Saturday, September 30, 2017

Norman Lear Takes a Knee in ‘Solidarity’ with NFL Players



Norman Lear Takes a Knee in ‘Solidarity’ with NFL Players
by Jerome Hudson28 Sep 2017
Legendary TV producer and World War II veteran Norman Lear took a knee Wednesday in “solidarity” with the NFL players protesting during the national anthem.

Lear, the mind behind groundbreaking television classics like All in the Family and The Jeffersons, tweeted side-by-side photos showing himself on one knee as a young Airman and now.

“As a combat vet, I fought Nazis ofWWII,” the 95-year-old captioned his tweet. “Today I #takeaknee, once more, in solidarity w/my brothers&sisters still fighting 4 equality&justice.”

Lear is just the latest celebrity to take to social media and post a photo of themselves on bended knee in the wake of President Donald Trump’s criticism of those NFL players protesting during the national anthem.

There has been no shortage of celebrities kneeling in support of the NFL players’ protest, including the cast of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, the cast of CBS’s Star Trek: Discoveryand X-Files stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.

Last Sunday and during Monday Night Football, hundreds of NFL players, team owners, and executives participated in political demonstrations during the playing of the national anthem before the start of the games.

For Lear, though, it was but his latest swipe at President Trump.

In a January 2016 interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the veteran TV scribe cast doubts that Trump would win the election.

“I have enough confidence in the American people to believe that Trump is the middle finger of their right hand,” Lear told the outlet. “He is [the right’s] f— you to all the clowns and the establishment generally because [they believe] the leadership of the country is at an all-time low.”

Last September, Lear called Trump “a thorough fool,” while comparing the president to his All in the Family character Archie Bunker.

Let’s connect the dots:

Norman Lear
Norman Lear is an executive producer & writer for All in the Family, married to Lyn Davis Lear, a director at the People for the American Way, and was a donor for The Climate Project.

Note: Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the People for the American Way, the Sundance Institute, and the Climate Reality Project.
George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Lyn Davis Lear is a trustee at the Sundance Institute, and married to Norman Lear.
Cindy Harrell-Horn is a trustee at the Sundance Institute, and a director at the Climate Reality Project.
Climate Reality Project is a merged organization with The Climate Project.
Albert A. Gore Jr. is the chairman for the Climate Reality Project, and was a donor for The Climate Project.
Norman Lear was a donor for The Climate Project, is married to Lyn Davis Lear, a director at the People for the American Way, and an executive producer & writer for All in the Family.

Friday, September 29, 2017

Hugh Hefner Was A Creepy Old Pornographer. So Why Are Leftists Celebrating Him?



Hugh Hefner Was A Creepy Old Pornographer. So Why Are Leftists Celebrating Him?
ByBen Shapiro
@benshapiro
On Monday evening, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner died at the ripe old age of 91. He spent his life sleeping with women (he estimated over 1,000 conquests) and pretending to be a deep thinker. But the media’s gushing focus on Hefner is truly astonishing: in an era in which the media routinely condemn President Trump’s “toxic masculinity,” blast the casual vulgarity of Clay Travis’ support for the “First Amendment and boobs,” and complain about exploitation of women in culture, they were willing to overlook all of their basic views about female value in order to laud Hefner. Why? Because Hefner was a creature of the Left through and through, a man who sought to break down traditional sexual mores in favor of a “freer” and more vulgar America.

Let’s be clear about one thing: Hefner’s attempt to glorify the “swinging” lifestyle was a dressed-up version of pure hedonism. While he said he liked to listen to jazz, talk about Nietzsche, and be surrounded by beautiful women, he’s only famous because of the last element: without publishing pictures of bare breasts, Hugh Hefner would have been a nearly-anonymous, seedy-type trying to hit on women who could pass for his granddaughters. Hefner is iconic only because our culture has been so degraded. Yes, Hefner published articles by Norman Mailer and John Updike. So did Picador and Random House. But neither of those publishers have been feted for doing so. The media may pretend that Hefner’s “sophistication” is the reason they’re praising him today, but it’s his obscenity and his open hatred of traditional morality that really turned them on.

None of this is to argue that Hefner’s antics weren’t protected by the First Amendment. They arguably were — although it’s highly doubtful that James Madison and company were particularly concerned about the right of individuals to publish nudity in public. It is to argue that glorifying Hefner for his pornographic use of the First Amendment is ridiculous.

It’s also worth noting that the Left’s attempts to attribute Hefner’s reputation to his forward-thinking on civil rights is an attempt to coat turd in gold. Martin Luther King, Jr. somehow pushed for civil rights without publicly touting a lifestyle straight out of a Saudi harem. Rosa Parks didn’t have to pose as a Playboy centerfold to effect change.

What the Left truly loves about Hefner is that he was instrumental in destroying public support for monogamy. It was Hefner who celebrated polyamory, who suggested that prior generations were repressed and ignorant — as though he was the first man to discover the pleasures of sex. Here’s The New York Times lauding him in a 3,300-word essay (they gave William F. Buckley some 3,000 words):

Mr. Hefner wielded fierce resentment against his era’s sexual strictures, which he said had choked off his own youth. A virgin until he was 22, he married his longtime girlfriend… In “The Playboy Philosophy,” a mix of libertarian and libertine arguments that Mr. Hefner wrote in 25 installments starting in 1962, his message was simple: Society was to blame. His causes — abortion rights, decriminalization of marijuana and, most important, the repeal of 19th-century sex laws — were daring at the time.

What a fellow. He hated that he stayed a virgin until he got married — clearly that cut off his creative juices. He loved abortion and he disliked traditional marriage. Feminists used to be wise enough to understand that Hefner’s brand of female objectification didn’t liberate women; now, feminists suggest that Hefner, who built his infamous grotto into a “squalid prison” for buxom younger women, was somehow a breaker of chains. Hefner didn’t make women more respected; he made men more open in their piggishness.

But he broke the old consensus about the value of marriage, so bully for him.

All of which shows that for many on the Left, principles about female value and opposition to men acting like garbage are disposable, so long as the man in question fulfills certain anti-traditional standards. From Bill Clinton to Teddy Kennedy, political leftism is the golden ticket to enjoying all the rewards of personal depravity. That’s why Hefner was treated as a cultural hero rather than as a pornographer masquerading as a highbrow philosopher.

Let’s connect the dots:

Hugh Hefner
Hugh Hefner was the founder of the Playboy Enterprises, and Christie Hefner’s father.

Note: Christie Hefner is Hugh Hefner’s daughter, a director at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, married to William A. Marovitz, was the chair & CEO for the Playboy Enterprises, and a New Trier High School graduate.
Center for American Progress Action Fund is an affiliated advocacy group with the Center for American Progress (think tank).
Center for American Progress (think tank) calls for heightened “Gun Safety, Gun Control” for guns.
Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress (think tank).
George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and a supporter for the Center for American Progress (think tank).
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for American Progress (think tank).
Ezekiel Emanuel is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (think tank), Rahm I. Emanuel’s brother, and was the health care policy adviser for the Barack Obama administration.
Rahm I. Emanuel is Ezekiel Emanuel’s brother, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Chicago (IL) mayor, and was the White House chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration.
Commercial Club of Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
R. Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP, and Mayor Richard M. Daley’s staffer.
Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.           
Newton N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, Nell Minow’s father, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Nell Minow is Newton N. Minow’s daughter, and was a New Trier High School graduate.
Richard M. Daley is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, was the Chicago (IL) mayor, Michelle Obama was his staffer, and an Illinois Senate senator.
William A. Marovitz was an Illinois Senate senator, and is married to Christie Hefner.
Christie Hefner is married to William A. Marovitz, Hugh Hefner’s daughter, a director at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, was the chair & CEO for the Playboy Enterprises, and a New Trier High School graduate.
Nell Minow was a New Trier High School graduate, and is Newton N. Minow’s daughter.

Billionaire Koch Brothers Throw Weight Behind Latest Amnesty for Illegal Aliens



Billionaire Koch Brothers Throw Weight Behind Latest Amnesty for Illegal Aliens
by John Binder 28 Sep 2017Washington, D.C.
The latest effort to give amnesty to more than a million illegal aliens and potentially cause a surge at the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as increased levels of legal immigration, is being backed by the billionaire GOP mega donors Charles and David Koch.

A new amnesty plan by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) would legalize millions of illegal aliens currently in the U.S. who are shielded by the Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and others who qualify for the amnesty.

Under Lankford and Tillis’ legislation, known as the Succeed Act, 3.3 million illegal aliens would be eligible for the amnesty, as Migration Policy Institute figures show, and eventually be able to obtain U.S. citizenship.

Current legal immigration law allows naturalized citizens to legally bring foreign family members to the U.S. as well, meaning an amnesty for 3.3 million illegal aliens could result in an overall chain migration upwards of 6 to 8 million foreign nationals.

The pro-mass immigration, pro-free trade Koch brothers are now supporting the widespread amnesty plan through their Hispanic-oriented organization known as the Libre Initiative.

“A number of conservative lawmakers in the House and Senate have introduced legislative proposals to address this challenge,” Libre Initiative President Daniel Garza said in a statement. “We are grateful for their leadership on this important issue. We believe that this proposal should be considered among those worthwhile reforms that have been set forward, and that Congress should seize the opportunity to debate and adopt a solution to the unilateral executive action imposed by President Obama, without regard to Congress.”

Also supporting the amnesty deal is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been vocal about their disdain for President Trump’s pro-American worker reform efforts, instead favoring guest worker programs that import hundreds of thousands of cheap, foreign laborers to take U.S. jobs.

In a statement about the amnesty legislation, the Chamber of Commerce officials said they were “encouraged” by the potentially pathway to citizenship for 3.3 million illegal aliens.

The Koch brothers most recently, as Breitbart News reported, said through their Libre Initiative that they were “encouraged” by news that Trump may cave on his campaign promise to oppose amnesty for illegal aliens.

During the 2016 presidential election, Trump made clear his opposition to taking money from the business-aligned Koch brothers, saying he did not need their money to win the election and blasting Koch-funded opponents as “puppets” for the billionaire duo.

Despite their strong opposition to Trump’s “America First” agenda, the Koch brothers have an ally in White House discussions and potential policy initiatives in the form of Marc Short, who now serves as Trump’s Legislative Affairs Director.

Prior to joining the Trump White House, Short led the “Never Trump” movement inside the Koch brothers’ pro-immigration organizations, as Breitbart News reported.

In May 2016, during the height of the Republican presidential primary, where Trump was taking the country by storm on his populist and economic nationalist agenda, Short was heading an effort to derail the then-front-runner.

At the time, National Review exclusively reported that Short was leading an effort inside the Koch brothers’ organizations to take down Trump and his agenda, partly by supporting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who infamously helped author the ‘Gang of Eight’ amnesty bill.

Let’s connect the dots:

Amnesty
Open Society Foundations was a funder for Amnesty International, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Note: George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for Amnesty International, and the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Ford Foundation was a funder for Amnesty International, the Aspen Institute (think tank), and My Brother's Keeper Alliance.
Cecile Richards is a trustee at the Ford Foundation, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the founder & president of America Votes, and a grant overseer for the Turner Foundation.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund is a national partner with America Votes.
National Council of La Raza is a national partner with America Votes.
Ted Turner is the chairman for the Turner Foundation, and the founder of CNN.
Walter Isaacson was the chairman & CEO for CNN, is the president & CEO for the Aspen Institute (think tank), a director at the Bloomberg Family Foundation, and a director at My Brother's Keeper Alliance.
Bloomberg Family Foundation was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think tank).
David H. Koch is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), the EVP for Koch Industries, the chairman for Americans for Prosperity Foundation, and was a donor for the Americans for Prosperity.
Ford Foundation was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think tank), My Brother's Keeper Alliance, and Amnesty International.
Americans for Prosperity Foundation is an affiliated group with the Americans for Prosperity.
Koch Industries was a funder for the Americans for Prosperity.
James E. Stephenson is a director at the Americans for Prosperity, and a director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
James E. Rogers was a director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
David H. Koch is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), the EVP for Koch Industries, the chairman for Americans for Prosperity Foundation, and was a donor for the Americans for Prosperity.