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May 2022

Garland vs. Parents House Republicans report Justice Department investigations of school board protesters. By James Freeman

https://www.wsj.com/articles/garland-vs-parents-11652388388?mod=opinion_lead_pos11

“Even beyond the question of Mr. Garland’s candor in his testimony to Congress, is there any way to look at this re-engineering of Justice priorities as anything other than partisan, ideological and threatening to liberty?This column may have to make it an annual habit to express gratitude to the man who kept Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court.”

How far has the U.S. Department of Justice gone to investigate parents who were angry with local school boards and administrators? A new report from two Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee suggests that federal powers are being misused just as First Amendment defenders feared.

Readers may recall the revelations that came to light last fall. A Journal editorial noted in October:

It took a few weeks, but the National School Boards Association has apologized for sending a letter to President Biden suggesting that “threats and acts of violence” at school board meetings might be “domestic terrorism.” The NSBA now admits there was “no justification for some of the language included in the letter,” which could have parents investigated under the Patriot Act for trying to influence what their children are taught.
The retraction comes after tremendous blowback. First came parents at school board meetings with T-shirts saying “Parents are not domestic terrorists.” Then 21 state school board associations distanced themselves from the letter. The Ohio, Missouri and Pennsylvania state associations cut ties altogether.
It turns out that when Chip Slaven, the NSBA interim executive director and CEO, and president Viola Garcia sent the letter, they did so without consulting their own board. But according to one of Mr. Slaven’s emails, they did work with White House staff.

California Parents Say No to Anti-Semitic Ethnic Studies Activists are pushing curricula that portray Israel as a ‘settler state’ founded on ‘genocide.’ By Lori Lowenthal Marcus and Jesse M. Fried

https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-parents-say-no-to-anti-semitic-ethnic-studies-public-school-children-classroom-israel-anti-semitic-11652389663?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

A group of Jewish public-school parents and teachers filed a federal lawsuit Thursday challenging the adoption of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist curricular materials in Los Angeles public schools.

Last year California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law requiring public-school students in the state to complete a course in ethnic studies to graduate from high school. He said it was needed because “students deserve to see themselves in their studies, and they must understand our nation’s full history if we expect them to one day build a more just society.” But the ethnic-studies movement has never been about representation or justice. A creature of 1960s radical left-wing activism, ethnic studies was from the start about attacking the U.S., capitalism and Zionism.

Advocates—including teachers union officials, public-school teachers and other ideologues—have formed the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, through which they hope to influence the teaching of ethnic studies in the state. The consortium, which disseminates teaching materials lifted directly from radical anti-Israel websites, rejects the idea that all cultures should be studied. It asserts that ethnic studies is about only four groups: Native Americans, black Americans, Chicanos/Latinos, and Asian-Americans/Pacific Islanders. That last group includes Arabs from the Middle East—but not Jews, who’ve lived in that same region for millennia.

The consortium’s materials—many of which have been taken offline in recent months—are filled with attacks on Jews and the Jewish state. They deny that Jews are indigenous to the Middle East and teach that Israel is a “colonialist” and “settler state” founded through “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing” and “apartheid.” They falsely define Judaism, teaching that “Zionism is distinct from Judaism” and that Zionism isn’t a Jewish religious belief but an invention of the “late 19th century.”

Tell that to the millions of Jews who end their Passover Seders with “next year in Jerusalem,” or end every Jewish wedding by breaking a glass to mourn Jerusalem’s destruction, or pray each day facing Jerusalem—or whose bible, prayer book and calendar have for thousands of years been filled with the yearning for a return of the people of Israel to sovereignty in the land of Israel.

The Democrats’ War On Children

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/05/13/the-democrats-war-on-children/

Democrats often like to preface policy debates with phrases like “it’s about the children,” as if such patronizing mantras could sanctify even the worst ideas. The sad truth, however, is that one look at what the Dems have done since 2020 shows their real concerns are anything but the children.

From abortion to school shutdowns to runaway inflation to baby-food shortages, seemingly everything the Dems do these days has an adverse effect on children. After all, they control Congress and the White House.

To take the most egregious example, look at the just-defeated deceptively titled Women’s Health Protection Act, which had unanimous support from Democrats, with one brave exception: West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who voted against it.

For public consumption, Democrats claimed the bill was a self-defense against the expected overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark that made abortion an American right, even though there’s no mention of that in the Constitution.

It wasn’t. The Democrats’ bill went much further, in essence making abortion legal all the way up to delivery. It was infant-murder-on-demand legislation, having nothing to do with so-called “therapeutic” abortions for medical purposes or women’s health.

It was also the most anti-child law imaginable. The truth is, 29 states already allow full-term abortions for nearly any reason at all. The congressional bill simply would have forced the other 21 states to do the same.

The BDS Pound of Flesh Using lies and social pressure to force students to disavow Israel is a strategy aimed at raising the psychic and professional cost of being Jewish By Einat Wilf

https://mailchi.mp/521ba39f5f05/krd-news-einat-wilf-the-bds-pound-of-flesh?e=9365a7c638

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-bds-pound-of-flesh?fbclid=IwAR3E-JO_lv6Fs8VKY6MmLrCU60VYOStERP1q6MOIY0e8cWqBHMNXMyhYdhI

Several years ago, after I spoke at an AIPAC conference about Israel, Zionism, and the slow rise (at the time) of anti-Zionism in the West, a couple of concerned parents approached me. “Look,” they said, “we’re here, inside the conference, we get what you’re talking about. But our kids, who are the ones who should be hearing it, are outside, protesting with IfNotNow.” It was the first time I’d heard of the group, which calls itself “a movement of Jews to end Israel’s occupation and transform the American Jewish community,” but I saw nothing special in its apparent appeal to young people. I assumed it was just the way of the world for kids to rebel against their parents, reflecting changing values and circumstances. I understood that these kids grew up in a world in which the notion of a threat to Jewish life appeared distant, even ridiculous.

Over the years, however, I’ve found that attributing this anti-Israel activism to the different conditions under which the younger generation of American Jews came of age failed to account for the growing virulence of the activists, and the ever-growing demands placed on Jews to join their ranks. I now hear less from parents concerned that their kids are voluntarily joining anti-Israel organizations than from parents alarmed that their children are being pressured to do so—to the extent that it is now a significant consideration for many American Jewish families in deciding where to apply for college.

The demand on young Jews to be less visibly and confidently Jewish as the price of social acceptance and toleration—which only found its most recent and visible expression in a Harvard Crimson editorial endorsing the boycott movement against Israel—is an ancient one. Call it the “pound of flesh,” the mirror image of Shakespeare’s famous formulation in The Merchant of Venice: the intimidation of Jews into mutilating their own identities and giving up a part of themselves. In some cases, the pound of flesh is visual, like demands to remove yarmulkes, Israeli flags, jewelry with stars of David, or IDF T-shirts. In other cases, it’s written or vocal, like demands to disavow support for Israel or declare support for Palestinian political movements.

“Who is Behind the Curtain?” Sydney M. Williams

http://www.swtotd.blogspot.co

Apart from the final seventeen months of the Woodrow Wilson Administration, when the President suffered a stroke, we have never had a President appear unable to carry out his responsibilities – until now. To be honest, that assessment of Mr. Biden, while I believe it to be true, is based on observation rather than empirical evidence. In the case of President Wilson, the cover-up of his infirmities was due to his doctor, Cary Grayson and his second wife, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson. Dr. Grayson did brief Wilson’s cabinet and the question of succession arose, but the doctor refused to sign any official notice of inability, so Vice President Thomas Marshall remains a footnote, and the Presidency was allegedly managed by Mrs. Wilson.

At 78, Mr. Biden became the oldest person to be inaugurated President, eight years older than Donald Trump and nine years older than Ronald Reagan. In both cases, political opponents called into question their mental acuity; so, it is unsurprising that concerns for Mr. Biden have been raised. Four years and ten months after leaving office, Mr. Reagan sent a letter to the American people telling them he was afflicted with Alzheimer’s. In the summer of 2018, eighteen months after taking office, Mr. Trump took (and passed) the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test. Thus far, Mr. Biden has refused to take a similar test.

Fauci’s Royalties And The $350 Million Royalty Payment Stream HIDDEN By NIH It’s the first time since 2005 that the NIH royalty payments receive oversight. Adam Andrzejewski

https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/faucis-royalties-and-the-350-million?utm_source=/profile/24758236-adam-andrzejewski&utm_medium=reader2&s=w

Last year, the National Institutes of Health – Anthony Fauci’s employer – doled out $30 billion in government grants to roughly 56,000 recipients. That largess of taxpayer money buys a lot of favor and clout within the scientific, research, and healthcare industries.

However, in our breaking investigation, we found hundreds of millions of dollars in payments also flow the other way. These are royalty payments from third-party payers (think pharmaceutical companies) back to the NIH and individual NIH scientists.

We estimate that between fiscal years 2010 and 2020, more than $350 million in royalties were paid by third-parties to the agency and NIH scientists – who are credited as co-inventors.

Because those payments enrich the agency and its scientists, each and every royalty payment could be a potential conflict of interest and needs disclosure.

Recently, our organization at OpenTheBooks.com forced NIH to disclose over 22,100 royalty payments totaling nearly $134 million paid to the agency and nearly 1,700 NIH scientists. These payments occurred during the most recently available period (September 2009 – September 2014).

The Leftwing Insurrection Paul Krause

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/05/the_leftwing_insurrection.html

According to the propaganda narrative of the media, Donald Trump and the Republican Party foment insurrection and illegitimacy in American politics. Only the noble left, with its commitment to democracy, can defend America and its institutions and rule of law. This is hogwash and anyone free from the tyrannic propaganda of the media knows it. In reality, the left peddles insurrectionist language and promotes the idea of American illegitimacy so as to endorse insurrectionist behavior—“in the name of democracy” though.

Joe Scarborough, one of the most annoying individuals to ever purvey television propaganda, has recently called the Supreme Court “illegitimate.” So have other liberal opinion writers. And what does all this talk of Court illegitimacy bring? Insurrectionist beliefs. It is an announcement for haters of America to begin burning property and launching violent protests aimed at desecrating the rule of law in the United States. It is the go-ahead for the army of Bolshevik street-warriors to assail American institutions and the freedom they uphold.

I was just a child, but I do recall the hoopla over the 2000 election. Memory is short, but liberal writers and activists militantly wrote opinion pieces decrying the “stolen” election. Jonathan Chait, 12 years later, in New York Magazine, wrote that the 2000 election was stolen. Even more recently, Terry McAuliffe, the ungracious loser of the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election, spewed that the 2000 election was stolen.  Twenty years after the election, many liberals cannot—will not—accept the 2000 election. Their language of a stolen election implies what? Insurrection and illegitimacy.

The time has come: Canada must find a way to legally remove a dangerous Prime Minister: Diane Bederman

https://dianebederman.com/the-time-has-come-canada-must-find-a-way-to-legally-remove-a-dangerous-prime-minister/

“People who are more vengeful tend to be those who are motivated by power, by authority and by the desire for status.” Ian McKee of Adelaide University in Australia

Canada must find a way to legally remove a dangerous Prime Minister. We are being led by a Prime Minister who is corrupt, inept, immoral, divisive, vicious, vindictive and vengeful towards those with whom he disagrees. If we are to remain a democracy, we must find a way to remove dangerous Prime Ministers so that this never happens, again.

To be blunt: Justin Trudeau is a traitor to our Constitution, a traitor to our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a traitor to Canadians and is a wannabe dictator. He loves how the Chinese government functions. He even invited Chinese Troops to “train” in Canada.

He “forgets” that we have inalienable rights that he cannot take away at will.

The Badly Needed EastMed Pipeline Awaits Approval by Judith Bergman

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18509/eastmed-pipeline-awaits-approval

“Germany must be prepared that it could be the next country to which Gazprom cuts gas deliveries. Europe, therefore, needs a multitude of alternatives to the Russian energy supply.” — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, The New York Times, April 28, 2022.

The pre-feasibility studies [of the EastMed pipeline that would transport gas to Europe from Israel and Cyprus through Greece], conducted from 2015-18 and paid for by the European Union, found that the project is “technically feasible, economically viable and commercially competitive.”

“The analysis conducted for the activity related to the economic, financial and competitiveness studies, evidenced that the [EastMed] Project contributes to the improvement of market integration of currently isolated countries such as Cyprus and some Greek regions, to the enhancement of energy security diversifying the supply sources for Europe and to the reduction of the EU-wide consumers’ gas bill.” — Conclusion of pre-feasibility studies published by European Commission, July 2019.

“Moreover, taking into account the need of additional net imports to satisfy EU gas demand by 2030 and the risk associated to the current production availability, procurement and transport of gas supply, the Project provides strategic contribution to the EU security of supply.” — Conclusion of pre-feasibility studies published by European Commission, July 2019.

The significant rise in natural gas prices in Europe favors the economic viability of the pipeline, according to energy expert Michalis Mathioulakis, of the ELIAMEP think tank.

[US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria] Nuland’s comments appeared especially odd as, after meeting with her counterparts in Turkey on April 4, she told the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet that more pipelines were needed in the Eastern Mediterranean. The US, it appears, prefers to steer the business to Turkey’s strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, rather than to America’s democratic allies, Cyprus, Israel and Greece.

According to the Biden administration, therefore, pipelines that go via Turkey are apparently acceptable, Algerian gas pipelines are also acceptable, but the long-planned Israeli-Greek-Cypriot EastMed pipeline is not acceptable.

“What we are waiting for is the final report which is financed by the EU. And I repeat, the position was from the start – and that is why the study is being carried out – if it is viable, if there are investors, if the seabed permits, then it will be carried out. The US government does not decide about a European project. What everyone can see, and this is very important, is the need for the EU to cease being dependent on specific markets and the alternative channels for natural gas to Europe and the closest is none other than the basin of the eastern Mediterranean.” — Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, Cyprus Mail, April 8, 2022.

“[I]t must not be up to one of the parties, the United States, to impose its own energy policy upon the parties, but rather, it should be up to the parties to arrive at an energy policy that best serves their collective interest. Under Secretary Nuland’s contradictory messaging on Eastern Mediterranean pipeline projects…. gives the appearance of appeasement of Turkey.” — Nick Larigakis, American Hellenic Institute, Ekathimerini, April 12, 2022.

Turkey has been opposed to the EastMed pipeline project all along… [W]hen the Biden administration first announced its unofficial opposition to the project, the reasons given by the US were primarily environmental and financial. Then, suddenly, Nuland claimed that the timeline for the project is too long because Europe needs gas “now.” Whatever the reasons given, they come across as an ill-disguised attempt at placating Turkey at the expense of Europe’s energy security, and attempts to free itself of Russian energy dependency. The Biden administration is once again demonstrating how, unfortunately, it prefers to do business.

Russia is expected to make almost $321 billion from its energy exports this year — over a third more, according to Bloomberg, than last year.

The Devil is in the Details, so Let’s Avoid the Details E.J. Hare

https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-devil-is-in-the-details-so-lets-avoid-the-details/

The pro-abortion party tries to defend the practice by not talking about it.

The reported leak of a Supreme Court decision returning the question of abortion laws to the states drove the leftist media into a state of outrage and indignation. But after so many years of fundraising and voter mobilization based on the threat of Roe being overturned, it seems the Left has forgotten its arguments in favor of the unrestricted right to abortion. Instead, it is struggling to find an argument that is consonant with their present focus on race-based injustice as the through line for all social and political debate.

Amid the predictable race-and-gender based invective against the three white men among the five-justice majority indicated by the leaked draft, there is a discernible effort to steer the discussion away from the issue at hand. We are told that this decision will be quickly followed by reversals of the right to contraception access, state-sanctioned homosexual marriage, or interracial marriage. While there is no clear connection amongst these issues beyond a reliance on “substantive due process,” implication is that the Left would prefer to deflect from talking about abortion itself toward more comfortable subjects.

But abortion, even for its proponents, involves very specific ideas about when a human fetus becomes worthy of protection by the state, and the dubious notion of “viability.” It involves distasteful realities that cannot be elided via euphemism. Today’s abortion rights absolutists insist on a right to terminate a developing fetus well past the point of “viability,” and become incensed by any mention of what would be involved in terminating a fetus at 40 weeks.