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November 2018

POLITICS Comments turned off

A Consequential Congress The 115th has the best record of center-right reform since 1994-1996.

By on November 1st, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-consequential-congress-1541114048

Americans love to hate Congress, and no wonder given the careerists and poseurs in both parties. But some Congresses matter more than others, and the 115th has accomplished more useful conservative reform than any since the first Newt Gingrich years of 1995-1996.

Democrats won’t admit it for partisan reasons, and neither will some of the perpetually angry on the right. But the GOP’s narrow Senate majority of 52 seats and then 51 has turned out to be more consequential and conservative than the 55-seat GOP majority of 2005-2006, the last time Republicans controlled both Houses and the Presidency.

The looming election is a useful moment to review the tape on the successes and disappointments, and consider the stakes of a Democratic House, Senate or both.

• Tax Reform. Republicans broke the economic logjam of the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world, and the new 21% rate with 100% business expensing has helped to lift the U.S. economy to a higher growth plane and again made it the most competitive.

The individual reforms were more about passing out tax cuts or credits to everyone, though millions pay no income taxes. Plenty of voters still aren’t convinced they received a cut even if they did, thanks to a mediocre sales effort from the GOP and a press corps hoping Republicans fail. But consider the 2019 options: The GOP wants to make the cuts permanent; Democrats want to repeal most of the reform to finance more spending.

• Deregulation. Congress through the Congressional Review Act scuttled 16 rules that the Obama Administration tried to impose in its final days. That included everything from regulations about online privacy that somehow didn’t apply to Facebook or Google to environmental overreaches like the stream protection rule. Before 2017 Congress had invoked the CRA only once—for a Clinton ergonomics rule.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling also succeeded in reforming the 2010 Dodd-Frank law’s assault on community banks. The Senate filibuster prevented him from doing more, but the lame duck session could push through other useful reforms, including work requirements in the farm bill. The free-market Mr. Hensarling is retiring and his successor in a Democratic House would be Rep. Maxine Waters. That is the election policy stakes in profile.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Brazil’s New Leader Picks Anticorruption Judge as Justice Minister Choice of Sergio Moro signals crackdown on graft but fuels criticism of the judiciary By Samantha Pearson and Luciana Magalhaes

By on November 1st, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/judge-who-oversaw-corruption-probe-to-be-named-brazils-justice-minister-1541083888?mod=cx_picks&cx_navSource=cx_picks&cx_tag=undefined&cx_artPos=4#cxrecs_s

Brazil’s President-elect Jair Bolsonaro picked the country’s crusading anticorruption judge to be justice minister, signaling that Latin America’s largest nation will step up its battle against endemic graft but fueling criticism of the judiciary among his opponents.

Mr. Bolsonaro said Thursday that Sergio Moro had accepted his invitation to head a beefed-up version of the justice ministry from January 1, which will also give Mr. Moro control over the country’s efforts to combat spiraling violence that saw nearly 64,000 people slain last year.

“His agenda against corruption and organized crime, as well as his respect for the Constitution and the law, will be our guiding principle,” Mr. Bolsonaro said on Twitter.

In a note sent by the Bolsonaro transition team, Mr. Moro was quoted as saying that his appointment means “consolidating the advances of the past few years against crime and corruption and reducing the risks of going backwards,” and adding that he made the decision for “the greater good.”

The appointment of the widely-respected judge as minister is considered by legal experts to be a stamp of approval for the future government of Mr. Bolsonaro, who swept to victory Sunday with his promise to restore law and order.

But the move has also fueled criticism of partisanship in the country’s vast Car Wash corruption investigation that Mr. Moro helped lead, adding weight to accusations by the leftist Workers’ Party that the operation was part of a soft coup by the right to seize power. CONTINUE AT SITE

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BOOKS Comments turned off

Geoffrey Luck: Muhammad’s Bloody Creed-Reveiw of Robert Spencer’s “The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS”

By on November 1st, 2018

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2018/11/muhammads-bloody-creed/

Islamic groups, leftists and empty-headed multiculturalists did everything they could to foil the publication of Robert Spencer’s new book on the history of jihad. No wonder. With the possible exception of thuggee stranglers, there has never been a religion more devoted to rape, murder and conquest.
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Once upon a time in a primitive land of polytheist idolaters far, far away, an egomaniac zealot with high ambitions hit on a bright idea. On learning of the ancient Jewish prophecy of a Messiah, and the newish Christian communities’ worship of Jesus as the “Chosen One”, he decided to nominate himself as the latest in the line – the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets. If the Angel Gabriel could give the name ‘Jesus’ to Mary, why couldn’t Gabriel be recruited to authenticate Muhammad’s pronouncements?

The polytheists who worshipped 360 idols in the Ka’aba of Mecca thought this was fake news and made life difficult for the would-be prophet-poet. In thirteen years he attracted only 150 followers. So he decamped to another town. The Jews of Medina first welcomed him as a protector, but after they heard his story about travelling to Jerusalem and then to Paradise on a winged white horse with a human head, and questioned him on religion, they declared him a phony. Muhammad decided a new business model was needed: conversion by the sword. Beginning as a highwayman raiding passing caravans, he invented a unique rallying cry: “Allahu Akbar!” (My) God is the Greatest! The shout inspired his followers to kill, loot and enslave. It continues to terrify the world 1400 years. later.

I have paraphrased and simplified a complicated and disputed history of the origins of the most powerful movement the world has seen. Nobody can be certain of these events because the first account, by Ibn Ashaq, relying on hearsay and legend, was not set down until a hundred years later. But what is clear from Islam’s texts is that Muhammad set himself up as spokesman for Allah and, therefore, gatekeeper to hell and paradise. What sets Islam apart from Western notions of warfare, and the horrific excesses of the most brutal dictatorships (which it resembles), is that holy war is a central tenet, waged essentially for spiritual reward. Often seemingly irrationally. But before his death Muhammad could claim: “I have been made victorious with terror.”

That is the important message in Robert Spencer’s new book, The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS. Heavily documented but eminently readable, its magisterial sweep reveals Jihad as a holy war to convert the world, or at least compel non-believers into submission. From the Battle of Badr in 624 to the latest suicide bombing or vehicle ram-raid, there has been a continuum of atrocities with a single purpose. The immense extent of the horrors of jihad are largely unknown, or have been forgotten. For too many, especially those in authority, they have been conveniently ignored, as they welcome millions of migrants into their midst.

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MEDIA Comments turned off

Chad Felix Greene:No, Pence Did Not Invite A Messianic Jew To Pray For Pittsburgh

By on November 1st, 2018

http://thefederalist.com/2018/11/01/no-pence-not-invite-messianic-jew-pray-pittsburgh/
In this time of genuine coming together to mourn and stand in solidarity against hate, more hatred and division are simply unwelcome.

On Oct. 29, two days after the breathtakingly tragic terrorist attack against Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue, Vice President Mike Pence spoke at a campaign rally for several Republican candidates in Michigan. At the speech, a religious leader gave a prayer for the victims of the attack and prayed for the Republican candidates.

This gesture should have been taken as a kindness and show of respect. Outrage, however, centered around the fact that the religious leader, Rabbi Loren Jacobs of Shema Israel temple in Detroit, Michigan, is a Messianic Jew (a Jew who believes Jesus is the Messiah, so a Jew who is a Christian).

ThinkProgress quoted Daily Kos’ David Nir as saying, “Pence could not possibly have done something more offensive to Jews.” The article cited the progressive website Eclecta Blog, which, after incorrectly stating in its title that Pence had invited the rabbi, began its commentary by saying: “I don’t know how to describe this exactly. It may be the most insulting thing anyone in the Trump administration or campaign has done to Jewish Americans.”

Bend the Arc — a self-proclaimed progressive Jewish organization that stated in an open letter to President Trump he was unwelcome in Pittsburgh until he “denounced” white supremacy — responded by saying, “11 Jews were killed while praying, and this is how the Vice President responds??? Another attack on us from this administration.”

A local rabbi stated, “The only rabbi they could find to offer a prayer for the 11 Jewish victims in Pittsburgh at the Mike Pence rally was a local Jews for Jesus rabbi? … That’s pathetic!” Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg tweeted, “Dear Pence, please give up the pretense of Jewish presence. You are a Christian supremacist. We know that, you know that. Also we will defeat you. But in the meantime, just stop pretending and appropriating my people.”

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Why Wind Power Isn’t the Answer As a new study confirms, turbines would have to be stacked across state-sized swaths of the American landscape. Robert Bryce

By on November 1st, 2018

https://www.city-journal.org/wind-power-is-not-the-answer

On October 8, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report warning that nations around the world must cut their greenhouse-gas emissions drastically to reduce the possibility of catastrophic climate change. The report emphasizes “fast deployment of renewables like solar and wind” and largely ignores the essential role nuclear energy must play in any decarbonization effort.

Four days earlier, to much less fanfare, two Harvard researchers published a paper showing that trying to fuel our energy-intensive society solely with renewables would require cartoonish amounts of land. How cartoonish? Consider: meeting America’s current demand for electricity alone—not including gasoline or jet fuel, or the natural gas required for things like space heating and fertilizer production—would require covering a territory twice the size of California with wind turbines.

The IPCC and climate-change activists love solar and wind energy, and far-left politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have called for a wartime-style national mobilization to convert to 100 percent renewable-energy usage. But this credo ignores a fundamental truth: energy policy and land-use policy are inextricable.

The renewables-only proponents have no trouble mobilizing against land use for the extraction of hydrocarbons. Consider the battle in Colorado over Proposition 112, which will prohibit oil- and gas-drilling activities within 2,500 feet of homes, hospitals, schools and “vulnerable areas.” Environmental groups including 350.org, the Sierra Club, and Greenpeace have endorsed the initiative, which will appear on the November 6 ballot. If it passes, Proposition 112 would effectively ban new oil and gas production in Colorado, the nation’s fifth-largest natural gas producer. Or consider the months-long demonstrations that ended last year in South Dakota over the Dakota Access pipeline. More than 700 climate-change activists and others were arrested during protests claiming that Dakota Access, by crossing the traditional lands of the Standing Rock Sioux, was violating the tribe’s cultural and spiritual rights. These energy- and land-use battles are waged by climate activists and environmental groups whose goal is to shutter the hydrocarbon industry. Most of these groups, including 350.org and Sierra Club, routinely claim that the American economy can run solely on renewables. Further, the Sierra Club has tallied 74 U.S. cities that have pledged to get all of their electricity from renewable energy.

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P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

Teenage Mutant Fashion Marxists By Heather Wilhelm

By on November 1st, 2018

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/11/fashion-magazines-embrace-woke-politics/

Fashion magazines have gone woke.

O ne Saturday morning years ago, back when certain sectors of our culture were at least a teensy bit less preachy and tiresome and insufferable than they are now, I sat at my kitchen table, idling through a fashion magazine. As a salty veteran of years of fashion-magazine consumption, I knew exactly what to expect: pages upon pages of uber-thin women towering on impossibly reedy legs, imperiously clutching things like massive diamonds and random cheetahs while posing in weird giant moon boots against carefully composed, super-serious artistic backdrops.

Behold, fashion-magazine readers, and do not turn away: There’s a busy New York street corner, complete with a bodega and a hot-dog stand and maybe even a pizza rat, paired with an ostrich purse that costs more than your car! There’s a repressed suburban grocery store, its blank-eyed and chiseled patrons pushing around puzzlingly empty carts, accessorized by hair curlers and Tom Ford and despair! There’s the zombie-strewn aftermath of a nuclear war, with the lone androgynous stilettoed survivor brought to you by someone like Helmut Lang!

On that morning, however, fresher, less jaded eyes could perceive a deeper truth. “Ooh, look, Mommy,” my then-three-year-old hollered in delight, peering over my shoulder at the scary-eyed women looking strangely disappointed in their eight-thousand-dollar coats. “Witches! Ooh! Witches!”

I laughed back then, but those were more innocent times. In hindsight, this was a mistake. This is not just because we live in an increasingly humorless age; it is also because my son was eerily prophetic. As I write, the front page of the website of W magazine — which I used to consider the “serious” fashion magazine, the one that did not mess around with a lot of non-fashion-y things — has an actual story instructing readers on how to become a witch.

“Witchcraft and covens have also proven to be a source of solace and solidarity for some in the #MeToo era,” W informs us, “following an increasing association between witches and feminism.” Along with its helpful guide on how to climb on board with “paganism” and “all things occult,” W also offers instructions on “How to Throw a Séance at Home.” In case you decide you want to dabble with the dead in your living room, here’s one particularly helpful tip: “In a lot of cultures, you never do anything without covering your head, which prevents you from getting possessed or getting messed up.”

Wow. Possessed! That would be messed up. It’s kind of like the state of fashion magazines today! Not so long ago, readers like me could hope that the year would bring just a few stray and annoying puff pieces profiling random Planned Parenthood executives or Hillary “I Shall Never Leave” Clinton. In 2018, however — like so much else in American culture — fashion magazines have morphed into a relentless and insufferable leftist acquaintance you’d quite frankly rather avoid.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

The Problem with Columbia’s Statement on Pittsburgh By Jimmy Quinn

By on November 1st, 2018

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-problem-with-columbias-statement-on-pittsburgh/

In the Columbia student’s vocabulary, few labels are more damning than the word “problematic.” The Western canon central to our school’s curriculum is problematic (an affirmation of whiteness and the patriarchy). As is our free-speech supporting, union-skeptic university president (ditto). And the endowment’s investment in fossil-fuel companies (ditto). Succinctly put,“problematic” — to the average student and, in my experience, to some instructors — is the antonym of“woke.” Never mind that this is a grammatically tenuous use of the word: At Columbia, this definition is gospel.

Our campus paper, the Columbia Spectator, reported this morning on an email the Office of University Life addressed to the Columbia community following the anti-Semitic massacre in Pittsburgh. What makes this article worthy of attention? The university’s statement omitted the words“anti-Semitic” and “Jewish.”

Here’s the text of the message:

We are deeply saddened by the senseless violence at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday morning. Violence in our nation’s houses of worship is an affront to the freedoms our community holds dear. We stand strongly against these efforts to create fear and terror.

For some in our community, this is a particularly frightening time as we have seen a growing number of highly visible attacks directed at faith and identity – on worshippers and people of faith as they go through their daily lives, on groups gathered to celebrate an LGBT Latin night at Pulse Nightclub, on civil rights and anti-racist protesters in the streets of Charlottesville, and in so many other places, as occurred in last Wednesday’s shooting of two African-American shoppers in Kentucky. Please know that you are not alone, and that you are a part of this community founded on the fundamental dignity and worth of all.

The Columbia Spectator reports that following pushback from Columbia students and alumni, the Office of University Life issued a revision to this initial statement that characterized the attack as anti-Semitic and acknowledged that the attack specifically targeted the Jewish community.

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

The Month That Was – October 2018 Sydney Williams

By on November 1st, 2018

http://swtotd.blogspot.com/

Ignorance about government and its Constitution threatens our nation. The Founders felt the provision of a virtue-inspired public education that includes civics imperative to the survival of the Republic they had created. Noah Webster was direct about the need for a moral sense: “The virtues of men are of more consequence to society than their abilities.” In the 1950s,” as Paul Volcker mentioned recently to Gillian Tett of the Financial Times, “courses in public administration commanded high status at universities such as Princeton. But now the phrase ‘good government’ is a mockery.” Civics is no longer universally taught. A March 2017 article in “neaToday”reported that only 25% of students reach the “proficient” standard on the NAEP Civics Assessment. An article in the November 8, 2016 issue of The Atlanticnoted that 30% of Americans did not know in what century the American Revolution took place. Forty percent thought the Bill of Rights guaranteed the right to vote; 40% did not know that the Constitution gives the right to declare war to Congress; 50% did not know the terms for U.S. Senators and Representatives, and 80% did not know the origin of Lincoln’s unforgettable words: “…a government of the people, by the people, for the people…” What does this portend for our country? The direction the country is moving is not healthy for democracy. We need to calm rhetoric and emphasize the civic virtues critical to a free people.

As we approach the 100thanniversary of the Armistice that ended World War, two books, with lessons for today, are worth noting:George Dangerfield’s The Strange Death of Liberal England, written in 1935. The book covers three crucial events in England – Irish Home Rule, Suffrage and unionization – during the four years preceding the Great War and how attitudes and responses threatened a nation that had been the cradle of liberalism. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914by Christopher Clark covers the two or three decades leading up to the same war. The book was written in 2012 and explores the complex relationships, treaties and alliances that led well-meaning leaders into a conflict during which idealism was destroyed and sixty-million people died. Bad things happen when complacency and ignorance flourish. It is a desire for power that has caused arrogant elitists in the U.S. and Europe, who speak the language of globalism but who act with imperium. The teaching of civics, including the virtues expressed by our Founders would help restore moral principles and maintain freedoms of expression.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Trudeau’s Most Valuable Political Asset – Mohamad Fakih By Rachel Ehrenfeld

By on November 1st, 2018

http://acdemocracy.org/mohamad-fakih

The forty-seven years old Mohamad Abdallah Fakih (محمد عبدالله فقيه) is the founder and CEO of Paramount Fine Foods, a Middle Eastern restaurants and food chain operating in Canada, USA (Florida, New York), UK (London – Paddington, Brixton and Gloucester), Lebanon (Beirut), Pakistan (Karachi), and the Ivory Coast (Abidjan).

Fakih’s relationship with Justin Trudeau seems very close. Trudeau was invited several times to Paramount Fine Foods, and he has joined the Canadian Primer’s political and charitable activities. Fakih called Trudeau “my good friend,” and said “ I have personal and direct relationship with Justin Trudeau.” Trudeau called Fakih “my friend” and “the best of Canada.”

On the occasion of Paramount Fine Food’s tenth anniversary, Trudeau sent his greetings in video:

“Mohamad my friend, congratulations to you and to the whole team at Paramount on your tenth anniversary. In just a short decade you’ve made your mark in Toronto North America and around the world. Your success speaks to your passion commitment and dedication. By now we know the quality of your food is outstanding but your commitment to making a difference and helping people is nothing short of inspiring… Congratulations again here’s to many more decades of success.”

Fakih responded: “Paramount Fine Foods is honoured to receive this special message for our 10th Anniversary from our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau Thank you Mohamad Fakih.”

Born in Tairdebba, the small Shiite village in south Lebanon – home also to Imad Mughniyeh, former Hezbollah Chief Commander – Mohamad Fakih has managed skillfully to translate his meteoric business success to political power by establishing close relationship not only with Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau, but also with other Liberal ministers, members of Parliament and local politicians.

Dismissing the idea of entering politics, it appears that Fakih favours rubbing shoulders with people in power to promote his community and business targets, as well as his political agenda.

For the Liberal Party Fakih is a one of the most valuable political asset that can help in mobilizing the Muslim and the Arab communities to vote for reelection of the Trudeau government in 2019 elections.

But Fakih should reconsider his partnership with Islamic Relief Worldwide and Islamic Relief Canada. Tom Quiggin, a Canadian intelligence expert, has recently sent to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police a request to launch a investigation into financing terrorism. It is based on a new report that shows that Members of Parliament and Ministers have been sending taxpayers’ money to organizations that fund extremism and terrorism. According to Quiggin, one such organization is Islamic Relief Canada, which recived funds from a variety of government programs.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

China leads market recovery as predicted trade deal emerges David Goldman

By on November 1st, 2018

http://www.atimes.com/article/china-leads-market-recovery-as-predicted-trade-deal-em
Trump signals progress in talks after US stocks plunge in October

The popular large-cap China ETF (ticker FXI) led the S&P 500 during the market uptick of the past several days, driven by signals from Beijing and Washington that a resolution of the Sino-American trade dispute was possible.

President Trump this morning tweeted that he had made progress on trade negotiations with China, and had spoken by telephone with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

“Just had a long and very good conversation with President Xi Jinping of China. We talked about many subjects, with a heavy emphasis on Trade. Those discussions are moving along nicely with meetings being scheduled at the G-20 in Argentina. Also had good discussion on North Korea!”

The October plunge in US equity prices, as well as weakness in recent US economic data, give the Trump Administration an incentive to reach a resolution with China.

As I reported from Beijing October 23, China is looking for a framework for a trade deal that would allow Trump to claim credit for better protection for American intellectual property as well as changes in China’s industrial policy. China may tone down its rhetoric about dominating high-tech industries under the “Made in China 2025” program, source of contention with the United States, although it will not abandon its economic goals.

I predicted October 25 that the slumping stock market would motivate the Trump Administration to seek a deal with China.

The October manufacturing survey of the Institute for Supply Management released Nov. 1 showed weaker-than-expected growth in US industry. The index fell from 58.8 to 56.8 while new orders fell from 61.8 to 57.4, and prices paid rose from 69.0 to 71.4. The numbers reflect the percentage of respondents who see expansion vs. contraction and came in far below the consensus of economic forecasters.

The Institute told Bloomberg news that tariffs are a concern to more than 40% of respondents in the broad-based survey. “Import tariffs and counter-tariffs are the biggest inhibitor to the expansion in manufacturing,” ISM official Timothy Fiore said.

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