Don's Tuesday Column

         THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson  Red Bluff Daily News   3/22/2016

             More hijinks from the left

Over the weekend, I witnessed yet more violence by the anti-Trump left in Arizona. As I pointed out last week, it is a form of violence to violate a political rally—a private event arranged and paid for by a candidate’s campaign—with interference that effectively nullifies the constitutional rights of that candidate and his supporters.

Those decrying physical force used against such agitators should bear in mind the “Rambo” adage: “They drew first blood.” I don’t want Mr. Trump to condemn those in his rallies for taking a stand against the disruptors until we hear, from the mouths of Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, firm condemnations of the violent mobs that shut down Trump’s Chicago rally or that shut down a road providing access to an Arizona rally, including violent property destruction.

Look up “Chicago Cop: Anti-Trump Mob More Aggressive and Destructive than Reported,” by Warner Todd Huston, Breitbart.com. “It seems the [media] aren’t broadcasting footage of the debris being thrown across Harrison by Sanders/Hillary supporters at Trump fans,” the officer wrote at “Second City Cop blog.” Also, no reports surfaced of “protesters running through parking lots and breaking windows of cars with Trump stickers on them.”

Instead, Bernie wouldn’t condemn left wing disruptors but said, “they are only responding” to Trump. Yeah, like the union goons in Philadelphia, when then-President Bill Clinton came to town, who beat up (responded to?) families peacefully holding anti-Clinton signs. Or union thugs caught on camera beating up (responding to?) Tea Party demonstrators in 2010—including a disabled black man at a table selling buttons at a congressman’s town hall.

Or similar leftist union hoodlums that forced their way into town hall rooms so they could push out (respond to?) citizens that simply wanted to express their objections to the Obamacare law. Or college leftist “brown shirts” that have routinely disrupted, and forcefully taken the stage from (responded to?), conservative immigration opponents or Israel supporters.

I saw “crosshairs” centered on Donald Trump’s face during a phone interview on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephenopoulos”. ABC’s digital backdrop had one horizontal line and several vertical lines; next to Trump’s face were the words, “On the phone: Donald Trump.”

One vertical line crossed the horizontal line precisely in the middle of Trump’s face at his teeth level. Coincidence? As of yesterday, the screen shot remained at the beginning of the 5-minute interview posted at slate.com, “Donald Trump refuses to condemn supporter who punched and kicked a protester.”

We all remember caterwauling over “crosshairs” in politics in 2011. That January, “CNN’s John King issued a prompt on-air apology minutes after a guest on his program used the term ‘crosshairs’ during a segment: ‘We’re trying to get away from using that kind of language.’”

Here are samples of Obama’s rhetoric, 2008-2009: “Argue with neighbors, get in their faces… If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard… I don’t want to quell anger. I think people are right to be angry. I’m angry… If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl.”

The headline, “Obama’s Dishonest Assessment of the GOP Presidential Race,” almost writes itself, given Obama’s aversion to the truth: “Today at his press conference, President Obama was asked about the battle for the Republican presidential nomination. His response could hardly have been more dishonest.

“Echoing a favorite talking point of Hillary Clinton and the DNC, Obama asserted that Donald Trump merely expresses in ‘more interesting ways’ the views of the GOP field as a whole. This is untrue.”

No other Republican candidate proposes a ban on Muslim entry to the U.S.; neither do any candidates propose systematically rounding up and deporting every illegal immigrant in the U.S. To be thoroughly honest, Trump only proposed a “temporary” ban on Muslim immigrants until it can be made certain that none of them are supporters of the Islamic State or jihadist terrorism. Most Americans would support such a policy, as they support, in a poll I saw, removing illegal immigrants with few exceptions. When Obama, or any other Democrat supporting Hillary or Bernie, say Republicans are “anti-immigrant,” “anti-Muslim” or “racist,” they are, to be frank, simply lying; they have no factual support or corroborating statements.

“Finally, Obama said that all of the Republican candidates ‘are denying climate change.’ This turns out to be false as well. Some candidates do not accept ‘the science’ on climate change as settled; others (basically half of them) do, but reject the left’s prescription for dealing with the problem.” (Paul Mirengoff)

A pair of tweets are worth a thousand words on Hillary Clinton’s hypocrisy and corruption. First, Hillary sent this: “It’s absolutely unacceptable that the gun industry can’t be held accountable when they endanger Americans.” A responding tweet from one “Miranda, @Moonraker33, went: “Do we hold the computer industry accountable when someone mishandles classified gov’t Intel on a private email server?”

Donald Trump tweeted: “Hillary Clinton has been involved in corruption for most of her professional life!” He practically invited this response from Ted Cruz: “Then why did you contribute thousands of dollars to her?”

The old Chinese curse of “living in interesting times” appears to be upon us.