ActRight

The controversial figure, known as a harsh critic of Hollywood liberalism, will get more stage time at the conservative event than any other speaker, inlcuding VP Mike Pence and Sen. Ted Cruz.

It’s always the people inside a bubble who think they’re the ones with an outsider’s perspective on things. The mainstream media fits this profile perfectly. The big name press continue to deny there is anything wrong with the way they do things, or the things they choose to do. NBC’s Chuck Todd, for example, is happy to blame Donald Trump for his profession’s problems and | Read More »

It’s not worth spending much time talking about Donald Trump’s press conference yesterday. He was the same guy we’ve watched since he came down that escalator on June 16, 2015. Heck, he was the same guy we watched at WrestleMania 23, body slamming Vince McMahon and shaving his head in front of 80,000 screaming fans at Michigan’s Ford Field. The same guy who could seize the spotlight even from the likes of Gary Busey and Dennis Rodman on Celebrity Apprentice. The only thing astonishing about the press conference is that people are still astonished when Trump acts like Trump. What’s far more worrisome is the way Trump feeds some of the worst impulses in the conservative movement, turning otherwise sane and smart people into Facebook commandos and Twitter SEALs. Trump is a man of the moment, and that moment belongs to the tough-guy Right. We conservatives love to point and laugh at liberal melodrama. Thanks to a brilliant 2015 piece from Lutheran pastor Hans Fiene, we even have a term for it: “Selma envy.” Scratch away at all too many liberal activists and you’ll find that they pine for the noble, heroic moments of yore. They wish they had been there standing for justice when the dogs were turned loose, so they cast their present activism in the most dramatic terms. They’re not just the opposition; they’re the #Resistance. They’re not just fighting for, say, police reform; they’re declaring that black lives matter. Unfortunately, conservatives embrace their own dramatic narrative; they just have different kinds of heroes. Scratch all too many conservative keyboard warriors and you’ll find that they pine for their own heroic moment — not Selma, but perhaps Omaha Beach or Fallujah. They wish they had been there fighting evil when the bullets flew, so they cast their present activism in the most dramatic terms. They’re not just typing; they’re “fixing bayonets.” They’re not just tweeting; they’re “firing back.” They are the tough-guy Right, and you can always tell when you’re dealing with them. Express concern that, say, Trump’s first national-security adviser lasted less than a month on the job before being fired, and you’re “pearl-clutching.” Call out lies on your own side and you’re accused of angling for a gig at the New York Times, or of attempting to curry favor with the crowd that frequents those ubiquitous Beltway cocktail parties. Criticize these tough guys and they’ll call you a mealy-mouthed “beta male,” looking at the liberal elite and begging for love. (Trump is, of course, an “alpha,” and they all want to be one, too.) Unless your argument is honest, principled, and consistently applicable to both sides, you’re just being tribal. The irony is that these tough guys are followers, part of a conservative herd that is right now mistaking lying for “fighting” and incompetence for “disruption.” While I understand and agree with the idea that we should give a new administration time to find its sea legs before making judgments about its ultimate success or failure, mistakes are still mistakes and lies are still lies. In fact, one of the primary ways that administrations improve is through hearing and responding to legitimate and informed critiques. But don’t tell that to the tough-guy Right, which collectively acts as Trump’s Pravda, turning a blind eye to the man’s faults in acts of collective rage against both the “deep state” and the mainstream media. While the media’s activism and bias is open and obvious — you have to love the spate of stories about how journalists “strike back” and have a “renewed sense of mission” — all too many conservatives’ blatant and reflexive double standards are also beyond parody. Remember when it was a problem that Barack Obama aggressively prosecuted leakers? Remember when it was a distraction for Democrats to cry bloody murder about Russian hacking in the wake of WikiLeaks’ publication of the Podesta e-mails? Trump would rather you didn’t. The Bat-Signal has gone up, you see. The man who relished every WikiLeaks disclosure in the 2016 campaign now says this: The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by “intelligence” like candy. Very un-American! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017 And just like that, in lockstep, the tough-guy Right pivots. The herd moos aggressively and goes to war. It’s just as big a joke as a Democratic party that once pitched its own fits about hackers and leakers and now casts leaking in the most heroic possible terms. None of this is honorable. It’s low and partisan. I don’t care how many war allusions you use, how insulting you are on Twitter, or how many times you accuse your opponents of “pearl-clutching” and “bed-wetting.” Unless your argument is honest, principled, and consistently applicable to both sides, you’re just being tribal. There’s nothing tough about tweeting and nothing weak about telling the truth. Selma envy is driving the activist Left to extremism and hysterics. The tough-guy Right is doing the same thing to conservatives. But try as they might, they won’t find Omaha Beach online. — David French is a staff writer for National Review, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, and an attorney.

Many unions have interests aligned with the president’s and are adapting his themes to their objectives, even while denouncing much of his agenda.

Historians ranked former President Barack Obama the twelfth all-time best president, the highest rated since President Ronald Reagan, in a new C-SPAN survey released Friday.

Poland and the Czech Republic are collateral damage in Germany’s energiewende.

by Joe Audritt (@JoeAudritt) Milo Yiannopoulos, a self-proclaimed ‘Internet Super-Villain’ has once again caused a stir on the internet ? having been profiled in OUT Magazine. Objection to hi…

Husbands can blame their wives for their heavy drinking habits, according to a new study. Researchers conducted a three-year study of 179 heterosexual couples in serious relationships, and conclude

Doctors are doling out multiple prescription pills to patients over 65 years old at a record pace, sparking fears seniors are being exposed to addiction and potentially fatal combinations. Visits

To Republicans wary of criticizing the President: the alternative is no longer Hillary but Pence.

CNN's Don Lemon abruptly ended a panel segment late last night on CNN Tonight after one of the panelists continued to express his objections to "fake news"

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday that Europe must not cave in to U.S demands to raise military spending, arguing that development and humanitarian aid could also count as security.

Does anyone seriously believe that Trump persuaded significant numbers of people at his press conference who didn’t already love him?

A political appointee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development was fired for an op-ed he wrote before the election that criticized then-candidate Donald Trump, a source with knowledge of the situation told CNN.

More than 140,000 families have been cut off from receiving childcare benefits for failing to vaccinate their children.

Thursday, after President Trump's impromptu press conference during which he lambasted the mainstream press for their often adversarial coverage of him, NBC's Chuck Todd tweeted: Press bashing may feel good to folks but when it's done by people in power, it's corrosive. Take off your partisan hats for a second

Share on Facebook Twitter From discussing transgender bathroom rights, to confused homosexuality and free speech…Milo Yiannopoulos certainly ruffled the feathers …

Just six days into his presidency, Donald Trump was informed his national security adviser had misled his vice president about contacts with Russia.

Wildly upset that Wegmans grocery stores sell Trump Winery wines—a line now in the hands of President Donald Trump's son, Eric—the Party of Tolerance has issued threats to boycott the beloved company if they don't remove the wine from their Virginia stores, the only state where Wegmans stores carry the product.  Leading the rallying cry to threaten boycott was the National Organization for Women (NOW), America's largest feminist organization. I know, it's entirely shocking that feminists are behind the threats . . . 

For the first time in years, self-identified Republicans slightly outnumber Democrats nationwide, according to the Gallup U.S. Daily Tracking Poll.

With just six months until Germans go to the polls, Angela Merkel's re-election is looking less certain by the week. Martin Schulz is a dangerous adversary and his Social Democrats are full of the kind of enthusiasm that the chancellor's party lacks. By SPIEGEL Staff

Dear Sen. Richard Blumenthal, You recently called upon your Senate colleagues to subject Judge Neil Gorsuch's record to extreme vetting, questioning both his qualification and biography. The Senate certainly has the right and obligation to closely review any nominee for the United States Supreme Court. Conversely, it is our right as Americans and veterans to scrutinize your hypocrisy in doing so. We are veterans of the Vietnam War. We fought alongside our brothers in arms, many of whom died or were gravely injured there. We saw the treatment meted out on us and our fellow military personnel upon our return, yet we never questioned our commitment to our nation's freedom. But perhaps more relevant to this discussion is that we know you were not there with us. The fact you repeatedly and consistently claimed to have served in Vietnam is a gross case of stolen valor in our opinion. You obtained at least five military deferments between 1965 and 1970, at least two of which were seemingly political favors to you so that you could avoid joining us in a war zone. Here are just a few examples where it appears that you have chosen to buttress your political resume by shamefully inflating your record of military service:

1791L - Analyzing the news. ✖ Twitter https://twitter.com/1791L ✖ Facebook https://facebook.com/1791L I've launched a new channel called Back Row, analyzing ...

Jurors unanimously convicted the former Tennessee Valley Authority engineer of recruiting people to burn down a mosque in a Muslim community Thursday in U.S. District Court. The verdict came after 16 hours of deliberating over the course of three days. Afterward, a U.S. marshal ushered the 65-year-old across the courtroom and transported him to federal custody in Alabama.