The news world spins so fast it’s easy to miss some of the telling stories of our times. Let’s check out a few recent items that have flown off and slapped me in the face.

Chelsea Clinton Says It’s a “Definite Maybe” She’ll Run for Public Office

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton said Monday it’s a “definite maybe” she’ll run for office someday. On one hand, it’s not unusual to see a kid joining the family business. I guess after her stint at the Clinton Foundation she didn’t find racketeering to her liking, and now she’s eyeing the family’s other enterprise: Elected office. 

Why does Chelsea want to run? She says she’s “outraged every day by something our president has done or said or left undone or neglected.” That’s why Chelsea’s her mother’s daughter, not her daddy’s little girl. Bill Clinton, for all his faults, was never about outrage. It was rarely about the other guy. It was about outreach. About the little guy. 

That’s als0 why if Chelsea does run, she’ll lose. Avenging a vanquished parent might make a great martial arts movie, but not a great servant of the people.

But don’t feel bad, Chelsea. As an entitled scion of American political royalty, you have nothing on one Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Gee, I Guess America’s Great After All

For those too young to remember, New York Governor Mario Cuomo was a man of eloquence, thought and passion. Agree with him, disagree with him, he was a man of substance. A man who would have waltzed to the Democratic nomination in 1984 or 1988. Democrats begged Cuomo to run, but he had the self-awareness to realize he didn’t have the fire in his belly to be president. Still, as an orator, good luck finding one better. 

Mario left none of these attributes to his son Andrew. And last week, New York’s scandal-plagued, error prone governor tossed one of the greatest bricks ever in U.S. political history. He declared in a prepared speech, America “was never that great.”

His full quote was “We’re not going to make America great again. It was never that great. We have not reached greatness. We will reach greatness until every American is fully engaged.” 

You couldn’t unpack all the stupid in that statement with the help of a hundred chambermaids. 

Actually, Cuomo did backtrack from his anti-American comments a couple days later. In fact, he backtracked so fast the Jets should sign him as a free safety.

“America has always been great,” he said, over the sound of his presidential ambitions swirling down the toilet.

Meanwhile, while we’re on the topic of things anti-American …

The Silicon Valley Wall

Facebook and Twitter continue serving as sentries encircling the marketplace of ideas. 

Another target: conservative talk show host Dennis Prager’s PragerU videos. The videos are charged with violating Facebook’s speech code, which the best anyone can figure out is, “Stuff liberals can’t bear to hear.” 

Prager’s no flame-thrower. It’s like accusing Josh Groban of being gangster rap. So why’s he targeted? Because he’s effective in helping people see truth. 

https://stream.flywheelsites.com/facebook-censors-prageru-videos-shadow-bans-posts/

We’re looking at the 21st century version of the Berlin Wall. What the Soviets did with brick, mortar and barbed wire, the social media giants do with algorithms. 

And they do it partnership with Soros-backed media groups run by David Brock. Gateway Pundit reminded folks yesterday that Brock had unveiled a four-year plan in January of 2017 that spelled out how Democrats would regain power. This included working with social media powerhouses to shut down conservative voices.

Read the 49-page “Democracy Matters” memo here. You only need to get to page two before you find this line item: “Internet and social media platforms, like Google and Facebook, will no longer critically and without consequence host and enrich fake news sites and propagandists.”

Media Matters, the memo boasts, was already talking with Facebook on how to crack down on “the constellation of right-wing Facebook pages that had been the biggest purveyers of fake news.” 

Remember, Media Matters defines “fake news” as “Anything to the right of Michael Moore.” 

“Eye on the Prize”

The Stream‘s Rachel Alexander will be continue looking closely at the Brock-social media collaboration, because it’s crucial to understanding the depth of the organized, high-tech effort to silence conservative and Christian voices. 

The good news? You know you have the winning argument when those who disagree won’t let anyone else hear it.

The other good news? They won’t be successful shutting out our voices if together we refuse to shut up. 

In the words of the old church hymn “Eyes on the Prize”:

Paul and Silas began to shout

Doors popped open, and they walked out.

P.S. This song was used as an anthem during the Civil Rights movement. How could Andrew Cuomo not see that as a moment of American greatness? Maybe Chelsea Clinton can explain it to him … hopefully without her mom’s fake black accent.

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream and co-author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration.