Remembering Willis Carto

Willis Allison Carto died Monday night in Virginia, full of years (89), achievements, and honors. But this memorial tribute is nevertheless way overdue. If you know the broad outlines of Mr. Carto’s life (biography review here) you know that he was, for well over a half-century, the founder and patron of those political movements we now variously call Paleoconservatism, Race-Realism, White Nationalism . . . or Alt Right.

Pause and consider. When you imbibe the heady sophistication and philosophical analyses here at Counter-Currents—or laugh at the mordant humor of Mike Enoch’s The Right Stuff; or addictively check out The Occidental Observer and Radix Journal every day; or appreciate the rich, deep lore available at such sites as Inconvenient History and Euro-Synergies—then you must give a tip of your mental hat to Willis Allison Carto, the old pioneering strategist who made this Alt Right possible.
Lest we forget, Mr. Carto himself had quite a few titles, imprints, websites, in his long life. Right. Western Destiny. The American Mercury (which he owned in the ’60s and ’70s).The Washington Observer. The Spotlight. The Journal of Historical Review. The Barnes Review, American Free Press. The Noontide Press. Independent Publishers.

The Anti-Buckley

Back in the Fifties, when Bill Buckley and his National Review crew were trying to reinvent American conservatism by casting it as something cutesy and sanitized and nice-to-the-Jews, Mr. Carto, a Purple Heart recipient (once shot by a Jap sniper on Cibu Island, May 1945) looked the enemy in the face and did not flinch. He did not balk or cringe when they called him an anti-semite, a racist, a crypto-nazi.

Nicey-nicey folks of the National Review stripe get shirty when you call them names. So it’s appropriate that in 2015 we now have a fine snide name to call them. Cuckservatives! I don’t know if Willis Carto paid attention to that word when it was making sound and fury in the political blogosphere this summer, but I like to think that he did.

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CNBC moderator doubles down after debate on admittedly false Rubio claim

CNBC's John Harwood maintained Wednesday evening after the third GOP debate that he wasn't wrong to accuse Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., of supporting a tax platform that benefits only the top one percent, even though he conceded earlier that this claim is not exactly accurate.

Rubio even made sure to mention that Harwood was compelled earlier this year to issue a retraction after stating that the Florida lawmaker was pushing a policy that favored the one percent.

"[Y]ou wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it," Rubio said, standing his ground.

"No, I did not," Harwood laughed.

Rubio persisted, refusing to back down an inch. As it turns out, the Florida senator was correct.

Harwood most definitely admitted on social media last week that he was wrong to claim that Rubio supported a policy that favors only the one percent.

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HOUSE VOTES TO REVIVE EXPORT-IMPORT BANK

A strong coalition of establishment-backed Republicans and House Democrats voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to revive the Export-Import Bank, dealing a defeat to tea party conservatives and Speaker-to-be Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)..

The House approved the measure 313-118 as 127 Republicans joined with virtually every Democrat to support the bank, whose charter expired June 30. Since then, the bank has been unable to approve new applications to fulfill its mission of helping overseas buyers get financing to purchase U.S. exports like airplanes and heavy equipment. Supporters say the bank helps sustain tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs.

The legislation’s fate is uncertain in the Senate.

Proponents of the bank forced a House vote through a rarely used procedure known as a discharge petition. They pushed a vote over the opposition of top House GOP leaders such as Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) of California, Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) of Louisiana and Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) of Texas.

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DANIEL WEBSTER STILL RUNNING AGAINST PAUL RYAN FOR SPEAKER

Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) has confirmed to Breitbart News through a spokeswoman that he is running for Speaker of the House against Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

Webster, the former Speaker of the Florida House, told Breitbart News in an emailed statement that he is still running despite the entire Washington establishment pushing for Ryan’s candidacy.

“I am committed to governing in a principled, member-driven manner,” Webster told Breitbart News on Monday evening. “I am running for Speaker because the transformation of the way we do business is possible if we seize this opportunity.”

Several House Republicans—at this time more than 10, perhaps more than 20, and maybe even 30 or more—are planning to support Webster’s candidacy against Ryan’s on the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday. While anything can change between now and the end of the week, Webster is the only other candidate against Ryan for Speaker—and the only candidate who has received an official endorsement from the House Freedom Caucus. While the Freedom Caucus has not endorsed Ryan—80 percent support from its membership would have been required to do that—it did issue a statement after meeting with him last week that a “supermajority” of its members would be open to a Ryan Speakership.

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Jim Jordan Rips Hillary For ‘Telling Spin To The American People’ About Benghazi

Jim Jordan member of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, says Hillary Clinton was “telling truth in private” while “telling spin to the American people” after the Benghazi terrorist attacks.

In an interview on “Fox News Sunday” with host Chris Wallace, Jordan criticized Clinton for determining “which e-mails are public and which emails are work related.”

Wallace: In the end, Congressman, most of the mainstream media, I think the consensus was, that you and the other Republicans on the Benghazi Committee didn’t come up with much new. How do you respond to that? 

Jordan: Well, I think it is new to tell the American people she said something completely different in private. She was telling truth in private, she was telling spin to the American people. I mean who talks in language like that? ‘Someone sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the internet.’ Contrast that with what she said to the Egyptian Prime Minister. ‘We know the attack had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack not a protest.’ That’s plain language, that’s being straightforward, that’s being forthcoming. Why didn’t she talk in those kind of terms with the American people? And here’s why it’s relevant, Chris. At the end of the hearing, we ask her, relative to her e-mail situation. You know her and her legal team determine which e-mails are public and which emails are work related. And we said ‘if the FBI finds… deleted e-mails, will they agree, will Clinton and her team agree to allow a neutral third party like a retired federal judge to examine those deleted e-mails and to determine if some of those are applicable to our investigation?’ Her response was, ‘no,’ they wouldn’t agree to that. So we have her doing all this spin the night of the attack and now when it comes to her e-mails, she gets to determine which ones are work related and which ones aren’t. And she won’t let some neutral third party to do it and calls into question her evaluation of those e-mails and she wouldn’t agree to allow a neutral third party to do it. And that’s why it’s relevant.

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A Defiant Hillary Claims She Was Not Obligated To Turn Over All Sid Blumenthal Emails

Hillary Clinton battled South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy during the final leg of her testimony in front of the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Thursday over whether she was obligated turn over emails between her and her longtime friend, Sidney Blumenthal.

Clinton resorted to lawyerly obfuscation in explaining why she was not required to provide those emails to the State Department.

Though Clinton has repeatedly claimed she turned over all of her work-related emails, emails that Blumenthal gave the committee earlier this year showed that his records included at least 15 emails that Clinton did not give the State Department.

Clinton appeared unable to explain the missing records and so resorted to a cagey response.

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Democrat Rep Totally Ignores New Facts Regarding Benghazi

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee  stuck to the typical taking points slamming the Benghazi committee and its chairman Trey Gowdy while denying new information regarding Hillary Clinton’s role in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Appearing on “MSNBC Live” with Tamra Hall Wednesday, Jackson Lee ignored that fact that the committee received a new email last Thursday that showed Amb. Stevens plead for “more security” in Benghazi.

Tamron Hall: But Congresswoman, one of the things Trey Gowdy says he plans to focus on the chair on that committee is why Ambassador Chris Stevens’ pleas, in his words, “for more security” did not reach Secretary of State Clinton. He says and points out that the Ambassador was asking for more security. He points to an e-mail by Ambassador Stevens that the committee received last Thursday. Is that a concern to you?

Sheila Jackson Lee: Well, the facts are of concern to me. The truth is of concern to me. And what I do know is in the number of committees that respectfully reviewed this, substantive committees in the House, the Accountability Review Board, they did not find any fault in Secretary Clinton. Now, as a member of the public of the United States, as someone who is deeply saddened by the loss of life, let me add my sympathy to the loss of the marine that you just noted, I want the truth. None of us want to stand in front of or block the truth. And let me say this. I served as a staffer on a Select Committee. They’re held in high esteem. Select committee on narcotics, on hunger. So they have a purpose in the House. The purpose of this committee has been debunked and the reason is because they have clearly stated and shown in their actions that their only desire is to undermine Secretary Clinton’s presidential effort. It has not been done. Her character still stands as someone compassionate and determined. If there are facts to be had, tomorrow will be the determining hearing where she can provide any additional facts. I believe she’s provided all the facts and all the committees have suggested such. None of the house committees desire to call her back and she was available to be called back over the last couple of years. None of them. that shows that the chairman, Chairman Gowdy, may want to give some sense of professionalism tomorrow. But he’s already lost all of that, particularly by his 31-page letter which he put in it that Secretary Clinton, one of her e-mails was classified. And lo and behold, the CIA came right back behind him and said it was untrue, it was not classified, and he, frankly, owes the secretary an apology. So I don’t know how he can rehabilitate this committee tomorrow.

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Of Course There’s No Place For Jim Webb In The Democratic Party

It might be one of the most cliched sayings in politics, but Jim Webb would be exactly right in stating that he didn’t leave the Democratic Party — the Democratic Party left him.

On Tuesday, the former Virginia senator announced his withdrawal from his party’s primary due to its abandonment of “millions of dedicated, hard-working Americans.” He further said, “I fully accept that my views on many issues are not compatible with the power structure and the nominating base of the Democratic Party.”

The Republican National Committee agreed with Webb’s sentiment and issued a press released saying his departure was a sign that the Democrats were moving towards the far-left fringe.

Webb’s alienation from the Democratic mainstream should be expected when the liberals in charge have, in fact, abandoned the archetypal common man. Democrats once lionized the figures of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson as champions of the little guy in American politics. Now both men are banished from Democratic events because they’re too politically incorrect.

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Biden zings Clinton over GOP 'enemies' remark

Vice President Joe Biden doesn't believe Republicans in Congress are his enemies, contrary to what some of his possible presidential competitors might think, including front-runner Hillary Clinton.

During remarks to a group of business leaders who pledged to take action on climate change at a summit on Monday, Biden mentioned Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and called him "a friend."

"Darrell Issa, not a Republican friend of mine. He's a friend," Biden said. "I don't consider Republicans enemies, they're friends."

The remark was a throwaway line during a speech that lasted a little more than 30 minutes and mostly focused on Biden's thoughts and feelings on climate change.

It draws a stark contrast to one of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's most quoted lines from last week's Democratic presidential primary debate. When asked what enemy she was most proud of, Clinton mentioned the National Rifle Association, health insurance companies, drug companies and Iranians.

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How Did 7 Congressional Committees Miss Amb. Chris Stevens’ Emails?

Rep. Trey Gowdy said Sunday that he is baffled that the previous seven congressional committees that investigated the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi failed to obtain emails U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens sent in the months before the attacks occurred.

“How did they miss Ambassador Stevens’ emails? None of the seven previous committees bothered to access the emails of our ambassador,” Gowdy said during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Gowdy, the chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, said that Stevens’ emails show that he requested additional security as soon as he was appointed the ambassadorship in June 2012. But the emails Stevens received from State Department officials indicated that the agency had other concerns. One email asked Stevens his advice on “political messaging” to help sugarcoat the dangerous situation in Libya. Another asked Stevens to vet an intelligence report that then-Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s friend, Sidney Blumenthal, sent her.

Gowdy cited the emails in response to recent attacks from Democrats who claim its Benghazi investigation is aimed at hurting former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s White House bid.

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THE NUCLEAR OPTION: THE EMPTY LECTERN WINS DEMOCRAT DEBATE IN LANDSLIDE

For the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States of America, I hereby officially and wholeheartedly announce my endorsement for — The Empty Lectern!

Debate hosts CNN and Facebook announced earlier this week that they were saving an extra debate podium just in case a liberal knight in shining armor rode in at the last minute to provide desperately-needed legitimacy to the stable of lame donkeys on stage.

But I say forget the knight. The Empty Lectern alone stands head and shoulders above the five candidates now running for the Democratic nomination.

In fact, one does not even have to have watched Tuesday night’s debate to know that the most honest, capable and inspiring leader in the Democratic field is, hands down, The Empty Lectern.

Not since Clint Eastwood introduced us to The Empty Chair at the 2012 Republican Convention has a piece of furniture captured the hopes and dreams of such a despondent electorate.

Let’s not waste time on all the sad and sordid negative reasons that disqualify the rest of the Democratic field to hold the highest office in the land. Let’s just focus on all the positive attributes of The Empty Lectern and why she would be so great as America’s first woman president.

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Sanctuary cities as a new confederacy

There are now 340 sanctuary cities — and the list is growing. All of them choose to ignore federal immigration law by refusing to report detained undocumented immigrants to federal authorities under most circumstances.

Partly as a result, deportations of those who entered the United States illegally are at a 10-year low — even according to the Obama administration’s new, rigged redefinition of deportation as also occasionally preventing illegal entry at the border.

Some of the 1,000 undocumented immigrants who go unreported to federal authorities each month and are thereby shielded by sanctuary cities from deportation have been accused of violent crimes. According to a new report by the Center for Immigration Studies, more than 2,000 of the immigrants released have used their freedom to commit crimes.

Last year, San Francisco alone released from its custody 252 undocumented immigrants whom federal authorities had asked the city to hold, according to the report. Most notoriously, the city protected Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez — five times previously deported, seven times previously convicted of felonies — who once free, allegedly murdered 32-year old Kathryn Steinle in front of witnesses.

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Given the choice, public-sector workers quit their unions

Government employees in Seattle do not exactly fit the profile of the average Republican voter. But As the Washington Examiner's Sean Higgins reported this week, they aren't suckers either.

Thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision on public sector union membership, many members of Local 925 of the Service Employees International Union — those who had not explicitly signed up to join the union — suddenly found that dues were no longer being taken directly out of their paycheck. As a result, 38 percent of the local's membership was gone overnight.

This has happened repeatedly. After Wisconsin forbade unions from siphoning dues directly from government workers' paychecks by default, roughly one-third of the state's unionized public-sector workforce dropped out of a union. In Michigan, more than 10 percent of Michigan teachers who were eligible to quit their union under right-to-work did so in its first two years, despite dogged efforts by the union to make it nearly impossible to quit.

This will happen again, every time and everywhere government workers are given a choice.

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Tea Party Patriots pan Ryan’s possible rise to House speaker

The head of a national tea party group urged lawmakers Monday to stop Rep. Paul Ryan from being tapped as the next House speaker, saying the Wisconsin Republican’s legislative record “is anything but conservative.”

Mr. Ryan is considered one of the few lawmakers that could win enough support from both the moderate and conservative wings of the GOP to replace outgoing House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio.

But Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, called on members of the House Freedom Caucus, which helped derail House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s bid this month, to rally around a conservative alternative to Mr. Ryan.

“Congressman Paul Ryan is now being looked to by many moderate Republicans, D.C. talking heads, and even Speaker John Boehner himself as the right man to try to bring the Republican conference together,” Ms. Martin said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Mr. Ryan’s record is anything but conservative — and he is not the best candidate to be Speaker.”

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Trey Gowdy Responds To Fired Benghazi Committee Staffer’s Claims That Investigation Is ‘Partisan’

A former Benghazi Committee staffer who says he was fired, in part, because he complained about a “partisan investigation” aimed at former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton had ample opportunity to raise his concerns over the past few month but did so only recently in order to help his forthcoming lawsuit, according to committee chairman Trey Gowdy.

“I was fired for going on military service and I was fired for trying to conduct an objective, non-partisan, thorough investigation,” the staffer, Bradley Podliska, told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday.

In a lawsuit to be filed next month, Podliska, an intelligence officer in the Air Force Reserve, claims his firing in June came after he questioned the committee’s focus on Clinton and because he requested a 39-day leave fulfill his military service requirements in Germany.

But Podliska, who began working for the committee as an intelligence investigator in Sept. 2014, only brought up the Clinton angle on Friday when he granted interviews to CNN and The New York Times to discuss his lawsuit against the committee, according to Gowdy.

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Benghazi Committee To Release A Trove Of Damning New Clinton Emails

A trove of emails that the State Department gave the House Select Committee on Benghazi only two weeks ago show that longtime Hillary Clinton friend Sidney Blumenthal pushed his business interests in Libya on the then-secretary of state and that she forwarded an email discussing a CIA source which was classified at the time it was sent.

That’s according to House Select Committee on Benghazi chairman Trey Gowdy, who stated in a letter sent Thursday to Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings that he plans to release the 1,500 emails within the next five days.

Much of Gowdy’s 13-page letter is spent responding to recent claims made by Cummings and other Democrats that Republicans are using the Benghazi investigation in order to hurt Clinton’s presidential chances.

But Gowdy shot down those accusations, saying that the committee has uncovered numerous new details about the security in place ahead of the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and on the Obama administration’s response to it.

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Right flexes muscle ahead of Speaker vote

The conservative House Freedom Caucus on Wednesday endorsed little-known Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) for Speaker  — a bold move that raises serious doubts about whether Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy can cobble together the 218 votes on the House floor he needs to be promoted.

McCarthy, a five-term California Republican, is expected to easily win the nomination when House Republicans huddle at noon Thursday to pick a successor to outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

But the true test will come Oct. 29, when the House holds a public roll call vote to formally elect the next Speaker.

The Freedom Caucus, led by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), holds enough votes to essentially veto a McCarthy Speakership, though it’s unclear whether all members would cast their ballots the same way.

No one can be elected Speaker unless they win 218 votes. 

“I think he’s over the 200 hump, but that’s not the hump,” said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), a McCarthy backer who acknowledged the leader still has a steep climb.

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Candidates For House Speaker Make Pitches To Conservative Lawmakers

The three Republicans running to replace John Boehner as speaker of the House met behind closed doors Tuesday evening with conservative members to make their pitches.

The candidates — Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Florida Rep. Daniel Webster — separately addressed the group of about 50 to 60 conservative lawmakers at the Capitol Hill Club near the House office buildings.

“We’re still an underdog,” Chaffetz told reporters as he made his way into the meeting with his wife at his side. “I get that. But we’re going to give it a go.”

“There are a lot of members who feel disaffected, and I think they need to see some serious process reform,” he added. “If we can get the process better, than I think we can get more buy in to the end product.”

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White House Says Obama Is Considering Executive Action On Guns

The White House is considering whether President Obama can take executive action to enforce stronger gun control measures, White House spokesman Joshua Earnest said on Monday.

“The president has frequently pushed his team to consider a range of executive actions that could more effectively keep guns out of the hands of criminals and others who shouldn’t have access to them,” Earnest said Monday. “That’s something that is ongoing here.” 

Earnest was responding to questions from reporters following Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s announcement that she would consider executive action to expand background checks on gun buyers by closing the so-called gun show loophole.

Clinton’s move marks the second time she has said she will consider going farther than the Obama administration by taking unilateral action on hot-button issues. She has already said that she would expand on Obama’s unilteral actions granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens if Congress fails to pass immigration reform.

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Supreme Court season of turmoil

Just three months ago, the Supreme Court ended its annual term with three of the most explosive cases in recent memory. It almost always ends its year with a bang, having saved its most controversial, deeply divided cases for last.

But this year, the cases decided in late June were even more contentious and politically heated than usual.

First, a six-justice majority, led by Chief Justice John Roberts, affirmed the Obama administration's interpretation of the Affordable Care Act. Justice Antonin Scalia, dissenting from the decision, accused the majority of "rewrit[ing]" the act. He added, "[W]e should start calling this law SCOTUScare."

The next day, a five-justice majority, led by Justice Anthony Kennedy, announced a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage. Roberts, this time in dissent, disagreed with the majority's expansive notion of constitutional liberty. "If you are among the many Americans, of whatever sexual orientation, who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today's decision. But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it."

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Republicans Criticize McCarthy Over Benghazi Remarks

Top House Republicans criticized Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s remarks about how the Benghazi Committee’s investigations have helped drive down Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers Tuesday night.

Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie told reporters Wednesday he believes most of the credit for the Benghazi investigation should be given to Tom Fitton at Judicial Watch and that the comment “diminishes chairman Gowdy’s work.”

“Everything that I have seen has come from Freedom of Information Act requests that [Fitton] submitted,” Massie said. “Moving beyond that, I think Leader McCarthy needs to re-read the job description of speaker of the House, if he thinks it’s to bring hearings to denigrate Democrats that are running for president.”

McCarthy is the current favorite to replace outgoing House Speaker John Boehner. Massie has previously warned against replacing Boehner with his “right-hand man” McCarthy.

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Watchdog confirms Secret Service leaked private info on Chaffetz

The Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General released a report Wednesday confirming that the Secret Service improperly handled the personal information of Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.

Chaffetz is now the chair of the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating the conduct of the Secret Service for unrelated scandals. But in 2003, he applied for a job at the Secret Service, and the IG confirmed that this information was examined by dozens of current Secret Service employees.

The IG said the leak was large, and that 45 employees accessed the application, when at most, that number should have been four.

"At least one senior Secret Service executive, who knew about the fact of the Chaffetz application, suggested that it be leaked," the report said. The action of this senior Secret Secret executive, Edward Lowery III, appears to violate the federal Privacy Act.

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