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October 2021

Greek-U.S.-French Pact Is a Deterrent to Turkish Aggression by Burak Bekdil

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17903/greece-us-france-pact

The strategic part of the deal states that France will rush to Greece’s aid militarily in the event of a third country attacking Greece. The clause adds that “even if the attacker is part of the NATO alliance.”

The accord rang alarm bells in Ankara. Turkey condemned the deal, along with “Greece’s maximalist claims” and said the accord is a threat to regional peace and stability. Ankara did not say, however, why Turkey is never a threat to regional peace and stability when it buys frigates, submarines and other naval platforms.

One should ask the Turks why they are upset about a military deal between two NATO allies. What is the difference between Greece buying frigates from France, and Turkey, for decades, buying frigates and submarines from Germany?

The emerging military pact within NATO that brings together the allies Greece, United States and France is bad news for Turkey — that is, if its President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan intends to fuel tensions in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas as part of his campaign strategy before presidential elections in 2023.

In recent months, Greek diplomacy has made a number of smart moves on the difficult chess board called the Aegean. These moves, coupled with Turkey’s increasingly pressing problems at home and on foreign fronts, will restrict Erdoğan’s aggression to “aggressive rhetoric” only, and rule out “aggressive action.”

Peronist Pontiff Gasbags with Addled American by Christopher Akehurst

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2021/10/peronist-pontiff-gasbags-with-addled-american/

Flogging a dead horse is nothing unusual. Some people – Australian republicans, campaigners for “balance” on the ABC, British EU “rejoiners” – do it all the time. But two dead horses flogging each other is a rare spectacle. That’s why it will be such a privilege to watch President Biden and Pope Francis in Rome on Friday demonstrating with their unique skills just how this act of deceased equine futility is done: two not very pleasant elderly exemplars of unprincipled ambition reinforcing one another in the illusion that each has something useful to say to the world, something to contribute to the betterment of mankind.

The pair of them will meet in the Vatican to earbash each other on the “climate emergency”. One assumes there will be plenty of black coffee on hand; it wouldn’t do for any of the assembled cardinals and diplomats to yield to the torpor and nod off while these two geriatric bores drone on about the world’s most tedious topic.

Insomniacs on the other hand might find it quite a treat as a senile opportunist and a crafty Peronist schemer try to outdo each other in lecturing us on what we should be going without for the sake of the weather. One hopes that some Vatican functionary is arranging for the wind generated by their combined utterances to be sustainably “harvested”. It could power the floodlighting of St Peter’s.

Biden is on his way, or being steered there, by his keepers, to extrude his verbal contribution to that Olympiad for climate catastrophics, COP26 in Glasgow. Francis had been going too, but changed his mind. Too many other blowhards, he probably decided. As his dictatorial papal style has long demonstrated, he doesn’t like competition. He always has to be the centre of attention.

One might wonder why a Pope is shoving his oar in on secular matters, but perhaps the kingdom not of this world is too small a stage for his talents. Anyway, a quick tête-à-tête in Rome will have to suffice for his agenda with Biden. Can we hazard a guess about what they’ll come up with?

First they’ll diagnose what to do about the climate. This will no doubt be along the lines of less coal for everyone except China, immediate canonisation of St Greta the Ecobrat, wind turbines on all church towers, bath night on Saturdays only – practical steps like that. Next one imagines them turning their attention to solving the COVID crisis. Jail anyone who calls it the China virus might well be Francis’s contribution, since he and President Xi are now all hotsy-totsy together since their agreement to accede to Beijing’s demand and throw China’s loyal Catholics under the bus, or in this case the Tiananmen tank, in return for the Vatican not saying unkind things about Xi’s persecution of the Uighurs. Yes, it’s that kind of one-way deal, a real bargain for the Church.

Biden’s take on COVID will be whatever floats through Dr Fauci’s mind that morning transcribed to the presidential autocue.

What if Clinton had come clean? Wow, is America screwed up about sex. It is one of many things that helps destroy American politics Douglas Murray

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/bill-clinton-come-clean-affair-impeachment/

What if Bill Clinton had told the truth? Would America’s sexual and political history be different? The thought occurs because of the new TV drama Impeachment about the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Somewhat unfairly to both main parties, it is part of the American Crime Story series. Previous subjects have included O.J. Simpson and Andrew Cunanan, who killed Gianni Versace. It’s a bit rich putting Bill Clinton in the same bracket as these murder cases. Nonetheless, the result is intriguing, not just because of the magnificent acting and production — and not only because in the quarter of a century since the world’s most famous blowjob a certain axis of society seems to have turned.

Back then Monica Lewinsky was the butt of every joke. In the ancient-modern parlance she was “shamed.” Late-night comedians, like everyone else on the planet, did jokes you can still rattle off: “Girl in her class voted most likely to suck-seed” — that sort of thing. A friend was at a post-Oscars party in 2001, the year Bjork came dressed as a swan. Shortly afterwards Monica Lewinsky entered the room. “Should have come as a swallow,” my friend quipped.

Of course, in the light of #MeToo, all that has changed. Now Bill Clinton (played by Clive Owen) is a brooding menace. He literally comes out of the shadows every time they meet. He is the abuser, she the abused. Because that is how all male-female power relations have been reformulated in recent times. It doesn’t hurt that Lewinsky is a producer on the show, allowing herself to come across almost wholly as an innocent little victim. Personally this grates with me — because as well as being an obsessive and a nut, the woman playing Lewinsky looks like that actress from Hairspray who made me grind my teeth and turn off in under five minutes.

But none of this is what is interesting. What is interesting is the question that has only come up once in the show so far: what, as I say, if Bill Clinton had told the truth?

Can U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Sing? by Lawrence Kadish

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17895/treasury-secretary-janet-yellen

Can U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sing? And if she can carry a tune, does she know the words to “Brother can you spare a dime?”

At the height of the Great Depression that song, written by Yip Harburg, became a grim national anthem as unemployment soared, the economy cratered and the American dream was crushed for middle class citizens and those aspiring to be so. The lyrics reflected the desperation of panhandlers living in Central Park who had lost everything, including hope. It may well turn out to be the song sung during the next three years as we fall into the dangerous financial abyss of a self-described “progressive” agenda that would place a staggering multi-trillion dollar debt on the nation.

Yellen’s pursuit of new revenue to fund Biden’s mega deficit literally knows no boundaries. Before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Development Committee, Yellen was forced to defend the Administration’s unconscionable proposal that would require banks to disclose every financial transaction over $600 to the Internal Revenue Service.

An outraged U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis asked, “Do you distrust the American people so much that you need to know when they bought a couch? Or a cow?”

Yellen’s various proposals are a chilling overreach that reveals the corrosive intrusion of a sneering anti-capitalist agenda. Yellen’s next steps could easily be the creation of a Profit Posse that would track down any transaction by anyone that could conceivably be taxed, confiscated or penalized. The ghosts of commissars interred in the former Soviet Union would smile in approval.

The Treasury Secretary’s words reveal much about the Administration’s growth-killing ideology — which has abandoned much of Europe to economic stagnation — and its pursuit of a multi-trillion social welfare budget, when she says, “We’ve grown used to America as the world’s pre-eminent economic power…. We aren’t destined to stay that way, but with these investments, I believe we will.”

Yellen clearly echoes the counter-factual insistence that massive deficits are America’s future, while ignoring the historic destruction wrought on other nations whose sovereignty disintegrated under massive debt. She conveniently disregards the billions of dollars in “pork” and institutional corruption that Biden’s multi-trillion dollar “Build Back Better” program would hide as it installs one “temporary,” set-to-balloon government program after another. A more honest name would be “Bust, Bury and Bye.”

If Yellen had the political courage of Senators Joseph Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema, she would publicly confront the Biden Administration and refuse to be a co-conspirator in destroying our nation’s future. Instead, Yellen would denounce the pork barrel spending in Biden’s proposal, and stand fast against raising the debt limit while seeking business incentives such as low-interest government loans to advance business expansion in America. She would also increase charitable donations to 501(c)3 not-for-profit organizations to enable donors to have a bonus 150% tax credit.

The Freak-Out Over Tucker’s January 6 Documentary Begins The original narrative about January 6 is not to be disturbed, no matter how many facets of that original narrative have been shattered. By Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2021/10/28/the-freak-out-over-tuckers-january-6-documentary-begins/

Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night played a brief trailer for his three-part documentary looking at the events of January 6. “Patriot Purge” will premiere on Fox Nation, the network’s streaming service, on November 1.

Clips hint that the film compares the prosecution of Capitol protesters and anyone associated with the events of January 6 to the initial war on terror, a wholly legitimate comparison that my reporting confirms. For example, as I explained in April, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines issued a report earlier this year warning “domestic violent extremists” pose a heightened threat to the nation. Not one for subtlety, Haines included a sketch of the U.S. Capitol in the document; House Republicans at the time blasted Haines for working outside her legal authority—the intelligence community is supposed to hunt foreign terrorists, not MAGA-supporting meemaws—to target American citizens.

Unfortunately, most Americans are unaware that the Biden regime, with a big assist from the news media, is indeed conducting a domestic war on terror aimed at the political Right. 

Democrats do not want the public to hear the details of Ashli Babbitt’s shooting death at the hands of Capitol Police, or the likely role of the FBI in what happened that day, or how armed federal agents have raided Trump supporters’ homes at dawn, in front of their terrified children and horrified neighbors, and dragged out in handcuffs to face various trespassing misdemeanors.

Democrats do not want the public to know about an inhumane jail in the nation’s capital used exclusively to punish Trump supporters, who have been denied any chance at bail by ruthless government prosecutors and hostile Beltway judges. Abusive conduct by Capitol and D.C. Metro Police officers, which included attacking the crowd with flashbangs, rubber bullets, and copious amounts of mace and other chemicals, must be kept under wraps. So, too, must at least 14,000 hours of surveillance footage captured by security cameras on January 6.

Wisconsin Sheriff’s Office Presents Evidence Showing Election Board Committed Felony Election Fraud in 2020 By Debra Heine

https://amgreatness.com/2021/10/28/wisconsin-sheriffs-office-presents-evidence-showing-election-board-committed-felony-election-fraud-in-2020/

During a press conference Thursday, the Racine County Sheriff’s Department alleged that the Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) committed felony election fraud during the 2020 election.

Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling and Sgt. Michael Luell presented evidence showing eight cases of election fraud at a Mount Pleasant nursing home, which included false claims that residents were “indefinitely incapacitated” in order to vote by absentee ballot, and an unlawful rule that directed staffers to fill out ballots for residents, rather than “Special Voting Deputies.”

Schmaling said that nursing homes throughout the entire state received the same instructions from the WEC to engage in these illegal practices.

Sgt. Luell explained that the applications for absentee ballots include a certification that people people are indefinitely confined. “If that certification is made falsely, it has penalties,” he said. “They’re criminal.” Luell said penalties include jail time, and fines.

“What I saw, and was documented, is these applications were prefilled out for the residents, and the certification was either checked before, or sometimes after the resident put their signature on this document,” Luell said.

Hating Jews is Becoming a Leftist Purity Test The Jewish groups that failed to fight campus anti-Semitism are about to live under it. Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/10/hating-jews-becoming-leftist-purity-test-daniel-greenfield/

When Sunrise Movement DC issued its ultimatum that either the Jews had to be kicked out or it would boycott a D.C. statehood rally, it was a familiar purity test. And, like most purity tests, was about testing a willingness to hate people and endorse a new extremist position on demand.

Purity tests that have no constructive purpose except to undermine and oust a leadership that is insufficiently radical have become commonplace in the Reign of Terror era of American politics.

When Democrats adopt socialism, endorse the elimination of the police, tear down the statues of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, champion critical race theory, and insist that there’s no such thing as men and women, it’s as the result of an escalating series of purity tests.

Hating Jews is just the latest progressive purity test.

Sunrise DC declared that it would not participate in events with what it falsely claimed were Zionist groups, but were actually, mostly fellow leftists who hate Israel as much as they do.

The Moral Incoherence of an Academic Boycott Against Israel Virginia Tech’s grad students violate one of academia’s core values. Richard L. Cravatts

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/10/moral-incoherence-academic-boycott-against-israel-richard-l-cravatts/

Seeming to give credence to Orwell’s wry observation that “there are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them,” the fatuous members of the Virginia Tech Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) passed a “Resolution to Divest in Compliance with the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions Movement,” tendentiously pronouncing their solidarity “with the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation from Israeli apartheid, colonialism, and military occupation . . . .” Resolution 2021-22N3 calls on the university administration and staff Virginia Tech administrators and employees to “immediately begin to implement the academic and cultural boycott of Israel” by “adopting as a general principle a boycott of all Israeli academic institutions complicit in maintaining the Israeli occupation and the denial of basic Palestinian rights.”

The poisonous and historically inaccurate language of the GPSS resolution, including such loaded terms as “apartheid, colonialism, and military occupation,” was troublingly similar to that found in the dozens of unctuous statements that oozed from university departments, faculty unions, student groups, and other organizations in the wake of the latest Gaza insurgency in May. All of the blame and condemnation for the ongoing conflict was assigned to Israel, and, conveniently, for instance, no mention was made—either in this resolution or the many solidarity statements in May—of the more than 4000 lethal rockets Hamas had fired into southern Israeli towns with the express purpose of murdering Jewish civilians, nor any recognition that each of these instances of rockets being fired constituted a war crime, or that Israel had every legal right under the laws of war to suppress such aggression and to retaliate in an effort to protect its citizenry from attack.

What was different about the Virginia Tech resolution, however, is that included a demand for Virginia Tech to join the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign, since, the resolution claimed, “academic institutions are not neutral arenas of knowledge production, exchange, and dissemination” and, therefore, “academic institutions are demonstrably key sites of contestation that can either uphold or challenge Israeli apartheid and colonialism . . . .” Moreover, any consideration that an academic boycott, in practice, constricts academic freedom should be ignored because, the resolution asserted without providing any evidence, “it is clear then that the existing status quo is not one which upholds academic freedom, but rather is one which violently denies Palestinian academics the ability to freely participate in academic institutions and conferences around the world.”

A Jerry-Rigged Budget ‘Framework’ The $1.75 trillion cost is phony, but the social and fiscal damage are real.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-jerry-rigged-budget-framework-joe-biden-white-house-reconciliation-bill-democrats-11635457542?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Nothing like an artificial political deadline to concentrate the warring liberal minds. Before departing Thursday for next week’s climate gabfest, President Biden declared he has sealed an agreement with Democrats in Congress on a “framework” for a spending bill that he declares will make a “fundamental change in America.”

He’s right about that last bit, but the blueprint the White House released is more frame than work. The jerry-rigged plan is an enormous expansion of government with quarter-baked entitlement programs that will retard work and $1.85 trillion in tax increases that will distort and limit investment. The $1.75 trillion cost that Democrats have assigned their bill is an illusion. They use phony accounting to finance a few years of new spending with 10 years of tax increases.

For example, the plan extends the $3,600 child tax credit for one year at a cost of $110 billion. But Democrats will inevitably extend the credit next year. If Republicans oppose this or try to scale the credit back, they will be attacked for raising taxes on middle-class families. The true 10-year cost is about $1.1 trillion.

The agreement drops the House’s proposed Medicare vision and dental expansion. But it preserves a new hearing benefit, which the White House claims will cost a mere $34 billion and start in 2024. The annual cost of the hearing benefit once fully phased-in is some $16 billion. Congress will invariably make it permanent. True cost: $160 billion.

The Biden administration’s mind-boggling cash giveaway to illegal aliens By Bob Parks

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/10/the_biden_administrations_mindboggling_cash_giveaway_to_illegal_aliens.html

Aside from exploitative nonprofits and opportunistic politicians, very few Americans invited illegal aliens to break our immigration laws intentionally—their very first act in the United States. Indeed, many Americans have had negative interactions with illegals, examples of which we see on an almost daily basis. Just the other day, a drunk-driving illegal alien killed a five-year-old girl, and there are other stories of thefts, robberies, sexual assaults. There are very few things anyone can point to that would be considered a benefit to having them around.

Only crazed Democrats could find a way to excuse this. Of course, Joe Biden has almost erased our southern border in an act of petty vindictiveness against President Trump and law-abiding Americans. But they just had to throw more salt in the wound….

Thousands of migrant parents and children separated from each other at the U.S. border by Trump administration policies may soon be eligible for hundreds of thousands of dollars per person in compensation, according to three sources familiar with ongoing negotiations in a lawsuit brought on behalf of separated families.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on Thursday that the Biden administration is in talks to offer separated migrant parents and children around $450,000 per person. That would mean that if a parent and a child were separated at the border, together they would be eligible for a combined payment of $900,000. The talks are part of negotiations between the Justice Department and lawyers representing the separated families in a number of tort cases that have claimed the families experienced harm when they were forcibly separated.

The Wall Street Journal has a few more pertinent details, most notably the fact that the “total potential payout could be $1 billion or more.”