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January 2019

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

What if the FBI Had Probed Obama? By the bureau’s Trump standard, he looked like an agent of Iran. By Lee Smith

By on January 24th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-if-the-fbi-had-probed-obama-11548287966

The Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly opened a counterintelligence investigation in 2017 to find out if President Trump was a Russian agent. What if the FBI had similarly looked into whether President Obama was an agent of Iran?

Counterintelligence agents would have examined the target’s personal and professional networks. The FBI investigated at least four Trump campaign figures for supposed ties to Russia. Only one, Mike Flynn, worked in the administration, and for less than a month. The Obama administration had a few senior officials with personal ties to Iran.

Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett was born in the Iranian city of Shiraz and reportedly led back-channel talks with the Iranians in 2012. Secretary of State John Kerry’s daughter quashed right-wing rumors that her Iranian-American husband’s best man was the son of Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. But under the FBI’s Trump procedures, that denial might have made her suspect. A month after Trump adviser Carter Page publicly asked then-Director James Comey for an interview to clear his name, the FBI obtained a warrant to wiretap him.

As Mr. Trump’s desire for improved relations with Russia raised eyebrows at the bureau, a 2008 article written by John Brennan—who went on to serve as White House counterterrorism adviser and Central Intelligence Agency director—advocated a grand bargain with Iran. In 2009 the Obama White House conducted secret negotiations with Tehran.

Mr. Obama later sidelined Project Cassandra, an investigation of illicit trafficking networks employed by Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanese franchise. Launched in 2008, the investigation was run by a multiagency task force, including the FBI itself. Then for 18 months in 2014-15, the Obama White House gave the Iranians $700 million a month in sanctions relief. In January 2016, Mr. Obama sent Iran another $1.7 billion in cash. The administration also had a habit of leaking news of Israeli strikes on Iranian arms convoys and depots in Syria. CONTINUE AT SITE

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

U.S. Recognizes Venezuelan Opposition Leader as Interim President National Assembly head Juan Guaidó’s declaration follows demonstrations marking biggest show of opposition against Nicolás Maduro since 2017 crackdown; a challenge to Russia, China

By on January 24th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tens-of-thousands-protest-venezuelan-president-maduro-11548264274?mod=hp_lead_pos

By Maolis Castro in Caracas, Venezuela, and Juan Forero and Kejal Vyas in Bogotá, Colombia

President Trump took on Venezuela’s leftist authoritarian president and his regime’s Russian and Chinese backers on Wednesday by recognizing the opposition leader of the oil-rich country’s congress as its legitimate head of state.

The U.S. move came just minutes after Juan Guaidó, the National Assembly’s 35-year-old leader, declared himself interim president and took an oath of office before a crowd of tens of thousands in the capital.

President Nicolás Maduro responded by vowing to stay in office and said he was severing diplomatic relations with the U.S.

“The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out” against Mr. Maduro “and demanded freedom and the rule of law,” Mr. Trump said. He said he would “use the full weight of United States economic and diplomatic power to press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy.”

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Western Support To Saudi Teen Rahaf Mohammad Is Fine, But What About Muslim Atheists In Malaysia And Indonesia Who Suffer Imprisonment, Re-Education And Blasphemy Charges?By Tashny Sukumaran and Meaghan Tobin

By on January 23rd, 2019

http://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-and-jihad/tashny-sukumaran

Religion is a tricky subject for Kuala Lumpur-based freelancer Muhammad Ali. Born to a conservative Muslim family, he became an atheist but cannot express his beliefs publicly in Malaysia. The multiracial country is largely Muslim and apostasy from Islam is a criminal offence in some states, while the law decrees that only a sharia court can decide if a person is Muslim – their own agency counts for nothing.

Several years ago, there was a proposal to introduce the death penalty for leaving the religion, although this was swiftly dispensed with when the Pakatan Harapan coalition formed government, dethroning the more conservative Barisan Nasional last May.

In nearby Indonesia, where most of its 260 million people are Muslim, non-believers who comment on Islam and atheists vocal about their views face the spectre of blasphemy laws.

How both Southeast Asian countries handle the matter of Muslims leaving their faith became a topic of interest after Saudi Arabian teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun barricaded herself in a Bangkok hotel room two weeks ago and lobbied for asylum. She said she had renounced Islam and fled from her family; apostasy in the kingdom can be punishable by death. Canada has since taken her in.

In Malaysia, besides the threat of prison, apostates face re-education in rehabilitation camps or whipping by state religious authorities. For Muhammad and many other atheists, this means “always looking over my shoulder”.

In 2017, he and his friends were viciously doxxed after a photo of them at an atheist gathering was shared online, with a federal minister even going so far as to say apostates – or murtads – had to “be hunted down”.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Germany bans Iranian airline on suspicion of spying, terror

By on January 23rd, 2019

https://www.businessinsider.com/r-

BERLIN (Reuters) – Berlin has revoked Iranian airline Mahan’s right to operate in Germany, a senior government source told Reuters on Monday, giving both safety concerns and the suspicion that the airline was being used for military purposes as reasons.

The government suspects the airline, which has been on a United States sanctions list since 2011, is used for military purposes by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as well as for terrorist activities.

Several European Union countries accuse Iran of carrying out spying operations or planning attacks on the continent. The government source said that the flight did not constitute general sanctions against Iran.

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HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

3 From Michigan Charged With Planning to Aid Islamic State Federal prosecutors say three Michigan residents have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group.

By on January 23rd, 2019

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/michigan/articles/2019-01-22/lansing-residents-charged-with-planning-to-aid-islamic-state

Federal prosecutors say three Michigan residents have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group.

They say FBI agents arrested Muse Abdikadir Muse, Mohamud Abdikadir Muse and Mohamed Salat Haji on Monday, and prosecutors charged the Lansing residents in a complaint filed Tuesday.

Prosecutors say all three defendants are naturalized U.S. citizens who were born in Kenya. It wasn’t immediately clear if Muse Abdikadir Muse and Mohamud Abdikadir Muse are related.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

IIhan Omar’s Rise Demonstrates What’s So Twisted About Identity Politics Elected to replace a far-left Democrat for nothing more than her ethnicity, ideology, and sex, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar exemplifies how identity politics unfolds in real life. Nicole Russell

By on January 23rd, 2019

http://thefederalist.com/2019/01/23/iihan-omars-rise-demonstrates-whats-twisted-identity-politics/

In the few short weeks she has represented Minnesota’s fifth district in the U.S. Congress, Democrat IIhan Omar has become a controversial figure. She smeared Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) over baseless accusations, garnered national recognition for wearing a hijab in Congress, and has already been placed in a leadership position on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

This inexperienced congresswoman has created a stir despite accomplishing little so far, and her win demonstrates the epitome of identity politics. A close look at her election and subsequent quick rise to fame exemplifies the cautions that accompany such a mistake.
Who is IIhan Omar?

Omar, 36, became an overnight sensation in Minnesota when she became the first Somali-American to serve in the state legislature. After one term, the fellow Muslim set her sights on former Rep. Keith Ellison’s congressional seat. The fifth district is in urban Minneapolis, where Somali-Americans number in the tens of thousands.

Ellison, himself renowned for long ties with anti-Semitism, has been somewhat of a mentor for Omar. Asking voters to replace him with her meant little practical political change in the district. Ellison won nearly 69 percent of votes cast during his 2016 race. In 2018, Omar won about 78 percent of votes, although in Ellison’s race there was an Independent and in Omar’s race there was not.

It’s easier to understand Omar’s ideology when one understands just how similar she is to Ellison. While he is far better known nationally than she is, she is no less liberal.
Ilhan Omar’s Record on the Issues Is Weak

At a candidate forum in August, Omar was asked to clarify her position on the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, sanctions movement. She said, “I believe right now with the BDS movement, it’s not helpful in getting that two-state solution.” After she was elected, however, Omar said she did support BDS.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

The Making of Kamala Harris Willie Brown’s protégé is remaking herself as a progressive populist. By The Editorial Board

By on January 23rd, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-making-of-kamala-harris-11548202145

California Senator Kamala Harris dove into the race for President on Monday, as everyone who knows her expected. Though she’s been a Senator for only two years, the victories by Barack Obama and Donald Trump have shown that ambition beats national experience as a qualification to get to the White House, if not necessarily to succeed as President.

“I love my country and this is a moment in time where I feel a sense of responsibility to fight for who we are,” Ms. Harris declared on Good Morning America. So professes every Democratic aspirant #metoo. Though a longtime member of the Democratic elite, the 54-year-old seems ready to run as a progressive populist.

In her new memoir “The Truths We Hold,” Ms. Harris reminisces about her “close-knit neighborhood of working families who were focused on doing a good job, paying the bills, and being there for one another.” Her Indian grandmother, she notes, was a “skilled community organizer” who took in domestic violence victims and educated women about contraception.

But as progressives like to say, Ms. Harris grew up privileged. Her Indian-born mother was a breast cancer researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and her Jamaican father was a Stanford economist. Amid the Democratic obsession with identity politics, Ms. Harris’s biracial background will be a selling point.

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P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

The Successful, Dangerous Child Sex-Change Charity By Madeleine Kearns

By on January 23rd, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/01/child-sex-change-charity-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/

It enjoys financial support from the British government—and political support from one daft congresswoman.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a useful idiot for many causes. Now we can add extreme transgender ideology to the list. The 29-year-old congresswoman appeared in a livestream to support Harry Brewis, a British gamer, who played the entire game of Donkey Kong in one sitting in order to raise $340,000 for Mermaids UK, a British charity that promotes sex changes for gender-confused children.

Mermaids has received substantial public funding in Britain, sparking great controversy. Last year this included £35,000 from the Department for Education and £128,000 from Children in Need. The most recent grant was £500,000 by the national lottery. But after complaints, the grant was suspended pending review.

Mermaids must be one of the most contentious charities in Britain. For one thing, it is continually butting heads with Britain’s National Health Service in its efforts to, as the Times of London reports, “overturn an NHS ban on under-16s being treated with cross-sex hormones, which cause permanent body changes and compromise fertility.”

Mermaids’ chief executive, Susie Green, is a similarly divisive figure. Green took her 16-year-old for sex-change surgery in Thailand — a procedure that is now illegal — and advocates for other people’s gender-dysphoric children. The award-winning British columnist Janice Turner recently noted that:

At a trans medical symposium in Buenos Aires last month, Susie Green tweeted approval of a US speaker that “surgery should be allowed based on competency NOT age of majority. Psychological assessment should not be needed for surgery as this is not required for cisgender surgeries of ANY type.” In other words, children should be allowed significant gender operations without counselling. In America girls have double mastectomies at 13.

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MEDIA, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The High School Deplorables MAGA hats, the March for Life, Covington Catholic—and the mob.

By on January 23rd, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-high-school-deplorables-11548202058

Of the most culturally deplorable boxes one can check in progressive America in 2019, the boys of Covington Catholic High School have most of them: white, male, Christian, attendees at the annual March for Life in Washington, and wearers of MAGA hats. What’s not to dislike? So when four minutes of video footage emerged online this weekend showing the students appearing to harass a Native American Vietnam veteran named Nathan Phillips, America’s media and cultural elite leapt to judgment.

A short video clip of student Nick Sandmann supposedly “smirking” as Mr. Phillips banged his drum in the student’s face went viral, and instantly the boys of Covington Catholic in Kentucky were branded racists.

Best-selling author Reza Aslan tweeted that the high school junior had a “punchable face.” Former Democratic Party chief Howard Dean opined that Covington Catholic is “a hate factory.” GQ’s Nathaniel Friedman urged people to “Doxx ‘em all,” i.e., make their personal information public.

Meanwhile, mainstream news outlets published misleading accounts of what happened based on incomplete information. And pundits on the right and left rushed to demonstrate their own virtue by trashing high school students as somehow symptomatic of America’s cultural rot in the Age of Trump.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israel ranked in top 5 on Bloomberg innovation indexIsrael finds itself above the U.S. and Japan among others in innovation. By David Jablinowitz

By on January 23rd, 2019

https://worldisraelnews.com/israel-ranked-in-top-5-on-bloomberg-innovation-index/

Israel has been catapulted to fifth place in the Bloomberg innovation index for 2019, climbing from 10th place last year and jumping ahead of the U.S., which has been ranked eighth, actually rising three spots.

Also behind Israel are Singapore in sixth place and Japan in the ninth position.

The annual index is being published for the seventh time. It analyzes dozens of criteria using seven metrics, including research and development (R&D) spending, manufacturing capability, and concentration of high-tech public companies. The ranking comes as global leaders are gathering at this week’s annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Better patent registration is credited as a major reason for the Israeli improvement.

Bloomberg placed South Korea in first place on the index for the sixth time due to new investments in key technologies and a regulatory plan for encouraging startups. Germany advanced into second place due to investment in production and research by many of its industrial giants, such as Volkswagen, Daimler, and Bosch, in addition to education improvements, bringing Europe’s largest economy to near-parity with the top-ranking country.

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