s 100 million gun owners, Bergh likened Levi’s campaign to restrict the rights of law-abiding Americans to previous company efforts aimed at combatting pre-Civil Rights Era racial bigotry.

Among gun owners, Levi’s intemperate foray into the world of gun control politics has been met with the disgust it deserves. However, it shouldn’t be met with surprise.

Since the late 1990s, Levi’s has used its name and resources to attack gun rights. In 1999, the company gave $100,000 to gun control group PAX, followed by a $250,000 donation in 2000 and another $100,000 in 2001.

PAX was founded in 1998 by Dan Gross, who went on to become president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. PAX would go on to change its name to the Center to Prevent Youth Violence and later merge with the Brady Campaign.

Much like Bloomberg’s Everytown, PAX placed an emphasis on attracting corporate partners to their gun control efforts. As part of Levi’s relationship with PAX, in 1999 the apparel company teamed up with the band Goo Goo Dolls to attract support for the anti-gun group during the Levi’s Fuse ’99 summer concert tour. Concert goers, and visitors to Levi’s website, were encouraged to sign the PAX Youth Petition. Moreover, the denim company donated a percentage of all Levi’s Fuse ’99 t-shirt proceeds to the gun control group.

The PAX Youth Petition endorsed a variety of severe gun control measures that have repeatedly been rejected by the American public through their elected representatives. The document called for the “licensing and registration of guns, like automobiles.” The petition also demanded the “elimination of assault weapons and other weapons of war.” As the 1994 Clinton “Assault Weapons” ban was in place at the time of the petition, this imprecise demand appeared to call for prohibiting the sale of the remaining lawful semi-automatic firearms, confiscation of the firearms grandfathered under the ban, or both.

Given the majority of Levi’s 165-year history, Bergh’s decision to use a formerly-quintessential American company to attack a quintessential American right is a particularly sad episode in the current surge in corporate virtue-signaling. We can only assume that Levi’s accountants have determined that resulting skinny jeans sales will be enough to offset the permanent damage to their once-cherished brand.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Pro-2A Student Shuts Down Anti-Gun Syllabus

Oregon Teen Shoots Down Discriminatory Walmart Gun Policy

Anti-gun Senator Distorts the Law and the Facts in Unsuccessful Attack on Supreme Court Nominee

Giffords’ Gun Control Activists Plot Rollout of Next Generation Firearm Restrictions

VIDEO: Paris is a Sh**hole

In March 2017   wrote:

“Paris is no longer Paris,” U.S. President Donald Trump recently said. A few days later, the New York Times ran a story entitled “As France’s Towns Wither, Fears of a Decline in ‘Frenchness.’” But the liberal newspaper refused to testify about the real metamorphosis of the French landscape. That is perfectly summarized by a book entitled Will the Church Bells Ring Tomorrow?, in which Philippe de Villiers writes that France, the “eldest daughter” of the Catholic Church, is turning into the “eldest daughter of Islam.”

2,200-page report, entitled “Suburbs of the Republic,” commissioned by the French think tank Institut Montaigne, explained that suburbs are becoming “separate Islamic societies,” where sharia has overcome French secular rule. The French Interior Ministry called these “Priority Security Zones,” and they include heavily Muslim parts of Amiens, Aubervilliers, Avignon, Béziers, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Marseilles, Montpellier, Mulhouse, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Perpignan, Strasbourg, Toulouse and many other towns.

Paul Joseph Watson published the below video about Paris, France stating, “Trump was right. Paris is no longer Paris.” The Mayor of Paris is Ana María “Anne” Hidalgo a member of the Socialist Party.

In a November 19, 2015 article titled “France’s No-Go Zones: Assimilation-Resistant Muslims Are the Real Refugee Problem” Andrew McCarthy wrote:

This last is the point to bear in mind as President Obama continues to demagogue opponents of his plan to keep importing thousands of refugees from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Highly influential Islamic leaders are embarked on a conquest strategy referred to as ‘voluntary apartheid.’

Many Beltway Republicans miniaturize the problem this plan presents. Stating the obvious, they argue that our government cannot conceivably vet these immigrants. Therefore, the argument goes, we cannot figure out who is a legitimate refugee and who is an ISIS terrorist — like the suicide jihadist, believed to be from Syria, who recently entered Europe with the tide of immigrants and helped carry out last week’s attacks in Paris.

But identifying terrorists is not the half of it. The bigger challenge is the infiltration of a population of people schooled to resist assimilation. As I’ve explained a number of times, including in Islam and Free Speech (a Broadside published by Encounter Books after the Charlie Hebdo massacre), highly influential Islamic leaders are embarked on a conquest strategy referred to as “voluntary apartheid”: the establishment of sharia enclaves that would eventually merge into an Islamic state that dominates Europe and the United States.

President Trump has called for merit based immigration to the United States. According to the White House fact sheet on immigration:

Merit-based immigration reform will benefit American workers and relieve the strain imposed by our current system on Federal resources.

  • Years of mass low-skilled immigration has led to suppressed wages and has strained Federal resources.
  • Most immigrants who receive green cards every year are low-skilled or unskilled workers.
    • Almost one-third of all adult immigrants in the United States have not graduated high school.
  • Only about 1 of every 15 immigrants who come to the United States each year is admitted on the basis of skill.
  • Our current immigration system strains the resources of our Nation’s welfare programs.
    • More than half of all immigrant households use one or more welfare programs.
    • Immigrants with a college education or higher, however, are less likely to receive welfare benefits.
  • Real hourly wages for Americans with a high school diploma or lower have declined since 1979.

Paris has become a sh**hole because of an out of control immigration system based upon social justice rather than assimilation. It is well past time for Congress to tighten up our immigration system and make it merit based. This is yet another reason the 2018 midterm elections are so very important.

ABOUT GIULIO MEOTTI

Giulio Meotti, cultural editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author. He is the author of three books: A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel’s Victims of Terrorism (Encounter Books); J’Accuse: the Vatican Against Israel (Mantua Books), and La fine dell’Europa, about the Christian and demographic decline in Europe. He is a columnist at Arutz Sheva and his writings have appeared in publications including the Wall Street Journal, FrontPage, Commentary, and The Geller Report.

RELATED ARTICLE: 25 Straight Minutes Of Illegal Aliens Crossing Into US Through Arizona Ranch.

VIDEO: Cory Booker is No Martyr. He’s a Self-Serving Narcissist.

“Cory Booker tries to be a martyr by releasing an email chain that he believes implicates Judge Kavanaugh in racial profiling. The email chain—Booker says is classified. He says, ‘I’m willing to take the punishment for releasing this classified information.’ What Booker’s not telling you is that the email chain was declassified the night before. And he knew it!” —Dan Bongino

Andrew Gillum Campaign Caught on Tape: Florida Next Sanctuary State [Video]

On Wednesday night September 5, 2018, Andrew Gillum, Democrat Socialist for Governor in Florida, conducted a phone conference for his staff and supporters. In that meeting Florida State House Representative, Carlos Smith revealed the campaign’s position on immigration.

NO ONE WILL EVER BE CONSIDERED ILLEGAL UNDER A GOVERNOR GILLUM!

Florida will be a sanctuary state! The United West secured a copy of the audio of this meeting and present it here so that all Floridians understand the dangers of Gillum/socialist administration.

RELATED ARTICLE: Florida Governor Candidate ‘Proud and Pleased’ With Pro-BDS Group’s Endorsement

EDITORS NOTE: In a September interview with CNN, Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum said that he doesn’t support making Florida a sanctuary state.

VIDEO: Corrupt, Top to Bottom

RELATED ARTICLE: Four States Seek Sexual Abuse Records from ALL Catholic Dioceses

TRANSCRIPT

What’s coming to light in view of all this non-stop scandal is just how corrupt the institutional Church has become. From top to bottom, a culture of secrecy, non-transparency, non-accountability, vengeance, careerism, egoism, have all contributed to a massive massive crisis of faith in the Church.

Too many leaders simply do not care about the Faith as they do about non-faith matters.

As we have highlighted for years in The Vortex, much of that corruption has been placed at the service of advancing the notion that sodomy is a good thing. A cone of silence simply drops over practically everything going on that is evil, and almost no leaders feel the slightest sense of accountability for their actions.

For good faithful Catholics, this is frustrating and even maddening. But faithful Catholics are about as numerous as snowflakes in Hell. Most Catholics are not faithful. Most Catholics don’t know the first thing about the Faith.

Likewise most people looking at the Church from the outside and considering converting would do so why? Sure, you will encounter every now and then the man of good will who can look past the horrors of the headlines and still see the Bride of Christ. But many people, because of where they are in their lives, cannot. These horrors are truly stumbling blocks for them.

So fighting this evil — out in the open — is a matter of charity.

But it is also a matter of justice. So many have been abused — physically, spiritually or emotionally — that justice must be satisfied to whatever degree possible in this life. The entire world operates like this. Why should corrupt churchmen think the rules of charity and justice should apply differently when applied to them?

They should apply more stringently in fact when it comes to successors of the Apostles.

In fact, most of these men should be behind bars, but they get to hide behind privacy and secrecy because the culture of corruption is so institutionalized that there is no way to breach the wall.

Look for example at Bp. Cistone in Saginaw hiding and promoting predatory priests like Robert DeLand, who by way of an update, will be sentenced next month for going after young males — did you hear that Cupich? — young males who were not minors — homosexual stuff.

Or Bp. Richard Malone, who admits he “fell short” — his words — but refuses to resign in the face of reassigning predator priests like Dennis Riter, another homosexual predator — again, Cupich, are you listening — you who claim this isn’t a gay thing?

Whether these men should be gone should in no way be left to them. The Pope should sack them immediately. But see, all credibility is destroyed when the Pope himself refuses to answer charges against him and just steps beneath that cone of silence.

All the bad bishops — and they are legion — simply take their cues from him in this regard.

Robert McElroy in San Diego has offered zero comment on the charge that he was told about McCarrick raping seminarians years in advance. Donald Wuerl has still offered zero comment on his role in moving around and protecting predator priests while he was in Pittsburgh — that in addition to lying about not knowing anything about McCarrick.

Bishop after bishop is simply shredding the Church to pieces and it is only when they are shamed or criminally accused that they say anything, and then it’s written by lawyers.

Look at Cdl. Sean O’Malley and his lawyer-crafted statement that he “never personally received” the letter about McCarrick’s homosexual predation, carefully avoiding whether he knew the content.

Even now, after having been sent a complete dossier on the South American gay pipeline into U.S. seminaries, not a peep. Same with the current nuncio, Christophe Pierre, who received the same dossier — nothing, no admittance whatsoever.

What about Bp. Henry Mansell who, as bishop of Hartford, actually went on to knowingly ordain a number of men kicked out of Holy Apostles Seminary for homosexual activity — zero accountability.

These men and dozens and dozens of others of them do whatever the Hell they want with complete disregard for the faithful, and they live under that cone of silence promoting their gay agenda — yes gay agenda, Cupich — not clericalism.

Even the attitude so many of them adopt that they are princes entitled to use the money of the faithful for their own personal gain.

Atlanta Abp. Wilton Gregory was having a multi-million dollar palace built for himself until the press exposed it, and then he admits he wasn’t plugged in enough to the appearance this would create. Well, if you’re that out of touch, then you shouldn’t be a bishop.

Or the bishop of San Jose, Patrick McGrath, who just this week had to cancel plans for his $2.3 million retirement house when again the press exposed it.

Or the palatial penthouse Donald Wuerl lives in in the swankiest neighborhood in Washington, D.C. And for the record, who’s paying the $50–75 thousand bill each month for his PR legal team at Jones Day, or his first class seats back and forth to Rome at the drop of a hat?

Too many of these men think they are something special and are entitled to do whatever they want — and you pay for it.

The laity is sick of paying for your negligence and corruption and evil. You all accept responsibility in statement after statement — again, only as the final, last, absolute resort after being exposed and having no more options, but then the natural results of accepting responsibility — which should be the end of your careers — never happens.

Anyone can accept responsibility for anything if there are no consequences for being responsible. This elevates the era of corruption in the Church to a whole new plane because after having been exposed, still nothing happens, starting with the Pope and all the way down.

Meanwhile, the advancement of the gay revolution in the Church, which is what this is all about — regardless of what lying Cupich says — moves along unabated.

And for the record, Cupich, those two priests having sex with each other down in Miami in the car who got arrested — those were your priests. Good thing it is not a gay thing?

If you are a Catholic and not boiling over with justified anger, then something’s wrong.

People — souls — have been ruined, destroyed by these men and are still being destroyed. No Catholic gets to sit on the sidelines for this one.

Say a prayer for the Church right now, before you do another thing, that these men be cast down from their offices so that the work of restoring the Church can begin.

Amazon Action Thriller ‘Jack Ryan’ is Totally Politically Incorrect — And a Must Watch!

I have watched all eight initial episodes of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series an Amazon Prime original series. I can only say that it is stunning in its honest treatment of the difficulties faced in war between the U.S. government (CIA, DOD, DHS) against the global Islamist threat. I can’t wait for then next episodes.

Here is the trailer:

Why is this series so different from what most people see? Because it tells the truth about Islam. Because of this I found it refreshing that this series was ever made given the pro-Islamic bent of Hollywood. The lead character is Jack Ryan played by John Krasinski, who appeared in “13 Hours” the docudrama about Benghazi.

I found this series politically incorrect but the best portrayal of what America faces from the followers of Islam. Here are some of the reasons:

  1. It shows Islam and the followers of Mohammed for what they believe in, their duty to conduct a never ending holy war (jihad) against the non-believers and their fellow Muslims.
  2. It also shows some of the followers of Mohammed helping, for money, as tribe fights against tribe.
  3. The series depicts a form of Islam that transcends ISIS. A new leader Suleiman (played by Ali Suliman) plans a series of attacks in Europe, specifically Paris, and against the POTUS.
  4. Suleiman becomes radicalized (finds Allah and meaning in his life) while in a French prison. This radicalization in prisons across America is happening to day.
  5. The series depicts an attempted honor killing by the leader sheikh Suleiman of his wife Hani (played by Dina Shihabi), whose leaves him with her two daughters. He orders her execution.
  6. Suleiman plans and his followers attack at Catholic church in Paris using sarin gas. The attack slaughters 300 Catholics.
  7. Suleiman then plans and executes a second attack against the President of the United States using Ebola.
  8. During the film Suleiman kills his fellow Muslims in order to fulfill his passion to destroy his enemies (infidels)
  9. Finally, Suleiman uses infected America hostages, that he takes from another Muslim sheikh, to be the carriers of the deadly Ebola virus.

I won’t tell you about episode #8 but it is a fitting finish to this first season of Jack Ryan.

This series is the best portrayal of who and what we are fighting. What is interesting is that during the November 2018 midterm elections we find that the Democrat Party has nearly 90 Muslim candidates. Not to speak of the co-Chair on the DNCC, Keith Ellison, who is a Muslim and supports groups like that which Jack Ryan is fighting.

I highly recommend this thriller to all to see and learn from its many lessons.

Tonight: The Toxic Nike-Kaepernick Era Begins Dragging Down Nike, NFL

Few companies have tailored their image to a broad audience more carefully than Nike. From NBA greats Michael Jordan and LeBron James to soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo to tennis great Serena Williams, Nike has used mainstream sports superstars to instill the idea that if you “Just Do It” you can achieve anything.

All of which makes their choice of the marginalized, controversial and deeply divisive Colin Kaepernick as the face of their new “Just Do It” marketing blitz bewildering. He is not in sports at all, after a brief NFL career in which he was never a star. Most of his fame outside NFL football junkies accrued when he decided to kneel during the National Anthem before games to protest perceived police violence against blacks — climbing on the shoulders of Black Lives Matter, another divisive group.

Kaepernick’s career was already sliding downward after just one good year, and it dropped off the edge due to his polarizing activism, his lack of being a good talent fit for many teams, and his being distracted by the controversy he created. For the limited value he brought, the circus he also brought was not worth it.

This was a similar dynamic with Tim Tebow — a Bible-believing, mainstream Christian who was also divisive and controversial with his overt, on-field and off-field Christianity and who was never going to be the face of a Nike campaign blitz. Not a bad decision, as he did not fit their successful Jordan-James-Ronaldo formula — but in the same way Kaepernick does not fit it.

Whatever the drawbacks of Tebow, Kaepernick is ten-fold. Which makes it a perplexing business decision; less so a social justice statement.

The only real business explanation is one that Ben Shapiro puts forward: Nike is trolling Trump and conservatives to create a bunch of free publicity (yes, I get the irony) and increase sales, particularly to blacks who buy Nikes at a much higher percentage than whites — but still smaller raw numbers. If that is the business reason, it is likely they have badly misjudged how broadly unpopular Kaepernick is in the mainstream culture, particularly with sports fans — an obvious target market for Nike.

The day following the announcement and the vacuous and clearly inaccurate promo statement under the retired millionaire’s picture — “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything” — the stock valuation of Nike plummeted by $4 billion. That is wildly outside the normal trade range and a direct market response to their decision. And in fact, while it gained back about half a billion of that, the price has now stayed steady at the lower level. Nike is a less valuable company today than it was Monday.

The non-business decision is that Nike, like the NFL, is run not just by social justice-sensitive progressives, but by social justice-sensitive progressives bubbled away in elite and out-of-touch circles, where they all agree over Russian Caviar with Gourmandises Blini that cops are racists, Trump voters are racists, NFL fans outside the luxury skybox are icky and social justice is an important cause célèbre — just not, you know, in their guarded, gated neighborhoods.

The degree to which the progressive elites misunderstand middle America can hardly be overstated. Nike head honchos watched ESPN go full social justice lefty and their ratings tank. They watched CNN do the same and lose one-quarter of its audience in 12 months. They watched the NFL ratings plummet by standing weakly by and allowing a social justice takeover.

Yet they still invited this into their company voluntarily. This Nike example, following on last year’s flaming controversy that centered around Kaepernick, probably illustrates the disconnected nature as well as any.

Nike’s decision just emptied a tank of gasoline on the formerly smoldering burn pile. The NFL had hoped it was moving beyond it. But thanks to Nike’s decision with the toxic Kaepernick — again, just head-shaking that Nike would do this — even the spaghetti-spined, craven NFL had to issue a squishy non-statement statement.

“The National Football League believes in dialogue, understanding and unity. We embrace the role and responsibility of everyone involved with this game to promote meaningful, positive change in our communities,” NFL Executive Vice President of Milquetoast Blather Jocelyn Moore said in a statement.

But here’s the problem. Nike is the NFL’s single biggest business partner (outside perhaps the television networks.) Nike and the NFL have a 10-year contract in place, through 2028, in which the shoe company supplies game-day uniforms to all 32 franchises, a really popular promotion among fans. (Or was. We’ll see how this plays out week after week.) Nike’s iconic swoosh is all over NFL games. And Nike uses the NFL logo prominently in its promotions — including the Kaepernick fiasco.

That means the kneeling controversy burn pile is overnight back to licking flames into the sky — just days before tonight’s kickoff of opening day. Maybe Nike will air their Kaepernick ad during NFL games. That should work great!

Perhaps feckless NFL management and in-your-face Nike kind of deserve each other. American deserves better.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Nike’s New Spokesman Hob Knobs With Sharia-Supporting Linda Sarsour

Nike Becomes Face of Social Justice Despite History of Employing Slave Labor.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in The Revolutionary Act.

Running Mates: Gillum picks a ‘guy with a Bruce Wayne complex’ DeSantis selects first American Cuban woman

The two men running to become the next governor of Florida have chosen their running mates.

The differences between their Lieutenant Governor picks is as wide as are their political positions.

T. Christopher “Chris” King

Andrew Gillum picked as his running  mate T. Christopher “Chris” King. The Tampa Bay Times’ (TBT) political editor Adam C. Smith described King as “a 38-year-old lawyer, bleeding-heart businessman.” King has no political experience, other than running for governor in the Democratic Party primary and losing badly.

King is the founder, President and CEO of the Orlando based Elevation Financial Group, a company that buys distressed public housing, renovates them and then flips them for a huge profit. According to TBT’s Smith,

In 2009, Elevation bought the 17-story Bethany Towers apartment complex in South Pasadena that for years had been generating headlines about rampant mold, bugs, drug dealing and unhappy tenants. Elevation bought the property, now called Bay Pointe Tower, for $1.6 million, spent $1.2 million renovating it and drew praise from housing officials and tenants. Elevation sold it in late 2014 for $8.75 million.

Smith and his company Elevation Financial Group nearly tripled their money. Nice work if you can get it.

Wallace Mazon, a 22-year-old Democratic activist in Gainesville,FL heard King speak at a Young Democrats gathering. Mazon described King thusly, “I liked him, but didn’t think much of it. I just thought he was some business guy with a Bruce Wayne complex.”

King calls himself a liberal Christian who supports abortion rights, gay rights and the separation of church and state.on

Florida state Representative Jeanette Nunez

Congressman Ron DeSantis selected as his running mate Florida state Representative Jeanette Nunez. Representative has been the Speaker pro tempore of the Florida House since 2016. 

Representative Nunez would be the first American of Cuban decent to become the Lieutenant Governor of Florida, if elected.

The Tampa Bay Times reported:

DeSantis’ pick is noteworthy because Nunez has been at odds with some of his agenda supporting President Donald Trump. DeSantis won the nomination last week with Trump’s endorsement, and he’s been a constant defender of the president on Fox News.

But Nunez tweeted during the 2016 presidential campaign that Trump was a con man who supported the Ku Klux Klan. Nunez was backing U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio for president at the time. Nunez and DeSantis downplayed her past the tweet while talking with reporters.

“Listen, we’re here talking about moving forward,” she said. “It’s no secret that I was a strong Marco Rubio supporter. That election is done and I’m looking forward to this election.”

Nunez is a Christian. She has also served on Florida’s Constitution Revision Commission; National Assessment Governing Board; Statewide Council on Human Trafficking. Nunez was the legislative aide for former Senator Diaz de la Portilla, 1995-2004. Nunez Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee and sits on the Rules & Policy Committee.

RELATED ARTICLE: Broward Sheriff deputies’ union breaks with Sheriff Israel, endorses Ron DeSantis

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of Republican candidate for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaking to supporters as his lieutenant governor candidate state Rep. Jeanette Nunez, left, listens during a rally Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018, in Orlando, FL. (AP Photo/John Raoux)