“violent extremist views”

Here is the cowardice and the bigotry of the Los Angeles Police Department management coterie. That crowd has banned the Thin Blue Line flag from being displayed in any of the department’s public areas. Never mind that that flag symbolizes support for the policemen and policewomen who are in the streets on their beats protecting the rest of us.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore defended the controversial move in an email sent to Fox News Digital, saying, “Yesterday, we received a community complaint of the presence of a Blue Line Flag” with “the view that it symbolized support for violent extremist views, such as those represented by the Proud Boys and others.”

Then Moore actually acknowledged the…bizarreness…of his move; although he doesn’t seem to recognize it.

It’s unfortunate that extremist groups have hijacked the use of the “Thin Blue Line flag” to symbolize their undemocratic, racist, and bigoted views.

But he banned the flag, anyway, instead of defending the meaning and rejecting the extremist groups‘ hijack.

The police union demurred from Moore’s move. The Los Angeles Police Protective League Board of Directors wrote in part,

It is difficult to express the level of utter disgust and disappointment with Chief Moore’s politically pandering directive to remove Thin Blue Line flags and memorials for fallen officers from all public areas within our police stations. This direction came as a result of complaints from anti-police, criminal apologists, and activists who hold too much sway over our city leaders and, unfortunately, our Chief[.]

Naked, bare-faced pandering, true enough. I think, though, it’s far worse than that: it’s cowardice and rank bigotry.

It’s cowardice because Moore and his management group caved promptly and cravenly to, in Moore’s own words, a collection of undemocratic, racist, and bigoted extremists.

It’s rank bigotry because Moore and his fellows in management carefully, consciously disregarded the violent extremism his flag ban inflicts on us average Americans who do respect the police and wish to show that respect with the Thin Blue Line flag, especially in police department public areas; it inflicts that same violent extremism on the police themselves by barring their own public display; and it favors the views of violent extremists like BLM, antifa, and other undemocratic, racist, and bigoted groups over the views of honest Americans and our cops.

Lies of the President?

President Joe Biden (D) claimed, as a result of the latest inflation report, that food prices are falling.

The BLS, however, actually said this:

The food index increased 0.3 percent over the month [of December] with the food at home index rising 0.2 percent[.]

And this:

BLS data shows the “food at home” index rose 0.2% in December and 11.8% in the past year. Food away from home rose 0.4% in December and 8.3% in the last year.
“The index for cereals and bakery products rose 16.1 percent over the year. The remaining major grocery store food groups posted increases ranging from 7.7 percent (meats, poultry, fish, and eggs) to 15.3 percent (dairy and related products)[.]”

And this:

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs rose 1% in December and 7.7% in the last year. Dairy and related products prices declined 0.3% in December but rose 15.3% in the last year. Fruits and vegetable prices declined 0.6% in December but rose 8.4% in the last year. Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials prices rose 0.1% in December and 12.4% in the last year. BLS’ “other food at home” category saw a 0.4% increase in December and a 13.9% increase in the last year.

When that flood of data came out, Biden reclamaed, and acknowledged in a speech Thursday that food prices did rise in December, but lauded the slower increase.

Oops.

Some will insist that the dichotomy between Biden’s initial claim and reality is further evidence of his decline. Politicians of the Progressive-Democratic Party and their Leftist supporters will insist he’s in full possession of his faculties (perhaps harkening back to his faculty status at UPENN [/snark]).

Taking the Progressive-Democrats and the Left at their word, though, would mean that Biden is openly lying about food inflation.

Go figure.

Anti-Semitism

…and hypocrisy.

Much is made by what passes for the press in the United States about the anti-Semitic actions—both real and imagined—of a few famous Americans, like Kyrie Irving, who tweeted about an anti-Semitic movie, and former President Donald Trump (R), who shared a meal with a couple of unsavory persons.

But that same gang of “journalists,” in the main, carefully avert their eyes and keypads when it comes to their favored institutions, like the United Nations.

The United Nations General Assembly last year passed 15 resolutions critical of Israel, while passing just 13 resolutions on other countries, according to a non-governmental watchdog [UN Watch Director].

Those other countries, given a once-over-lightly, included such terrorist-supporting and human rights abusing nations as Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, and Syria. The UN also was careful to single out the US for its special opprobrium. Meanwhile, Venezuela and genocidal People’s Republic of China got complete passes, no mention at all by the UN of their abuses.

But Israel: that nation, a bastion of democracy and religious freedom in the Middle East and core participant in the Abraham Accords, is especially hated by the UN.

Hypocrisy. And bigotry.

Think about Leaving

Portland business owners are more than fed up with the level of crime destroying their businesses. Their idea of who has the solution is misguided, though.

Frustrated business owners are calling on city and county leaders to do more to combat rising property crime in Portland….

This situation is not solely on the heads of Portland’s city councilmen or the county commissioners. The business’ fellow residents of Portland keep electing those councilmen and commissioners, politicians who’ve demonstrated their lack of commitment to order and rule of law.

Why would any business owner want as his customers folks who so consciously approve of and vote for such politicians? Those are the voters, after all, who then vandalize, rob, and otherwise trash their businesses. There are plenty of jurisdictions that do regard rule of law to be a Good Thing, and those jurisdictions have sound economies with plenty of room for businesses currently domiciled in lawless Portland.

I Don’t Watch the NBA

I stopped watching the NBA years ago when one team’s General Manager tweeted in support of Hong Kong’s then-freedom protestors. That GM was promptly canceled, not just by the Left, but by the NBA (he was forced to resign), as players, owners, sports commentators came out of the woodwork all yelling that there was money to be made in the People’s Republic of China; how dare this GM endanger their pocketbooks like that. The point of the freedom protestors’ protests has since been amply demonstrated by the men of the People’s Republic of China government.

The NBA’s utter disregard for morality, for anything resembling common human decency, continues. Enes Kanter Freedom, late of the NBA, has the tale.

The NBA [is the] “No Boundaries Association.” The NBA gives free propaganda to a genocidal regime[.]

This is the sort of thing that has drawn Freedom’s disgust, and mine:

NBA league owners all allegedly have over $10 billion invested in China and a video from the Washington Wizards showing Chinese Ambassador Qin Gang shooting free throws.

Freedom went on.

When the Muslims are being literally slaughtered in concentration camps in China, you [Adam Silver] are silent, and not only are you silent, but you’re literally working with this genocidal regime. You’re literally working with the most brutal regime in the world hand-in-hand and trying to make money and business over there.
Please look me in the eye and say you don’t know nothing about the 3 million people in concentration camps in China [who] are getting tortured and raped every day. Shame on you.

Freedom is being generous. Of course Silver knows that. Every man and woman in the NBA knows that. They don’t care. There’s money to be made.

This is another reason to ignore the National Basketball/No Boundaries Association and everything its members do or say.