Summer Reading: Important columns you must read.
/In an effort to understand the state of America at this moment, we’ve been perusing columns by writers from across the political spectrum. Glenn Greenwald is a left-of-center journalist and reformer of outstanding integrity. Peter Heck is a cultural and religious conservative who writes for The Resurgent, a blog edited by Erick Erickson. More will follow.
Glenn Greenwald… The Intercept (July 8, 2018)
During the 2016 primary and general election campaigns, various MSNBC hosts were openly campaigning for Hillary Clinton. One of the network’s programs featured Malcolm Nance (pictured above), whose background is quite sketchy but is presented by the cable network (and now by NBC News) as an “intelligence expert” and former intelligence officer for the U.S. Navy.
On August 20, 2016, weekend host Joy Reid asked Nance about the supposed “affinity” for Russia harbored by Jill Stein supporters. In response, Nance told MSNBC viewers: “Jill Stein has a show on Russia Today.” You can still watch the video of this claim here on MSNBC’s own website or see it here…
Whatever your views might be about Stein and her third-party candidacy, there is no disputing the fact that Nance’s statement was a falsehood, a fabrication, a lie. Stein did not have a show on RT, nor did she ever host a show on RT. What Nance said was made up out of whole cloth — fabricated — in order to encourage MSNBC viewers to believe that Stein, one of the candidates running against Clinton, was a paid agent of the Kremlin and employee of RT.
Reid allowed Nance’s lie to stand. Perhaps she did not realize at the time that it was a lie. But subsequently, a campaign was launched to urge MSNBC to correct the lie it broadcast, based on the assumption that MSNBC — which is part of NBC News — was a normal news outlet that functions in accordance with basic journalistic principles and would, of course, correct a false statement once that was brought to its attention…
Read the entire column here:
Peter Heck… The Resurgent (July 24, 2018)
Slouching Towards Pedophilia
Some very provocative and alarming words were spoken recently in Germany. And we better start addressing the issue now.
So by now, most everyone culturally engaged knows about Guardians of the Galaxy director and outspoken President Trump critic James Gunn being fired by Disney for past social media posts. And the exchange of outrage, some hypocritical, predictably emerged from both sides of the political spectrum.
Just to be clear, many of Gunn’s offending posts were indeed gross:
Among the tweets that forced Disney and Marvel’s hand were: “I like when little boys touch me in my silly place.” Another: “The best thing about being raped is when you’re done being raped and it’s like ‘whew this feels great, not being raped!’”
Like I said, gross.
But while everyone is commenting on Gunn’s firing, far fewer people are talking about a much more provocative take on pedophilia that emerged recently at a TedX Talk in Germany. Given the axiom that where Europe is today, the United States will follow within 10 years, maybe it would be more productive to address the merits of what was said there than the jokes of some creepy Hollywood director.
If you missed this story, here are the basics:
Controversy erupted recently over a TEDx talk featuring a German medical student who exclaimed that "pedophilia is an unchangeable sexual orientation, just like … heterosexuality."
The student, Mirjam Heine, gave the talk at the University of Würtzberg in Germany this past May under the title "Why our perception of pedophilia has to change." During her talk, Heine said that people need to recognize that pedophilia is a natural force.
"Anyone could be born a pedophile," she told the audience, citing it as just an "unchangeable sexual orientation just like, for example, heterosexuality."
Read the entire column here:
https://www.themaven.net/theresurgent/contributors/slouching-towards-pedophilia
