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December 2020

Charles Lipson :Dr. No: Northwestern’s Unwise Rebuke of Epstein’s Op-Ed

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/12/15/dr_no_northwesterns_unwise_r

Joseph Epstein wrote a controversial column last week saying Jill Biden should stop using the courtesy title “Dr.,” despite her doctorate in education. Leave that title for physicians, Epstein said on the Wall Street Journal’s opinion page.

The column set off fireworks among academics and intellectuals. The epicenter was Northwestern University, where Epstein, a prolific and erudite essayist, has long been listed as a “lecturer” in the English Department. No more. His name disappeared immediately from the department website. Ditching him quietly wasn’t enough for university administrators, who issued a blistering official condemnation of Epstein’s views. They added that he hadn’t really been a lecturer since 2003, without mentioning his many years of teaching there.

In a news release, Northwestern offered 10 pro forma words of support for academic freedom before turning to the real goal: lacerating Epstein.

While we firmly support academic freedom and freedom of expression, we do not agree with Mr. Epstein’s opinion and believe the designation of doctor is well deserved by anyone who has earned a Ph.D., an Ed.D. or an M.D.

Northwestern is firmly committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, and strongly disagrees with Mr. Epstein’s misogynistic views.

What’s the problem with Northwestern’s statement? It is not their defense of using “Dr.” for Ph.D.s or Ed.Ds. Jill Biden earned the latter degree, and she has every right to use the title, if she wishes. Henry Kissinger used it after he joined the Nixon administration, believing it carried more weight than “professor” with journalists, policymakers, and the general public. At Harvard, where he had been teaching, “Dr.” is reserved for physicians. But he wasn’t on campus, and neither is Jill Biden. Neither are thousands of psychologists and educators who use the term regularly.

Where Is The Criticism Of China From Environmentalists? Francis Menton

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2020-12-14-where-is-the-criticism-of-chi

You undoubtedly are aware that the international environmental movement has almost entirely been taken over and consumed by the climate change scare; and you also cannot help but be aware of the constant drumbeat of attacks by environmentalists on the U.S. government, particularly under President Trump, for its failure to reduce carbon emissions sufficiently to “save the planet.” At the same time, you are a reader of the Manhattan Contrarian. Therefore, you know that China is not only not reducing its own carbon emissions, but instead has well more than tripled them over the past twenty years (during which period U.S. emissions have declined modestly by about 15%); and today China is in the midst of a new round of massive expansion of its fossil fuel energy generation capacity, particularly with respect to the most carbon-intensive fuel, coal.

As quoted by me in a post just a couple of days ago, from the Global Energy Monitor, June 2020:

China currently has 249.6 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired capacity under development (97.8 GW under construction and 151.8 GW in planning), a 21% increase over end-2019 (205.9 GW). The amount of capacity under development (249.6 GW) is larger than the [entire] coal fleets of the United States (246.2 GW) or India (229.0 GW).

So then surely the major environmental organizations must be coming down hard on China? Wrong. Indeed, many of them are full of praise for China for its “climate leadership.” Sure, China gives plenty of empty lip service to Western climate orthodoxy; but could these environmentalists really be so dense as to be fooled by that, even as information as to China’s soaring emissions and hundreds of new coal plants is readily available (if not widely publicized by the CCP)?

Darkest Hour By: Judd Garrett

‘For those who reject the “America First” approach to international relations that Trump has promoted, answer this, does China put China first? Yes. Does Russia put Russia first? Yes. Does Germany put Germany first? Yes. Does (fill in the blank) country put their country’s interests first? Yes. Why is it only evil when America puts American interests first? And since America, the greatest force of good in the world, a strong America, America as the world’s superpower, is unequivocally what’s in the best interest of the world.”

I was re-watching the movie, Darkest Hour, the other day, about the weeks leading up to Great Britain’s entrance into World War II, and I was struck by the similarities between the political dynamics of their country during that time to the United States, today. England was facing an existential threat from an evil totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany, and England’s Prime Minister was a loud, outspoken, rude, politically incorrect man named Winston Churchill. Churchill believed the best course of action was to stand up to the evil Nazi regime, and if they were to negotiate, they could then do so from a position of strength. He understood that the most dangerous course of action for the country would be not to fight.

Churchill was not well received by the elites or the political class of England. He was brash and outspoken, saying unpopular things. The King told Churchill once, “you scare people. One never knows what’s going to come out of your mouth next. Something that will flatter. Something that will wound.”

One does not have to be perfect to be a great leader, in fact, many times, their flaws are what makes them great. Churchill’s wife told him, “you are strong because you are imperfect. You are wise because you have doubts.”

A contingent of career politicians worked behind the scenes, colluding together to oust Churchill because they believed their positions and their special interests were best served not to fight. They were willing to achieve a peace treaty with the Nazis at-all-cost even if it meant negotiating from a position of weakness. It was highly unlikely that Germany would have abided by the terms of the agreement forged under those circumstances. The treaty would only have been used by Germany to exploit England’s weaker position.

Fraud Analyst Finds Average of 2 to 3 Percent Shift for Biden in Counties That Used Dominion By Petr Svab

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fraud-analyst-flags-pro-biden-shift-in-counties-tha

A man who’s made a living developing fraud detection algorithms has discovered a curious phenomenon: Counties that started using Dominion Voting Systems machines have on average moved by 2 to 3 points to the Democrat presidential candidate from the Republican compared to counties that didn’t adopt the machines.

The difference persisted even after he controlled for a number of factors, including county population and various demographic characteristics.

“I recommend we audit the machines,” he concluded.

The man is Ben Turner, who used to be the chief actuary at Texas Mutual Workers’ Compensation Insurance. He now runs Fraud Spotters, a consultancy specializing in detecting insurance fraud.

The Epoch Times replicated his initial analysis using the same data he used and arrived at the same results.

Turner told The Epoch Times that he’s not making any specific allegation against Dominion; he’s simply reporting what he found.

Dominion didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment. The company has for years been criticized over alleged vulnerabilities in its system. It has previously denied that its machines can be used to switch votes from one candidate to another.

Turner reached his conclusion despite being initially incredulous about claims that the Dominion machines affected the election outcome.

50th anniversary of Leningrad trial sparks memories, educational initiatives: Judy Lash Balint

https://www.jns.org/50th-anniversary-of-leningrad-trial-sparks-memories-and-educational-initiatives/

The foiled takeover of a plane in the USSR prompted worldwide involvement in the Soviet Jewry movement, even though those in “Operation Wedding” paid a price for their actions.

(December 15, 2020 / JNS) On Dec. 15, 1970, a small item appeared at the top of page three of The New York Times under the jarring headline, ‘Soviets Reported Trying 11, Mostly Jews, in Hijacking.’ Few could have predicted that the trial of those young Jewish activists held in a grim Leningrad courtroom would transform the lives of millions of people on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

The accused were part of a group that tried to carry out a plan in June 1970 to take over a small plane that would then fly under the radar across the Soviet border to freedom.

It was a radical scheme whose goal was to focus attention on the plight of Jews in the Soviet Union and their desire to emigrate. Those who took part were seasoned activists who understood that there was a far greater likelihood of being killed or arrested than of reaching Sweden, but they went ahead anyway. The result? Arrests, death sentences, long years in the Gulag—and the jumpstart to a movement that ultimately brought freedom to millions of Soviet Jews, and strengthened the identity and commitment to Jewish peoplehood of untold others in the West.

Fifty years later, the names of those courageous young Soviet Jews and their daring deed, called “Operation Wedding” (the Jewish activists claimed to be traveling together to a wedding), remain largely forgotten. Many of those involved wonder why the Jewish world has paid little attention to such a positive, inspiring and dramatic movement. Now, two new educational initiatives, one in Hebrew and the other in English, hold the promise of reviving interest.

Dominion Voting Systems “Designed to Create Systemic Fraud” by Soeren Kern

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16862/dominion-voting-systems

“We conclude that the Dominion Voting System is intentionally and purposefully designed with inherent errors to create systemic fraud and influence election results. The system intentionally generates an enormously high number of ballot errors. The electronic ballots are then transferred for adjudication.” — Allied Security Operations Group, Antrim Michigan Forensics Report, Revised Preliminary Summary, v2, December 13, 2020.

“The allowable election error rate established by the Federal Election Commission guidelines is of 1 in 250,000 ballots (.0008%). We observed an error rate of 68.05%. This demonstrated a significant and fatal error in security and election integrity.” — Allied Security Operations Group, Antrim Michigan Forensics Report, Revised Preliminary Summary, v2, December 13, 2020.

“Significantly, the computer system shows vote adjudication logs for prior years; but all adjudication log entries for the 2020 election cycle are missing. The adjudication process is the simplest way to manually manipulate votes. The lack of records prevents any form of audit accountability, and their conspicuous absence is extremely suspicious since the files exist for previous years using the same software.” — Allied Security Operations Group, Antrim Michigan Forensics Report, Revised Preliminary Summary, v2, December 13, 2020.

“On November 21, 2020, an unauthorized user unsuccessfully attempted to zero out election results. This demonstrates additional tampering with data.” — Allied Security Operations Group, Antrim Michigan Forensics Report, Revised Preliminary Summary, v2, December 13, 2020.

“Based on the preliminary results, we conclude that the errors are so significant that they call into question the integrity and legitimacy of the results in the Antrim County 2020 election to the point that the results are not certifiable. Because the same machines and software are used in 48 other counties in Michigan, this casts doubt on the integrity of the entire election in the state of Michigan.” — Allied Security Operations Group, Antrim Michigan Forensics Report, Revised Preliminary Summary, v2, December 13, 2020.

A forensic audit of voting equipment produced by Dominion Voting Systems and used in the State of Michigan for the 2020 election has found major irregularities in the tabulation of votes. The audit found a 68% error rate in Antrim County, where thousands of votes for U.S. President Donald J. Trump were wrongly “flipped” to former Vice President Joe Biden on November 3, 2020.

The high error rate was, according to the auditors, due to an algorithm placed inside the Dominion software that assigned different weights to votes cast for different candidates at a 2/3 to 1/3 ratio. This allowed election officials to apply a weighted numerical value to candidates and change the overall result. The declaration of winners was done on a basis of points, not votes, according to the auditors.

AG William Barr: We Got Our Answer by Chris Farrell

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16860/ag-william-barr

AG Barr was installed to manage President Trump and put him on a glide-path to defeat in last month’s election. President Trump did not select Barr to be his Attorney General — the choice was made for the President by professional Republican political operatives and then presented to him as the only acceptable and Senate-confirmable solution….

When Judicial Watch obtained Justice Department records documenting that 27 phones from the Mueller team were mysteriously “wiped clean” — what did Barr do? Nothing.

Barr allowed Republicans to look at each other, nod and then smile about “what was coming” — until it never materialized. No justice for Hillary, or Comey, or Strzok, or Brennan or the remaining 30–odd names in the coup litany.

In recent weeks I have asked, “Why Does Barr Let Wray Lie and Flout the Law?,” and “Will They Really Get Away With It?” Then, just a few days ago, we learned that Attorney General (AG) Barr hid two probes into alleged criminal conduct of Hunter Biden for months. Barr also announced that he could not see any election fraud — or that he could — but it wasn’t really that bad. Barr told the Associated Press, “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election” [Emphasis added]. That’s like a mob witness answering, “I have no specific recollection, at this time.” It does not engender deep confidence and faith.

Keep in mind that while President Donald Trump was being impeached over the phony “Ukraine!” controversy, Barr and his FBI Director Wray were in the possession of Hunter Biden’s laptops (since December 2019) – loaded with who-knows-what Burisma information, etc., and did not utter a syllable. Are we beginning to see a pattern of conduct?

Many have wondered for months what, exactly, Barr was up to. He said some strong things supporting the president, then acted in a contrary manner. He talked a good game but seemed to miss a lot of glaringly obvious prosecution opportunities. Why? It seems we now have our answer.

Essential steps to retrieve Georgia By Ted Noel

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/12/essential_steps_to_retrieve_georgia.html

It looks very bad for the lawsuits seeking to Stop the Steal. That doesn’t mean that there wasn’t massive fraud. The evidence for that is strong, regardless of the legal sophistry used by courts to deny relief. But while those efforts continue, one more election looms.

At this point, we must turn our attention to preventing a repeat of the Georgia fraud this January. In Georgia, Democrats will put everything they’ve done on steroids if we let them. Obviously, a Court decision to block the Consent Decree will go a long way, restoring proper signature verification on mail-in ballots. But even with a win there, we aren’t home free. Lots of other opportunities for mischief exist.

Our chief tool is sunlight. Every tool required to shine a spotlight on the election is off-the-shelf, so we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. With so many millions of dollars being spent on both sides to drive Georgians away from broadcast TV, the Republican Party should divert some to buy up every GoPro camera within a hundred miles of Atlanta. The first place to put them is on poles near every illegal ballot drop box. If they can’t get that done quickly, put up motion-activated “trail cams.”

The cameras should be tied into a large computer network where they are recorded live at a central monitoring location. This should allow detection people illegally placing multiple ballots in the boxes. It would also help identify people who are unlawfully removing the ballots.

While this first stage is running, a much more detailed monitoring stage should be prepared. The center in Atlanta where the votes will be counted should receive a thorough supply of cameras with microphones. If they are positioned over every vote examination station, monitored in real time, and recorded remotely, every act of malfeasance will be on video for all to see. Every vehicle entering or leaving the counting center also needs to be recorded on video. This includes the occupants and any cargo loaded or unloaded.

Dan Crenshaw is back with an awesome ad By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/12/dan_crenshaw_is_back_with_an_awesome_ad.html

Okay, I admit it. I’m a serious Dan Crenshaw fan girl. Of course, I admire his courage in serving America and recovering from his devastating wounds. And I appreciate his solid conservativism. But what I especially like about Crenshaw is his personality. He handles conflict gracefully, knows when to choose his battles, and has an awesome sense of humor.

I wrote about Crenshaw just a few days ago because the Deep State is attacking him for (allegedly) pointing out problems with allegations from Andrea N. Goldstein, who claims to have been sexually assaulted at a VA facility. It seems that Goldstein had made it a pattern and practice while serving in the Navy to claim that she’d been sexually assaulted.

This is what comes from a culture that no longer teaches children Aesop’s fables. Had Goldstein known about The Boy Who Cried wolf, she made not have made so many charges that those who knew her best believed her the least.

Just a few days before that, I wrote about Crenshaw’s political courage in calling Nancy Pelosi out for her disgusting, cruel, and hypocritical behavior in response to the Wuhan virus.

And then, back in September, I wrote about an utterly awesome political ad that Dan Crenshaw put together with six House candidates in Texas, several of whom, like Crenshaw, served in the military. You need to see that ad again to appreciate what Crenshaw has done this time:In his newest ad, Crenshaw has turned his attention to the Senate run-off in Georgia. The ad is funny and powerful, as well as having a Marcus Luttrell cameo.

The ‘kraken’ is the sleeping giant now awakened within the GOP By Bode Lang

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/12/the_kraken_is_the_sleeping_giant_now_awakened_within_the_gop.html

On Monday, Republican electors in the battleground states of PA, GA, NV, and AZ convened to cast their electoral votes for Donald Trump.  While this was a necessary step to stop the barrage of voter fraud across these states, I’ll admit, I was shocked that Republican electors did it. 

For a long time, we’ve seen the GOP kowtow to Democrats on nearly every front.  We’re censored by big tech, smeared in the media, mocked in popular culture, and endure malicious political prosecution, as in the cases of Michael Flynn and Kyle Rittenhouse.  On the other side, Hillary Clinton destroyed 30,000 emails, federal bureaucrats broke countless laws in the Russian Collusion hoax, leftist radicals burned cities and attacked police, Obama weaponized the IRS against Republicans, and illegally imposed DACA.  The rules are clear: Democrats can break the law whenever they want.

So, when Democrats got caught violating numerous state statutes and the U.S. Constitution to steal the 2020 election, and our judiciary has done little to stop it, the double-standard seemed all-too-familiar.  The courts interpreting laws and past precedents loosely when advantageous to Democrats and more rigidly towards Republicans has been the standard for some time. 

Can you imagine a country where Democrats can commit blatantly unconstitutional actions to enable voter fraud while simultaneously using the same Constitution to insist Republicans have no legal grounds to challenge them?  This is the America we’re living in.