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August 2022

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Progressives for jihad The woke set’s sympathy for Palestinian Islamic Jihad is deranged. Brendan O’ Neill

By on August 14th, 2022

https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/08/10/progressives-for-jihad/

Remember when progressives were opposed to hardline religious movements that use violence to try to destroy democratic states? Those were the days. As a godless humanist instinctively wary of religious fundamentalism, I miss them. They really are long gone. The sympathy offered by self-styled progressives to Palestinian Islamic Jihad in recent days has made that clear. Islamic Jihad is a thoroughly regressive movement. It says it will settle for nothing less than the obliteration of Israel. It wants to create an Islamic State of Palestine in which Sharia would rule and all who fall foul of it – uppity women, homosexuals, atheists – would suffer. For the right-on to sympathise with such an outfit is akin to chickens giving solidarity to KFC.

Progressives for Islamic Jihad – this is where we’re at now; this is the latest deranged alley wokeness has taken us down. Since Friday, when the Israel Defence Forces launched Operation Breaking Dawn to take out the leaders of Islamic Jihad, we’ve had oceans of Twitter tears from Western progressives and virtually no analysis. ‘Might a group called Islamic Jihad be a tad problematic?’ – you’ll be searching for a long time before encountering even a question as basic as that. Instead, the same old script has been dusted down: Israel is evil, Zionism is racist, the Palestinian people have the right to resist, etc etc. The dearth of curiosity over what Islamic Jihad represents has been appalling.

Islamic Jihad has been talked about in the sympathetic language of ‘resistance’. A UN special rapporteur on Palestine thrilled the online left by tweeting during the raining down of Islamic Jihad missiles on Southern Israel that ‘Palestinians’ right to resist is inherent to their right to exist as a people’. The BDS movement used the glowing terms of resistance, too. It shared an image of a CNN headline that said ‘Israel clashes with Islamic Jihad’, though BDS changed it to ‘Israel massacres Palestinians’. Do not dismiss ‘the resistance of a besieged and trapped population’, BDS warned the mainstream media. At a rowdy rally in New York City, protesters insisted that ‘resistance is not terrorism’. Palestinians should use ‘every means possible’ against Israel, one speaker declared. An Irish anti-war group went further, declaring ‘Victory to the Palestinian Resistance!’. Right now, that ‘resistance’ takes the form of religious violence from a group that has primarily targeted Israeli citizens. You want victory for that?

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

Eisgruber’s Emails A nine-month correspondence with Princeton’s president sheds more light on his administration’s deceitful embrace of woke fanaticism at the expense of excellence by Sergiu Klainerman

By on August 14th, 2022

ttps://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/eisgruber-emails-princeton-katz

 

In a stirring recent address to the students of the startup University of Austin, Bari Weiss described the ideology that has taken over America’s institutions of higher education: “Forgiveness is replaced with punishment. Debate is replaced with dis-invitation and de-platforming. Diversity is replaced with homogeneity of thought. Inclusion with exclusion. Excellence with equity.” To change this calamitous development requires nothing less than a revolution.

All successful revolutions start with local rebellions, and one has been taking place over the last year at Princeton University—the prestigious institution where I have taught mathematics and made my home for the last 35 years, but which is being destroyed from within by an administration committed to the ideology that Weiss accurately identified.

The saga has been well documented in these pages: In July 2020, tenured classics professor Joshua Katz published an article criticizing several illiberal demands made by a large number of Princeton faculty members to correct the university’s alleged “systemic racism,” including the creation of a “committee composed entirely of faculty that would oversee the investigation and discipline of racist behaviors, incidents, research, and publication on the part of faculty …” For his criticism of these demands, and for referring to a by-then-defunct student organization, the Black Justice League (BJL), as “a small local terrorist organization that made life miserable for the students (including the many Black students) who did not agree with its members’ demands,” Katz was smeared as a racist by the university in its own freshman orientation program, then fired earlier this year on what is recognized by every sane observer as a pretext: a disputed accusation from a former student with whom Katz had a consensual sexual affair in 2006-07—for which he was already punished in 2018—that Katz had discouraged her from seeking mental health care.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Have the Cheneys Forgotten the Deep State Hit on Scooter Libby? Self-awareness is not one of the Cheneys’ strengths. by Jack Cashill

By on August 14th, 2022

https://spectator.org/have-the-cheneys-forgotten-the-deep-state-hit-on-scooter-libby/

“I have been ashamed to hear members of my party attacking the integrity of the FBI agents involved with the recent Mar-a-Lago search,” the perversely self-righteous Liz Cheney tweeted on Thursday. “These are sickening comments that put the lives of patriotic public servants at risk.”

Rep. Cheney seems to have forgotten one significant event in her family’s political life: the same weaponized deep state that okayed the raid on Mar-a-Lago convicted her father’s chief-of-staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby on charges that were as manufactured as those leveled against President Trump. If Liz has forgotten, former vice president Dick Cheney surely remembers.

Trump’s pardon should have gladdened Cheney’s heart. It certainly did Scooter Libby’s.

In June 2007, Libby was convicted in a D.C. court of one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of lying under oath, and one count of making false statements. “I believe firmly that Scooter was unjustly accused and prosecuted and deserved a pardon,” Mr. Cheney told CNN’s John King in 2009, adding, “I was clearly not happy that we, in effect, left Scooter sort of hanging in the wind.” By “we” Cheney meant President George W. Bush. Cheney did little to conceal his disgust with Bush for failing to pardon Libby.

The charges against Libby stemmed from an investigation into the leak of the name of the low-level, Langley-based, CIA agent Valerie Plame. The White House was alleged to have leaked her name to punish her husband, Joe Wilson, an international hustler and occasional ambassador. Wilson purported to be a whistleblower. He wasn’t. He was a showboater.

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MEDIA, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

‘Where Is the Media?’: Persecution of Christians, June 2022 by Raymond Ibrahim

By on August 14th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18771/persecution-of-christians-june

The Christians of Nigeria are, in fact, being purged in a genocide, according to several NGOs Every two hours, one Christian there is killed. — Nigeria.

“Heavily armed bandits, many of whom are said to be ethnic Fulanis, are waging their own form of Jihad; killing, abducting and terrorizing worship centers and educational institutions owned by churches as well as impoverished communities in the North and Middle Belt regions.” — Vanguardngr.com. June 19, 2022, Nigeria.

The Biden administration’s response to the jihadist onslaught against Christians in Nigeria…has been to remove Nigeria from the State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern: nations that engage in, or tolerate, violations of religious freedom. — Nigeria.

“The landlocked Sahel state [Burkina Faso], one of the world’s poorest countries, is in the grip of a nearly seven-year-old jihadist insurgency. Thousands of people have died and nearly two million have been driven from their homes.” — Guardian.ng, June 28, 2022, Burkina Faso.

“Amoti came to our home very early in the morning and needed to know more of Issa [Jesus], whom she had seen in a dream…. she willingly accepted Jesus for the salvation of her soul….. then together we went to church in Nansana.” When she arrived home, her father “…ordered his sons to seize and beat her, then took a sharp knife and pierced her eyes,” one of her brothers who had tried to defend her later said. “I want to remove these eyes so that you stop seeing churches forever—even if you die, we are not going to bury you,” her Muslim father said. — Morning Star News, June 14, 2022, Uganda.

“After Bashir was ousted from 30 years of power in April 2019, the transitional civilian-military government… outlawed the labeling of any religious group “infidels” and thus effectively rescinded apostasy laws that made leaving Islam punishable by death. With the Oct. 25 [2021] coup, Christians in Sudan fear the return of the most repressive and harsh aspects of Islamic law.” — Morning Star News, June 20 2022, Sudan.

On June 6, a 15-year-old Christian girl told a court how she was kidnapped and raped by a Muslim accused of abducting and forcibly converting her to Islam and marrying her. — Morning Star News, June 7, 2022, Pakistan.

June 14 report tells the story of Rehmat Masih, a Christian man who, despite there being no evidence, “has been in prison for five months in a new fabricated blasphemy case. He is accused of profaning and desecrating the pages of the Koran, but in reality he allegedly simply refused an offer to change religion…. on January 3, “police arrested Rehmat Masih, accusing him of committing blasphemy and tortured him severely” in an effort to make him admit to desecrating the Koran, an offence punishable by life imprisonment under Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code. On January 19, 2022, a bail application was filed for the defendant, but the judge rejected it. Rehmat has been in prison since, awaiting his trial. — asanews.it, June 14, 2022, Pakistan.

The following are among the abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians throughout the month of June 2022:

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ISRAEL, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

A Dangerous Triple Fantasy by Amir Taheri

By on August 14th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18800/dangerous-triple-fantasy

Last June Khamenei himself spoke of the “need to open a new front in the West Bank against the Zionist enemy”.

Reliable sources in Baghdad say that the Quds Force has been “transiting” significant quantities of arms and cash via Iraq to Jordan, to be smuggled to the West Bank. The Jordanian authorities say they are aware of these “hostile activities”‘. King Abdullah himself has publicly called on Iran to cease “destabilizing activities”.

Supporters of “pre-emptive initiative” speak of a triple alliance in which the Islamic Republic, the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation work together to drive the US and its allies out of Eurasia, eastern Europe and the western Pacific, bringing almost a century of “American hegemony” to an end.

In such a scenario, Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel must not remain as bases for the American “hegemon” and its European and regional allies. All three, each in its own way, also pose threats to China, Russia and Iran’s authoritarian systems by offering models for pluralist democracy and liberal capitalism.

It is clear that some dangerous pipe-dreamers in Beijing, Moscow and Tehran have fallen for the phantasmagoric vision of, “three great powers” banding together and with help from “the rest”, that is to say, the so-called Third World, as Kayhan says, to destroy an international system created by the “corrupt and decadent”.

[P]rudence demands preparing for even the improbable.

In his meeting in Tehran with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Islamic Republic’s “Supreme Guide” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised what he called “Your Excellency’s pre-emptive initiative” in launching “Special Operations ” against Ukraine.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Adam Andrzejewski : IRS STAFFED UP. ARMED UP.

By on August 14th, 2022

File This Under: Too Ridiculous. 

The IRS is adding 87,000 auditors paid for by an $80 billion appropriation in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. 

However, the IRS isn’t just staffing up…

Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found that the IRS purchased of tens of millions of dollars in guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment since 2006. 

In fact, the IRS has stockpiled 5 million rounds of ammunition and 4,500 guns. For example, their gun locker includes 539 long-barrel rifles, 621 shotguns, and 15 sub-machine guns.

Thankfully, the issue is getting more attention, as legislation has been introduced in Congress to ‘Disarm The IRS.”

We broke the news in 2021 – Read It All Here!

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

Defund the Teacher-Trainers By Frederick M. Hess

By on August 14th, 2022

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2022/08/29/defund-the-teacher-trainers/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_

It would be good for students, good for parents, good for schools

The debates over critical race theory (CRT) and gender ideology can feel like people on either side are talking past one another. Truth is, they often are.

There’s a lot more agreement than it seems. Parents and teachers tend to think that the Left has a point when it says schools should do a better job teaching about America’s complex racial history, and that kids should feel welcome in school regardless of their race, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Meanwhile, most Americans share concerns about CRT dogma that demonizes hard work or personal responsibility as legacies of “white-supremacy culture” and don’t want teachers discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with eight-year-olds.

Indeed, it’s pretty clear that most Americans reside in both camps — think of it as the “inclusive but sensible” coalition. The American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life has found that, among Republicans and Democrats alike, more than four in five say social-studies textbooks should discuss slave-owning by the Founders, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and the maltreatment of Native Americans, and agree that students should read “works by a racially diverse set of authors.” 

At the same time, polling by the Economist and YouGov finds that more than half of Americans who are familiar with CRT say they have a “very unfavorable” opinion of it and 55 percent think teaching CRT is “bad for America.” This spring, Public Opinion Strategies found that two-thirds of registered voters deem it “inappropriate for teachers or school personnel to discuss gender identity with children in kindergarten through 3rd grade.”

Given that kind of commonsense agreement, why are schools riven by bitter fights over whether educators should teach that America is a “white supremacist” nation or talk to first-graders about gender identity? Who is responsible for pushing this toxic tripe?

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Tulsi Gabbard Blasts FBI Raid on Mar-a-Lago, Says It ‘Changed the Country That We Grew Up In ’By Diana Glebova

By on August 14th, 2022

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-blasts-fbi-raid-on-mar-a-lago-says-it-changed-the-country-that-we-grew-up-in/?utm_

Former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard criticized the FBI’s raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, saying it “changed the country that we grew up in.”

“Now, whatever your views are on Donald Trump, there is no denying that the unprecedented raid on his Palm Beach home earlier this week has set our country on a dangerous new course, and there’s no turning back. The FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago changed the country that we grew up in,” Gabbard said Friday in an appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

Trump was the first person to announce the FBI’s raid on his residence Monday, saying, “These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.”

A federal judge unsealed the search warrant Friday. A list of items taken from Mar-a-Lago shows the FBI recovered eleven sets of classified documents, including some top-secret documents, roughly 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note, the executive grant of clemency for Roger Stone, and information about French president Emanuel Macron.

“We grew up believing that, ‘Hey, our government will apply the law equally to all Americans, whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat.’ We’re seeing more and more that, that country no longer exists. Law enforcement at the highest levels of government, whether it’s the DOJ, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and now even the IRS have been weaponized to target the political opponents of the uni-party, the permanent Washington and the Biden regime,” Gabbard continued.

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MEDICINE AND HEALTH Comments turned off

The Suppression of Useful COVID-19 Treatments Robert Clancy

By on August 14th, 2022

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/public-health/2022/08/the-suppression-of-useful-covid-19-treatments/

The author is Emeritus Professor of Pathology at the University of Newcastle Medical School. He is a member of the Australian Academy of Science’s COVID-19 Expert Database

Eighteen months ago, the first in a series of articles on the management of COVID-19 was published in Quadrant. The constant in these articles was that optimal management combined spaced vaccine administration with effective early drug treatment to cover breakthrough infections. This article compares two groups of drugs promoted as effective in the early treatment of COVID-19: recycled anti-viral drugs that target specific replication and re-purposed drugs of biological origin that render target cells hostile to viral infection.

Background: Those who have followed this series and perhaps others, will recognise how a “vaccine narrative” and its ideology, promoted by the pharmaceutical industry, led to the cancellation of non-patented drugs. These re-purposed drugs had an extensive data base supporting prevention and early treatment of COVID-19. Opposition to their use was unprecedented, denying both science and the established practise of the doctor-patient relationship. This opposition threatened use of “off-label” drugs regularly prescribed with benefit by most doctors. Governments also banned the use of these drugs for treatment of COVID-19, threatening and enacting the deregistration of doctors who opposed the narrative and prescribed ivermectin (IVM) or hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for early treatment of COVID-19 infection. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the Australian licensing body, succumbed to pressure by banning use of IVM for treatment of COVID-19, not because it was  ineffective but because “it may interfere with vaccine uptake; it may deprive indigenous patients use for scabies; and there may be confusion re appropriate dosage regimen”. This win for Big Pharma was a loss for thousands of Australians who would benefit, including many at risk of developing serious disease.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Donald Trump, Designated Enemy of the State Salvatore Babones

By on August 14th, 2022

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/america/2022/08/donald-trump-official-enemy-of-the-state/

“The American political establishment — leading Democrats and Republican never-Trumpers alike — is desperately afraid of a Trump political comeback in 2024. They fabricated a Russia collusion hoax, spent two years on a special counsel investigation, impeached Trump twice, jailed Trump supporters for trespassing at the Capitol, held partisan Congressional hearings to broadcast hearsay evidence against the former President without the opportunity for cross-examination, and weaponised the entire federal law enforcement bureaucracy (and some state ones, too) against this one man. And if they can do it to him, they can do it to anyone.”

The Washington Post ran it just above a (news?) article titled “Inside Biden’s Hot Streak, from the Poolside to the Capitol”. Seemingly unsure whether or not they could trust Donald Trump even on this, they went with the headline “FBI Searches Trump safe at Mar-a-Lago Club, Former President Says”. Those final three words are the editors’ hedge: maybe it happened, maybe it didn’t, but no one can deny that he said it.

The Post helpfully explained that Trump has a history of stealing government property from the White House, and has been at loggerheads with the National Archives over presidential records ever since he left office. A previous trawl of Trump plunder yielded “a cocktail napkin, a phone list, charts, slide decks, letters, memos, maps, talking points, a birthday dinner menu, schedules and more”—this, from a confidential source inside the investigation!

The desperation of the American political establishment has come to this: attempting to prosecute a former president for appropriating a White House cocktail napkin. Not even a full-sized linen serviette! They probably don’t have little ‘White House’ monograms in the corner.

Well, Trump always did like monograms.

The Wall Street Journal — a News Corp outlet but editorially independent — reported that “Former President Donald Trump said FBI agents ‘raided’ his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Monday” (their scare quotes, not mine). In its full explainer article, the paper exulted that:

Officials can face up to five years in prison for removing classified materials to an unauthorized location. The penalties for breaking other laws related to the removal of official records also include disqualification from holding federal office—including the presidency.

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