Tuesday’s Water Cooler is dedicated to the seemingly never-ending culture wars.

Celebretard of the Week

Well, he’s not really a celebrity in the strictest sense of the term, but he is enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame.  I refer, of course, to the pompadoured face of the gun control wackos- David Hogg.  Is it just me or are you also tired of seeing this kid?  Apparently, even disagreeing with his agenda is some new form of “hate speech.”

While Nikolas Cruz was on his shooting rampage in that high school, Hogg was locked down in a room that Cruz never came near.  Doing what most teenagers do in such a situation, he used his cell phone to film himself in the classroom and post it to YouTube.  The rest is history- a star is born. Hogg was not shot at nor was anyone gunned down in front of him. His claim to fame is shooting a video selfie locked in a classroom while visions of being the next Michael Moore danced in his head. His good buddy, Kasky, even stated he was on “the receiving end of an AR-15.”  Yeah…not exactly. Read on…

Meanwhile, A New Hero Emerged, But Don’t Tell the Loons

While Hogg was filming himself and grooming himself as the face of the gun control movement, there were actual heroes in that school.  One such hero was Peter Wang, a member of that school’s JROTC program. While Cruz was on his shooting spree, Wang held doors while others escaped and took a bullet that cost him his life (and saved many others).  

But don’t tell the loons in the wacky far-Left group known as Code Pink.  They showed up in full pink regalia as Congressional hearings began into the Parkland tragedy carrying signs and placards demanding that the NRA and JROTC be banned from all schools in America.  Said their official statement: “We must pass gun laws, get JROTC and NRA out of our schools and #DivestFromWar.”

If your life was in danger, who would you want on your side: Code Pink, or JROTC?

For The Kiddies

In 2016, a federal judge denied summary dismissal of a lawsuit brought on behalf of 21 children against the federal government for failing to address the alleged harms caused by global warming and climate change.  The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the government’s request to dismiss the case and the lawsuit will now move forward. The lawsuit claims the government is infringing on the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs and future generations by adopting policies that favor the fossil fuel industry.  Said, Judge Aiken:

“Exercising my ‘reasoned judgment,’ I have no doubt that the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society.”

And what exactly are these 21 youths demanding from the federal government?  The government must “ensure that atmospheric CO2 is no more concentrated than 350 [parts per million] by 2100 … to stabilize the climate system.”  Obviously, the actual children are fronts for the “Our Children’s Trust” environmental group.  Personally, I’d like to see this trial with a box of popcorn.

Free Speech For Me, But Not For Thee

The Massachusetts chapter of CAIR- the Council on American-Islamic Relations (a/k/a Hamas in America) recently penned a letter to the Newton, MA American Legion Post imploring them to cancel a scheduled appearance by Aynaz Anni Cyrus (no relation to Billy Ray or Miley).  She is a former Iranian dissident who now lectures about Islam in the United States. Despite the many uncited accusations in the letter, CAIR said:

While every American has the right to free speech – even the kind of bigoted and misinformed speech offered by Ms. Cyrus – credible organizations like the American Legion should not provide platforms that imply approval or offer credibility to hate-filled views.

This is a typical strategy of the Leftist social justice warrior: claim you are for free speech then attempt to deny anyone with which you disagree from practicing free speech.  It’s called “platform denying.” Assuming Ms. Cyrus is guilty of that which she is accused, it’s funny that CAIR does not bother to refute any of her alleged lies or inaccuracies.

What?  Voter Fraud In America?

Not that it would ever happen in the United States, but prosecutors in Lake County, Illinois north of Chicago charged five people with voter fraud.  Of course, the Brennan Center will not officially count this as “voter fraud” since the official charges are perjury.

Three of those charged were not US citizens and lied about their citizenship in the 2016 election.  Two others were charged with voting twice- once by mail and once in person- and then lying about it.  The problem is that by the time this goes to trial, assuming they don’t plead guilty, it will have been 18 months after the election and that is the problem with catching instances of actual voter fraud.

You Will Be Made to Believe

Perhaps you’ve heard the story of Lake Ingle, a religious studies major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania who, in a class required for his major, made the fatal mistake of stating that there are only two genders- male and female.

The whole incident started when the class watched a video by Paula Stone, a transgender who attempted to explain such made-up words like “male privilege,” “mansplaining,” and “systematic sexism.”  The floor was then opened up to women ONLY first. When none spoke up, Ingle gave his two cents. The student was removed from the classroom and now must first face the (Inquisition) Academic Integrity Board before he will be admitted back into the class.  He is charged with creating a disruptive class atmosphere.

Simply put: he will be made to believe.

The Sad Case of Ismael Chamu, Or Graffiti Pays

The LA Times recently ran a story of a Cal-Berkeley student named Ismael Chamu who sleeps in a trailer with his relatives (he gets the floor), then makes the 90-minute trek to classes to learn social justice at Berkeley, the flagship university in California.  There is the heartbreaking story of how he scrounges the college’s food pantry for pasta, yet despite it all, he keeps a smile on his face as the many pictures attest.

The purpose of the article is to bring to light that although California residents get free tuition, it does not cover room and board.  This is a travesty worthy of an LA Times article.  Hidden within that article and relegated to a single paragraph is the fact that Mr. Chamu spent 29 hours in police custody (he professes his innocence, of course) for spraying graffiti about town.  Among those messages conveyed: “F— the Police,” F— Frat Boys,” “Kill Cops,” and “Eat the Rich” among others.  On social media, he seems to have taken a liking to the antics of antifa.

Mr. Chamu’s arrest and detainment caused quite a ruckus in Berkeley as both the Student Union and the mayor of Berkeley denounced the police keeping him for 29 hours.  Now comes word that in the aftermath of the LA Times article highlighting this cretin, the little punk has raised over $90,000 on a fundraising site.

Who said social justice doesn’t pay…especially if you have the LA Times in your corner?

Your quote du jour:  “Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith—“  Alexis de Tocqueville

That’s it for this week.  The Water Cooler is an open thread where readers are free to discuss these or any topic of interest.