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March 2018

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Jihadi and the Social Justice Warrior by Linda Goudsmit

By on March 18th, 2018

What is the difference between a Jihadi and a social justice warrior? Not much.

The Jihadi is an unapologetic soldier in Islam’s religious war against America seeking to reestablish the Muslim caliphate by internationalizing the world under one-world government ruled by sharia law.

The social justice warrior is an unapologetic soldier in the leftist secular Culture War against America seeking to destroy America from within and internationalize her under one-world government ruled by the globalist elite.

So, the secular social justice warrior and the religious Islamic Jihadi are allied in their goal to destroy America and establish one-world government. The difference between them is the intended rulers of the new world order they aspire to create.

WORDS MATTER

Words matter. For eight years the English language under Obama was perverted to Orwellian doublespeak – words and expressions lost their accepted colloquial meanings including the word religion.

What is a religion? Merriam-Webster defines religion as:

• the belief in a god or in a group of gods

• an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or group of gods

• an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group

The colloquial meaning of the word religion is expressed in the first two definitions on Merriam-Webster’s list. Obama’s definition is all about the third.

An interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group.That is the winning definition and Obama’s leftist Liberalism is America’s new religion! Here is the problem.

All three definitions of religion share the word “belief” but believing something, no matter how fervently, does not make it factual. That is precisely why religious beliefs are universally described as “faith” based.

Liberalism’s beliefs are no different which is why it is impossible to convince a liberal that his premise may be faulty. The social justice warrior confuses moral doctrine with politics. The leftist liberal’s faith-based narrative of political correctness, moral relativism, and historical revisionism are sacred to him and cannot be challenged.

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BOOKS, ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Chasing Sunbeams: Taming the Sun and Solar Energy By Norman Rogers

By on March 18th, 2018

A new book, Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet, is available from MIT Press. The book touts the wonders of solar energy and tells us that there is an urgent need to invest trillions in more solar energy. The book is filled with outright errors. The author, Varun Sivaram, has a boundless faith in technical progress that he thinks will make solar cheaper and more practical.

Since solar cells and integrated circuits are both manufactured using silicon wafers, the author assumes that something like Moore’s Law must apply to solar cells. Moore’s law predicts the halving of the price of integrated circuits every 18 months or so. But integrated circuits become cheaper because they become smaller, taking less real estate on the wafer. However, solar cells don’t become smaller, because they need to collect sunlight, and the amount of energy they collect is proportional to the area they occupy. In any case, the cost of the silicon components of solar energy is rapidly becoming negligible. At least 75% of the cost is for mundane things like concrete, steel, power lines, land, etc.

Solar has the huge problem that it doesn’t work at night. It doesn’t work during the day if it is cloudy. Even the sunniest city in the USA, Yuma, Ariz., has 50 cloudy days a year. If there were a cheap and scalable method of storing electricity, the prospects for solar would be better. But the best method of storing electricity, pumped storage, is expensive and dependent on favorable terrain. Neglecting many costs, utility-scale solar farms cost about $2,200 per kilowatt of nameplate capacity. Under favorable conditions, the average power produced is about 25% of nameplate capacity. If a realistic computation of the unsubsidized cost of electricity is made, solar electricity costs 12 cents per kWh, under good conditions in sunny locations. Natural gas can deliver electricity for less than 5 cents.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

College Lists ‘God Bless You’ as Microaggression By Rick Moran

By on March 18th, 2018

Simmons College, a women’s school in Boston, wants to make sure all students are completely up to date on what constitutes a microaggression. So they published an extensive list of no-nos so that absolutely no one on campus will ever be offended by anything anyone says ever.

They also took great pains to list what might be “microinvalidations,” “microinsults” and “microassaults.” And when I find out which microbrain thought these things up, I’ll let you know.

The Washington Times reports that on the college website they list “six ‘anti-oppression’ categories—’anti-racism,’ ‘anti-transmisia,’ ‘anti-ableism,’ ‘anti-Islamomisia,’ ‘anti-sanism’ and ‘anti-queermisia’—with which students should be familiar.”

Only six? Keeping the list short is probably a microaggression itself.

A description of the guide reads, “This guide is intended to provide some general information about anti-oppression, diversity, and inclusion as well as information and resources for the social justice issues key to the Simmons College community.” As you will see, the “general information” includes loads of specifics.

What exactly is “anti-Islamomisia”? Saying “God bless you” after a sneeze is to commit the microaggression because of the “assumption of one’s own religious identity as the norm.” CONTINUE AT SITE

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Too Late, Germany Realizes Its Mistake By Michael Walsh

By on March 18th, 2018

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s disastrous decision to throw open an essentially defenseless western Europe to hordes of military-age males from the Islamic ummah will go down in history as one of Christendom’s greatest blunders, either a triumph of wishful childless-feminist thinking or a malevolent act of epic proportions. So this statement by new Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, while welcome, is way too little, and far too late:

New Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Islam does not belong to Germany, and set out hardline immigration policies in his first major interview since being sworn in this week, as he sought to see off rising far-right challengers.

Note that in the European media — and soon enough in the American — any conservative defender of tradition is now labeled “far-right.” As I’ve often said on Twitter (@dkahanerules), on the Left, “treason is the highest form of patriotism.”

His comments put him on a collision course with Chancellor Angela Merkel, who on Friday reiterated her long-held view that Islam was a part of Germany, even if the country was traditionally characterized by Christianity and Judaism.

“Islam does not belong to Germany,” Seehofer, a member of Merkel’s CSU Bavarian allies who are further to the right than her own Christian Democrats (CDU), told Bild newspaper in an interview published on Friday. Seehofer said he would push through a “master plan for quicker deportations” and classify more states as ‘safe’ countries of origin, which would make it easier to deport failed asylum seekers.

Seehofer is particularly keen to show his party is tackling immigration ahead of Bavaria’s October regional election, when the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to enter that state assembly. “Of course the Muslims living here do belong to Germany,” Seehofer told Bild, but added that Germany should not give up its own traditions or customs, which have Christianity at their heart. CONTINUE AT SITE

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on March 18th, 2018

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Eyedrops could replace spectacles. Israeli scientists at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Bar-Ilan University have developed eyedrops that repair the corneas, improving near-sighted and far-sighted vision. The “nanodrops” are scheduled for human trials next year and could eventually replace multifocal lenses.
http://nocamels.com/2018/03/israel-opthalmologist-eye-glasses/
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JXAGnAIx4Z4?rel=0

Crohn’s gene mutation identified. International scientists, including from Israel’s Hebrew University of Jerusalem and University of Haifa, have discovered a genetic mutation associated with Crohn’s disease. Those with the LRRK2 gene mutation are at high risk of developing the inflammatory bowel (IBD) disease.
https://www.israel21c.org/crohns-gene-mutation-identified-in-multinational-study/
http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/10/423/eaai7795

Destroying tumors the size of golf balls. I’ve reported previously (several times) on Israel’s IceCure and its IceSense3 cryoablation (freezing) system for destroying even large tumors. This article and video provide an excellent explanation of how the system works, in conjunction with other medications and the immune system.
http://nocamels.com/2018/03/israeli-startup-cancer-tumors-ice-balls/
https://www.youtube.com/embed/qZwOUpv8XNQ?rel=0

Medical tools for developing countries. Israel’s Engineering for All (EfA) is developing RevDx – a small, portable device that can perform automated blood tests, diagnostics, and data analytics on the spot; a kind of hand-held hospital to assist under-equipped medical workers and technicians in rural areas.
http://nocamels.com/2018/02/israeli-startup-digital-health-remote-areas/

Former Kenyan President has treatment in Israel. 93-year-old former president of Kenya, Daniel Arap Moi is being brought to Tel Aviv for medical procedures. The ailing leader will also take the opportunity to visit holy sites around the country, Kenyan TV reported.
https://worldisraelnews.com/watch-former-kenyan-president-seeks-medical-care-israel/

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Adopting the Palestinian narrative Elliot Abrams

By on March 18th, 2018

This piece is reprinted with permission and can be found on Abrams’ blog “Pressure Points.”

Seventeen “national security leaders” recently issued an alarming statement about Israel-Palestinian peace and U.S. policy. The statement was carried as an ad in The New York Times and a PDF version can be found here.

In my view, the statement is fairly radical in its departure from what has been U.S. policy for decades. How?

The Statement claims that “previous U.S. administrations” have “accepted” a Palestinian demand for “equal and minimal land swaps.” I will speak only about the George W. Bush administration. We understood that land swaps were a very useful idea to make the two-state solution work, but we did not back any demand that they be “equal and minimal.” That was to be negotiated by the parties.
The Statement says that “Jerusalem [is] to be the capital of Israel and Palestine, in the west and the east of the city respectively, an open city for the faithful of the three monotheistic religions.” The Bush administration also left the borders of Jerusalem to be determined by the parties, and never insisted on an “open city” – whatever that means.
The Statement calls for “ensuring the security of the two states consistent with their respective sovereignty and supported by a third-party security mechanism.” The Bush administration understood that security was an enormously complex and dangerous issue, but did not demand a “third-party security mechanism.” Again, the meaning of that phrase is entirely unclear, while it has long been entirely clear that Israel would not hand its security over to the United Nations, the United States, NATO troops, or any other possible “mechanism.”
The Statement says our goal should be “two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.” What’s missing here? Compare the words of President Bush when addressing the United Nations General Assembly in 2002: “In the Middle East, there can be no peace for either side without freedom for both sides. America stands committed to an independent and democratic Palestine, living side by side with Israel in peace and security. Like all other people, Palestinians deserve a government that serves their interests and listens to their voices.” The Statement makes no mention whatsoever of freedom or democracy, simply abandoning the hopes and indeed the rights of the Palestinian people in this regard.
The Statement says that a deal between the Israelis and Palestinians “remains a core U.S. national interest.” Really? A desirable goal to be sure, but as one thinks of the rise of China, American military preparedness, missile defense, Iranian and North Korean nukes, energy issues, and the like, does solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict qualify as a “core national interest”?

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MEDIA Comments turned off

CNN:CLAPPER NEWS NETWORK

By on March 18th, 2018

The media always rewards its leakers.

The late pundit Robert Novak used to say that government officials can choose to be either “a source or a target.” In other words, leak information to reporters and you can count on flattering coverage and protection from them. An added bonus to leaking, as former Intelligence Director Jim Clapper discovered, is that the network to which you are leaking will turn you into a paid contributor. According to Congressman Jim Jordan, speaking to Fox News, “Clapper was actually the guy leaking information” to CNN about the presidential briefing on the Steele dossier that served as the pretext for the media feeding frenzy over possible Russian blackmail of Trump.

One can only laugh at the utter fraudulence of CNN: it pads its panels with government officials who leak to it, then presents them to its audience as “nonpartisan” experts commenting on the aftershocks of the very stories they leaked.

Trump’s intuition about a politicized intelligence community is confirmed daily by the rantings of its former members who treat the studios of television news like a retirement center. Eager to get in on this act, NBC recently hired former CIA director John Brennan, who also ingratiated himself to reporters through leaks. On his Twitter account, he describes himself as “nonpartisan” and NBC supports that con by letting him comment on the investigation his partisan manipulation of intelligence instigated.

Almost all of the principals responsible for the Russian farce are confirmed liars and leakers. They said Trump Tower wasn’t the target of spying. It was. They said a FISA warrant wasn’t issued. It was. They said Trump officials weren’t unmasked. They were. They said (as even the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman acknowledged) Hillary didn’t finance the Steele dossier. She did.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

It turns out purple states are the ones standing up for campus free speech

By on March 18th, 2018

Florida this week joined eight other states that have banned “free speech zones” at public colleges — which, in the topsy-turvy way things work on campus these days, is a win for free speech.
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It’s a win because schools set up such zones in order to limit speech everywhere else. This cuts at the (orderly) free exchange of views that is supposed to be at the heart of any college’s mission.

But that ideal runs counter to the progressive dogma that young men and women need protection from ideas that somehow cause them pain. And it makes things tough on college administrators who must deal with the kids (and non-student radicals) who’ll happily stage a riot to serve their inner censors.

Thus Florida State, for example, offered a campus “compliance” map showing the exact locations where literature distribution and sign postings can take place — because the zones are otherwise so hard to find.

Yes: It actually takes a law to stop many school officials from caving in to the left.

Interestingly, the states that have taken this principled stand tend to be “purplish” ones, neither deep lefty blue nor righty red: Virginia, Missouri, Arizona, Kentucky, Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee and now Florida — plus Utah, whose many Mormons have historic reasons for respecting speech rights.

It’s shameful that such laws are needed — and depressing that states like New York are behind the curve.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Mueller’s Investigation Flouts Justice Department Standards By Andrew C. McCarthy

By on March 18th, 2018

Gates was charged with $100 million in financial crimes — and pled guilty to two minor offenses, one of them highly questionable.

These columns have many times observed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s failure to set limits on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. To trigger the appointment of a special counsel, federal regulations require the Justice Department to identify the crimes that warrant investigation and prosecution — crimes that the Justice Department is too conflicted to investigate in the normal course; crimes that become the parameters of the special counsel’s jurisdiction.

Rosenstein, instead, put the cart before the horse: Mueller was invited to conduct a fishing expedition, a boundless quest to hunt for undiscovered crimes, rather than an investigation and prosecution of known crimes.

That deviation, it turns out, is not the half of it. With Rosenstein’s passive approval, Mueller is shredding Justice Department charging policy by alleging earth-shattering crimes, then cutting a sweetheart deal that shields the defendant from liability for those crimes and from the penalties prescribed by Congress. The special counsel, moreover, has become a legislature unto himself, promulgating the new, grandiose crime of “conspiracy against the United States” by distorting the concept of “fraud.”

Why does the special counsel need to invent an offense to get a guilty plea? Why doesn’t he demand a plea to one of the several truly egregious statutory crimes he claims have been committed?

Good questions.

The Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Indictments . . . and Penny-Ante Plea
On Thursday, February 22, with now-familiar fanfare, Mueller filed an indictment against Paul Manafort and Richard Gates, alleging extremely serious crimes. Let’s put aside for now that the charges have absolutely nothing to do with the stated rationale for Mueller’s appointment, namely, Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible Trump-campaign collusion therein.

According to the special counsel, Manafort and Gates conspired to commit more than $25 million in bank fraud. In all, the indictment charges nine bank-fraud counts, each carrying a potential penalty of up to 30 years’ imprisonment (i.e., 270 years combined). Furthermore, the two defendants are formally charged with $14 million in tax fraud (the indictment’s narrative of the offense actually alleges well over twice that amount). There are five tax-fraud counts, yielding a potential 15 years’ imprisonment (up to three years for each offense), against each defendant.

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BOOKS, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Sean O’Callaghan The Real Heroes of Ireland’s Dirty War

By on March 17th, 2018

Today, being St Patrick’s Day, we’ll leave the harps, shamrocks and green-tinted sentimentality to others. Instead, hear from the assassin of an Ulster policeman. ‘I am deeply ashamed of that act,’ he writes, ‘like many young Irish republicans, I thought I was fighting for Irish freedom. I was not’

Secret Victory: The Intelligence War That Beat the IRA
by William Matchett
William Matchett, 2016, 272 pages, about $30
_________________________________________

Some might regard the title of this book as making a grandiose claim. Others may deride it, or ignore both title and book, choosing instead to believe that whatever fragile peace Northern Ireland enjoys today is a blessing bestowed by Tony Blair, Gerry Adams, Bill Clinton and an assortment of peaceniks, chancers and conflict resolution groupies. Many such people have lined their pockets by grossly inflating their influence in the “peace process” and exporting their inanities to gullible audiences worldwide.

In reality they reaped the harvest of peace that others had sown in a long intelligence war, and William Matchett’s book is the perfect antidote to their delusions. The author is a former senior officer in the Special Branch of the Royal Ulster Constabulary who fought the IRA (and their loyalist counterparts) for a quarter of a century and who has gone on to advise police forces across the world on counter-terrorism. He describes with the familiar understated practicality of the North’s Protestant-Unionist majority how he and his Special Branch colleagues were able to win a war of intelligence within the civil law.

One experience of mine in Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast in 1989 confirmed for me—not that I needed much convincing—the absolutely central and critical role that RUC Special Branch played in degrading the Provisional IRA, and forcing it to end its campaign of murder and intimidation against the people of Northern Ireland. I was being led, in the company of seven IRA members, through the tunnel from the jail to the courthouse, each of us handcuffed to another prisoner. I happened to be handcuffed to a senior and long-standing member of the IRA from Dungannon, County Tyrone, named Henry Louis McNally. I knew him quite well from my days as an IRA operative in the mid-1970s in County Tyrone. He was once named, by Ken Maginnis, an Ulster Unionist MP in the House of Commons, as being directly responsible for the murders of seventeen members of the security forces. He had been arrested, charged, and later convicted of the attempted murder of British soldiers travelling by bus to their base in Antrim.

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