Why and How to Get a Balanced News/opinion-media Diet

This is your friendly periodic reminder that* we all need to consume a balanced diet of journalism including both** liberal and conservative news/opinion sources.

Things You Hear on NPR: Benghazi Investigations Found ‘no wrongdoing by the Obama administration’

NPR a few days ago, regarding the possibility of a Susan Rice pick for the Joe Biden ticket:

Things You Hear on NPR: No Idea How Anyone Could Think DACA Was Unconstitutional

NPR on DACA:

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, as it’s officially known, has broad support across the political spectrum. The majority of Democrats and Republicans tell pollsters that they support protections for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children — called DREAMers.

Reminder: Why We All Need a Balanced Media Diet

Happy new year and merry Tenth Day of Christmas!

This is just your friendly annual reminder to make sure you’re getting a balanced diet including at least some liberal and conservative media.*

‘The first thing that came to my mind. I prayed, God, please don’t let my daughter have to walk up the aisle alone.’

A good-news story, on a day when we could all use some good news:

“The first thing that came to my mind. I prayed, God, please don’t let my daughter have to walk up the aisle alone.”

. . .

Scalise, who was playing second base, was hit in the hip. When police downed the shooter, colleague Rep. Brad Westrup of Ohio, a veteran of Iraq, rushed to his side. Westrup saw no exit wound and realized from combat that internal damage was severe.

Antifa Mob Beats Peaceful Protesters

Wow.

Long-form journalism isn’t dead.

Also, man is fallen and his capacity for evil never ceases to amaze.

OK, for those without the time or the inclination to read the whole story from beginning to end at its own pace, here’s as good a summary by excerpt as any:

Dog Bites Islamist

Your good-news story of the day:

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Officials say a dog at a Nigerian wedding party grappled with a suicide bomber until her explosives detonated, killing the animal as well.

Buba Ahmed of Belbelo village, near the northeastern city of Maiduguri, says guests are grateful that the dog sacrificed itself to save their lives.

He says the teenage bomber was on the outskirts of a gathering where most villagers were attending a wedding ceremony when the dog pounced on her Sunday morning.

Why Not Make American Immigration Policy Pro-tolerance and Pro-America?

From Donald Trump’s big speech yesterday:

A Trump Administration will establish a clear principle that will govern all decisions pertaining to immigration: we should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people.

In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today.

In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles – or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law.

England Uses Modern Technology to Recreate Ancient Monument Destroyed by Throwback Barbarians

This is beautiful.  Daesh/ISIS thugs destroyed another priceless ancient monument; so London has erected a new one.

Trump Advisor Promises to Facilitate Violence against Delegates Who Vote against Trump

Once and future Trump advisor (and Nixon trickster) Roger Stone, currently running a pro-Trump “super-PAC”, had already called for “Days of Rage” at the Republican convention in Cleveland this summer, a reference to riots and attempts to overwhelm police organized by the radical terrorist organization the Weathermen in Chicago in 1969.

Now Stone has specifically promised to facilitate the physical intimidation of (and physical retaliation against) Republican-convention delegates who don’t vote the way he’d like them to:

Interesting Thoughts after Trump’s Thumping in Wisconsin

Nate Silver at 538:  It was a good night for Cruz, a bad night for Drumpf.

Obligatory sanity-check post: I know that the details matter, and that we’re interested to see whether Trump can take a congressional district in Wisconsin despite his poor night statewide. But it bears repeating that he’s having a really bad night and Cruz is having a really good one.

U. N. Employee, N. Y. Times: U. N. Incompetent, Evil

A resigning United Nations assistant secretary general, writing in the opinion pages of the liberal New York Times, confirms what conservative critics have said for years:  The United Nations is exactly what you would expect if Christianity and conservatism are true and man is fallen; the United Nations is like the federal government, but worse.

In “I Love the U.N., but It Is Failing”, Anthony Banbury first reports some of the colossal but comparatively tame failings of the enormous, molasses-like bureaucracy:

IRS Still Fighting to Suppress Freedom of Speech

In case anyone had forgotten about the Obama Administration IRS’s abusing its power to try to stop Tea Party groups, or had somehow gotten the impression along the way that the IRS had been cleared of wrongdoing, a reminder that that’s not the case, from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, via Jonathan Adler at the Volokh Conspiracy on the Washington Post Web site:  The litigation in which the Tea Party groups are fighting to defend their rights is still ongoing (in its third year now), and the IRS is still behaving badly.

“Sixth Circuit loses patience with the IRS”

Tea Party Conservatives Choose Cruz

For the last several months, Ohio Conservatives United and affiliated groups in Florida and Illinois have been conducting surveys of members of Tea Party, 9/12, and other liberty groups.  In each state, their theory was simple:

“If Ohio conservatives unite behind one candidate in the primary election, we will win.

“If we split and fragment our vote across the entire field, the establishment Republican will win.”

Cruz, Kasich, and Drumpf Virtually Tied Going into Ohio Primary

This is part of the problem with the Romney strategy.  He recommended that everyone vote for whichever non-Drumpf candidate is in the lead in each state according to surveys.  It sounds good in theory, but what if two candidates are tied in the polls, or nearly tied?

The most recent poll in Ohio puts all three contenders in a virtual tie: Drumpf 33%, Kasich 33, Cruz 27, margin of error 4.4 points.

Ben Carson Sells Out—Again

Donald Trump, a. k. a. Drumpf, has bought another friend.

In retrospect, the signs were there; this isn’t the first time Carson has lent his name and reputation to a scam.

I wonder how much he got paid for it this time.

‘I personally don’t trust Donald Trump. With Donald Trump, you always have to read the fine print.’

The truth about Trump University, from a man who would know—for a time, he worked for the con man.

More about Trump University from Ian Tuttle at NRO: “Yes, Trump University Was a Massive Scam”

Yes, Drumpf Declined to Denounce David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan

Look, here’s the timeline:  As Jim Geraghty points out,

• Year 2000 — Donald Trump, a. k. a. Drumpf, left the Reform Party, and denounced David Duke by name as a Klansman:

“The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani,” he said in his statement. “This is not company I wish to keep.”

Make Donald Drumpf Again

Donald Trump’s followers don’t primarily support him because of his positions on the issues.  If their priority were immigration enforcement, they would all be for Ted Cruz.  Trump’s stated positions appear to move to and fro according to what he considers to be to his personal advantage at any given moment.  This is both why Trump must be stopped and why it is so difficult to stop him.  (How can you rationally argue his supporters out of positions they did not adopt rationally in the first place?)

Ted Cruz Is the Strongest Candidate on Immigration

Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that the media and the other candidates wouldn’t even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren’t for him, and his supporters certainly seem to think Trump’s “strong” positions on illegal immigration are a core reason to vote for him.  But do the facts match this narrative?

1 — In fact, Ted Cruz has been consistently in favor of building a wall, double-layered fence, or other serious barrier along the southern border for years.  As Patterico points out, this was Cruz’s position when he was running for Senate in 2012: