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February 2025

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Everybody Freeze! It’s the Climate Police

By on February 25th, 2025

https://www.thefp.com/p/everybody-freeze-climate-police

https://newsletter.doomberg.com/

In their quest to slow climate change, bureaucrats in the U.S. and Canada advance restrictive edicts that make very big headlines and very little difference.

We have it on good authority that it sometimes gets quite cold in Canada during wintertime. As our Canadian readers can attest, in such brutal conditions machinery often acts a little funky. Batteries refuse to turn over, hard things become brittle, fluids freeze or gum up, and dimensions of solid materials quite literally contract. Operating an automobile in this environment can be particularly challenging for the passenger and engine alike, as both need to be warmed up before they can be expected to perform within specifications. In particularly harsh conditions, a car might require 15 to 20 minutes of idling before the engine and cabin reach comfortable conditions, and remote car starters have become incredibly popular solutions.

An ironclad canon of the Church of Carbon™ is that parishioners are not allowed to have nice things, which explains the following bit of regulatory tomfoolery:

In what it is calling “a bold move” to combat climate change, the City of Ottawa has introduced a strict by-law limiting residents from using remote car starters to warm up their vehicles for more than one minute before driving. The law, intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve local air quality, has sparked heated debate, especially given Ottawa’s notoriously harsh winters. The new rule allows vehicles to idle for just 60 seconds if the driver is not inside.

Yes, you read that right: It is illegal in Ottawa to heat up your car in subzero weather. Further in the same article, we find an early leading candidate for quote of the year:

“Every little bit counts,” said city councillor Laura Green. “We know it’s cold, but we also know that climate change is a real and urgent problem. This is about protecting our future.”

We should confess that we have been unable to verify that Green exists or is quoted accurately in the article. No such person is listed on the city leadership’s website, for example, suggesting her name or job title may have been inaccurately reported.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Musk Is ‘Shredding’ Government? Not Even Close

By on February 25th, 2025

https://issuesinsights.com/2025/02/25/musk-is-shredding-government-not-even-close/

As night follows day, Democrats and their champions in the mainstream press have started trotting out their shopworn horror stories about budget cuts. And why not? It’s always worked in the past, turning Republicans’ knees into jelly. President Donald Trump needs to tell them to man up this time, and he can start by calling out the left’s world-is-about-to-end nonsense.

Anyone who follows the news would think that Trump and Elon Musk are carpet bombing the federal government. We keep seeing headlines about how Musk and DOGE are “shredding” and “dissecting” the federal government, about how spending cuts are causing “cruel and senseless devastation,” and the “human toll of the administration’s malevolence and incompetence.”

Reporters are busy scouring the earth for any sob story they can find – or make up – to put a human face on this supposed tragic turn of events, such as those poor federal workers who are confused and scared about having to list five things they did the previous week.

Then there are the repeated proclamations about “growing anger” among the public about the heartlessness of it all – with no evidence to support it – and how this is “putting Republicans in a difficult position.” (Never mind that Trump’s approval rating is currently higher than it ever was in his first term, according to the latest Harvard-Harris poll.)

The cumulative effect of all this is meant to rankle the public and put pressure on GOP lawmakers to make it stop.

Well, it’s time for a reality check.

As is always the case when it comes to cutting federal spending, both sides exaggerate what is going on. The ones cutting spending want the public to think they are hitting bone — witness Musk brandishing his chainsaw at the CPAC convention. The big government types want to play up the supposed harm. The result is usually that little, if anything, actually ends up getting cut.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

Barnard College expels students involved in anti-Israel class disruption Columbia University, of which Barnard is an affiliate, suspended a third student involved in the incident last month By Haley Cohen

By on February 24th, 2025

https://jewishinsider.com/2025/02/barnard-college-expels-students-involved-in-anti-israel-class-disruption/

Barnard College has expelled two second-semester seniors who last month disrupted a History of Modern Israel class, banged on drums, chanted “free Palestine” and distributed posters to students that read “CRUSH ZIONISM” with a boot over the Star of David, Jewish Insider has learned, according to a source familiar with the matter.

During the demonstration, which occurred on Jan. 21 — the first day of the spring semester — two Barnard students, a Columbia student and a fourth person who remains unidentified also tried to plaster the walls of the classroom with a sign featuring an illustration of Hamas terrorists pointing guns and the words “THE ENEMY WILL NOT SEE TOMORROW.”

Columbia University suspended the Columbia participant on Jan. 23, “pending a full investigation and disciplinary process,” according to the university. The investigation remains ongoing. Students have the right to appeal suspensions under the guidelines to the Rules and the Anti-Discrimination and Discriminatory Harassment Policies and Procedures for Students. Barnard College is an affiliate of Columbia University.

In a statement to JI, Barnard President Laura Rosenbury declined to provide details about the expulsions. “Under federal law, we cannot comment on the academic and disciplinary records of students,” Rosenbury said.

“That said, as a matter of principle and policy, Barnard will always take decisive action to protect our community as a place where learning thrives, individuals feel safe, and higher education is celebrated,” Rosenbury continued.

“This means upholding the highest standards and acting when those standards are threatened. When rules are broken, when there is no remorse, no reflection, and no willingness to change, we must act. Expulsion is always an extraordinary measure, but so too is our commitment to respect, inclusion, and the integrity of the academic experience. At Barnard, we always fiercely defend our values. At Barnard, we always reject harassment and discrimination in all forms. And at Barnard, we always do what is right, not what is easy.”

As of Sunday, the expulsions had not been announced campus-wide. Upon learning of the crackdown from JI, Lishi Baker, a junior studying Middle East history and a student in the History of Modern Israel course, said he was “extremely happy” about Barnard’s decision and called for Columbia to do the same.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The German Establishment’s Last Chance Immigration drove Germans to the polls in record numbers, and it doubled the AfD’s vote share. Is the next chancellor listening? Christopher Caldwell

By on February 24th, 2025

https://www.thefp.com/p/the-german-establishments-last-chance

The winner of Sunday’s German elections has been known for months, almost since the outgoing government, led by Social Democrats and dominated by Greens, collapsed last November. As expected, Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats have finished on top, albeit with a flabbier than foreseen 29 percent of the vote.

Out of power since Merz’s intraparty rival Angela Merkel stepped down in 2021, the center-right party is back. But that prospect is not why 83 percent of voters—the highest turnout in the history of post–Cold War Germany—thronged the polls on Sunday.

German voters have decided that stopping mass immigration, legal and illegal, is a national emergency. And the party addressing it most directly is the Alternative for Germany. The so-called AfD finished second with 21 percent of the vote, doubling its share of seats. But many on the country’s center and left claim it is exactly the kind of party the country’s post-Nazi constitutional order is meant to exclude.

The 69-year-old Merz comes to power in a tricky position. He was a star of the Christian Democratic party in the old days, until Merkel bested him for the leadership at the turn of the century and sent him into banking-industry exile. Now, it would seem, a majority of Germans want him to carry out the AfD’s policies—but without the AfD. How? The question will be hard to resolve within the highly regulated (some would say semi-) democracy that Germany has been since the Second World War.

Germany is getting less efficient. Its railroads, despite the stereotypes, are among the least punctual in Europe—only 31 percent of its intercity trains arrive on time. It is getting poorer, too: The German economy has shrunk two years in a row. Volkswagen, Bosch, and other industrial giants have laid off tens of thousands of employees. And for years, Germany’s American ally has been raising the price of its decades-old alliance. First Germany was supposed to trade less with China. Then, once Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Amis demanded a boycott of Russian gas. Now Donald Trump is calling for a doubling of the country’s defense expenditures.

But the issue that has come to symbolize all these problems is migration. Germany’s foreign-born population has risen by millions since Merkel announced she would welcome refugees from the Syrian civil war in 2015. Assimilation has been difficult, as the buildup to election day made clear.

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IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Oops! I Think the NYT Just Said the Quiet Part About Deportation Out Loud Sarah Anderson

By on February 24th, 2025

https://pjmedia.com/sarah-anderson/2025/02/23/oops-i-think-the-nyt-just-said-the-quiet-part-about-deportation-out-loud-n4937259

Tell me you’re out of touch without telling me you’re out of touch. 

I wasn’t planning on writing anything today as I’m knee-deep in a house cleaning project, but I took a little break to peruse the news and saw an article in the New York Times that had me wondering if I’d accidentally stumbled upon a satire site like the Babylon Bee. It was about how deporting illegal migrants would have a negative impact on the wealthy people who have homes in the Hamptons. You know, the real victims in all of this.  

The article is entitled “They Help Make the Hamptons the Hamptons, and Now They’re Living in Fear.” The subtitle reads “Latino immigrants care for some of America’s most lavish beachside mansions. Their disappearance would affect the wealthy, too.” But wait, it gets better. The article begins: 

The party dresses must be double-pressed, the hedges shaved into sharp rectangles. The hand soap and lotion dispensers must be formed into neat lines along bathroom sinks. Caterers need to slip out of view as soon as the oysters and cocktails are served.

Wealthy residents of the Hamptons demand perfection. Now, many of the people who make it so — Latino immigrants, some of them undocumented — are panicking about President Trump’s deportation orders.

It goes on with great quotes like this one: “Some of the wealthy are quietly beginning to make calculations about what it would mean if their undocumented workers were deported. Who would mow the lawn?”

(Note: their undocumented workers)

Or this one from Marit Molan, director of Hamptons Community Outreach: “Everyone relies on housekeepers and carpenters and tree cutters and grass cutters. People come to the Hamptons to enjoy their houses, and who is going to take care of their houses?”

Who would mow the lawn? Or shave the hedges into sharp rectangles or fill the hand soap dispensers? Are you kidding me? I couldn’t believe what I was reading. We’re talking about human beings, and the New York Times is worried about how elitist Hamptons homeowners will take care of their plantations properties.

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Trump’s Ukrainian Tightrope Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022 because he saw weakness in the West, but now both he and the world want an end to the war—Trump may be the only one willing to cut an imperfect but necessary deal. By Victor Davis Hanson

By on February 24th, 2025

https://amgreatness.com/2025/02/24/trumps-ukrainian-tightrope/

To find an impossible peace between Ukraine and Russia we must understand the recent history of the war and the European and American roles in it. So, Americans should revisit some fundamental realities and questions from which to remember before going forward:

Why Did Putin Invade Ukraine in 2022?

Putin did start the war. Trump’s trolling aside, he knows that because he correctly pointed out that Putin invaded his neighbors in three of the last four administrations—but not his own, given Trump’s deterrence.

The most obvious answer why Putin did is that he thought he easily could. But why in 2022—as he had in 2008 and 2014?

Putin has nonending opportunistic desires to recombobulate what he thinks properly is and will always be Russian—whether territories to be formally absorbed or as coerced satellite states. But he moves on them only whenever he thinks the benefits outweigh the costs.

And by February 2022, he certainly felt they did.

The U.S. and NATO had lost all appearances of deterrence vis-à-vis Russia. Joe Biden had been part of the Obama-Biden administration that had naively appeased Putin for some eight years. Remember their 2009 reset by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that was based on numerous flawed and disastrous assumptions:

The prior Bush sanctions against Putin for invading Georgia and grabbing parts of South Ossetia were overly harsh, reflective of his supposed cowboyism evident in Iraq.
The Obama mystique, coupled with criticism of the prior Bush administration, would win over Putin. Remember Obama’s 2012 hot mic appeasement in Seoul, when Obama promised Putin “flexibility” (i.e., cancellation of Eastern European defense, if Putin gave Obama “space” for his “last election” (i.e., please don’t invade and embarrass Obama until after he was reelected in 2012).
The U.S. thought it could act unilaterally in Libya and Syria, talk of expanding NATO in Europe, and expect a humiliated Russia to keep silent and distant.
Once rebuffed by Putin, who took Obama’s measure, an angry and rejected U.S. would cajole, beg, and finally try to force European Union democratic values onto the Putin regime—by sanctions, by aiding Russian dissident groups, and by claiming Putin was America’s archenemy.

The flawed working theory was that an either compliant or defiant Putin could acquiesce and begin liberalizing Russia, in emulation of EU and US democracy.

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Rubio Exempts Taiwan and Philippines Security Programs from Aid Freeze By Jimmy Quinn

By on February 24th, 2025

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/rubio-exempts-taiwan-and-philippines-security-programs-from-aid-freeze/

Secretary of State Marco Rubio exempted from his department’s ongoing aid freeze over $1 billion in foreign security assistance for Taiwan and the Philippines.

“The Secretary approved exemptions for defense aide to the Philippines and Taiwan, which is a strong message for China deterrence in the region,” a senior State Department official told National Review. The exemption covers $870 million for Taiwan and $336 for the Philippines, the official said.

Reuters first reported on the exemptions, which the outlet said were part of a broader tranche of $5 billion worth of State Department programs that received exemptions.

China’s military intimidation targeting these U.S. partners — both major recipients of U.S. security assistance programs — has continued, even as Beijing signals that it wants to enter into trade talks with the Trump administration.

Last week, Manila lodged a diplomatic complaint with Beijing after a Chinese helicopter engaged in “unprofessional” maneuvers near a Philippines jet over the Scarborough Shoal. Meanwhile, Chinese military aircraft and vessels continue to swarm near Taiwan every day, per daily updates published by Taipei’s ministry of defense.

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MEDIA Comments turned off

MSNBC Cancels Joy Reid’s Show in Programming Shakeup By Haley Strack

By on February 24th, 2025

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/msnbc-cancels-joy-reids-show-in-programming-shakeup/

MSNBC will cancel host Joy Reid’s show, The ReidOut, this week. The show has aired in the 7 p.m. timeslot on the network since July 2020.

The move was initiated by MSNBC’s new president, Rebecca Kutler, the New York Times reported on Sunday. Reid’s last show will be sometime this week. Reid’s 7 p.m. slot will now be filled with commentary from the current co-hosts of MSNBC’s weekend morning show, The Weekend, Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez.

The network’s decision comes after years of Reid’s peddling far-left narratives involving identity politics and progressive ideologies. Recent Nielsen Media Research data showed that after Donald Trump won the presidency, between November and December, Reid’s show lost almost half of its viewers. MSNBC experienced a 53 percent decrease in primetime viewership after the election.

Reid has used her platform over the past many years to show disdain for Trump and Republican supporters. In an infamous Thanksgiving special last year, Reid vindicated liberals who might not want to share their holiday table with conservatives: “Make your own dinner, MAGA,” she said.

“You right-wingers shouldn’t have to suffer the consequences of your votes? ‘You don’t want to be around me because I voted for fascism. No fair. I am coughing on you with COVID, but you want me to wear a mask for your safety? No fair. My body, my choice.’ Well, here’s an alternative thought — make your own dinner, MAGA. Make your own sandwiches, wipe your own tears, troll amongst yourselves with Elon, and leave us alone,” she said.

Reid also bashed Latinos who supported Trump in November’s election, saying last year that pro-Trump Latino voters “own everything” that happens to their families.

During Trump’s inauguration, Reid criticized Trump’s expansionist mindset as “manifest destiny,” which she described as “one of the most racist concepts in the history of America.” She also made remarks about the appearance of billionaire tech CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, and Elon Musk.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

Is the Department of Education Dead On Arrival? The DOE is on the ropes, and should be ended, not mended. by Larry Sand

By on February 24th, 2025

https://www.frontpagemag.com/is-the-department-of-education-dead-on-arrival/

While the federal government has spent money on education and developed education policies since the 19th century, the U.S. Department of Education didn’t become a stand-alone agency until 1980 when, courtesy of President Jimmy Carter, it split off from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Carter advocated for creating the department to fulfill a campaign promise to the National Education Association. Congress passed the Department of Education Organization Act in 1979. In response, the NEA subsequently issued its first-ever endorsement in a presidential contest.

Just what is the function of the DOE?

As former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos explains, it doesn’t run a single school, employ any teachers in a single classroom, or set academic standards or curriculum. “It isn’t even the primary funder of education—quite the opposite. In most states, the federal government represents less than 10% of K–12 public education funding.”

DeVos adds that it does shuffle money around, adds unnecessary requirements and political agendas via its grants, and then passes the buck when it comes time to assess if any of that adds value. “In other words, the Department of Education is functionally a middleman. And, like most middlemen, it doesn’t add value. It merely adds cost and complexity.”

In 2024, the DOE employed over 4,000 people whose salaries and benefits came to $2.7 billion, and the department’s total budget for the year was $79 billion.

One of the purported reasons the DOE was brought into existence was to lower achievement gaps. But after spending over $1 trillion since its inception, it has done no such thing. The results from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and math test, given to 4th and 8th graders, were announced in January and showed that 4th graders continued to lose ground, with reading scores slightly lower, on average, than in 2022 and much lower than in 2019.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Searching for Condemnations in the Muslim World Fake quotes from grand muftis condemning Hamas show just the opposite. Daniel Greenfield

By on February 24th, 2025

https://www.frontpagemag.com/searching-for-condemnations-in-the-muslim-world/

After Hamas paraded the coffins of 9-month-old Kfir and 4-year-old Ariel to the cheers and jeers of its supporters, before turning over the coffins, locked with keys that did not fit to Israel, people looked for something to restore their faith in the goodness of mankind in the Muslim world.

Millions thought they found it in fake quotes from the grand muftis of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

“What we say today in Gaza is a disgrace to Islam, an act of blasphemy against Allah,” Saudi Grand Mufti Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh (pictured above) reportedly claimed in one viral social media post.

“Hamas has brought shame to Islam on a level never seen before,” Grand Mufti of Dubai Ahmed al-Haddad allegedly proclaimed.

Photos of the two Islamic religious leaders illustrated with these quotes racked up millions of views on social media. Some even found their way into news stories sourced from social media.

The problem was that the quotes were fake and never existed outside social media. The Saudi quote was soon disavowed while an Emirati journalist stated that the local media had “never heard of them” and that they were “mere rumors”.

Why did so many people spread and probably invent these fake social media posts? Because they wanted to believe that Muslim religious leaders would condemn Hamas mocking the bodies of the Jewish children it murdered and there was still some hope for decency left in the world.

But those condemnations don’t exist.

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