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May 2019

‘Pinkwashing’ and Israel: How to Work against Your Own Best Interests by Denis MacEoin

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14194/israel-pinkwashing

A secular government that uses religious law to suppress human rights is a sign of how deeply ingrained homophobia is in Muslim countries, most of them much more conservative than Tunisia.

How is it, then, that LGBT people who claim to love the Palestinians and care about their lives, pinning all blame for whatever suffering they undergo on the state of Israel, never say a word about the excesses against gays – and other extreme abuses — by of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority?

More perversely, why is nothing said about Aguda and the work it does to save and protect gay Palestinians?

Why are no gay rights activists boycotting any of those lowest-ranking countries or protesting outside their embassies? Why do they choose instead to condemn and act against one of the world’s most genuinely progressive and liberal states?

Early in April, the British gay newspaper Pink News ran a headline: “LGBT performers to boycott Eurovision in Israel with online broadcast”. The broadcast, known as Globalvision, will be part of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which tries hard to delegitimize Israel economically and politically.

Referring to a letter which activists had written to the pop star Madonna, Pink News reported:

“We feel we must write to you to express our deep concern at the political use of the Eurovision that is being made by Israel this year, and to highlight in particular the issue of ‘Pinkwashing,'” the letter said.

The letter said that ‘pinkwashing’ is a “PR tactic used by Israel which cynically exploits support for LGBTQIA people to whitewash its oppression of the Palestinian people.”

Valerie Plame, Who Worried About ‘America’s Jews,’ Is Running for Congress By Jim Geraghty

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/valerie-plame-congressional-campaign-new-mexico/
Valerie Plame, the former CIA employee and wife of Joe Wilson who was the center of controversy in George W. Bush’s second term, is running for Congress as a Democrat in New Mexico’s 3rd district. If Plame wins the primary, she’ll have a good chance of winning the seat, as the 3rd district is pretty heavily Democrat-leaning, scoring a D+8 in the Cook Partisan Voting Index.

Then again, Plame would bring unique baggage to the race. You may recall in September 2017, Plame got herself in hot water for tweeting out a link to an article headlined, “America’s Jews Are Driving America’s Wars.” The article’s sub-headline asked, “Shouldn’t they recuse themselves when dealing with the Middle East?” (As I noted at the time, it’s a little odd to hear the contention that those of a certain faith should not deal with Middle East policy at all, because their religion will automatically skew their judgment. Good thing Christianity and Islam don’t have any ties to the Middle East, right? I guess the author would prefer that U.S. foreign policy in the region was managed by Scientologists.)

In the face of objections, Plame doubled down, declaring the article, “very provocative, but thoughtful. Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish . . . Read the entire article and try, just for a moment, to put aside your biases and think clearly.”

How Virginia’s Top Democrats Survived a Storm of Scandal The media lost interest in the Northam blackface brouhaha when it realized the GOP could benefit. By Mark Hemingway

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-virginias-top-democrats-survived-a-storm-of-scandal-11557529444

Drive around Northern Virginia, and you’ll see no sign that only three months ago, the state was the epicenter of one of the most embarrassing and horrifying political scandals in recent memory. In the populous suburbs west of Washington, plenty of cars still sport bumper stickers proclaiming support for Gov. Ralph Northam, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring—Democrats all.

It’s hard to believe that a scandal involving abortion, multiple instances of politicians wearing blackface, and sexual assault allegations hasn’t resulted in a single resignation. The question on many minds now is: What, if anything, is the state GOP going to do about it?

Gov. Northam, a pediatrician, was asked during a Jan. 30 radio interview to defend state Democrats’ proposed legislation loosening restrictions on late-term abortion. In response, he appeared to endorse infanticide as an option when a child is born during a botched abortion. On Feb. 1, medical-school classmates offended by Mr. Northam’s comment released a photo from the governor’s 1984 yearbook page, showing a young man in blackface next to someone in a KKK outfit. Mr. Northam first acknowledged then denied being one of the men in the photo.

Ben Weingarten :’Most of China’s 1.4 billion people have no religious affiliation. Is there any reason to believe that China is a less moral place than the United States?’ asks Max Boot.

https://thefederalist.com/2019/05/10/no-isnt-moral-equivalence-communist-china-u

No, There Isn’t Moral Equivalence Between Communist China And The U.S.

Just as trade negotiations between China and the United States may be reaching their crescendo, an outspoken ex-conservative has made an assertion about the People’s Republic of China (PRC) likely to warm the hearts of the leaders of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Writing in the Washington Post on his desire for an “unapologetic atheist” to someday ascend to the White House, Max Boot says:

There are too many examples of evil committed in the name of God to assume that people act morally because they are afraid of divine punishment. More likely, people are social animals who develop moral codes so they can live at peace with their neighbors. That’s why almost all societies, whether religious or not, have similar taboos against murder, robbery, rape and other sins.

Most of China’s 1.4 billion people have no religious affiliation, and fewer than 7 percent are monotheists. Is there any reason to believe that China is a less moral place than the United States, where 70.6 percent profess to be Christians? [Emphasis mine]

Boot’s apparent attempt to draw moral equivalence between China and the United States would be news to the 1.4 billion Chinese citizens living in the world’s leading surveillance state—to the extent they are able to read his article behind the Great Firewall, and not one of the 1 to 2 million Uighurs currently imprisoned in “re-education camps” or countless others held captive for challenging the Party line.

It would be news to members of the dissenting Chinese diaspora being tracked down and targeted by the Communist regime at every corner of the Earth. And it would be news to those peoples whose sovereignty is threatened by the CCP and the People’s Liberation Army that serves it—“it” being the Party, not the country.

Congress’ Central Planners Want To Block Access To Credit J. Frank Bullitt

https://issuesinsights.com/2019/05/10/congress-central-
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want to use the police power of the federal government to ban a legitimate business activity because the socialist senator from Vermont finds “it is really disgusting.” To the callow representative from New York, it’s “economic brutality.”

This is the deep thinking that goes into the Democrats’ legislating process. Outlaw something because some subjectively find it repulsive. Or something seems scary. Or appears to be unfair. Or because someone decides for the rest of us “this isn’t who we are.” It’s the sort of lawmaking that should frighten us all.

The menacing scourge that Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez want to save the country from? Credit card interest rates that exceed 15 percent.

“Every major religion on Earth,” says Sanders, “has condemned usury.”

Usury is defined by Investopedia as “the act of lending money at an interest rate that is considered unreasonably high or that is higher than the rate permitted by law.” Merriam-Webster says it is “the lending of money at exorbitant interest rates” or “an unconscionable or exorbitant rate or amount of interest.”

Islam and the Tweedle Dems -Amil Imani

https://edwardcline.blogspot.com/2019/05/islam-and-tweedledems.html

I present a guest column by a fierce and eloquent campaigner against Islam and its creeping conquest of America, Amil Imani. This is appropriate on the occasion of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi allowing the opening prayer in the House of Representatives to be read by an anti-Semetic Muslim, Imam Omar Suleiman. . This is a “soft” victory of Islam’s goal of Islamizing America. CAIR must be doing victory laps to celebrate this coup. See this startling news item.  Edward Cline

“Marxist Democrats is commonly described as a marriage of convenience, where Muslims will ally with leftist politicians, who will joyfully yield some of their authority to this group of enforcers so principled conservative politicians and Christians who advocate sane social policies are kept out of office. To acquire power has always been the goal of the Democrat party.While America is in hibernation, Muslim organizations with the help of Democrats have been busy, working “stealthily” to change America into what is called “soft jihad.”  

Soft jihad is practiced where Muslims are not strong enough to unsheathe the sword of jihad, where the true nature of Islam is exposed and when the public would likely stamp them out.  A critical tool of soft jihad involves penetration of the American educational system, such as Da’wa, the religious duty of each Muslim to convert non-Muslims and strengthen the Islamic Ummah.

China’s Not-So-Secret Weapon Against America: Capitalism by Thomas McArdle

https://issuesinsights.com/2019/05/10/chinas-not-so-secret-weapon-against-america-capitalism/

The big tariff confrontation going on between Washington and Beijing, on which the markets are currently so focused, is in the larger scheme of things a sideshow. Over four decades, as China has opened itself to the world, the United States has allowed itself to become the Celestial Empire’s largest trading partner, it having surpassed Canada in 2015 with the exchange of goods well in excess of $600 billion a year.

Economically we are one flesh, divorce impermissible, with an imperious power whose long-term strategy clearly includes being able to win a war versus us. War or not, however, American decline is expected and welcomed by China’s rulers.

To which the oft-heard retort is that the free market will ultimately free the Chinese people. That underlying hope over these many years, however, is taking an awfully long time even to begin to be fulfilled.

In the meantime, the multitude of American businesses that depend on their association with China, especially those that tap into its vast ocean of cheap labor, be it directly or indirectly, will fight tooth and nail to maintain and expand U.S.-Chinese commerce. Boeing, Starbucks, Westinghouse, Apple, Ford – they’re all committed for the long haul, and not interested in withdrawing.

Comey Acknowledges Strzok, Page Damaged FBI: ‘It Made Us All Look Bad’ By Jack Crowe

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/comey-acknowledges-strzok-page-damaged-fbi-it-made-us-all-look-bad/

Former FBI director James Comey conceded Thursday night that former FBI agent Peter Strzok and his mistress, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, damaged the Bureau’s reputation through their political partisanship.

Strzok and Page have been publicly excoriated by Republicans and allies of President Trump ever since the release of anti-Trump text messages they exchanged while they were working on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team.

“Considering the high standards that we set for law enforcement, what do you think should have been the consequences for Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and Andrew McCabe?” an audience member asked Comey during a CNN townhall Thursday night.

“I think, given the standards that we have — especially we in the FBI have — there should have been, and was, severe discipline around their behavior,” said Comey. “As [CNN host] Anderson [Cooper] said, very different episodes of behavior. Everyone has opinions — about political issues, about religious issues, and sports issues. You can’t bring them to work and have them affect your work. There have to be severe consequences. FBI employees must tell the truth, always. And if they don’t, I don’t care what it’s about, it’s going to be investigated and there’s going to be severe consequences.”

Comey went on to explain that he was unaware of the bias exhibited by Strzok and Page at the time Strzok was serving as the lead investigator of Russian interference in the election, but admitted that the revelations about Strzok and Page’s hostility toward Trump damaged the FBI’s credibility.

“So, do you acknowledge that this whole episode with Strzok and Page, that it damaged the reputation of the FBI and that it perhaps tarnished the investigation?” asked Cooper.

William Barr vs. Eric Holder: A Tale of Two Attorneys General By Michael W. McConnell

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/05/william-barr-vs-eric-holder-a-tale-of-two-attorneys-general/

The differences between the cases are informative.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has declared it a “constitutional crisis” that Attorney General William Barr refuses to divulge the small parts of the Mueller report that contain grand-jury material. By a straight party-line vote, the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Barr in contempt of Congress.

What did Pelosi think when Barr’s predecessor, Eric Holder, refused to divulge documents to a congressional committee and was held in contempt? “Ridiculous!” she said. What did Holder and Obama say? That the House subpoena was a violation of “separation of powers.”

To partisans, the difference between the cases is obvious. Barr is defending Trump; Holder was Obama’s self-proclaimed “wing man.” That is enough for many journalists and most politicians. The rest of us might want to know: What is the legal or constitutional difference between Holder’s refusal to provide documents and Barr’s?

Here is the background of the Holder contempt. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), a unit of Holder’s Department of Justice (DOJ), conducted an operation called “Fast & Furious,” intended to track illegal gun sales. In fact it put hundreds of weapons in the hands of Mexican criminal gangs, leading to the death of an American officer. On February 2, 2011, after news of the operation emerged, Holder’s assistant attorney general sent a letter to Congress declaring that the Obama administration had no knowledge of the operation. This letter was false, as Holder later admitted.

A congressional committee wanted to know why it had been misled. BATFE employees leaked to Congress that the department was still suppressing the truth about the operation and retaliating against whistleblowers. The committee wanted to dig into that. It demanded DOJ documents “relating to actions the Department took to silence or retaliate against Fast and Furious whistleblowers,” so that it could determine “what the Department knew about Fast and Furious, including when and how it discovered its February 4 letter was false, and the Department’s efforts to conceal that information from Congress and the public.”

The committee’s first request for documents came early in March of 2011. The department did not comply with the request. On March 31, the committee issued its first subpoena. Again the department failed to comply. Over the next six months, the committee held a series of hearings, and Holder eventually admitted that the Fast & Furious operation had been “fundamentally flawed” and that DOJ’s February 4 letter denying administration knowledge was “inaccurate.” DOJ released thousands of pages of documents, but refused to give Congress all the documents it was asking for.

With illegals surge, Border Patrol officers are catching the measles and mumps and…By Monica Showalter

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/05/with_illegals_surge_border_patrol_officers_are_catching_the_measles_and_mumps.html

Should catching the measles, or mumps or chickenpox or tuberculosis, be part of a federal employee’s job description? You know, take the TB the way the military at war with an enemy takes the bullet? Except, of course, that the military can defend itself. Border Patrol agents cannot.

It is now. InfoWars, via Drudge Report, has some news on just this appalling state of affairs:

More agents than ever before are calling in sick to work or showing up sick, says a Border Patrol union representative who worries too many agents are succumbing to illnesses brought by illegal aliens.

Carlos Favela, president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 1929, says the number of agents affected by illnesses has reached alarming levels in recent years, with an estimated 20 to 25 agents from the El Paso sector calling in sick each day, while others come in to work sick because they’ve used up their sick days.

“I believe this is probably the record, you know, Border Patrol-wide, since ever, of agents calling in sick,” Favela told ABC-7.