A New Iranian Revolution?

Events in Iran could mean the end of the Mullah's reign of terror...

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/a-new-iranian-revolution-iran-trump-revolution-1578856131

Coming in 2020: Julian Raven v. The Smithsonian Institution

Artist Julian Raven is suing the Smithsonian over its rejection of his painting of President Trump titled "Unafraid and Unashamed." His case heads to the Supreme Court in 2020...

Read all about it at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/coming-2020-julian-raven-the-smithsonian-institution-smithsonian-institution-donald-1577743009

AMERICA'S LAST STAND

by Agustin Blazquez with the collaboration of Jaums Sutton

 ©2020 ABIP

It's a fact that President Trump is not a politician. But that is precisely why he was selected by the American people to be their President. It's refreshing to see that he talks to the forgotten Americans without political subterfuges.

Decades of career politician elites are focused on re-election rather than the good of the country. They rapidly become millionaires, by way of books and speaking gigs if not under the table from donors, lobbyists and corporations. Add with support from their parties they become pawns. The interests of their constituents take a distant back seat in their limousines.

Americans have been forgotten while politically divided into groups to be used by promising what these career politicians fail to deliver. Look what is happening in cities and to infrastructure. Chicago for example.

President Trump, who isn't tied to special interests, in spite of the open resistance and cries for impeachment even before he became President, has not forgotten to deliver his promises to the voters, resulting in unprecedented economic success. He has improved opportunities and living conditions of the workers.

This was promptly accomplished by eliminating thousands of Obama's regulations which made the government bureaucracy flourish while preventing small business to prosper. These policies had driven to destitution thousands of Americans who became welfare recipients.

The Founding Fathers were farmers and people of honor who didn't imagine that centuries later the Presidents, Representatives and Senators could become a corrupt government elite. Most became creatures of a huge, collective, political swamp. That's why President Trump was elected by the voters tired of the status quo.

There are some exceptions, but not enough to prevent the political parties from becoming negative to the original concept of America: “We the People.” Not “We the politicians” and especially not “ We the socialist elite”.

I began to notice this pernicious deviation from the Father's concepts a few years after I immigrated to the U.S. I noticed the Democrat Party was leading America astray. The foreign ideology they were adopting was one that creates a powerful political elite that will dominate everything. I noticed that the Republican Party was letting it develop not doing their duty on behalf of the American people. I was disappointed, to say the least.

I noticed the cooperation and eventual collaboration much of the U.S (so-called) “liberal” media and their silence about the pervasive corruption. I sadly realized that politicians, media and academia were becoming enemies of America and the enemies of freedom, as in my former country.

Since 2009, the situation became worse as the process was accelerated by Obama. The Republican Party I hoped could correct the course, but sadly, did not. I blame the two parties, but one of them is worse by pushing a doomed ideology foreign to freedom, democracy and our Constitution.

At the end of 2016 the country was left divided and before Donald Trump became President a political war was declared by the Democrats and the “liberal” media against him. Our freedoms were hanging in the wind. The children had been indoctrinated to reject Capitalism and embrace Socialism.

Because of the Marxist “political correctness”--imposed a few decades ago—we cannot talk freely to each other and the resulting intolerance divides families and friends. We were insulted by screams of “racist,” “homophobic,” “misogyny,” “Islamophobic,” and other epithets.

The tenor of the violence of Fascist-technique front groups like Antifa, Black Lives Matter, violent students groups on campuses censoring speakers and Facebook listing hundreds of anatomically impossible genders makes it utterly clear: The imposition of Socialism in America will be ugly.

Forget the Scandinavian socialist model that doesn't exist anymore due to failure.

After three years of a President truly fighting back against that anti-human abomination he is hated and despised by the Democrat Party and that “liberal” media and academia. They do not want their swamp to be cleaned. They fear that the nightmarish descent into Socialism might be stopped. That's why their sham-based hatred and the insistence on an impeachment.

After this enormous waste of time and taxpayer money, the pathetic Nancy “Pelousy” lowers the United States House of Representatives with her unabashed, childish displays.

President Trump is not a politician and I am glad. He is the only one who has kept his promises as he moves our country away from Socialism while under constant pressure to stop him. That's enough for people who know first-hand what it is to be victimized by the left's totalitarian ideology.

Americans do not have experience with real totalitarianism in their own skin. They reject the evidence of what it is like living under the boot of a government. They refuse to consider the horrors of living with no freedom and doing what the government dictates or else. They ignore what it is to lose your property and your family members. Life in forced labor and concentration camps. Lack of medicine, health care and millions death. Those are the actual results of Socialism and Communism.

Do not listen to Marxists' promises and the siren calls of those body snatchers. They lie to get people hooked and to maintain their power. They make their promises sound and feel good but the promises are empty. Look at Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Vietnam, etc. It is a trap. When you fall in that hellhole it is almost impossible to escape. Their creed is “The end justifies the means.”

Unfortunately, many members of the Democrat Party belong to The Democratic Socialists of America, founded and financed by the former communist Russia and is active today. It's not in the best interest of America.

The Founding Fathers must be turning in their graves with what is going on in their beloved America and mine.

Agustin Blazquez produced and directed THE TRUMP EFFECT: Deprogramming the American Mind (2017).

Pensacola Terror Attack Exposes Navy Failures

If the Navy can't protect a Navy base, how can it protect America?

Read the whole thing on TheLatest.com at: https://thelatest.com/tlt/pensacola-terror-attack-exposes-navy-failures-pensacola-islamic-terrorism-us-1575921752

"How Dare You!" Greta Thunberg, Fiona Hill, Joe Biden, and the Politics of Authoritarianism

Chairman Schiff's impeachment inquiry is just one more example of "How Dare You!" politics. In this case: How dare you investigate allegations of corruption by VP Biden and his son Hunter in Ukraine!

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/how-dare-you-greta-thunberg-fiona-hill-joe-biden-politics-authoritarianism-fiona-hill-adam-schiff-joe-bid-1575053406

President Trump is a Whistleblower -- and the So-Called "Whistleblower" is a Spy

As the transcript of his phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky shows, President Trump was attempting to expose alleged wrongdoing by former Vice President Biden, his son, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others. This means President Trump is a whistleblower --and the so-called "Whistleblower" acted as a spy.

Read all about it on TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/president-trump-whistleblower-so-called-whistleblower-spy-whistleblower-impeachment-trum-1574089873

Stephen K. Bannon Fights Back With "War Room: Impeachment"

Stephen K. Bannon realized the need for alternative coverage of the impeachment of President Trump and has created a daily broadcast which offers both fascinating radio entertainment as well as insightful political analysis from Washington insiders.

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/stephen-k-bannon-fights-back-with-war-room-impeachment-impeachment-donald-trump-steph-1572607408

CHE: The Other Side of the Story now free on YouTube

Agustin Blazquez’s complete documentary about Che Guevara is now on YouTube!

This is the Special Edition with subtitles in Spanish and English followed by the music video "You Don't Know Che" by singer song writer Steve Pichan.

This film profiles the life of the man killed in Bolivia, as well as "Che," the icon, who lives on today. It presents the real man behind the myth, his legacy and why he has become so popular among the youth, revolutionaries and terrorists of the world. It explores the dangers of believing in Che's carefully, constructed fake public image--herein lies the real Che. 

This documentary is based on sources who worked directly with him, knew his family in Argentina and Havana--who were intimately acquainted with Che's personal and political trajectory as well as his academic scholars. For the first time you are going to see the SPECIAL EDITION DVD with its original Preview and singer and musician Steve Pichan's rock band performing "You Don't Know Che", a song written specially for this production.

This is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rybzcLtxdY

Whom the Gods Would Destroy They First Make Mad: Douglas Murray's "The Madness of Crowds"

In his new book, Douglas Murray writes: "To assume that sex, sexuality and skin color mean nothing would be ridiculous. But to assume that they mean everything would be fatal." However, "Divide et Imperia" is a proven strategy. Leftists intend to drive men mad, in order to destroy them.

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/whom-gods-would-destroy-they-first-make-mad-douglas-murray-the-madness-crowds-douglas-murray-lgbtq-race-1571347470

American Hit-and-Run Diplomacy Outrages British Public

A simple traffic accident in Great Britain which could have been handled discreetly with a little sensitivity on the part of the American government has ballooned into an international diplomatic crisis due to incompetence or worse by American intelligence agencies and diplomats, leading to a serious rift in US-UK relations.

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/american-hit-run-diplomacy-outrages-british-public-harry-dunn-anne-sacoolas-boris-1570570445

Is House Impeachment Inquiry an Abuse of Power?

Then-VP Joe Biden meeting with Ukrainian legislators in 2014 (US Embassy photo)

On its face, the House impeachment inquiry meets the definition of "abuse of power" as it "corruptly... endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice." It is intended to corruptly protect Joe Biden and the Democratic Party from prosecution.

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/is-house-impeachment-inquiry-abuse-power-joe-biden-adam-schiff-donald-t-1570145087

A Good Point in President Trump's UN Speech Yesterday...

"Today, I have a message for those open border activists who cloak themselves in the rhetoric of social justice: Your policies are not just.  Your policies are cruel and evil.  You are empowering criminal organizations that prey on innocent men, women, and children.  You put your own false sense of virtue before the lives, wellbeing, and [of] countless innocent people.  When you undermine border security, you are undermining human rights and human dignity."

From Remarks by President Trump at the United Nations Event on Religious Freedom ...

...We’re standing up for almost 250 million Christians around the world who are persecuted for their faith.  It is estimated that 11 Christians are killed every day for the following — I mean, just think of this: Eleven Christians a day, for following the teachings of Christ.  Who would even think that’s possible in this day and age?  Who would think it’s possible?

With us today is Pastor Andrew Brunson, who was imprisoned in Turkey for a long period of time.  Last year, my administration was thrilled to bring him back home after a very short and respectful negotiation with a very strong man — and a man who has become a friend of mine, fortunately — President Erdoğan of Turkey.

I called the President, and I said, “He’s an innocent man.”  They’ve been trying to get Andrew out for a long time — previous administration.  I don’t think they tried too hard, unfortunately.

Read the whole thing at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-united-nations-event-religious-freedom-new-york-ny/

Howdy, Modi! Rally Cements US-Indian Alliance Against Islamic Terrorism

After President Donald Trump held hands with Prime Minister Narendara Modi, Indian media explained what the American media did not--American policies have finally changed since George W. Bush held hands, kissed Saudi King Abdullah and declared "Islam is peace," following 9/11.


Read the whole thing on TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/howdy-modi-rally-cements-us-indian-alliance-against-islamic-terrorism-modi-trump-islamic-terrorism-1569194586

Greta Thunberg makes me think of this...

John Bolton's Departure Shows "Personnel Are Policy"

John Bolton's recent ouster as National Security Advisor indicates the Bush foreign policy team that allowed the 9/11 attacks, lost the War on Terror, destroyed American freedoms with the Patriot Act, and paved the way for the election of President Obama may be back in charge at the White House.

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/john-bolton-departure-shows-personnel-are-policy-john-bolton-mike-pompeo-donald-1568210507

Here's what I posted on The-Idler on 9/11/2001...

http://web.archive.org/web/20011204205910/http://www.geocities.com/dcjarviks/

THE MARXIST WAR AGAINST THE AMERICAN MIND

© ABIP 2019
by Agustin Blazquez, producer/director & Jaums Sutton, assistant director

 https://www.bitchute.com/video/lEGQvEhweMWl/ 

It's no secret that the academic circles, the mainstream media & the social media is composed of the left and far-left elements of America.  This fact has been obvious to refugees from Communist countries for decades.

We are very acquainted with their techniques and political discourse.  We know the real results and deaths that Marxist Communism and Socialism bring to the countries afected by those political aberrations.

The followers of Marxism become mindless fanatics of the creed of “The ends justifies the means.”  They get to power by lies and deceptions and with promises of “social justice," “fundamental transformation,” “free education and health care,” and other freebees.

Of course, this is only for the ruling elite.  For the rest is only poverty and dispair.  But this is never revealed by academia, media or typically restricted by “social media.”

The over 100 million deaths caused by Marxist Communism since 1917 are completely ignored.

Coming from a Marxist Communist country I readily noticed the infiltration of the media and academia by the proliferation of Marxist professors in colleges and universities.

What an absurd contradiction: Marxists teaching generations of children in a Capitalist Country!  Now we are seeing the results with so many millennials and high schools kids advocating for Socialism.

But the final battle for the “fundamental transformation” of America began in 2008 when this country was divided and class warfare was introduced.  The violent protests or “acts of repudiation” remainded me the ones conducted in my home country, Nazi Germany and all communists countries upon the homes of private citizens.  Which were similar to ANTIFA (supposedly anti-Nazi but using Nazi and Communist techniques).

And it carefully became prohibited to mention the middle name of the elected President.  A mention of it and you were acused of being a “racist.” For heaven sake, most presidents have a middle name!  Apparently this one was too close to home.

Of course the press and academia was supportive of the new direction the country was going, and remained silent on the consequences.  And censorship of social media began to cooperate with the Marxist's "fundamental transformation."

With a new President in 2016, academia, mainstream media and social media declared war on him and the people who supported him via attacks, incitement to violence of groups using fascist techniques.  They destroyed properties and silenced speakers in colleges and universities. They directed threatening demonstrations against TV political hosts and officials of the new administration.

And the censorship of social media and acussations of a litany: “white supremacists,” “racists,” “homophobic, ”misogynous, “Islamophobic,” etc. was and is repeated ad nauseam.

Among many others, the videos of Prager University were deleted from YouTube.  A few years ago I noticed that the visits of two of my videos of Hillary Clinton were suddently frozen and the other went down in number—which is supposed to be impossible.

On 8-26-19 one of my videos received an "R" age-restriction from YouTube.  In order to see it, you have to log on to YouTube with your login and password.  YouTube gave no reason for the restriction.

In light of the questioning of social media companies, I have to wonder if there is something in this video that they don't want you to see.

The count for this video has been slow.  Has the warning discourage everyonefrom watching or they have been manipulating the visits as they are doing to my Hillary videos?  Very clever indeed of the censors who disregard our liberties—including artistic—and constitutional freedom of speech.  Sad because this country was founded under the banner of liberty for all.

Now you can see this video at: https://www.bitchute.com/video/FbkZ4gbs9Fio/

According to the site it is to "promote freedom of expression.”

Beware of these Marxists because when they completely get control, they are lethal to your pocket, way of life, your beliefs and your existence from birth to death.

My advice, if you see one approaching you on a sidewalk, PLEASEcross the street.

I'm in the process of posting my videos on BitChute.com to make sure they are available.

In addition to YouTube my videos are available at Bitchute.com where you will be able to see for first time free of charge the full documentaries: CONNECTING THE DOTS: AN EXPOSE OF LIES, DECEPTION, SCAM AND FRAUD IN ORDER THE TAKE OVER THE USA, and CHE: The Other Side of An Icon (Too hot for PBS)  https://www.bitchute.com/video/lEGQvEhweMWl/ .  

Soon you'll be able to see the two short videos about Hillary Clinton too.

Pulitzer's "1619 Project" Sponsorship Brings Back Yellow Journalism

The Pulitzer Center's co-sponsorship of "The 1619 Project" marks a dismaying return of the family name to Yellow Journalism and the worst sort of political propaganda designed to agitate the American public through sensationalism, demagoguery, and lies.

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/pulitzer-1619-project-sponsorship-brings-back-yellow-journalism-newt-gingrich-1619-project-yel-1567026396

Dennis Prager v. Google Legal Brief

https://www.chamberlitigation.com/sites/default/files/cases/files/18181818/Appellant’s%20Opening%20Brief%20--%20Prager%20University%20v.%20Google%20LLC%20%28Ninth%20Circuit%29%20.pdf

I'm in a new Agustin Blazquez YouTube video...

About President Trump and American Jews. Watch here:



UPDATE: Just received this comment from our Producer-Director, Agustin Blazquez: "As of 8-26-19 this video received an "R" age-restriction by YouTube.  In order to see it, you have to log on to YouTube with your login and password.  YouTube gave no specific reason for the restriction.  In light of the questioning of social media companies, I have to wonder if there is something in this video that they don't want you to see.  Agustin Blazquez"

In Japan, Anyone Can Have A Finger On The Button...

"Pushing the button" in Japan doesn't bring about nuclear armageddon, rather a smiling server who appears like a genii from the Arabian Nights but Japanese...

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/in-japan-anyone-can-have-a-finger-on-the-button-japan-restaurants-the-button-1566152982

Very Glad President Trump Said This Today...

"Third, we must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence and make sure those people not only get treatment, but, when necessary, involuntary confinement.  Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun."

From Remarks by President Trump on the Mass Shootings in Texas and Ohio, 

Issued on: August 5, 2019

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-mass-shootings-texas-ohio/

To Stop Mass Shootings, Read The Califano Report

The August 2000 Califano "Report of the United States Postal Service Commission on a Safe and Secure Workplace" is a good example of Washington actually working in a bipartisan manner to solve a serious problem with practical solutions.

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/to-stop-mass-shootings-read-the-califano-report-joseph-califano-e-fuller-torre-1564958768

Rats! President Trump Exposes Baltimore's Collapse

Bernie criticized capitalism in Baltimore; Obama criticized racism. Trump criticized Baltimore's elected officials for conditions in their city. Why is that wrong?

Read the whole thing at The Latest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/rats-president-trump-exposes-baltimore-collapse-donald-trump-elijah-cummings-b-1564431157

Boris Johnson and the Apotheosis of New York

The family history of incoming British Prime Minister Boris Johnson illustrates Israel Zangwill's message in "The Melting Pot," his play about New York of the 1900s: "America is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming... Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians – into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American."

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/boris-johnson-apotheosis-new-york-boris-johnson-donald-trump-new-1563993377

Pelosi's Choice

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's choice to side with her radical freshman against President Trump reveals that she was not forced to condemn him, because he offered an opportunity for "triangulation" which could have provided her with Republican support in Congress to marginalize the extremists.

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/pelosi-choice-trump-pelosi-tweets-1563390787

THE DESPICABLE FOUR VS. THE USA...

Dethroning Nancy Pelosi?

By Agustin Blazquez

© 2019 ABIP

The Democrat Party began abandoning our foundations in favor of a foreign ideology contrary to the US Constitution in the 1960s, and for that reason is in big trouble today.

As Barack Hussein Obama campaigned for 2008 elections, he obviously felt it was safe to reveal his plan for a “fundamental transformation“ of our nation.  But, he didn't answer the question: What would it  transform into?

Now the answer to that question is more than evident, as we watch the shameless transformation of the Democrat Party after the 2016 Presidential elections. 

The radical, socialist Left is very much in charge, perhaps without the full knowledge of the American public.

“The ends justifies the means” is their norm, with no limits.  

However, people who escaped from socialist and communist systems know the crimes that they perpetrate once the Left takes power. 

So expect anything from these fanatic radicals that are causing havoc now.  They are taking over the USA, to the detriment of the people.

Americans in 2018 elected these despicable four characters, who now are acting with more power than the Constitution contemplated giving to House freshmen.  

They have overcome the Speaker of the House. What else could Nancy Pelosi do after they implied she was a racist? Side with President Trump, who defended her?

So how can other Democrats--who may still view themselves as “moderates”--face this hijacking of the party?

So far, the rest have been silent, if not going along with these four jumping jacks.

After his confrontation with these four despicable radicals, President Trump told them to go home. 

They replied with much-repeated accusations of “racism” repeated to death since the Obama Administration.

I personally think that these four out-of-line characters should step down and they should be sent to Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea or Vietnam.  

Not for vacations.  

But to see how citizens of those countries live, in order to experience the same hardships and misery of the unfortunate residents of socialist hellholes.

This would be so they might personally experience what socialised health care really means... as well as other socialist programs that those four despicable want to impose on the American people.  

I hope in doing so they might finally come to appreciate the freedoms they are currently able to enjoy in the U.S.A. 

Agustin Blazquez was born in Cardenas, Cuba. He left Cuba on July 18, 1965, and lived in Montreal, Paris and Madrid before arriving in the U.S. as a political refugee in 1967. He produced and directed THE TRUMP EFFECT: Deprogramming the American Mind (2017). Click here for his  YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/jaums.

US State Department Promotes Trump-Hater on Facebook

The US Embassy in Tashkent's decision to promote World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe's personal views, rather than her athletic achievement, is an offensive political attack on the Trump Administration.

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/us-state-department-promotes-trump-hater-facebook-women-amp-039-s-world-cup-mega-1562952418

In Honor of the July 11, 2019 White House Social Media Summit...

Here's a blast from the past--an account of a 2002 conference at the National Press Club about the future of Weblogs, that I published in The Idler, my predecessor to this blog, still available thanks to The Wayback Machine at Archive.org:


(www.the-idler.com)
"Read All About It In The Idler"
15 July 2002

Inside the Blogosphere: The Weblog Phenomenon
By Laurence Jarvik



Pyra Labs' Blogger Website

It was rewarding to google 'bloggers accounts of The Idler's June 28th panel at the National Press Club: "Inside the Blogosphere: The Weblog Phenomenon."

While it was naturally disappointing that Glenn Reynolds and James Lileks cancelled due to thunderstorms, airlines, and scratched flights, it was gratifying that they wrote about their experience in their blogs, because that is the Blogosphere in action -- self-referential, self-reflexive, self-analytical, self-correcting, universal, instaneous, decentralized, emotional, rational, and available for continuous updating, response, and review. It shows the strength of the Blogosphere as a network of responses.

In the words of William Quick's January, 2002 posting on DailyPundit:

"I PROPOSE A NAME for the intellectual cyberspace we bloggers occupy: the Blogosphere. Simple enough; the root word is logos, from the Greek meaning, variously: In pre-Socratic philosophy, the principle governing the cosmos, the source of this principle, or human reasoning about the cosmos; Among the Sophists, the topics of rational argument or the arguments themselves. .."

The idea was pretty simple: Bring some prominent 'bloggers to Washington to meet the press face-to-face, in a way that would cut through a lot of the hype around blogging. After reading a New York Times story in which technically oriented 'bloggers denounced politically outspoken newcomers like Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds, (one that Reynolds had linked to) we thought it would be useful for Washington, DC based journalists to have first-hand exposure to the people behind the blogs.

So, the first invitation was to Reynolds, perhaps the best-known 'blogger since September 11th, and the internet's biggest phenomenon, at least for the chattering classes, since the emergence of Matt Drudge or Jim Romenesko. He agreed to fly to Washington for the day, and we planned the panel around him.

To complement Reynolds, we picked some blogs linked on his site: James Lileks , Mickey Kaus and James Taranto were invited.

We asked James Taranto, of "Best of the Web" on the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com for one reason: it was a link of his site that first led us to discover Instapundit.

Through a link on Instapundit, we found John Hiler's MicroContentNews.com. He had been writing at length on the history of the blogging,. He agreed to attend, and were grateful that there would be a tech person on the panel to answer any questions of a computer programming nature. (Ironically, it turned out that James Taranto of "Best of the Web," whom we had thought of as a New York intellectual, was in fact an Arizonan who had studied computer programming.)

We had hoped the panel would go beyond politics, taking the discussion to a higher level. It seemed to us that blogging was a very significant cultural phenomenon, perhaps as significant as the development of printing. By making the web easy to use as a mechanism to distribute print, by cutting the cost of production and distribution to essentially zero, blogging fundamentally would alter the relationship among writers, readers, and yes, the middlemen and women who were traditionally the printers, publishers, and editors.

Initially, blogs were for technical people, or for diaries and personal expression, but they rapidly grew into a serious phenomeon, filling in the gaps left by an established media unwilling or perhaps unable to deal with situations that did not fit into their corporate and/or ideological "deep structures."
Yet despite their independence on one level, on another, the blogs were epiphenomena. They depended on the mainstream media, at least for some of their content. After all, Glenn Reynolds and other bloggers operate at a "meta" level, where articles and essays are discussed, examined, refuted, and sometimes mocked.

So we also invited Doug Mclennan of Artsjournal.com, Dennis Loy Johnson of Mobylives.com, and Alice Goldfarb Marquis, a contributor to The Idler. They were not only involved in web publications, but were cultural critics as well, who could put the weblog in a cultural context that had been missing from a great deal of the journalistic coverage.

Although some bloggers complained that there was not enough political talk (a strange complaint, as audience members were free to raise political issues during the hour-and-a-half of spirited discussion following the presentations), we were delighted that the discussion went way beyond politics -- and that there was a lot of debate about the meaning of weblogs in a larger context, looking at a bigger picture.

For example, when we saw James Lilek's account of his airport troubles, right before the event, it seemed that if nothing else, his invitation had resulted in documentation of early 21st-Century American travel, an artifact sure to of interest to anthropologists, sociologists, historians, and perhaps even archaeologists of the not-too-distant future. Likewise, when Glenn Reynolds posted his flight cancellation notice it was disappointing, while simultaneously evidence of the utility of Blogosphere. For as a result, we had a new term: "Lileks-ed."

The 'bloggers who  attend could not fail to note their disappointment at Reynolds and Lileks' non-appearances in their coverage. It was almost as if Madonna and Britney had failed to show, such was the sighing... And yet the room remained full after the announcment was made. There were 40 seats, and some were standing. For 3 hours. At the end, several wanted to stay, though we had to leave the room.

Of the some 40 people in the John Peter Zenger Room of the National Press Club, at least a dozen had signed in as 'bloggers. How many bloggers were there who had not signed in, one does not know.

And in their own accounts, responses read as far away as Brazil, there was a lot to think about. On Journalismo Digital, Elisabete Barbosa wrote that she had seen panelist John Hiler's story in Microcontent News.  Arnold Kling's essay at TechCentralStation was cited on Romenesko's MediaNews. (Kling had another article about the event on Corante's website, John Hiler's publisher.) And in best Blogosphere fashion, 'bloggers linked to one another on blogs such as Tleeves, Combustible Boy (with photos), Tres Producers, WOIFM, i330, Geistbear, and Rosenblog.
Interestingly, what we considered a sympathetic discussion of 'blogging from Alice Marquis clearly upset the 'bloggers the most, as one can see from their published accounts. Perhaps it was her attack on "boosterism."

Yet, contra some of the offended bloggers, she made  excellent analytical points,  not simply bon mots about "link-stained wretches" and "bloggorhea."

Marquis most telling comparison was to the revolution wrought by Marcel Duchamp, who turned the art-world on its head through his display of "readymades." Just as photography forever changed painting, so did Duchamp's challenge to the artistic powers-that-be. Although discussion of Duchamp's urinal appeared to be taken as an insult by some in the audience, Marquis' comparison was actually a compliment to the medium.

Weblogs are to newspapers, radio, and television stations as the salon de refuses was to the French Academy; or Duchamp to the previous generation of painters in New York, before the Armory show. The blogs are part of a revolutionary moment in American culture. Democratic, heartfelt, and fun.
Likewise, while some 'bloggers carp that Doug McLennan and Dennis Loy Johnson are not true 'bloggers (yet if their sites are not 'blogs in at least one dimension -- logs on the web, with commentary -- what are they?), the speakers had a keen understanding of what 'blogs are and what they have the potential to become.

McLennan pointed out that Weblogs have what establishment media no longer have, the passion, point-of-view, and personal sensibility that generate true engagement with the public.  "Who wants to read passionless stories?" he asked, noting that the best bloggers could be seen in the same light as great columnists. He suggested that 'blogging rips away the "veil of objectivity" surrounding much establishment media, that weblogs reveal there are more than two sides to any story, that there are multiple sides, and multiple perspectives, making the world a much more interesting place, where the blogger makes personal sense of information. He also pointed out that a lot of stuff on the web was B.S.

And while Johnson disagreed about the objectivity issue, saying he tries to be objective in his work, he came up with perhaps the best line of the day, when during the question and answer session he recalled the advice of an ex-hippie: "Don't burn out, man. Pace yourself."  That is the issue facing all 'bloggers, how to keep going, day in and day out, with a flood of thoughts, feelings, inspirations, and expression. Johnson's advice: take a break.

John Hiler's commentary on the "dark side of blogging" was insightful as well.  The dangers of "pouring gasoline on the ego" that comes from instantaneous publication to a worldwide audience, the need to consider blogging a form of addiction, were thought-provoking.

And of course, last but certainly not least, James Taranto made an important point just by his presence. He gets paid for doing a weblog! By a big company! And it gets readers for the company! Not only that he helps other weblogs -- like Instapundit -- when he directs his thousands of regular readers to their sites.  His computer programmer to paid 'blogger story was inspirational, to say the least. Not to mention his contribution to the debate over the future of newspapers. Taranto noted that TV didn't kill of radio, and radio didn't kill off newspapers. So, weblogs won't kill off newspapers either (you can't read a weblog on the toilet, he noted with dry wit). But in comparing weblogs to radio and television, Taranto seizes on precisely the point made by Marquis (also perceived as a critic by the 'bloggers in the crowd): This is a new medium, with new potential. For blogs are a new form of moveable type, and the internet the most dramatic development since Gutenberg.

Moveable type, in the words of former New Yorker critic Mimi Kramer, "...only much more moveable."

President Trump's July 4th Victory Through Air Power

White House Photo by Andrea Hanks

President Trump secured victory over opponents of his Independence Day parade by turning to the skies, substituting an Air Parade for tanks parading through Washington streets, in a moving tribute to the US Military and American Independence.

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/president-trump-july-4th-victory-through-air-power-donald-trump-us-military-indep-1562499581

When is a Journalist Not a "Journalist?" When Antifa Attacks.

Journalistic reactions-- or lack thereof-- to Antifa's brutal attack on Andy Ngo in Portland have cast a stain on the reputation of the New York Times.

Read the whole thing at TheLatest.com: https://thelatest.com/tlt/q-when-journalist-not-journalist-a-when-antifa-attacks-antifa-journalism-new-york-tim-1561995420