themarketswork

a common sense approach to a liberal world

The Goal of Political Correctness

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“The point of Political Correctness is not and has never been merely about any of the items that it imposes, but about the imposition itself.” – Angelo M. Codevilla

“The conversations that are the most curative are simultaneously the ones that are most difficult and most dangerous.” – Dr. Jordan Peterson

“What we’re learning from Trump is that a lot of people have been biting their lips, but not changing their minds.” – William Galston

What is Political Correctness?

A simple question with complicated answers.Continue Reading

Gramsci, Alinsky & the Left

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“Socialism will triumph by first capturing the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches and the media by transforming the consciousness of society” – Antonio Gramsci

“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters” – Antonio Gramsci

“Every State is a dictatorship” – Antonio Gramsci

Our nation has been pushed inexorably towards the left for decades. Has this been caused by a simple evolutionary process – a normal outcome of a wealthy and successful society falling into middle age? Or does it have some deeper cause – a more active agent of change?

This question seems to of particular relevance today as the Cultural Wars have broken open – Progressives in near-hysteria, protests ongoing. Watching these events unfold I am reminded of a simple truth.

The present always has a past.Continue Reading

Milo & Liberals’ War on Truth

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Who is Milo?

Milo Yiannopoulos is a gay 33 year-old British speaker, journalist, author and senior editor of Breitbart News. You can think of him as a Republican-Libertarian swirl with frosted tips.

He has been labeled as alt-right, a white nationalist, anti-Semitic and generally racist by the Left. He has mocked Libertarians as “people who have given up looking for an answer”.

CNN hates him.

So do Leftists, Progressives, Social Justice Warriors and Neo-Nazis. And all of Mainstream Media.

He was banned by Twitter. He is the self-described “most fabulous supervillain on the internet”.

In reality Milo is none of these things. Milo is a shake-things-up conservative draped in common-sense ideas, with a disdain for PC speech, a defiance of labels, a hatred for identity politics and a love of unpopular truths. And gay. With frosted hair.Continue Reading

Super Bowl Ads, Audi & the Gender Pay Gap

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Football, and indeed all sports, is a form of escape – a place of bonding – and a platform for common ground. Despite the often intense rivalries, football provides an immediately connectable point for conversation amongst perfect strangers. The Super Bowl is a uniquely American creation, with all the pageantry, spectacle and larger-than-life performances that link the entire nation – at least to some degree.

And yet the NFL took a backseat to politics this year – and had the ratings to prove it. So, I thought it was wonderfully timely that this year gave us the greatest Super Bowl I have ever seen. It also gave us an unusually political  – and sometimes controversial – overtone to the commercials.Continue Reading

Progressive’s False Narrative & Trump’s Economic Response

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As I wrote yesterday, Liberals are aghast over what has happened. They still cannot come to grips with the fact that they have lost the House, the Senate, the Presidency, the majority of Governorships and State Legislatures…and the Supreme Court.

Progressives are out in force protesting wherever possible – straining to make their voices heard. But the real strategy is this. Find an issue to coalesce around – to help fuel the outrage – and then use your networks and social media to create the event or protest. Or better yet, find an existing protest or event – a real one – and amplify it through the use of paid agitators and organized protesters.  Commit acts of violence and destruction in spectacular fashion and get the whole spectacle splashed on the news. Make the protests look bigger, more widespread – more inclusive – than they really are.

Create the protests. Amplify the protests.

Now comes the real trick – the entire purpose behind the staged events. Convince everyday Americans that they are wrong – convince Americans this is how the majority of people feel about our country – convince Americans this is how the majority feel about President Trump – about his policies and reforms.Continue Reading

Liberal Hysteria & The Campaign of Collusion

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Of the 100 largest newspapers in America, 57 made editorial endorsements for Hillary Clinton. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, received four endorsements. Four did not endorse a candidate but urged a vote against Trump.

Two newspaper editorial boards endorsed President Trump.

And President Trump won the election – 304 electoral votes to Clinton’s 227.

Yes, Clinton won the popular vote by 2.8 million votes but her margin of victory in California was 4.3 million votes or 61.5% – dramatically exceeding the 53.5% margin in her other winning states.

In the popular vote outside of California, Trump won the rest of nation by 1.4 million votes –  Trump received 58,474,401 votes to Clinton’s 57,064,530 votes. And as I note in “A Voter Fraud-Friendly Environment“, California has specifically codified legislation and processes that directly encourage – and assist – illegal immigrant voter registration.

Whatever your views on the popular vote and voting in California, consider this for a moment.Continue Reading

Congressional Review Act – A Regulatory Killer

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A little-known law has suddenly been getting a lot of attention in our nation’s Capital. The Congressional Review Act (CRA) – put into law in 1996 as part of Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America – is an oversight tool that Congress may use to overturn a rule issued by a federal agency.

The CRA was put into law as a means for Congress to oversee and control regulations issued by agencies, yet it has only been successfully used one time – during the start of the Bush Administration. The reason for this is simple. The law requires a Presidential signature for final approval – or a veto. A sitting president is unlikely to sign a resolution overturning regulations issued by his own agency and would therefore veto any CRA resolution passed by Congress.

The CRA applies to rules implemented in the last sixty legislative working days.

The Obama Administration issued literally tens of thousands of regulations (see: Trump’s Deregulation Gift). The 2016 Federal Register (the daily depository of rules and regulations) contains 97,110 pages, the highest page count in its history – dwarfing the previous record set in 2010 (also Obama) of 81,405. The Federal Register page count stood at 81,640 at the start of December 2016 when I wrote the Trump deregulation article – 15,470 pages were added in the last month of 2016 alone. There has never been a time more primed for the revival of the Congressional Review Act.Continue Reading

Trump’s Travel Ban & Media Lies

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In order to protect Americans, the United States must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its founding principles.  The United States cannot, and should not, admit those who do not support the Constitution, or those who would place violent ideologies over American law. – President Trump – Executive Order

It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from foreign nationals who intend to commit terrorist attacks in the United States; and to prevent the admission of foreign nationals who intend to exploit United States immigration laws for malevolent purposes.” – President Trump – Executive Order

President Trump issued an Executive Order that laid out a Travel Ban on seven nations on January 27, 2016. Outrage ensued.

The United States had 325,000 foreign visitors land on U.S. soil in the 24 hours after the Travel Ban was issued. 109 were detained. All were released.

Directly stated, President Trump’s Travel Ban impacted .003% of all foreign travelers in the first 24 hours in which it was enacted.Continue Reading

A Voter Fraud-Friendly Environment

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“No doubt realizing that he was losing the cable-news message war, President Trump has called for a witch hunt in an attempt to prove the voter fraud lie he has been telling himself about why he lost the popular vote in November.” – There’s a Reason Trump Keeps Lying About Voter Fraud – The Washington Post – Jason Kander

“There are varying degrees of absurdity in the fallacies President Trump peddled during his first week in the Oval Office. Perhaps the most damaging was his insistence that millions of Americans voted illegally in the election he narrowly won.” – The Voter Fraud Fantasy – NY Times Editorial Board

Democrats are out in force stating that Voter Fraud and illegal voting is not only non-existent – it is a lie – an attempt to undermine our Democracy.

Now consider the following voting requirements by state as detailed by the National Conference of State Legislatures (National Map included):Continue Reading

Avoid the Nuclear Option

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President Trump will put forth a Supreme Court nominee for confirmation by the Senate as soon as next week. The process will likely prove lively. The future of the Supreme Court was the overarching issue I remained focused on throughout the election (See: Supreme Issues). This institution shapes our national character more than any other – and its presence is felt far past any president’s time in office. I am greatly heartened by President Trump’s list of potential nominees. But we need to navigate the nomination process first. And nuclear issues lurk.

Here is an abbreviated exchange between Fox News’ Chris Wallace and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell:

“As Senate rules now stand, because the nuclear option was extended by the Democrats, you can confirm lower court judges with just 51 votes. If the Democrats block a Supreme Court nominee, are you going to extend the nuclear option to Supreme Court nominees?” – Chris Wallace

“Well, let me just say, I’m confident we’ll get a Supreme Court nominee confirmed. I expect an outstanding nominee sometime soon. We think our nominee ought to be treated the same way (no filibuster). If he is not treated that way, then, under the current Senate rule, we would have to get cloture. That is, we’d have to get 60 votes.” – Mitch McConnell

“But would you consider extending the nuclear option for Supreme Court justices, just a simple majority?” – Chris Wallace

“The nominee will be confirmed,” – Mitch McConnellContinue Reading