The Bookworm Beat 9/20/16 — the “faster, please” edition and open thread

Woman-writing-300x265I was thinking today what a misnomer “virtue signaling” is. Virtue, in its proper usage, refers to behaviors showing character, morality, and faith. Thus, the seven classic Catholic virtues are prudence, justice, temperance, courage, faith, hope, and charity (or, in some views, love). They are constraints we impose upon our worst selves so that we can be our best selves under all, or almost all, circumstances.

“Virtue signaling,” by contrast, does not impose any obligations upon the signaler, whether obligations of character, faith, or action. All he has to do is send out a tweet or take a knee to assure others that he hews to approved Progressive traditions. Indeed, looking at virtue signaling theologically, it appears that, not only is the behavior lacking in actual virtue, it embodies two of the seven deadly sins: pride and sloth.

Sharyl Attkisson on the little things the media does to support Democrats. Sharyl Attkisson knows the mainstream media from the inside out — so much so that she had to part ways with it when her objective honesty was more than the Democrat machine could bear. I urge you to read her really stunning, insider’s view post about the media’s selective editing to slant the news against Republicans and in favor of Democrats. She discusses at some length CBS’s dishonest handling of Obama’s statement after Benghazi, including Candy Crowley’s lie during the debate to support President Obama when Romney had him on the ropes. After explaining what happened, Attkisson has this to say:

So what does all this have to do with my own situation at CBS?

In an unexpected way, it came to expose the extraordinary lengths to which some of my colleagues would go to misrepresent and slant the facts when they had explicit evidence to the contrary, which they kept hidden. It was enough to irreparably destroy any confidence in and respect I might have had for those at the network who were involved…

By the way, CNN just did it again when it accused Trump, who spoke of profiling a la the Israelis (i.e., looking for certain terrorism indicators), of advocating “racial profiling.” The only talk of race came from CNN.

Another mainstream media alteration was the way the media edited footage of Hillary talking about the bombs in New York and New Jersey this past weekend. Trump, nobody’s fool, figured out quickly the explosions in Chelsea were not accidents but were deliberate acts. He therefore he used the magic word “bombings” when he spoke to the press.

Hillary, however, when interviewed on her plane, was so zombified that she simultaneously called them “bombings” and, in an apparent effort to appear calm and knowledgeable rather than stoned, chided Trump for calling them “bombings.” The mainstream media helped her by editing out her first reference to the events as “bombings” so that the media could paint Trump as intemperate and panicky.

The Left needs an exorcism. I really dislike Hillary. I think she’s currently an unindicted felon (something I hope changes if Trump is elected), a racist thanks to her desire to chain minorities to the government teat, a compulsive liar, a friend to tyrannical Islamic governments, and someone who seeks to expand government to control every aspect of American life. But I recognize that she is human. Proving that Leftism is a religion, however, Progressives fell into the same hysterics as the girls at Salem in 1792 when Jimmy Fallon dared to treat Trump like a person:

The affable Jimmy Fallon has come under fire for “humanizing” Donald Trump.

The “Tonight Show” host created a light-hearted moment with the GOP presidential candidate as he messed up his infamous hair on Thursday night. The two men traded laughs as Trump’s Cheetos-colored mane flew around wildly, and in general the entire interview was friendly and full of chuckles.

Trump opponents are saying Fallon created a promotional puff piece for Trump, and instead should have used the opportunity to ask hard-nosed questions. [Yeah, because that’s what talk show hosts always do as they hand out jars of pickles for unindicted felons appearing on their show to open.]

You may disagree with Trump’s politics and dislike his style, but he is not Satan-incarnate. Although, if that’s how the Left really views him, that tells me that Trump is probably just the man to make America great again.

Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, may be a crackpot, but even a crackpot sometimes gets things right:

More Muslim mall activity in Minnesota. The big story out of Minnesota was the knife jihad at the Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud. The story was so big that it crowded out another Muslim mall story, this one from the Mall of America:

Every year thousands of Muslims gather at Minnesota’s Mall of America – not to shop – but to celebrate the Islamic holiday of Eid Al Adha.

This year Muslim mobs ran through the mall terrorizing shoppers.

At least 10 arrests were made this year during the annual pilgrimage to the MOA.

Read more (and see videos) here. It’s a reminder about the Muslim need for lebensraum.

More Obama legacies — lies, a corrupt media, totalitarianism and rising anti-Semitism in America. Tuvia Tenenbom’s talks about his latest book, in which based upon his travels throughout American, he talks about what a disaster Obama has been for this country, especially for American blacks who live in war zones; te way that political correctness silences debate and opposition; the way Progressives champion Palestinians simply to ape the more “sophisticated” Europeans; and the ugly reality that Middle Eastern and European anti-Semitism has come to and is growing in America. As for the last, Tenenbom makes an important point: Leftist Jews, among others, are turning self-loathing to protect themselves and are too often behind the rising anti-Semitism. Depressing, but important stuff.

Sadly, you won’t be able to read the book. While he was able to get it published in Israel, American publishers don’t want to touch it. I hope he does what my friend Ray Zacek did (see below), and self-publishes it for American audiences.

The Left never fails to surprise. Donald Trump never made the racist statement that all Mexicans are criminals. He made the accurate observation that too many Mexican criminals, including rapists, find refuge in America. Hispanic activist Tony Yaplas was deeply offended by the false allegations about Trump’s statement. That is, he wasn’t offended that the media lied about Trump. Instead, he was offended by the alleged Trump claim regarding Mexican rapists.

That’s par for the course. What raises this Hispanic activist above other equally foolish, credulous, prejudiced Hispanic activists is the fact that Yaplas was arrested for . . . wait for it . . . RAPE.

I bet this will be a good book. Ray Zacek is a friend I met while writing my blog. He is fiercely intelligent and a very good writer — imaginative, lean, and unexpected. He’s got a new book out on Amazon, COME-TO-JESUS and, knowing Ray’s writing chops from his previous books, I know it will be good. Even better, right now it’s free!. Be sure to get yourself a copy. I already have.

More to come tomorrow. But if you want more to read, go to WOW! Magazine.