Chip and Joanna Gaines, the Waco, Texas-based couple from the HGTV home improvement show Fixer Upper, are the latest targets of the bullying mob that is the cultural left in 2016.Chip and Joanna are, for many Americans, a light in a dark and troubled time.Their show is as popular as it is precisely because it stays out of the political fray and doesn’t rely on stale reality TV tropes like manufactured tension/conflict and gratuitous vulgarity and sex.Fixer Upper is a wholesome, joyful, family-friendly show everyone should be able to enjoy.The Gaineses are loving parents and wonderful role models.But the Thought Police at BuzzFeed decided Chip and Joanna were having too much fun and had to be dragged into the raging culture wars the couple had, until now, avoided entirely.. . . And attempt to smear the Gaineses through guilt by association.What BuzzFeed’s article amounts to is, “The Gaineses’ pastor is opposed to gay marriage.Until Chip and Joanna publicly declare their unequivocal support for gay marriage, we must assume they, too, are gay-hating bigots.” The article was totally unwarranted and appears to be entirely a product of malice designed to destroy the couple’s reputation and livelihood.Gabriel Malor, a conservative blogger who is himself gay, had this to say in defense of the Gaineses:BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith defended Aurthur’s article on the grounds that it was attempting to determine whether HGTV discriminates against gay people, because, hey if you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear:But Stephen Miller found this exchange from three days ago that exposes the ugly, visceral, political motive behind Aurthur’s “story”:This is all very spiteful stuff from BuzzFeed.

What sort of miserable person could muster such seething resentment for people who deserve it so little?If Chip and Joanna Gaines make your “blood boil,” you have serious rage and tolerance issues that are, honestly, arguably worthy of pity more than anything.Aurthur wanted to knock Chip and Joanna Gaines down a peg because they are happy and she is not.Readers of the article basically nailed it:But because the Gaineses are possibly — possibly — guilty of Thought Crime, their hand must be forced.e cigarette vtrThe Mob Justice Left demands an answer.I’m live and let live on gay rights.e cigarette 10 flashesGay people getting married is no skin off of my back.e cigarette aigues mortes

But, at the same time, what TV stars think about gay marriage also does not have any impact on my life.Who cares what Chip and Joanna think about gay marriage?It’s none of our business.It’s entirely irrelevant to their show.But the High Inquisitors at BuzzFeed believe otherwise, because any opposition to gay marriage in any corner of this country is utterly intolerable.For about a decade, the gay rights movement’s most effective argument was “live and let live,” and it helped win over a majority of Americans on the issue.e cigarette arnouvilleBut now that gay rights activists have won the argument, where is the “live and let live” graciousness towards the minority of Americans who still oppose gay marriage?e cigarette auchWas the adult-in-the-room tolerance of “live and let live” a one way street?We are now at a point where the junior Torquemadas at BuzzFeed are demanding private citizens — the Gaineses aren’t elected officials making laws — share their political views on suspicion of holding The Wrong Ones.e cigarette armenia

It’s what Kevin Williamson of National Review called “The War on the Private Mind”: every thing and everyone must be brought into the political orbit.It’s a shameful and even disturbing trend.Why did we get Trump?Because an angry, intolerant and resentful BuzzFeed writer took it upon herself to smear good people like the Gaineses for merely embodying — not even expressly advocating!— traditional values, or “Trump’s America.” We don’t even know the Gaineses’ private political views, for God’s sake.We don’t know if they supported Trump or not; we don’t know if they’re for or against gay marriage.But the mere possibility that they are heretics apparently means they deserve scorn and harassment.Stories like this are why Flyover America feels like it’s under attack by the leftwing cultural elite, and why it has rallied behind a bullying strongman of its own.Fight fire with fire.Going after the Gaineses with such transparent, unwarranted malice is rightfully drawing BuzzFeed quite a bit of flak, as America loves that couple.

BuzzFeed deserves every all the criticism it will receive over this and more.For his part, Chip Gaines didn’t address the BuzzFeed hit piece directly this morning, but he did retweet Pope Francis:It was First Lady Michelle Obama who said, “When they go low, we go high.” This is what she meant by that.Bravo, Chip.Here are some choice tweets on the BuzzFeed piece:BuzzFeed wouldn’t dare scrutinize Islam.Only Christians must have their feet held to the fire over their religion’s incongruity with the sexual dogmas of the cultural left.Some observers have pointed out the similarities to the Jeremiah Wright controversy from 2008:The same people who argued that Obama didn’t necessarily espouse Jeremiah Wright’s blistering anti-American views now want you to believe the Gaineses necessarily own their pastor’s views on gay marriage.This piece in Washington Post by Brandon Ambrosino is good reading:- In this exclusive story that James shared with FOX 5 News, he explained that he's now living back in Cobb County with parents while he's recuperating.

The incident happened in Destin back on July 29.That’s when the vape blew up in his face and gave him not only first-degree burns, but probably the worst injury of all: a dime-sized hole that was blown open in the roof of his mouth.James is now forced to talk with a lisp, but he's willing to share his painful story in the hopes that it will prevent others from getting hurt.The 23-year-old explained he was on his break at work and simply did what he had done hundreds of times before."It'sjust a normal day," explained James."I'm at work and things quieted down and I stepped away for a second like I always do.Next thing I know, it exploded and I was on my way to a hospital in an ambulance, and that is the last thing I remember."James'injuries were so severe he was airlifted to the University of Alabama's burn unit, where he spent a week in the ICU.His parents told FOX 5 they couldn't believe the severity of the James' injuries."Hehad burns to his hand and a fractured neck and finger, and burns to his cornea," said Ed Lauria.

"It blew a hole through his pallet and at the same time, flames went down and he got first-degree burns on his chest and up on his face.It forced his front tooth up into his gum- out of sight -and chipped the other one and damaged a few other lower teeth."Hismother was severely traumatized as well."Ithurt to see him with a tube and all," claimed Beth."He was restrained but they sedated him.Just to see him go through it was tough."Andso with a long road of recovery still ahead, the Lauria family wants to warn others."Usgetting the word out prevents e-cigarettes from injuring another person.I would say we have done a good thing at this point," said Ed.It's been six weeks since the accident and James is still on a liquid die, unable to eat solid foods.His mother, Beth said he will be fitted for a prosthetic for the roof of his mouth in hopes that the hole will close.But James has a long road of recovery ahead.Currently the exploded vape is in the custody of the South Walton Fire and Rescue Department.