Ben Shapiro on Political Correctness

On the Danger of the Alt-Right

The opening of CPAC 2017 featured a speech by American Conservative Union President Dan Schneider, who warned of the dangers of conservatives and the Republican Party being infiltrated by elements of the Alt-Right.

CPAC 2017 was supposed to have a keynote address by Alt-Right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, but this invitation was quickly cancelled as Yiannopoulos again uttered sympathetic statements towards pederasty.

This year's CPAC also expelled Alt-Right leader Richard Spencer when he showed up to  the conference at National Harbor, Maryland. 

The GOP's Milo test

Last week, CPAC seemed to have scored a coup in landing provocateur extraordinaire Milo Yiannopoulos as the "Conservative" Political Action Committee's keynote speaker. Yiannopoulos was slated to speak about free speech on campus, as he was at the center of the UC Berkeley riots at the start of February.   

However, less than three days later on Washington's Birthday Observed (a.k.a. Presidents' Day), this honor was unceremoniously yanked from Milo, after Yiannopoulos made some statements which seemed to condone pederasty.  Yiannapoulos' book deal also was cancelled.

Many new to the political scene in support of President Donald Trump seemed ideologically enamored to Milo's in-your-face publicity stunts and alt-right rhetoric.  Whether this episode establishes the high mark for Alt-Right infiltration of Republicans or it underlines the tension between the establishment GOP and the so-called "basket of deplorables" nationalist populist wing remains to be seen. 

Milo Yiannopoulos on Policing Humor

Perhaps, but such a hermaneutic is not true for utterances which CPAC organizers  exclaimed: "You must be joking."

Willy Wonka and Good Deeds

This scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) was the cornerstone analogy for Glenn Beck's 2016 CPAC keynote speech about principles and loyalty.

Glenn Beck on Loyalty Oaths

Glenn Beck's return to CPAC 2016 after a six year absence was greeted by thirteen separate standing ovations.  Beck questioned whether parties (or candidates running for office like Donald Trump) should impose loyalty oaths upon voters.  Beck contends that the people should only be loyal to their principles and the foundational documents which express them, like the Constitution.

Marco Rubio on Being a Conservative

During his speech at CPAC 2016, Senator Marco Rubio took a veiled shot at his chief nemesis, GOP Presidential front-runner Donald Trump. 

Rubio is seeking to distinguish conservatism from angry populism in the Republican Party.  But this high minded oratory is a marked contrast to his humorous hits on the hustings last week. 

Ted Cruz on DC Flexibility

During his CPAC2016 speech, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) elaborated on a point which Donald Trump repeatedly brought up during the Detroit GOP Debate about being "flexible". 

Not that he'll need it for flex sessions with the Cocktail Party in the District of Calamity, but the enterprising Cruz campaign started selling yoga mats, which encourages people to breathe (and perhaps count to ten). 

Ben Carson on Trickle Down Ethics

Marco Rubio on Bad Mouthing America

Sarah Palin on Winning

Chris Christie on the Minimum Wage

Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) gave a passionate colloquy with Laura Ingraham at CPAC.  His comment illustrating the inanity of raising the minimum wage of being a world changing solution is Socratic irony at it's best.

Naghmeh Abedini on Religious Freedom

 Naghmeh Abedini spoke at CPAC to testify about the importance of Religious Liberty.  Abedini is the wife of Saheed Abedini, the Christian pastor who has been imprisoned since the summer of 2012 by the Islamic Republic of Iran for his religious beliefs and apostasy from Shia Islam.

 

 Mrs. Abedini's speech comes as the Obama Administration has been contorting itself to achieve any nuclear deal with the government in Tehran, thus forsaking any leverage to achieve a good will gesture of freeing this pastor who is an American citizen. Mrs. Abedini's testimony of why she is proud to be an American stands against many of the moves of the Obama Administration to minimize our First Amendment Freedom of Religion (e.g. Obamacare's Contraception Mandate, imposing Same-Sex marriage, considering traditional believers as prospective terror groups etc.).

Her testimony is an inspiration to Be Heard.

Bobby Jindal on Political Correctness

Ted Cruz on Hope

Mark Levin on the Constitution

 During his remarks before the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), author and conservative radio show host Mark Levin offered a variety of examples of how the Presidency of Barack Obama has contravened the Constitution.

1. “You have violated the Separation of Powers.”
2.”You have seized unto yourself Legislative Power granted unto the Congress alone.”
3. “You have unilaterally appropriated monies to fund your radical agenda.”
4. “You have contravened Congress’ authority over Immigration and Naturalization.”
5. “You repeatedly defy the Senate’s confirmation power over your appointments.”
6. “You have poisoned the independence of the Judiciary by appointing scores of radical activists to lifetime judicial appointments.”
7. “You have repeatedly evaded the Senate’s role in the adoption of treaties.”
8. “You’ve shown nothing but contempt for the Bill of Rights.”
9. “You’ve shown nothing but contempt for private property rights and free market Capitalism.”
10. “You have nationalized to destroy the greatest Healthcare System on the face of the Earth.”
11. “You have recklessly destroyed the fiscal well-being of this nation with wild spending schemes, driving up the Federal operating debt to $18.5 Trillion and unfunded liabilities to over $100 Trillion.”
12. “You have directed Federal Departments, like the EPA, to unleash thousands of regulations. . . “
13. “You have driven the median-income of Americans down. . . “
14. “You have used the Office of the President to balkanize the American People along lines of race, gender, age and income. . . “
15. “You have showed contempt for our military. . . “
16. “You have failed to take necessary steps to confront Islamic Naziism. . .”
17. “You have undermined our friend Israel to the detriment of our security.”

This list of indictments against the Constitution are meaningless unless the American people stand up for Constitutional principles and elect leaders that truly represent these ideals rather than offer idle talk at the right times which amount for naught.

H/T: Freedomslighthouse 
        Politibrew

Tom Coburn on Today's Tyranny

The US Tax Code Is Ten Times Longer Than the Bible With None of the Good News

House Budget Committee Chairman Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI 1st) was one of the initial speakers at CPAC 2014.  Ryan's restrained rhetorical style along with his general remarks did not fire up the crowd as Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) or Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) with their early morning speeches.  However, Rep. Ryan did have one well wrought out zinger which illustrated his overall point

The House Budget Chairman quipped that:  "Right now, the U.S. tax code is ten times longer than the Bible with none of the Good News."  It was a great line to try to soft pitch House Ways and Means Chairman Representative Dave Camp's (R-MI 10th) controversial tax reform over-hall plan.  Regardless of how one feels about the particulars on the policies, it is aimed at cutting away bureaucratic red tape and allowing taxpayers to keep more of their own money.

But instead of debating how a Big Brother bureaucracy is burdening Americans and forcing a Statist will upon individuals, much of the media nit-picked as the chain of knowledge for the source on his "brown bag lunch story." The Left's tizzy tactics illustrates Ryan's point that the left is out of ideas and would rather demonize their opponents instead of engaging in debate.

By virtue of his position as House Chairman, Representative Ryan is part of GOP House Leadership.  But his bold budget plans do not show a Cocktail Party complacency which plagues many GOP elites.  Based on the tepid applause at CPAC 2014 as well as his eighth place finish (with 3%) in the CPAC Straw Poll, Ryan can not count on the conservative base for support in a prospective Presidential run this cycle. 

That being said, Rep. Ryan is a respected representative who can bolster the notion that Conservatives are the ones with ideas, and perhaps actuate that with Republican majorities in Congress. 

Huckabee Prays Providence Spares Wayward US Politics

When former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AK) made his unsuccessful run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, he drew support from the religious right, which is not surprising as he  is a Southern Baptist minister.  Huckabee now is a Fox News Channel host but he also inspires conservative political audiences, as he did when he spoke at CPAC 2014.

Huckabee's message recognizes the Hand of God at the outset of our independence as well as our wayward ways in today's body politic. Secularists may shutter at mentioning civics and spirituality in the same breath, but they ignore the profound spiritual journey which brought the Pilgrims to the New World as well as the faith displayed by our Founding Fathers.  

Such atheistic antagonists think that the "Separation of Church and State" is in the Constitution (it actually comes from Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptist Church in 1802) and the First Amendment prohibited an official state religion not banishing the expression and practice of faith in the public square.

Governor Huckabee has indicated that he is leaving the door open for another run for the White House in 2016.  Cynics claim that Huckabee is keeping his name in speculation to maintain his lavish lifestyle. That uncharitable opinion does not respect Huckabee's sincere sentiment on invoking a healthy spirituality on civics.  

Already it seems that there is a crowded field of prospective GOP presidential candidates.  If Huckabee were to enter, he would have to again draw upon support from the religious right as he did in Iowa in 2008.  Well, those where the same value voters who rocketed former Senator Rick Santorum to win the Hawkeye Cauci in 2012 and he is clearly positioning his Patriot Voice for a return run.  Then there is the evangelical appeal which Dr. Ben Carson evokes from social conservatives this cycle.

So rather than worry whether there will be a political sequel of  "I Heart Huckabees", it would be prudent to take his providential preaching at face value.

A Bit of the Book Review for Finding Mr. Righteous-- Bridget Jones Diary Does the District of Calamity

Lisa De Pasquale’s first published book is  Finding Mr. Righteous   (Post Hill Press (2014),  241 pages) which chronicles her dozen years of dating in the DC area.  De Pasquale worked in conservative circles, but the book mostly eschews politics. De Pasquale’s friend and mentor Ann Coulter blurbed about Finding Mr. Righteous as “A true Christian story, disguised as racy Chick Lit.  Her  prologue proclaims: “ This book is about the men I’ve met in a quest to know Him.”  While Chick Lit is not in my usual reading wheelhouse,  I was intrigued to learn of a faith quest which was augmented by being involved with: an atheist; a Catholic; an Evangelical;, a Quaker;  a prominent Protestant preacher; a Jew; an Asiatic Indian; as well as a non-denominational Believer.  

De Pasquale should be credited for her candor in writing about uncomfortable personal attributes.  She makes no bones about being a self described chubby girl. She is upfront about eventually engaging in Lap-Band surgery, with the recognition the surgery is not an immediate panacea.  De Paquale shared a painful memory about losing her man over facial hair. The author recognizes that she is not as outgoing as other political animals.   She does not sugar coat when she was fired and scrambling to find work.  De Pasquale also opens about about her insecurities about being able to attract and keep men in her life.  The book has the quality of being like Bridget Jones Diary Does the District of Calamity, with the caveat that the author is decidedly based in Northern Virginia and not directly in DC.


For most of the book, De Pasquale’s writing style takes a breezy, conversational tone, including her recounted email epistolary exchanges.  She had two wonderful bon mots which joyfully describe that drive to be a conservative in the belly of the beast between-the-beltways.  Noting that networking is DC speak for drinking with people in the same career field as you rings quite true.  And De Pasquale's  funny introduction of Rush Limbaugh by noting: “I became a conservative in the backseat of a Camaro” had supreme comedic chops. 

The author is skilled at injecting a local flair into her prose, eidetically detailing conversations in local watering holes and renowned local churches.  However, this street credibility becomes obscured by De Pasquale’s conscientious blurring of organizations where she worked.  It may be wise to not state forthrightly within the text that she worked for CPAC et cetera, but the non-specific synonyms conflicted with otherwise realistic style of being a raconteur.  

One of her professional challenges was politics due to association with GOProud, a group of conservative homosexuals, which had tarnished her rising star amongst movement Conservatives..  Later, De Pasquale actively associates with GOProud during the 2012 Tampa convention.  The book does not grapple with how her ideals of equality in sexual identity conflict with religious conservative conventions or it deeply impacted her faith.  Once again, it highlights a trait of  including too many insignificant details without delving deeper, which  blunts the story of  her spiritual journey.

De Pascquale was baptizes as a Catholic but had never attended Mass until her Catholic boyfriend took her to one on the Catholic University campus.   She was rebaptized at the age of ten at a Florida Southern Baptist church even though she did not feel the call.   But De Pasquale thought of herself as a Christian-In-Name-Only (CINO). Thus she was not troubled to be  being romantically involved with an atheist. The author opined that she did not feel like she was a member of the (Christian) club.

It is a pity that for most of her ecumenical amorous encounters De Pasquale seems deeply superficial.

[***]

The denouement of Finding Mr. Righteous, De Pasquale’s conscience was touched by the example of an upright Christian, and she realized that she her willing participation in affairs made her no better than the religious hypocrites with whom she was involved, yet she lets the divorced Preacher who used her for phone sex off pretty lightly. 

The style of the book shifted at the end which ceded the focus to Mr. Righteous’ recounting of the story about Bathsheba, which was told in detailed prose, punctuated by a contemporary explicative.  For the author, this non-pretentious, non-judgmental sharing was the sort of sharing which spoke to her soul. 

[***]

Read Finding Mr. Righteous if you want to enjoy a page turner piece of Chick Lit.  Alas, the book is unlikely to  satisfy an enthusiast of the New Evangelization, a conservative political junkie  or someone seeking insight on deepening one’s Christian faith.

See the full review at: DCBarroco.com