Displaying posts published in

August 2019

Right From Wrong: Sex, lies and videotape Ruthie Blum

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Right-From-Wrong-Sex-lies-and-videotape-597452

Nothing better illustrates the perils of prematurely debating a criminal case in the context of social politics than the recent arrest of a bunch of Israeli teenagers in Cyprus.

On Monday evening, after nearly two weeks in police custody, the remaining seven suspects in what was originally believed to be the gang rape of a 19-year-old British tourist in Ayia Napa landed at Ben-Gurion Airport. The other five were released a few days earlier.

Upon their arrival in Israel, the boys – aged 15 to 18 – were greeted by tearful family members and cheering friends.

The kids’ parents, who had believed in their sons’ innocence all along, felt vindicated. For days on end, the Israeli media and punditry had been portraying the teenagers as predators who had preyed upon a young woman whose only mistake was to trust in the three with whom she had consensual physical relations.

Before all the facts of the case were known or revealed, the accused were convicted in the court of public opinion. According to initial reports, the victim recounted meeting two Israelis – one who spoke no English, and the other who served as a translator for their flirtation – and admitted to going to bed with both of them, as a well as with a third friend of theirs. She claimed that things went awry when she set up a date with them one night, and they showed up with a slew of additional guys in tow. It was then, she said, that they all took turns raping her.

HER STORY sounded plausible for a number of reasons.

First of all, she acknowledged having had consensual sex with at least three people whom she barely knew, giving credibility to her claims of subsequent violent gang rape.

Confessions of a Recovering Neoconservative By Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2019/07/31/confessions-of-a-recovering-neoconservative/

The realignment of the political Right has prompted a public confessional of sorts, a raw acknowledgement that millions of us were led astray by Republiican leaders we trusted, we voted for, and we defended during times of war. We only have ourselves to blame, of course, because we did it with our eyes wide open. But the Trump era is forcing many Republicans to reexamine what we once believed and reassess what actually is true.

In a fiery speech earlier this month at the National Conservatism conference in Washington, D.C., Fox News host Tucker Carlson talked about purging his “mental attic” to dust off the ideas that he had accepted as legitimate over past few decades.

“The Trump election was so shocking . . . that it did cause some significant percentage of people to say ‘wait a second, if that can happen, what else is true?’” Carlson said. “Just look around . . . who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? A lot of the people we’ve been told are good guys are not. Some of them are the worst guys. I’ll let you figure out who.”

Carlson didn’t need to name names because the conservatives in the room, I assume, envisioned pretty much the same collection of bad guys—and they aren’t on the Left.

For the most part, the list would include Republican villains such as Bill Kristol, Carlson’s former boss at the now-defunct Weekly Standard, and a number of other conservative commentators still clinging to the mantras that afford them their sinecures; Bush family members and certain administration officials; former Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and the late John McCain; former Republican congressional leaders such as ex-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan; and an assortment of well-heeled donors.

Robert Mueller: The Little Man Behind the Curtain Bill Martin

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/08/robert-mueller-the-little-man-behind-the-curtain/

Robert Mueller, decorated Vietnam veteran, distinguished lawyer, two-term director of the FBI and, more recently,  Russiagate special counsel, recently testified for some seven hours before two select committees on Capitol Hill. What the world witnessed was sad, pitiful and largely farcical as the vague and mentally adrift champion of those who long hoped he would bring down an elected President saw their ambitions not merely dashed but pulverised. For Mueller it was bad; for Democrats it was much worse.

As soon as Donald Trump announced his presidential aspirations and entered the Republican primaries an almighty deluge of derision and ridicule was unleashed from all quarters. He was known primarily as the brash, domineering central character in the TV program The Apprentice, and less so as a very wealthy, successful property developer. Neither persona would serve to endear him to the masses, the elites of the punditocracy opined,  speaking mostly for themselves as it turned out. All forms of the media were especially savage. They branded him a vulgar buffoon and much worse. Comedians mockingly encouraged him to ‘run, please run, and let us enjoy your humiliation of failing’. By the time he looked like winning the nomination a nascent fear was rippling through the Washington swamp the candidate had pledged to drain. True, Hillary Clinton’s ascension to the Oval Office was accepted by the Left and like-minded as an inevitability, yet the signs were ominous. ‘Regular, everyday Americans’, the trans-Pacific counterparts of John Howard’s battlers, liked much of what he was saying and did not mind the way he was saying it. After he was confirmed as the Republican candidate for the presidency, the camp of Trump’s followers grew rapidly and Clinton’s supporters became concerned that the “unimaginable” might just possibly come to pass. In the top layers of this cabal a  strategy to prevent it or, failing that, to destroy it took root and flourished. The plan’s objective was no less than a fully fledged, bloodless political coup to unseat a duly elected president. Much of the conspiracy is well known already, including the identities of the plotters in the top tiers of the FBI, the CIA, other security organisations, in the Justice and State departments, among prominent politicians of both major parties.

What we do know — and Mueller did not at his marathon testimonies — is that the Clinton campaign paid a British ex-spy to gather (manufacture?) fallacious information from dubious Russian sources about Trump having engaged in salacious conduct involving prostitutes while staying years earlier in a Moscow hotel. This was disseminated throughout Washington and passed to tame reporters, the specific intention being to drive Trump from the office should he be elected. This plot was “the insurance” and involved American and British individuals and, though he laughs it off as a joke, the curious involvement of Alexander Downer.

A Real Feminist: Kurdistan’s President Nechirvan Barzani Empowering women and girls in a region of tyranny, misogyny and gender apartheid. Kawyar Shahed Omer

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274473/real-feminist-kurdistans-president-nechirvan-kawyar-shahed-omer

As a citizen of Iraqi Kurdistan, I am greatly pleased that not too long ago, Nechirvan Barzani, a strong feminist and advocate for women’s rights, was sworn in as the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s President. When he was Kurdistan’s Prime Minister, I had the honor of working in his media office and the office tasked with rescuing kidnapped Yezidis. There, I witnessed how Barzani is one of the greatest advocates for women’s rights in the Middle East region. I saw how he tirelessly worked to save abducted Yezidi women and girls. I witnessed how he passed legislation that is greatly beneficial for women’s rights.   

Under the leadership of Barzani, Kurdistan amended the Iraqi Personal Status Law, which was used as an excuse to justify honor killings. On top of that, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq ratified Article Eight on the Elimination of Domestic Violence, which outlaws all gender-based violence. As a result of these measures, honor killings in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq are considered intentional homicide and due to the changes in the law, the number of honor killings in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has significantly decreased since the Kurds received autonomy.

In addition, the Kurdish authorities outlawed all forms of forced marriages and female circumcision, restricted polygamy and reformed the inheritance law in order to guarantee a fair share for females. Furthermore, Barzani also succeeded in having the parliament pass a law stressing that a man cannot marry a second wife without the first wife’s permission. The first wife has to come to the court and sign a document stating that she gives her husband permission to take on a second wife. 

‘No Republican Talking Points!’ Is The New Democrat Talking Point Thomas McArdle

https://issuesinsights.com/2019/08/01/no-republican-talking-points-is-the-new-democrat-talking-point/

It was 10:46 p.m. when Joe Biden finished his closing statement Wednesday night. At 10:50 p.m. the former Vice President was at the edge of the stage with his arm around the Rev. Al Sharpton, the professional demagogue who with his hoaxes and hatemongering has stirred up more racial discord in America than anyone.

And Biden is the “centrist” candidate.

Government dependency, the cause of so much misery, is the air that politicians of the left breathe. Ever-increasing government control is their perennial objective, promising it will solve big problems (often of government making). But it never does.

Democrats talk about “endless wars,” but the problems of poverty and crime President Trump showcased in his explosive tweets about Baltimore must never be solved, so that the left’s war against them never ends.

Despite strides against racism and against lack of economic opportunities for the underclass that were unimaginable in the 1960s, the Democrats running for president in 2020 are more intent on expanding government and worming it into Americans’ lives than some of the most power-hungry tyrants of the past, doing so purportedly to combat the phantom of “systemic racism.”

And so, actual solutions must never be given voice. Which is why during the last two nights we witnessed the bizarre new phenomenon of the Democrats again and again accusing each other of borrowing “Republican talking points” — apparently the worst sin that can be committed.

Policing Your Fellow Democrats’ Speech

Kushner, Jordan, & the Saudi Peace (of the grave) Plan: The Gall of the Hashemites by Gerald A. Honigman

Please allow me to begin with excerpts from an article in Israel National News on 7/31/19 about President Trump’s adviser’s current visit to the Middle East…  

“…President Donald Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Amman on Wednesday for talks on a controversial US plan for Israeli-PA peace. The two discussed ‘efforts to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’…adding Kushner was ‘visiting Jordan on a tour that includes a number of countries in the region’…

Abdullah stressed ‘the need to achieve a just and lasting peace to ensure the establishment of an independent Palestinian state…with east Jerusalem as its capital, living in peace and security alongside Israel’…said any plan should be based on the internationally backed “two-state solution”and in accordance with the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative [italics GAH]. The [Arab] initiative called on Israel to withdraw from all land it liberated in1967, in exchange for normalization between all Arab states and Israel. Kushner was accompanied by Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt…” http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/266764 

Note the part of the statement above in italics where Abdullah states that any agreement must be based on the 2002 Arab peace initiative. 

What he left out is that initiative also calls for Israel to be inundated by millions of allegedly “returning” Arab refugees, raised on decades of murderous hate. Note that more Jews fled “Arab”/Muslim lands than Arabs who fled in the opposite direction due to a war that over half dozen Arab states launched immediately upon Israel’s rebirth in May 1948. To this day, children are taught, by both Hamas and the PA’s Abbas folks, how to murder Jews in their summer camps, schools, television programs, and elsewhere. The Internet has plenty of references regarding this.

United Nations Singles Out Israel for Violating ‘Women’s Rights’ By William Z. Nardi

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/united-nations-singles-out-israel-for-violating-womens-rights/

The United Nations economic and social council recently singled out Israel for violating women’s rights by a vote of 40–2 with nine abstentions and three countries absent.

The resolution criticized Israel for posing a “major obstacle” for Palestinian women “with regard to their advancement, self-reliance, and integration in the development of their society,” UN Watch reported.

The Council then resolved Israel should address these issues by complying with the 1994 agreement signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): fully opening Palestinian access to border crossings in the Gaza Strip, as well as restoring and replacing “civilian property, vital infrastructure, agricultural lands and government institutions that have been damaged or destroyed due to its military operations,” according to a UN press release.

Iran, Saudia Arabia, Yemen and Pakistan were among the 54-nation committee which proposed the resolution — all countries that have seen their fair share of criticism for human-rights abuses.

“It amazes me how the U.N. condones votes like these. It is a total mockery of human rights to allow Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, and Yemen to name Israel as the world’s only violator of women’s rights,” wrote Nikki Haley, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, on Twitter.

Cory Booker Uses the Word ‘Sh**holes’ to Describe Migrant Countries and No One Cares By Megan Fox

https://pjmedia.com/trending/cory-booker-calls-migrant-countries-shholes-and-no-one-cares/

I thought I hallucinated during the interminably long and boring Democrat debate part deux last night and heard Cory Booker proclaim that some home countries of migrants coming to America are “sh**holes.” But it turns out he really said that. When chastising Joe Biden for suggesting we should encourage immigration when those people have something to offer us, Booker said, “That’s playing into what Republicans want — to pit some immigrants against other immigrants. Some are from sh**hole countries and some are from working countries.”

Booker’s camp is claiming he was quoting the president, and maybe so, but it sure seems like he’s accepting the premise that some countries are less than ideal.

And why, if that statement is so offensive, would he continue to repeat it? Maybe he was dunking on the president, but it sounded like he was stating it as fact. If he was joking he needs a better joke writer.

Gabbard Calls Harris’s Flailing Response to Attacks ‘Pathetic’ By Stephen Kruiser

https://pjmedia.com/trending/gabbard-calls-harriss-flailing-response-to-attacks-pathetic/

By almost every measure, and in every wrap-up, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) had a rough second debate. One of the biggest thorns in her side was Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who stayed focused on kicking Harris while she was down the day after the debate.

As I mentioned in my wrap-up of the debate last night, the whole thing was set up for Harris to have a huge, breakout performance. Instead, her voice was shaky and she was on the defensive all night, even though the majority of the attacks were aimed at former Vice President Joe Biden (D-Del.).

For most of the evening, Harris came off as a snooty, popular high school girl who had never been criticized to her face before.

Combat veteran Gabbard went straight for Harris’s greatest weaknesses: her record as San Francisco’s district attorney and then as California’s attorney general, both of which have been attacked by progressives.

The best Harris has been able to come up with to defend herself thus far is to note that she is polling better than Gabbard. That is obviously true but, as a GOP strategist told the Washington Post, it shows “that when cornered, she doesn’t perform very well.”

Seizing what may be her only moment in the primary spotlight, Gabbard was far less charitable.

The Big Loser Was Barack Obama The former president so closely tied to front runner Joe Biden saw much of his legacy thrown under the bus. By David Marcus

https://thefederalist.com/2019/08/01/the-big-loser-in-last-nights-debate-was-barack-obama/

The biggest loser in the Democratic presidential primary debate was not on the stage. It was former president Barack Obama. Throughout the night, as rivals challenged Joe Biden, Obama’s vice president and current frontrunner, it took the form of blistering attacks on the Obama administration over immigration, criminal justice, and even his signature achievement, the Affordable Care Act.

Part of this is simply the inevitable consequence of Biden, with a big lead in the polls, being everyone’s most natural target. While it’s true he has decades of political life to take aim at, his last significant political position was serving as Obama’s number two for eight years. Conceding that he and his boss did a bang-up job in the White House goes a long way towards conceding this current race to him. But last night we saw that won’t happen without a fight.

The issue is actually far deeper than electoral calculations. In the just more than a decade since Obama first sat in the Oval Office, the Democratic Party has careened to the left like a sports car with a blown tire making a pass on the Autobahn. Last night’s debates saw defenses of socialism, calls to essentially open the borders, free money for everyone, and plans for government-controlled health care with a price tag longer than a CVS receipt.

On immigration, Biden was slammed by both Cory Booker and Bill de Blasio over Obama’s extremely high number of deportations and Biden’s argument that the United States should be selective about who it lets into the country. Biden struggled to defend the so called “deporter in chief,” arguing basically that Obama made a good start with the now defunct DREAM Act allowing younger people brought here illegally a path to citizenship, but beyond that was stymied by GOP control of the House.

On criminal justice reform, it was also Booker trying to take aim at the former vice president, who argued that since 2007, which includes his entire term as vice president, he had work to eliminate discrepancies in sentencing for crack and powder cocaine, among other things.