In an effort to increase their journalistic credibility, CNN recently invited Sesame Street's "Elmo" (which we have absolutely no reason to believe is an Americanization of Al Mohammed) to a panel discussion about President Trump's temporary travel ban and it's possible effect on young Syrian refugees. No, really.
To Elmo's credit, he had just returned from an overseas visit to Syrian refugee camps, where he (and others) commendably helped entertain and build morale for kids in genuinely nightmarish situations. Situations which can be blamed to a significant degree on the ham-handed, destabilizing foreign policies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Is there a human tragedy occurring? Absolutely. Is the answer to accept a flood of refugees from countries with high incidences of terror without being able to sort the victims from the villains? No. Which is why President Trump simply wants some time to work out those sorting methods.
But none of that was explained during Elmo's (ahem) "news" segment. Rather it was all sob stories about how those kids in the camps are "just like us and want to learn and play" and "everybody is the same deep down."
Only they're not. Several days ago, there were fresh videos of an 8-year-old ISIS executioner blowing the brains out of a kneeling prisoner. For those with strong stomachs, other videos are out there for the watching, including a toddler who needed a little help to slice a man's throat.
Reports of the young killers routinely describe them as "brainwashed" into their deeds. Fair enough. But are we so sure that there's not similar - and similarly dangerous - brainwashing going on right here? When children hear politicians describing the President's party as thoroughly evil bastards intent on murdering millions of men, women, and children? When popular entertainers routinely call for the death of their political enemies? And when Sesame Street puppets appeal directly to children to criticize policies enacted to fortify homeland security?!
Trump is not anti-immigrant, nor anti-Muslim, and certainly not anti-kids. He'd just like to create a way for them to find safety without decreasing the safety of children who are already here. And if that sounds like a bad idea, maybe you've already been brainwashed.
BUT ON A MORE POSITIVE NOTE...
The Left loves to describe common sense points like those cited above as proof of xenophobia and "hatred of those who don't look like we do." Which is complete BS. Not to mention that our own neighborhood, which we love, has such a varied mix of races, nationalities, and languages that the only way someone would not "look like we do" is if he/she/it is sprouting three feathery heads, using tentacles to rip out mailboxes in order to get to the delicious junk mail inside, and leaving a slime trail that smells like an Obama campaign promise.
Americans don't hate immigrants...they just happen to love the rule of law which separates those here legally from those who are breaking the law with their presence (and too frequently with their demands on our taxpayer-funded systems).
All of which was a way too-lengthy preamble to sharing a very special painting with you. A celebration of immigrant life and vitality in America:
This wonderfully kinetic work (which hangs in my home) was painted by my mother, and I couldn't think of any better way to sum up today's commentary than by sharing it with you. Not just as a work of art, but as a reminder from a wise and loving woman of the magic of coming together as a community.
Happy Birthday, Mom. I sure miss you.
Your mother was very talented, Stilton. Runs in the family.
ReplyDeleteI can see the merchandizing now. From Tickle Me Elmo to Behead Me Elmo.
ReplyDeleteI'll believe those future suicide bombers are just like our children if they and their parents welcome Miss Piggy into their homes.
What a wonderful painting!
ReplyDeleteAs for CNN, they have finally lost their collective mind. Over the top nuts.
The painting reminds me of the time (up through the '50s and early '60s) where folks of Italian extraction (such as mi) were still considered non-white.
ReplyDeleteAnd if people paid attention, they'd notice that many from Iran, Iraq, and the rest of the Mideast have skin tones lighter than many of us folk of Eye-tralian extraction.
One more reason to tax payer de-fund the children's television workshop, aka pbs.
ReplyDeleteThat picture looks just like where my great grand parents lived with their children after they got off the boat from Rome, Naples, and Sicily. And they had to learn a whole bunch of stuff plus speak English before they were rewarded with citizenship.
ReplyDeleteAnd, to repeat a theme; "When, oh when, are Trump and company going to lock up those Hollywood traitors?"
So CNN is actually being truthful about the emotional age of its viewers.... Interesting.
ReplyDeleteAppears that CNN is reaching out to their base using a character they'd understand. Someone held in higher regard than their usual talking heads.
ReplyDeleteHow anyone can watch that stuff is beyond me.
I am an immigrant to this country - and by that I mean a legal immigrant. I became an American in August of 1968. And I really dislike the muddying of the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. Which they also try and tie to racism.
Seems these illegals have all sorts of energy to whine and complain, but none to actually become a citizen via legal means.
Great painting!
And have a great 4th of July everyone!
I don't spend any time with CNN or MSNBC but from what I hear of their broadcast antics now it seems this over-the-top ranting might be a last gasp to see how long they can get away with it while serving as a distraction as long as it still works.
ReplyDeleteThe on-screen actors are keeping it up for hire; but in the long term one wonders what the BEHIND THE SCENES forces who produce this stuff will be coming up with next. I hope it actually turns out to be silence, fines, discrediting, jail time.
Just when you think CNN couldn't beclown themselves more thoroughly....simply amazing.
ReplyDeleteYour mother's painting is wonderful. What a great example of how waves of previous immigrants assimilated and made our melting pot nation stronger. As opposed to the sharia-compliant, segregated banlieues springing up across our country.
Nice job this morning Stilt, I particularly liked your summation. I'm sorry that CNN and the creators of a show dedicated to education and children's happiness chose to use one of the characters in such a manner but CNN must be getting desperate about now. Your new tack after the 8 year political disaster that just ended is wonderfully successful, keep it coming.
ReplyDeleteWe could call this a spin off of Looney Tunes, featuring Elmer Fudd and dat cwazy wabbit!
ReplyDeleteThat's All Folks!!!
As for CNN and what it represents...think of the big, brown turd in a punchbowl! You see it and know it for what it is...journalistic waste personified!
Nice job in reporting what the networks won't of don't report
ReplyDeleteHoly Moses! The talent in your family literally ABOUNDS!
ReplyDelete@Fish out of Water: you wim the internet today!
@Walter L Stafford: per that punchbowl: it's not so much the turd that bothers me; but all the people who still see the punch fit to drink. Some may be blind to the nature of that buoyant, fragrant treat; but there are many more who recognize it for what it is, yet drink deeply nonetheless. And that's how the likes of Øbama, Clinton, Pelosi, Waters, yada, yada, yada find their way into office...
@ Dan: As an extreme Italophile, my perception of the painting was of an Italian, big city neighborhood and what America used to be. Not my heritage but charming.
ReplyDeleteThe utter evil in teaching those kids that killing is normal, and indeed, expected.
ReplyDeleteI have no words.
Tracey - Welcome! Happy 4th to you too!
@Mike aka Proof- Both of my parents were talented professional artists. I'm lucky to still have a lot of their artworks.
ReplyDelete@Geoff King- The Miss Piggy test! Brilliant!
@Judi King- Glad you like the painting. As for CNN, they're just about past the point of being parodied.
@Dan- Few people know it, but Frank Sinatra was the Rosa Parks of Italians. (I'm just making that up, but if we spread it around maybe it will catch on.)
@Sortahwitte- I'm in favor of pulling taxpayer funds from any entertainment programming. The free market can handle the job fine, thank you.
@Fred Ciampi- Pretty much all of us here have relatives who immigrated, had humble beginnings, and had to work to become citizens. And these were good things. And I think most conservatives still embrace and even celebrate that process.
Regarding "locking up" Hollywood traitors, I can't see it happening - but when they flat out call for violence, there should be repercussions.
@Fish Out of Water- I wouldn't be surprised if all the talking heads on CNN are soon puppets (literally rather than figuratively).
@Tracy Evans- It enrages me to hear the Left make no distinction between "immigrants" and "illegal immigrants." It's not only a cheap and untrue way of tarring our side as haters, but it also paints as morons anyone who came here legally and took the steps to become a citizen.
And by the way, on behalf of America - we're glad to have you, Tracy!
@Rod- CNN and MSNBC are now surviving only by feeding artificially-created red meat to their dimmest (but most passionate) ideological viewers. I look forward to the day they can't afford to keep the lights on.
@TrickyRicky- Whatever happened to the once noble idea of the American melting pot? It didn't mean that everyone became homogenized or lost the import and impact of their cultural backgrounds. It just meant that we all agree to be Americans first, with a truly inclusive outlook. Sadly, such unity doesn't work for the Left's political purposes, so they've done everything possible to Balkanize our society - and we're paying a terrible price.
@Sam- I think CNN is genuinely baffled how to react to the new order in Washington (and much of the country). If puppets don't work, they'll probably introduce jugglers or topless news readers.
@Walter L Stafford- The Looney Tunes crew didn't mind getting political back in the day. I was brought up on wartime cartoons (many of which are hard to find unedited these days).
@Anonymous- I don't really "report" so much as opine. But I really do try to do so honestly.
@Emmentaler Limburger- My parents met in art college, and all of their closest friends came from there. My earliest childhood years were spent in the company of art and artists. No wonder I ended up a bit wacky (grin).
@Judi King- I think there's a definite Italian thing going on in the painting, but mostly what I get from it is "life." Noisy and energetic with work to do and friends to enjoy. People creating a community together. I love this painting.
@Pete (Detroit)- I agree that there are no words to describe those who train their children to be vicious little murderers. I don't need to know anything else about a religion if it sanctions the theft of children's very souls.
ReplyDeleteGreat cartoon, except I'll dispute the last panel. Elmo and its handlers will likely never come to the conclusion that there should be a wall. Elmo will probably be beheaded first. If the will to commit suicide is a sign of mental illness, so is the cognitive dissonance that is Progressivism.
ReplyDeleteAlso consider that in the cultures Elmo's new friends are coming from, it's not Sesame Street that they're watching to "learn and play".
But it's nice to see CNN getting back to serious news.
As anyone who's read "Lord of the Flies" well knows, that "everybody is the same deep down." isn't necessarily a good thing. Without a viable culture, children easily turn to evil on their own. With a culture that already supports evil, all manners of insanity are not only possible, but inevitable.
Multiculturalism: Love the painting; your mother had a wonderful talent. It reminds me of an irony I experienced when I lived in California. In my condo complex, an elderly Hasidic Jewish couple lived across the hall. A gay couple lived next door to them. Below me was a Hispanic family. Above me, an Asian family. The rest of the complex was a mix of pretty much everything else. I never took an actual census, but I'm pretty sure that as a "straight white male", I was the minority there. It was a very harmonious place that I lived for over a dozen years. In fact, the only person I did not get along with was the white, middle-aged woman who lived next door, who smoked like a chimney, smoked in the elevator, and insisted on keeping her door open so that the common hallway was always filled with cigarette smoke.
The irony was in that as a "conservative", it was inevitable that I'd be called a "racist" for not falling in line with the Progressive agenda, and yet I was probably the only person these Progressives knew who actually was living in the kind of world they claimed to advocate in harmony with people other than exclusively other white folk.
Speaking of Multiculturalism: German lawmakers just voted to legalize gay marriage, except for one notable leader, Angela Merkel. The Progressive media is going to try to make this about Merkel's supposed ties to Christianity. But that's a smoke screen. The reality is that Germany is quickly becoming non-German:
Germans now the MINORITY in Frankfurt: More than half of residents in the city have a migrant background, official figures show
And the dominant "migrant background" is from a culture that doesn't think much of "gay rights". I expect that the demonstrating that will be taking place in Frankfurt will be much different than the dancing that will be taking place in Berlin.
Comments, Elmo?
Wasn't the guy who voiced Elmo found out to be a pedophile child molester?
ReplyDeleteCNN: Crazy Nutty Numbskulls.
ReplyDeleteThey are under the same corporate umbrella as the Looney Tunes after all. ;)
#TimeWarner
@Shelly - I believe you are correct: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/elmo-resigns-new-accusations-article-1.1205034
ReplyDeleteAppears teenage boys were to his liking.
A very talented MoM too- You come from good genes there Doc......
ReplyDeleteAm I being needlessly pedantic if I ask people to say "Happy Independence Day!" instead of "Happy 4th of July!"? I much prefer to remind people--especially government people or government lovers (Demo_Rats, I'm lookin' at YOU!!)--that we celebrate Independence from our original government. And government NEEDS to be reminded of that.
ReplyDeleteTopless new readers would have a tough time saving the FNN
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's been done. They used to be ad supported, until they decided that subscriptions were a better business model.
But, basically, (bitd, when you could watch for free) they'd come out and do a 'normal' news show, but gradually undress themselves / each other.
DEFINITELY not worksafe, don't click if you don't like that sort of thing...
http://www.nakednews.com/
One of your very best. Great commentary plus a truly heartfelt painting by your Mom. She even included a cat! I was born pre-WWII and remember post war "DPs" -- Displaced Persons" in my schools. Schools were mixed everybody. Only the blacks had race riots in our city. (Shame.) I lived on a block one up from the hospital. Amazingly, I was delivered by a Korean doctor! His son became high ranking in the US Army. Those were the days. Of all the Legal Immigrants (my family on both sides included) it seems that Muslims will not integrate. We have been in another Holy War for years.
ReplyDeleteWith that background, Cousin Stilton, it's amazing (and appreciated) that you're a conservative!
ReplyDeleteThank You Stilton For Sharing Your Mom's Beautiful Painting. It Really Does Say It All, On How Our Country Was And Is Made Up Of Immigrants.
ReplyDeleteThanks For The Great Cartoons. Joni Miller
Thank you Stilt for the way you covered the pressing issues of illegal immigration, terrorists brain washing of kids and the left's continual un-patriotic behaviour. Now I see why you are so talented. You have genes from a very talented mom and dad . .Virgil
ReplyDeletenotice the people in the painting, notice how they are all WORKING!
ReplyDelete