Displaying posts published in

May 2023

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Christianity ‘Must be Eliminated’: The Persecution of Christians, April 2023 by Raymond Ibrahim

By on May 22nd, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19659/persecution-of-christians-april

“The Taliban are offering money for Afghans to turn in any Christians they know. And Afghans are desperate, further heightening the security risk [to] Christians.” — mnnonline, April 3, 2023, Afghanistan.

[P]olice raided a large group of Christians, mostly college students, as they “gathered to sing and record video clips for social media.” One-hundred-and three of them, “mainly students,” were arrested and sent to prison. “This latest arrest puts the number of Christian prisoners detained indefinitely without trial in Eritrea to more than 500…. Mai Serwa [prison]…is … known for its use of torture and other forms of mistreatment, including beatings, starvation, and denial of medical care. The Eritrean government detains individuals without charge or trial and has held many in detention for years without access to legal representation or the due process of law.” — International Christian Concern, persecution.org, April 24, 2023, Eritrea.

[I]n one night of unfathomable horror … men, women, and children were slaughtered like chicken….” — persecution.org, April 28, 2023 — Democratic Republic of Congo.

The “pure genocide” of Christians, as it has been characterized by several international observers, reached new levels, according to an Apr. 10 report, which found that since 2009, 52,250 Christians in Nigeria “have been butchered or hacked to death.” – Nigeria.

“Political Islam replaces the laws or interprets them differently so that they restrict the practice of other religions. It also works to change the culture of society — which puts it under great pressure — so that it becomes more radical and extreme, not only toward other religions but also toward other Islamic sects.” — catholicnewsagency.com, 2023, Libya.

[P]olice arrested two illiterate cleaners—a Christian widow and a Muslim gardener—on the accusation that they had intentionally burned pages from the Koran, thereby committing “blasphemy.” — morningstarnews.org, April 24, 2023, Pakistan.

“Don’t tell me that if you entered a church your faith would waver. Every other person of a different religion here hears the [Islamic] call to prayer five times a day [and their faith doesn’t waver].” — Syed Saddiq, Malaysian politician, christiantoday.com, April 7, 2023, Malaysia.

“Indonesia’s Joint Ministerial Decree of 2006 (SKB) makes requirements for obtaining permits nearly impossible for most new churches. Even when small, new churches are able to meet the requirement of obtaining 90 signatures of approval from congregation members and 60 from area households of different religions, they are often met with delays or lack of response from officials. Well-organized radical Muslims secretly mobilize outside people to intimidate and pressure members of minority faiths.” — morningstarnews.org, April 6, 2023, Indonesia.

The following are among the murders and abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of April, 2023:

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Fountain of Lies: Climate Crazies Dye Trevi Fountain Black By Catherine Salgado

By on May 22nd, 2023

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/catherinesalgado/2023/05/21/fountain-of-lies-climate-crazies-dye-trevi-fountain-black-n1697023

Talk about brain-washed. Climate alarmist activists dyed the waters of Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain black Sunday in the latest idiotic climate demonstration targeting priceless art and architecture.

“Climate activists with the group Last Generation dumped diluted vegetable charcoal into the water of Rome’s famed Trevi Fountain in Italy on Sunday, turning the water black,” UPI reported on May 21. Can we acknowledge that these people are suffering from a sort of mental illness that drives them to target the most beautiful, beloved, and brilliant achievements of mankind? And all based on a lie. The climate apocalypse is not nigh.

Climate change “experts” have been wildly and consistently wrong in their predictions for 50 years now. Just recently, data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — confirmed by NASA satellite data — showed that there has not been global warming for the past eight years. In other words, the whole world isn’t about to experience deadly flooding because of global warming, even if part of Italy is sadly being flooded. So not only did the climate activists create a mess other people have to clean up and spoiled a lot of tourists’ experiences, but they also did it for a cause that is based on lies.

The protest was supposedly a reaction to “catastrophic” floods in Italy that have left at least 13 people dead and thousands homeless. Is there any evidence these floods are caused by climate change? I’d be interested to see objective evidence instead of the usual climate doom screeching all the media outlets are putting out about the flooding.

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Will We Wake Up When We’re Hungry?

By on May 22nd, 2023

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/05/22/will-we-wake-up-when-were-hungry/

It’s safe to say that at no time in human history have more people been better fed than are in our current era. So of course the left has to make sure that doesn’t continue.

John Kerry, the man who has almost perfected the art of looking down his nose at the commoners so very far beneath him, told a group of co-elitists at a recent climate summit that, in the words of a Reuters reporter, “c​​utting greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural production is essential to the global fight against climate change.”

In Kerry’s own words, he claimed “we can’t get to net zero, we don’t get this job done, unless agriculture is front and center as part of the solution.”

The special presidential envoy for climate, a job he is perfectly suited for as it requires no accomplishments, only a membership in a “​​select group of human beings” and an enormously inflated sense of self, then confused matters by declaring that “a 2-degree future could result in another 600 million people not getting enough to eat.”

“You can’t continue to warm the planet while also expecting to feed it.”

So let’s see if we have this right: The way to feed more people is to slash agriculture production?

The eco-zealots who have stoked the climate scare aren’t open to genetically modified farming, which can increase the yields of some crop varieties by a factor of 10. Kerry and the climate cabal are simply not interested in any sort of innovation that would boost not only crop harvests but the nutrition density of our foods

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IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Our Great Illegal Immigration Mythologies. Part One Victor Davis Hanson

By on May 22nd, 2023

https://victorhanson.com/our-great-illegal-immigration-mythologies-part-one/

Myth #1: Mexico is our “partner.”

Joe Biden has recently praised President Andrés Manuel López Obrador as working hand-in-glove with him to alleviate the influx of illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. from his country. In fact, Obrador is one of the main reasons there have been over seven million illegal entries since Biden took office. Obrador wants illegal immigration. He said as much when he giddily bragged that 40 million of his own countrymen had fled to the U.S. Would not a balanced leader regret the loss of over 30 percent of his current population? He urged such expatriates to vote Democratic, a direct interference in the internal affairs of the United States but ignored by the media since it has found such meddling useful. And why Obrador’s interference in our affairs? Because it is to Mexico’s advantage to destroy the border. Why so? Let us count the ways:

1) Mexico receives an astounding $60 billion in remittances from its citizens and residents in the U.S.—the largest source of its foreign exchange. Consider that weird statistic: Mexico’s main export is not food, oil, natural gas—but its own people, as in exporting human beings! Note especially that our local, state, and federal governments subsidize much of these remittances. Americans provide housing/education/legal/food/healthcare entitlements to illegal immigrants to free up their cash to send back to Mexico. Could we not at least tax the $60 billion at 10 percent? Or at least prohibit those on U.S. public assistance from sending money back to Mexico?

2) Mexican intellectuals and academics talk nonstop of the lost lands stolen by Yanquis, especially in the 1846–48 Mexican War. In their view, demography is doing what the 19th century did in reverse: reclaiming Aztlán by destroying the border. Such irredentism is encouraged by Mexico.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

The Great University Reform Debate Should we appeal to norms of academic freedom or engage in a strategy of political recapture? Christopher Rufo

By on May 22nd, 2023

https://rufo.substack.com/p/the-great-university-reform-debate?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Earlier this month, I participated in a friendly debate hosted by Stanford University’s Classical Liberalism Initiative, on the topic of “Academic Freedom and Higher Education Reform.”

I made the case that the modern university has lost its sense of purpose and requires significant institutional reform, even political recapture, to restore the principles of classical liberal education, while my interlocutor, Princeton professor Keith Whittington, argued for a more cautious approach, emphasizing the values of academic freedom, faculty governance, and institutional autonomy.

My belief is that the old right-libertarian solutions, which rely on procedural values, are doomed to fail. In fact, they are responsible, in large part, for the current mess. Rather than continue to pursue this dead end, I believe that we must revive the democratic governance of our public universities and shape them according to the principles and priorities of voters, who elect legislators to govern state institutions in the interest of the common good.

The following are some highlights from this debate.

On the Question of “Who Decides”

Christopher Rufo: These are all political decisions. And I think, in opposition to many of my libertarian friends, that the universities are not overly politicized. The universities are overly ideologized and insufficiently politicized. We should politicize the universities and understand that education is, at heart, a political question. Aristotle presents his theory of education in Book VIII of the Politics. The point of education, he says, is to train citizens for participation in the polis, in political life. And so, libertarian conservatives who would want to retreat are actually abdicating an enormous responsibility. These are public universities funded by taxpayers. This is not a free marketplace of ideas; this is a state-run monopoly on education institutions. And we have a duty and responsibility to use political power to shape them towards serving the citizens, towards serving the public good.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Escape From New York, Etc. Big progressive cities suffer another year of declining population.

By on May 22nd, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/articles/progressive-cities-population-decline-census-bureau-chicago-new-york-san-francisco-e803562c?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

Population loss from big cities slowed last year, the Census Bureau reported last week. Was it trying to bury the lead? The bigger news is how Covid lockdowns, crime and the rising cost of living are causing an exodus from big progressive cities.

According to the latest Census data, New York City lost 468,297 people between April 2020 and July 2022, about 5.3% of its population. That’s more people than live in the city of Miami (449,514). Other big losers include Chicago (81,313), Los Angeles (76,529) and San Francisco (65,522). San Francisco lost a larger share of its population (7.5%) than any other major city.

Population decline in these cities slowed but notably didn’t reverse in 2022 after lockdowns were lifted. City leaders blame remote work, but can you blame workers for not returning to offices when they face high taxes, high housing costs and declining public order? Chicago logged 41% more crimes last year than in 2021, and crime is up 43% so this year.

CME Group CEO Terry Duffy recently revealed that his wife was the victim of a carjacking in broad daylight in Chicago. Citadel CEO Ken Griffin last year cited Chicago’s crime surge as the reason he moved his hedge fund to Miami, after first considering New York City. One colleague had been punched by “some random lunatic” in the head, he noted. Another had been robbed at gunpoint.

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ANTI-SEMITISM, ISRAEL Comments turned off

Elon Musk Is Right About George Soros—and Not Anti-Semitic The Hungarian-born billionaire has done more than anyone to turn Americans against Israel. By Alan M. Dershowitz

By on May 22nd, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-is-right-about-george-soros-and-not-anti-semitic-hrw-j-street-israel-b7db935b?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

Elon Musk has been accused of anti-Semitism because of his criticism and mockery of George Soros. Mr. Soros is Jewish; Mr. Musk isn’t. But Mr. Musk stands falsely accused. Mr. Soros is an active participant in politics, and his Jewishness shouldn’t shield him from criticism.

Further, no single person has done more to damage Israel’s standing in the world, especially among so-called progressives, than George Soros. His financial support has multiplied the influence of the two major organizations that have done the most to shift the left-wing paradigm against Israel.

One of them is Human Rights Watch, which was founded by publisher and human-rights advocate Robert Bernstein (1923-2019). For years HRW critiqued the denial of human rights by all countries based on two criteria: the seriousness of the violations in any particular nation, and the inability of the nation’s citizens to protest and remedy such violations. But in 1993 Kenneth Roth became executive director and turned HRW into an organization that specialized in demonizing Israel.

By 2009 the Israel bashing had become so severe that Bernstein wrote: “As the founder of Human Rights Watch, its active chairman for 20 years and now founding chairman emeritus, I must do something that I never anticipated: I must publicly join the group’s critics. Human Rights Watch had as its original mission to pry open closed societies, advocate basic freedoms and support dissenters. But recently it has been issuing reports on the Israeli-Arab conflict that are helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state.”

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