‘For Democrats, this is not a profile in courage but a profile in idiocy.’
https://spectator.org/impeachment-through-swamp-covered-glasses/
Impeachment Through Swamp-Covered Glasses
Daniel J. Flynn, Spectator.org
www.breitbart.com/economy/2019/10/04/unemployment-for-african-american-men-falls-to-near-1973-low/
Unemployment for African American Men Falls to Lowest Since 1973
John Carney, Breitbart.com
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14956/turkey-ergodan-has-badly-overplayed-his-hand-in
Mr Erdogan, who has been the main driving force behind efforts to cause the Saudis maximum discomfort, now has an abundance of problems of his own, challenges which could spell the end of his 16-years in charge. After Mr Erdogan’s Islamist AKP party lost badly in last April’s mayoral election for control of Istanbul, the Turkish leader now finds himself trying desperately to salvage Turkey’s battered economy, where the currency is in free fall, foreign debts remain vast, and inflation and joblessness are alarmingly high.
Many Turks blame their country’s plight on Mr Erdogan’s obsession with pursuing his radical Islamist agenda, which includes supporting groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.
Many prefer him to concentrate instead on addressing their domestic concerns, a view the Turkish president would be well-advised to take on board if he intends to remain in power.
A year after the brutal murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, attempts by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to exploit the controversy to boost his own political standing have back-fired.
Ever since Mr Khashoggi was murdered moments after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October last year to obtain documentation for his forthcoming marriage, Mr Erdogan has skilfully exploited the incident to cause maximum embarrassment to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom he regards as one of his major regional rivals.
Ankara has been at loggerheads with Riyadh ever since the Muslim Brotherhood, a key ally of Mr Erdogan, came to power in Egypt in 2012, a move bitterly resisted by the Saudis, who regard the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation.
https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/israel-zionism/2019/10/israel-alone-among-nations-s
Last month, the German city of Dortmund decided to rescind the Nelly Sachs Prize—named for a Jewish poet and dramatist who received a Nobel prize in 1966—which it had recently awarded to the Anglo-Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie. The judges reconsidered because of Shamsie’s vocal and longstanding support for the movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel (BDS). The decision provoked fulmination from Shamsie and a letter signed by 250 indignant writers and published at the London Review of Books website. Howard Jacobson comments:
A cultural boycott, however, imposed by teachers on teachers, thinkers on thinkers, writers on writers, is a monstrous absurdity. The absurdity is self-evident when Shamsie explains her refusal to allow her work to be translated into Hebrew because she is unable to find an Israeli publisher “who is completely unentangled from the state”—who acts, in other words, not by the lights of its own “freedom of conscience and expression,” but by hers. . . .
To the familiar self-righteousness of boycotters, Shamsie adds the overweening vanity of the wounded novelist. A writer has to estimate herself highly indeed to consider the withholding of her words a sanction. Should I turn out to be wrong on this, and not being able to read Shamsie indeed brings the Israeli administration to its knees and opens the gates to a peaceful, flourishing Gaza, I will be the first to apologize. But if books can have this effect in their absence, only imagine what their effect might be if they are read. . . .
To the 250 signatories to the letter, though, I say this: Israel in the eyes of many of you is an anathema, and has been an anathema since the moment of its creation. But might not you, before seizing the pretext of a literary prize to express this view yet again, have paused to consider the nature of that prize, the person after whom it’s named, and the poetry she wrote? One of Nelly Sachs’s most renowned poems is O die Schornsteine—Oh, the chimneys—which begins:
amgreatness.com/2019/10/03/gop-volker-testimony-blows-massive-hole-in-dems-ukraine-gate-allegations/
A House Democrat-led closed door interview with former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker Thursday did not go as well as Democrats had hoped, according to reports.
Volker appeared before the Intelligence, Oversight and Reform and Foreign Affairs committees to testify on a deep state “whistleblower’s” allegation that President Trump tried to pressure Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
According to Rep Lee Zeldin (R.-N.Y.), Volker’s testimony was “blowing a massive hole in that allegation.”
Rep. Jim Jordan (R.-Ohio), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, also told reporters that Volker did not tell House members anything that supports the Democrats’ premise for their impeachment investigation against the president.
“Not one thing he has said comports with any of the Democrats’ impeachment narrative,” Rep. Jordan told reporters during a break in the questioning, Thursday afternoon.
Democrats had high hopes that Volker’s testimony would be “damaging to the President and his allies.”
At one point during the deposition, however, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D.-Calif.)had to take over questioning from his own side’s counsel because it wasn’t going well, according to Republican sources.
Volker resigned from his position as the special envoy on September 27, after being mentioned in the whistleblower complaint alleging wrongdoing by Trump in a July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president. The president had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyto to look into corruption allegations surrounding Ukraine’s involvement in the 2016 Russia hoax and also Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden’s allegedly corrupt dealings in the country.
Jordan blasted what he called “the process Mr. Schiff has set up” to interview witnesses in the impeachment probe. Schiff initially was going to try to limit GOP members from asking questions, Jordan complained to reporters during the break.
https://amgreatness.com/2019/10/04/dysfunctional-education/
The only way for Americans to avoid being pulled down in a vortex of the self-indulgent ignorance that characterizes our education establishment is to cut loose from that establishment: to stop funding it, and to create another, honest one.
The 2020 elections will afford us the chance to pass judgment on the immediate threat to our democracy posed by the intelligence agencies, the Democratic party, and the media in their grab for power through a bastardized impeachment process. But no such opportunity exists for us to deal with the most serious, most fundamental threat to our way of life, namely our thoroughly rotten educational establishment.
The problem has been festering for decades, and keeps getting worse.
During Word War II, only 4 percent of some 18 million draftees were illiterate. Despite (or because?) of massive expenditures on education over the subsequent two decades, 27 percent of the Vietnam war’s draftees were judged functionally illiterate. Between 1955 and 1991, the inflation-adjusted average K-12 per-pupil expenditure in America rose 350 percent. In 1972, 2,817 students scored 750 or better on each half of the SAT. By 1994, only 1,438 made this score though the test had been made easier. Today, U.S. 15 year olds rank 24th out of 71 countries in science, and 38th in math. In 2018, college students spent less than a third of the time their grandparents did studying for their classes.
But as the bell-curve of intellectual achievement continues to shift leftward, the bell curve of school grades continues to shift rightward. Increasingly, the default grade in America is “A.” Among all classes and races, some seventy percent of U.S students report having cheated on exams or papers. No one should be surprised at the American people’s increasing incompetence and inability to follow directions—never mind arguments.
This past week, the noise from Washington drowned out three items of news that remind us of how corrupt and dumbed down American education has become, how far into society the rot has spread and how much it would take to remedy it.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-sigh-of-jobs-relief-11570228132
Imagine how well the U.S. economy would be doing with better trade policy. That’s our reaction to Friday’s jobs report for September that showed remarkable resilience despite the headwinds of tariffs, declining business investment and a manufacturing downturn.
The economy created 136,000 new jobs in the month, plus 45,000 more in upward revisions for July and August. That adds up to a monthly average so far this year of 161,000, which is healthy for an expansion that is now into its tenth year though it’s below the 223,000 average in 2018.
Even more surprising, the jobless rate fell to 3.5%, the lowest in half a century. The number of employed Americans surged by 391,000, which drove the overall employment ratio up to 61%, the highest since December 2008. The rising employment ratio shows that Americans who have been on the sidelines since the Great Recession are continuing to stream into the labor market long after economists on Wall Street and at the Federal Reserve concluded the U.S. was at full employment.
The new job seekers include in particular those who are often the hardest to employ. The jobless rate for those without a high-school degree fell by 0.6 percentage point to 4.8%, the lowest since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking this in 1992. The rate for Hispanic Americans fell 0.3 percentage point to 3.9%.
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/merritt-shaking-up-gop-politics-in-georgia/
Merritt Shaking Up GOP Politics in Georgia By Jack Fowler
It’s impossible not to like or respect Danny Merritt, the young warrior, successful businessman, husband, dad (of four), and member of the extended National Review family who is now turning his attention to politics: He has launched a primary challenge against Congressman Buddy Carter, the incumbent Republican who has held Georgia’s first-district seat since 2015.
The co-founder, with his brother Tyler, of the enormously popular Nine Line Apparel, Merritt — a decorated Army officer (now a major in the reserves) and combat veteran who was a platoon leader in Iraq in 2008 prior to serving in Afghanistan with the 1st Cavalry Division — threw his helmet in the ring this May because he believes that more veterans need to serve in Congress. A strong supporter of President Trump, he would make VA reform a priority. His campaign, so far, has been grass-roots and self-funded.
In a recent interview with American Military News, Merritt described a key motivation for running: lawmakers cashing in on their office: “So many times we see our representatives are using their positions to enrich themselves, to improve their own lives or the lives of their family members. Everybody scratches each other backs. . . . Americans are sick and tired of it.” Describing himself as a “complete outsider” who is “completely new to politics,” Merritt says he will “have a fresh look at how things are done and be able to do things differently,” adding, “I’ve done that in business and in combat and been successful, and I’m hoping to do that in Congress.”
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/twitter-shuts-down-conservative-congressional-candidates-account/
I wrote this past weekend about Daniel Merritt, the conservative combat vet, entrepreneur, patriot, dad (of four), husband, and WFB pal now running for Congress in Georgia’s first congressional district.
After the post was published, he reached out to say that his Twitter account — @MerrittforGA – had been shut down. At first it had been suspended for the infraction of . . . unknown. He reached out to the Twitter bureaucrats: What gives? Came the nebulous response:
Hello,
We received your appeal regarding your account. Please reply to this message and confirm that you have access to this email address. Once we receive your confirmation, we’ll review the information you provided and will respond as soon as possible.
We typically suspend accounts for violations of the Twitter Rules (https://twitter.com/rules) or Terms of Service (https://twitter.com/tos). Additionally, repeat violations may result in permanent account suspension.
Thanks,
Twitter Support
A few hours later, he was sent a nameless/faceless/details-less communication by Twitter:
Hello,
Your account has been suspended and will not be restored because it was found to be violating the Twitter Terms of Service, specifically the Twitter Rules against managing multiple Twitter accounts for abusive purposes.
You can learn more about our rules around multiple accounts and against abusive behavior here: https://twitter.com/rules.
Please note that creating new account(s) to evade this suspension is also against the Twitter Rules and will result in additional account suspension(s).
Thanks,
“Thanks, Twitter.” That’s rich.
So Merritt’s increasingly popular account is now permanently kiboshed, his 20,000 followers disappeared, and his right (well, ability) to create a new handle non-existent — indeed, it’s expressly forbidden. He has been rendered a Twitterverse non-person. The reason why this has come to pass remains unknown, except to Twittercrats who issued the death sentence.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/10/the_muslim_educational_cultural_center_of_america_and_extremism.html
The Muslim Educational Cultural Center of America (MECCA) claims that its goals are “to guide young Muslims” and “build bridges of understanding with other cultures and faiths.” Yet the Chicago-area mosque’s willingness to promote hate preachers and anti-Semitic demagogues reflects the continued influence of its Islamists founders and leaders.
The Center’s soft talk has duped some politicians into attending the mosque’s events. Some of them are Burr Ridge mayor Gary Grasso and Dupage County board member Julie Renehan, who attended the Center’s open house last month. Also, this month, on October 2, U.S. congressman Sean Casten spoke on immigration at MECCA.
But a man is known by the company he keeps. On September 20, the MECCA Center hosted Imam Zaid Shakir, who delivered the Friday sermon. Shakir’s writings and speeches show a man prone to conspiracy theories and extremism. In 2001, Shakir argued that the American Muslim community must consider political options including “guerrilla war.” Shakir claimed that the United States “inflicted” terrorism on the world and suggested that it would be acceptable for Muslims to attack U.S. military forces.
Shakir also has engaged 9/11 conspiracy theories and blamed “Zionist” forces and the FBI for the February 1993 World Trade Center (WTC) bombing. Shakir argued that the conspirators were set up as a way of bolstering anti-Islamic sentiment.
On September 29, the MECCA Center hosted Linda Sarsour, who has a well established history of anti-Semitism and promoting extremism.
Sarsour was removed from her position as a leading organizer for the Women’s March out of concerns regarding her public anti-Semitism, including her relationship with the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and support for Rasmea Odeh, a Palestinian terrorist deported from the United States for lying about previous terror convictions. Sarsour is a support of Al-Awda, a pro-Palestinian group that endorses terrorism and calls for the destruction of Israel. In 2011, Sarsour expressed a desire to “take away the vaginas” of two female activists, Brigitte Gabriel and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, one of whom, Ali, was a victim of female genital mutilation (FGM).
https://pjmedia.com/trending/headmistress-of-elite-girls-school-some-students-claim-to-be-trans-to-cause-turbulence-at-school/
The former headmistress of an elite all-girls school in London has gone on the record to admit what we all know. Transgenderism is mostly a fad, especially among the young kids who are always looking for something to rebel against.
The Daily Mail had the story.
Schools are facing a ‘transtrender problem’ with pupils identifying as transgender to be cool and rebellious, a former top headmistress said yesterday.
Clarissa Farr claimed that it has become trendy for some girls to say they are trans or ‘non-binary’.
She said while some pupils had genuine concerns about gender identity, staff believed others were trying to cause ‘turbulence’ in school.
The former head of the private St Paul’s Girls’ School in London suggested a bandwagon was causing students with no real gender issues to come forward claiming they are trans.
Transtrender is a term used for people who claim to be trans but never go through any altering surgeries or hormone treatments to proceed toward transition. Instead, they just demand the public call them by a pronoun that doesn’t match their secondary sex characteristics. Like this dude.
Jacob Tobia ✔ @JacobTobia
Never in my life did I think I’d get a chance to talk about #trans equality and social justice one on one with a former U.S. President. Today I had the honor of spending half an hour interviewing President @BillClinton and @ChelseaClinton as part of #CGIU2018 WOW!!!!
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